Midnight Rain

by Jettie Woodruff

  “Yeah, but that’s when we’re old, like thirty. I want to live in a penthouse while I climb the ladder.”

  “Fine,” Janie snapped, letting go of my hand for the crossroad pole. She pushed the button and crossed her arms.

  “You’re getting mad at me because I want to live in a high-rise, overlooking the world? Janie, we’re only seventeen. I think we can argue about that one later.”

  “I’m not mad. I just want to know if you want the same things that I do. I’m not like you. I like to plan things.”

  “Oh my God!” I laughed, pulling her hand to run across the road, “you’re the most spontaneous person I know. We’re ditching my uncle’s funeral for the circus.”

  “But there’s a difference in being spontaneous and having a plan. That’s two different things.”

  “How so? It is not.”

  “It is. I always want to be adventurous and try new things whenever the opportunity arises, but I still know what I want.”

  “Okay, Miss, Responsible Pants. Tell me. Where do you see yourself in five years?”

  “That would make me twenty-two. Hmmm?” she questioned. “Let’s go this way,” she said, interrupting herself while she thought about it.

  “No, we’re not going down a dark alley, this way,” I countered. Geesh. “How the hell are you still alive? You’re about out of nine lives.”

  Janie giggled and let me lead her the safer way. “Oh, here’s a Mexican place. Do you want to go in?”

  “I don’t know. It looks expensive. I only have seventeen bucks.”

  “How can you only have seventeen bucks? You just had ninety yesterday.”

  “Yeah, I know, but I had to fill my car up, I bought that new hat I was wearing earlier, and a *cough* video *cough* game.”

  “And you call me irresponsible! I have my dad’s card, I’ll put it on there. You can leave the tip.”

  “Or you could put that on there too and I could keep my seventeen bucks.”

  “I’m going to find me a guy that’s not so cheap. Two please,” Janie told the hostess.

  “You have to wear shoes Miss,” she said, smiling at her dangling heels.

  “Oh, sorry, of course,” Janie said, dropping her shoes. I held on to her arm to keep her from toppling over while she adjusted the strap.

  “Janie, this is going to take too long. I was thinking more along the lines of Taco-Bell.”

  “We have time. I bet the food line isn’t even clear yet. It’s lunch time. Lunch is always quicker. Trust me I know.” I was sure she did know. I loved the idea of having a restaurant downstairs. Food anytime you wanted. Who wouldn’t want that?

  “Your waitress will be Janet tonight, she’ll be right with you,” she explained with a smile as she directed us to the corner booth. The black leather seat was in a C shape and Janie and I slid to the corner and sat side by side.

  The waitress was right behind her with our silverware wrapped in burgundy cloth napkins. “Can I start you off with a drink?”

  “I’ll have a shot of Grey Goose and a Margarita, the paranoid chicken, here, we’ll have birdseed juice.”

  The waitress laughed at her, knowing she wasn’t old enough to order either of those things. “Coke for both of us,” I ordered.

  “That’s not as farfetched as you think. We actually have a drink called Birdseed, I could make it and leave out the alcohol if you want?”

  “What’s in it?” Janie asked.

  “Sprite, pineapple juice, lemon, and vodka, but we can leave that out.”

  “We’re good on that, we’ll just have the coke,” I assured her.

  “We’ll take two. He forgot his money at Best-Buy soooo…”

  The waitress laughed again and walked away to get our Birdseed drink. Yuck. That didn’t even sound good.

  “Tell me again why I begged you to come here with me?”

  “One, you love me. Two, you lied about being close to your dead relative. Three, you couldn’t stay away from me for two whole days. Four, you need me to make you order drinks like Birdseed. And five, because I love you.”

  I kissed Janie’s smile with my own. Everything she said was right. I loved her for how crazy she made me, and she was right, I wouldn’t even know what a Birdseed was had Janie not made me try it. I have to admit, the drinks were rather tasty. We made them quite often after that.

  “Okay, answer my question. Five years. Where will you be?” I coaxed.

  Janie closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, “I’m sitting on a porch swing. There’s a little girl named London playing in the front yard with her daddy. I’m swinging back and forth holding her new baby brother.”

  “Am I the daddy?”

  Janie peaked out of one eye, “Do you want to be the daddy?”

  “In five years?”

  “Yes, I don’t want the corporate world. I want to teach piano lessons and stay home with my family.”

  “Can I still be in the corporate world?”

  “I would rather you taught piano lessons with me. The corporate world will take all of your time. Believe me I know. You won’t have time for us.”

  “That would never happen. I will always make time for you.”

  “Do you promise?”

  “Pinky swear,” I said, looping her tiny finger in mine.

  Janie and I visited the circus by ducking under a fence and then a tent. It did me not one bit of good to tell her no because she did it anyway. And just like I always did, I followed her like a whipped pup. The good thing about it was we didn’t get caught, but we did get some nice pictures with our phones. My mom didn’t even call looking for us until we were holding hands, walking back. I told her the truth, that we went to the circus but we were almost back. She didn’t believe me. If I lied to her she believed me. If I told her the truth, she didn’t.

  Twelve

  I was so confused after that day.

  Blake was the best Blake he could be. Our first stop was pancakes, just like he promised. Either Pea was starving to death or having a growth spurt, she ate three whole pancakes. She did complain about being too full once we were on the sidewalk as Blake led us down to a warehouse where his friend worked on things.

  “Hold my hand too, daddy,” Pea said. I frowned a little wondering why she didn’t barge in the middle like she normally did. It wasn’t Blake’s attention she was usually territorial about, it was mine. Blake and I smiled when she let go of his hand and let the trash sign split them. She took it again and smiled up at him when she reached for his again on the other side. It was the cutest freaking thing in the whole world. Blake played the game with her all the way to the warehouse, loving every single second of it.

  Blake’s friend didn’t work on just things, he created masterpieces. I was overly impressed with his talent as soon as we stepped inside. It wasn’t really a warehouse, not to me anyway. The front of it had display windows, telling me that it had at one time been something besides a warehouse.

  “Mikki, I have to tell you something,” Pea announced, pulling on my arm.

  “Hang on, Pea. Wow. This is incredible. Look at this place, Pea. Do you want to pick out your bedroom set here?”

  “No. I have to tell you something.”

  “What is it, Pea?” Blake asked, ruffling her hair.

  “No, not you. I have to tell Mikki.”

  Blake put his hands in the air and stepped back. She was very persistent with a straight laced face.

  “What is it, Pea?” I asked.

  Blake’s friend chose that moment to join us and introduced himself to us, starting with Pea. “I hear about you all the time from your dad. It’s very nice to meet you. He forgot to tell me that you were so pretty. And you must be Makayla, I’m Joel.” I shook the guys hand and told him how impressed I already was, and we were barely in the door.

  “Mikki!” Pea whined. I turned into my mother for a couple of minutes, ignoring her the best I could without us both being rude.

  “Mikki!” she whined
again, only this time she jerked on my arm and stomped her foot.

  “What Pea? You’re not being very polite.”

  “That’s because you won’t listen to me.”

  “You have to wait until someone is done talking. You can’t interrupt like that when someone is talking. It’s rude.”

  “But I was talking first.”

  Good point. “What is it, Pea?”

  “I have to whisper it.”

  I took a deep breath and lowered my ear to her mouth.

  “I have to poop.”

  “Now?” I frowned in a normal tone.

  She pulled my head back to her lips, “Yes. I ate too many pancakes. My tummy hurts. But don’t tell that man, okay?”

  “I would never throw you under the bus. I got your back girl,” I winked. Well, she was right. She tried to tell me before Joel reached us.

  “Do you have a restroom I could use?” I asked, slipping it in between small talk with Blake.

  “Sure. Right through that door right there. The sink doesn’t work, but there’s a utility sink in the hall you can use.”

  “Thank you.” I took Pea’s hand and she rushed me to the bathroom. She wasn’t joking around. She had to go. Now.

  “Come on.”

  “I’m coming. Go ahead. I’ll wait out here.” Pea didn’t argue. I’m sure she was on the toilet before I made it to the door. Pictures of old buildings around Nashville lined the walls and I slowly made my way through them while I waited.

  “Something bad happened.”

  My terrified eyes turned to Pea who was peeking her eyes out of the door. “What’d you do?”

  “Why you always blame me?”

  “Well you’re the only one in there so if something bad happened, you did it.”

  “But I didn’t mean to. I think there’s too much toilet paper.”

  “Oh, man. Pea—”

  I opened the door to see the toilet paper, floating on the top.

  “What do we do?” she whispered.

  “Look for a plunger,” I coaxed, searching high and low for something to unstop the toilet. Great.

  “I found a mop.”

  “And what are you going to mop? Let’s hope we don’t need the mop. Look in that closet right there.”

  “Umm, Mikki. Something really bad is happening.”

  “Oh, Pea. Now you can grab the mop.”

  “What should we do now?”

  “I don’t know without a plunger. How much did you poop?”

  “A lot. Look. It’s going down now. I think it’s fixed.”

  Pea and I stood over the toilet and watched the water move slowly down the drain. Thank God. She would have been so embarrassed if we would have had to yell for the owner. I hurriedly mopped up the overspill and flushed the toilet again. It took three times before it finally flowed freely.

  “Don’t tell anyone, okay, Mikki?” Pea begged, looking up to me.

  I took her hand and smiled down at her, “Never.”

  We did find a beautiful curio cabinet in black and silver that I fell in love with and I couldn’t believe the price. I didn’t think eight-hundred dollars was anywhere close to what it was worth. Blake agreed and he even teased Pea a little bit, telling her that her birthday present was going to go on all three shelves. She begged for him to tell her what it was.

  Joel showed her a very special bedroom set next. I loved, loved, loved it.

  “It’s over two hundred years old,” Joel boasted, running his hand over the black finish. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

  “I don’t want it.”

  Blake and I both tossed a frown down to her.

  “Why? Are you serious, Pea? You don’t think this is pretty?”

  “Yes. I think it is pretty, but it’s two hundred years old.”

  “Over,” Joel smiled still boasting.

  “Pea, that’s what makes it so special,” Blake said, dropping to a knee in front of her.

  “I don’t want it, I want a new bed.”

  “It is new,” he argued.

  I stepped in when I realized the problem. “It’s fine. We’ll look at the other store. You’re okay with the cabinet though, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “What was that all about?” Blake whispered. I smiled when he snuck in a kiss.

  “Think about it.”

  “What?”

  “Would you like a sucker?” Joel asked, Pea.

  She looked down the inside of the teddy bear jar and twisted her lips in thought, “Are they gluten free, do they have artificial sugars?”

  “Um…”

  “Forget it. She doesn’t need anything else to eat,” I assured Joel with crooked eyebrows.

  Sarah… She was just telling me the day before how much sugar was in the chocolate filled doughnut I was enjoying. I still enjoyed it after the lecture too. So would Pea. She wasn’t strong enough to give up her sweets. I would bet both my thumbs on it.

  Blake took care of arranging the delivery for the cabinet and then we set off again. Hand in hand, in hand. Pea on the end again, splitting the hand-lock with every sign.

  “Pea, why didn’t you want that bedroom set. It was beautiful,” Blake questioned.

  “Cause it was two hundred years old.”

  “I don’t understand. That’s what makes it so special.”

  “Welp, you sleep where dead people sleeped. I want a new bed.”

  “Dead people? What?”

  I snickered. God I loved her. “Well, there’s no people two hundred years old. So they was dead.”

  “What?” Blake asked, still trying to comprehend her little mind. The look on his face assured me that he didn’t have a clue.

  “She’s trying to tell you that whoever slept on that bed is now dead. She doesn’t want to sleep where someone that is dead slept.”

  “Yeah, it’s a Pea thing,” she said, kicking a pebble to the street.

  “That’s dumb,” Blake whispered so only I could hear him.

  “Makes sense to me,” I shrugged.

  “Of course it does.”

  Picking out furniture with Blake and Pea was fantastic, and once again I thought maybe he didn’t know anything. Maybe I was creating unnecessary drama myself. This Blake didn’t have a care in the world.

  We all had to lay on the sofa; or sofas, I should say. I think we tried them all. Not to mention the row of beds. Blake and Pea removed their shoes and raced across the whole row while I watched for the salesman to come back with a price on the bed Pea wanted. Pea won by a twin sized bed, always one mattress ahead of her dad. She did very well and what she picked was going to go perfect with the cabinet. I couldn’t wait to set it up for her.

  We literally shopped until we dropped. I was exhausted and so was Pea. We opted out of the paperwork part and laid across a bed while Blake finished it up.

  “Tell me a story,” Pea requested in a yawn.

  “No. You’ll go to sleep.”

  “Tell me the princess story,” she said again, crossing her feet and sliding her hands over her head.

  “I’m getting hungry again, are you?” I asked, moving down and lying in the same positon.

  “No way. My belly’s too full of pancakes.”

  “Not anymore.”

  “Yes huh. See,” she said, lifting her shirt. Her stomach pushed out and her back arched. I tickled her and then covered her shrill squeal with my hand.

  “Shhh.”

  “Tell me, Mikki,” she whined, bouncing her butt up and down.

  “Once upon a time there was a prince and he wanted to marry a princess, but she had to be a real princess.”

  “Like me.”

  “Yes, like you, Pea.” I really thought she was going to go to sleep. I think she would have had we lay there any longer. I may have too. My late night with Blake and the comfortable bed was catching up with me. Fast. Pea’s continuous yawning didn’t help.

  “Okay, let’s go, girls. I have good news. They can deliver us tonight.
The only problem is we’d have to skip the circus tonight,” Blake announced with good news.

  “No,” I said, sliding from the bed. I grabbed Pea by the ankles and slid her to the bottom of the bed.

  “No?”

  “Uh-uh. We’ll sleep in the tent again.”

  “Daddy, I have to show you the lion I petted.”

  “Makayla, if they don’t bring it tonight, they’re not going to bring it until Thursday. That’s two more days.”

  “So? We want to go to the circus. We have plans.”

  “You wanted this furniture, remember? I just spent the last twenty minutes persuading this guy to bring it tonight.”

  “I like the tent,” Pea said, helping.

  “Me too,” I agreed.

  “I have no idea how to make you happy, either one of you. I give up.”

  “Don’t worry, dad. We’re just enigmas.”

  “Whaaaat?” Blake asked perplexed. I shook my head and shrugged.

  “I’ve got nothing,” I assured him and followed her out.

  The three of us presumed our chain, connecting us together, and walked down the sidewalk, except for the times Pea had to split our chain with a sign. We were in Nashville, there were a lot of signs.

  I had to ask about the big word she used with her dad, only because I was curious. I mean she sort of used it in the right context, but did she really know what it meant?

  “Hey, Pea. Where did you hear that word, enigma?”

  “Um, my dad said it to Grandma Grace. He said you was an enigma like the universe. I want to be an enigma like the universe too.”

  Blake’s head jerked to mine with big eyes, “That’s not what I said.”

  “Really?” I said with a tilted head and narrowed eyes, “what is it that you said, Blake?”

  “I—I…”

  “Forget it. Buy us some lunch. I’m hungry.”

  “Me too.”

  I frowned down at Pea, she wasn’t hungry ten minutes before that.

  She wasn’t hungry after that either. She barely touched her pot-pie, but then again, I tried to tell her it had peas in it. She assured me she could pick them out. I on the other hand I devoured my pot-pie. It was delicious.

  “Do we need anything else? Towels, dishes, curtains, anything?” Blake questioned. I could tell he was over the shopping spree, but truth be told so was I.