by Tabatha Kiss
I don’t know how she does it. She’s obviously screaming inside but there’s not a single thing on the outside that shows it. Maggie and Nate bark question after question at her from the front seats and Eliza answers each one — never once showing an ounce of inconvenience. It’s amazing, honestly. I guess this is what happens when you grow up in Cary Pierce’s shadow.
“So, where’s your mom?” Maggie asks, staring more at Eliza through the rearview mirror than at the road.
“Mag…” I warn.
Eliza pats my hand. “No, it’s okay,” she says, smiling politely. “My mother is no longer with us. It’s just me and my dad.”
“Oh, man, that’s awful…” Maggie says. “I can’t imagine living without my mother.”
“Mag.”
“What?” Her eyes shift to me in the mirror and I give her the sternest look I can muster. “I’m just preparing her for the exact same questions she’s going to get from Mom.”
“It’s okay,” Eliza chuckles. “Really. I don’t mind.”
Nate adjusts his glasses. “So, Junior… What are the team’s odds for taking the championship?”
I nod at him in gratitude for switching the subject. “I’m not huge on numbers, but pretty good,” I answer.
“That’s awesome,” he says. “When I was an undergrad, no one gave a shit about the football team. Now you guys actually get news coverage.”
“I guess all it took was for someone to come in and give a shit.”
“I guess so.”
“Pfft!” Maggie spits. “Boring. I want to know about the school play. Eliza, how’s that going? Got all of your lines memorized?”
I kick the back of her seat.
Eliza laughs. “About ninety percent of them, I think.”
“Well, I can’t wait,” Maggie says. “Nate and I already have tickets for opening night.”
I lean forward. “You know, Mag, opening night and the last game of the season are on the same night.”
Maggie tilts her head, feigning ignorance. “Oh, really? I had no idea.”
“There’s a show on Sunday,” I add. “You could always go to that one instead and come see us qualify for the championship on Saturday.”
She hisses. “I mean… I would… but… I kinda already bought the tickets, so…”
“They’re refundable,” I growl. “I’m sure you could get them exchanged.”
“Nah.”
I sit back and shake my head at Eliza’s grin. “Nothing is more supportive than family.”
“Hey, you’ll have thousands of people in the stadium and half the country watching and supporting you, little brother,” Maggie argues. “Someone has to support Eliza.”
“Thank you, Maggie,” Eliza says, batting her eyes at me. “I appreciate that.”
We turn off into my neighborhood and my chest constricts. Eliza has certainly passed Maggie’s test but getting her to survive against my mother is another task entirely.
“We’re here!” Maggie announces, pressing hard on the brake in the driveway for no purpose other than to jolt the car a little.
I watch Eliza’s face as she takes in the street with interest. There’s no going back after this one. After today, Eliza Pierce will have seen where I came from and she’ll either accept it or she’ll run away screaming into the night.
I wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans as we step onto the porch.
Maggie barrels on inside, loudly announcing our arrival and Nate follows her.
“Ellie…” I slip my fingers around her arm.
She pops up onto her heels and lays a quick kiss on my cheek. “Relax,” she says. “It’s going to be fine.”
The imprint of her lips spreads across my face and tingles all the way to my toes. I take her hand and lead her inside.
My mother stands in the foyer with her fingers pinched hard against Nate’s cheeks. She’s always loved Nate since the moment she met him but I think she’s just thankful that there was actually a man in this world patient enough to put up with her daughter’s sass.
Her eyes catch Eliza and she instantly drops her hands.
“Mom…” I gesture to my right. “This is Eliza.”
Eliza throws on the sweetest smile in her toolbox. “Hello.”
My mother stares back at us as if Eliza just spoke some alien space language.
“Roy!” she calls out my father’s name and I squeeze Eliza’s hand even tighter.
“What is it, Bonnie?” he shouts back from the living room. I can just imagine him now, sitting there in his chair, watching the game.
My mother’s voice pitches higher with each word. “Is this a friend of yours, or…?”
“Yes, Mom,” I say. “She’s a friend of mine. Maggie invited her to come along today.” I fire a quick glance at my sister and she grins at me from the hallway.
Eliza drops my hand and steps forward, taking complete control of the moment with a confident stride. “It’s nice to meet you. Happy birthday.”
My mother shakes Eliza’s hand while her face brightens with each passing second.
“Roy! Get in here. Now.”
“Why?” he fires back.
“Come and meet Eliza, a friend of our son’s…”
He says nothing in response but I hear the shift of his recliner closing.
Mom’s attention twists towards me. “I really wish you’d told us you were bringing company, honey. I would have cleaned up a bit more.”
Eliza waves a hand. “Oh, no. This place looks great, really. You have a beautiful home, Mrs. Morgan.”
I blink, probably way more impressed with her than my mother is. Eliza is a damn champion at this. I breathe a little easier as my father finally makes an appearance from the living room.
“Roy,” my mother says, “this is Eliza.”
My father peels his reading glasses off his face while my mother slides her hand over his shoulders to flatten out the non-existent wrinkles in his shirt. He narrows his eyes for a moment, glancing Eliza up and down and I’m almost tempted to hide her under a damn sheet. It sure would be nice if they’d stop staring at her like a damn leper.
Eliza shifts over to him and extends her hand. “I’m sorry if I’m interrupting your game, Mr. Morgan.”
My mother slaps his arm. “Oh, he doesn’t mind at all. Right, Roy?”
“Not at all,” he confirms, shaking Eliza’s hand.
Maggie slides in from the kitchen. “Isn’t she pretty?”
I stare at my sister, fighting the childish urge to shove her down the stairs or yank her hair out.
“She’s very pretty,” my father agrees.
“So pretty!” my mother adds.
“Guys…” Blood burns my cheeks. “Come on… Don’t embarrass her.”
But Eliza just grins. “Thank you very much.”
Maggie opens her mouth again and I cringe with fear. “Eliza’s dad is the new football coach.”
Their faces drop cold.
“Your father is Cary Pierce?” my mother asks.
Eliza nods. “Yes, ma’am.”
If she was a leper before, then right now, she’s a leper with three heads and each one of them has a pierced nose.
My father says nothing. He just flashes a quick nod of approval at me, so I guess Eliza passed with him.
My mother, on the other hand, shifts between an expression of seasickness and abject terror.
Cary Pierce’s daughter is in her house and she didn’t clean it first.
Her fiery stare falls on me. This is my fault, obviously.
“So, who’s playing today?” Eliza asks my father.
I furrow my brow, knowing that Eliza doesn’t give two shits about football but her face feigns great interest.
“New York and Dallas,” he answers.
“Oh, what’s the score?”
“You know…” my mother says, “if you’d all like to watch the game for a while, lunch won’t be ready for another twenty minutes.”
“I’d
love to,” Eliza says.
And then I realize… Eliza baited my mother, giving her the perfect excuse to isolate her location while she worked like a damn bee to get the rest of the house in top condition for her guest.
A fucking champion.
Eliza follows my father into the living room and Mom grabs my jacket before I can pass by her.
“Kitchen. Now.”
I sigh and fire another hateful glance at Maggie’s amused mug before dragging my feet into the kitchen.
Chapter 24
Eliza
“So, how long have you been dating my son?”
Junior chokes on his water. “Mom…”
“What? Is that not an appropriate question?”
The entire Morgan family stares at us from around the dining room table and I feel more on display than the fancy centerpiece Bonnie obviously pulled out from the back of the closet. It’s a sea of brown hair and brown eyes; sharp cheek bones and strong chins. Maggie and her mother could almost pass as sisters but it’ll take Junior about twenty years to catch up to his father’s wrinkles.
“Oh…” I shrug. “Not too long, but I’ve been tutoring him in geometry since the start of the semester.”
Bonnie looks at Junior. “I didn’t know you had a tutor…”
He nods. “Yeah… I needed to get my grade up a little.”
Roy furrows his brow. “You weren’t in any academic trouble were you?”
“No, Dad. I wasn’t… I just wanted someone to check my work and help me study.”
Bonnie points her fork at him. “Get the grade up and keep it up. It’s just as important as football.”
He answers through clenched teeth. “I know, Mom.”
“I don’t want you flunking out before graduation,” she continues. “My baby is going pro!”
I laugh. “I can confirm that Junior has made excellent progress. You shouldn’t have to worry about him flunking out. I won’t let that happen.”
Bonnie grins at me, her eyes bright and accepting. I guess I haven’t lost my touch. “And you… he’s never said a word about you at all.”
“There’s nothing to say, really…”
“Well, you’ve clearly been quite the good influence on him.”
I smile. “It’s nothing he didn’t already have in him. All Junior really needed was the right incentive.”
Junior chokes on his water again.
“For heaven’s sake, Junior…” Bonnie snaps at him. “Chew your food.” I look over to find him glaring at me. “One thing’s for sure, I need to call up that coach.”
“Why?” Junior snaps.
“To thank him, of course! I’m not one to speak ill of the dead, but if that old coot that ran the team before hadn’t have died then Cary Pierce wouldn’t be here and you wouldn’t be on your way to the championship. And if he weren’t here, then Eliza wouldn’t be either. If you ask me, we owe the Pierces a great deal of gratitude.”
He shakes his head. “No, Mom. Really. Don’t call him.”
“Yeah,” I say, keeping my cool better than he is. “I’d be more than happy to pass on any message you have…”
Maggie flashes us a knowing wink. “Don’t bother the guy, Mom. Remember when you harassed one of my professors after he wrote me that recommendation letter?”
“I did not harass Professor Shelton — that was completely different,” Bonnie argues. “And that recommendation letter got you into graduate school!”
“Correction: Being a badass got me into graduate school. The recommendation letter was a formality.”
Bonnie sighs. “Well, I can’t help it if I appreciate those who help my children. Your father and I did the best we could to provide you two with every opportunity but we couldn’t give you everything. Cary Pierce has changed Junior’s life and if we keep our heads up and minimize mistakes, then nothing can stop him from achieving his dreams.”
My gut lurches, weighed down by the growing black hole lodged deep inside.
Nothing can stop Junior from achieving his dreams? I can think of something that might.
“Damn, Mom,” Junior laughs. “Maybe you should coach the football team. You certainly have the motivational speeches down.”
She smirks. “I may have applied for the job once or twice.”
I pick up the napkin from my lap and slide out of my chair. “Excuse me. I need to use the restroom. I’ll be right back.”
Bonnie nods. “We’re having the one on this floor redone but the one upstairs is fine. Up the stairs and to the right.”
“Thank you.”
“Redone?” I hear Maggie quip as I leave the room. “Since when do we have rooms redone?”
I head up the stairs and the voices dim into whispers behind me.
The bathroom is just where Bonnie said it would be and I sneak inside to dab a bit of cold water on my forehead. I hold my hair to the side and let a little drip onto the back of my neck, cooling myself down as I hold my breath.
So, this is Junior Morgan’s family. Honestly, I never even pictured it. Not even once. I knew he had a sister — he mentions Maggie in some way about once a week — but other than that, he doesn’t talk about them.
And now his mother sees me as the Messiah’s beautiful daughter, sent down from heaven above to make all her baby boy’s dreams come true.
Whoops.
I step out into the hall and turn back to the stairwell when I pause, reading the tiny, faux license plate attached to the door across from the bathroom.
JUNIOR
Curiosity takes over and I twist the doorknob to let myself in.
The room is decorated black and blue with enough posters on the walls to cover up most of the white paint. Sports trophies line a shelf with medals and certificates flashing Junior’s name, most of them in gold.
I smile at a photo above his bed showing a pre-teen boy flexing in swim trunks over his big sister’s teenage head. No real muscle mass, no sign of tattoos. Just little Junior Morgan before he became who he is now.
“Ellie?”
I spin around to the door as Junior pokes his head in. “Hey,” I chuckle.
He inches towards me with suspicious eyes and nervous, pink cheeks. “What are you doing in here?”
“Snooping,” I shrug, glancing around again. He flips the picture frame down while I’m not looking. I pretend not to notice. “Sorry if I’ve invaded your private space…”
“It’s all right,” he laughs. “I honestly don’t remember most of what’s left in here.”
I scan the walls and my eyes land on a familiar face above his shoulder. It’s an old poster of my father; poised and strong in his jersey, holding a football and winking right at the camera.
“Even that?” I point.
Junior follows my gaze. “Oh…” he winces. “No, I remember that. I’ve had that for like ten years…”
“I guess you weren’t kidding when you said he was a hero of yours.”
“I really wasn’t.” He blinks at me and smiles wide. “So… who the hell are you because you are freakin’ amazing…”
I laugh. “I make a decent impression.”
“No shit.”
“I, uh…” I pause, searching my memory for the best explanation. “I used to spend a lot of time at friends’ and neighbors’ houses.”
He furrows his brow. “Okay.”
“My father was nonexistent and my mother often disappeared for days at a time. She’d leave me some money — a little chunk of my dad’s child support and take off with the rest until it ran out. Eventually, she got sick of coming back to check on me so she put me into that boarding school. I saw her about once a month… maybe.”
His mouth opens and closes. “Oh.”
“Before then, people started to notice, so they’d take me in until she got back. I never wanted to be a burden on anybody but more often than not, I felt that way.” Junior stays quiet. I think to shut up but the words just keep spilling out. “I was that Pierce girl, once again ta
king up space in places where I didn’t belong but I did chores, helped make meals, and worked to earn my keep wherever I stayed. In the process, I learned a lot about manners and making a good impression from the grateful mothers of my friends.”
“Wow,” he says, his eyes soft on me. “That would explain it then.”
I nod. “Couple that with a natural acting ability and you have the perfect girl to bring home to your parents.”
He chuckles. “I’m sorry about her, by the way, she can be…”
“Like Maggie?”
“Maggie 2.0, really.”
I laugh. “They’ve been great. Really great…”
He steps forward, studying my eyes a little closer and I realize I’ve dropped my guard. “What is it?”
I bite my cheek, hesitating to say anything but I’ve already started the avalanche of weight falling off my chest.
My feet carry me away from him and I let my eyes wander again. “I’ve always wanted a family like this.”
“Like what?”
“Boring.”
Junior scoffs, feigning some fake offense with his hand on his chest. “You think we’re boring?”
“You know what I mean…” I rub my palms together. “Normal. Your parents love each other. They’re still together. You have a sister and you get along. Birthday cards and Christmas cookies.”
He gives a short nod. “I don’t know if we’re normal anymore, honestly. My family could easily be considered weird to most others.”
“Well… it just seems a hell of a lot better than having a famous dad you barely see or a mom that couldn’t even remember whether you’re allergic to peanuts or penicillin.”
“You’re allergic to penicillin?”
“Peanuts.”
“Noted,” he smiles. “Come on, Ellie, look around. You grew up in New York going to fancy schools. All we ever had was each other.”
“You were wealthier than I was, Junior.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yes, it is.”
I take a step back, hoping it’ll hide the river of tears just begging to fall from my eyes. Years of repressed thoughts and feelings build up in my chest but I fight the hormones down. This isn’t the time or the place for it and the last thing I want to do is get emotional in front of Junior. We’ve been exclusive for less than a day, for fuck’s sake, and yet…