by Robyn Carr
“Oh, dear God, you haven’t screwed that up, have you?”
He made a face. “Do you ever get tired of being so judgmental? No. I didn’t screw up, just the opposite. It’s time to talk about the future, which happens to link to your future. We have to get on the same page, you and me.”
“Are you at least going to take me somewhere nice?”
“Will you settle for Cliffhanger’s?”
“If I can sit at a table,” she said. “I’ll need thirty minutes. Lucky for you, Joe’s working tonight and I’m free.” And then she pulled a couple of frozen pizzas out of the freezer, set the oven, opened the boxes.
“That’s a lot of pizza.”
“If Landon doesn’t show up, hell has frozen over. I should speak to Sarah—her brother clearly has a tapeworm.”
Forty minutes later they were seated at a table in Cliffhanger’s and Cliff was at the table personally to take their drink orders. “Bring Lou a white wine and I’ll have a beer,” Mac said.
“Hold on,” Lou objected. “I want a mojito. Do you know how to make a mojito?”
“Yes,” Cliff said tiredly. “I went to bartending school.”
“Excellent,” she said. “He’s buying. I’m not pinching pennies here.”
“Really?” he asked. “Are you sure I haven’t ever taken you out to dinner before?”
“Like this? A completely adult dinner? Just the two of us? I can’t remember a time.”
He just shook his head. “You’ve done everything for me. I haven’t done anything for you.”
“You gave me a home,” she said softly.
“You had a home.”
“I had a house, Mac. I had two great nieces and a nephew I rarely saw because you were married to a woman who hated me and considered me an interfering old crone. I never once wished your marriage would fail, I hope you believe me. But in spite of the pain of it all, I had a family again.”
Mac reached for her hand. “You will always have a family, Lou. You’ll always have a home. I swear to you.”
“I’m not worried that you’re going to throw me out, Mac,” she said. Their drinks arrived and they ordered dinner. Then she lifted her mojito to his glass of beer. “Cheers, Mac. Congratulations.”
“For…?”
“I assume you’re getting married.”
He put down the beer. “We have to get the families together. I’m not sure how we’re going to pull this off. And what if someone protests?”
“Who would protest?”
“Well, when Eve first found out about me and Gina, she got a little crazy. Afraid she’d be put through another traumatic situation, like when she was little and Cee Jay left.”
“She panicked, that’s all. If she takes three deep breaths, she’ll realize this isn’t the same thing at all. She loves Gina. And Gina loves her. Besides, Eve is in a serious relationship, like Ashley was last year. She might not admit it but Landon has become a priority.”
“Where are we all going to live?”
“We could squish everyone in our house,” she said. “It would be crowded for a while, but not forever. A year and three months from now at least one of those older girls will go off to school, maybe both of them, although I’ve been working on Eve to do her first year of college at community college. Or, maybe I’ll move out. Not far, just out.”
“With Joe?” he asked.
She laughed. “Oh, he’d love that. I’ve been trying to save Joe from being stuck with an elderly woman when he’s still young enough to have fun, but he might be the one to bite the dust first. Not only is he a trooper, his blood pressure and cholesterol tend to be high and he’s pretty lazy about it, too. Have you ever seen a man who enjoys butter more than Joe?” She shook her head. “I think his arteries might be completely clogged by now.”
Mac smiled. Joe ignored her just as he did.
“Maybe Carrie would take me on.”
“That sounds awful,” he said.
“Seriously?” She laughed. “Two working women of a certain age who are tidy and like the same wine? One of whom loves to cook? A room of my own in an adult household where my boyfriend can spend the night without destroying the values of the younger generation? Please, Mac. You must think us so boring. Besides, I don’t want to discourage you in any way, but I might not be completely interested in a household of seven. I had my own small house in Coquille, remember. I took you on when you were ten, and when you were twenty-six, I got you and three small children. I’m surprised the walls of that little house didn’t blow out.”
He grinned at the memory. “We sure worked hard back then, didn’t we?”
“It was horrendous,” she said.
At first, right after Cee Jay left them, Mac was so hopeful that she’d just return, he worked his two jobs—four days a week as an armored car guard, four nights a week as a new cop, not one day of the week without a job to do—and since Lou was teaching, they filled the gap with sitters. Lou ran back and forth between her house and Mac’s, feeding, bathing, walking the floor, sleeping on the couch. Both of them were sleep-deprived and emotionally distraught. Finally Mac gave up hope; he and the kids moved into Lou’s small house. All three kids had one bedroom, Mac had one, Lou had one—but one kid or another crawled in with them every night.
And Mac had been so broken. He’d been in pieces.
It never did get easy, but Mac had to quit the second job even though they needed the money—Cee Jay had left behind bills that had to be paid. They did get into a routine once they had child care nailed down and their schedules were at least the same every week. Once they moved to Thunder Point and all the kids were in school, life became more manageable. Not simple or uncomplicated, but definitely manageable.
“Honestly?” she said. “I don’t know how we did it.”
“We worked together,” he said. “We had a common goal. Lou, please know I’ve never taken you for granted. I’m grateful for what you’ve done every day of my life. And you will never be alone or without a home. Never.”
“That’s very sweet, Mac. But if it’s all the same to you, alone for a while might be just fine. I can still help out with carpooling, et cetera, but a nice little house or apartment…?” She smiled and gave him a shrug. “That might be pleasant.”
“Gina and I have to talk to our kids. Everyone needs to have a chance to air their concerns. We have to get a consensus on how we’re all going to live together. It has to be unanimous. And everyone should have time to adjust.”
She just smiled at him. “You don’t want to wait.”
“I don’t want to wait,” he said. Then in a voice lowered to be private he added, “It took me so long to act on my feelings, Lou. I just want to wake up beside her in the morning. I don’t care how crowded it is or how complicated, as long as she’s by my side.”
She sipped her mojito and smiled. Mac might be her nephew, but she’d been responsible for him for ten years when he was growing up, another ten after his wife left. He was more of a son than nephew; his kids were like grandchildren. They were her life. “This is what I’ve always wanted for you,” she said, her eyes misty. “Cee Jay and I were like oil and water. I hoped she’d grow up and be the wife and mother you deserved. And now that you’ve been treading water for ten years, all I want for you is a life partner who loves and respects you as much as you do her. Mac, you’re still a young man—marry your girl. Build a life with her. Be happy.”
“You’re the greatest woman in the world, you know.”
She sipped her drink. “Yes, I know. About time you realized that.”
When they got home, the household was in full chaos. Ryan and Dee Dee were fighting over control of the Xbox, Eve was screaming at her little brother for making so much noise that she couldn’t hear her music, throwing couch pillows at him. Landon was sitting at the kitchen table finishing off a pizza with a tall glass of milk.
“You didn’t get dinner?” Lou asked.
“I had dinner,” Landon replied,
stuffing another big bite in his mouth.
“What the hell’s going on here?” Mac thundered at his kids.
Lou walked serenely to her bedroom. She hung up her jacket and pulled her cell phone out of her purse. She sat on her bed and hit the speed dial for Joe while simultaneously flipping on the TV. On her nightside table was her electronic reader and a couple of print books; on the other side of the bed, lotion, brush, lip balm and a glass of water from the previous night. Her cave.
She expected to leave a message, but Joe picked up. “Hey, babe,” he said.
“Hi, Joe. Well, I’ve been laid off. Mac wants to get married. As soon as possible.”
A low rumble of sexy laughter answered her.
*
There was just a week left of school and most of it was just a waste of time. There would be senior skip day, graduation rehearsal for seniors, a couple of tests and virtually no new assignments as the end drew near. Landon was determined to do very well on the last final of the year so he was hitting it hard, spending that last weekend studying. Next Friday night was graduation for the seniors. Juniors, like Landon and Eve, would celebrate by taking over the school as seniors in the fall.
The sound of the doorbell broke his concentration. He opened it to Eve. “What are you doing here? I told you I’d be over later.”
Her eyes welled up with tears. “I have to talk to you.”
He opened the door so she could come inside. “Are you breaking up with me?” he asked.
“No, but maybe I should. Let’s sit down. This could be bad.”
His heart skipped a few beats. “Spit it out,” he said, leading her to the couch.
“Remember that time a couple of weeks ago when we got a little carried away? When we got a little…close?”
“It wasn’t that close,” he said, but it had been. He was ready to grab the condom and go for it, but he held back the best he could.
“It was closer than usual. And my period didn’t come. Rumor has it, those suckers can swim!”
Landon died on the spot. She was going to have to give him mouth-to-mouth and pound on his chest. He could feel all the color drain from his face. Then he felt his face get hot. “Huh?” he said so eloquently.
“I’m late. Five days. Or so. I’m never late, Landon. Never.”
He knew this. He was not allowed to get her worked up at period time—she felt insecure about it. He, on the other hand, thought that might be the best time of the month if there was an accident, based on what he’d read.
“What are we supposed to do now?” he asked.
“I need a test. One of those pregnancy tests. But I can’t just go buy one at the grocery store or drugstore where everyone knows me. And I can’t borrow the car to leave town—my dad’s working. If he saw me, he’d kill me for sure.”
“I’ll take you. Where should we go?”
“I’d like to go to the moon right now, but maybe Bandon’s far enough away. Will you really take me?”
“Sure. Of course,” he said.
“Then I’m going to have to stop in a bathroom somewhere—like a gas station or something. I can’t take a pregnancy test home! Lou has the nose of a drug dog.”
“We can come right back here. Sarah’s sitting alert tonight.”
“But what if she sees it in the trash?”
“I’m the trash man, Eve. I guarantee you, Sarah has never looked in the trash because I toss Ham’s yard apples in there, too. And I always have it done before she gets home from work so there’s nothing to complain about. Now, how’d you get over here?”
“I borrowed Aunt Lou’s van. But I promised her I’d be less than an hour.”
“Let’s take it back to the house and drop it off. You tell your aunt we’re running into Bandon to the sporting goods store. I want to look at running shoes—we’ll start football practice in a couple of months and I want to get ahead of it. And you want to pick up some wax for your board.”
She smiled. “I think that should work,” she said a bit tremulously.
“Stop worrying. It’s going to be fine. It would be more fine if they sold pregnancy tests at the sporting goods store. But we’re going to take care of this.”
*
Landon thought he’d been pretty smooth when Eve brought him this problem, but in fact his insides were trembling like a five-year-old on the high diving board. They didn’t talk much on the way to Bandon. Every once in a while he grabbed her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. He tried very hard to be cool.
He went in the store with her, but left her to do the shopping by herself. He pressed a twenty into her hand and said, “Don’t just buy the cheapest one.” And then he went to the paperback and magazine section for ten minutes and left, empty-handed. He met her back in his little truck and all the way home, she read him the directions.
“What if it’s too early?” she asked.
“It says it’s not. But if it’s negative and your period still doesn’t come, we’ll get another one next week,” he said. “Look, we don’t have that many choices. And I really don’t think you’re pregnant. I don’t.”
When they got to his house, she immediately headed for the bathroom with her package and Landon paced. Then she came out with a big grin on her face. “Was it a no?” he asked.
“I didn’t have to take it,” she said. “I just got you know what.”
And Landon fell flat on his back on the living room floor. “Holy crap!”
She laughed at him and knelt down beside him. “It’s okay. I shouldn’t have panicked.”
“Eve, we gotta get ahead of this. You have to talk to Aunt Lou.”
“Oh, I’m scared to.”
“Then I’m not going near you! We’re not making out one more time because we both get a little crazy and one of these days… I love you like mad, but I want to be a little older before I start a family. I don’t want one thin layer of latex between us and the next generation. And you shouldn’t, either!” He pushed some of her pretty dark hair over an ear. “I’d like to be with you forever, but I don’t know what you’re going to want in a year or two. I don’t want to have a baby at seventeen.”
“We need to cool it down,” she said.
“We can do that, too—whatever you want, but we can’t get this scared again,” he answered. “I’m willing to—”
The back door opened suddenly and Sarah popped in. Landon’s school books were still covering the kitchen table and he was cuddled up with Eve on the living room floor. “Oh, hi, Eve,” she said. “I didn’t know you’d be here. I forgot my e-reader and didn’t have a book with me,” she said, passing through the living room on her way to her bedroom. She turned back to them and smiled. “I’m not going to sit up watching TV all night with the guys—I’m in the middle of a good book.” And then she darted into her bedroom.
And then she darted out, e-reader in hand. “Sorry I can’t stay and chat—I grabbed an hour to run down here and get this, but I have to get right back.”
And then she walked into the bathroom, shutting the door.
Eve sat straight, folding up her legs. “Landon…”
He sat up, as well. “Where did you leave it?”
A shriek came from the bathroom. The toilet flushed. Sarah came out, e-reader in one hand, pregnancy test box in the other. Her face was in a scowl. Her eyes were narrowed. “Have we taken the test yet?”
No one spoke for a second. Finally Eve said, “It turned out, it was unnecessary.” And her cheeks were so bright red, heat burned off them.
Sarah stepped into the room. “All right, you two. I know I can’t control you, but there are two big rules. Huge rules. First, safety. And second, discretion. To live in polite society you have to not shock and dismay people. No embarrassing PDA. Public displays of….”
“We know what it means, Sarah,” Landon said.
“So.” She stared pointedly at Eve. “You on the pill?”
“Sarah,” Landon began.
But Eve shook her hea
d.
“Do you need me to take you to see a doctor? Because you should never have to buy another one of these,” she said, lifting the box.
“I…ah…”
“We got it, Sarah,” Landon said, more than a little furious with his sister.
“You have two days,” Sarah said. “You either go to the doctor or clinic or talk to someone in your family and tell them it’s not a good time to take crazy risks or… Or I will. Are we clear? Because I want to hear from your parents—either Lou or Mac, that is—or see evidence there’s a prescription in place.” She zeroed in on Landon. “And I’m counting on you, Landon.”
“Sarah, stop it!”
She took a step toward him. “I want you to imagine yourself having a daughter next year. And I want you to imagine her at sixteen—and she just bought a pregnancy test kit and I want you to ask yourself, would you ignore this and leave it up to a couple of kids to make a mistake that could really mess up their lives or would you say something. When you have an answer to those questions, I will indeed stop it!” They both just stared at her. She turned on a heel and went back to the bathroom, putting the kit back where she found it. Then she faced them again. “I hope you don’t have any big plans for your future life, Landon, because Mac might kill you! Love is grand. It’s also been known to kill a lot of brain cells. Talk among yourselves.”
And she left.
“I’m going to kill her….” Landon muttered.
“She’s right,” Eve murmured. “I’m just scared to face it.”
“You’re scared?” he asked. “Your father is going to kill me.”
“Landon, it was both of us.”
He smoothed her thick, dark hair over her shoulders. “You’re not afraid your aunt Lou will chew you out, are you?”
“No telling,” she said with a shrug. “She’s the best, but she has a double personality and the other one is pretty growly.”
He laughed. “Don’t they all.”
*
Three hours later, after the McCains had dinner and Aunt Lou had closed herself in her bedroom for alone time, Eve cautiously tapped on the door. She started with, “Can we talk for a minute?” and then said, “Landon and I have been dating for nine months or so and things are getting kind of…” She shrugged. “A little serious.”