Blame it on the Stars (The Blame Game)

by Hill, Jamie

  Dana beamed. “Yeah, isn’t it great?” She started pulling things out to show them.

  David grabbed his backpack and his one shopping bag, and said “I’m outta here. Thanks Mom. Love you.” He kissed Barbara on the cheek, and went up the stairs.

  “I love you too, sweetheart.” She watched him go, then turned to Catlin. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Barbara Naughton. Steve’s wife.”

  Catlin’s gut clenched. Wishing like hell she’d left earlier, she murmured, “Catlin McCall. Dana’s teacher.”

  Barbara continued to stare. “Her teacher, yet she calls you by your first name? Odd.”

  Steve cleared his throat. “Dana, why don’t you show your things to Miss McCall, while I see your mother out.”

  “Okay!” Dana said excitedly. “‘Bye Mom! See you next time.” She gave her mother a quick kiss, and then went back to Catlin.

  “Goodbye, dear.” Barbara told her daughter. “Miss McCall.”

  Catlin nodded, and watched Barbara turn on her heels.

  Steve whispered to Catlin, “One minute.” He followed Barbara into the living room, closing the French doors behind him.

  Dana hopped up “Ooh, he never shuts those doors! This could be good!” She went to the door and cracked it open a bit, just enough to hear her parents arguing.

  “Dana,” Catlin scolded. “That isn’t polite.”

  “Come on.” Dana waved her over. “They’re talking about you!”

  Catlin slipped in next to Dana and eavesdropped on Steve and Barbara.

  Barbara was screeching in a whisper “How old is she, nineteen? What could you be thinking, Steven? Obviously, you’re not thinking! Not with your brain, anyway—”

  Steve’s voice was angry but hushed. “This is not your concern anymore Barbara. You left me, remember? I wanted us all to move to Marshall, but you weren’t having any of it. Well, you chose your life, and I’m choosing mine.”

  “I was angry, Steven. I didn’t want to move to a small town. But I didn’t leave to split up our family, I just needed some time to think. I made a mistake.”

  “You sure as hell did,” he scoffed at her. “And the things you said to me on that last day will not soon be forgotten. You weren’t going away ‘to think’. You left me and our kids.”

  “No!” She was pleading with him now.

  Catlin tried to step away, but Dana held on to her arm. “Wait!” Dana whispered. They listened some more.

  “Barbara,” Steve’s voice was calmer now, but he spoke with steely resolve “You made your choice first. You knew what you were doing. So please don’t act so surprised that I’ve gone ahead with my life.”

  She turned her back on him and said sarcastically, “Well, every day comes with its own surprises, doesn’t it?”

  He shook his head. “What, New York didn’t work out for you? Is that what this is about?”

  She turned back around. “I didn’t want to go to New York by myself. I wanted to go with you.”

  He laughed and shook his head incredulously. “My life is in Kansas, Barbara. My company is here, my roots are here. Why would you think I would ever move to New York? You’re in fantasy-land again!”

  Her face was streaked with tears. Catlin wanted to move away so badly, but couldn’t. It was like a train wreck.

  Barbara grabbed Steve’s shirt. “I’m back now. I understand what you want....what you need. We could live in Kansas City. Or, if it’s what you really want, we could live in Marshall.”

  Dana apparently did not like this turn in the conversation. “Hmpff…” she snorted, and started to move. She lost her balance, and grabbed Catlin. Dana leaned in on the French doors, and pulled Catlin into the living room with her. They landed on the floor, just like a Stooges routine. But no one was laughing.

  Steve looked at them, his face registering surprise that they were eavesdropping.

  Barbara turned away and wiped at her face.

  Catlin and Dana scrambled to their feet. Catlin had never felt more embarrassed.

  “I’m sorry!” She mouthed to him, and pulled Dana back into the family room.

  Steve gave them an angry look, and firmly closed the glass doors between him and the girls.

  Catlin ran her hand through her hair “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.”

  Dana laughed, and dropped into the sofa. “That was priceless!”

  They heard the front door close, and Catlin looked in fear at the French doors. When Steve reopened them, he was not smiling.

  He looked from one girl to the other and crossed his arms. He started with Dana. “Are you proud of yourself?”

  She shrugged cockily, and started to say something. Steve cut her off in the loudest, angriest voice Catlin had ever heard from him.

  “Don’t even give me some smart-ass reply! What you saw in there was not pretty, and not intended for your eyes. I’m ashamed of you and very disappointed in you right now.”

  Tears streamed down Dana’s face.

  “Go to your room, and I’ll tell you when you can come out!”

  Dana sobbed as she dashed up the stairs.

  Catlin looked at Steve, surprised. “Well that was a little extreme, don’t you think?”

  He turned his back on her, and clenched his fists. When he turned around again, he started in on Catlin. “And you! Maybe you are as young as everyone keeps telling me! Don’t you know better than to listen in on conversations that don’t concern you?”

  “Hey now—” Catlin spoke up to defend herself, but Steve cut her off.

  “And I don’t need a smart-ass reply from you, either. How dare you encourage my daughter to spy on us?”

  “I did no such thing! I’ll admit I shouldn’t have been listening, but I never encouraged Dana to eavesdrop. She has a mind of her own in case you haven’t noticed.”

  “Don’t try to blame this on her. Who’s the adult in the room, anyway?”

  Catlin glanced around for her purse. “You’re right, only one adult in this room. I’m out of here.” She found her bag and grabbed it as she headed to the front door.

  “I’m not through with you!” Steve called after her.

  She faced him one more time. “What are you going to do, send me to my room?” She hurried out the front door and hopped in her car.

  When she got home and pushed her garage door opener, she saw Steve’s BMW. “Damn it!” She slapped her dash board, and parked on the street. “Well, he can just come and get it.” She closed the garage door, and dropped the opener in her pocket. She hauled her suitcases up to the front door, and went in.

  She threw herself on her bed, but realized her pillow smelled like Steve. For some reason that made her want to cry, but she wasn’t ready to cry yet. She was too angry.

  Catlin unpacked and puttered around her house. The phone rang three separate times, but she never answered it. Finally, two hours later, her doorbell rang. She peeked out and saw Steve on the steps. She opened the door, unsmiling.

  “Can I come in?” He asked quietly. He was not smiling either.

  “Not even if my hair was on fire,” she replied. “And you held the only bucket of water on Earth.”

  He nodded. “David dropped me off.”

  She stared at him.

  “I came to pick up my car.”

  “Well, duh.” She leaned against her door frame.

  “Catlin, I—”

  She cut him off. “I think I’ve heard just about enough out of you today. You’re on my turf now, and if you want your car, you’re going to listen to me for a minute.”

  “Well—” he started.

  She jumped in again. “No! I’m talking now. Don’t you ever speak to me like you did today. I am not your child, and I won’t be spoken to in that tone.” She poked him in the chest with her finger. “If you want to fight, we’ll fight. I’ll go nose to nose with you. But cut out that condescending bullshit and I mean it.”

  “If you don’t want to be spoken to like a child, then maybe you shouldn�
�t act like a child.”

  She shook her head. “Are you serious? I don’t think I was acting like a child. Okay, I made a mistake. I knew better than to listen in. But I did not encourage Dana to do so. She fell into that room on purpose, by the way.”

  Steve looked surprised, and Catlin continued. “And how dare you tell me that your conversation was none of my business? We’ve been together for a month now. Haven’t you figured out that what affects you, affects me? I love you, and I’m tired of that feeling not being reciprocated.”

  He said slowly, “A month is not twenty-one years, Catlin.”

  She looked at him angrily. “It’s a good thing you’re going out of town this week, because you have some decisions to make. You have two women who want you, imagine that. But you have to make a choice, because I’m not waiting around forever. And if you choose twenty-one years...well, I’ll be pissed. But eventually I’ll get over it.” She poked him in the chest with her finger again. “But if you choose me, I expect you to mean it. No more screwing around with my heart. And when we get to that anniversary, we’re skipping from twenty to twenty-two. Because I never want to hear the words twenty-one years again.” She reached in her pocket and pulled out her garage door opener. She pressed the button, and the door went up. “Now get the fuck out of here.”

  As she walked back into her house, Steve said, “Can I say one thing?”

  “No.” She closed the door in his face, and locked it.

  Catlin felt lousy in school the next day. She was looking over some yearbook layouts when Dana walked in sheepishly. “Hi, Miss M.,” she said quietly.

  “Hi Dana. How are you doing?”

  “I’m okay. I’m sorry about yesterday.”

  “Me too. Did you make up with your dad before he left?”

  The girl nodded. “We cleared things up last night. We’re okay. How about you guys?”

  Catlin shook her head. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

  Dana looked around to make sure no one else was there. “Catlin, Daddy’s sorry. He overreacted. I thought he said he was going to talk to you.”

  Catlin shrugged. “I was a little angry, myself. I think we can use a cooling off period.”

  Dana shook her head, and Clint Stewart walked in.

  “Good morning, beautiful ladies.” He bowed to them. “What a delightful way to start each day, viewing the countenances of—”

  “Clint,” Catlin interrupted.

  It was apparently enough said. Smiling, he walked to the back of the room.

  Dana looked at Catlin and whispered, “Did you know he asked me out?”

  “Clint?” Catlin raised her brows.

  Dana nodded and whispered, “Daddy freaked because Clint’s a senior. But he’s letting me go.”

  “Cool. Clint’s a good kid.” She handed Dana the layouts she had been looking at. “Why don’t you see if he can help you with these?”

  In the teacher’s lounge after school, Catlin and Jetta were getting ready for a teacher’s meeting. She told Jetta about the events of Sunday afternoon and her argument with Steve.

  Jetta thought the Stooges part was hysterically funny.

  Catlin shook her head. “Maybe I can laugh about it someday, but not yet.”

  Jetta squeezed Catlin shoulders, and Catlin just sat there, trying not to let the tears escape from her eyes and run down her face.

  Catlin’s phone rang at nine-o-clock that evening. She didn’t answer it. She went to bed and cried herself to sleep.

  When she went into the lounge for her planning period on Wednesday, the school secretary called to her on the intercom. “Catlin! Delivery for you.” She walked around the corner to the office and saw a dozen roses.

  She read the card and smiled slowly.

  “I may have overreacted.” was all it said.

  She thought about answering the phone when it rang that night, but she didn’t.

  On their lunch break the next day, Catlin and Jetta were looking through a magazine when the secretary buzzed the intercom again. “Catlin, your dentist’s office is on line two.”

  “Oh great,” Catlin muttered sarcastically, and reached for the phone. “I have an appointment next week. I suppose they’re calling to reschedule it.” She picked up the phone and punched line two. “This is Catlin McCall.”

  “You don’t seem to have phone service at home anymore,” Steve said to her.

  “This is not my dentist.” She looked at Jetta and waggled her eyebrows.

  “No, but please don’t hang up. It is important.”

  “I’m not hanging up.”

  “Did you get the flowers?”

  “I did. I wasn’t sure who sent them, though.”

  He chuckled softly. “Lots of people overreacting in your life these days?”

  “Way too many to count.”

  “I’ll be home tomorrow. I’d like to see you.”

  “I have plans,” she lied.

  He chuckled at her. “You’re not going to make this easy, are you? Saturday, then?”

  “I might be free on Saturday. What exactly am I accepting?”

  “I’d like to take you to dinner.”

  “To break up with me? Because you can do that right now and save the price of dinner.”

  He laughed outright. “I’m not breaking up with you. But I’d rather not talk about it over the phone. Can I pick you up at six?”

  “I suppose.”

  “I’ll look forward to it.”

  “See you then,” she replied, trying not to get her hopes up by looking forward to anything.

  He arrived at six-o-clock sharp, as she knew he would. Catlin opened the door, forcing herself to remain stoic.

  He had a dozen roses, and a bottle of water. “In case your hair is on fire.”

  She laughed, and took a step back so he could come in. “Thank you.” She took the flowers.

  He set the bottle down on the table. “You look beautiful. I’ve missed you so much.”

  She gazed into his eyes. “Have you figured things out, then?”

  He shook his head. “I had nothing to figure out. I’ve known I wanted you since the minute I laid eyes on you. And I still feel that way.”

  “But, Barbara...” she trailed off.

  Steve took the flowers from her hands, and laid them on the table. He held her hands in his. “Barbara and I were through before I met you. Do you honestly think I would have started something with you if I still had feelings for her?”

  “So I worried all week for nothing?”

  “Serves you right. Next time maybe you’ll answer the phone when I call.”

  She flew into his arms and hugged him tightly. He picked her up, and squeezed with all his might.

  When he set her down, Catlin took a step back, and looked into his eyes. “Sunday was horrible, Steve. I never want to argue like that again.”

  “Oh, we’re going to argue. You know we are. But you’re right, that was bad. We’ll do it better next time.”

  She snuggled up next to him. “I hope next time is... not for a long, long time.”

  He lifted her chin and kissed her. Tears were streaming down her face as she whispered “I wasn’t sure we’d ever be like this again.”

  He brushed the tears away. “You really were thinking the worst, weren’t you?”

  She nodded. “I went through three boxes of tissues.”

  He laughed, and hugged her to him. “Go dry your eyes. I’m taking you out.”

  “Steve,” she touched his chest. “Let’s stay in. I don’t care about dinner. I just want to be alone with you.”

  “We have all night to be alone. David and Dana are spending the night with friends. I’m staying here tonight.”

  She smiled up at him, and hugged his neck tightly. “That sounds good. I missed you, too. But I don’t really want to go out. Can’t we stay in?

  “I had something I wanted to tell you, over candlelight and dancing.”

  She was loosening hi
s tie. “Something you can’t tell me over pizza and sex?”

  He chuckled as Catlin unbuttoned his shirt and ran her hands over his chest. “No, I guess that might be the perfect time to tell you.” He let Catlin pull him into the bedroom and they were all over each other, clothes flying.

  Catlin worked herself underneath him, and moaned as he entered her. “Oh my God, did I ever miss you…” She clutched at his back.

  Steve slowed to a gentle rhythm and put his mouth next to her ear. “I just wanted to tell you that I love you, Catlin. I love you more than I could have ever thought possible.”

  She grinned at him and whooped, “Thank you, Jesus!”

  Steve laughed and Catlin wrapped her legs tightly around his back. “Well, come on, show me how much you love me.” She rocked her hips back and forth, and he obliged.

  Much later, when Catlin was almost asleep in Steve’s arms, he whispered it again. “I love you.”

  She squeezed her arms around him and smiled.

  Catlin was making breakfast the next morning when Steve came out of the shower. “Good morning.” He kissed her gently.

  “Mmm, good morning to you. Last night was great.”

  “Yeah, it was.” He let her go long enough to slip into his clothes. “Hey, I need to talk to you about something.” He pulled up two chairs to the kitchen table.

  “Oh God, I can’t stand anymore talking,” she moaned. “I think I’m out of tissue.”

  “This isn’t bad,” he assured her. “I just want to make sure you understand where things are between us. Because I do love you. And I respect you too much to keep you guessing.”

  “Okay,” she said slowly.

  He took her hand. “I’d like to continue to see you, with the idea of marriage somewhere down the road.”

  “Oh Steve.” She kissed him.

  “But we have a few hurdles to jump between here and there. Namely, my kids and my divorce. I am going ahead with the divorce, by the way, and Barbara has agreed not to fight it.”

  “That’s wonderful!”

  “It’s still going to be sticky. We just have to take things slow.”

  She nodded. “I can. I can do whatever it takes to spend my life with you.”