by Barbara Gee
“Grammy says Larry is funny. Look—he’s jumping!”
“Can you jump like Larry?” I asked, settling down beside her.
“Yes!” Lily demonstrated her mad jumping skills, then sat back down, giggling. “Can you jump, My-My?”
“I can. I’ll show you sometime.”
“Do it now!” she begged.
I laughed. “In a minute, sweetie. I have to go talk to your Grammy a little bit before she leaves.”
I got back to my feet and Adalyn gave me a few instructions, along with some suggestions for lunch. Her fridge and kitchen were well stocked, so I had no worries of going hungry. Louise showed up and Adalyn introduced us, then Louise helped her friend into her coat and they left.
I rejoined Lily, did my best Larry the Cucumber jumping imitation—which delighted her—then opened the big tote bag I’d brought and took out some shiny craft paper in shades of red, pink, and white.
“What you gonna do, My-My?” Lily asked, hurrying over.
“We’re going to do a project,” I said, making it sound very important. I took the paper over to the table by the window where Lily had some random art supplies already laying out.
“What’s a project?” she asked, her dark eyes shining with anticipation.
“Well, the project we’re going to do right now is making something pretty that Grammy’s going to like.”
“Can I do it?”
“I sure hope so. I can’t do it all by myself.” I found some scissors and tape in a drawer. “Do you know what Valentine’s Day is, Lily?”
She shook her head and looked worried. “No, but I still wanna help.”
“Don’t worry, you can help.” I smoothed her curls with my hand, wondering if a sweeter little girl had ever existed. “Valentine’s Day is in a couple of weeks, and it’s special because it’s a day when we tell people we love them. Does Grammy ever draw hearts for you?”
Her face brightened. “Yup! I know what a heart looks like!”
“Good. Now watch this.” I folded a sheet of red paper, cut the familiar curve, then opened it up to show a heart about the size of my hand.
“A heart!” Lily said reverently. “You maked a red heart!”
“I sure did. But we’re not finished yet. We’re gonna make a bunch more hearts to show your Grammy how much you love her. I’ll cut them out—you’ll have to tell me what colors and sizes you want—and then you’re going to tell me some things you really, really, really love about your Grammy. I’ll write those things on the hearts, and then we’re going to make a paper chain and put the hearts on it.”
“Then what?”
“Then we’re going to hang it in Grammy’s bedroom, so every time she goes to bed she’ll see it and feel good because you love her so much.”
“Can you make pink hearts?”
“Mmm hmm. See here, I have light pink paper and dark pink paper.”
“I wanna use all the colors.”
“You got it. How big do you want the dark pink heart?”
She flung her arms as wide as they would go and I laughed. “But my paper isn’t that big!”
She brought her arms in a little bit, and I held up the pink paper. “How about if I just make it as big as I can with this piece of paper?”
“Yeah. And then make a white one.”
At her direction, I cut out a dozen hearts of various colors and sizes. “Okay, now this is the real important part. This is where you tell me things about Grammy that you love. Or things she does for you that make you happy. What’s the first thing?”
“She gets me chocklit ice cream!”
Lily watched closely as I wrote that down and selected another heart. “What else?”
“She gives me tickle-kisses!”
“Huh?” I gave her an exaggerated questioning look. “What in the world are tickle-kisses?”
She giggled. “She kisses me and tickles me—like this!” Lily dug her little fingers into my sides, making me jerk because I was definitely ticklish.
“Ah, I see. She kisses and tickles at the same time.” I wrote tickle-kisses on the heart.
“She makes cupcakes and mack’in cheese!”
We kept going until all twelve hearts had something written on them, then I started cutting strips of paper to make a chain. Lily took pieces of tape from the dispenser and carefully placed them on the loops where I told her, delighted when the chain started taking shape. I’d expected her to tire of the activity and leave me to finish it, but she stuck with me the whole time, her face glowing when I stood and held the colorful chain up to its full five-foot length.
“It’s bootiful!” she crowed, clapping.
“It sure is. Now all we need to do is put your hearts on it, then we can hang it up for a surprise for Grammy.”
We taped the hearts along the length of the chain, positioning them so they faced the same direction, making it easy to read them all from the bed. Then it was just a matter of finding a good place to hang it.
“Does Grammy allow you to go in her bedroom?” I asked, just to be sure.
“Yes! I’ll show you it.”
She grabbed my hand and I grabbed the chain and we went down the hall, farther than I’d been before.
“This is Grammy’s room,” Lily announced, stopping at a door. “And that’s my room,” she added, pointing across the hall. “Wanna see it?”
“I’d love to see your room, but let’s figure out where to hang this first, okay?”
“Yeah, let’s hang it up.”
We went into Adalyn’s room and I really hoped she wouldn’t mind the invasion. The room was bright and spacious and meticulously neat. There was a sconce lamp on the wall near the left side of the bed, and we decided that would be a perfect place to hang the chain. I’d brought a piece of tape along and we secured the chain to the arm of the lamp, then I had Lily stand beside it so I could take a picture to show JP.
“I like that chain,” the little girl stated. “Wanna see my room now?”
“I sure do.”
I expected to see a typical pink princess-y room, but instead it was a lovely cornflower blue with lime green and purple accents.
“I love this,” I said. “Hey, is your bed comfy?” Before she could answer I walked over to it and fell back onto the puffy blue and white comforter with my legs and arms sprawled. Lily squealed and joined me. I gave her a tickle-kiss, then asked if she wanted to read some books. Of course she did and scrambled off the bed to choose a stack of them from her bookshelf.
We eventually left her room and made our way back to the playroom. I was starting to think about what to make for lunch when the doorbell rang. I picked up the remote for the TV and turned Veggie Tales back on.
“Here, Lily, you can watch Larry again while I go see who’s at the door.”
I hurried down the hall as the doorbell pealed again. The glass panels flanking the door were frosted so I couldn’t see who was there, but whoever it was seemed a bit impatient. I leaned in toward the peephole to look out, then jerked away from the door as if I’d gotten an electric shock.
Haley was out there!
I stood frozen, my heart thudding rapidly as I tried to think what I should do. My first instinct was to not open the door at all and let her come back later, after I’d had a chance to talk to JP. But then she started pounding on it. Loudly.
“Come on, Mom, I know you’re in there,” she yelled. “Open up.”
Ignoring her wasn’t an option because if she kept this racket up, Lily was going to hear and come out to see what was going on. I took a deep breath, my heart now pounding so hard I could hear the beats in my ears, then unlocked and opened the door. I quickly stepped out onto the porch, closing the door behind me and standing square in front of it to block her from trying to get in.
She reared back when I suddenly stepped into her space, hitting her shoulder on one of the slender columns attached to the porch roof. Her eyes widened to almost comical proportions when she recognized me
.
“What—what the—oh give me a freaking break. What are you doing here?”
“Babysitting,” I said, sounding far calmer than I felt. “How about you?”
Her perfectly waxed brows came down in a frown. I had to admit, for a long-time drug user she looked pretty good, if you could get past the sunken cheeks and almost skeletal figure.
“I’m here to see my mother, of course,” she said, her light brown eyes flashing with indignation. “Will you please move so I can go in and have her explain why she let you anywhere near my daughter?”
“Adalyn’s not home, which would explain why I’m babysitting. You’ll have to come back later.”
She put a hand on her hip and took a step toward me. “I’ll wait for her. Inside. This is my home. You can’t tell me to leave.”
“It’s Adalyn’s home, and I’m telling you exactly that. You need to leave. Lily’s in there, and until I hear from Adalyn that it’s okay for you to see her, I can’t let you in.”
Her red lips twisted evilly. “You’re telling me I can’t see my own daughter?”
“Adalyn’s house, Adalyn’s daughter,” I said. “Come back later this evening, or better yet, call her later and talk to her before you show up. She’s sick, you already know that, and she doesn’t need unexpected stress.”
Her expression was pure ice. “Let me guess,” she bit out. “You’re back with JP and you think that gives you some kind of power. Well, you cannot tell me what to do. Either step aside, or I’ll go right through you.”
I gave her a cool smile. “I wouldn’t suggest that—it might be a little tougher than you think. What I would suggest is that you consider the security camera pointing right at us. Unless of course you don’t mind having an assault charge on your record.”
Her head jerked up and her eyes searched the roof of the porch.
“Pinhole cam in the right sconce,” I said helpfully, folding my arms and leaning comfortably back against the door. I was totally making it up, but I made sure I looked and sounded convincing. “It automatically records whenever it detects movement.”
Haley’s eyes narrowed with fury and for a moment I thought she was going to come at me anyway, but she held back. Which was lucky for her. I’d been a soldier, after all, and even though I’d had a desk job, I was trained to be pretty good in a fight.
“I don’t want you anywhere near my daughter,” she bit out.
Oh, there was so much I could say, but I bit my tongue and went with, “You don’t have a say in that.”
Again the evil smile. “Maybe not yet, but I will, I can assure you of that.” She tossed her head and whirled to go down the steps. “I’ll be back. That’s a promise.”
I didn’t respond, just held my position at the door. When she was halfway down the sidewalk she looked back. “Tell JP I’ve missed him,” she jeered. “I can’t wait to see him—maybe we can pick up right where we left off. You remember where that was, right, Myla?”
I didn’t feel even a shred of the jealousy she was hoping for, just sadness and pity. I stayed silent while she sashayed to her small beige sedan, which I assumed was a rental. I wondered where she’d come in from. It had been four days since she’d talked to Adalyn. Had she been driving all that time, or had she taken a couple of days to prepare for the trip?
She gave a taunting wave as she got in the car. “Later,” she called. “Be sure to tell JP I’m looking for him.”
I waited until she’d driven off before going back inside and locking the door. I hurried to the playroom, relieved to find an unfazed Lily swaying to yet another Veggie Tales song.
“Look at Larry, My-My,” she said with a laugh when I walked over to her. “He’s funny!”
“Yes, he is. Do you want to take a break from Larry and go find some lunch?”
She jumped to her feet. “Yeah! I’m hungry!”
We went to the kitchen and I tried to put my worries about Haley aside so Lily wouldn’t pick up on my unease. I let her choose between turkey sandwiches or grilled cheese, apples or carrots. A few minutes later we sat down with turkey and cheese on the croissants I’d found, apple slices, and some goldfish crackers. After a few bites, I told Lily I needed to call her daddy to make sure he knew what a good girl she was being.
She crunched a cracker and grinned. “Tell Daddy to come play with us.”
“I’ll ask him, but I’m pretty sure he has to work for a while yet.” I didn’t say anything about her possibly going to JP’s with me later that evening, because everything felt so up in the air right now. But I needed to ask him about that, as I’d promised Adalyn, and of course give him the bad news about Haley showing up.
I left Lily happily eating and went out to the hall to call. I hated to do it because it was going to ruin JP’s day, but I had no choice.
“Hey, babe,” he greeted, making me smile in spite of everything. “How’s it going?”
“Lily and I are having a great time, but….I have to tell you a couple of things.”
There was a pause. “Things I’m not gonna like?” he asked perceptively.
“Yeah. Adalyn’s had a couple bad days,” I replied, going with the lesser evil first. “She said if she feels as bad after her treatment today as she did yesterday, she thinks it might be better if Lily comes to spend the rest of the week with you.”
Another pause, and I was pretty sure I heard the rasp of his hand running along the stubble on his jaw. “Yeah, I mean obviously I’ll make it work. I want her to come, I just don’t have much time to make plans. I’ll need to rearrange some stuff at work, but it should be doable.”
“I don’t teach until Friday,” I reminded him, “so I can take care of her tomorrow if you need to work.”
“I’m not going to make you do that two days in a row.”
“JP, I don’t mind. She could come to my place, and if it’s okay with you I could take her over to meet my mom and dad. They’ve been asking when that’s going to happen.”
“Of course it’s okay with me. Maybe I could work the morning, then come home and relieve you in the afternoon. I’ll see what I can figure out.”
“Okay, just remember I’m available all day and I honestly don’t mind spending it with Lily.”
“Thanks. You know I appreciate you, right?”
I smiled again. “You might have to show me just how much,” I said, teasing him in an effort to put off the next topic of discussion.
His low chuckle made me shiver. “I’ll be sure to do that.”
“And I’ll look forward to it.” I paused, letting out a long breath. “JP,” I said reluctantly, “there’s something else I have to tell you, and it’s a lot more serious than having to rearrange your schedule.”
His response came quickly this time. “Did Haley call again?”
Once again I was amazed at how perceptive the man was. “No, she didn’t call…..she showed up here twenty minutes ago.”
“You’re kidding.” He let out a frustrated growl. “I assume you didn’t let her in?”
“No, but I had to get a little creative. She threatened to force her way past me, so I told her there was a security camera recording us.”
He grunted. “That was good thinking. I should actually talk to someone about installing a surveillance system. I’m sure this won’t be her only visit.”
“It definitely won’t be. I told her she’ll have to come back later, when Adalyn is home. But I don’t know how well Adalyn will handle that if she’s feeling as sick and weak as she did this morning.”
“Maybe I need to head over there.”
I ran a hand through my hair, hating that his life had been thrown into such turmoil. “I don’t know if you should. Adalyn and Haley really do need to talk, and part of me thinks it would be better just the two of them. If you’re there, Haley will fixate on getting your attention and there won’t be any chance for Adalyn to try and reason with her. I just wish Adalyn could be stronger physically before they face off.”
> “Me too, but my guess is Haley won’t wait very long before showing up again, and she won’t care how Adalyn’s feeling. The most important thing is to make sure Lily isn’t there. She needs to come back here with you, even if Adalyn handles today’s treatment better than expected.”
“I agree, and I think Adalyn will too. Plan on that unless I call you back later.”
“Yeah, okay. And if Haley shows up again before Adalyn gets home, don’t open the door.”
“I wouldn’t have opened it the first time, but she was pounding on it and yelling and I didn’t want Lily to hear. But I think we’ll be okay. Adalyn should be home in an hour or so, and I can leave as soon as we get Lily’s things packed. If Adalyn’s on board, of course.”
“Text me when you’re ready to leave so I know when to expect you. Hopefully Lily will be okay for you during the drive.”
“It’ll be nap time, so she’ll probably sleep for most of it. And yes, I’ll text you.”
I heard his desk chair creak and I pictured him getting up and pacing. “Thanks for all this, Myla. You’ll probably beat me to the house—do you have your key?”
“I do. Bye for now, and don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”
“Call if you need anything. And I do mean anything.”
I promised I would and hung up. I returned to the kitchen to finish lunch, and dear little unsuspecting Lily chattered all the way through the remaining half of her sandwich and a bowl of her beloved chocolate ice cream. I wanted to prepare her to go back to JP’s with me, but since Adalyn hadn’t given a final okay on that, I simply asked her if she would want to go back to JP’s house again sometime soon, so she could play with the toys she’d left there.
As I’d expected, she was all over that and begged to know when she could go. I told her I’d talk to her Grammy and see, but it would probably be really soon.
“Today?” she asked with wide, hopeful eyes.
I laughed. “I don’t know, maybe.”
“Grammy can’t play with me much cuz she don’t feel good,” Lily said, her face falling. “I told her to take med’cin. Like she gives me when I fro up.”
“You’re a very smart little girl,” I said. I made a mental note to talk with Adalyn and find out what she’d told Lily about her cancer, so I wouldn’t inadvertently say too much and then have to try to explain it. To be safe, I changed the subject and asked Lily what she wanted to do next.