The clown’s brown eyes shifted to Sadie. “No problemo. Su casa es mi casa.”
With a bob of his head, Clancy and his neon red, size fourteen shoes clomped into the living room. He was welcomed by a boisterous Sam who shrieked with delight.
“Oh, Jesus,” Sadie moaned.
“Just think how loud things’ll be when Sam starts talking,” Leah said. “Once he starts, you won’t be able to shut him up.”
“That will be the best day of my life.”
Leah’s expression grew sad. “I know.”
Sadie watched Sam and his friends play with Clancy. The kids were fascinated by the clown, pulling on his suspenders and stepping on his huge shoes, and shrieking when he sprayed them with the daisy.
“Hey,” Leah said, jabbing her. “Let’s grab a glass of chocolate milk. I need something to wash down this popcorn. ”
As Sadie followed her into the kitchen, she peered over her shoulder. Sam’s beaming face brought a smile to her own.
“You’re a lucky mama,” Leah said softly.
“I know. Sam is the best thing in my life.”
When the door closed behind the last child, Sadie and Leah released a collective sigh, looked at each other and laughed.
“Birthdays were way easier when he was a baby,” Sadie said.
Leah pushed back her limp hair. “I just have one thing to say to you, my friend. I’m going to have a root canal this time next year. It’ll be a slice of heaven compared to this.”
“If you can get a two for one special I’ll come with you.”
“Yeah, but that would mean Phil would have to actually show up,” her friend said sourly.
The smile on Sadie’s face faded.
“Hey,” Leah said. “I’m sure he’s got a good reason for not making his own kid’s birthday party.”
Sadie raised a brow. “You think?”
“Well, he must have. He may be a jerk to me and treat you like crap most of the time… but he loves Sam.”
“I know, but sometimes I think he loves himself more.”
“Well, cheer up,” Leah said, eying the mess in the room. “Sam’s party was a complete success.”
Sadie slumped into a chair. “Yeah. Thank God for Clancy. He did a great job keeping the kids entertained. I was so busy in the kitchen trying to get those darned sparklers to light that I didn’t even see him leave.
“And lucky you, you get to do it all over again tomorrow.”
“Yeah, the family birthday party. You’ll be here, right?”
“Wouldn’t miss it. Sam’ll be so happy when he sees that bike you got him.”
“I’m going to take him to the park to practice on it next weekend. Do you want to come?”
“Sure.”
Leah disappeared into the kitchen and Sadie heard her rummage through the fridge.
“Ah-ha!” her friend called out. “The perfect year.”
When she reappeared, she had two glasses of peach ice tea. She handed one to Sadie. “Drink up. Then I’ll help you clean up this mess before Philip sees it.”
Sadie’s woeful gaze drifted around the living room. Paper plates were piled everywhere. They had somehow gone astray and hadn’t made it into the garbage can that she had so thoughtfully provided next to the dining room table. Plastic cups, some half full of pop, were on every table and counter space. There were more cups than there had been kids.
“Ugh,” Leah said behind her.
Sadie followed her friend’s gaze.
A chocolate cake smear—so dark it almost looked like dried blood—stretched across the kitchen wall, three feet from the ground, a small handprint at the end.
“Your house is a disaster,” Leah said unnecessarily.
Sadie sighed. “Well, at least it’s quiet.”
Sam had gone upstairs to his room, tired from all the excitement and junk food. The last time she had seen him, he was lying on his bed.
“He’s probably asleep,” Leah said, reading her thoughts.
Sadie gulped down her ice tea, then set to work on the kitchen, while Leah looked after the living room. After an hour had passed, all that was left to do was run the vacuum over the carpets and turn on the dishwasher.
“All done,” Leah said, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow.
“Thanks. I can handle what’s left.”
As Sadie watched Leah climb into her car, a part of her wanted to holler, ‘Come back!’
“You’re being silly,” she muttered.
Sadie closed the door and slid the deadbolt into place. Then she locked up the rest of the house, set the alarm for the night and went upstairs to check on Sam.
When she opened the door to his room, she smiled. Sam was stretched out across his bed. On top of the blankets. A soft snore issued from his half-opened mouth. He had passed out from exhaustion, his face covered with chocolate cake, white, black and blue icing, and an orange pop mustache.
“Happy birthday, little man,” she whispered, tucking an extra blanket around him.
She closed the door and headed downstairs to wait for Philip.
Sadie was abruptly roused from a deep sleep. She jerked to a sitting position, inhaling deeply, and looked at the space beside her. It was unoccupied, the blanket still tucked under the pillow. She had waited for Philip downstairs for hours. Eventually, she had given up and gone to bed.
She peered at the bedroom clock. It was half past midnight. She’d only been asleep for about forty-five minutes. In the murky shadows of the room, she felt a foreign presence, a movement of air that was so subtle it could have been her own breath.
A draft?
She squinted at the window. It was closed.
Somewhere in the house a floorboard creaked.
Philip must be home.
Tossing the blankets aside, she slid from the bed and walked to the door. Remembering the brick thrown through Sam’s window, she froze. Her stomach fluttered as she imagined a gang of teen hoodlums breaking into the house.
But the alarm would go off, silly.
Still, she pressed an ear to the door and strained to listen.
At first, there was silence. Then another creak.
“Philip,” she mumbled.
She was about to open the door when she heard an unfamiliar ticking sound. Had Philip bought a clock for the hall?
She listened again.
Tick… tick, tick.
Whatever it was, it was coming closer.
Her heart began to pound a maniacal rhythm and her breath quickened. When a shadow passed underneath the door, she held her breath. Her heart thumped almost painfully in her chest.
Then the shadow was gone.
Cautiously, she opened the door. Just a crack.
The hall was empty.
And no ticking.
Maybe I dreamt it.
With a tremulous laugh, she flung open the door, a show of false bravado. Maybe Philip was working in his office. Maybe he’d gone to check on Sam.
“Philip?”
She walked down the hall and stopped in front of Sam’s room. Her toes tingled as a draft teased her feet. She shivered, then opened the door.
The window that Philip had replaced gaped open—black and hungry—like a mouth waiting to be fed. The curtains flapped in the night wind, two tongues lashing out.
She frowned. Philip hadn’t left the window open. He’d gone to work early, without a word to either of them. And Sam couldn’t have opened it. He wasn’t tall enough.
Did I leave it open?
She crossed the room, barely looking at the mound in the bed. She reached for the window and tugged it shut. The lock clicked into place, the sharp sound shattering the stillness.
Then she glanced at the bed.
Sam hadn’t even stirred. But then again, he never did. He was almost comatose when he slept and nothing could wake him early, short of a sonic boom.
She tiptoed to the bed and touched his hair. Then, closing her eyes, she leaned down, kissed his warm forehead and breathed in his sweet child scent. He smelled of chocolate and sunshine.