“Kendall, that’s a hot name!” Erin cries, placing her hand in Kendall’s.
Kendall gives her a parting smile, obviously satisfied in finding that Erin is proving her suspicions to be correct.
“What’s your name?” Wes asks as Kendall buries her head in the fridge.
“Erin,” she chirps. “What’s yours, handsome?”
“Wes.”
“Wes, that’s hot!”
Kendall closes the fridge enough that she can look over to us with a look that screams her thoughts of Erin being a moron.
“I’ve got to get out of here. You should go to class, Miller,” Wes adds. As he passes me, his shoulder crashes into mine and he doesn’t turn around. He disappears out the front door without another word.
“Hi, sweetheart, it’s Mom. Your brothers will be here at three on Thursday. I was hoping you’d arrive a little early if you don’t have anything else going on. I’d like to hear how things are going.” There’s a brief pause. “We won’t discuss anything about … it, I promise. I just want to see you.”
Guilt pangs me, knowing I’m causing her to feel the sadness that’s evident in her voice. We’ve all lost David, but that was the tip of the iceberg. After she left, I knew my mom’s and Muriel’s relationship became strained. I’m sure largely because of me, but she assured me that she made the choice because she didn’t agree with Muriel’s actions following David’s death, feeling she was being disrespectful by moving on so quickly.
I hit a couple of buttons to call her, and hear the phone ring twice before she answers it.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Hi, sweetheart!” Relief floods her tone. “How are you doing?”
“Good. How are you?” I haven’t seen my mom in a couple of months now, not since I was there after the camping trip in August. I avoid going home and make excuses for her to come here.
“I’m good. Did you get my message?”
I hear a flood of voices and sounds behind her. “Are you still at work?” I ask, glancing at the clock and seeing that it’s past nine.
“Yeah, I’m just wrapping some things up. It’s not a big deal.”
I should ask her why she’s there so late, make sure everything’s going alright, but I’ve been so absent lately, I feel like asking will just make it more pronounced, so I don’t. “I was going to bring someone with me Thursday. I just wanted to call and make sure it’s alright.”
I pull the phone away from my ear to see if the phone has disconnected as silence greets me. I watch the seconds tick and put it back to my ear. “Mom?”
“Yes, sorry …” I hear her swallow and can picture her frazzled expression as she tries to act nonchalant. “Of course, you can bring someone, sweetheart. Are you bringing Wes?”
She’s fishing. She used to think that her mom was the only person that was overly interested in her children’s business. Muriel had been a bit consumed with knowing everything, but the fishing is a trait I think girls develop at a young age and master the day their children are born.
“No, her name’s Erin.”
My mom’s silent for another beat. “That’s terrific, honey. I’m so excited to meet her and to see you!” I notice that her pitch is a little higher than normal.
“We’ll be there around noon.”
“Terrific! That’s just terrific.”
“Mom, stop saying terrific. I’ll see you Thursday.”
“Terr—” She clears her throat. “That will be great, honey. I’ll see you then.”
I hang up and toss my phone on the bed, releasing a deep breath. Erin has been heavily hinting about spending time with me for the holiday, pressuring me about going to San Francisco to meet her family. I’m not about to go traipsing into that bear trap and figure this will suffice.
I’ve been dreading Thanksgiving since October. Some memories are easier to suppress than others. Last Thanksgiving is a memory I don’t think I’ll ever be able to erase.
“What are your brothers’ names again?” Erin asks as she flips through the radio stations, stopping when she gets to an unfamiliar rap song.
“Hank and Billy.”
“And their wives names are … Sam and …”
I glance over and see her looking lost in thought as she works to recall Molly’s name. “Sarah and Molly,” I provide.
“Molly!” she cries. “That’s a hot name!”
Sarah’s going to eat me alive.
I diligently work to avoid looking next door as we pull into my mom’s driveway, and hear Zeus’s soft whines from behind me.
As soon as I open the door to let him out, he makes a mad dash to the Bosse residence and whines, pawing at the door.
“Zeus!” I call, clapping my hands a couple of times. “Zeus, come here, boy!”
“Hey, mongrel.” I glance up as Mr. Janes crosses the street, clapping his hands firmly together. Zeus turns to acknowledge him and lets out another whimper before putting his head down and walking over to him.
Mr. Janes runs a hand over his back and roughly pats his flank a few times. “They’re out of town. Went to Hawaii for the week.”
“Who did?” Erin asks, coming around the front of my truck.
“You got a new everything, huh?” Mr. Janes comments, ignoring her question. His eyes fall back to Zeus as he pats him a few more times. “I’m glad you took him. I was worried about him after she left. With David gone, and her being gone, he wasn’t been the same.” It’s as though he knows I can’t hear the sound of her name. “How could anyone be?” He looks at me, and his lips press together in what I think is supposed to be a smile, but instead, they curve down in a frown.
“Max?”
I turn to look over my shoulder and see my mom striding toward us, her brown hair’s wrapped up in a clip and an apron’s tied around her waist.
“Jack, how are you doing? How’s Ethel?”
Mr. Janes shrugs and looks back to Zeus. “She’s feeling alright, I suppose. Our kids are over helping to cook dinner because she’s not supposed to be puttering around right now.”
My mom gives him a sympathetic look that he doesn’t see as he pats Zeus some more. “I baked a pie for you guys. I’ll send it over in a bit.”
Mr. Janes nods a few times and then backs away before looking up at us. “You take care,” he says, and then turns and shuffles back across the street to his house.
I watch the door close before I turn around and feel my mom’s arms encase me. “What happened to Ethel?” I ask as I wrap an arm around her shoulder.
“She fell and broke her hip a few weeks ago.”
I’d hardly known the Janes’ prior to last summer. He’d acknowledge my presence as I drove by with a brief nod, and that was about it. Once I started hanging around her, though, he suddenly took notice of me, talking to me if he saw me out in my driveway, telling me old stories about The Korean War, and of his brothers being in World War II, and how all five of his older brothers had returned alive, something that was a great feat at that time.
He spoke proudly of them and the rest of his family, but he held a special note when he spoke of his wife, Ethel. They’ve been married for over fifty years, and he makes it abundantly clear that she’s the love of his life. Jack offered me unsolicited advice on women and relationships every chance he got.
“Is she okay?”
My mom lets out a small sigh as she releases me, still grasping my hand within hers. “She will be. Jack wouldn’t allow it any other way.” She laughs and turns to face Erin.