Leann gave me a distracted kiss on the cheek and I caught the small, white bags she shoved into my arms and followed the whirlwind of a woman as she marched into the living room.
She greeted Mom with kiss when she’d finally made it back from the bathroom and pulled Koa into her arms before Leann offered my father a nod. Then, she turned on me. “Too busy to answer your phone?”
God that woman was loud.
“Didn’t hear it.”
When mom shook her head and reached for the bag in my hand, Leann moved her toward the dining room table. “Sit down, Keira. I’ll fix you a plate. You can have your lunch then rest.”
“You’re not hungry?” Mom asked.
“Big breakfast. Besides,” she said moving her head toward the kitchen before she inhaled, “I’m not really in the mood for one of your classic southern Sunday lunches. No roast for me,” she said, waving my mother off as she handed the baby back to my father. Leann zipped around the room like a firecracker. Our cousin had more energy than even me most days. “Relax,” she said to my mother and nodded to me as Dad and settled Koa into his high chair.
Leann did this, always—bossing, supervising, until everyone around her was settled.
Today was no exception and we all watched her move around us, directing me to dole out plates, set up dishes on the table until lunch was underway. Until Leann’s incessant questions, “Keira, where’s the laundry detergent?” and “Kona, you didn’t fix that shelf?” had my father kicking Leann out of the laundry room and away from his To-Do list.
“Sit,” he told Leann, as he maneuvered her next to Mom at the table, then he helped Koa out of his high chair.
Leann seemed incapable of not fidgeting, keeping her foot in a constant bounce. But that was Leann. She had two sons and hundreds of dance students. Her days were hectic and she never seemed able to slow down.
When Leann’s phone rang and she pulled it from her pocket, my mom smiled at me, sending me a look that told me she was happy her cousin wasn’t bouncing around the room anymore.
Now that things had quieted down a bit, Mom tilted her head, her eyes sharp as she looked me over; I could feel the interrogation coming. “Everything okay?” She leaned forward, reaching for my hand across the table. “What’s going on with you?”
My mom was the strongest person I’d ever known, having raised me alone on nothing but determination and with the help of a couple of good friends. Then, against the odds, she went on to build a career with a kid in tow. Now she had to contend with being in the spotlight; not just her career as a Nashville songwriter, but Dad’s very public persona as a retired football superstar and new defensive coach at CPU, all while juggling a toddler and another on the way. She didn’t need the burden of my fucked up head or the stupid shit I couldn’t seem to let go of, too. So I said what came naturally—something slightly rude, and sure to make her laugh. “It’s all the girls, Mom. They all want me and it’s just so exhausting.”
“Ugh.” Mom’s dramatic disgust was almost as funny as how hard she slapped my hand away from hers. “You are so full of it.”
“That’s genetic,” Dad said in passing, as he moved from the kitchen to the playroom, where sounds of toddler-ish destruction had suddenly arisen.
Mom’s mock disgust had Leann’s attention on her and our cousin tilted her head, frowning when my mother leaned against the table. “You look so tired.” Leann swiped the bangs off my mother’s forehead. “I wish you’d consider hiring a babysitter.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Mom said, brushing Leann’s hand away. “Like I told you last week when you first started nagging me,” Mom’s mock glare at her cousin had Leann snorting, “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of everything on my own.”
“You’re swollen again,” Leann said, drumming her fingers on the table. “Worse than you were with Koa or Ransom. I’m worried that it’s preeclampsia.”
“Remind me where you went to medical school.”
“I’m serious, Keira.” Leann ignored my mother’s eye roll, but still laughed at her attitude. Mom did look more exhausted than she had just the week before and all that lunch prep made her ankles look a little sausage-like. “Part of the time at least,” Leann suggested.
“It’s not a terrible idea, a babysitter.” I avoided my mother’s glare, knowing she probably wouldn’t appreciate feeling like we were ganging up on her.
“It is,” Mom said.
Leann shook her head at my mother’s complaint. “You know of anyone that can help her out, Ransom? There has to be some girl you know that needs a little extra cash. Maybe one of your classmates?”
“The girls I know aren’t the kind that are cool with watching kids.” Another crash sounded from the play room, louder than Dad’s cursing or the amused laughter Koa released. “Especially that kid.”
“What does that mean anyway?” Mom’s voice was higher than normal. “‘The girls you know?’” A small smirk and a lewd waggle of my eyebrows had my mother wincing. “You know what?” She paused dramatically. “I don’t wanna know.”
“Nope. You really don’t.” Mom’s laugh that time wasn’t as amused and just then I spotted the dark circles under her eyes. They made her look even more exhausted than I’d first noticed. Then, something occurred to me. “Hey, Leann? Doesn’t your sister-in-law own a daycare?”
“That’s not an option,” Mom instantly answered for her cousin.
“She’s being picky.” Leann sat back and took to moving her cell between her fingers. “Keira thinks someone from the daycare could be carrying Ebola or something.”
“Koa has been sick a lot,” Mom argued, shaking her head at Leann when she laughed. “I’m just being cautious.”
“You’re being anal.”
“Don’t you have a studio full of dancers to go check on?”
Leann looked at her cell, frowning before she left her chair. “I do, actually. I’ll ask around there. But seriously, keep your eyes open, okay Ransom?”
“Yeah, Leann. Sure.”
She called a goodbye to my dad, kissed Mom’s cheek and was nearly to the door before she turned back to me. “And speaking of the dance studio, don’t you even think about skipping that meeting at 2:00. You promised, Ransom.”
Shit. I had, but damn that had been a month ago when Tristian begged me to help him out with his mom’s recital. Then the little shit took off for a semester abroad in France leaving me high and dry with the volunteering bullshit. I frowned at my cousin, silently praying this volunteering gig wouldn’t have me pushed around a bunch of grinning, awkward dancers who needed a warm body to practice on. Leann had forced Tristian and me to learn technique and dances ages back. We were always guinea pigs for her and her students. It was rarely fun despite us both having a little dance skill. But Leann didn’t need me sitting around listening to a bunch of dancers yammering on about lighting and costumes for a recital that was still months away. “Leann, you don’t really need me, do you? Besides, I just got here.”
“It’s in an hour,” she said as though I hadn’t said a word.
God, the women in this family were stubborn. I was going to say something else, maybe put on some of that Hale charm I’d been born with, but then my mother kicked my leg under the table and I realized it was hopeless. They’d gang up on me, no doubt, and Dad wouldn’t be any help either. He was more scared of them than I was.
“Fine. I’ll be there,” I sighed. When the door closed behind Leann, I glared at my mom, annoyed that she’d pushed me into driving all the way back to town for no good damn reason. “Happy?” I asked her, grunting when she smiled.
“Yeah. Now I am.”