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A hundred times, maybe more, the teenage me dreamed of confronting that woman and practiced as many snarky digs to hurt her. But this grown-up version of me didn’t feel good about what just happened at all. Good or bad, she was part of this adventure now. Even if Dom wasn’t interested in making peace with her again, I understood she was a problem that would have to be dealt with eventually.
48
The Storm
Faith
Waiting at the town square for the pack of little girls in their scout uniforms to cross the road, I peeked over at the clearance items on the sidewalk outside the hardware store.
Right below the window sat a distressed old black metal bench with a red sign on it. So I squinted a little to see the price better. “Oh, you would look perfect right under the big tree in the yard.”
Dom said most of the furniture got delivered right after lunch, and I couldn’t wait to throw myself down on it for a few minutes. But I still had a pile of commitments waiting on me tonight. I looked at the clock on my radio and groaned at how little time I had to get anything done. “Guess you’ll have to wait until after the game.”
It was a whole other type of feeling, turning left to go out of town instead of to my dad’s house by the railroad tracks on the right. The rundown houses with clotheslines and old cars in the backyard that lined the roads where I grew up fizzled into manicured gardens and brand-new trucks in every driveway while I drove along the street where Dom did.
But the further I got away from all those old memories, the only thing waiting for me everywhere my eyes wandered was when I could finally invite everyone over for a cookout and if I should hire someone to do my landscaping or try to do it myself.
I don’t think I’ll ever get over pulling up to that house, knowing it was mine forever — or would be in a few short weeks. Putting up the garage door and pulling my car beside Dom’s truck was a thrill I couldn’t even describe. “Thank you.” I pulled my keys from the ignition and opened the door, my eyes going to the ceiling. “If I forgot to say it yet today, thank you for this.” Yeah, I was a little irritated that I didn’t have enough time to give him. But that I had Dom to miss when I was doing something else was everything to me. “All of this. I am so grateful.”
Just quick enough that I didn’t fall on my face, I jogged up the stairs and through the mudroom, flinging the kitchen door open. “Baby, I’m home.”
Pushing himself off the couch as I was ripping my shirt off, Dom clicked off the television. “That’s what I’m talking about.” Clapping his hands, he followed me into the bedroom. “Let’s do this.”
I pulled a t-shirt from the drawer and kicked off my shoes as he came through the doorway. “I wish.” Bringing the shirt over my head, I shimmied until it covered me. “Game tonight. Remember?”
Dropping to the edge of the bed, he rolled his eyes, sighing back at me. “Right.”
I pulled my pants off, holding onto his knee to balance myself. “Just so you’re aware,” — when I shifted to the other side, he bent his neck to see down my shirt better — “your mom came to visit me at work a little bit ago.”
He pinched his eyes shut, his forehead wrinkling as the tension built up in him. “Oh God.” Falling back into the mattress, he covered his face with his hands. “Let me guess.”
Giggling back at him, I took my jeans from the little cubby on the side of the closet. “Right. But I survived. So, don’t worry yourself over it. Okay?” The jeans shook out, and I bunched up one side to slide over my foot. “She threw your pills at me and told me I was the devil before she stomped out, though.” My eyes opened wider as I curled in my lips and pulled up the zipper. “So nothing new there, really.”
Little by little, I realized the entire house was beyond spotless. Even the bedding had that just-measured-with-a-ruler-neatness to it, meaning he had plenty of time to obsess about every tiny detail of our lives since the furniture movers left. “Why don’t you come with me, babe?” Trying to figure out how to make a kids’ baseball game seem cooler than it was, I shrugged back at him. “Jase will be there, and we can drink some beers afterward or something. There’s no point in you sitting here alone when you can stare at me all night.”
Pushing himself to his elbows, he nodded as he took turns kicking his feet through the air back at me. “I guess I can do that. But I better take my truck in case I get called in.”
I shoved my heel into my slip-on sneakers and pulled my hair back into a ponytail. “Why would you get called in? You’re supposed to be off until Sunday.”
He jerked his chin at the television on the dresser. “We’re supposed to get another big storm later, and everyone forgets how to drive when the roads are wet. It happens every damn time.”
Crawling over him, I straddled his thigh, humping it as I lowered myself to kiss him. “Well, if it does and you don’t get called in, and the game gets canceled, we can party.” My eyebrows wiggled at him. “Just me and you, if you catch my drift.”
Squeezing my buttocks in his hands, he slowed my movements as he shook his head, his whole face weighed down in an instant. “I’m sorry she’s bothering you.” Blowing air through his lips like he was about to pop, he waved his fingers away from me. “I’ll blast her here in a minute.”
Did I really think he needed his meds? Yes, probably. But I understood without a doubt this wasn’t the time to be stressing him out more than necessary with my nagging or his mother’s meddling. “She’s not bothering me, Dom. Not even a little bit.” I swept my fingers through his hair and shook my head. “I’m bulletproof, baby.”
He let me go a little at a time, holding on to my fingers until I stepped down off the bed. “You better be. I still have about a million memories to make with you.”
I pressed my fingers to my lips, winking at him as I wiggled them goodbye and stepped out of the bedroom. “See you in a few minutes.”
Things were going well — better than I ever imagined, in fact. So when I backed out of the garage and turned around, I smiled at the oak tree and decided I deserved to buy the bench for myself tomorrow at lunch.
Feeling a bit more grown-up than when I left for work that morning, I pulled out onto the road as the dark clouds started rolling in. But just like the storm about to rip up my pretty tree from its roots, another disaster was trying to brew for us that I wasn’t at all prepared for.
49
Over My Head
