Selena Kitt - Crazy About the Baumgartners

She sat on the edge of the bed, working her pantyhose back on. Finally, she sighed, standing and adjusting her skirt, and said, “I don’t know.”

I left the room, going to mine, pulling out panties, a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, putting them on. I turned to find Ronnie standing in the doorway, her purse slung over her shoulder.

“You know what I think?” I said, turning to face her. “I think it was your decision. Not Vince’s.”

“I need to get home.”

I put on my shoes and took her home.

Before she got out of the car, she asked me one question.

“Have you been with the Baumgartners?”

“No.” I told her the truth, although it wasn’t all of the truth. Because I wanted to be with them. I wanted it very much.

“I didn’t think so.”

She asked me to drop her down the block from the apartment she was renting with Vince. That was enough of a hint for me.

I slathered Holly with SPF-50, rubbing the white lotion into her chubby, pale baby folds of flesh, making her smile and wiggle on the bed. Then I put a pink bathing suit with white polka dots over her swim diaper-a tight fit-and tied a pink sun hat on her head. She kicked her legs when I put her on my hip, heading down the stairs.

The Baumgartners were already on the beach sunning themselves, Doc sitting at the table with a paperback, some James Patterson novel, shading his eyes and watching Janie and Henry building sandcastles. Mrs. B was on a blanket in the smallest black bikini ever made. There was likely a picture of it under “butt floss” in the urban dictionary. And she was slathered up too, but not with sunscreen. Her copper-colored skin glistened with oil.

“There are my girls.” Mrs. B glanced up as I came out, closing the sliding door behind me. The heat hit me like a wall after the coolness of the AC.

“Nice suit,” Doc commented on mine and I glanced at him, seeing his little smile, those dark eyes, sent a jolt of excitement shooting through me.

“Thanks.” I glanced down at my white bikini, which covered more than Mrs. B’s for sure, but it was still quite scant. “Your wife picked it out.”

“I’d wear even less if I had your body,” Mrs. B replied, defending her choice as I joined her on the blanket. I put Holly on it between us on her tummy along with a teething ring I’d grabbed from the freezer. She’d been fussy lately, cutting her bottom two teeth at once.

“I wouldn’t object to anyone wearing any less.” Doc put his book down, grinning, squinting out at the shoreline. Janie and Henry were chasing each other, splashing, laughing. “Wanna take the baby for a swim with me, Gretchen?”

“Sure.” I picked up Holly, standing and propping her on my hip. “Wanna come Mrs. B?”

“When are you going to start calling me Carrie?” she sighed, shading her eyes and looking up at me. She kept reminding me and I kept forgetting. It was mostly habit, but I think some part of my brain refused to make that jump. If I started thinking of her as Carrie, that would be too familiar. And clearly, she wanted to keep her distance. Thinking of her as “Mrs. B” helped me keep that distance too.

“Sorry,” I apologized.

“Coming in, babe?” he asked her, standing beside me so he could nudge her with his toe.

“Maybe later.” She put her head back down, closing her eyes. “Gonna get a little more sun.”

Not that she needed it. Her body was all over bronze, her color deepening over just the few days we’d been there. I’d burned the first day, even with sunblock, and that had deepened into the beginnings of a tan. Now I was wearing the baby’s “ultra water resistant” SPF-50, rather than go all lobster.

“Come on.” Doc walked with me to the edge of the water, Janie and Henry leaping up and down and running at him as soon as we hit the water’s edge.

“Daddy! Daddy! Throw me!” Janie begged, diving into the water and bobbing back up five feet from the shore.

“No, me!” Henry followed her and they dove and bobbed in the water like seals.

“You’re getting pretty big for this,” Doc warned, but he did it anyway, diving in and surfacing beside them in the water. Janie squealed when he lifted her in his arms, tossing her as far as he could. She held her nose, going under, and then resurfaced, laughing. They would do this over and over, at least until Doc’s arms got tired.

I waded in the water, marveling at how warm it was, even in December. It was only a week until Christmas. Hard to believe. It had come up so fast. I’d been living with the Baumgartners for six months. That made me think of Ronnie-just being here made me think of her. The place we’d met. The first place we’d had sex. But I shoved those thoughts away, sinking into the clear blue water to my waist.

Holly squealed in surprise when the water touched her skin, crying at first. I held her out in front of me, floating her along, letting her get used to the temperature change. Her eyes went from wet to wide, then to laughing. Her arms waved, her hands slapping the water’s surface, splashing, the droplets hitting her face surprising her once more.

“Okay, enough, enough,” Doc protested, throwing Henry one last time. He was getting big, almost bigger than Janie, even though he was younger. He was going to be a big boy.

The kids begged for more but they finally gave up, swimming and splashing together for a while until they got bored and went back to building their sand village on the shore. Doc came over and joined me and the baby.

“Just think, another few years, and I’ll be throwing you, lil pumpkin.” He lifted Holly from my arms, laughing as she squealed and waved her arms while he sailed her through the water, making motor boat sounds. Watching them together made me smile.

Then the baby got fussy and no amount of playing would quiet her.

“She’s hungry,” I said, holding my arms out for her. “She wants lunch.”

“Me too,” Doc agreed enthusiastically. “Time for a sandwich.”

We all trooped back into the house. Doc made sandwiches and Mrs. B made lemonade and I made the baby a bottle, and we all sat around the kitchen table eating. Mrs. B insisted on feeding the baby, so she ate one handed and had to stop to burp Holly. Janie and Henry burst out laughing when an air bubble escaped the baby’s mouth so loudly it sounded like a full grown man belching.

“Mom, my head hurts,” Janie complained, rubbing her eyes.

“Too much sun,” her mother said, nodding. “Why don’t you and Henry go upstairs and take a rest?”

“I’m not tired,” Henry said, his mouth full of sandwich.

“Well at least stay out of the sun for a while,” Mrs. B said, looking at Janie’s flushed cheeks. “Play X-Box or something.”

“Okay!” Henry brightened. I smirked. Any day his parents suggested staying inside and playing video games was clearly a good day, as far as he was concerned.

“Well someone needs a nap.” Mrs. B yawned and kissed the top of the baby’s head. Holly’s head nodded, her eyelids heavy.

“You or her?” Doc teased.

“Both.” Mrs. B laughed. “I’m gonna put her down and do just that.”

“I was going to give Gretchen her early Christmas present,” Doc said, leaning back in his chair and looking at his wife as she rose with the baby. “You okay with that?”

“Sure.” Mrs. B smiled over at me.

“I’ve got something for you, Gretchen.” Doc stood, clearing plates as Henry and Janie raced each other to the X-Box in the living room.

“Oh yeah?”

I knew, whatever it was, it wasn’t what I really wanted. Like Ronnie had assumed, I wasn’t ever going to get that. The Baumgartners didn’t think I was girlfriend material. It seemed like I was going to be just the nanny, just the roommate, just the doormat, for the rest of my life.