Jamie Pope - Mine At Midnight

He opened the door to see his cousin’s husband, Asa, sitting next to his grandmother on the couch. They were playing video games, which wasn’t something he had expected to see when he walked through the door that evening.

“Are you ready to give up yet?” his grandmother, Nanny, asked Asa as she furiously pressed the buttons on her controller.

“No! How are you this good at this game? We just got it today. I think you’ve been practicing.”

“I think you’re a sore loser, or you will be in a moment when I do this finishing move on you. There, done.”

Asa tossed his controller on the couch beside him and slumped in his seat. “You beat me at cards and now at this. I’m not sure I can hold my head up anymore.”

Derek laughed as he walked farther into the room. Asa had just recently become a member of their family. His cousin Hallie had fallen in love with him hard after only knowing him for a month. There were a few people who thought they wouldn’t make it, especially since Hallie had been engaged to another man just six months before, but Derek knew as soon as he met Asa that he was right for Hallie. He loved her unconditionally. He gave up his career as a rescue paramedic to move down to this tiny island to be with her. Derek could only respect the man for that. “What are you two up to?” he asked them.

“Playing Street Warrior,” Nanny answered.

Nanny was active and looked much younger than her eighty years. She wasn’t one of those elderly people who was going to let her age stop her.

“You all look too serious to interrupt. So I’ll just find Hallie.”

“She’s in the kitchen with Clara.” Nanny answered. “They are making dinner. Afterward, if you’re prepared to battle me, I’d welcome another challenge.”

Derek laughed at his feisty grandmother before he made his way into the kitchen. Hallie was stirring something, while her mother sat at the table chopping vegetables for a salad. “Hello. It smells good in here.”

“Hey, Derek!” Hallie smiled at him. She was glowing. She was just a semester away from finishing her doctorate. She was enjoying being married. He had never seen her so happy. He was happy for her, but it gave him a little twinge. Not that he was jealous of her, but seeing her so in love made him realize that he never had been. He didn’t necessarily want to be in love or in a serious relationship but he was thirty-three and he had never felt a strong connection to any of the women he had been involved with.

He dated. Preferred discreet relationships with divorced women, not looking for a serious commitment. He took his job as mayor very seriously. He wasn’t sure how much longer he would be the mayor but as long as he was, his island would come first.

“Are my son-in-law and mother still playing that crazy fighting game?” his aunt Clara asked.

“They just finished. Nanny destroyed Asa. Apparently she an excellent street fighter.”

Hallie shook her head, grinning. “Don’t tell Asa, but she’s had practice. You know the Johnson kid that she gives piano lessons to? Well, he got the game for his birthday, and he taught her how to play.”

“She’s a sly old lady, isn’t she?”

“She’ll outlive us all,” his aunt said just before she got up from the table and left the room.

“I haven’t seen you in a few days.” Hallie turned down the burner and faced him. “What have you been up to?”

“We’re starting to plan for founder’s day down at city hall, and my own business is growing a little faster than I expected. My showroom is nearly empty.”

“That’s because you are an amazing craftsman. I hope you have time to make a crib for us.”

His eyes widened. “Are you pregnant?”

“No. Not yet. But as soon as I’m done with school we’re going to start trying. Asa isn’t rushing me, but I know he’s ready to be a father. I was just putting in my order now. Hopefully by the time a baby enters our lives, you’ll have it done.”

“Of course.” He took a seat at the table. “Is anything new going on with you?”

“Not really. But I did hear that Ava Bradley canceled her wedding.”

“I figured.”

“You figured? It has been all over town. No one has been able to stop talking about it.”

“I knew something was going on when I heard her brothers threaten to kill Vermeulen. Your husband works with her brother—he didn’t tell you anything?”

She shook her head. “Just that the wedding was off. I feel bad for Ava. I had to cancel a wedding a few months before I walked down the aisle. It must be terrible to call it off when your guests have already started to arrive. Something big must have happened.”

“Yes, she probably realized that he was the slimy, opportunistic scumbag that the rest of us already knew he was.”

“Whoa.” Hallie put her hands up in defense, but she gave him a little smile. “Tell me how you really feel about him.”

The kitchen door opened and his mother, Anita, breezed in. He hadn’t seen her in a few weeks, which was hard to do when they lived on an island so small.

“My baby is here!” She smiled brightly at him, but he couldn’t force his lips to curl in return.

“Hi, Mom.” He offered her a small, almost awkward wave. “How are you?”

She walked toward him, wearing a dress that looked more appropriate for a nightclub than a visit with her family. “I’m just great, sweetie. I’m on my way to meet my new friend. He’s taking me off-island for a little wining and dining.”

“That’s nice,” he said, not really meaning it. His mother was always with a “new friend,” as she called them. She had so many boyfriends by the time he turned fifteen that he had lost count. And each time she thought they would be the one. But it had been heartbreak after heartbreak, all because she never picked the right guy. It all had started with his father. A married man who never planned to leave his wife for his young mistress, even if that young mistress did get pregnant to force his hand.

She walked over, looking at him with a mix of love and dislike as she placed her hand on his cheek. They had always had such a complicated relationship. He looked so much like his father, and he knew that he reminded her of her biggest failed relationship, reminded her of all her mistakes, reminded her that she wasn’t quite good enough to make a millionaire leave his wife.

She was probably why he had never fallen in love. She had enough broken hearts for the both of them.

“How are you, Derek?” She kissed his cheek.

“I’m fine, Mom. I didn’t realize you were on the island.”

“I’ve been off and on,” she said vaguely.

“I haven’t seen you in a few weeks. I think we should have dinner and catch up.” Things were strained between them. They always had been, and Derek knew that it would just be easier to keep her at arm’s length, but he always made the effort even if it was continually rejected. She was his mother. He felt like she should be in his life.

His aunt Clara had come back into the kitchen, but his focus remained on his mother’s face as he waited for her answer. Her makeup was elaborate, not distasteful, crafted to make her look more youthful. Her hair was cut precisely in some sort of asymmetrical style that was popular with the teenagers in town. She looked more like his older sister than his mother, but that’s what happened when your mother was a teenager when she had you.

“Yeah, maybe next week,” she said noncommittally.

It was like déjà vu, little flashbacks to when he was a kid asking her to come to his band concerts or to see him perform on the debate team, or to one of his championship soccer games when he was in college. She had always made excuses, or promises that she couldn’t keep.