Sandra Steffen - Life Happens

She’d opened the door but not the chain, and saw a boy who was probably still in high school start to smile. Wearing a baseball cap and a jacket bearing the pizza store’s logo, he held the flat box out to her.

“I didn’t order any pizza.”

He’d fumbled in his pocket for the order pad then checked the address. Pizza delivery guys were always nerds. It was probably in the job description.

“It’s bought and paid for,” he’d said. “My job was to deliver it.” A nerd with a bad attitude, he put the pizza on the step and left without another word.

She may have been belligerent and too broke to give him a tip, but she wasn’t stupid. She’d taken it inside. While Kaylie used a crust for a teething ring, Elle sank her teeth into a thick slice of lukewarm pizza loaded with cheese, mushrooms, onions and pepperoni. She’d wolfed down three pieces before she thought about the example she was setting. Hopefully, Kaylie was too little to pick up bad table manners. The thought seared the back of her mind, bringing a sense of dread and sadness she refused to give in to.

“The only reason it tastes so good is because I haven’t sprung for pizza in a while,” she’d told Kaylie as she started on her fourth slice. “That doesn’t mean it’s the best pizza in the universe.”

Kaylie drooled solemnly from the middle of the bed. Elle had gone to sleep with a full stomach. And then she’d finished the pizza for breakfast while she fed Kaylie her oatmeal.

She knew she should thank Mya. Instead, she eased Kaylie out of reach of a rack of sunglasses and said, “What did you do? Follow me?”

“If you’re asking how I knew where to have the pizza delivered, I called the nearby motels and asked to speak to you.”

“I should sue them for breach of confidentiality. That’s a big thing these days.”

“Lawsuits or confidentiality?”

“You tell me.” For some strange reason, Elle was glad Mya could hold her own with her. Not many people could. Elle didn’t know why she was dishing it out in the first place. She looked Mya up and down. Her skirt had an uneven hem, her top a knit number with pink and green stripes. There were bangles on her wrists and dangles in her ears. Elle found herself looking at the diamond ring on Mya’s left hand. “What do you think the Minute Man is going to do when he finds out about me?”

“His name is Jeffrey. And I told him last night.”

Elle blinked, and Kaylie strained to get down. She’d been fussing a lot lately. Mya seemed to be having a hard time taking her eyes off her.

“Ever since she learned to crawl, it’s all she wants to do. I haven’t been letting her crawl around much in our motel room.”

“How long have you two been on the road?”

“We left Pennsylvania a week ago, but we’ve pretty much been on our own since before she was born.”

Kaylie was getting worked up. Elle tried moving her to her other hip, but it didn’t help. When Kaylie got something in her head, there was no changing her mind.

Elle saw Mya reach her hand toward them, but it took a few seconds to notice the key held between her thumb and forefinger. “What’s that for?”

“You can let her crawl on the floor at my house.”

“Aren’t you worried I’ll make off with the good silver?”

Kaylie was crying in earnest now, so they practically had to yell.

“I don’t believe you drove all the way to Maine to rip me off.”

Their gazes locked.

It was the perfect opening, but Elle couldn’t bring herself to take it, so instead she said, “What would we do all day?”

“Do whatever you want. Play with the cats.”

“I don’t like cats.”

For some reason, that made Mya smile. It took everything Elle had to tear her gaze away.

Mya continued to hold out the key. Relying on instinct, Elle took it and turned quickly, only to stop. Kaylie quieted, and in a meek voice Elle barely recognized as her own, she said, “Thank you.”

And then she got the hell out of there.

The bell had stopped jangling before Mya remembered to breathe. She had no idea what that had been about, and yet she’d won that round. The fact that Elle hadn’t put up more of a fight made her uneasy.

Elle inspired a curious urgency in her. It was similar to the way she used to feel the last week before school started when she’d been a child, when the sun was still scorching and the days still felt endless, but she knew the end lurked like an alligator under the bed. Back then, she’d never wanted school to start, not because she didn’t like school, but because she hated endings. She used to cram every summer experience into that last week, from ice-cream cones, to lobster bakes on the beach, to catching fireflies in Mason jars.

She felt that same sense of urgency now. She wanted to get to know Elle. She wanted to flip the Closed sign in the window and spend the day at home. With her daughter. She didn’t know whether to be shocked about that or worried. Somehow she doubted Elle would appreciate being smothered. Mya knew the feeling. For years, she’d backed away whenever her mother tried to hover.

Oh, no. Her mother. Claire and Jeffrey knew about Elle. She had to tell her mom.

In Elle’s words, the house was rocking.

Mya didn’t remember the last time it had been this noisy in her living room. The television was on, Claire and Suzette were engaged in a heated debate over the president’s foreign policy, Jeffrey was refereeing, and Elle was changing the baby.

“Mom,” Mya said into the phone. “Would you listen?”

“What’s all that noise?”

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

“What are all these cars doing in front of your place?” Millicent asked.

“You’re on my street?”

“Are you having a party?”

Mya had to plug one ear in order to hear. “Mom, don’t come inside yet.”

“Just a sec. I need two hands to park.”

“Mom, wait. Listen.”

Static. Great, she’d laid the phone down.

“Mom?”

Silence.

“Mother!”

The line went dead mere seconds before Millicent burst into the house, smiling all around. “Why, it is a party.” She beamed at Jeffrey, and didn’t seem to notice that everyone except Kaylie had quieted. Talking to anyone who was listening, she said, “Who does Mya know who has a baby?”

Her gaze found Elle, and her mouth dropped open.

Suzette closed the door. And Claire caught the oversize red purse before it hit the floor.

Somebody turned down the television, and Millicent traipsed forward, stopping a few feet in front of Elle, who looked shy suddenly.

Mya said, “Mom, as I was trying to tell you—”

“It’s you,” Millicent said.

Looking from Elle to her mother, Mya said, “This is Elle Fletcher and Kaylie. Elle, this is—”

“I’m your grandma. I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you properly.” Millicent’s voice shook with emotion. “And this is Kaylie, you said? Hi, sweet thing!” Ducking down slightly in order to be at the baby’s eye level, she said, “It looks like somebody’s having a bad day.”

Jeffrey said, “I checked her over. I think she’s cutting teeth.”

Millicent straightened again, patting Elle’s arm. In a whisper loud enough to penetrate steel, she said, “Teething’s a bitch, isn’t it?”

She let Jeffrey take her coat. Speaking to Mya on the way to retrieve her purse from Claire, she said, “A little forewarning would have been nice.”

The chaos resumed while Mya was still holding the phone.

“The last time I kissed a girl goodbye on the front porch, I was in the tenth grade.”

Mya had to tip her head back in order to look into Jeff’s eyes. “At least this brings back fond memories.”