Page 35 of Holly Freakin' Hughes

“Uh,do you want to come in?” I finally asked, still feeling unsure of the properprotocol when handling my sister’s ex-husband-turned-friend.

Seeminggrateful for the offer, Mark smiled politely. “Oh, yeah, thanks. I won’t staylong.”

Well,thank the baby Jesus for that.

Istepped aside, allowing him to enter, and I closed the door.

“Howwas Sesame Place?” I asked, sitting on the couch.

Markput Anna down next to me and helped unzip her coat as he said, “Oh, it wasgreat. The kids had a blast. Heather and I, on the other hand, are exhaustedfrom chasing them around and I nearly had a coronary when I saw how much an F-ingbottle of water cost—eightbucks! Most expensiveweekend I’ve ever had.”

“Yeah,I bet. I have it made with the places I take her. Like Story Time? Free.”

Witha stiff laugh, he excused himself to grab Anna’s stuff from the car. I turnedto her, and she remained silent. “Hey kiddo,” I said, helping her to take offher shoes. “Did you see Elmo?” Anna kicked her feet out of my grasp and crossedher arms just as Mark came back in. “Wow, she’s a little cranky today, huh?”

Hesighed, putting her bags and Giraffe down on an armchair. “Yeah, she was sad toleave. But I told her that it’s okay, and that it’ll still be there in thesummer. Right, Peanut?” Anna responded by sticking out her bottom lip, and itwiggled fiercely. “Come on, sweetheart. Daddy is leaving soon and he doesn’t wantyou to cry.”

Annaapparently didn’t care what Daddy wanted. Fat tears rolled down her cheeks asshe jumped off the couch wearing only one shoe and ran to her room. I waitedfor the door to slam behind her, as she sometimes did in the throes of a tantrum,but it never came. I stood to go tend to her when Mark stopped me from leaving.

“So,hey, Holly. Liz told me you were dating.”

Fora second, I really did think he was making some creepy pass at me. But once itdawned on me that he was genuinely making conversation at the most inopportunemoment, I was suddenly perplexed that Liz would even talk to him about my lovelife at all. Was that something you would typically make your ex-husband’sbusiness?

“Uh—well,I went ononedate. That’s really it.”

“Well,not to be weird, but I have a buddy who might be good for you.”

Ohno, Mark. It was already weird, thanks.

Deepdown I had been wondering when someone was going to play match maker, but Iexpected it to come more from, say, my mom. It wouldn’t have surprised me inthe least if she had approached me with the offer of going out with a son of afriend. Or if Liz had told me one of Dr. Martin’s patients had recently beendivorced and had a nice set ofchompers. But I neverwould have expected my sister’s ex to bring up a single pal after not seeing mefor, oh, three years.

“Oh,um,th-thanks?” I stammered, speaking slowly. “I’mnot sure I’m ready to see someone else. I didn’t have the greatest date lasttime.”

Markshrugged “Well, hey, if you change your mind, let me know.”

“Yeah,thanks. I’ll do that.” Or I wouldn’t.

Hesaw himself out after that, air-kissing my cheek before heading to the door. Irolled my eyes as soon as the door shut behind him with the reminder to kickLiz’s ass for discussing the private matters of my life with a total stranger.What the hell did Dr. Martin know about me? The fact that I hadn’t washed mybras in a few months, perhaps?

Iheaded down to Anna’s room, hoping that her fit would be a quick fix. A littlebit of ice cream or a handful of cookies, maybe a trip to the park, and good asnew. That was the typical remedy for a little tantrum, but walking into herroom, it became pretty obvious it wouldn’t be that simple.

Shewas lying in the middle of the room with the entire contents of her dresserstrewn around her—like a nest. The fat tears continued to roll down her cheekswith accompanying sobs and hiccups, and for a second, I wished I still criedover things like Ernie and Bert. Simpler times and all that.

Iapproached with caution, crouching down next to her. “Anna Banana, youwannatell me what’s wrong?”

Thebacks of her little hands pressed against her eyes as she kicked her one shoedfoot against the floor. “Iwannasee …Ewmo-oo,” she wailed, a hiccup breaking her sentence.

“Well,kiddo, Elmo lives at Sesame Place, and you live here. But you know, maybe wecan go see him soon, okay?” I reached down to smooth her messy hair off herforehead. Mark was clearly in charge of doing her hair that day, and his skillswith the hairbrush and hair ties were nothing to brag about.

Annarolled away from my touch. “No! IwannaseeEwmonow!” She rolled into a pile of t-shirts andlying on her stomach, she cried into the clothes, continuing to pound her footagainst the floor.

Iwent to grab her and cuddle her into me, thinking that maybe a nice big hugcould keep her from losing her mind more than she already had. I grabbed herunder her arms and picked her up off the floor, pulling her into me, and thatwas the precise moment she decided to arch her back like she had just beenpossessed by something straight out of Hell. Her skull made direct impact withmy face, crashing into me with a terrifying thud and a blinding pain unlikeanything I had felt before.

Well,at least it shocked her out of her tantrum.

Wesat there frozen in time—both afraid that movement would make something happen.Pain, tears—something, but I soon found that no lack of movement couldkeep the searing pain from radiating through my cheekbone and eye socket. Italso didn’t keep my eye from swelling, and it didn’t keep Anna from howlingabout the knot forming on the back of her head.

Myface hurt. Oh, it hurt bad. It hurt worse than the time I broke my pinkie toeafter running through the basement of my parents’ house and bashing it into ametal filing cabinet. I couldn’t walk on that foot for three weeks, and Icouldn’t imagine how horribly my face was going to hurt as the night went on,let alone looked.

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