Page 107 of August
“I don’t act out like this.”
“No, but you’re also not eighteen, and you were forced to grow up fast when you found out that you were pregnant. Did you have a crush on a girl in school, and she dated some guy?”
“I guess so,” she replied. “Susanne Whitaker,” she added with a smile. “Blonde curls, soulful brown eyes, extra cute in her glasses.”
“Who did she date instead of you?” Myra asked.
“Oh, she probably didn’t even know I existed because I never talked to her in school, so there wasn’t an ‘instead of me’ situation. I just had a huge crush on her, and she had a boyfriend our last two years, but it’s not the same. AJ really liked Wendy, and their high school was small, so all the kids knew one another. I also think it’s more than that, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think it’s less about Wendy and more about Adele not telling him that she might like girls, too,” she explained, standing back up. “It’s a lot, and I’m not a twin. His father is, and you’d think he’d understand and would help, but he was never close to their aunt. They share a birthday, but that’s about it. Their parents sent Annabelle to boarding school from sixth grade on, and that set her path as very different from Archie’s. AJ and Adele have been together their entire lives.”
“Well, I’m here if you need me when you get back.”
“Babe, I’m not going to Europe for a year. I’m packing in case AJ doesn’t want to talk to me today but is ready tomorrow. If he’s not, though, I’m just coming back here and leaving him alone until it’s time to awkwardly take him to college. Hopefully, he’ll be ready before then.”
“I hope so, too,” Myra said, wrapping her arms around Elisa. “I know this is something you need to do alone, but if you need me there, call me. I’ll get in the truck and meet you at the hotel or wherever.”
“I don’t deserve you,” she replied, hugging Myra back. “And thank you for watching Buster.”
“You don’t have to thank me. Buster and I are getting to know each other. It’s good for us to spend time together.”
“Forgive me; I’ve never had a supportive partner before, so I don’t really know how to handle it, and I’ll likely thank you for everything all the time because I’m not used to it.”
Myra kissed her on the lips and said, “I’ll continue to remind you that you don’t have to thank me for doing the normal partner stuff, then.”
Elisa still couldn’t believe how lucky she was as Myra helped her put the roller in the trunk and kissed her goodbye in the driveway. The drive was one she’d made a lot this year, so she was able to remain unfocused on directions and used her time to try to rehearse the speech she would give her son if he gave her the chance. When she arrived at the house, she parked in the back like she had done the previous day and walked to the back door, which she knew would be unlocked. Even if it weren’t, though, Archie hadn’t asked her to return her house keys. He had probably forgotten that she even had them or hoped she’d come home and use them. She headed into the kitchen that was four times the size of her new one, and yes, she missed it. She had a lot of good memories in this kitchen. She had fed her babies, toddlers, kids, pre-teens, and finally, teenagers in this kitchen. She’d bathed them in that sink when they were little since it was the largest one in the house. She’d fixed up cuts and scrapes at the table. She had helped them with homework and listened to them talk about their days at school over dinner there, too.
“Mom, hey,” Adele said as she walked into the room with Wendy in tow.
“Oh. Hi, honey,” she replied. “Hi, Wendy.”
“Hi, Mrs. B,” Wendy said and waved at her with a free hand because her other hand was holding on to Adele’s.
“It’s Elisa,” she said.
“Weird,” Wendy replied.
“Um…” Adele let go of Wendy’s hand, seemingly realizing that she was still holding it, and Wendy tucked her hands into the pocket of her jeans.
Elisa just smiled at her daughter, wondering if that hand drop was more because she was her mom, and Adele didn’t want her to see her holding hands with anyone or if it was because it was Wendy. Adele hadn’t ever been one to bring her dates home, so Elisa didn’t know for sure.
“We were going to maybe go to the guest house,” Adele told her.
“Why?”
“Because AJ just got home. He went out for breakfast or something with the guys, but he just got back. I thought Wendy and I could leave him alone for a while.”
“The guest house? By yourselves?”
“Mom!”
Wendy smirked and said, “We can leave the door open, if you want.”
“What? No, we can’t,” Adele replied.
“Adele, she’s your mom.”
