Page 43 of Beau Pair
I look up at the sky and hope the earth opens up, but, naturally, it doesn’t.
“So? He’s older than me. Doesn’t mean he’s a predator,” I tell her.
Mama takes a few breaths, and it’s like I can see her in front of me. Hands on hips, concerned look on her face, sighing and guilt-tripping me into admitting the truth.
Well, it isn’t going to work this time, because thisisthe truth.
“What are his intentions for you?” she finally asks.
“Gee, Mama. Have we gone back to the 1800s? What do you mean ‘intentions?’ We’re just sleeping with each other. It doesn’t mean we’re getting married,” I tell her.
“Okay, okay. I’m allowed to worry about my only son, aren’t I? Or is that illegal now?”
I laugh and manage to take a breath I didn’t even know I was holding.
“Just promise me you’ll be careful, okay?”
I nod again, even though she still can’t see me. But can you blame me? That’s the last thing I expect Mama to tell me.
Is she not going to tell me off for sleeping with my boss? Is she not going to tell me I’m an idiot and I’m thinking with my penis instead of my head? Who abducted Mama Hadlee and who did they replace her with?
“What? Is that it? You-you’re not going to say I’m stupid? You’re not going to give me a good talking-to?” I stutter.
“No. Not yet. You’re still up in the clouds. We’ll talk proper when you come down.”
There it is. The Mama Hadlee response I was expecting.
“Now, I gotta go. I need to watch the rest of Sweet Magnolias. That show is so terrible. My God, their accents. But I’m addicted.”
Apparently, Mama now binge-watches stuff too.
Yep. Alternate universe.
When I go back inside, Elsie is sitting on her chair and Zoe is feeding her while Dolly and Gordon have opened a bottle from Gordon’s collection and are sipping on a white wine.
“How’s Mama Hadlee?” Zoe asks.
“Abducted by aliens,” I say, and everyone turns to me.
I tell them about the Netflix thing, but I keep the rest of the conversation to myself.
“Go, Mama Hadlee!” Dolly cheers.
Elsie giggles and lifts her hands in the air like her mom. Everyone laughs, me included.
“We had an idea while you were out there,” Dolly tells me, and I see Gordon huff from the corner of my eyes.
“Dolly, don’t,” he says.
“Wha-what’s the idea?” I ask.
I’m inundated with a hundred different scenarios all at once. Dolly wants full custody. Dolly wants us to stop fucking. Dolly wants to fire me and hire a new nanny. Dolly wants a threesome? Unlikely, but it’s one of the scenarios that goes through my head.
“We thought we’d all have a day trip. Somewhere nice. Like the Prince William National Park? Elsie loves it there. And the car ride there,” Dolly says, and of all the things I expected her to say, this is not one of them.
“Oh,” I say.
“Come on. It will be so nice. All five of us are going to have so much fun,” she insists, and I look at Gordon.
He smiles and shrugs.
“I don’t think they’re going to let us say no,” he laughs.
“Damn right,” Dolly says.
“Dam rye,” Elsie says and giggles, imitating her mother again.
Whatever universe I seem to have jumped in, I want to stay.
