Page 4 of No Kind of Hero
Boom. Right under Beth’s defenses. “I know, Mom. Love you, too. What are you doing today?”
“Going to the gym, and then the hairdresser’s. Do you want to come? You could get your nails done, or I could ask Arlene to squeeze you in and give you a little more blonde. When you look pretty, you feel pretty.”
“No, thanks. I’m going to do some reading out in the hammock, and then maybe go for a swim.”
“You won’t meet anybody in the hammock,” her mother said, and when Beth didn’t answer, went on, “Make sure you eat. I put some sliced turkey and cheese into your fridge yesterday, and some cut-up fruit, too. It’ll take you five minutes to make a sandwich. There’s plenty of bread and eggs for this morning. If you want, I’ll come down and fix you breakfast. It won’t take me ten minutes. I can fit it in before the gym.”
Beth was smothering, suffocated in the folds of the world’s softest down comforter. With a four-hundred-thread-count cover, of course. “Mom. Please stop. I love you, but please.”
A deeper voice in the background, and Michelle said, “Your father says I’m nagging.”
“Just concerned. I get it. I’m fine, all right? Being here is what I need. I just need some quiet.”
Her mom didn’t answer. Instead, her dad, as commanding and reassuring as always, was saying, “You do what you want, princess. I’ll handle your mother.”
This time, hermother’svoice was the one quacking in the background, and Beth laughed despite herself and said, “Thanks, Dad. But I have to go to the bathroom. Don’t tell Mom I said that, though. I’m sure ladies never mention it.”
“Hanging up,” he said, and did.
It had taken a little effort, but she finally had what she’d needed. A day alone.
All alone.
Evan O’Donnell was trimming the bushes around the house, thinking that it was time to put in a gate—the way Gracie was going, she’d be walking in no time—when his mom finally showed up with his baby girl.
It was almost noon, and it was August, but he’d been working out here since ten o’clock despite the heat. First, though, he’d cleaned the house. Gracie was putting everything into her mouth, and getting ready to crawl, too. It was important to keep things clean. When your house was two bedrooms and twelve hundred square feet, though, cleaning it didn’t take long, and he’d wondered what he was supposed to do next. He’d taken on the lawn, edging as well as mowing. Now, in desperation, he’d started on the bushes.
When his mom’s old Chevy pulled into the drive, he didn’t make a dash for it. He fastened the clippers shut, set them cutting-edge-down in the bucket, and walked over to the car. But when he got the door open, and Gracie started beating on her car seat and chanting, “Da da da” . . . he might have unfastened her extra-quickly. And then he might have had to cuddle her some, because she put her hand on his cheek and cooed at him like she’d missed him as much as he’d missed her. Not that it was possible. Babies didn’t grasp concepts like “first night away from Dad.”
He gave her a kiss on her duck-down blonde hair, which was starting to show a tendency to curl, and asked his mom, “How’d you do with her?” while he pulled the diaper bag from the back of the car.
“Well,” his mom said, jumping out and grabbing the portable crib from the trunk, “I remembered there’s a reason God doesn’t let sixty-year-old women have babies, but Allison was sure happy to see her. We had a whole family dinner, and Gracie got to meet some of her cousins. You’ll have to come down to Paradise with me next time. Gracie was an angel, a total hit. She did real good until bedtime.”
“Oh. Didn’t sleep that well, huh? Yeah, she can do that. Monster,” he told his daughter, who gave him the angelic, gummy smile of a baby who didn’t care a bit and pedaled her legs like she wanted to go for a walk rightnow.
“Of course, she slept just fine once we started driving home,” Angela O’Donnell said. “I guess it was just the new place and all. Did you have a good time up here by yourself? Go out dancing or anything fun like that, maybe even meet somebody good enough for you?”
Evan smiled and gently released Gracie’s hand from his ear. “Nah, worked late instead. But thanks for the vote of confidence. Go on and finish your weekend. Thanks for taking Gracie.”
His mother’s sharp blue eyes softened. “Not so great being alone? I remember when your brother was born, I’d think—boy howdy, heaven would be a weekend with no baby. And then when I finally got one, I spent half of it looking around to see where the baby was. Right now, though, I’m going home and taking a nap.”
“Thanks, Mom. See you Monday morning.”
She gave Gracie a kiss. “Bye, angel face.” And then she pulled Evan’s head down and gave him one, too. “Bye, sweetie. Love you bunches.”
That was why you had a mom, he guessed. Gracie didn’t, of course. But she had him.
It got hotter in the afternoon. He had Gracie stripped down to a diaper and a T-shirt, but she woke up early and fussy from her nap all the same. Finally, he told her, “Know what we’re doing? We’re going to the beach like all the rest of the cool kids.”
Half an hour later, he was getting them set up on a vacant spot at City Beach, crowded on this baking Saturday afternoon with families and teenagers. Kids balanced on the floating logs marking the boundary of the swimming area, then pushed each other off with shrieks and laughter. And then there was the occasional couple lying close to each other on beach towels, heads turned in secret conversation.
As Evan spread out his own towels and adjusted Gracie’s sun hat, he saw a couple just like that to his right, lying in a patch of shade. The woman was blonde and petite. Not as pretty as April, he saw when she sat up and began to rub sunscreen into her partner’s back. But she was laughing and talking to her boyfriend, tugging him to his feet and pulling him toward the water, focusing on him like he was the best thing in the world.
Not as pretty, no. But a better girlfriend.
Shake it off.“Want to go in the water, princess?” he asked Gracie, and she smiled and babbled at him like he was . . . yeah. The best thing in the world. Her daddy. So he picked her up and took her, and she shrieked and laughed and clung to him as he waded out and dipped her gently into the cool water of the lake.
He was submerged all the way to his shoulders, crouching down in the water, when he heard the voice from behind him. He didn’t even have to turn to know who it was.
