Page 4 of Winter Solstice
“I’ll bring him there, I guess,” Potter says.
“Or do you want a night with him alone?” Ava asks. “I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean to assume…”
“No, no,” Potter says. “If I were going to keep him to myself, it would be to avoid inflicting ourselves on you. I’ve told you, PJ can be kind of difficult. He suffers from only-child-raised-by-bicoastal-academics syndrome.”
“I’ve been teaching for nine years,” Ava says. “I’ve seen my share of difficult children. Maybe not that exact syndrome, but believe me, I can handle it. How many times have I told you about Micah?”
“The two of us will be over at seven,” Potter says. “I think we should stay in. Serendipity is noisy and there’s always a wait and he’ll be tired from traveling.”
“Okay, then,” Ava says. “I’ll set the table for three.”
Ava changes into jeans and a crisp white blouse and grabs her bag to go to the store. Her phone pings: it’s a text from Margaret.Drake got a reservation at Le Coucou tomorrow night at nine. Can you and Potter join us?
Ava’s heart sinks just a little. One of the best things about moving to New York has been spending time with her mother. For the twenty-plus years that Ava was growing up on Nantucket with Kelley and Mitzi and her brothers, Margaret often seemed far away, out of reach, and sometimes less than real. Ava most often saw her mother on TV—reporting from Baghdad or Paris or from the CBS studios in New York. Now that they live in the same place, they love doing things together—shopping, movies, museums, and double dates. Margaret is Ava’s best friend in the city; Drake and Margaret are Ava and Potter’s best couple friends. Last week the four of them had brunch at Le Bilboquet, then took a long walk through Central Park. All four of them have been dying to eat at Le Coucou, but a reservation has eluded them until now.
We can’t,Ava texts back.Potter’s son, PJ, is here for the weekend.
No problem!Margaret responds.We’ll do it another time.
Then the phone rings and it’s Margaret.
“Hi?” Ava says.
“Hi, sweetie,” Margaret says. “I just called real quick to see how you’re feeling about meeting PJ?”
“I feel excited,” Ava says.
“Really?” Margaret says.
“Yes, really,” Ava says, and a tinge of impatience creeps into her voice. She knows that Margaret’s only “concern” about Potter is that he has a child with someone else, an emotional landscape that Ava is unfamiliar with. Ava pointed out that she has plenty of friends who have children—Shelby and Zack have Xavier, for example—and Ava now has a niece and four nephews. Margaret then suggested that this would be different. More challenging. Ava should be prepared to be patient and make concessions where PJ was concerned. And when she finally met PJ, she should “tread lightly.” Those were Margaret’s exact words. “I’m excited to meet him. It’s been a year since we started dating.”
“I know,” Margaret says. “You may think you know Potter inside and out, but just remember, you’ve never seen him be a parent. You may be surprised.”
Surprised?Ava thinks. Her mother rarely annoys her, but Margaret is coming dangerously close to doing so now. But before Ava can tactfully inform Margaret that she is perfectly capable of handling herself with PJ and with Potter in the role of father, Margaret says, “Oh, honey, I have to go to wardrobe. Roger is making ugly faces at me from down the hall. Love you, sweetie. We’ll miss you tomorrow night. Bye-bye.”
“Uh… bye,” Ava says. She hangs up and heads down the stairs. The phone call was meant to be supportive, she knows, but it leaves her feeling worse. Mostly because Margaret is nearly always right.
Ava has everything ready to go when Potter rings the buzzer: the soup is simmering on the stove, the grilled cheeses are composed, the salad greens are washed and topped with perfectly ripe slices of avocado. (From experience Ava has learned your chances of choosing a perfectly ripe avocado are approximately one in a hundred.) She and Potter don’t usually eat dessert, but because PJ is coming, Ava bought whoopie pies at the market, as well as some frightfully expensive organic ice pops. She’s playing Wilco—Potter’s favorite band—and the table is set for three, with glasses of ice water at two places and a glass of milk at the third.
She hears footsteps on the stairs, then Potter’s voice and a child’s voice. Achild’svoice.This is real,Ava thinks. She’s about to meet Potter’s son.
She opens the door and stands on the landing wearing what she hopes is a carefree, welcoming smile. She notices tiny pinpricks of red on her white blouse—splatters from the tomato soup.
Oh well,Ava thinks. The blouse is a small sacrifice to make for this suddenly all-important dinner.
“Hi, guys!” Ava says as soon as the top of Potter’s head is visible.
Potter turns to give her a warning look. Ava realizes that Potter is pulling seven-year-old PJ up the stairs, and then Ava hears the sobbing. Potter makes it to the landing below Ava’s apartment with PJ in tow. When PJ looks up and sees Ava, he lets out an ear-piercing shriek.
Ava puts a finger to her lips. “The neighbors,” she says. “Mrs. Simonetta.” Mrs. Simonetta is sensitive to noise and has more than once complained about the volume at which Ava plays her Natalie Merchant. PJ’s scream will likely spur Mrs. Simonetta to phone in a SWAT team.
Potter picks PJ up, even though he is far too big. “You have to stop, PJ. Ava is nice. Ava is my friend and she wants to be your friend.”
PJ shrieks again.
The scene on the landing lasts another sixty seconds or so, with PJ shrieking every time Potter tells him Ava is nice and would PJ please climb the final set of stairs so they can eat supper. Mrs. Simonetta clearly isn’t home, because there is no way she would tolerate that kind of commotion outside her door.
Ava resorts immediately to bribery. “If you come upstairs, PJ, I’ll give you an ice pop. I have three flavors: cherry, grape, and orange.” In truth, the organic flavors are pomegranate, fig, and mango, but they can deal with Ava’s deception once they get the child up the stairs.
