Page 37 of Overtime
I knew the happiness had an expiration date of one week, corresponding to the appointment with my mother and Meg. I just didn’t know it would be thatplusmy murderous period.
The car behind me honks. The streetlight has turned green, and just pressing the accelerator hurts like a birch. The secondmy Beetle starts moving, the impatient driver passes me aggressively fast.
I try to press against my clothes a bit harder so the heating pad glued to my skin gets hotter, but that hurts more, so I stop.
The whole drive from my new apartment to the bridal shop would typically take about thirty minutes. I take an extra twenty, pausing in random parking lots first to take some more ibuprofen or to just breathe. Breathing is really freaking hard when there’s an alien trying to claw out of your uterus.
Finally, I park right next to Mom’s platinum sedan outside the shop. I leave my car running for a bit more and close my eyes. I tried canceling this morning—she knows just how severe my period pain is—but, of course, she didn’t let me. Dresses were hard to get, blah, blah. The store won’t hold them forever, blah, blah. You can’t keep putting this off, yada yada.
“Fudge me.” I grunt just like Aran does as I unbuckle my seat belt. I’m starting to see the appeal of his one-sound form of communication. “Oh, son of a birch.” A horrible groan tears out of my throat as I shift to my side to exit the car. My back hurts too. I blink tears away from my face and wade through the parking lot. I cannot wait to get back home, slide into bed, and not move for the next twenty-four hours.
I open the shop’s door with difficulty because it’s very heavy and I am a weak, weak girl. An attendant appears before me like magic.
“Welcome to Tule and Silk! Are you with a party?”
“Yes, Berkley.” My voice comes out in a croak.
The woman eyes my hand on my back and my stomach. “Oh, you must be expecting! We have really comfortable chairs in the dressing area. Can I get you some water? Herbal tea?”
“Tea, please. Although I’m not expecting anything other than a bad time,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Excuse me?”
“Um, nothing. Do you mind taking me to my party?”
She plasters on an artificial smile. “Right this way.”
Oh, how I wish I had a cane. I hold on to every sturdy surface as I follow her to the back of the store while a wave of dizziness hits me. I need to sit for a bit and not do anything. Only breathe. Maybe blink. Eyes closed would be best. I hope Mom and Meg are busy trying on all the things already so I can rest.
But no. They’re both seated on a powder pink sofa, sipping something bubbly from champagne flutes even though it’s barely eleven in the morning.
“Maddie, you made it!”
As if I had a choice.
Mom spreads her arms open for a hug I’m not in a position to give her, but I sit down next to her and let her pull me to her side. I clench my jaw so I don’t spew out a curse.
“It’s so great to have the three Berkley women together for a change,” she says.
“You two can come visit me in the city any time, you know?” Meg laughs.
“Ugh, you’re always so busy, baby.” Mom pats Meg’s knee before turning to me. “Ready? We were waiting for you.”
I wince. “I need a few minutes.”
“What for?”
“I’m in a lot of pain, Mom.”
“Oh, nonsense.” She waves a hand and releases an exasperated sigh. “That’s nothing compared to the thirteen?—”
“—Hours of labor when you gave birth to?—”
I say “me” just as Meg says “Maddie.” This is what Mom says every single time I complain about my cramps.
“Not Meg. She was such an easy baby, even during the pregnancy.”
My sister leans back around our mother and gives me a grimace. I just shake my head a bit. Nothing we can do about Mom.
