Page 43 of Baby Blue
By the time Anne got back from the store, the bathroom was spotless. “That looks pretty good. You got some tools?” she asked, holding up a curtain rod.
“I’m a mechanic. Of course I have tools, woman. Hell, that’s about all I’ve got,” he said and laughed. Thirty minutes later, the curtain rods were up. Anne tumbled the curtains in the dryer for about ten minutes and then hung them. He could hear her rustling around in the bedroom and in a little while she sang out, “Come look!”
Blue stepped through the doorway and couldn’t believe his eyes. There were dark blue drapes hanging at his windows and a dark blue comforter on the bed. “No time to find a bed skirt, but this is better than nothing.”
“Better than nothing? It’s awesome!” Blue was grinning from ear to ear.
“Yeah? Well, I got some blue rugs for the bathroom too, and a new rug for Indigo’s room,” she said.
“You didn’t!”
“I did. It’s cute too. Wait until you see.”
The rug was bright pink shag, and it was adorable in her room. Among the multi-colored ponies on her drapes were bright pink ones, and the rug really helped pull that together. “That’s so cute. It makes the room look much nicer.”
“Yeah, and I got some furniture polish. Let’s see if we can do anything with the living room furniture.”
By the time they were finished, there were nice throw pillows on the sofa and chair and the rug in the middle of the room had been shaken and beaten until it looked decent. Anne hung a pair of off-white curtains up to the living room window and some with daisies at the kitchen window, then put a yellow dish cloth on the divider between the two sink bowls and folded up a yellow kitchen towel to put beside the sink. She put out daisy-covered placemats and set a glass vase with a few silk daisies right in the center of the kitchen table.
In two more hours they had everything under control. “God, it’s nine o’clock and I’m exhausted,” Anne said, falling onto thesofa. “I’m going to order some pizza and get the kids over here to eat before they have to go to bed.”
“I don’t like that you haven’t been able to spend time with the kids tonight,” Blue said, hanging his head.
“It’s one night. And look at all we got done! Now, practice the things Glen told you to say until they don’t sound like you’ve practiced them,” she said with a chuckle.
“I wish you could be here when she comes,” Blue told Anne. When she stepped in front of him, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her up against him. Looking down into those beautiful hazel eyes, he whispered, “When you’re with me, I feel stronger.”
“You know,” she said, her eyes weepy, “I think that may be one of the nicest things anybody’s ever said to me.”
“It’s true,” Blue told her and kissed her forehead. “You’ve changed my life, Anne. I feel like I may actually have a fighting chance.”
“I think you do.” She ran a finger down his nose before stopping it at his lips, and he kissed its tip and smiled. “Let’s get some pizza in us and call it a night.”
She wasn’tthe praying type, but Anne prayed. She started as soon as she stepped out of Blue’s house and she kept praying. She prayed all night long and on into the next morning.
They couldn’t take that baby away. They just couldn’t. He’d be destroyed. Worse yet, he’d go back to just the same way he was before, but probably worse. His anger would turn to bitterness, and he wouldn’t be able to be around anyone. He’d probably become an alcoholic or a drug addict, or get violent,or…Stop letting your imagination run away with you, Anne! And stop being so negative!She couldn’t help it. Just from talking to him, she knew bad luck had followed him his whole life. She wanted to believe she was the change of tide, the turn in his luck, his saving grace, but she knew that was all up to him.
Just a few hours. In just a few hours, things would either get better or a whole lot worse. And she prayed they’d be better. If BrentWallace was going to survive it, it all had to get better. Worse wasn’t an option.
There was nothing she could do as she watched out the window, wondering how soon the woman would get there, wishing she’d been able to sleep just ten minutes and knowing why she couldn’t. She knew Blue probably hadn’t either. And she prayed he’d be able to hold it together for just a little while longer.
God,he was nervous! Blue checked his hair in the bathroom mirror at least twice. Yeah, he still looked like a washed-up eighties hair band guitarist, but at least he was trying, and he made a mental note to check on those beauty school services. He could hear Indigo in her room, laughing and squealing, and he was pretty sure she was looking at her mobile.
She was still laughing when he stepped into the nursery, and she turned her head and stared straight at him. “Hey, little girl! Whatcha doin’?” he asked her, leaning over the crib and tickling her tummy. She kicked her legs like she was leaping and kept laughing. Blue reached in and picked her up, leaning her against his shoulder as he made his way toward the living room. Strapping her into her carrier had become easy for him, and hepoked the little toy dangling from its handle to make it sway in front of her eyes. She reached for it and squealed.
All he had for breakfast was toast, and he had trouble getting that down. He even washed the knife and plate, dried them, and put them away. The sink was empty and spotless. There were a few crumbs on the counter, so he swept them off in his hand and carried them to the trash can, then laughed aloud. A couple of weeks earlier, he would’ve just swept them off onto the floor if he’d even noticed them at all. Suddenly he was keeping house, and he would’ve found that pretty damn funny if he wasn’t so worried.
What he wanted to do most was call Anne. He knew she was waiting to find out what was going on, and he was pretty sure she was watching out the window. But if he called her, he’d just break down, and he had to hold it together.
At two minutes before nine there was a knock on the door, and Blue was glad he’d gotten ready ahead of time. He grabbed his phone and texted Anne:She’s here.As soon as he heard theswishof the message leaving, he headed to the door. When his hand hit the knob, he straightened his back, took in a deep breath and sighed it out, then turned the knob. “Good morning, Ms.Parker.”
“Hello, Mr.Wallace. May I come in?”
“Please, come in and have a seat,” Blue told her, sweeping his arm inward. “Would you care for something to drink?”
“No, thank you, but thanks for asking.” She took up residence in the armchair beside the sofa, so Blue sat down on the sofa and leaned forward, elbows on knees. “First of all, I want to tell you how sorry I am for what happened yesterday. That shouldn’t have happened, and I’ve asked our supervisor to look into the work practices of your former employer.”
“Won’t do me any good, but thanks. And it really wasn’t your fault either, so I’m sorry for the way I spoke to you on the phone.I was just upset and afraid, frankly.” That sounded good, and in reality, it was exactly what had happened. Her call had been the icing on the cake that had failed to rise the day before, and Blue had been more than frazzled. He hoped she couldn’t tell how exhausted he was from the cleaning sprint he and Anne had done the night before, not to mention the fact that he hadn’t slept one single minute.
