Page 33 of Cul-de-sac

Chapter Twelve

Heidi pulls into her drivewayand shuts off the car’s engine, a buzz of anticipation building in her chest. What’s that old saying—“Today is the first day of the rest of your life”? Well, it’s today. And starting today, things in the Young household are going to be very different.

She’s been thinking about it all afternoon. The store was exceptionally quiet, which meant she’d spent most of her time straightening the various display tables and standing around, trying to look busy. Which gave her a lot of time to think. Which was when a plan started taking shape in her head.

There were things she could control, she decided, and things she couldn’t. And she couldn’t just keep complaining about her mother-in-law, hoping that things would change, because they wouldn’t. That’s not the way things worked. No, if she wanted a different relationship with Lisa, she’d have to be more—what was the word?—proactive. You can’t change other people, she remembered hearing onDr. Phil; you can only change yourself.

So change she will. Starting today, she will be the daughter-in-law of Lisa’s dreams. She will prove to the woman how much she loves her son, that she is all the wife a man—and his mother—could ask for. She will listen when Lisa speaks, she won’t argue when she disagrees, she will appreciate and take to heart any help and/or advice that her mother-in-law offers.

Through renewed determination and sheer force of will, she will make Lisa love her.

Even if it kills her.

She’s already taken the first step, phoning Lisa from work and inviting her over for dinner tonight, a gourmet feast she intends to prepare all by herself. So what if she isn’t much of a cook, and her specialty thus far has been hot dogs and baked beans? How hard can it be?

Aiden’s shift doesn’t end till seven o’clock, and Lisa, after graciously accepting Heidi’s impromptu invitation, has offered to pick her son up from the mall so he won’t have to Uber home. “That’s so thoughtful of you,” Heidi told her, almost giddy with the thought that her plan already seemed to be working.

Heidi climbs out of the car’s front seat and opens the rear door, extricating the two bags of groceries she purchased at Whole Foods on her way home from work. Chicken, fruit, lots of healthy fresh vegetables. Surely she’ll have no trouble finding an easy recipe online.

“Can I give you a hand?” she hears someone ask.

She pivots around to find a skinny young man walking toward her. A little unkempt, she thinks, but sexy in thatI don’t give a shitkind of way. Early twenties, she thinks. Not that much younger than she is. Jeans very tight and slung a little too low, hair a little too scruffy, a little too long. She’s seen him with the old lady who lives next door a few times the last couple of weeks and assumed he’s either a relative or someone she hired to give her a hand around the house.

“Hi,” he says now, stepping around the Hyundai to introduce himself. “Mark Fisher, Julia’s grandson.”

“Nice to meet you, Mark. I’m Heidi. Heidi Young.”

“The newlywed,” he says with a grin. “My grandmother gave me the rundown on all the neighbors.”

“Yeah? What’d she say?”

“That’s about it.” He shrugs, the grin expanding, stretching toward his ears. “She left out how pretty you are.”

Heidi laughs, flattered despite the obviousness of the line. “Yeah, well.” She laughs again, this time more of a girlish giggle. “Guess I should get these groceries inside.”

“Here,” he says, lifting the bags from her hands before she has a chance to object. “Let me help you.”

Heidi fishes inside her purse for her keys and opens the front door, leading the young man through the hall into the kitchen.

“Wow,” Mark says. “Looks just like my nana’s house.”

“You call your grandmother Nana?”

“Yup. Why? What do you call yours?”

“I don’t call them anything. They’re both dead.”

“That’s sad,” Mark says, depositing the bags on the kitchen counter.

Heidi shrugs. No point wasting emotions on things she can’t change. Concentrate on the things you can. Something else she learned fromDr. Phil.

“Looks like someone’s planning quite the feast,” he remarks, peeking inside the bags.

“I don’t know,” Heidi admits, feeling less sure of herself now that she’s confronted with her purchases. “I invited my mother-in-law for dinner tonight and I may have bitten off more than I can chew. So to speak.” She laughs, and is grateful when Mark laughs with her.

“What are you planning on serving?”

“I don’t know,” Heidi says again, extricating the package of boneless chicken thighs. “Some kind of chicken, I guess.”

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