January (Calendar Girl #1) Anthology Anthology (140 page)

Over a hundred and fifty pairs of eyes threw daggers my way as I maneuvered my carry
on through the horde of disgruntled passengers to get to my seat. Things were not looking up from there. I was placed in between a very rotund man and a nosey eight-year-old girl who was flying alone. Her parents were divorced, and she now had two families. She hated the woman she referred to as “step-monster” and the woman’s older daughter who, according to her, was a meanie.

Her destination was her mother’s where Mom was a showgirl on the Strip. No surprise there. When you lived in Vegas, meaning in the heart of Vegas, you either worked the casinos, served food, or performed some type of act or service to the tourists. If you lived outside the city, there were other employment opportunities available. I knew all this about little Chasity because she made a point to tell me everything there was to know about her. And I mean everything. Her favorite color was purple but not the dark kind, only the light kind, which I deduced was lavender. Animals were her
thing
, especially horses. Best part of being at her Dad’s in Denver, apparently was that he had land that included animals. Big draw for an eight-year-old. But, there was step-monster to deal with, and that knocked the pegs of visiting her dad down several notches. And then there was the guilt. Chasity’s mom had very few friends and no family. The small child felt it was her role to keep her mother company. Because, “no one wants to be alone. People need people.” At least according to in-your-face, well-meaning Chasity.

When the pilot announced that we were twenty minutes from landing, I actually sent a little prayer up to the Big Guy that Chasity and her mother would find their way to a happy medium. I also thanked the medical professionals for the awesomeness that was birth control. Being with an eight-year-old for a determined length of time solidified the notion that I was nowhere near ready to procreate, and I might not ever take that plunge. It took a special kind of person to mother a child, and I felt I’d already done that with my baby sister, Maddy. The next kid I raised would likely be a hellion or a demon spawn. Best not to leave that kind of thing up to Lady Luck. As I’ve already determined…a cold- hearted bitch, that lady, no need to ruffle any feathers unnecessarily.

At baggage claim, I hauled my extra suitcase of amazing Boston Red Sox gear, jeans, and the rest of my loot from Chicago, figuring I could leave it at Dad and Maddy’s. That way, Mads could have the pick of the litter and feel like a princess in all the clothes Hector picked out for me along with the hip, casual duds from Rachel.

A litany of pings trilled from my cell phone the second I hit the power button.

To: Mia Saunders

From: Mason Murphy

Your letter was cool, sweetness, but your saying goodbye in person would have been better. Rach and I wanted to take you to the airport. She’s hurt. I’m pissed. Find a way to make it up to us. ;-)

Not the first time a client, or I should say “friend”, was upset with my style of goodbye. Wes seemed to anticipate my ninja-like departure. Alec went with the flow, and Hector cried. That gay Latino sent me a sobbing message about how I ruined the perfect goodbye. Something about seeing it on a movie once, and he’d had it all planned out with flying doves and shit. I don’t know; Tony must have grabbed the phone at that time and interrupted the message. He had added his own brand of irritation that I left him with a sniveling fiancé to deal with and that I owed him one.

The next message was my ride.

To: Mia Saunders

From: Skank-a-lot-a-Puss

Yo. Your ride is outside. Circling. Don’t make me stop and a get a ticket for your ugly mug.

Laughing, I hefted my bag and caught sight of Ginelle’s Honda. I waved, and she came to a screeching halt at the loading zone, parking cock-eyed.

“Word up, Biz-natch!” she said as I shoved my giant suitcase and smaller carryon into her back seat. When I jumped in the passenger side, her blonde locks bounced against her neck and a shock of bright green chewing gum was pressed against her white teeth.

I lifted my chin. “Hi honey, thanks for picking me up,” I cooed smugly.

With a flick of her wrist and a turn of the wheel, she squealed out of her spot and into the moving airport traffic. One could never mistake Ginelle for a good driver. Could she drive for NASCAR? Probably. Her maneuvers were second to none, alongside her ability to make millisecond decisions when behind the wheel. However, she took a lot chances. So far, they had been okay. I held onto that little nugget as I clung to the oh-shit bar until we got onto the freeway.

Slowly sucking in a breath, I leaned my head back and just enjoyed the silence of being with my best friend. We didn’t need to talk, and that’s what made the two of us perfect BFFs. Being comfortable in shared silence. The sounds of the freeway and her gum smacking, and the scent of her lemon shampoo almost had me tearing up. Home. This was familiar. This was good. This is what I’ve known my whole life. It didn’t mean it would always be my final destination, just that when I was here, I loved it with my whole heart.

Ginelle drove me to Maddy and Pop’s. She could tell I was contemplative and didn’t fill the car with idle chitchat, but she did glance over at me, grab my hand, and hold it against the console between us. Sister solidarity. She might not be my blood, but she was by far the next best thing in the entire universe.

“I love you,” I whispered, not realizing I was busting out with the emotional shit.

Her eyes caught mine, her face so lovely and sweet. Her pink lips puckered in a way I thought she was going to say those three words right back. Instead, she used two. “I know.”

And then I laughed. Hard. Leave it to my Gin to know exactly what I needed after a long fucking day of travel, a hard escape from my last client, who I now thought of as my
brother from another mother,
and the knowledge that I only had three short days here before I had to get on a plane to my next client. I’d pushed the limit of my time in Boston by two days. Usually, I’m required to stay approximately twenty-four days so that I have around six or so to take care of personal business and the two travel days needed to get to and fro. I haven’t even been back to California since January, and here I was, three days before the start of May. Another month, another hundred thousand dollars off to Blaine.

I handed Ginelle the envelope with a check in it. “Drop this off with the admin at the hotel? Save me a stamp?”

“Sure thing, babe,” she grabbed the envelope that had Blaine’s latest payment and tucked it into her purse as she pulled up to the curb of my childhood home. “You must be hungry. Mads is making a homecoming dinner. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, and Pops’ famous chocolate cherry pie for dessert.” Then she opened her door and went around to her trunk and pulled out a case of beer.

“I really do love you.” I looked at the case of beer then at my shack of a home that had a tiny porch with a bare bulb for a light. Behind the lace curtains, I could see my sweet baby sis plating the table. For me. Because I was coming home. Nothing beats that.

Gin put her arm around my shoulders and tugged me toward the house. “I seriously know this shit already. Didn’t you hear me the first time?” She rolled her eyes and huffed for emphasis. I shook my head and hugged her tight.

I opened the door and the mouthwatering scent of cooked meat, veggies, and garlic instantly hit my nose. “Mads, I’m home!” I called out, dropping my purse on the scratched up side table then waited for the squeal. Maddy was always good for a little girl squeal when she was excited. This time was no different.

The squeal was followed by my tall-assed sister plowing into me. I held strong, barely keeping myself up. “Baby girl, I missed you.” I hugged her lithe body so tight. It had been close to two months since I’d seen her and already she seemed like she was filling out, losing those teenaged ridges and coming into our Mom’s side of the womanly curves. Her boobs definitely had grown and her hips seemed a bit fleshier. When I pulled out of her arms and away from her cherry-almond scent, I looked deep into her eyes. That huge smile I adored spread out across her lips.

“Prettiest girl in all the world. But only when she smiles,” I said, mimicking the phrase I’d said to her for close to a decade. That lovely blush rose across her cheeks and she pulled me into another hug. This one was much tighter and held the sense that she didn’t want to let go. “What’s the matter?” I held her cheeks and looked into her eyes.

Maddy shook her head, letting the too long bangs across her forehead fall into her eyes. “Nothing. I’m just really glad you’re here. I made your favorite.”

“I can smell it.” Right then my belly decided to make my lack of eating a well-known fact, grumbling extraordinarily loud.

“Soup’s on,” Maddy said, pulling my hand toward the kitchen. Ginelle followed behind us. Yep, this was good. Being home was exactly what I needed.

***

“We’re going to Hawaii!” echoed through the room at a decibel level that could shatter glass.

“Jesus Christ! Cool it, will ya?” I held my hands over my ears.

“Are you fucking kidding me? I’m going to Hawaii? I haven’t even left Nevada except to visit you in California, and now I’m crossing a motherfucking ocean with whales and fishes and all kinds of shit! Fuck me!” Ginelle screamed, popping in a new piece of gum and following it with a huge glug of beer. Gross. I chose not to say anything about the questionable pairing because she wasn’t smoking, and that above all else, was serious progress.

After sipping my own beer, I set it down on the Formica tabletop. “Calm down. Yes. I’m paying for both of you to come to Hawaii this month. You have to find out between the two of you when it works best. Come for a week or so, stay in the bungalow they are providing me,” I held up my hands to stop both of them from interrupting. “Now, I don’t know what the accommodations are going to be like, so it may be three of us in one bed, but I figure hey… free trip, right?”

“Fuck yes! I’ll sleep on the motherfuckin’ floor!”

I groaned. “Gin, cool the f-bombs around Mads. Jeez.”

“Oh please, I’m not a little girl. As a matter of fact… I’m officially a woman as of last weekend.” Maddy’s tone was haughty and informative, and not at all what I wanted to hear come out of my baby sister’s mouth.

I closed my eyes, my hand knocking my beer across the tabletop. Gin caught it before it spilled everywhere. “Mads…” I whispered.

She pursed her lips together and smiled shyly while tracing a finger along the tabletop. “Can we talk about this later?” Her eyes flicked to Ginelle. As much as Ginelle was my sister from another mister, she and Maddy weren’t as close. They loved each other, but not in the, confide completely in one another type friendship, or I should say sisterhood that Maddy and I shared.

Ginelle overtly looked down at her watch. “Well, look at that. Time to go!” she said loudly. “Looks like I’ve got some bathing suit shopping to do. Oh, and tomorrow at one o’clock we have the spa day to get all your shabby bits back into prize fighting order. Three of us again. Cool?”

“Gin… thank you. For everything. You know that…” I started, but Ginelle, as usual, didn’t take offense at Maddy wanting to talk to me alone. She wrapped an arm around me, giving me a hug, then kissed the top of Maddy’s head and ruffled her hair. “See you bitches tomorrow!”

“Bye!” Maddy and I said in unison. The tension in the room thickened, but not in an ominous way. More like the, you’ve-got-shit-to-say-say-it way.

“I didn’t mean for it to happen…” Maddy started and tears filled her eyes. “I wanted to talk to you first, but we’ve been having such a good time, and he really loves me, and I love him and…”

Covering her hand with mine, I looked into her pretty eyes. “And… what was it like?”

She licked her lips and tipped her head. “It hurt. I bled a little, but he went
so
slowly. So much that he shook with the effort. He was afraid to hurt me, and really, it only hurt for a little bit.”

I smiled, tears filling my own eyes and falling down my cheek. My baby girl had grown up. “Did you enjoy it?”

Instantly, she nodded. “We’ve done it two more times since then,” she giggled. “And those times were like, a million times better!” I laughed and nodded knowing what that’s like.

“So what about your relationship. How’s he acting now? Still cool?”

Her eyes lit up like a birthday cake filled to the brim with candles. “Oh, he’s
so
cool! Tells me every day how I’m the most beautiful girl, and how much he loves me, and how one day, we’ll get married.” She clasped her hands in front of her chest and wistfully looked off to a bare spot on the kitchen wall. “He’s everything, Mia. Everything I ever wanted. Everything you told me to find before I took that step. I couldn’t be happier.”

I scooted over my chair and pulled her into my arms, needing her close. “I’m so glad you had a good experience, and that the man you’re with loves you for you. He does right? Love you for all the true beauty within you, not just the beauty on the outside?”

Maddy’s head nodded frantically against mine as I petted her hair. “I think so. He tells me all the time. He actually wants to talk to you. I told him he couldn’t tonight, but maybe tomorrow you would be willing to go to his parents for dinner. They want to meet my family and well… you’re all I have.”

That sent a fresh wave of remorse through my veins, anger at our mother for abandoning us and sorrow that our father couldn’t get his shit together long enough to be there during the important times in our lives. At least for Maddy. She’s the deserving one.

I held my baby sister’s cheeks and kissed her softly on the lips. “I would love to meet your boyfriend’s parents and have a sit down with your guy.”

Once more, that face that could light a hundred cities shone with excitement and joy. She hopped up and went over to the coffee pot. I could see her dumping in a few scoops of Folgers decaf while she wiggled from side to side to a song only she could hear. “This is cause for a celebration… a chocolate celebration.”