“I knew you’d be back.” She grinned. “Idaho’s creepy. I mean farms are cool and stuff, but people are all backwards there.”
“Sure, Ton-Ton.” I saw that Chloe was waiting for me, very patiently considering her prospects. “I have to go.”
“Well, I guess I’ll see you around. Do you want my new number? I changed phones.”
I paused for a moment. “No, I don’t think I do. Anyway, good luck to you. No hard feelings.”
“None for me, either. I’ll see you around.”
I didn’t bother to correct her. Seeing her again was not in my future plans, and if I did, I would not let her catch me off-guard like that again. In the back seat of the car, I stared out the window while Chloe and her distraction did their share of foreplay until we got to the hotel. I tried to wipe the memory of that kiss from my face, but I couldn’t help admitting it felt good to be at least physically close to someone. It has been about four months, and I think I’m starting to attract moths.
I was in the lounge for about forty minutes, and two men had already hit on me. I was trying to understand the pattern on the slate and cream colored carpet, when Chloe texted me to come back up.
Knock, knock, knock. “You sure?” I poked my head in.
She was in the kitchenette opening a tea. “That was the worst sex I’ve ever had in my entire life!”
“What?”
“Yeah!” she huffed. Chloe went on to give me a bunch of way-too-intimate details of her encounter, but, yeah, it was pretty bad. “You don’t want to fool around, do you?” She was half-joking, but I could tell she would have followed through on it. This was my fourth proposition of the night, and the irony was the only person I want to be intimate with right now was on a farm in Emmett, Idaho and within a 90% certainty of being straight.
“No,” I said, “after being mauled by Ton-Ton, I don’t know if I ever will.”
“Figures!” She laughed and collapsed into a chair. Chloe just went up about ten points in my book.
March 9, 2013
I’m going to love working with Chloe. We got to the airport, and everything went smoothly, for once.
When I got off the plane in Sacramento, the sky was a Byzantine blue. I expected to get a text from Mom saying she was running late, but, there she was at the gate, bouncing a small child on her hip. She almost knocked me over with her hug, and I think the kid drooled on my jacket, but it’s always nice to be wanted. Her phone rang, and she whispered, “work,” as she answered and foisted the baby on me. I jostled the kid around until she was in a position that did not feel like my arm was being twisted off. How do people carry them around all the time like this? Mom walked over to a wall for some quiet, and I stared into the little girl’s watery blue eyes for a moment. She looked like she was going to cry, and I found myself doing something I never thought I’d do.
“Hooshie, wooshie. Who’s the happy baby?”
Her fat little cheeks bubbled up with drool. Ugh. But she wasn’t crying.
“Whatsa gramma doing?” I pointed at Mom. So glad I’m not having one of these anytime soon.
Mom walked back over, phone still glued to her ear. “Uh-huh, uh-huh, have you tried calling her emergency contact number?” She pulled the baby blanket off her shoulder and wiped the kid’s mouth, then went back to her wall of protection.
“Weww, gwamma is bizzzzy, isn’t she?” Thank goddess, Liv wasn’t there. I found a bench and dragged my backpack behind me so we could sit down.
I struggled to remember the baby’s name … Harley? Hailey? “Hailey, hay-we, hay-wee.” I bounced her on my knee and sang to her like some Sesame Street reject. She seemed to dig it, though. Mom walked back to me, took a set of brightly colored plastic keys out of her jacket pocket, and held them out to me. “Well, Karen’s name is on the orders, so you’ll have to go to her … I know, I know.” Back to her fortress of solitude.
“So, kid, what do you think of the new iPhone?” Blank stare, more drool. “Yeah, what are you, Mac or PC?”
She reared back and jabbered, “Ay, yi, yi, yi, bababa – bah!”
“Okay, okay.” As a last resort, I jingled the keys in front of her. Hailey grabbed the bright blue one and stuck it in her mouth, drool running in a string from her chin, down my pant leg, and to the floor.
Mom ended her call and came to collect the miscreant. “Everybody okay over here?” She scooped the baby onto her hip in a fluid motion.
We drove through town, and things began to feel like normal. Mom caught me up on all the latest happenings around town, and I told her a bit about the farm, Elliot, Sheila, Jodie, and some of the locals. She remembered Sheila but wasn’t sure about Jodie’s dad. Elliot’s family kept to themselves during the time she was there, but she kind of remembered them. About two blocks from the house, she pulled the car over.
“Baby, I have to tell you something.”
“Okay.”
“Harvey and I are going to get married.”
I let the concept sink in for a second. “Well, that’s great, Mom. I mean, it’s great if you think it’s great. You
