"What is your work?" Dora had asked.
"Cuppa and I are business partners. We run a wedding business. Lesbian weddings, specifically."
"Oh." Dora digested all of this, wondering why she never thought to ask about their jobs before.
When Dora was still at The Source, Erica had mentioned Dora's work briefly to her, the reason for all the Facebook friends. Erica threw out words like podcast and something called a bog or blog. She may as well have been speaking another language. Clothing and fashion? Dora wondered how she'd found her way into that world.
The four of them walked against the wind, heads bent. The promenade was busy, even with the inclement weather.
"Can we go to T.J. Max?" Jesse asked. From the moment they'd left the car, he'd been holding tight to Dora's hand. His small face beamed up at her, and when Dora looked down at her son, her breath caught at the likeness she never noticed before. Fine-boned features with a hint of fragility. Cedar. Dora squeezed Jesse’s hand as a spark of affection leapt up her throat.
"Yes. We can go there," she said
A loud groan came from Sara. "There's never anything good at T.J. Max." She paused to blow on her chocolate and take a sip.
Dora's heart quickened with this small connection she'd discovered. "I used to have a brother," she said to Jesse.
Her son smiled. "I know. His name was Cedar. You said I look like him."
Sara, who walked a few paces ahead of them next to Erica, turned to frown at Dora and roll her eyes. "You've told us, like, a thousand times. That's why Jesse's your favorite." Her lips pinched together, and she turned back around.
"Hey, Sara, attitude," Erica said.
Dora tapped the girl's small shoulder and Sara glanced back at her. "I'm sure I never had favorites." She tried to give her daughter a reassuring smile, a mom smile, but Sara was having none of it.
"What do you know? You don't even remember us," she said savagely into her cup of chocolate. Dora straightened back up. She felt like she'd been slapped.
T.J. Max was too crowded, the clothes pawed over, many of the items hanging sloppily on the circular racks.
"I want to look at the shoes," Jesse called out excitedly, making a beeline for that section. "Come on, Mom."
Leaving Erica and Sara to examine t-shirts, Dora followed her son, physically pulled along. He suddenly stopped short of the shoe section, dropped her hand and turned away.
"Never mind," he mumbled.
"Hey, it's that kid, Jesse," someone said from the Women's shoe aisle, followed by a stifled giggle.
"Come on," he hissed at Dora.
"Hey, Jesse," the voice drifted out from behind the shelf of shoes. "Hey, bitch."
Dora could see two kids through the gaps of the shelving, giggling. One of them cupped his mouth with his hand and called out in the same taunting voice. "Jesse." Dora took two steps toward the teasing kids, hesitating when Jesse grabbed her hand.
"Come on," he pleaded.
"Wait. I don't like how they're making fun like that."
Jesse pulled on her, but she felt determined to confront them. The two boys were older than Jesse, but still very young. Ten, maybe. They stopped laughing when they saw Dora, silently taking her in. She could feel her son edging up to her side.
"What? You wanna play bully?" Dora said, the heat of her anger rising up her neck, prickling her face.
"We're just kidding around," one of the boys said. "Chill."
"You're asking me to chill when you went call my son a bitch?" She took a step toward the boys and they shrank back.
"Mom," Jesse whispered, pulling on her sweater.
A woman stepped out from a neighboring aisle. She was thin and blond with a blunt haircut, a small golden crucifix resting against her scoop neck navy-blue top. Her blue eyes took in Dora, Jesse clinging to her.
"What's going on?" She asked crisply. The palm of her hand came to rest on the shoulder of one of the boys.
"What's going on is that your kids are bullying my son."
The woman's brows pinched together, and she leaned to the side to get a better look at Jesse, who was now mostly hiding behind Dora.
"Your son?" She echoed.
"Yes, my son!"
"You need to calm down," the woman said, her voice rising.
"Your kids need to apologize." Dora's voice rose to match the womans’. She could feel her throat getting tight.
Suddenly Erica was there by her side, grabbing her arm. "Come on. Let's get some fresh air. It's not worth it."
"Oh. I get it," the woman said, her voice growing low. "You're one of those families who don't believe in gender. God gave you a boy, but you're pretending he's a girl." She gestured at Erica. "And I suppose this one is supposed to be the husband. Is it no wonder my sons are confused? Not all of us live in your fairy world." She made air quotes with her fingers, and Dora lunged at her but was held back by Erica.
"Stop!" One of the boys yelled, his face crumpling with fear.
In her haste to get away from Dora, the woman stumbled over a stray shoe, falling on her bottom. The boys gathered around their mom.
Dora held herself rigid as Erica, who was proving to be incredibly strong, physically turned her body toward the entrance of the store. With their other hand, they bustled Jesse and Sara forward. Jesse's eyes swam with tears and Sara tripped over her feet, trying to walk and look back at the boys with their mother. People stared, some of them are holding up their phones.
Outside, Erica shooed Jesse and Sara down the sidewalk, telling them to wait. When they were out of earshot, they turned to Dora. "You need to get a grip on yourself. We are adults.
