by Lexy Timms
“Oh, my gosh. Mrs. McBride, thank you so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
She threw her arms around me, and I hugged her close again. I could already feel a burden being lifted from my shoulders. With all the ideas she had swirling around in her head, I saw her taking this place to new heights. I saw art classes with children and rehabilitation classes with those trying to clean up their acts. I saw Saturday night showcases and parties that raked in donations to make my classes free to the public. I led Kelly over to the cash register, walked her through things, and then performed a few practice transactions so I knew she could get it right.
Then, I started closing down the gallery and walking her through the motions.
I could almost feel my soft mattress against my skin.
Chapter 17
Bryan
Ellen was gracious enough to give me the day off so I could put the finishing touches on the house. I went ahead and ordered all the furniture I wanted to fill the home with and then met the delivery guys over there so I could help. I guided them to where the furniture needed to be and then shifted it around so it was in the perfect spot. I pieced together bed frames and fit the mattresses perfectly into them. I hung sheer curtains on the windows and placed accent chairs in their proper places. I even ran out to the local art stores and started pulling things for Hailey’s art studio, tubes of exotic paints and an easel and canvases of all kinds of shapes and sizes.
I wanted everything to be perfect before I showed it to Hailey.
I enlisted the help of Foreman Jack and his massive truck. I traveled out to the warehouse where I was keeping the nursery furniture I had made, and we transported it back to the house. Jack helped me carry in the crib, the dresser, and the changing table I had built with my own two hands. The set was made out of this beautiful blond cedar and smelled like heaven. We carried the set up the stairs and into the nursery for the baby and set it down, maneuvering it into different places until I had the layout I envisioned for my child’s first bedroom.
It was complete.
The house was finally done.
“I don’t like tooting people’s horns and shit, but this place looks great,” Jack said.
“I only did the decorating. And there’s still plenty of room for Hailey to come and put her touch on everything,” I said.
“I think she’s really gonna like this,” he said.
“I hope so.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s nothing. She’s been so stressed lately, and with things I thought were buried in the past. I was going to hold off another couple of weeks so I could get the electricity and the water hooked up and running smoothly, but I’ve been thinking about surprising her earlier with it,” I said.
“It might help with the stress, having something like this to look forward to.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” I said. “But I don’t want to make a wrong move. She’s under enough stress already, so the last thing I want is to throw something at her she feels she has to accomplish, if that makes sense.”
“It does, but let me tell you something. If any woman comes into this house and doesn’t appreciate the time, effort, and love it took to put together? Then she’s not the woman you built this house for. A man doesn’t build a house for a woman without expecting to make it a home. And if she can’t see that, then there’s something bigger going on than some stress,” he said.
“Yeah. That’s what I’m afraid of, I guess.”
“Well, get unafraid. She’s growing a human being in her body. Get over yourself.”
“I’m concerned I haven’t done enough to support her emotionally. I feel like maybe she wouldn’t be so strung out with her emotions if I had done something more to help,” I said.
“Bryan, let me clue you in on a little secret. Women are gonna always have something they’re stressing over. It’s what they do. You wanna know why?”
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Because women are programmed to think two things. One, that they have to make a man’s life comfortable. And two, that making it comfortable means shouldering as much stress as they can so we don’t experience it. I don’t know why. I’ve never claimed to be able to figure it out. But for whatever the reason, it’s how they operate. My wife has always been that way, and my two daughters who are now married operate that way. It’s one of the many ways they show us they love us. And yes, it might drive us bonkers. But in their mind, they’re really helping us.”
“But I want her to be happy, too. I don’t want her to be stressed. I want to take on this stress with her, Jack.”
“Well, when you figure out how to do that, let me know. Because I’m over fighting that fight with my wife, and we’ve been married thirty-two years,” he said.
“Thanks,” I said, chuckling. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You need anything else? Everything look okay with the house?” he asked.
“Everything’s wonderful. All I need to do is get electricity and water running in this place, but that’s on me. You know where to send the bill.”
“You’ll get it in the mail once I can draw it up.”
“I have no doubt,” I said, grinning.
I headed back out to my truck and took one last look at the house. Everything with it was complete. A couple of calls to the city of San Diego to get the necessities up and running, and the house would be ready to move into. I cranked up the truck and started wondering if there was any way I could start moving some of our things in now without Hailey noticing or suspecting anything was going on. The more I could take off her shoulders with this project, the more I figured she would appreciate it.
But my phone buzzing on my hip ripped me away from my thoughts.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Why in the world have you not called me?”
When the fuck was I going to learn to screen my calls?
“Hello, Mom,” I said.
“We haven’t talked in over a week. You and Hailey missed dinner three nights ago! Is everything all right? Is the baby okay?”
“Are you manic?” I asked.
“Is that some new terminology kids are using these days?” my mother asked.
“I haven’t called you because the last time we talked, I told you we weren’t going to be speaking until you apologized to Hailey.”
“No, you said we weren’t going to be having dinner until I apologized. But really, I don’t have anything to apologize about,” she said.
“Then we have nothing to talk about,” I said.
“Bryan, just listen to your mother for once.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“Whether you understand it or not, you do owe me an apology.”
“Oh, this should be good. Why do I owe you an apology?” I asked.
“Because you’ve made me cry more times in the past month than I’ve ever cried in my entire life. Michael couldn’t even go over and have his conversation with Hailey this past weekend because I was hysterical. Your antics are getting in the way of your father having a budding relationship with the woman who’s going to be raising our grandchild. The least you could do is support me, so you can support his decision to be around.”
“I’m not even sure half of that made sense, but my stance hasn’t changed,” I said. “You apologize to Hailey for the things you’ve said to her, or dinner still doesn’t happen. And Dad? He’s a fully-grown man. If he wants to come see Hailey, he will. Whether you’re crying or not.”
“Your father would never abandon me in a time of need, Bryan.”
“Then you understand completely why I’m backing my wife,” I said.
“I have done nothing wrong. The only thing I’m guilty of is speaking my piece about this entire scenario. You are my son. Don’t I get an opinion in any of this?” she asked.
“To a point. But I have chosen the woman I’m going to spend the rest of my life with, so your opinions are now moot. Hailey is under e
nough stress already, and I won’t have you causing any more of it.”
“Stress? Is the baby okay?” she asked.
“Hailey and the child are fine. I’ve already spoken with Dad, and I’ve explained to him that I’m worried about Hailey’s stress levels. I told him that if things between all of us don’t want to settle, then our time together will have to be minimized. It’s as simple as that.”
“Well, if she wasn’t on her feet all day with that blasted gallery and trying to rest for the sake of that child, she wouldn’t be in this position, and maybe we could have a family dinner.”
“No matter how you try to spin this, Mom, you won’t get out of it. You caused this, so you have to take ownership of the consequences. I’ve told you what it’ll take for us to try this again, and until those requirements are fulfilled, things will stand as they are,” I said.
“It’s amazing to me how far you’re willing to go to paint me like some kind of evil human being. Like I’m the one who can’t be trusted.”
“Are you saying Hailey can’t be trusted?” I asked.
“All I’m saying is that people like Hailey aren’t made of stern enough character. She’s talented but flighty. She runs from her problems instead of facing them head-on like a woman should. She would rather turn her back on them and act like they don’t exist than solve them and keep her head high. People like that betray people, Bryan. All I am is concerned for my son.”
“So concerned that you would threaten to take our child away? Mother, are you even listening to yourself? Hailey and I have been through hell and back. With John’s death. With this art gallery. With her cancer and being so sick.”
“And how many times did she willingly come forward with those struggles, hm? Did she willingly come forward about John and how she knew him? About the role she played in his life and in his death?”
“Hailey is not the reason John is dead, and you know that,” I said.
“And her cancer? When did she come forward with that? When she could no longer hide it from you?”
I was holding my phone so tightly, I thought it was going to shatter into a million pieces right there in the palm of my hand.
“Whatever you think of Hailey, it’s not true. That woman is loyal to a fault, and she’s going to be a splendid mother.”
“It’s interesting how you can’t deny what I’ve just told you,” my mother said.
“I’ve had enough of this. I’m attempting to start a fresh life with the woman I love who is carrying my child. Until you can apologize for the way you’ve been acting toward her since day one, none of this is happening. No dinners. No phone calls. No nothing.”
“No phone calls? Bryan, listen to yourself. Listen to how she’s isolating you from the family.”
“The only one doing the isolating is you,” I said. “You’re angry because you can no longer control the one son who is still in your life, and now you’re taking it out on the family I’m trying to build. And you can come after me and you can assault my character, but you will not come after my wife and child!”
“Oh, settle down, Bryan. I’m not some predator looming in the shadows. You don’t like the truth I’m telling you. You’ve always been that way, stubborn to a fault. You and your brother,” she said.
“We are done here. And if I have to block your number from our phones for you to get the picture, then so be it,” I said.
“Bryan? Bryan, wait. Son, listen to m—”
I hung up my phone and tossed it into the seat, my body shaking with anger. I gripped the steering wheel tightly as I raced through San Diego, taking back roads and flooring the gas. What in the fuck was happening with my mother? Was she mental? Was she insane? My jaw was clenched so tightly, I was giving myself a headache. I had to protect my family from her. She was dead set on trying to tear us apart, and I wasn’t going to allow her to do it.
No matter what she threw at us.
If she couldn’t see her fault in this matter, then that wasn’t my concern. And if my father couldn’t have a relationship with us because of her manipulative tactics, then that was on him. Anna and Drew would love this child, Ellen and the people at the foundation would love this child, and people at my construction business would love this child.
The family I surrounded this child with didn’t have to be blood-related.
And the more I thought about not having my parents in the picture, the more relaxed I became.
That was the solution to all of this. The solution was to bid my family goodbye.
Chapter 18
Hailey
I was training Kelly on how to greet and interact with customers as I wound down my week. It had been a long one, but I had finalized details with Ramon. He was going to purchase both of John’s paintings and hang them in a museum in Barcelona. He felt it was fitting to have John’s last two tremendous pieces of artwork hanging in the city where his niece or nephew had been conceived. It still ached that I had to part with the paintings. It was going to take some time before I’d be able to replace them with something else on the wall of my gallery. But that meant I had more than enough money to pay off this Ben character and be done with this entire debacle forever.
And having Kelly around to field the customers and deal with the cash register meant I could do this exchange in peace.
I was still worried about Bryan finding out about everything. This problem was almost resolved and without an ounce of it being spilled to him. I knew hiding it from him was wrong. I knew he wanted to know what was going on with me. But with the stress he was under from his mother and having this distance between him and his family, I figured he was going through enough. The last thing he needed to deal with was something from my past with his brother looming over our heads.
He had enough family drama on his plate.
Bryan had been tense all week. He was walking around with a scowl on his face, and his temper was short. But I couldn’t blame him. He’d told me about the conversation he had Wednesday with his mother and about the decision he’d made for our family with regard to them. Part of me ached for him, but part of me was relieved. His mother was becoming a very serious problem. Her words were stinging more than ever, and she was kicking up more drama than it was worth. Putting distance between us wouldn’t pile any more stress on my shoulders, but it did leave us feeling as if we were alone.
Without family dinners at his place and without a strong relationship with my parents, it almost seemed like we had been deserted.
But every night, when I laid my head down next to Bryan’s, he would utter those three words that made me shiver with delight. He would tell me he loved me before sinking between my legs and showing me, and it was all the reassurance I needed. In those moments, when his tongue was coursing electricity through my veins, all my worries faded into the background, the issue with Ben and the money I was going to pay him, the debacle with his parents, and the fact that my parents had disappeared after I was no longer riddled with cancer.
It all faded to the background when it was only the two of us in bed.
I knew I wouldn’t lose Bryan if he figured out what was going on, but I was ready to tie up the past. I was tired of being reminded of John. I knew how terrible that sounded, but I was. Every time I thought of him, I thought of that moment when I was standing around the corner and listening to those guys threaten and kick John around. I can remember the moment they ran off with John gurgling on his own vomit. I’d rushed to him and pulled his head in my lap, frozen in my spot when his eyes had connected with mine.
It wasn’t until he took my hand that I was pulled from my trance. And I would always wonder what would’ve happened to him had I reacted sooner, had I not been so shocked at what was going on. I knew I had only knelt there for a few seconds before I called, but that was seconds wasted that could’ve possibly saved John’s life.
And as long as his past continued to haunt us, I would forever be reminded that I could’ve saved his life but didn’t.
/>
I carefully packed up John’s dual paintings in the shadows while Kelly dealt with the customers. She was really getting the hang of things, and I enjoyed how she interacted with the customers on the gallery floor. I watched as the customers left the store. Then, Kelly grabbed a broom and went to sweep.
“Kelly, hold off on that for a second. I want to talk you through something.”
The woman smiled at me and set the broom off to the side before she made her way toward me.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“I want to show you how I pack up paintings in case someone wants it shipped to them,” I said.
“All right. Lay it on me.”
“They have three different options. Option one is the cheapest, and it’s a simple bubble wrap and envelope measure. You wrap the painting twice in the bubble wrap and then slide it into the padded envelope.”
“You just keep all this stuff lying around?” she asked.
“I keep enough of the stuff on hand to do a various amount of shipments every two weeks,” I said. “For now, that’s all you need to know. If you have to start ordering things, I’ll walk you through how to do it then. But most of my things are used on a regular basis, so they’re automatically ordered after a specific time period.”
“Convenient. Okay. What’s option two?” she asked.
“Option two is placing the envelope in an opaque hard case,” I said.
“So, you do the bubble wrap twice, stick it in the envelope, and then grab a hard case that fits the painting and stick it in there.”
“Exactly. The hard cases can be mailed out as is. On the envelope, you address it like you would any other letter. On the hard case, I have mailing stickers you can write the addresses on and attach in the proper places on the case,” I said.
“Where do you keep those?” she asked.
“Underneath the cash register, top drawer.”
