by Maria Geraci
“Oh, I’m not worried,” Mimi muttered. “I’m just trying to figure out how I can keep myself from strangling Bruce.”
Doug looked at her thoughtfully. “I figured the two of you had some history.”
“Just a little.”
“Bitter election?”
“Not on my part.”
He hesitated a few moments before he said, “I had no idea about you and the police chief. Otherwise, I would have prepared you.”
“Warned me, you mean? No worries, Zeke and I are grown-ups.”
“Any kids?” Doug asked.
“A seventeen-year-old girl going on thirty and a precious twelve-year-old boy who still hugs me in public. But I hear that won’t last much longer.”
“Seventeen? What? Were you ten when you had her?”
“No need for insincere flattery, Doug, I’m already on your side. Your credentials speak for themselves.”
“I’m not blowing smoke up your ass, if that’s what you think.”
She laughed. “Okay, well, thanks. You’re right. I was eighteen when I had her. A very naïve eighteen.”
“From teen mom to mayor of a flourishing beach side community. I’d love to hear how that happened. Maybe we can get coffee sometime?”
Coffee? Was that his way of asking her out on a date? She was a married woman! Well, technically she was separated, but still, it seemed a little forward of him to—
She mentally shook her head.
This is what happened when you watched too many episodes of Dora the Explorer. Her brain was hardwired for Sesame Street and playdates. Not city council meetings and budget outlines. Of course he wasn’t asking her out. This is how grown-ups who worked together interacted. She’d probably imagined that he’d been staring at her legs, and coffee seemed tame enough. Plus, if today was any indication for future city council meetings, she’d need Doug on her side.
“Coffee sounds good. Maybe you can explain to me how this budget is supposed to work?”
“You’ve got my number. Anytime you’re free, call me.”
“Thanks,” she said, “I’ll do that.”
They said their good-byes in the parking lot. She put the minivan in drive and took off for home.
Despite Bruce’s obvious agenda to make her look like Betty Crocker on crack, she’d survived her first city council meeting. Barely. But survived it, she had.
Of course, never in her wildest dreams had she imagined Zeke would show up and out them to the entire world. Now, thanks to Zeke’s big mouth, their announcement time line had just been dramatically fast-forwarded. She might have gotten through the first part of her day, but it was going to seem like child’s play compared to what came next. Because like it or not, she was going to have to tell her children about this time out. Before they found out about it from someone else.
Mimi stepped through the back door leading into the kitchen. She tossed her minivan keys and the leather tote onto the countertop. The house seemed eerily quiet.
Too quiet, as far as she was concerned.
Several glasses and a couple of dirty plates littered the bottom of the kitchen sink, but otherwise everything seemed as tidy as she’d left it this morning.
“Cameron? Claire?” she called out. “I’m home!” She opened the refrigerator door and stared at the contents—there was leftover roast beef, but she wasn’t in the mood for it. Neither was she in the mood for chicken or anything else that sounded nutritionally sound.
She could always make cookies for dinner. When the going got tough, the tough got baking. And Mimi Grant loved to bake. Cookies were her specialty, but she also made the best key lime pie in Whispering Bay (although Bettina Bailey would probably dispute that).
She walked into the living room to find her son sitting on the couch playing a video game.
“Hey,” she said.
He glanced up, but didn’t stop playing. “What’s for dinner?”
“Cookies and milk,” she answered automatically.
That got Cameron’s attention. He laid down his X-Box remote and stared at her. “For real?”
Add in a great big bottle of chilled chardonnay for her. Or maybe a nice Pinot Noir. Yes. Chocolate-chip cookies (because any cookies she made tonight would definitely have chocolate in them) called for a red wine.
It was a lovely fantasy, but it wouldn’t exactly win her any mother of the year awards. “How about we order a pizza?” she said. “I’ll make some cookies for dessert.” She glanced around the living room. “Where’s your sister?”
“Um, I think she’s in her room doing homework.” Cameron blinked like he was trying hard not to say something he shouldn’t. Mimi didn’t want to think what that something might be.
“Is there someone with her?”
Cameron’s eyes bulged. “Like who?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Like a boy, maybe?”
“Not as far as I know.” His voice cracked the way only a twelve-year-old boy whose voice was changing could.
Luckily for her, she hadn’t been born yesterday. Cameron had Zeke’s dark hair and dark eyes, but while Zeke’s complexion was more olive toned, compliments of his half-Cuban heritage, Cameron had inherited Mimi’s pale skin and freckles. He’d also inherited Mimi’s inability to tell a lie. At least, not a good one.
Mimi made her way toward Claire’s bedroom, making sure to make as much noise as possible. The house wasn’t large. It was an eighteen hundred square foot one-story ranch with four smallish bedrooms. Claire’s room was the first one off the hallway from the kitchen.
Her bedroom door was closed.
Mimi knocked once, then tried for the door knob. “Claire? Can you unlock the door please?”
“Just a minute!” Claire yelled. After what seemed like a very long minute, she opened the door to her room. “Hey, Mom!” Guilty teenager was written over every square inch of Claire’s flushed cheeks.
“How’s the homework going?”
“All done. I’m just going through my email.”
Mimi discreetly eyed the bedroom. Bed still made: check. Closet door open: check. Window to Claire’s bedroom secured: uncheck.
Which of course, didn’t mean anything. The weather was mild enough to have the windows open, but Mimi still had the niggling suspicion that someone had been in the room just seconds prior to Claire opening the door. It wasn’t that Mimi was against Claire having a boyfriend, but she was definitely against any said boyfriend spending alone time in Claire’s room with no adult supervision in the house.
If you would asked Mimi a couple of years ago whether or not she trusted her daughter, the answer would have been an emphatic yes. But last year Claire had betrayed their trust by lying to them and sneaking out to a party. Then, she’d lied to them again and taken off after a football game. They’d found Claire with a boy named Adam making out in a parked car along the side of the Bay Bridge. Not so unusual for a couple of teenagers, but despite the fact she and Zeke had been willing to let her date Adam, Claire hadn’t been the same since. She’d been sulky and secretive and the more Mimi tried to befriend her, the worse it seemed to get.
Mimi hated checking up on every little thing, but she felt like she had no choice.
“Have you heard from any of the colleges yet?”
“Nope.” Claire was a good student but not a great standardized test taker. Mimi was confident she’d get into some of the schools she’d applied to, but Claire’s heart was set on Florida State, and the entrance requirements seemed to get harder every year. Of course, Momma was set on Claire going to Duke, the Powers family alma mater, but Claire had never shown any interest.
She went back to looking at her computer. “Can you shut the door on your way out?”
“I need to speak to you and your brother tonight after dinner. We’re getting pizza from Tiny’s,” Mimi said, as if pizza could make up for the conversation they’d be having.
The original plan was that she and Zeke would tell the kids together, which seemed l
ike a much better idea than her going it alone. She should call Zeke and have him come over so they could get it over with. But the idea of seeing him again so soon after today’s city council meeting made her…nervous. Which was silly. Still, why should she be the sole bearer of bad news?
“Is this about you and Daddy separating? Because if it is, I already figured that out.”
Mimi wanted to knock herself on the head. She was an idiot! Of course Claire knew what was going on. She knew Mimi and Zeke were in counseling. And although Zeke’s job kept him away from home a lot, it wouldn’t have taken much for Claire to figure out he hadn’t slept in his bed for the past four nights.
She had been so caught up with today’s first city council meeting that she hadn’t thought about the kids’ reaction to Zeke’s absence.
Just a few seconds ago, Mimi had had the upper hand in this relationship. Now, Claire looked at her with accusation in her eyes. As if the separation was all her fault.
When Claire was a little girl, Mimi had dreamed of a Gilmore Girls type relationship between them. One where they were more like best friends than mother and daughter. But their relationship was more Emily and Lorelei, than Lorelei and Rory.
How had Mimi turned into her own mother?
“It’s not that simple, hon. And it’s not a separation. It’s more like a…time out.”
“Right.” There was no eye roll, but it wasn’t necessary. With that one simple word Claire managed to convey a thousand years’ worth of teenage disdain.
Mimi sighed. “I’ll call you when the pizza gets here.”
“No onions, please,” Claire said. “And don’t forget to close the door.”
Mimi was about to dial Tiny’s to place their order when her phone rang. She checked her caller ID and cringed. Great. She was right on schedule. “Hi, Momma.”
“Mary, are you and Zeke separated? And why did I have to hear it from Denise Holbert? You know that woman loves to rub all my faults in my face.”
How the status of Mimi’s marriage was any fault of her mother’s, Mimi didn’t know, nor was she about to ask. “I thought you’d be thrilled.”
“Thrilled that my thirty-five-year-old daughter is getting a divorce?”
“We’re not getting a divorce. And you’ve never liked Zeke, so where is this coming from?”
“That’s not true. I happen to like Zeke very much.”
Since when? “Momma, I had my first city council meeting this afternoon and I’m mentally exhausted. Can we have this conversation later?”
“Where is he staying?”
“Who? Zeke?”
“No, the mailman. Of course Zeke.”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know? Your husband is off somewhere at night and you have no idea?”
“I think he’s sleeping at his office,” she admitted.
“Listen to me very clearly, Mary Margaret. Your husband of eighteen years and you are separated. Women are going to start—did he cheat on you? Is that why you’re getting a divorce?”
“No one cheated on anyone, Momma. And we’re not getting a divorce.”
“If you’re not getting a divorce, then why are you separated? And how can you be so sure he’s not cheating on you?”
“Because I just can, that’s why.”
“When was the last time the two of you had…relations?” This last part was said in a deadly sounding whisper. Mimi wanted to tell her mother that it was none of her business, but she’d never be satisfied until she got an answer.
“We had relations this afternoon.”
“Oh. Well…surely that must mean something.”
“I also had relations with the entire city council, too.” Mimi paused for dramatic effect. “Wait a minute. Do you mean, sex?’
Her mother snorted. “You know perfectly well that’s what I mean. Honestly, Mary, your sense of humor is so…warped. I sincerely hope your children aren’t within hearing distance of this conversation.”
“Nope,” Mimi said, although to be honest, she really couldn’t be sure. “Look, Momma, I really need to go. I’m sorry you had to hear the news from someone else. I’d planned to tell you and Daddy myself, but, well… things happen. I’ll call you later.” Before her mother could get another word in, Mimi hung up the phone.
What a mess. How had this happened?
Zeke wasn’t happy about their time out. So why had he blurted it at the city council meeting for everyone to hear? It wasn’t like him to be so…spontaneous. Maybe he’d gotten rattled when he’d noticed she’d taken off her wedding band. Or…maybe in the past week he’d gotten used to the idea. Maybe he actually wanted the separation.
She turned around to find Cameron standing in front of her. “So, Claire wasn’t lying? You and dad are getting a divorce?” His clear brown eyes looked suspiciously moist.
Mimi felt as if the earth had swallowed her whole. Damn Zeke Grant and double damn Denise Holbert for blabbing it all over town. She should have anticipated this. She’d read all the books. Talked to the marriage counselor about the best way to approach the kids. She lived in Whispering Bay, where everyone knew everything about everyone else. Why hadn’t she seen this coming?
“I’m sorry, baby,” she said softly, “Dad and I wanted to tell you ourselves. But you’re jumping the gun here. Your dad and I aren’t getting a divorce. We just need some time to ourselves for a while to figure things out.”
He shrugged. “Okay.”
She waited for him to say something else, but he didn’t. He sat at the kitchen table and opened up a book and began to do his homework. As if finding out your parents weren’t living together was the most natural thing in the world.
She ordered their pizza and put together a quick salad. Hopefully, someone in the house was hungry, because she sure wasn’t.
“How’s soccer practice going?” she asked, fishing around for something to say.
“Okay,” he said, without looking up from his textbook.
“You know, nothing between you and your dad is going to change. He’s still going to be at all your soccer games and we’ll—”
“I said it’s okay, Mom. I know the drill. Henry’s parents are divorced, and he’s cool about it.”
Henry was Cameron’s best friend and his mother Lauren was a good friend of Mimi’s. Lauren and Henry’s dad, Tom Donalan, had divorced two years ago. It had been an amicable separation that resulted in both of them sharing child care responsibilities while all parties kept a friendly kind of relationship. Mimi wasn’t sure she and Zeke would be able to maintain that sort of Kumbaya niceness, but she’d die trying on her end. Lauren had recently married Nate Miller, Whispering Bay’s new doctor, and Tom was of course engaged to Zeke’s sister, Allie.
Cameron looked so sweet sitting at the kitchen table working on his algebra homework. He was a good boy. He studied hard and never complained about his chores. She wished she could cocoon him. Keep him twelve forever. The idea of him growing up, becoming a teenager and distant like Claire…
“So, what about a dog?” she heard herself say.
Cameron’s head shot up. “What about a dog?” he asked suspiciously.
Not that Mimi blamed him. He’d been wanting a dog forever. Zeke had promised him one, but with the long hours he put in the police force, Mimi had known it would be up to her to help with the dog raising responsibilities. Cameron was old enough to take care of a pet, but it would still take adult supervision to make it work. Now wasn’t the best time to get a dog. She had a town to run and a city council to win over. But on the other hand, now seemed like the perfect time, too.
“Your dad has been promising you a dog for two years. If you think you can handle it, what with school work and soccer—”
“I can! I promise. You won’t even know it’s here.” His voice cracked again, this time with excitement, and Mimi’s heart melted into a puddle all over the kitchen floor.
“Did I hear someone say we’re getting
a dog?” Claire opened the refrigerator door and pulled out a diet soda. Mimi hadn’t heard her come out of her bedroom, she’d been so quiet.
Cameron pumped a fist in the air. “Mom says yes!”
“We’ll go to the shelter this weekend. I’ll call Lanie Miller and see what the procedure is.” Lanie was Nate Miller’s sister and the manager of the Whispering Bay Animal Shelter. Mimi would ask her for a small dog. A small dog that, hopefully, was already house trained and didn’t shed. It could happen.
“Can Dad come, too? Can he help pick it out?” Cameron asked.
“Sure. If he wants to,” Mimi said. Because what else could she say? This would be a good test to see how their newly separated lives would work.
Claire took a long sip of her soda, her seventeen-year-old-way-too-wise-for-comfort eyes staring at Mimi. “Can I have a new car?” she asked sweetly. Last August, they’d gotten her a used car for her seventeenth birthday, a little Nissan Rogue with seventy thousand miles and a strong engine. It had put a strain on their savings, but it had taken a huge load off Mimi. Without that car, Mimi would still be playing chauffer.
“What’s wrong with the car you have now?” Mimi asked.
“Nothing. Since you’re playing Santa Clause I thought I’d ask.”
“Nice try.”
Claire shrugged, tossing her long brown ponytail over her shoulder. “I’ll be in my room doing homework. Call me when the pizza gets here.”
The evening now seemed anticlimactic. Not that Mimi had been looking forward to telling the kids about the separation, but never in her wildest dreams had she imagined how things would go down.
She’d promised Cameron a dog.
She’d become one of those parents. The ones who got their kids whatever they wanted because they felt guilty. Her kids didn’t need to be showered with gifts. They needed to know that everything was going to work out all right. She needed to know that, too.
A pizza and the promise of a dog didn’t solve anything, but it was the best Mimi could do for now.
It was almost seven p.m. and time to call it a night. Zeke had just finished looking over the department budget for the fourth time when Rusty Newton came busting through the door to his office.
