Before It Stains

by R. E. Bradshaw

  “When’s Mo going to call?” He asked, picking up the remote.

  “I don’t know, honey.” Stephanie said, truly not knowing when or if Mo would call.

  “I can’t wait to tell her about that homerun I hit at practice. I bet that sucker went four-fifty easy, and it was off Coach Reese. He was a minor league pitcher.”

  Colt’s excitement was infectious. Stephanie smiled over at him.

  “I wish I could have seen it. I’m sure Mo will be thrilled to hear about it.”

  “Are you coming to the game tomorrow night?”

  “When have you ever played a game without one, if not both of us, in the stands?”

  Colt grinned. “Just checking. You’ve been kind of down.”

  Stephanie had tried hard not to let her pain show. Colt saw through her act.

  “I’m just tired, honey. Aunt PJ and Mom had a bit too much to drink and it’s been a very long day.”

  “Where was Mo? I thought you had to take her to the airport early this morning?”

  Stephanie thought fast. “She took her car and let me sleep.” It wasn’t a lie, really. Mo had taken her car and Stephanie had slept. “Let’s watch the movie, before I conk out on you.”

  Colt, satisfied with the answer, hit play on the remote. He slid over close to Stephanie, not quite snuggling, because he fancied himself too old, but still boy enough to want to be close to Mom. They lost themselves in the old west. With twenty minutes left in the movie, someone rang the front door bell. Colt hit pause and Stephanie went to the door. She opened it to find a floral deliveryman holding a giant arrangement of lilac colored roses.

  “Sorry to be so late with the delivery ma’am, but the sender paid extra to have them brought here right away. Are you Stephanie Austin?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then these are for you.” He handed her the vase. “Somebody must love you an awful lot. That’s nearly three dozen right there, every lilac rose we had in the store. Sorry we didn’t have more.”

  “This will do fine. Thank you, they’re lovely.”

  The deliveryman knew to delay his exit long enough for a tip. Stephanie put the vase on the foyer table and reached into her purse. She handed the folded bills to the man, repeating, “Thank you, again.”

  He tipped the bill of his baseball cap. “Y’all have a good night, now.”

  Stephanie closed the door and realized Colt was standing in the foyer with her.

  “Are those from Mo?” he asked.

  “I assume so,” Stephanie said, carrying the roses to the dining room.

  “What did she do this time?” Colt was right on top of things. “She always sends you flowers when she screws up.”

  “We just had a little disagreement. Nothing for you to worry about.”

  Colt laughed. “Must have been more than a little disagreement. Look at the size of that thing. She must really be sorry.”

  “I’m sure she is.”

  Stephanie placed the arrangement on the dining room table. Lilac roses were her favorite. Mo gave Stephanie a single lilac rose the night she met her, trying to pick Stephanie up, by telling her the color meant love at first sight. Mo was all swagger and rascal back then. Stephanie, who was in a relationship, had laughed at Mo and walked away. She was intrigued but unattainable, which was apparently irresistible to the young Mo. It didn’t take her long to win Stephanie’s heart. Lilac roses had a special meaning to them both. Stephanie opened the attached card and read it out of Colt’s view.

  “Whatever it takes, Steph, I will do. I have never stopped loving you, since the first moment I saw you.”

  “What does it say?” Colt asked, trying to see the card.

  Stephanie put it back in the envelope and tucked it in the back pocket of her jeans. “Colt, this is between Mo and me. I’m going to ask you to respect that.”

  “Oh, she really screwed up this time,” he said, laughing.

  Stephanie smiled. “You could say that. Now, let’s go watch the rest of the movie.”

  The doorbell rang once more. Stephanie and Colt exchanged looks and shrugs and went to see who was at the door together. Colt pulled the door open and Randy Ransom burst in, already talking before he made it across the threshold.

  “Why do I have to hear things second hand? Am I not your oldest, dearest, and of course most attractive friend?”

  Colt laughed and offered his fist for a shared rap of the knuckles. “Dad! What up?”

  Randy lowered his voice and did his straight butch routine. “Son. How’s it hanging?”

  “A little to the left,” Colt answered.

  “Boys, there is a lady present.” Stephanie stopped them before the testosterone fest got underway.

  Randy engulfed her in his arms. “How are you sweetie?”

  Stephanie pulled back to look in Randy’s face. He was gorgeous, always had been. Randy had thick blond hair, brown eyes, and a year-round natural tan before the advent of tanning beds. They had been a striking couple back in the day. She stared into those deep-brown eyes, willing him to see she didn’t want Colt to know.

  “I’m fine. Mo is in LA. We’re just waiting for her call. All one big happy family. Come on in. Colt needs to tell you about his homerun.”

  Randy got the hint. He turned to admire Colt. “See, Steph, I told you I was a good judge of sperm. Look at him. He’s a young Greek God.”

  When Colt was old enough to understand, Stephanie and Mo sat him down, explained the whole procedure they went through to have him, and told Colt he could know who his father was when he was eighteen. Colt chose to call Randy “Dad.” Randy helped find the donor, vetted him, checked his medical records, and had every available test run on the young minor league baseball player. He delivered the sperm in a brown paper bag, fresh from procuring it himself, a fact they did not discuss with Colt. Randy invested so much time in Colt’s donor selection he really was the stork that brought the baby.

  Stephanie tried to rescue her son. “Stop it, Randy. You’re making him blush.”

  Randy looped his arm through Stephanie’s and led them back to the den, all the while listening as Colt told the story of his booming homerun that afternoon. Stephanie went to the kitchen to bring Randy a glass of tea, while the boys talked of summer ball and the upcoming school year. The phone on the wall rang. A quiet night at home with her son was turning into anything but.

  “Hello.”

  “Hey.” It was Mo.

  “I guess you made it to LA.”

  “Yes, I’m here. I don’t want to be, but I am.”

  “Just do what you need to do, Mo. This is your moment. It’s what you’ve worked so hard for.”

  “No, Steph, it’s what we worked hard for and if you’re not a part of it… It just feels so wrong for me to be here when my life is falling apart back there.”

  “Whatever it takes, Mo. Isn’t that what you said? Well, part of it is cleaning up the mess you made. You got yourself into this, now figure it out.”

  “The flowers came?”

  “Yes, that was very sweet, but not very smart. Colt knows you’ve done something. You always send flowers when you’ve been an ass.”

  “I guess I should try to be less of an ass or more creative.”

  “I don’t want flowers, Mo. I want my life back. Unfortunately, we can’t undo what’s been done. I’ll always know you cheated on me. I don’t know if I can ever forget. I don’t know if it would be fair, to either of us, to take you back and then not be able to get beyond that. ”

  “I don’t care, Stephanie. You can rag me every day for the rest of my life. At least, I’ll be with you.”

  “You say that now, because you’re scared. Five years down the road, you may not feel that way. Why postpone the inevitable?”

  Mo’s voice cracked with emotion. “Don’t give up on us, Steph.”

  Stephanie felt the tears begin to burn again. She couldn’t let Colt see her. Meaning it as much for herself, she said, “Mo, pull it together. You have
to talk to Colt. He’s been waiting for you to call.”

  “Okay.” Stephanie heard Mo exhale loudly. “Steph, will you promise me one thing? Promise you’ll try to remember the good in me.”

  “I see it in our son, Mo. He’s really the best thing we ever did together.”

  They were both quiet for a moment. Then Stephanie said, “All right, are you good? Can you talk to him now?”

  Mo exhaled loudly, again. “Yes, put him on.” She paused before saying, “I love you, Steph.”

  Stephanie wanted to say, “I love you, too,” but she didn’t. She did love Mo with every fiber of her being. That was not the problem they were dealing with. Stephanie knew she would love Mo for the rest of her life, but would she ever trust her again? Those doubts, coupled with the rising tide of tears she was about to let spill over the dam, caused Stephanie to put the receiver to her chest and call out to Colt.

  “Honey, Mo’s on the phone.”

  He answered back from the other room, “Okay, I got it.”

  She waited until she heard him say hello and then hung up. Randy entered the kitchen.

  He tried to whisper, but he was still too loud. “What the fuck is going on? You haven’t told him you threw Mo out.”

  “Shhh. Keep your voice down.” Stephanie said, holding a finger in front of her lips.

  Randy scrunched down, as if that would make him quieter. He did lower his volume, when he said, “He’s going to flip out.”

  “I know,” Stephanie mouthed and rolled her eyes.

  “What are you going to do?”

  Stephanie answered in a whisper, “I really don’t know at this point. Can you stick around until Colt goes to bed?

  “Are you kidding? This is a girl-talk opportunity from hell. It’s time to plot your revenge, my specialty.”

  Stephanie couldn’t help but laugh. She hugged Randy. “I love you, Randy Ransom. I really do.”

  Randy dropped the affected voice and flamboyant personality. He looked deep into her eyes. “We’ll get through this. We always do. Whatever it takes.”

  Stephanie smiled. “That’s what Mo said.”

  Randy released her from his arms and reached in the refrigerator, taking out a bottle of wine. “I saw the roses on the table. Nice try.”

  “Yes, they are beautiful, but even Colt saw it for what it was, a feeble attempt to make up for, as he said, her screw-up.”

  Randy went straight to the drawer where the corkscrew was stored. He knew their house as well as his own. “He’s not only pretty, he’s smart. He smells something. You’re going to have to face him sooner or later.”

  “That’s Mo’s burden, not mine. We aren’t saying anything to him until she gets back from LA on Sunday.”

  “Good luck with that,” Randy said, pulling the cork out of the bottle with a pop to punctuate his statement.

  Stephanie changed the subject. “Colt should be going to bed anytime. He has early practice and then a game tomorrow night, which by the way you must attend, and then we’ll talk. I have a legal question for you.”

  Randy held up his hand and ticked off items as he spoke. “I can get you anything you want, the house, the cars, the underwear on her ass. Change the locks, before she gets back. Possession is a position of power.”

  Stephanie grabbed two wine glasses from the cabinet. They looped arms and went laughing back into the den, two old friends faking not a care in the world. Colton was still talking with Mo. He was holding his cellphone, looking at the screen, and talking into the house phone.

  “Yeah, I got it. Cool… Hey Mo, can you bring me a Hard Rock hat… Yeah, a black one… Okay, I will… I love you, too. Hey, you want to talk to Mom… Mo?” Colt shrugged his shoulders, turned the phone off, and put it back in the charger. “She hung up.”

  Stephanie answered nonchalantly, “That’s okay. I already told her goodbye.”

  Randy nearly spilled the wine he was pouring. The double meaning was not lost on him. Colt handed Stephanie his cellphone when she sat down on the couch. He talked excitedly.

  “She sent me a picture of the palm trees beside the pool. That’s where she was. Look how tall those suckers are. It’s still daylight. Cool huh?”

  Stephanie said the first thing that came to mind, “It never rains in California,” and she finally understood the lyrics.

  Randy sang the rest of the verse, ending with, “…it pours, man, it pours.”

  This totally confused Colt. “What does that mean?”

  Randy sat back in Mo’s recliner. “It means, the sun always shines in California, except when it rains.”

  “That’s lame. It would have to rain sometime for the trees to grow so tall,” Colt observed.

  Randy winked at Stephanie. “He’s got you there.”

  Stephanie chuckled. “It’s an old song, honey.” She handed Colt back his phone. “Let’s finish the movie. You have to go to bed early.”

  Colt picked up the remote, but hesitated. He looked back at his mother. “I know there’s something going on. I could hear it in Mo’s voice. I can tell you’ve been crying a lot.”

  Randy raised his glass. “Gotcha again.”

  Stephanie glared at Randy, and then turned to her son’s questioning expression. “Colt, Mo and I had a disagreement. That’s all you need to know. This is between us, it has nothing to do with you.”

  Colt was all boy, rough and tumble, but he also possessed a sensitive side. It showed, when he said, “I just wish she wasn’t way out there, all alone. She tried to act like everything was fine, but I could tell she was bummed.”

  Stephanie saw the harsh reality of what Mo’s betrayal was going to do to Colt. She reached out her arms to him and he fell into her hug.

  “It’s going to be all right, Pony Boy. She’ll be home Sunday. Don’t worry about it, okay? You just be a teenager and let the adults figure things out.”

  He lifted his head and searched Stephanie’s eyes. If he asked the right question, she knew she couldn’t lie to him. She reached out and wrapped her finger in one of his stray curls.

  “Colt, we both love you more than anything. You just remember that.”

  Colt’s depth of understanding amazed Stephanie. He said, “That’s what Jordan’s parents said the last time they separated. And the stains on the walls in the dining room, how did they get there?” He was on a roll, infused with teenage moxie, venturing into adult territory, pushing boundaries. “When I put the trash in the can outside, I saw all that glass and the plates. That must have been a lot more than a disagreement.”

  Stephanie looked at Randy for help. She got none.

  Randy shrugged his shoulders, saying, “He’s observant. Don’t lie. It will just make it worse.”

  Stephanie threw daggers at Randy with her eyes. She faced Colt and told the truth, just not all of it.

  “I lost my temper and threw the prime rib at Mo. I broke some dishes. I am not proud of it and hope you don’t think it is acceptable behavior.”

  “Wow, I would have paid money to see that,” Colt said with enthusiasm, then just as quickly added, “Mo didn’t get hurt did she?”

  Stephanie laughed. “No, honey. I do not have your aim.”

  Colt smiled. “Never seen you that mad. Glad it was Mo, not me. Bet she’s sorry she did whatever she did.”

  Stephanie answered honestly. “I’m sure she is.”

  Luckily teenage boys have an attention span of about fifteen seconds. Randy, understanding that, suggested, “Hey, you two, let’s watch the movie and take our minds off life’s travails, shall we?”

  Colt pushed play on the DVD. Rooster Cogburn distracted him right away, challenging the outlaws in an open field. Stephanie mouthed, “Thank you,” to Randy. She picked up the wine he poured for her and took a sip. They settled in and watched the “one-eyed fat man” put the reigns in his teeth and charge full steam ahead into the fray.

  #

  Colt went to bed after the movie. He was quiet and hugged Stephanie tightly, bef
ore slowly climbing the stairs. Randy poured himself another glass of wine. Stephanie put her hand on top of her glass, indicating she wanted no more.

  “More alcohol is not going to help,” she said.

  Randy moved to sit beside her on the couch. “I don’t know. If I was dealing with this, I’d be shit-faced, twenty-four seven.”

  “Not with a kid you wouldn’t. We’re hurting him already and he has no idea how bad things are.”

  “How would you like to handle this?” Randy asked.

  “I’d like to crawl in bed and sleep until this nightmare is over, but I can’t do that to Colt.”

  “Well, he’s not here now, so fall apart. It’s cathartic.”

  Stephanie turned her body to face Randy, pulling her feet under her. “How did you find out? Did Mo call you?”

  “No, I got your text, but before I could call you back, your mother called me. She said she thought you needed a shoulder to cry on, so here I am shoulder ready. I even brought another shirt in case you stained this one.”

  Stephanie chuckled. “Of course you did.”

  “Tell me what happened. Your mother only said there had been a breach of trust. In case you don’t know, that’s what gentile southern women like Debra Austin call, the fucker cheated on me.”

  “Mo slept with her agent.”

  Randy waved a hand in the air. “Oh, who didn’t see that coming?”

  His words wounded Stephanie. “I didn’t,” she whispered.

  “You were too close to it. I only met the trollop once, and I read her beads in sixty seconds. I knew right away she was poison.”

  Stephanie’s face flushed hot. “It doesn’t matter what she was. She wasn’t the one wearing the wedding ring, Mo was.”

  “Touché. I can’t argue with that.”

  Randy was the keeper of Stephanie’s secrets. He knew things about her even Mo didn’t know. They shared deep conversations into the night, the kind of talks old friends have when there’s nothing left to hide. Randy had a way of looking at the world from both sides, weighing the evidence, and making judgments unfettered by blame. It was simply the right thing to do. His integrity was one of the things that attracted Stephanie to him all those years ago. He wouldn’t judge her for what she was about to say, and she let it all fly for the first time in twenty-four hours.