by Amelia Rose
He was even more surprised by Billy’s reaction when he rolled his eyes and turned to speak with the desk clerk himself.
“Don’t worry about that roll away bed. We have this covered.”
The young girl nodded, taking the extra charge off the computer.
He looked to Billy. “You don’t mind us sharing a bed?”
Billy snickered. “Please. At least tonight I know you’ll just be sleeping by her.”
Moira looked shocked, maybe a bit embarrassed too. “What, you think I would actually have sex with you in the room?”
Billy shook his head. “No, that’s my point. I know you’re having sex with him. Shoot. You two come back from the field with your clothes and your hair all a mess. I know you ain’t just having lunch.”
This time, he felt his cheeks redden with Moira’s. He looked down, unable to look Billy in the eye.
Moira answered. “I still ain’t having sex with you in the room.”
Her brother laughed. “That’s my point! You two can share a bed 'cause I know you won’t be together with your brother in the room. Let’s get upstairs. I want to change outta these monkey clothes. I hate shirts with collars.”
He and Moira both nodded as they headed upstairs. When they got into the room, Billy called the family to let them know they’d be heading back the next day. He got the go ahead out of consideration and also because they wanted everyone safe. Apparently, Grannie’s exact words had been: That girl left at the crack of dawn. I would be worried sick if she tried driving home tonight. No amount of coffee would take care of that kinda exhaustion.
They spent the evening taking turns in the shower and then watching television over a couple pizza boxes and some soda. When night finally came around, they all went to bed.
******
After their exhausting day, Moira was grateful to have the pillow underneath her head. She rolled over, waiting for Mitchell to climb in. She took in the sight of him in his flannel lounge pants.
He was beautiful and the summer had treated him well. His arms showed some definition that hadn’t been there in May. He was more toned, his hair lighter. It’d gone from the dark corn silk to a light tow head blonde. The way his muscles moved when he went to climb in between the blanket and sheet had her in awe… until she realized that he wasn’t climbing under the sheet next to her.
She lifted her heard up, staring at him. “What are you doing?”
He paused, the blanket held in his hand as he bent to get into the bed. “I’m getting in the bed.”
She couldn’t stop the grunt. “Why are you getting in on top of the top sheet, Mitchell?”
He looked bashful, only shrugging in response.
She couldn’t help the grunt she let loose. “Get your silly self under the sheet. How else on Earth am I supposed to cuddle next to you?”
He looked surprised, his eyes as wide as saucers as he finally made eye contact. “You want to hug me still?”
She couldn’t help the laugh that escaped. “Of course, idiot. Climb under that sheet. I’m tired and don’t want to have a discussion about it.”
He lifted the sheet up, climbing underneath with the exuberance of a puppy getting a treat. Once he was lying down, she curled herself around him, lying her head on his chest. She heard him sigh deep as his arm came around her back. Before she knew it, her heavy eyes closed, dragging her into a restful sleep.
Chapter Sixteen
The next morning, Mitchell woke with Moira still asleep with her head on his chest. He relished the feel of her weight on him, and the feel of her skin and breath on his skin. He took his fingers through her loose hair. He loved the feel of it.
As he twirled a strand of it around his fingers, he thought to himself, I’m surprised she changed her mind. She was so mad at me the other day. I wonder what – or who – changed her mind. I think I might have a tongue lashing coming to me yet. I hope not but I think I do. I guess I better have Billy drive my car back. I should go with her to give her the car ride to get her anger out. Maybe by the time we get back to the ranch, she’ll be calm. I hope she won’t start asking if I’m gonna have schizophrenia too. I’ll have to tell her the truth about how it seems to run in families more. I hope I don’t have it, but it isn’t something I can promise her. I also don’t want to tell her how any of my kids are more likely to have it too because of my momma. Shoot.
Just as his fear and paranoia began stealing over him, he felt her stir before lifting her eyes groggy with sleep to look at him. He smiled gently, brushing the hair from her face.
“Good morning, Beautiful.”
Her smile was small and sleepy. “Good morning yourself, Handsome.”
He couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face as he heard a mock gag coming from the bed next to them. He turned his head to look and found Billy looking at them.
He grunted. “What, Billy?”
“Really? You two are going to make me listen to that Pollyanna crap this early in the morning? Let me get my coffee first.”
He chuckled when Moira threw a pillow at her brother. She was the one who answered him.
“Shut your ugly, jealous mouth. Let me enjoy waking up like this. It’s nice having someone tell me something else that’s good about me besides how good I draw, how well I ride a horse, or how smart I am.”
Billy chuckled. “Shoot, I’ve always told you that you’re good at pool too. You can’t have it all, sis.”
She grunted, throwing a second pillow at him.
“What? It’s true. You’re good at a bunch of boy type stuff. I mean, I guess you’re not hideous looking. I mean, you don’t look like Susie Branson.”
He laughed as he watched Moira launch herself at her brother. As the two wrestled around on the bed, Billy laughed but Moira scowled. All he knew was that whoever Susie Branson was, it wasn’t a compliment, not even a backhanded one.
He watched them wrestle until they were out of breath. When they both sat on the side of the bed, Billy looked over to him.
“You can’t even protect your girl from her brother?”
He felt his grin broaden. “Oh, she was handling herself fine by the looks of it. Plus, if I needed to whoop your ass, I would’ve done it gladly.”
“So you would’ve picked your girl over your friend?”
He looked at Moira. “Wouldn’t you if you had someone like her?”
Billy smiled, pulling his sister in for a hug. “Yeah, I guess I would. What do y’all say to us getting dressed and checking out. I want to find a diner for a good breakfast before we get on the road.”
Billy then looked at Moira. “And he goes home with you. I ain’t stopping every hour so he can empty his bladder. I didn’t even have to toilet my damn dog that much when he was a puppy.”
Moira laughed as she gave a nod.
He pretended to be offended. “You comparing me to a dog?”
Billy nodded vigorously. “Hell yes, I am. And my dog’s bladder was still better than yours.”
He only shook his head, grabbing his clothes to go change in the bathroom.
******
Moira drove her car, leading her brother in the car behind them to her favorite breakfast joint. It was the only one with filling diner food for a cheap price. She’d found it her first year, when she’d been exceptionally broke – before she could do work study or started giving private art lessons.
As she pulled into Marnie’s Dine and Shine, Mitchell looked over at her, shocked happiness on his face. “You know about this place?”
She nodded. “Yeah, it’s one of my favorites. Good food, better prices. Why?”
When she turned the car off in the parking spot, she looked at him. His smile was soft and small – almost childlike. It warmed her heart to see that look on his face. It was the first time she’d seen that smile. He looked at the place, his eyes softening as he answered in a voice as soft as feather.
“It was one of my momma’s favorites. She loved the food. She really did.
She’d worked here as a waitress on and off too. When she was well, she would work for a while. When she wasn’t… well, the owner would let her go. I found out when I came back as an adult that his son had paranoid schizophrenia. The man knew what it was like for my momma and didn’t hold it against her. He would let her work when she was well and feed us when she wasn’t.”
“What do you mean by that last part?”
He shrugged. “When she was bad, and we still had our supervised visits, this is one of the few places she felt safe enough to eat. She never worried that anyone here would try to poison me or her with the food.”
She sat there taken aback. She hadn’t realized it’d been like that for him. “You want to eat somewhere else? We can, if the memories are bad.”
He shook his head. “No, I actually have some nice memories here with her. One of the times when she was well, my foster mother brought me to see her. She was so proud of me. She was clean and on her medicine. She looked proud as a peacock to be wearing that waitress apron. Almost as proud as she was to show me off to her co-workers and regulars. The folks here always treated her with dignity and respect.”
She nodded. “Okay, let me know if it gets weird for you, though. Okay?”
His shrug was small. “I don’t think it will. If anything, I think it’s kind of neat that you like the same place she worked at. I wonder if Jack is in. I haven’t seen him since just after spring term started. I try to stop in once in a while. I should let him know about her.”
She nodded, taking his hand as they walked in. When they got inside, they sat at the table with her brother. They ordered breakfast. There was a man in his early sixties working the grill. When he saw them, he said something to someone over his shoulder before coming out from the kitchen.
He came over to the table with a big grin on his face. “Hey, Mitchell, how are you doing?”
Mitchell returned his smile. “I’m well, thank you. How are you, Jack?”
He gave a smile. “Good! Greg has been on his meds for six months now. It’s nice. He’s in with a good group home this time. The housemates and workers are nice. How’s Maryanne?”
“Well, Momma passed. We had her services yesterday. Kept it small and private.”
Jack patted his shoulder. “Sorry to hear that, son. Your momma was a good woman. She was so proud of you. You were all she ever talked about, whether she was well or not.”
She watched Mitchell nod as his eyes misted. “I know, but it’s still nice to hear. Thank you, sir.”
He nodded. “You going to introduce me or do I have to stand here guessing?”
Mitchell smiled, looking to her with a big smile on his face. It lit his face like a Christmas tree. “This is my girlfriend, Moira.”
He paused to look at Billy. “This is her brother, and my friend, Billy.”
Jack nodded to her with a warm smile on his face. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. You know his Momma would have been so proud. You’re a beautiful girl. And it’s obvious he’s mad about you.”
Jack then spoke with Billy. “Nice to meet you, son.”
Billy gave a nod. “You, too, sir.”
She watched as Jack turned to head back to the kitchen. Just as he got to the doorway, he called over his shoulder. “Breakfast is on me, Mitchell.”
She laughed as Mitchell sighed. This was obviously a regular occurrence whenever Mitch came in.
Mitchell threw his hand up. “Do we have to do this all the time?”
Jack smiled, the smirk crossing his face as he took his place behind the grill again. “We wouldn’t if you would just learn to accept it and do your thing.”
Mitchell shook his head. “You know I hate taking things for free. I had enough charity in my life.”
Jack shook his head, his face serious except for the light in his eyes. “You’re helping me, Mitch. I have these eggs that are about to go bad. Plus, the breakfast meats haven’t been moving like normal and the potatoes are going soft. I have to move these, son.”
Mitchell shook his head before calling back. “Anything to help you out then, sir.”
She looked to him as she spoke. “I take it this is something that happens whenever you come in here?”
He smiled but nodded. “Yeah. Like I said, he would make sure Momma was always fed when she wasn’t well. I guess, in some ways, it extended to me. I guess having a son with the same illness, well, it gave him a soft spot for us.”
She nodded, looking at the menu. They were quiet the rest of breakfast. Billy looked as though he were trying to understand the meaning of life. She wondered if he was simply processing everything he’d learned about his friend – and kid sister’s boyfriend – in the last couple days. She knew she was thinking about how much she had learned about Mitchell just since coming back to Austin. It was amazing. Part of her wondered if he hadn’t been itching to tell her from the beginning and just didn’t know how. If that was the case, it made sense why he didn’t say anything until he had a way in. It also meant he didn’t want to lie to her, just didn’t know how to tell her.
When breakfast was over, they headed back to the cars, quickly pounding out their plans for the drive home.
Billy looked to her. “You got your car filled when you got to town yesterday, right?”
She nodded. “Yeah, so we can drive for a few hours.”
He snickered. “Good luck with that. Especially when you didn’t bring a cup for your boy to piss in.”
She laughed. “Nah, we’ll be fine. He can pee out the window if he really needs to. Just make sure you keep your windows up because you’re following us.”
Billy laughed, pulling her in for a hug. As he did, he whispered. “I don’t know how mad you still are, but go easy on him. It seems like he’s been trying to tell you more about her since you got here.”
She nodded, whispering back. “I was thinking the same thing at breakfast. It’s the only thing keeping me from throwing body parts out the car on the way home.”
He laughed, pulling back. “Okay, let’s hit the road. I can’t wait to get home and we got a long drive ahead of us.”
She nodded, climbing into the car. She wanted to get home as soon as possible. She was uncertain how much of that was because she missed being home and how much was because she dreaded the talk her and Mitchell had to have in the car.
Chapter Seventeen
Mitchell found himself pretty near scared out of his mind as he climbed into Moira’s car. This was the first time they were truly alone since getting news that his momma had died a few days previously. Now that no one was around, he wasn’t sure what his reaction would be and he was
As he put his seat belt on he thought to himself, Will she get mad again now that we’re alone and she has the time on the road to start processing everything?
Pulling out of the parking lot, he watched Moira’s hand snake to the radio, turning it down. She didn’t glance over to him but spoke calmly. It didn’t sound controlled, just calm. He could handle that.
“So, should we handle the pink elephant in the car with us? That way we can enjoy the rest of the ride home?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I don’t like this gross feeling in my gut. I’ve never had anyone I’ve really pissed off before.”
Moira chuckled. “I was mad. I wanted to kick your ass but knew it’d be tacky to do it when you just found out about your momma.”
He laughed. “Well, at least it saved me an ass beating, then.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, then Grannie told me I was a big ol' disappointment for being mad.”
He was shocked. “What?”
“Well, see, she had a point. You didn’t really lie to me. You just didn’t tell me everything. She said she was sure there were things I left out for you too.”
He shook his head. “Well, that was kind of Grannie but I doubt your deep, dark secrets were the same.”
She laughed. “You’d be surprised. Did you know in seventh grade I cheated on my math test to get an A?”
He feigned dismayed surprise. “No! Not seventh grade math! That’s such an important class in the scheme of your life.”
She laughed. “It’s true. Anyway, what I’m getting at is everyone has secrets. I guess what got me was yours felt like huge secrets. I mean, how hard was it for you to sit there watching us all the time, knowing your momma was sick and you didn’t know what it was like to have a family?”
He shrugged, knowing he had to be honest. “It was hard at first. It felt like I was sitting at the table of another foster family at first. Kind of like, everyone around the table knows each other, knows who snores, who stutters, who doesn’t like peas – whatever – and then there was me. I didn’t know anyone and no one knew me either. Then it was weird as I began becoming close to everyone else. I felt like I belonged.”
He watched her brow crease. “And that was weird?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I don’t think I ever felt like I belonged anywhere. All the different families, all the different houses. All the things I wasn’t supposed to talk about, you know?”
She nodded, as though she was beginning to get it. “So, why didn’t you ever say anything? I mean, after we became … close….”
He shrugged. “Cause then I always thought it was too late or I’d have longer before I had to tell you. I don’t know. I mean, I didn’t like the idea of telling you my momma was too sick to take care of me proper but that she still loved me.”
He watched Moira shrug. “It doesn’t make either thing less true, though. She loved you, obviously a lot. That’s the one thing everyone’s said about her. She loved you and talked about you with everyone. Still, illness, whether in your mind or your body, can sometimes be more powerful than your love. It doesn’t make your love any less strong or real. I think that’s how it was with your momma.”
He nodded. “So, you really aren’t mad anymore?”
She shook her head. “Nah, not really. I still wish you would’ve told me sooner but I get it now. I mean, that isn’t something you really say to people when you first meet them – ‘my momma has schizophrenia and couldn’t take care of me, my name is Moira’ – you know?”
