A Place Called Home

by Jo Goodman

  Thea smiled. Doggies. Dogies. Mitch thought he was pretty funny. She walked up to Gina and held out her hand. “Thea Wyndham. It’s very nice to meet you.”

  “Regina Sommers. Reggie, really. No one calls me Gina but Mitch. It’s like a pet name.”

  Meow, Thea thought. Mitch’s sex kitten had teeny-tiny claws.

  Chapter 4

  Thea picked up the game she bought that morning for the kids and followed Gina into the garage. Behind her she could hear one of the twins squealing because Mitch had scooped him up and was threatening to bounce him on his head. There wasn’t a lot of room in the garage to pass through. Thea secured the board game under her arm so she wouldn’t bump into paint cans or knock over the aluminum ladder. Mitch’s Indian motorcycle and a restored 1953 cherry red Chevy truck took up most of the floor space. There were also four bicycles, a wagon, garbage cans, enough wood to build an addition, and a workbench with every imaginable tool cluttering the top and not one hanging from the white pegboard on the wall behind it.

  Stepping into the breezeway, Thea automatically removed her shoes when she saw the small pyramid of footwear just inside the door.

  “You don’t have to do that,” Gina said. “It’s for the kids.”

  “I don’t mind.” Thea pushed her Nikes into the base of the pyramid. The size tens they rubbed against certainly didn’t belong to the children, but she noticed Gina kept hers on. Thea searched her mind for an icebreaker and came up with “I was glad when Mitch said I could come out today.”

  “I’ll take your jacket.” Gina held out her hand. “There’s room in the hall closet.” She kept on going, expecting Thea to follow. “Yeah, we were both happy that you wanted to spend time with the kids. Mitch and I haven’t had a moment to ourselves since ... well, since his friends died.” She opened the closet door and withdrew a wooden hanger. Gina recognized Thea’s short-waisted gray leather jacket as Hal-ston before she saw the label. It was exactly the sort of thing she wished she could wear and thought she didn’t have enough leg to carry it off. That was not a problem Thea Wyndham knew anything about. She was leg from the neck down. Gina considered scratching her eyes out on mere principle. “I suppose I should say your friends. That’s right, isn’t it? The Reasoners were your friends also.”

  “Yes, that’s right. Gabe and I were friends before we started school.”

  “College, you mean?”

  “No. Kindergarten.”

  Gina closed the door and regarded Thea with interest. The hair was great, too: cropped short, but stylish; feather soft and deep red right down to the roots. Maybe it came out of a bottle but Gina wasn’t hopeful. “I don’t think I have any friends that go back that far.”

  And it wasn’t even so very long ago, Thea thought. Exactly how many minutes had this girl been out of high school anyway? Meow. Pffft. She wondered what she’d done to put Gina’s back up and consequently her own. Politely she said, “Gabe is the only friend I have like that.” The tense brought her up short and she corrected herself softly. “Was. Had. It’s going to take getting used to.”

  The change in Gina was immediate. Her dark eyes went liquid and her expression was not only sympathetic, but sincerely so. Reaching out, she touched Thea’s arm at the elbow. “It must be strange for you. I mean, to have the funeral a little more than a month now in the past and you just finding out about it all on Monday. Not even a week’s gone by for you.”

  “It is strange. I feel out of step with Mitchell and the children.” Thea found it odd that she was making this admission to Mitch’s fiancée. She hadn’t explained it so clearly to Joel. “I suppose time will ease that.”

  “I’m certain it will.”

  Thea couldn’t imagine what Regina Sommers knew about it, yet she didn’t doubt the words were most heartfelt. To say that Mitch’s fiancée was something of a surprise was putting it mildly. Her age had brought Thea up short immediately, until she remembered her nearly thirty-year difference with Joel. On a very subjective level, Thea made the observation that the ten or twelve years separating Gina from Mitch yawned more widely than the span between her and Joel.

  Once she moved past Gina’s age, it was easy to see what had attracted Mitch. Her dark chocolate eyes, olive skin, and pouty mouth lent her an exotic look, and if Thea hadn’t failed to miss the taut and toned body that carried it off, she was certain Mitch hadn’t either. Less obvious as a first impression was the way Regina Sommers radiated warmth. After she had marked her territory and determined that Thea didn’t pose a threat to her, she fairly glowed. Through the fine wool threads of her sweater, Thea could still feel the heat of Gina’s touch just below her elbow.

  The noisy approach of Mitch and the children forced Thea into another line of thought. “What’s the movie?” she asked when they all skidded to a halt in their stocking feet.

  Emilie answered, “We want to see The Boy Who Played with Food.”

  “Is that okay with you?” Mitch asked Thea.

  “Sure. Sounds fun.”

  Mitch nodded. “Come on into the kitchen and I’ll show you where everything is.”

  Not willing to admit to any bewilderment, Thea gamely followed the troops into Mitch’s large kitchen. Gina stayed behind and Thea heard the hall closet door opening and closing again. Something niggled at the back of her brain, a stray thought she could not grasp, but knew was important for her to remember. “What time is the movie?”

  “There’s one showing at five-thirty and another at seven-fifteen. Either one’s okay depending on when everyone wants to eat.” He pointed to the phone on the wall above the microwave. A bulletin board tacked full of notes in a rainbow of colors hung beside it. Mitch showed her the Things I Have To Do list that had been composed using a neon pink gel pen. Thea judged by the handwriting that Emilie had been given the task of compiling the data. “These are all the phone numbers you might need: Mum’s, 911, my cell phone, Gina’s cell phone, the restaurant where we’ll be in case there’s no signal, my sister’s, and three places that deliver, in the event you decide to eat here.”

  Thea blinked. The numbers swam on the paper as her stomach began to agitate the remains of her last meal. Emilie was leaning into her and Thea’s arm slipped around the little girl’s shoulders. It was a toss-up as to who was supporting whom at the moment. She stared at Mitch, her mouth completely dry. “You’re not going with us?”

  “Well, no. I didn’t realize—”

  Thea was mortified. His surprise was completely genuine. He had had no idea that she wasn’t expecting to take the children on her own. Pride and fear warred and while pride won out, it was a narrow thing. She forced a smile, a dim twenty-five watts compared to the sunbeam that Gina flashed as she walked into the kitchen.

  “You ready, Mitch?” Gina held up his jacket. “We should be going.”

  “Just a minute.” Frowning slightly, he regarded Thea’s pale face. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.” As long as Emilie didn’t squirm out from under her, she’d be okay. At least she wouldn’t fall, she amended. There was no chance that she was going to be okay. “Really, it’s nothing.”

  Mitch was still watching her through narrowed eyes. “I thought you would want to be with the kids by yourself.”

  “Oh, yes,” she said quickly, too quickly.

  Emilie sighed. “I told you we make her nervous, Uncle Mitch. You didn’t believe me.”

  One of Mitch’s brows kicked up. “You didn’t tell me that.”

  “Maybe I told Nonny.”

  Mitch’s watchful eyes returned to Thea. She didn’t look nervous; she looked frightened. “Look, if it’s a problem, Gina and I can—”

  Gina came around the tight gathering and thrust Mitch’s jacket at him. “No, Gina and I can’t. You promised me, Mitch. We’re going out alone.”

  “Of course you are,” Thea said. “I’ll manage. I don’t know why Emilie thinks I’m nervous around her and the boys.”

  “Mom said you were,” Emilie
said simply. “That’s why she said you never took us anywhere by ourselves.”

  As a child Thea had imagined living life on a stage where trapdoors could be made to open and swallow her whole whenever she made a misstep. She wished she was standing on one now. “That’s not why,” Thea objected. Too late, she realized her second misstep. This was worse than the first, because now she had called Kathy’s veracity into question. She felt Emilie pulling away and knew an immediate sense of loss and something more devastating, like betrayal.

  Emilie’s hands went to her hips and her chin came up. “That’s what Mom told me. She wouldn’t lie.”

  “Emilie.” Mitch’s voice was firm. “I don’t think that Thea meant your mother wasn’t telling the truth, but just that she didn’t really understand Thea’s reasons.”

  Chin wobbling ever so slightly, Emilie looked from her uncle Mitch to Thea. Her green eyes were soulful, wanting to be convinced. “Is he right?”

  Thea realized that even the twins had fallen quiet. Their chatter was no longer part of the background noise. “Yes,” she said softly. “He’s right.”

  “Then why didn’t you take us anywhere alone?” Emilie challenged. “Uncle Mitch did. Sometimes he took just me to the movies or shopping.”

  “Or us,” Case said.

  “Yeah. Swimming,” Grant added. “And go-carts.”

  Mitch held up his hand. “Guys. Enough. I think Thea gets the idea.” He reached out to Emilie and gave her hair an affectionate tug. “I live right here, Em. Thea doesn’t. I saw your parents and you all the time so I could pick and choose our outings. When Thea came to visit she wanted to see everyone. She would have always felt like she was leaving someone out if she had taken you without your mom or dad along.”

  Under Emilie’s skeptical scrutiny, Thea nodded slowly. She didn’t dare glance in Mitch’s direction, afraid the gratefulness she felt would be too easily seen and correctly interpreted by all three of the children.

  “Oh.” Emilie’s chin lost its wobble and her mien became frighteningly adult. “You should have told Mom that, Aunt Thea. She worried about you.”

  Thea knew that was true. What she said was, “I wish I had.” When she was certain her expression could remain un-revealing, Thea turned back to Mitch. “I hope you and Regina have a very nice time this evening. Don’t give us another thought. Right, guys?”

  “Right,” the twins said simultaneously. Emilie responded a beat later with the same affirmative.

  “See? We’ll be fine. I know where the Cineplex is. I know who wants their popcorn swimming in butter. It’s under control.” She could see that Mitch wanted to be convinced. “I have enough seat belts for everyone. I drive a Volvo. There’s a first-aid kit in the glove compartment. I carry a cell phone in my purse. I know how to do the Heimlich maneuver and I can change a tire.” Actually she would call Triple A for the last, but he didn’t need to know that. “I have my credit card in the event they all want surf and turf for dinner.”

  “Surf and turf?” Grant whispered to his brother.

  Mitch answered the aside. “She means lobster and steak,” he said. “A very expensive meal.”

  “Lobster!” Grant made a face while Case held his stomach. A second later they were pinching each other. When Mitch pointed to the living room they escaped there on a run to continue playing.

  “I don’t think you have to worry they’ll take you over your credit limit at dinner,” Mitch said dryly. “Something more than pizza, though.”

  “But not Quaker Steak and Lube,” Gina interjected. “That’s where we’re going.”

  That niggling thought came back to Thea, and she captured it this time, finding complete clarity: Mitch and I haven’t had a moment together since ... Who was Gina kidding? Thea wondered. She wasn’t going to let Mitch out of bed. “We’ll be certain to pass on that,” Thea said, straight-faced.

  “They have great wings,” Mitch said.

  Thea found her lips were twitching. He seemed genuinely clueless about what Gina had in store for him. “Enjoy.”

  Mitch folded his jacket over his arm instead of putting it on. “Since it’s Saturday, bedtime is ten o’clock for Emilie. Case and Grant will drop like stones before then. Don’t worry about baths.”

  Thea hadn’t even thought about baths. “If you’re sure,” she said gamely.

  “Oh, I’m sure,” said Mitch. There was a subtle warning in his tone not to press her luck. Gina had slipped her arm through his and was nudging him to leave. “I think that’s everything.” He used his thumb to point to the bulletin board. “My mom is good for just about every emergency that doesn’t require hoses and ladders.”

  “Right,” Thea said. “I’ve got it. First number on the list. Three exclamation points.”

  “That was my idea,” Emilie said. “Uncle Mitch just asked me to underline it.”

  “Nicely done. It stands out.”

  “It’s also number one on the speed dial,” Emilie said.

  “Well, then, I’d say we have a very large safety net. Go get your brothers. We’ll hang out at the strip mall before the movie if we’re too early.” She waited until Emilie took off. “It’ll be fine, Mitch. You and Regina should go.”

  Mitch reached in the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a ring of keys. He removed one and gave it to her. “For the front door. You won’t be able to get back in through the garage and I don’t have a key for the breezeway anymore.”

  Thea dropped it in her jeans pocket. “We’re set.” If he didn’t move soon Gina was going to pop his shoulder out of joint. “Are you taking the bike or the truck?”

  “Too cold for the bike. And Gina doesn’t like the truck. We’re taking the banana car.”

  Gina gave him a quick jab in the stomach with her fist. “Stop calling it that.”

  “The SUV I parked behind?” asked Thea. “That’s yours?”

  She nodded. “I love it.”

  It was the cue Mitch needed to get him moving. Before he got into an argument over the merits of manual versus automatic transmissions, he headed toward the garage. Emilie was getting coats for the boys and no matter what Thea’s parenting skills were, Em would mother them. He felt better, though he wasn’t sure he should.

  Everyone ended up on the sidewalk at the same time. Thea shrugged into her jacket while she opened the doors. “Everyone in the back,” she told them. “I have a passenger side airbag. No kids.” That should impress Mitch, she thought. She didn’t have to tell him that her knowledge came from an aggressive ad campaign she headed up for Honda and the National Transportation Safety Board. The agency even won a Clio for it. “I’ll be your chauffeur. This is the one time you can tell me where to go.” The kids giggled and climbed in. There was some arguing about window and middle seats but Thea was patient, didn’t get involved, and let them work it out. That was something she had seen Kathy and Gabe do. It seemed to work for them; at least they didn’t end up being angrier than the kids. “Buckle up.” She leaned in, helped Case with his strap, then walked around to the driver’s side. “You’re not going to follow us, are you?” she asked Mitch.

  “I’m driving,” Gina said. “Otherwise you’d have a tail.”

  Mitch shrugged, unapologetic. “I can’t help it. This is the first time they’ve been out of my sight with anyone but my family or the school.” He leaned down, waved through the window. They made faces back. “Okay,” he said, straightening. “You’re good to go.” He tapped the hood with the flat of his hand. “You have enough gas?”

  “Mitch!” Gina and Thea both responded with exasperation.

  “Take him,” Thea ordered Gina.

  “I’m taking him,” Gina said at the same time.

  Thea slipped behind the wheel and automatically locked all the doors, a safeguard against Mitch trying to get in. She pressed the ignition button and the engine caught. “All set?” she asked her crew.

  “Set!”

  Thea backed up a few feet to clear the Xterra when she pulled
out into the street. “Everybody wave to your uncle Mitch. Case, see if you can’t make that monster face again. He seemed to really like that.” They started down the block. “And don’t think you’re all going to slouch down back there so you can’t be seen by other drivers.” Of course that’s exactly what they did most of the way to the Cineplex, thus making sure it looked like Thea was talking on the phone or having an animated conversation with herself.

  Gina waited until the Volvo was out of sight before she started the car. “Where to?” she asked. “The Hampton or the Fairfield? Or maybe you want to just go back in the house?” Her hand slid off the gearshift and onto Mitch’s thigh. She ran her fingertips right up the inside to his groin and cupped him through his jeans. His response was immediate and not the one she expected.

  “Gina!” He moved her hand back to the shift.

  “What?”

  He knew he’d hurt her feelings. God, he thought, all he seemed to do lately was apologize to women. “Sorry,” he said. “I need a little time.”

  Gina said nothing. She put the SUV into drive and pulled out, keeping her eyes straight ahead. Beside her, she was aware that Mitch was equally focused on the road. She doubted he was seeing anything related to the traffic. “Maybe we could stop at the bookstore first. Pick up an early edition of the Sunday paper or something. Get a cup of coffee.” She glanced over in time to see him shrug. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “I don’t know.” The words came out like a growl, equal parts frustration and annoyance. Neither of those emotions were directed at Gina. Mitch meant them for himself. He sat up suddenly. “This isn’t going to work, Gina.”

  Panicked, her knuckles bleached of color as she gripped the steering wheel. She stared at him as long as she could and still keep the SUV from crossing into the passing lane. Finally she got the nerve to ask, “What isn’t going to work?”

  “Tonight. Going out. I’m not going to be good company.”

  Gina’s relief that he was not breaking up with her was so immense that she put aside how much she had been looking forward to these hours alone. “Then we won’t do anything right now. What if I just drive for a while?”