Chapter 17
“Mama, I’m sorry!” Jamie wailed. He didn’t look the least bit regretful, but what could she except from a three year old.
“It’s fine, baby, just go play in the den. Be careful and don’t walk on the glass.”
Evie bent her 5’9 frame over and started to pick up the shards of glass that sprayed everywhere when her son accidentally knocked into an end table, toppling over one of her mother’s lamps.
“But I’m hungry. I want my spaghetti now.”
Oh no! Warning bells went off inside of her head. She jumped up and scurried into the kitchen, leaving the mess on the floor and ignoring the sound of crunching glass under her feet. It was too late; the water had all boiled out of the pot and now the bottom was burning. She grabbed the handle without thinking and a searing pain immediately shot through her hand. She dropped the pot on the floor and cradled her aching palm. She was just about to put it under the faucet when Jamie started screaming.
“I want spaghetti! I want spaghetti!”
“Okay, baby, give mommy a second.” She hissed in pain.
“I want spaghetti!”
“Jamie, stop it!”
Her son paid no mind to her and took off out of the kitchen screaming about spaghetti. She observed her surroundings, paying special attention to the burnt pot on the ground.
She knew something of this nature would happen the moment her mother left. When Madeline went off to San Diego three months ago chaos reigned in her absence then too. It was only Friday night and her mother had just left that morning. Work had been hectic as always and when she picked Jamie up from school afterwards, the principal pulled her into the office to officially let her know that she was going to have to find another placement for her son.
Apparently he was using foul language at school and their no-tolerance policy didn’t allow for such behaviors to go without harsh punishment. This, of course, led to a verbal altercation between her and the principal. Evie maintained that Jamie never heard that language at home—which he never did—and the principal asserted that he heard it from somewhere. By the end of the conversation, she had stormed out of the school with Jamie in her arms screaming.
“God I can’t do this,” she prayed. “Not by myself.” Just as she was considering ordering out for pizza, her cell phone buzzed. She looked at the screen; Stacy’s name flashed across it. She tried to steady her voice and rapidly beating heartbeat in attempt to sound normal when she answered.
“Hi, Stacy.” She croaked out, and then winced.
“What’s wrong?” he immediately asked.
She almost laughed to herself. She was like an open book.
“Nothing,” she lied, “just a rough day.”
“Your mom left this morning?”
“Yeah.”
“How’s Jamie doing?”
“He got kicked out of school.”
“What?!”
She quickly told him the story, then finished up with the burnt spaghetti.
“I think I’m just going to order pizza then put Jamie to bed early. We’ll be alright. Are you still coming to his practice tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I should be able.”
There was a short pause then Stacy suddenly said, “Do me a favor and don’t order pizza. I’ll be over in thirty minutes.”
“No, Stacy, it’s fine. You don’t have to go through any tro-”
Evie was unable to finish her sentence; he had already hung up. She frowned and looked at her cell phone confused. What was he up to? Tiredly, she began cleaning up the pot of spilled spaghetti on the ground and once that was finished moved back to the shards of glass in the living room. It was only then she realized that she hadn’t heard from Jamie for a good ten minutes.
“Jamie!” she called. When she got no immediate answer she went looking for him and finally found him nodding off in front of the television in the den. She knew he needed to eat, but she was no fool. There was no way she was going to wake him up. She closed the den door quietly and went back into the kitchen, falling into one of the chairs exhausted. She was just starting to drift off when the sound of the doorbell jolted her awake. Her eyes flew open and she jumped up.
She prayed the doorbell wouldn’t wake Jamie as she ambled towards it. She peeked through the blinds and saw Stacy on the porch holding two very full bags. She swung open the door and hoped she didn’t look as tired as she felt.
“Hey, beautiful. I come bearing food.”
Before she could respond, he gently brushed passed her and made his way into the kitchen. She stood by the door slightly stunned. She was completely and utterly taken off guard by the comment he just made. She was exhausted and knew she looked disheveled, not to mention she hadn’t had time to change out of her scrubs yet.
“I brought Chinese food. I know Jamie is picky sometimes, so I got plain white rice for him. He eats rice right?” Too stunned to answer, Evie just stared at Stacy wondering where this man had come from.
“You’ve had a rough day today. I know your mom is out of town so I thought I’d try to make tonight a little easier for you.”
She closed the front door silently and walked over to the counter where Stacy was placing an array of Chinese food boxes.
“Why are you doing this?” she whispered.
Stacy stopped unpacking boxes and looked at her. He hesitated as if he was going to say something, then stopped.
“You deserve it.”
She laughed to herself. “I don’t know about that.”
After dinner, Stacy helped her clean up the kitchen and as she was washing the few dishes in the sink, she couldn’t help but start spilling her heart out to this man.
“I know it’s been three years, and I have my mother who’s been there for me every step of the way, but there are times that I feel like I just haven’t had myself together since James died.”
“Honestly, Evie, I don’t think you give yourself enough credit. Jamie is a happy, healthy little boy. That should be testament enough. You’ve gone through something terrible. You just have to work all of that out in your mind in your own time. But I think you’re doing a great job all the way around.”
Evie dropped the dish rag she was holding in her hand and looked up at Stacy.
“Thank you. That’s probably the nicest thing anybody besides my mother has said to me in a long time.”
Keys To Redemption Page 17
