ENSLAVED BY SHIFTERS

by Astrid Lee Donovan

  “Yep, the park,” she told him as she turned on the water.

  Elaine hoped that if she did the normal routine with her son that day, she might forget about her embarrassing transgression the night before. She wasn’t over the death of Trey, her husband, and bringing another man into her life was not the answer. No, she hoped that Ethan was not true to his promise and that he would not show up at her home.

  So then why does your chest hurt when you think about him not showing up?

  2

  “Higher,” Thomas demanded and she pushed him a little higher on the swing. He was old enough to sit on the big kids’ swing, which had delighted him when he’d turned three. Elaine was still glad he was young enough to be excited about something as small as sitting on a different swing. She wasn’t looking forward to the day where he’d need something more expensive or more glamorous to make him excited like he was sitting on the swing.

  She still hadn’t gotten around to thinking about when he would leave to go to college. That was so far in the future she felt like it would never arrive.

  “Hey, Elaine! I didn’t think I’d see you here today,” Jody’s piercing voice seemed to fill the air around her and made her feel like she might suffocate. The woman was nice enough, but she was a bit dim.

  Elaine turned around to see Jody wearing a white blouse with a striped blue and black bra underneath. Did she know everyone could see the color of her bra when she walked through the sunshine? Heck, I’ll bet everyone can see them when she’s not in the sunshine.

  “I gave Haley my extra hours,” she said as a greeting. Thomas was having too much fun on the swing for her to use him as an excuse to go home. Besides, she could stifle her exasperation with Jody for another half an hour.

  “So I heard you left the party with someone.” Does she hear everything? Elaine figured she probably did. She knew her mother was doing tarot readings before she did. “So?”

  Elaine felt a little guilty. She hadn’t been listening again. “Oh, I just needed a ride home. I was a little tipsy and he was kind enough to swing by my place and drop me off on his way home.”

  “So who was it?” Jody plopped her son, Larry, into the little kid’s chair and began to rock him back and forth so slow the kid’s head began to droop. His eyes fluttered and his breathing deepened.

  “Oh, just the fireman that was called in to keep an eye on the place. Ethan, I think his name was.” Elaine tried to play it safe as if she didn’t really recall. She didn’t want rumors starting about her and Ethan, especially when she wasn’t so sure she wanted him to hang around.

  “Ethan Mack?” If Jody hadn’t had a tone of scorn and disbelief, Elaine wouldn’t have paid attention. But it took a lot for Jody Gallant to not like someone. She tossed her fiery red hair over her shoulder and turned her light, hazel eyes in Elaine’s direction. This was a Jody that Elaine had never witnessed before. “You’d do best to stay away from him, Elaine. He’s nothing but trouble.”

  “Well, how so?” Elaine gave Thomas a good push and he flew a little higher into the air than she’d intended. His squeal of delight made her stop and smile a moment before she caught him and pushed him just as high. If he fell off, he’d land in the soft sand and most likely wouldn’t get hurt. He was a crafty, flexible kid.

  “He just is,” Jody spit out and her son awoke at the venomous tone. His eyes welled up and he began to cry softly, a sign that he was going to wail any second. Elaine wanted to point this out to Jody, but the woman just kept staring at Elaine as if she were seeing her in a different light. And it didn’t seem like it was a good one. “You didn’t sleep with him, right?”

  The first thought that came to her mind was that it wasn’t any of Jody’s business who she slept with and who she didn’t. She smiled though and was about to lie when Larry’s wail pierced the air and made both women jump. “Oh, it’s okay!” Jody cooed as she pulled her son out of the swing and popped him onto her hip.

  His bottom lip jutted out as he sniffled and snot began to travel down to cover his upper lip. Thomas looked over at his competition for attention and frowned. The crease developing between his eyebrows told Elaine she’d better find something else for him to do before he decided to join Jody’s son.

  “We’ve got to get going. It was nice chatting with you,” Elaine lied easily as she pulled Thomas from his swing and planted him on the ground. He looked a little confused by her abrupt removal, but he took her hand when she offered it and turned his attention away from the crying Larry.

  “We’ll have to get together sometime!” Jody called after Elaine as she waved goodbye and started back for her mother’s home.

  “Fat chance of that,” Elaine mumbled under her breath. Jody was someone she didn’t want to get too friendly with, especially after her initial reaction to finding out Elaine knew Ethan Mack. The man had been polite and it had been her who had initiated the impolite bits.

  Elaine was too busy thinking about those impolite bits as she walked up to her mother’s home until it was too late. She stopped short and felt her hand tighten around Thomas’ little one. Had he been chatting at her as they had been walking? She felt guilty that she didn’t know.

  He was just as good looking as she’d remembered him, but seeing him stand outside with her mother and another woman who she assumed was his mother felt too familiar. After what they had done together, she didn’t want him to get the idea that it would be okay to show up at her home anytime. She didn’t want him getting too close to Thomas.

  Her mother had brought home dalliances when she was younger, and she had promised she would never do that to Thomas when her husband had died.

  Elaine picked Thomas up and smiled at him when he gripped the sleeve of her shirt tight. “I think you need a bath,” she told him and he tried to wriggle away from her. He enjoyed his baths, but he seemed to think putting up a fight made them more enjoyable.

  3

  “Elaine, there you are! I was just telling Marjorie about your little Thomas here. Isn’t he the cutest?” Priscilla plucked Thomas from Elaine’s grasp as if he were a sack of potatoes and held him up in the air like he was a year old again.

  “I think you might be biased, Mom. He is your grandson.” Elaine dodged looking at Ethan as she smiled at Marjorie. “I’m Elaine,” she said as a way of introduction as she held out her hand.

  “Oh, Marjorie, and this is my son, Ethan. I stopped in to tell your mother that her tarot reading really gave me some insight into what I should do about my son, and I left her some of my special, dark molasses cookies. You’d better get in there before she gobbles them all up! I think I saw you eat six of them already, Priscilla.” Marjorie had turned her attention back to Priscilla and Thomas now sucking on his thumb as he perched on his grandmother’s hip.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Elaine.” Did he say her name with purpose? She wasn’t sure if she should take the proffered hand or not. She hesitated and saw a flash of regret on Ethan’s face. Was it that he regretted sleeping with her? Or did he think that she didn’t want to see him again?

  Do I want to see him again? She thought as she took his strong hand and gave it a firm shake before she let her own hand slide back to her side. I guess it’s a little late for that. I kind of am seeing him again, right now.

  “And it happened last night! Ethan told me about how he had meant this beautiful, spectacular woman at the party last night and he was home late, Priscilla! Late,” Marjorie emphasized.

  “Mom, don’t you think that’s a little too in depth with details?” Ethan smiled politely at his mother, but Elaine could see the strain. Was he embarrassed?

  “Oh, there’s no shame in being embarrassed! I mean, we’re just two old women, Ethan. Oh, and Elaine. Sorry dear,” Marjorie proclaimed as she put a hand on Elaine’s shoulder. The woman was a little overly friendly, but then, so was Elaine’s mother.

  “Thomas needs his bath,” Elaine said as a way of an excuse and took her son back. “It was nice meeting y
ou both,” she managed in a polite tone before she took Thomas inside.

  When the door was shut behind her and she was sure no one could see her, she let out a shaky breath and smiled at her son. He was her anchor in this world, and she wouldn’t let anything jeopardize that. Not even if the man was as sexy as hell and reminded her of the darkest chocolate she’d ever seen. Thomas wasn’t ready for a new father, and she didn’t know if she ever wanted to find one.

  Yes, Ethan was fun and she really enjoyed his company, but she worried he would want more than just fun. And who had time for that anyway?

  “I certainly don’t,” she muttered.

  “What did you say, mommy?” Thomas asked as she helped him out of his shirt.

  “Nothing sweetheart,” Elaine told him as she felt a pang of guilt. Today was her day to spend with her son, and she wasn’t going to allow a man to come between them, especially if he wasn’t already there. “Hey, what do you say we go out and get some ice cream after your bath?”

  “Yeah,” Thomas told her as he grabbed his bath toys from the basket and stood by the tub. Elaine helped him in and let him splash around in the soapy water as she consciously blocked thoughts of Ethan from her mind. She’d needed his company last night, and that was it. There was no point in feeling guilty about it.

  When Thomas was finished, she helped him towel dry and combed his hair as her mind wandered. “You know, you have your daddy’s eyes,” she said randomly.

  “Grandma says that a lot,” Thomas told her, as his reflection looked her in the eyes. Elaine felt her heart stutter when she really looked at him. He barely had anything of her in him, but his hair and that could change.

  “What else does she say?”

  “That I’m a troublemaker like my mom, and that I’ll be a lady-killer when I grow up,” he said in his tiny, boyish voice. “Mom?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I don’t want to kill people when I grow up.” His tone was serious and his gaze was wide and sincere.

  Elaine felt her lips twitch at the corners and hugged him from behind. He smelled like baby yet, and she hoped that he would always smell that way to her. “You won’t, honey. It’s an expression. I’ll tell you about it later.” She helped him into his clothes and ran her hand through her hair before she decided she was presentable enough to go out.

  “How about we go get some ice cream?”

  Priscilla was making herself a sandwich in the kitchen and hummed along to a song on the old radio she’d insisted upon keeping. Elaine could remember that radio from when she was a small girl and wondered if her mother had it before she had been born. “Thomas and I are going to go out and get some ice cream,” she said with a smile. “You want to come along and get some?”

  Something was making her feel sentimental that day. She’d woken up with an awful hangover and come home to find the one person she couldn’t decide if she wanted to see again or not, but spending time with Thomas was her top priority. For once, she wanted her mother’s advice about something. She’d know what to do about being a single mother and spending time with a man whom she wasn’t sure she wanted to introduce to her son or not.

  “Sure, just let me wrap this up and get my shoes on.”

  “Did you hear that?” Elaine mock whispered as she leaned down to Thomas’ height. “Grandma’s going to wear shoes,” she joked.

  4

  “And what does that one look like?” Priscilla asked as she pointed at one of the wispy clouds floating past.

  Thomas seemed to mull over it as he licked his black raspberry ice cream. Elaine took a long lick of her butterscotch as she thought about how she should bring up what happened the night before with her mother. Should she tell her mother everything? Or would that be going too far?

  Who was she kidding? Her mother knew almost every nitty-gritty detail about her life and there was nothing to be hidden from that woman. She may have let Thomas play on his own a little too long and allowed him to make stains on the kitchen floor, but that didn’t make her a complete fool. She just got too distracted during those readings to look after Thomas properly.

  “Like a starfish,” Thomas finally answered. He took a big lick of his sticky, gooey ice cream and became enamored with the process of finding another cloud.

  “So what’s on your mind, cupcake?” Elaine ignored her mother until she realized the aging woman was looking at her and not at her son.

  “What makes you think something’s on my mind?”

  “Well, you’ve been silent all this time, except for when you ordered the ice cream, and you’ve been acting a little odd since you woke up this morning with a-” Priscilla looked down at her grandson and, for once, seemed to have a little concern about what she was about to say around young ears.

  “I just feel out of sorts since I was out so late last night.” She looked pointedly at Thomas as he gazed up at the sky and then beyond to the park that was only fifteen or so feet away. “Hey, buddy, why don’t you build me a sand castle? I could really go for one today,” she told her three-year-old as he finished his ice cream. They’d been sitting in silence for only fifteen or so minutes, but Thomas wasn’t one to fool around with ice cream.

  “Alright, but what about the clouds?” he asked as he turned to his grandmother.

  “They’ll be around again. That’s the great thing about clouds. There’s always an abundance of them here,” Priscilla told him as she leaned down and gave him a pat on the behind before she pushed him toward the sandbox.

  He dutifully gathered sand in his palms and began to pat it together; making a sand castle like Elaine had shown him only a few weeks before.

  “So what did you bring me out here to talk about?” Priscilla adopted the tone she’d had when Elaine was a teenager. It was a tone that told her daughter she was ready to hear anything, and that she wasn’t going to be judgmental about what she heard.

  “You know I went out last night, and you know I came home late.” Elaine twisted her hands together. “I wanted to ask you what it was like, when you divorced Dad. Were you afraid to bring men home to meet me?”

  Priscilla was silent as her lips parted. She hadn’t been expecting to hear her daughter say those words and it showed on her face. Her eye crinkled at the corners as they narrowed and she gently put her teeth back together. Hadn’t she known that Elaine had slept with someone the night before? She had thought it was obvious, but perhaps it hadn’t been.

  “So that’s why you were late?” Her mother asked rhetorically. Thomas squealed when he found a millipede in the sand and eagerly put it on one of his sand castle’s guard towers. At least, that’s what Elaine assumed the lump in front of the larger lump was supposed to be.

  “Let’s just say I had a run-in with someone very nice last night, and he seems to be showing interest. But I don’t know if I should really be dating just yet, Mom. What if it’s too soon, or what if I introduce him to Thomas and then he just disappears? What do I say to him?” The ‘him’ she was referring to was her son and they both knew it.

  Priscilla reached out a hand in comfort and laid it on her daughter’s knee. “You introduce the man as a friend and you let Thomas gather as much information as he needs to from that statement. And I think it’s about time you started spending more time with adults that weren’t either too old to be eligible or your mother.” Elaine knew her mother was referring to the amount of time she spent sitting on the living room floor with her son when Priscilla and Jacob were watching Wheel of Fortune or some other game show in the evening.

  She had jumped Ethan because she had been lonely, but her mother hadn’t given her the answer she was looking for. Had it been right? Was she risking too much?

  “I just-”

  “Elaine,” Priscilla interjected with a gentle tone. “If you’re feeling lonely, then you have to take care of that. You can’t just sacrifice everything in order to be his mother when there isn’t a father in the picture. If you don’t take care of yourself first, you can
’t be a healthy enough, happy enough mother for him. You won’t make the same mistakes I did,” Priscilla told her quietly as she removed her hand from her daughter’s knee.

  “Mom, I didn’t say that,” Elaine replied quietly, but they both knew that was what she was worried about.

  Thomas eagerly teetered over to her with a large salamander in his hands and Elaine helped him find a safe spot for it away from the sandbox. Then she took his hand and walked him home with her mother on the other side. Perhaps her mother was right. Maybe it was time to take care of herself emotionally so that she could be a happier person for her son.

  5

  There was a dark car parked along the street out front of her mother’s home, and while it wasn’t odd for the occasional neighbor to have friends over who parked in one of their spaces because they rarely used them, there was something familiar about the car. It wasn’t until they were almost upon it that Elaine realized she knew exactly why the car was familiar, and she smiled at her mother as she pointed at the front door. Priscilla knew exactly what her daughter wanted and took Thomas up the front stairs. She pretended she was washing the windows with a rag about a minute later, making Elaine wonder where poor Thomas was.

  The dark man who owned the car stepped out from its driver’s side and smiled at her. “I was just about to leave when I saw you walking up in my rearview mirror. I swear I was only here about a minute, but I still didn’t your number and you didn’t look too thrilled to see me earlier, so I wasn’t going to ask for it then.”

  Ethan shoved his cell phone into his front pocket and closed the door to his car. He was strikingly handsome in the sunlight, and the way his lips curved at the corners, she supposed he liked what he saw in her. “I wasn’t so sure I was eager to see you either, but I’m starting to come around. Did you need the tin your mother brought the cookies over in back? I can go get them-” she trailed off as he pushed off his car and started to walk toward her. They were only five or six feet apart before, but then he was standing only two or three feet away. It was still considered friendship distance to someone who was observing on the outside, but the hairs on Elaine’s arms had stood on end.