Page 33 of Never Without You
What’d you make for dinner tonight? Are youbaking anything for Thanksgiving?
Does Boo play Frisbee? Give him a few extrarubs from me.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving, babe.
Ross
Dutchford to rural CT outside Manchester,then Avon, CT
Theresa
Brouhaha
Ross,
So much to say, I figured I’d document thenext few days and send it all at once so we don’t cross-post.
Tuesday
As if my sister and mother weren’t enough ofthe family dose, my cousin called. Not Ziggy. This call was fromMax, the one who always takes care of Ziggy. Actually, taking careof everyone else except herself is usually Max’s problem. She’sfull of tough love for any soul in need, and she’s the BEST friendanyone could ever have, but she doesn’t see to herself. I don’tmean in the grooming, clothing, socializing way. She’s beautifuland well put together all the time. For all outward appearances,Max has the world on a string. The only two people who know thetruth about what roils around inside of her are her childhoodfriend, Lola, and me.
Lola is pregnant. Yes, another one. I toldyou there’s something in the water. Lola is not having an easypregnancy, which means Max isn’t sitting in Lola’s kitchen drinkinghomemade lemonade – Lola makes the best lemonade – bitching andmoaning about whatever in general or anything in specific becauseMax doesn’t want to stress out Lola.
The call from Max was all about her skatingon emotional thin ice, which is not somewhere she ventures. Loooongstory short, she harbors MAJOR guilt about something that happenedover ten years ago in college to someone else for which she holdsherself responsible, but she wasn’t. Not even close.
A confession: I chose my specialty becauseof Max. She’s two years younger than I am, and this thing happenedwhen I was a senior in college. She went to a college not too farfrom mine, and I was the one who held her hand after the incident.When I knew that my being there for her wasn’t enough, I was theone who convinced Max to go to therapy. When I saw what adifference it made, I decided that work was for me.
Ninety percent of the time, Max breezesthrough life, making sure she doesn’t go near that guilt well.Every now and again, she has a “moment,” and we talk it through,typically over a few phone calls. Then she moves on. What she hasnever done since “the incident” is make herself emotionallyvulnerable. If she gets a whiff she might be more than casuallyinterested in somebody, she backs off and moves on. But a new mansomehow ambushed her and crawled right into her heart when shewasn’t looking, and now she’s nearing meltdown.
I’ve begged her to tell the guy what’s goingon. He’s way into her, and from the little she’s said, he soundslike the type of man who will treat her and the information gentlyand with care. She refuses. Of all the traits Max has that makesher strong, stubbornness is at the top of the list. This timethough, it’s doing her in and I can’t seem to be able to getthrough, which has never happened. That tells me she’s scared outof her mind, which means she’s fallen for this guy, and she’sdrowning in it.
Honestly, my sister and mother’s drama aremuch easier to handle.
Wednesday
I called Max and left a message. If I don’thear from her by tomorrow, I’m running her to ground. She knowsthis about me, so I’m thinking I’ll hear from her.
Boo doesn’t play Frisbee, but that’s myfault because I don’t play Frisbee. We play ball in the park, andhe has a basket full of durable toys to chew on and play with inthe house. I’ve noticed he jumps in the air to catch a ball, somaybe he’ll take to Frisbee. I’ll go on YouTube and watch someFrisbee vids. I’ve heard it’s all about wrist action, but I’m notwhat you’d call an athlete. I’ll let you know how that goes.
Tonight, I had a salad for dinner inpreparation for tomorrow when I’ll eat as if it’s my last meal.Also, I’m baking a German chocolate cake as my niece’s birthdaycake, and I’m baking an apple pie, a cherry pie, and a yam/pumpkinpie with a crispy cinnamon crust.
Ten minutes before I was headed to bed, mysister called and begged me to stop at her place so we could rideover to our parents’ house together, as if she didn’t have two kidsand a husband as a buffer.
Thursday
My mother called to make sure I baked thecake and the pies. Max called to tell me Happy Thanksgiving, andshe’s fine so stop hovering. I didn’t hear from my sister andfigured that was a good thing.
Normally, I’d leave Boo home, but given howlong I’m going to be gone, I can’t do it. He’s been to my sister’shouse before and he loves her dog, Eloise, who’s a mutt rescue thatlooks like a small brown border collie. My sister, who has acreage,fenced in about ½ acre of her property for Eloise. Boo will be inheaven – outdoors all day, and room to run with a friend.
I have to leave earlier than expected to getto my sister’s, talk her off a ledge, and get Boo settled before wehead over to what will surely be an entertaining Thanksgiving. I’llcatch you up when I get home.
Home. Sebastian gets the outstandinghusband, and a great father of the year award. When I walked into ahouse I’d been sure would be filled with pandemonium, instead Ifound my nieces, Valeria and Austen, sitting in the family room onthe floor, both in hot pink leggings and little black booties.Valeria was in a multicolored striped long-sleeved A-line dress,and Austen in the same type of dress but in purple. It’s her thirdbirthday so right now the only colors in her life are pink andpurple. Both girls’ hair was in ponytails, and white ribbons weretied in bows around the bands holding up the ponytails. Eloise waslying between them, and they were all watching Moana.
Figuring I’d meet a different tableau, I’dtaken Boo out back and put him in Eloise’s yard before coming inthe house.
The girls looked up, saw me, got up, cameover and gave me hugs and kisses, then went back to the family roomwhere Valeria rewound the video back to where it’d been before Iinterrupted them.
Sebastian was in the kitchen watching us ashe was putting foil wrap over my sister’s scalloped potatoes. Thelong Pyrex dish with her baked macaroni was already covered.
