Page 179 of Seasons of Love
She wraps her motherly arms around me, and I let myself be comforted by the closest thing I have to a mother.
“I grew up on a farm, honey. I may be old, but I can still throw a punch. No one’s gonna take this baby girl from you. I promise.”
I stand and shake myself. “Right. No point worrying about what I can’t control right now. I’m going to feed my daughter and then play with her because that’s what we do on Sunday nights. Isn’t that right, sunshine?”
Sara waves her arms like she understands what I’m saying.
“I’ll leave you to it then. Goodnight, my dears.”
I prepare Sara’s food since Florrie gave her a bottle of formula earlier, and even when she decides it looks better on me than in her belly, I can’t stop laughing.
“You’re a little terror, you know that?” I point to her full belly. “I need better reflexes because you throw a mean punch.”
She starts one of her long conversations that makes her giggle a lot, so I reply, making jokes about her coming home before ten when she’s a teenager and how I’ll veto every person she might be interested in…but only when she’s twenty-five.
I give her a bath and read her a book before putting her to bed.
It’s not until I consider having a shower that I realize Ellis hasn’t returned.
I check my phone, and there are no messages, so I grab my shower. When I get out, I check it again, and there’s a message waiting.
Ellis: Sorry, baby. I got caught up doing something. I’ll see you on Tuesday before the soup kitchen. I’ll meet you at home.
I reply okay and pull down my bed. It’s probably a good time to do some studying for my exams. They’re just around the corner, and I don’t want to fail.
Hopefully, it’ll also keep me distracted from other thoughts.
Like Gloria taking Sara away from me.
Like Ellis getting cold feet on our relationship because there’s just too much drama with me.
Even though he said he loved me, and love is unconditional, right?
“Ugh. Stop thinking so much,” I say to myself.
“Hey, hun,” Pauline says when I arrive at work on Tuesday morning.
“Morning.”
“You look tired. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, just a few things going on at home.”
She looks to the door. “Does this have anything to do with the rich woman that was buying a bunch of toys and talking about Sara?”
“What?” I turn to her, closing my locker so quickly that I almost get my fingers stuck.
“Yeah. A woman was asking about the best place to buy toys and baby stuff yesterday. When I asked if she had someone in mind, she said she has a new granddaughter, Sara. I didn’t think too much of it until just now. Who is she?”
“She’s Sara’s grandmother. Fuck.” I rub my hands over my face. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing really. It’ll sort itself out.”
She looks at me like she has some doubts, but my shift is starting, so I have to go open my register.
Jimmy waves at me and smiles while he’s serving a customer. I wave back but ignore him, thanking the gods that customers are waiting so I can get straight to work.
“Gerald is off today,” Jimmy says when his line subsides.
“That’s great for him.”
