I turned to her. “Sweetie, I think it’s best Andy and I hang in the kitchen while—”
“I want you to know, in front of her,” she pointed to her mother, “that I like you. I like you with Daddy. You make him happy. And things have got better for him since you’ve been around. And if he got this house because it’s close to you, then good. Because it’s closer to Corinne and me too, when we’re with Mom. And it’s a pretty house. And it’s the kind of house Daddy and Shaw should live in.”
“Thank you, Mamie,” I said softly. “I like you too, honey. And you’re right about this house, though you should know, he didn’t get it because it was close to me. He got it because it was right for his family. Now Andy and I should—”
“And I wanna live here, even if you live here too,” Mamie declared. “Like Mom says you’re gonna be moving in, because you make things happy.”
I sucked in a huge breath and looked to Hix.
“Greta isn’t moving in, baby,” Hix said gently.
“Yet,” Shaw put in.
I bit my lip, squeezed Andy’s hand and he started tugging it, shuffling us to the kitchen.
“There are things you don’t understand, Mamie,” Hope shared.
“Yeah?” Mamie asked. “Well tell them to me.”
“You’re too young,” Hope replied.
“I’m not too young to know that Shaw’s right. I get it that Daddy hasn’t been with Greta very long and he’s got us so he can’t move her in, like, right away. But I see how they are together and Daddy makes Greta happy too. So she might not be moving in now but she will and that’s okay by me, and it doesn’t matter what you think or all you have to say about it to Miss Julie, it has nothing to do with you because you threw him away.”
“Baby . . .” Hix started, and Andy gave my hand a harder tug pulling me out of the room and into the kitchen.
He rolled the pocket doors closed behind us then crowded me back so we were at the opposite side of the kitchen.
We both stopped by the sink and turned to stare at the doors.
It was Andy who broke our silence.
“Jeez, Ta-Ta, I’d rather deal with Mom than that lady out there.”
I looked to him to see his gaze still on the doors and stifled my giggle that came because my brother was funny but also might have been because I was slightly hysterical.
When I controlled my inappropriate mirth, I asked, “You wanna make onion dip?”
He looked to me and his mind wasn’t on dip. “You okay?”
I nodded.
He stared at me.
Then he said, “Okay, Ta-Ta. Let’s make dip.”
We made dip. Then we grabbed chips. Then I found a pad of paper and a pen and I started to make a grocery list for Hix and his kids because, in unpacking the kitchen, I’d noted that Hix did not have many of the basics of cooking. I did this with Andy bent over the island with me, helping me. We figured out how to program the coffeepot. And then we just hung together uncomfortably, through that and all we’d done before, our eyes straying to the doors.
They finally opened and I was surprised to see not Hix or Shaw coming through, but instead, Hope’s father.
He shut them behind him but did it facing us and saying, “Just gotta give that family some time.”
I pressed my lips together and nodded, unpressing my lips to say, “Of course.”
“You’re mean to my sister, I won’t like it,” Andy declared, and I looked to him to see his chest puffed out and he was edging my way.
“I wouldn’t dream of bein’ mean to your sister, son,” Hope’s dad replied, moving to the opposite side of the island from where we were.
“Okay,” Andy muttered and relaxed.
“Are they . . . how are they doing? Are they okay?” I asked.
But before I got my last word out, Shaw could be heard shouting, “God, Mom! You’re unbelievable!”
“Not too good,” Hope’s father muttered.
I felt for him. He looked sad. So sad, he looked vulnerable and defeated, like his years were decades more than he’d actually lived.
There was nothing I could do about that except get even more pissed Hope was all Hope was.
“Andy, this is Mr. Schroeder. Mr. Schroeder, this is my brother, Andy,” I introduced.
“Good to meet you, Andy. And please,” his eyes moved from Andy to me, “both of you, call me Jep.”
“You want onion dip?” Andy asked, reaching out to shove the bowl and bag of chips across the island toward Jep.
“Not feelin’ hungry, son, but thanks,” Jep murmured, but did it with his eyes trained on the dip and they didn’t move.
I looked to Andy.
He looked to me.
The pocket doors opened and Hix strolled through.
“Jep, Hope’s goin’. Mamie’s stayin’ with me. She’s with me tomorrow anyway so no reason with the state of things for her to go back now. I’ll have time to get some things straight with her and she’ll go back to Hope after next week.”
I examined Hix’s face and saw he didn’t look furious, but he didn’t look any less angry and frustrated than he had been all morning.
“Right, son,” Jep replied, turning. “I’ll just get on with gettin’ her home.” He stopped next to Hix, lifted a hand and rested it on Hix’s shoulder. “We’ll just . . .” he patted Hix’s shoulder and removed his hand, “get past this. All of us. Eventually.” He turned to Andy and me. “Wish it was better circumstances. Maybe next time it will be.”
“Yeah, Jep,” I said. “Take care.”
He lifted his chin, Andy mumbled a farewell and Jep took off.
Hix walked farther in. “We gotta change Junk Sunday to Going-to-Dansboro-to-Pick-Up-Beds Sunday. Mamie needs somewhere to sleep and she isn’t sleeping her first night in this house on the couch. So I might need your Cherokee to get it all in. The place is in Dansboro. You up for that, babe?”
I nodded. “Absolutely.”
“I’m good at carrying things,” Andy proclaimed.
“That’d be great, bud, since Shaw and me’ll need your help,” Hix replied.
I turned to my brother. “Hix is under the mistaken impression that my broken nose means I can’t lift things.”
“Doesn’t seem mistaken to me,” Andy returned.
I rolled my eyes only to roll them back and see Andy grinning.
“Gotta call the store then we’ll move out,” Hix muttered and my attention went back to him.
He moved out before I could say anything and Andy moved out with him.
I moved to find some plastic wrap to cover the dip so I could put it in the fridge and join them.
It wasn’t until we were all going through the (also awesome) mudroom at the back of the house that led to the garage, where Hix had parked both the Bronco and my Cherokee, that I could grab Hix’s hand and waylay him.
Andy, and Hix’s subdued kids, kept moving.
Hix stopped and looked down at me.