“Mary.”
“I’ll see you at breakfast.”
“Fine. Fine. Good night then. Fine.”
She opened the door and walked away, her arms pumping. It wasn’t until she disappeared into the hotel that I conceded she wasn’t coming back.
“Mary, Mary, sweet contrary.”
*
Later, staring up at yet another hotel ceiling, sleep as far away as Maine, I berated myself for the way the evening had ended. It had been a good night, a fun night, and I ruined things by rushing. I should have let it be, allowed things to take a natural course. Mary was right. This was not the time or place. Things were complicated enough. Ethan, this trip, were all about him. We needed to stay focused. Everything else would have to wait.
I shut the lights, tried to get comfortable, closed my eyes. I then sat up, grabbed my phone, and, of course, called Mary.
Before she even had a chance to speak, I blurted out, “I love you, you know that? I love you and I always will.”
Silence, then Mindy. “Thanks, Dad. Good to know.”
I froze. “Shit! God damn it, shit!”
“Sorry, but I’m having a little trouble following this conversation.”
“What? No!” I sat up higher, thinking fast. “I just wanted you to know that, okay? I wanted to, you know, tell you that.”
“Sure you did.”
“I did. I did. All of you. I love all of you. This trip has made me realize that, appreciate that.” I was rambling now but couldn’t stop. “Is Ethan there, is he there?”
“He’s sleeping.”
“Already? Okay then, all right. Well, tell him that too, in case he wakes up. Tell him I love him too.”
“Hold on, let me grab a pen. Okay, Loves. You. Too. Got it!” she said. “I’ll make sure he gets this first thing. Hey, while you’re at it, you want me to tell Karen? She’s right here.”
“I’m going.”
“So how was that singing ice cream place? Have a good time? Live up to the hype?”
“It was fine.”
“Hey, you want Mom’s number?”
“I have your mother’s number.”
“Need help dialing it?”
“Good night.”
“Loves. You. Too.”
“Good night.”
I turned off the phone and tossed it onto the other bed. I could only imagine the conversation the girls were about to have. It was then that I caught sight of Stinky Bear by the window, button eyes amused.
“Shut. Up. Idiot,” I said.
12
The next day, after Karen got up early and went for a run, showered, then headed back out again to gas up and wash the van; and after she stopped at a Walmart and bought a bag of oranges and water bottles for everyone and a new digital watch complete with peeping buttons and flashing lights for Ethan; and after I asked Mindy what she had accomplished that morning, and she shrugged and mumbled, “Brushed my teeth”; and after I spent a half hour sitting in the rear seat with Ethan, studying the back of Mary’s head in the front seat, trying to read her always hard-to-read mind; and after I decided to text always-hard-to-read Mary a short, generic, but playful message: Hi, Baby! It’s. Nice. Outside!; and after Karen, who was driving, glanced down into her lap at her phone and said, “Dad, did you just text me?”; and after I jumped in my seat and said, what? no! yes! then whispered shit under my breath while staring stupidly at my phone, we decided to stop at a Burger King for an early lunch where life, in the form of an increasingly persistent Rita, decided to once again intrude.
Ethan, who had been fiddling with my phone, eagerly answered the call while I sat, helpless, my mouth jammed full of fries, calculating the odds that it was someone other than who it was.
“Hello?” Ethan asked. “How. Are. You?” He had obviously never met Rita, so at this point in the conversation, there was no indication that he was talking to the woman who had once begged me to spank her while having sex.
“Who is it?” Mary asked.
I reached over and causally yanked the phone away from Ethan.
“Me. Phone!” He made a grab for it, so I jumped up from the table. “Hello? I’m sorry, who is this? Oh yes, Sal. Hi.”
As feared, it was Rita. “John?”
“Let me talk to Sally when you’re done,” Mary said.
I covered the phone. “It’s Sal … Valentine, teachers union.”
“How many Sals do you know?” Mindy asked.
“Hey, Sal,” I headed for the door. “Calling about the fall meeting?”
“Hello? John? Are you there? Hello?”
It wasn’t until I was safely outside, that I risked addressing her. “Listen, you can’t call me anymore on this trip, okay? No more, please. I’m going to block your calls from now on, do you understand?” I glanced back into the Burger King. “I’m serious, okay?”
“Chase died while we were having sex.”
“I’m sorry, what?”