Righteousness comes with a great vacation plan, I type back, not missing my own opportunity to point out to Simon that there is nothing honorable about abandoning your family.
Bitterness is not a good taste on you, Simon jabs back, now typing right in front of my face.Really, this is where we are going to do this?All our ugliness from Simon’s selfish sojourn is being displayed on a yellow-lined screen to the soundtrack of Father Egan trying to sell the virtues of participating in the PTA.
Thinking of the cacao cullage serving as the secret ingredient in my lotions I bang out,Funny because bitterness is working well for me with Brown Butter, Baby!. So good in fact it got me on Innovation Nation.It’s going to be hard for Simon to argue with my forward momentum.
It’s not the viability of your company that got you on the show, Simon thumbs angrily, knowing that nothing will hit harder than calling my merit into question and doubting my intelligence.
Not caring about disrupting Sutton Fisher, the new Saint Anne PTA president stepping to the mic accompanied by jarring feedback, I grab my purse and shuffle out of the row away from Simon. Lou and Coco are still backstage. There are three more agenda items to cover before alumni are marched out for Q and A. If Lou and Coco had spotted us in the audience, I wanted them to see Simon and me as a supportive, loving united front, but I can’t do it today. I’m moving up close where they will for sure see me, their mother, who has been here, cheering them on, every day of their lives.
Retreating from Simon, I plop down in the aisle seat in the front row, my bag slamming against the gentleman settled in next to me.
“Sorry,” I whisper behind my hand.
“It’s okay,” my row mate answers, turning to give me an accompanyingno problemhalf grin.
“What are you doing here?!” I yelp, and Sutton Fisher shoots me a scowl from the stage before launching into the benefits of collecting items for the yearly rummage sale now so funding can be secured for the refurbishment of the playground later.
Ash points to the other side of him and there is Livy, beaming up at Sutton. I guess minicannibals add to diversity numbers these days. And then I remember Livy’s daughter is also a quarter Black, Jewish, and soon to attend a Catholic school. A Black Jewish biter makes two half Puerto Ricans look downright dull.
“Livy’s husband couldn’t get out of work, so I’m subbing in,” Ash whispers once Sutton’s eyes have moved off us. So, this brazen brother leaves his wife because she can’t give him a baby, but he’s willing to cram his tall, toned body into a rickety wooden auditorium seat for his five-year-old niece? Ash being here demonstrates both questionable judgment and a lack of hobbies.
I lean over and wave at Livy. Her face registers the same surprise to see me here as it did over the sweater table months ago. She mouthshello, and we both reach over Ash’s lap to squeeze hands in a friendly gesture. My fingers accidentally graze Ash’s crotch when I let go of Livy’shand, and he inadvertently gasps. I instinctively drop my head between my legs in extreme embarrassment and for self-preservation in case I start to hyperventilate from the faux pas.
Ash taps me lightly on the shoulder, but I don’t move. I prefer to keep my head buried until the orientation is over and everyone has exited the building. Hopefully Simon will record the twins and I can watch them from the privacy of my hiding spot, under the covers in bed. Ash pokes me harder, letting me know I can’t ignore him after what he can only assume was a freebie dick grab. Cringing, I tilt my head halfway up, and he nods to the back of the auditorium. Ash stands and whispers, “Follow me.” Without question, I stumble after him to get my scolding about inappropriate touching over with.
Ash deftly pushes against one of the double doors, avoiding any creaking, and once we are on the other side, he gently closes it behind us without an audible click.
“Just so you know, every year the airport makes all the employees take a three-hour sexual harassment course online. They even pay us for our time,” I babble as a way of apology and an excuse for my unintended pants skimming.
Ash laughs and puts up his hands. “I’m not going to take you for all you’re worth, Antonia. Promise.”
“Trust me, I don’t have anything you would want,” I say, blowing out a breath of relief that the only documents I will be needing to file will be my divorce papers.
“I’m not so sure about that,” Ash says with a wink, cagey. “I’d like you in a dress.”
A dress, huh?Maybe I wouldn’t mind paying him back for that favor.
“Now that the balls game is over as quickly as it started, what are you doing here, Antonia?”
“Ha, I get it, balls game,” I giggle.
“I thought Lou and Coco were heading to high school.”
I cock my head and look at Ash curiously. It’s so sweet he remembers their names, but odd he knows things about my girls that I never told him.
“Your mom talked my ear off when I was waiting at her house to pick up Bubbe and take her out to lunch.” My mom will talk about Lou and Coco to anyone who asks, or who will listen.Pobrecito, Ash.Gloria has not mastered the art of polite but brief answers when it comes to her granddaughters.
“The girls are speaking during the Q and A as Saint Anne alumni,” I explain. “What else did my mother tell you?” I’m prepared to be mortified for a second time in four short minutes.
“Are you here with your husband?” Ash questions directly.
Yep. That’s what else Gloria told Ash, that Simon and I are together.“Technically, I’m here with Simon, yes,” I answer honestly, unsure how to explain to Ash what Simon and I are other than husband and wife. “We’re only here together for Lou and Coco,” I clarify.
“I know,” Ash responds, not at all bothered.
He does? How?
“Listen, of all people I understand that marriage is complicated. There are lots of reasons to be together, children being the most compelling reason of all,” Ash says like it’s a conclusion he’s come to believe himself.
