“Hmph, that sounds fishy. Why do they need to have a Halloween party anyway? Isn’t it enough to go trick-or-treating? That was good enough for you and your brother.”
“He’s fifteen so he’s too old to go trick-or-treating and he’s too young to go to the bar.”
“Oh, I guess that makes sense,” she said. “Maybe I should let them have a party at my house? No drinking of course, but I can make some snacks and they can play some spooky games. Oh! I’ll peel a bowl of grapes and say they’re eyeballs.”
Jessica’s heart broke a little at her mom’s desire to connect with a kid who was trying to use her. “As nice as that is of you, I don’t think he’ll go for it, Mom. He and his friends want to pretend they’re adults.”
“I suppose so. Silly of me,” she said with a little laugh. “I always want him to be a little boy but he’s not anymore.”
“No, he’s not.”
“Shame that kids have to grow up. They’re so much easier when they’re little.”
“Preach, sister.”
“What’s that?”
“I just meant I agree with you. Little kids, little problems,” Jess said, realizing she needed to get back to the steam bowl because already it was throwing off a lot less steam than a few minutes ago. Somehow she couldn’t bring herself to squat while she was talking to her mother though, because she knew her mom would somehow figure out she was up to something. She didn’t knowhowher mom would know—maybe it would be some slightly off quality in her voice while she strained to hold the squat, but her mom would just know.
“Oh, I’ve got it! I’ll tell him that you texted me first and told me to say no. That way he doesn’t have to know we spoke.”
Jess closed her eyes, dreading the fight that would be coming her way, but knowing that the moment she said, ‘Let’s have a baby,’ to Mike, she was signing up for this shit. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Do that.”
“Okay, that’s what I’ll do. Good,” she said, sounding much lighter than she did moments before. “How are you doing?”
“About the same.”
“You know, I’ve been thinking about it, and maybe it’s a hormonal issue.”
Jess thought about it for a second before answering. “Maybe, yeah. I’m a little young to be going through menopause.”
“True, but the years leading up to it can be a real bear. They don’t have to be though. Not with so many options out there now. Nancy’s daughter went to her doctor and she put her on some sort of gel that she uses every night. Apparently it’s made a huge difference. She’s got a lot more energy and she doesn’t want to murder anyone the week before her period anymore.”
Chuckling, Jess said, “She doesn’t? That sounds like heaven. Maybe I’ll book an appointment with Dr. Kildorf and see what he says.”
“Can’t hurt to check, right?”
“True. Who knows? Maybe it’ll be the quick fix I’m praying for.”
“Let’s hope so. Are you and Mike all right?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Good. The last thing you need is marriage trouble.” Her mom spoke from experience about the marriage trouble. Jessica’s father had gone through a pretty significant midlife crisis when Jess was twelve, including the sports car and trading her mom (and Jess) in for a thirty-year-old flight attendant. “Teenagers are hard enough.”
“So true. If they came into the world at this age, humans would have died out thousands of years ago.”
“I saw this terrible joke on the internet the other day and it made me think of you. It was a picture of a woman standing next to her teen daughter and it said, ‘Is one-hundred and eighty months too far past the deadline for a late-term abortion?’”
Jess burst out laughing, then remembered she needed to be quiet because if someone realized she’d been in here this whole time, they’d start asking questions she didn’t want to answer. “That’s awful.”
“I know,” her mom said in a conspiratorial tone. “Soawful. We don’t mean it, of course, but it’s still funny.”
A loud banging on the door startled Jess. She quickly wrapped the towel around her waist, even though the door was locked.
“MOM! Winnie took the remote from me and changed the channel and I’m not done with my show!” Noah shouted.
“It’s after his bedtime so I get the TV!” Winnie yelled.
