It was official. I had entered an alternate universe and Rhett was its gatekeeper. When we arrived at the office only eight minutes late on Friday, he was waiting for us. As soon as I reached my desk, my phone pinged and he told me to come into his office. I was ready for battle, but as soon as I opened the door, words failed to form.
He had magically produced a playground in his office overnight. It looked like he had bought out an entire toy store. There were shelves filled with children’s books. An indoor slide. A train set. A dollhouse. Building blocks. You name it, he had it. Apparently, the gigantic bag I dragged with me wasn’t enough, so he thought he’d help out. Josie was in toy heaven. He left after telling us to use his office for the day because he’d be in meetings anyway. I set myself up on his coffee table, using my laptop. It was the perfect solution because I could contain Josie’s shrieks of glee behind a sturdy oak door.
I didn’t see Rhett before we went home but sent him an email. If he could be nice so could I. We had after all been friends once, maybe we could go back there. All I had to do was squash my pesky feelings and move on. Which I would do this weekend. I had already mobilized Cassie, who would go out with me. Alcohol and my best friend were the perfect recipe to make me feel better.
I arrived home just in time for dinner on Friday. Josie raced up to the house, and I followed at a much slower pace, lugging our stuff to the front door, unwilling to go twice and as a result was laden down with two suitcases, my handbag and a toy bag. Everyone knew you never went back to the car to get the rest, so I sucked it up and ignored the throbbing in my hands.
I wondered where Gunner was. He’d come in handy right about now. Maybe Rhett had finally seen what a waste of his money it was to hire someone to watch me. All I knew was that I hadn’t seen him since I got to Denver.
“Meine Schaetze,” Oma greeted us. “You’re back.” She hugged Josie, who was all energy and wiggled out of her arms to show her the books we’d ‘borrowed’ from Rhett’s stash.
I dropped the bags as soon as I made it inside and could close the door. They would stay there for a while until Oma yelled at me for blocking the entry. But for now she was too busy cooing at Josie. I kissed her cheek as I walked past and threw myself on the couch next to Freddie.
“Hey,” I said and hugged her to my side with one arm around her shoulder. “Why are you watching football?”
“Hey back.” She laid her head on my shoulder, already having overtaken me in height. “No reason. Just thought I’d try something new.”
Right. My little sister was such a liar. I would bet one of my kidneys that it had something to do with Tate.
“Are you going to fall asleep? Because if you are, that’s where you’re staying. I’m not waking you up again. You tried to kill me last time.”
I opened one eye. “I wasn’t trying to kill you. You scared me. It was a reflex.”
“You tackled me to the ground.”
“As I said. Accident. And you’re still here, talking to me, so it was a failed attempt anyway.”
“Whatever,” she mumbled and went back to watching a game she once told me was more boring than watching paint dry.
“Dinner is ready,” Oma announced, and my sleepiness evaporated. It was Friday. We had fish and chips on Friday. Nobody, and I mean not a single soul, could fry a fish the way Oma did. She even made the fries herself.
Freddie jumped off the couch and elbowed me in the stomach. Definitely not an accident. She wanted to get there first. Because the last fried bit would be the best. Oma used about double the amount of batter because she only had one piece of fish left but didn’t want to waste the batter. And we both wanted that piece. I raced after her and managed to grab onto the back of her t-shirt and hold her back. She pulled me with her, her height and strength well above mine. I shouldn’t have stopped exercising. Or stopped growing.
“Stop fighting. You can share it. It’s a big piece,” Oma said and watched us elbow our way into the kitchen.
“Never,” we both exclaimed at the same time.
Josie bumped into my leg, and I let go of Freddie’s clothes. Unfortunately, that was the only opening she needed to dive for the food and grab the fish.
“Mimi, wash,” Josie said and held up her hands that were covered in soap.
“Good job,Spatz, let’s wash it again, okay? Otherwise you’ll be eating fish with a side of soap for dinner.”
We went to the bathroom together, and I helped her rinse off, a job she loved and would do ten times a day if we let her. I lifted her back onto her highchair and gave her a plate Oma had already prepared.
“How was Denver?” Freddie asked around a mouthful of fish once we were all seated on the barstools.
I piled my plate full of food before I answered. “Good. I should take Josie with me all the time.”
Oma shot me a look that told me she was onto me. I could get nothing past her. She could read between the lines like a pro and didn’t let anyone get away with anything. Except for my mom. But that was because she was a train wreck nobody could stop, and Oma had given up long ago.
“It’s true,” I said in a lame attempt to move onto something else. “There were no problems. It was perfect.”
Freddie pointed her fork at me. “Ha, now we all know that you’re lying out of your ass. Gave yourself away. Again.” She swallowed the bite of food she had talked around and mimicked me. “It was perfect.Perfect.” She drew out the last word with a high pitched voice.
“Stop being such a smug little shit,” I told her, which earned me a glare from Oma. I mouthed sorry to her, knowing how much she hated bad language around Josie.
“You’re meeting with the lawyer Monday, no?” Oma asked. The earliest I could get in was Monday morning. I had to find out what was so important to Anna. The will was never officially read since the executor suddenly disappeared, and I failed to find out what happened. All that had mattered to me at the time was making sure Josie was taken care of. And since the executor confirmed that I had full custody, I didn’t care about the rest. Didn’t think past the funeral arrangements. We never had much, so whatever else was in that will didn’t matter to me.
