Page 20 of Worth of Waste

Sometimes it hurt though, just to look at him and draw the similarities that he shared with his father. His light brown hair—almost a blond—came from Dino, as did his eyes, and the shape of his face. He shared his father’s nose, but his mother’s lips, but it was far more than just appearances, too.

Junior had seemed to take some of his father’s personality as well. And he hadn’t even met the man, yet.

For a long while, Karen had brushed off Junior’s lack of interest in other people as just his age—that at only a few months old, he was too young yet to have much interest in others. His pediatrician did not think it was normal at all, the older doctor thought the boy needed to be interacting more with children.

Karen took him to the park.

He spent six hours a day in daycare.

How much more time with other children could he get?

No, the truth was simple.

Junior much preferred sitting off in a high chair or crib by himself with a pile of toys, or better yet, in his mother’s arms listening to her talk. He was so fascinated by her voice, but he didn’t much care for the attention of others.

Just like his dad.

Strange, how that worked.

It took another twenty minutes before the plane had taxied into its gate and the pilot came on the speakers to announce the end of the flight.

“Thank you for flying with us today,” the flight attendant said as Karen passed, trying to shake her hand at the same time.

She gave the woman a smile. It was all she could offer, given she had a still-sleeping Junior in one arm, and his diaper bag she had used as a carry-on in the other arm. The flight attendant laughed and nodded, ushering Karen out of the plane.

It was only when the sudden noise of the airport started to filter down the long hallway of the gate did Junior finally stir on his mother’s shoulder. She felt the baby’s head lift, and his gentle puffs of breaths against her cheek as he peered all around.

Junior didn’t like people.

But he liked to people watch.

“Sleepyhead, sleepyhead,” Karen said in a singsong way, smiling when Junior squealed on her shoulder and started to wiggle. He was probably just realizing he had woken up in an entirely different place than he had fallen asleep in. “It won’t be so cold here, Junior.”

No, the cool May air from Chicago would not bother them at all in California.

Karen had taken two weeks off from work to bring her son to meet his grandparents. It had taken her his whole six months on earth, just to convince herself to come this far. She loved her parents—they loved her.

But from the very moment she had said she was going to Chicago as a young woman, they had disapproved. Not once had they hidden how they felt about it.

Karen had been positive her failures—her failed photography business, financial struggles, and even her pregnancy—would be the proof her parents needed to say the dreaded “I told you so.”

She hadn’t given her parents enough credit.

When she called to tell them about the pregnancy only shortly before the baby boy was born, her mother had demanded Karen allow her to come for the birth. It was too soon—there wasn’t enough notice to get everything into place.

She’d promised to come there with the baby as soon as she could.

Six months later, here she was.

Focus would be mostly on Junior, she knew, and that would help. Karen just hoped her parents didn’t ask too many questions about things she wasn’t ready to tell just yet. Things like Dino, and exactly how Junior had come about.

“Here we go, baby,” Karen murmured to her son as she stepped onto the escalator that would lead her to luggage pick up at the airport’s Arrivals.

All her fears bled away the moment she saw her mother and father waiting at the bottom, just a foot away from the barrier that kept the people waiting from the people arriving. Her parents had been separated for years, rarely coming together for anything, but when they did, it was almost always for her.

It seemed that hadn’t changed.

This wouldn’t be so bad after all.