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7
Tessa
The yellow strip of paper tearing beneath her fingers gave renewed hope for the day. She tossed it to the side, not bothering to see who caught it, and focused on the remaining blue circle. One more day. After tomorrow she’d decide what to do and hopefully, she wouldn’t have to make that decision alone. But for today, she was going to believe everything would be okay.
“I don’t have to go to school tomorrow, right?” Mason asked as she climbed down from the chair and carried it back to the kitchen table. Her heart skipped a beat. Would they still have school with no power? “You said I could come with you to pick up Dad.”
“Yep. No school tomorrow.” And maybe not for a long time. The hope of a good day was starting to slip, but she forced herself to smile.
“Can we play Barbies?” Emily dumped out the bucket of half clothed plastic dolls onto the rug.
“Not right now.” Tessa grabbed the roll of paper towels off the counter. “You guys know what today is. Go start cleaning your rooms.”
Sunlight filled the garage as she pushed open the metal door. The sky was brilliant blue and cloudless, another perfect Southern California spring day. It made the events of last night seem like a bad dream. But she scanned the road anyway and put the loaded pistol on the shelf within easy reach just in case. Her gaze drifted to the hill where she dragged the tweaker’s body last night, a trail of dark red sat drying in the sun, and the inner turmoil threatened to consume her. She inhaled deeply, trying to focus on the task at hand instead. There’d be time to speak with Arthur later. Maybe she’d take the kids over for dinner after all, but first she had to get the house ready for tomorrow.
She went to the curb to pull the trash and recycling bins back to the house. Both of them were still full. The truck never came to pick them up yesterday. They’ll probably be here today. She left them where they were and tried to shove the full garbage bag from the house on top of last week’s waste. The cardboard boxes could be burned later.
In the garage, she dug through the workbench drawers looking for the cordless handheld shop vacuum to try and get Moose’s hair off the couch. Landon had too many tools and he didn’t use half of them, but this one could come in handy now. And, of course, the battery is dead. She put it back and kicked the drawer closed. At least the broom still worked.
She pulled out the camping bin they hadn’t used in over a year, hoping to find extra batteries for the flashlights. The sun tan lotion bottle that was in there had exploded coating everything in a pasty white grime mixed with dirt. She also couldn’t find any batteries, but at least she had a rag nearby to give the outdoor cooking utensils a quick wipe down.
Today is a good day. She tried to shove the bin back into place on the shelf above her head, but something must have shifted when she pulled it out. She dropped the bin and climbed the shelves to see what was going wrong now. There was a stack of boxes lining the back of the shelf behind where the bin usually sat and one had tipped over. She tugged it forward, balancing with her toes on the ledge below and clinging to the rack with one arm. It was too heavy to lift with one hand but she managed to push it upright. Meal, Ready to Eat was printed on the side.
Tessa left it there, smiling as she jumped to the ground. She didn’t know that Landon had stored cases of MREs and couldn’t wait to kiss him for being the pack rat that he was. Today is a very good day.
“It’s clean, Mom.” Mason fell face first onto her bed.
“Are you sure about that?” Tessa leaned against the broom handle, feeling ridiculous for sweeping the carpet but there was dog hair everywhere and she had to at least try to do something about it.
“Let me check.” He groaned as he rolled off the bed and marched with his shoulders hunched right back to his room. Tessa shook her head. Seven going on seventeen. He needed more time with his dad.
Emily’s room was worse than when she’d started. They all pitched in to get it done. The morning had a slight breeze and she’d opened all the windows, but by late afternoon she walked around closing and locking all of them as the sun decided to change the temperature of the earth.
“Can we go play outside?” Mason helped put away the last of the cleaning supplies.
“For a little bit, but don’t get too dirty,” Tessa said. “We’re going out for dinner.” Mason cheered, pumping his fist in the air as he raced outside to tell Emily the good news.
The cherry pie in its cardboard box was still cold even as it sat defrosting in the deep freezer. Tessa pulled it out and moved the last of the yogurt and cheese from the fridge to put in its empty space. The fridge was useless now after three days with no power. Everything she hadn’t yet used had been transferred to the deep freezer. And we’re almost out of milk. At least Emily wasn’t drinking three cups of it a day anymore and needing one to fall asleep. I wonder if anyone is selling a cow.
“Come on. Let’s go.” Mason checked the time on Tessa’s phone that she’d let charge in the truck while they were cleaning. The whole device wasn’t useful for anything other than a clock at the moment and time was starting to not matter much anymore.
“Wait for me.” Tessa grabbed her keys and made sure to lock the door this time. Moose stared at her expectantly, his tail wagging from side to side.
“Sorry, bud. You stay here and watch the house for me.”
Sally wore a blue dress patterned with sunflowers that brought out the color of her eyes and she’d teased her hair just enough to frame her delicate face. She even had pink lipstick on. Tessa glanced down at her jeans and then looked to her dirty children as they raced inside the house, praying they didn’t smell too bad. Real baths for everyone tomorrow.
“Thank you for inviting us.” The waterlogged cardboard crushed under her fingers as she gripped the pie box in her hands.
“I’m glad you came. Us military wives need to stick together.” A smile lit up Sally’s face and she wrapped one arm around Tessa’s waist while keeping her weight on the cane. Despite the fragility of the hug, it was full of warmth. She hadn’t been hugged by anyone other than her kids in six months. It felt nice.
Steam filled the kitchen making the air hot and humid. Tessa walked to the counter to drop off the pie and glanced into the oversized pot on the stove. Water boiled gently against glass mason jars and lids.
“Are you canning something?”
“The real question is what am I not canning.” Sally laughed. The melodic sound filled Tessa with unexpected peace. “Let me turn this off for now and we’ll get the table set. Kids, can you come get these plates?”
Mason and Emily skipped into the kitchen and waited for instructions. It always amazed Tessa that no matter how they behaved at home, with guests they were nothing but polite. She smiled then, a little proud that maybe some of what she was teaching had stuck.
