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“My truck is broken. The wheel fell off…Mommy can’t fix it.”
I search high and low. My breath quickens. I tell myself not to panic. But if Sean’s on the phone, it won’t look good, Matthew answering.
“Matthew?”
Finally, I spot a little foot sticking out between the loveseat and the front window. I always forget to check there. He looks up at me, wide-eyed, as I take the phone from him. When I check the screen, I exhale. It’s only Melanie. Poor kid. No wonder he looks terrified. She has that effect on me too.
“I’m sorry,” I huff into the speaker, ushering Matthew to come out. Balancing the phone between my shoulder and my ear, I take him by the hand. As I do, I see Sean’s favorite letter opener lying at his feet. This explains his hiding.
My husband has warned him not to touch it. It was a gift from Sean’s mother, one that even I am not allowed to touch. Some things are like that, so I pick it up and wipe it for prints. I realize now this only adds to my to-do list. I’m going to have to delete the footage of the last few hours from the ‘Nanny-Cams’ my husband has set up. Specifically, the footage of Matthew playing with the iPad and letter opener. It’s like deleting scenes, Sean thinks they never happened if they don’t exist and if he didn’t see it live he might as well not have seen it at all. I’m so grateful for golf in this moment. Matthew and I would have been in real trouble had he been watching live as he is prone to do. My husband likes to watch me clean. He wants to ensure that our home is kept pure at all times. The cameras are a way of making sure all is in working order.
Matthew watches me scrub at the metal, effectively erasing his fingerprints as though I’ve committed the greatest of sins. “No touching, remember,” I say and then I head toward the office to put it back in its coveted spot. I hear the phone crackling and I lift it to my ear. “Hello? Vanessa?”
“Oh, sorry…” I huff as I position it between my shoulder and my ear. I’m here.”
“What in the hell is going on over there?”
“Just unloading groceries.” I make sure to breathe in and out rapidly, feigning shortness of breath. “What’s up?”
“Jesus, V. You really shouldn’t let your kid play with your phone. You know the rules…”
“He grabbed it from the counter while I was hauling things in.” It’s interesting how easy the lie rolls off my tongue. “I think he thought it was Sean,” I say. “He really misses him.” I don’t gather that Melanie really cares one way or the other. But you never know.
“I was calling about tonight…”
“What about it?”
There’s a short pause. “It’s Saturday.”
“Yeah…”
“You do your grocery shopping on Tuesday.”
I swallow. “I forgot to add coffee to my list last week. So, I went in for one thing…and well, you know how it goes.”
“I had another proposal,” Melanie says.
“Another one? I thought you’d sworn off dating.”
“I had. And then I met someone. Someone I thought I’d like to get to know.”
“And?”
“Never mind,” she says abruptly. “I didn’t call to discuss my love life.”
Melanie isn’t that great of a liar. She doesn’t know it though. “This is what fifteen…sixteen proposals?”
“I said I wasn’t calling about that.” Her voice is angry. Properly bitter. But she likes knowing I keep count. “You haven’t forgotten about tonight, have you?”
“Of course, I haven’t. Initiation night. Once a quarter. Under the full moon.”
“It’s our way of honoring them, V. Tell me you haven’t forgotten that too.” Her voice is full of condescending rage. She’s so dramatic. She doesn’t have to work hard. “It’s not just a party, you know.”
“I could never,” I assure her. I need to up my game. “Forget, I mean. Who could?”
“You’d be surprised how forgetful the people in this congregation can be…”
“Well, I’m not one of them.”
