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“Ma, all the sisters-in-law say they wish you would decorate for them. Why do you think Ava would be any different?”
“Well, for one thing, I want you to do it.”
“Why?” He was completely baffled by this. “You always do everything for me. Last week you cut the crust off a bologna sandwich you made for me.”
Roberta bit her lip to keep from laughing. He had a point. “Ask her, then. But I’m not coming uninvited. You took responsibility for baby Violet; now I feel like you need to do Christmas for her and for Ava, especially if she’s hurting.”
“Okay, I’ll see if I can find out how she’s feeling now that we’ve moved in. She seems happier to me.”
Kissing his cheek, Roberta left for the door. “You can leave everything in the cooler if you want. There’s ice in there that should last a week.”
He watched her go to the car, looking glamorous for a Monday morning. Wherever Roberta went, chaos was sure to follow. Leaving Christmas on the back burner had seemed like a perfect solution to him, but now his mother had stirred the pot.
“Did I hear Roberta?”
Coming out of the back of the house, Ava looked confused and slightly tousled.
“She brought food from last night. We won’t have to cook for a while. Come here.” He wrapped his arms around her, closing his eyes.
“I love your dad’s cooking. Thank her for me.”
“Do you want coffee?”
“I do, but I’ll make it. I’m sorry you came home to a sleeping household. She has her days and nights mixed up again.”
“Ugh, I’m sorry,” he said, letting her go. “I’ll do the night shift tonight.”
“Don’t worry about it. How was it last night?”
“Nothing, not even a car wreck.”
“Leon, before I forget, I got a call from Chelsea last night. She’s Alex’s ex.”
“Wow, that must have been weird.”
“It was totally weird. On Friday she found out she has to have surgery, and it’s scheduled for tomorrow. She has no one to take care of the girls, so she asked me to do it.”
“She’s got a lot of balls asking you.”
“That’s exactly what I said to her, and she broke down crying. She apologized, but she’s desperate.”
“Would you bring them here?” Leon asked, a little anxiety creeping in. How would they be with the baby?
“No, because they have school and she lives in Indio.”
Indio was in the desert near Palm Springs, about a two-hour drive from her house.
“Ugh, that’s a haul.”
“Since you’re off work for the next four days, would you mind if I went up there to stay? I’d have to leave tonight. She said she should be home by Thursday, so I’ll be back in time for you to leave for work on Friday.”
“Of course I don’t mind, but it’s not that at all. It’s an imposition. What will you do all day up there?”
“After they leave in the morning, I could come back home until the afternoon. So we’d be together for the day.”
“That’s too much driving,” he said, trying to be rational. “I don’t want you risking your life on Southern California highways because your boyfriend is acting like an asshole and wants you home.”
Laughing out loud, Ava came to Leon to hug. “You’re a good guy. Anyway, I want to do it. I miss the girls, and this might be my foot in the door. I might tell her that I want a relationship with them in return.”
