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Chapter Twenty-Nine
Leo
I hang back, not wanting to interrupt the moment the two of them are having.
When I heard mention of Olivia’s mother I stood down, kept to the garage but left the door open. Out of curiosity mostly. I don’t seem to have a clue as to how to talk to my daughter about her mom, so maybe if I listen in I can learn something.
My heart feels like there’s a weight on it listening in as Skylar tells Olivia about her own mother. About the way she’d set her hair in rollers and put make-up on before she went out on Friday nights with her father. She makes it sound special and glamorous, and to a kid that’s how your parents seem when they dress up and hit the town.
Skylar goes on to her all about the trip to New York she took as a child. And I know that if I peeked my head in, I’d see my daughter sitting across from her idol transfixed.
I could never could put my finger on it, the reason I liked listening to her talk myself, but now I realize it’s because she seems to inject everything with life.
Sky doesn’t just tell Olivia that she took a carriage ride on a snowy winter night. She makes the image come to life imitating the clop-clop sound the horses hooves made on the ground as they pranced through Central Park, the fancy top hat the driver with the big red nose wore, and the carriage blanket that reeked of wet hay and possibly manure. I almost laugh out loud at Olivia’s reaction when she learns the meaning of that word.
Nearly twenty-two and she’s never been on a plane. Olivia’s still a few months shy of her fifth birthday and she’s jetted back and forth to Florida more times than I can count.
For a hot minute I entertain the idea of taking them both to New York for Olivia’s birthday in September. We’d cut the six-plus hour drive she took years ago to an hour and twenty on a plane. I could get tickets to a Broadway show, take them on a boat tour up the Hudson like my parents did with me, have high tea at The Plaza like the character in Olivia’s Eloise books. Dirty water dogs from those sidewalk carts? Not a chance. I’d take her—I mean them—to upscale spots and places that would blow their minds.
I shake my head, knowing I’m playing a fool’s game. Knowing I’m weak when it comes to Skylar. I just vowed that I was going to shut this ridiculous bullshit down, and here I am daydreaming about being the man who gets to show her things, teach her about all the world has to offer, treat her the way she deserves to be treated.
When I walk into the kitchen, ready to wrap this up out of my own selfish need for distance, I stop in my tracks when I hear Olivia ask Skylar about Mother’s Day.
Skylar sees me and then turns back to Olivia. “I was just telling Libs that this Mother’s Day is special in my family because it’s Sienna’s first one now that she’s a mom.”
Olivia looks to me with a very serious expression. “And she gonna go see her own mom.”
“I’m going to see the stone Garth made for her,” Skylar clarifies. She stands and starts to clear the plates. I don’t even realize she’s talking to me when she asks, “Remember the diner I sent you to when we visited the baby?”
“Yeah,” I recover, still confused.
“The hardware store where Garth works is right across the street.”
“I remember seeing it.”
“Garth’s boss, Mr. Roberts, is a great guy. He worked as a mason before he opened the store and he’s a stone engraver too. He’s been teaching Garth how to do it. Apparently it’s a decent side gig and Garth is always looking for ways to make extra money. So his first job,” she bestows on me the first real smile I’ve seen in days, “that he’s not makingone pennyon, was to make a headstone for my parents.”
“She’s gonna put flowers there.”
“Yep. And I was telling Libs that my mother’s favorite color was purple so I’m thinking of planting a few small hyacinths around the stone.”
“Cause they smell good.”
She looks to Olivia with wide eyes. “They actually smellsosweet you’d think they were candy.”
“Really?” Olivia is mesmerized.
“They really do. I’ll bring one for you to plant in the backyard when you get home from Florida.”
“Ok.”
Now Olivia is back to sporting that same look. The troubled look she has whenever Carrie or the mention of mothers in general come up.
Skylar reaches down and pulls Olivia into a hug, whispering in her ear that she’ll miss her but she’ll see her soon.
“Remember what you have to do?” Skylar asks as she gathers her things getting ready to leave.
Olivia nods dutifully. “Tell Mickey and Minnie Skylar says hello.”
