Mary Ellen Courtney - Hannah Spring 02 - Spring Moon (38 page)

“It’s about time, Mark. I didn’t even know you had teeth. Did Celeste send you a gift?”

“Yes.”

“The ride was more than any of us were prepared to do.”

“She’s lonesome,” he said.

“She’ll meet people running her bar,” I said. “Have you been married?”

“Before,” he said.

Mr. Chatty and Celeste had developed an email friendship. Her vacuous but high word count must have soothed his terse soul.

Jon came home and took Mark out for a lesson. Mom called from Nordstrom’s wanting sizes for the kids.

“They don’t need anything, Mom.”

“I thought I’d send something for Chance with Margaret’s birthday present,” she said.

Damn it! Meggie’s birthday was coming and I’d pulled a Jackie and completely forgotten. Mom could sense it.

“Have you planned her party?” she asked.

“Not yet, we’re going to keep it simple with all that’s happened. Maybe a little picnic.”

“Would you like me to get you something?” she asked. “You love their tee shirt bras.”

“I’ll shop when I’m there. Underwear is the least of my problems.”

“Nice underwear always makes me feel better about things,” she said.

“Mom. Eric told me you still see the woman who told you about Daddy, and that she puts you down. You don’t have to do that anymore.”

“She’s an old friend, Hannah. She stuck by me all those years.”

“She’s not a friend if you end up feeling bad every time you see her. You need to let the memory fade. Take that somewhere safe to heal.”

“You don’t know anything about it.”

“I know Karin tells me the truth when I need it, but she never puts me down, or dredges up my regrets. She still struggles thinking about Oscar’s affair, but I don’t remind her of it.”

“I don’t have a friend like Karin.”

“I’m being your Karin. Let her go.”

“Oh well, Hannah, I’m in Nordstrom’s.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up now. I just think you buy underwear instead of dumping that bitch. Why don’t you dump her and buy me some instead.”

“I’m going to buy you some crack thongs,” she said.

“They’re butt crack thongs. Get leopard print.”

“Leopard print?” she asked.

“Yeah. And basic black.”

She was laughing when she hung up.

Jon didn’t hear me come down the hall; he was too focused on trying to figure out what it would feel like to be missing his ring finger. He picked up his book with his right hand and transferred it to his left hand with the finger bent back like it was gone. He was having trouble holding the book.

“It’s easier when the finger is actually gone,” I said.

He looked embarrassed.

“You’d get the hang of it,” I said. “I have.”

“I’m sorry, H.”

“Let’s not say that anymore. It’s behind us. I don’t want it to define me. Homeland Security finally delivered the ashes today. Your little friend at the vet put
human finger
on the shipping declaration. They wanted proof it was mine. One of them looked like he’d puke.”

He was smiling when I climbed in his lap.

“I want you to promise we’ll keep it out in the open,” I said. “If it starts to gross you out, we need to talk about it. I don’t want you to spend your life apologizing. If you don’t love me, you don’t love me. It’s not your fault. I’m not sure Eric could adjust.”

“That’s never going to happen,” he said.

“Things could change. What wasn’t much, becomes an exposed nerve. I think Mark’s wife left him after he was injured. Just promise me.”

“Okay,” he said.

“Okay you promise?”

“I promise.”

“I may be leaving for California in a few days,” I said. “I’ll be gone a week. I’m going to run up and see Karin’s new jugs. Marty called again about the picture. I told him I couldn’t do this one. He thinks I’ll run out of offers soon.”                       

“What do you think, H? You want to take it?”

“It sounds fun, but I think that part of my life is over. I’m sure I’ll miss it for a while, but I’d have to live on the Big Island for a year. That sounds like the dark side of the moon right now. I don’t want to leave you. I knew that in India, even before the babies came along. I knew I wanted to live the days with you. Make our bed every morning. Not always be catching up.”

“I’m going to get us a cottage tomorrow,” he said. “We can do the paddle out.”

Jon came home the next day with two hamster-sized leis to put on the water with my smidgen of ashes. He really cracked me up.

We took our boards up to Salt Pond and paddled out. It turned into an oddly charged ceremony. I joked that I hoped I was releasing my impatient finger. Jon wished it could be his stubborn asshole. 

We had dinner delivered to our cottage and slow danced while the sun set.

“I’m never going to another wedding without you,” I said. “I was so lonesome watching everyone dance at Samantha’s wedding.”

“You won’t go without me again.”

“Celeste told Mark she’s lonesome,” I said.

“Did she tell him she’s seeing one of his friends? Chana says he’s some Delta Force guy.”

“I hope it works for her,” I said. “Have the kids figured out where they want to get married?”

“On the beach somewhere,” he said.

“She plans to wear my dress.”

“A turquoise sari? Isn’t it supposed to be white?”
           

“Oh brother.”

We kept dancing.

“They’re going to walk to the altar together, like we did,” I said. “Will you be okay not giving her away?”

“She’s not mine to give away.”

“Do you think she’s doing it so I won’t be alone with Celeste?”

“She’s doing it to pad the space between Celeste’s family and Glen with his new family.”

“She’s inviting them?”

“Yep. She says everybody can just grow up.”

“What time of day?” I asked.

“Sunrise.”

“That’s good. Everyone will be sober,” I said.

“Unless they drink all night. Celeste’s brothers can pull that off,” he said. “Glen is no match for the Delta Force, but I guess his wife is some kind of Korean hapkido mama.”

“Is the Delta Force guy going to kick your ass too?”

“I’m pretty sure Glen’s first up. I’m counting on his wife.”

“Maybe I should learn hapkido,” I said. “I bet I could do it with nine fingers.”

I put my head back on his shoulder.

“They’re going to Tavarua on their honeymoon,” I said. “We never went on a honeymoon, we should go to Alaska.”

“We’ll go once Chance is walking. He’s a lot to lug around for the moms.”

“Mom shipped Meggie a box of loot to make up for my bad parenting,” I said. “You know what she did for her housekeeper?”

“Get her a make over?”

“Good guess,” I said. “Her housekeeper’s son lost a foot. He and his brother have been taking care of horses in Rancho Santa Fe for years, they cross the border all the time. His foot got hung up in the border fence and he got busted. By the time he’d been shipped back to Mexico, his foot was so bad they just cut it off. Can you imagine getting your foot cut off in Tijuana?”

“Did he get an infection?”

“No,” I said. “But he had to carve his own replacement foot out of wood. He didn’t paint it to match his other foot; he painted it like a crucifix. He said it was a more beautiful foot. He used old parts from a halter to attach it. I think that’s incredible. When Mom heard about it she freaked.”

“Did he paint the iron spike, or just the bleeding hole?”

“Probably the spike, he was working from a cross. His mother was upset that he’d never find a wife with his crucified foot. I didn’t tell Mom about people who like missing parts.”

“A spring made out of horseshoes would have been better,” he said. “He could outrun Border Patrol.”

“I am never going to tell anyone you said that.”

“He sounds like a resourceful guy. I should hire him.”

“We’re not getting horses. Anyway, she took up a collection from all the woman’s clients and bought him a new foot. She said a Jesus foot was in poor taste.”

“Maybe he’ll wear it on his wedding night.”

We danced for a minute.

“I hope so. He thought it was beautiful,” I said. “Sometimes I just don’t know about Mom.”

He kissed my ear.

“Some of her is hard to know,” he said.

I could feel him start to shake against me. He buried his face in my neck to dance. And laugh.

We woke up to breakfast on the porch. He took my hand and slid a simple gold band that matched his, onto my right hand ring finger. He was looking at me the same way he did the day we got married.

“It’s okay if you don’t want it,” he said. “I just thought you could get it sized while you’re over there, depending on which finger you use.”

I took it off and held it out in the morning sun so I could read the inscription: Spring-Moon. With our wedding date. I put it back on the same finger.

“I love it, Jon. That’s my Apollo finger. It means happiness and contentment. But other men won’t know I’m taken.”

“You will.”

“I won’t take it off again.”

He passed me a plate of Oreos. He really hadn’t known how it was going to go. I popped one whole in my mouth and poured coffee.           

“We need to plan Meggie’s party,” I said. “It’s the day after I get home.”

“We’ll do it when you get back. She doesn’t know about dates yet,” he said. “We’ll throw her a party, tell her she’s five, and teach Chance to walk.”

He went to work and I went home to pack for my trip to the mainland.

Everyone saw me off at the airport. Chance was old enough to look a little unsure about this latest leaving, especially with Meggie crying. I told her I’d be right back. I told them I loved them three times, just in case.

I got into San Diego, rented a car, and headed to La Jolla. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d traveled alone. I’d put in eleven hours and my clothes were still clean. I pulled down to the stoplight at La Jolla Shores and Jon called. I pulled over.

“You rushing to make your appointment?” he asked.

“No. Is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. You remember how pumped you got when you read
Digging For Dinosaurs
? The plan to take the kids to the national park?”

“Yeah. I can’t wait. Why?”

“Marty called again about the dino movie, the location has changed to Alaska.”

“What about The Suits buying white man plantations in paradise?”

“Fukushima.”

“Oh brother. Alaska’s getting hit. They need to shoot on Mars.”

“Yeah, but nobody is talking about glowing sushi in Alaska yet.”

“No, they’ve got acid crabs. This poor planet.”

“He wants us to go to Alaska. You make dinosaur world while I feed everyone.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“As serious as drug resistant TB,” he said.

“Oh brother. Who will run the restaurants?”

“Phil and Jugs want in, partners. They’ve been putting a proposal together for months. I knew it was coming. It’ll be good. Better partners than competitors with those two.”

“Can we afford it?” I asked.

“Yep. We’re going to be fine, better than fine. I’m finally going to get my hands free for a while.”

“Starting a crafts service business isn’t getting your hands free,” I said.

“It’s a way we can travel together while we’re still young. It’ll be good for the kids. Mark says a little stress when they’re young makes dogs smarter.”

“Our kids aren’t German shepherds,” I said.

“They’re young animals,” he said.

“Are we talking North Pole?”

“No. We’ll be based in Juneau. I did some research. We can paddle. Eat salmon. The kids can learn to snowboard while they’re still built close to the ground.”

“Imagine Meggie on a snowboard,” I said. “Is there a hospital?”

“Yep. I’ll research helmets.”

“I don’t know anything about dinosaurs in Alaska. I better start research yesterday.”

“They have a dinosaur builder for you to meet. They reworked the script, be a lot of computer generated work.”

“Wow. I’ve always wanted to work on this kind of project. Adam will enjoy the tech end.”

“Marty needs a decision. I talked to Mike. His sales rep is hooking me up with the food people. Mike wants us to stop in Portland on the way up, he says the ferry from Washington is an inside passage trip minus the cruise ship bullshit. Three days on the water.”

“When is all this supposed to happen?” I asked.

“Two months at the outside. Gives us just enough time to pack up and rent the house.”            

“You sure about this?”

“I’m sure,” he said. “We’ll need to work in L.A. before we head up. Marty said the production office will find us a place down by Karin and Oscar. You should work up a punch list.”

“I wonder if they want to go,” I said. “Maybe they can write in a Black scientist being chased by dinos.”

“There were no men in the dino age,” he said.

“They won’t make a movie without stars. Unless it changed, it’s a
Jurassic Park
storyline.”

“It changed. Marty said it morphed into
Jurassic Park
with dino scientists gone rogue making super big tit chicks. He says you have a jump on the jugs. I told him to stick to tits.”

“Oh god, Jon. I love you. Yeah. I’ve got some jump on jugs. Should I get some new ones while I’m here?”

“I like the ones you have. They move.”

“I’m not going to ask. Maybe I can build some giant geckos.”

“We’re going to have a good time, H. We’ll take the kids to the Tar Pits. Richard can introduce them to dinos.”

“I’m going to hire Richard as my consultant.”

“Do you think you’ll paint up there?” he asked. “I don’t want you to give up that dream.”

“To be honest, I think I’m still getting ready to paint. I don’t get a surge of energy from the idea like I do from making dinosaurs with big tits.”

“I don’t think it’s the dinosaurs with the big tits,” he said.

“Give them time. With that concept, we’ll have dinos in push-ups and thongs.”

“You could paint on your day off.”