Sweet Submission: Jenny and Max Complete Series Plus Bonus Short Story (2 page)

“But he does,” Lily said. She pointed at his face. “Look.”

“A monster?” Max said, suddenly.

My entire body tensed. Max had been so curt with me, what was he going to say to my daughter? Max leaned forward towards Lily. I had the urge to scoop her up and run away from him.

“On my planet, we think you all look like the monsters,” he said.

Lily took a sharp breath in, her eyes lighting up. “You’re an alien. Mommy, he’s an alien.”

I shook my head, and started to tell her that no, he was just a normal man.

“That’s right,” Max said, seriously. “I’m here looking for a girl. Her name is Lily. Do you know her?”

Lily nodded enthusiastically and jumped up and down. “That’s me. My name’s Lily.”

“No, are you sure?” Max said.

“Yes, yes. Tell him, Mommy.”

“That’s right,” I said, reluctantly playing along. “Her name’s Lily.”

“In that case, I’m supposed to give you something very special,” Max said. “Come here. Come closer.”

Lily stepped closer to him. My body tensed, readying itself to jump in and protect her. Max reached behind her ear and pulled out a shiny quarter. She giggled with glee.

“That’s alien monster space money,” Max said. “Be very careful with it.”

Lily clutched it protectively in her hands, then ran over to me.

“Look, look. Alien monster space money.” Lily crooked her finger at me, signaling me to come closer. “I know it’s just a regular quarter,” she whispered.

“Very smart,” I said, patting her head. “Come into the kitchen. I’ll find you some breakfast.”

Lily ran into the kitchen. I turned to Max.

“Thank you for being kind to her,” I said.

He looked at me with a hardened expression. “Find somewhere else to go. Today.”

Max brushed past me and walked out of the door without another word.

*

Halfway through Sesame Street, I saw a woman through the front window rushing up to the guesthouse. It was Susan.

“Oh my God, Jenny,” Susan said, hugging me. “You’re here and you’re safe. We were at the opera last night. I only got your texts this morning.”

“I hope you don’t mind us coming here,” I said.

“No, of course not. Is that my Lily?”

“Aunt Susan,” Lily said, running up and hugging her knees.

“You remember me?” Susan crouched down to Lily’s level.

“I remember you,” Lily said. “Why haven’t you come to see us?”

Susan looked up at me, her eyes soft. “You finally did it?” she said, gently.

I nodded, and a tear fell from my eye. Susan stood and hugged me.

“I’m so proud of you,” she said.

“You’re not angry with me?” I asked. “It’s been so long.”

Susan looked into my eyes. “I know it was him. You’re safe now. Both of you.”

“Except your tenant expects us to move out today,” I said.

Susan sighed. “So you’ve met Max?”

We went outside so Lily could play while Susan and I talked. It was beautiful, sunny day. The landscape around the guesthouse was lush and beautiful. The night before seemed like a lifetime away.

“Max can come off as rude at first,” Susan said. “But there’s more to him than that. You have to get to know him.”

I laughed. “Seeing him soaked from the rain and covered with blood was a jarring first impression.”

“I bet it was,” Susan said. “He’s an MMA fighter. Did he tell you that?” I shook my head. “I think he’s pretty good,” Susan continued. “Or at least, he was.” Her face fell as she gazed off into the distance.

“Why’s he staying in your guesthouse?” I asked.

Susan lowered her voice. “Six months ago, his house burned down. The firefighters couldn’t get inside fast enough. Max and his wife were found unconscious in their bed. They’d inhaled too much smoke. They were rushed to the hospital. Max survived. His wife didn’t.”

I looked to Lily. She was digging in the dirt, looking for worms. “That’s so sad,” I said.

“That’s not the worse part,” Susan said. “His wife was six months pregnant.”

I swallowed hard, wondering how anyone could withstand such a tragedy. Max had every right to be rude.

“After the funeral, Max couldn’t quite get it back together. He went from fighting in televised matches to underground fighting rings. Phil tells him all the time that it’s dangerous, but Max doesn’t listen. He doesn’t listen to anyone. Anyway, we’re letting him rent our guesthouse until he gets back on his feet. Only I don’t think he has the motivation.”

Then what I am going to do?
I thought.

“He wants us to leave today,” I said. “Susan, I hate to be a burden, but I have nowhere else to go.”

“Don’t worry, Jenny. I’ll do everything I can to help you,” Susan said.

I shook my head. “I don’t want any money.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t have any to give you,” Susan said, sighing. “Phil tied up our funds in a new hog farm. It hasn’t started turning a profit yet. Actually, it’s losing money.”

I squinted through the sunlight, watching Lily skip along the stepping stone path. Where was my little girl going to sleep tonight?

“All I can offer you is the guesthouse,” Susan said.

“But there’s only one bedroom. And you already have a tenant.”

“I can have Phil talk to Max, see if we can’t work something out,” Susan said.

“I don’t like the idea of living with a strange man,” I said.

Susan looked at me, shrugging and shaking her head, as if to say, “You don’t have another option.”

My attention turned to Lily, who was crouching down, examining something in the dirt. She picked it up and ran towards me.

“Look, Mommy, look,” she said.

She held a bright green lizard in her hand. The creature was completely still, probably an attempt to play dead.

“Wow, sweetie,” I said.

Lily gave me a satisfied smile, then started to put the lizard in her pocket.

“No, honey, put him back in the grass,” I said. “Let him be free.”

Lily pranced off, then carefully let the lizard loose in the grass. “Be free!” she squealed.

I’d known it wouldn’t be easy leaving Todd and completely uprooting our life. But I had the tools to survive, to take care of my daughter. All I had to do was get my nursing license renewed, find a job, then we could get a place of our own.

An old truck pulled up in front of the guesthouse. Max climbed out of the driver’s seat. He wore a T-shirt with the sleeves ripped off, revealing his large biceps. He was covered in sweat, his skin tinged red, like he’d just been working out. After giving us a look, he went inside.

This is only temporary,
I thought, trying to reassure myself.

Lily was getting tired, so I took her inside to get some lunch. I heard the shower running as I made the macaroni and cheese. Lily ate at the kitchen table in her booster seat, while a cartoon played on the television.

My phone was buried under the pillows on the couch. I hadn’t looked at it since last night, and I didn’t want to. Todd had surely tried to get in touch with me when he realized we were gone, and weren’t coming back. I didn’t want to hear what he had to say, so I left my phone where it was, with the ringer turned off.

Max emerged from the bathroom with a towel tied around his waist. I tried not to stare, but I couldn’t help it. His body was perfect, cut and toned. Every muscle in his thighs could be seen. Todd and I rarely made love, so to see a man like this stirred something deep inside of me, no matter how hard I fought it. Max scanned the room, looking to Lily, then to me.

“You seem to be settling in,” he said with a hint of sarcasm.

“Look, Max,” I said, keeping my voice quiet. “There’s no way we can find another place on such short notice.” I took a deep breath, hoping to level with him. I said all of the following in one, hurried breath. “I just left my husband. All our credit cards are in his name. He hasn’t let me work since before Lily was born, so I have no income of my own. Please, we have nothing.”

Max raised his hand in the air. “I said I didn’t want to hear it.”

“Mr. Max,” Lily squealed. Her lips and chin were covered in orange cheese. “I still have my monster alien space money.” She dug into her pocket and retrieved the quarter. A few pebbles and a handful of dirt fell out with it.

“Excellent job, Lily,” Max said. “You must really be special. Most kids would’ve spent it on cracker jacks by now.”

Lily scrunched her little nose. “What’s a cracker jack?”

“You don’t know what a cracker jack is?” Max asked.

“We don’t eat many sweets or processed foods,” I said.

“Really? Well, the color of that cheese looks like something from my planet,” Max said.

“Like I said, we don’t have much choice,” I said.

“Mr. Max, where are your clothes?” Lily asked.

“I’m going to get them right now,” Max said. “Excuse me, ladies.”

While Max changed in the bedroom, I cleaned up after our lunch, and wiped off Lily’s face and hands. I set Lily up with a coloring book and some crayons. She sat on the living room floor, her legs curled under her, coloring happily. How long would that innocence last, I wondered, my heart constricting? How long before she figures out what’s really going on here?

Max flung the bedroom door open. He was wearing jeans and a black T-shirt, and was in a much different mood. He held his phone in his hand.

“Phil just texted me,” he said. “He wants to talk. I hope this isn’t about you.”

“Look, Mr. Max,” Lily said, holding up a picture of Winnie the Pooh scribbled in crayon.

Max ignored her, then marched out of the door. I watched from the window as he walked up the path to the farmhouse. Lily shrugged, then went back to coloring. I stared out of the window, seething with anger. I couldn’t stay somewhere where we were so unwelcome. It wasn’t a good environment for children. This was what I was trying to get Lily away from, selfish men and their fluctuating moods. Was this really better than what we’d left?

I tried not to let the thought in, but it wriggled its way inside of my brain. What if we went back? Not right away, but after a couple of days. Maybe Todd would learn a lesson. He’d realize that if he didn’t change his behavior, he could lose us forever. I looked to the pillows stacked on the couch, and slowly walked over toward it. I reached underneath the pillows and retrieved my phone. There was no telling how many texts I had from Todd. Taking a deep breath, I looked at the screen.

There was nothing. No texts, no calls, nothing.

That asshole,
I thought. Bile coursed through my body. He didn’t miss us. He was probably glad we were gone. Now, he didn’t have to sneak around with Ciara. He could flaunt his affair until he got tired of her too.

There was no going back, I realized, bitterly.

I got down on the floor to play with Lily, trying my best to hide my emotions from her. She jumped on my back and pretended I was a horse. I carried her around the guesthouse, walking on all fours.

Max returned to the guesthouse less than an hour later. I watched him silently as he sat in a recliner, and changed the channel from a children’s network to boxing. Lily stood in front of the TV, mesmerized.

“That’s a little violent, don’t you think?” I said, carefully.

Max turned to me, his eyes narrowed. “If you’re going to stay here, you can’t tell me what I can and can’t watch.”

Relief flooded through me, but it was also tinged with dread. This was the best of two miserable choices.

“I pay the rent,” Max said. “You cook, you clean, and you stay out of my way.”

“Okay,” I said, nodding. “Thank you.”

Max turned back to the television. “The bathroom needs cleaning,” he said.

As I looked around for cleaning supplies, the boxing match was growing more violent. One boxer had the other pinned against the rope and was pummeling him repeatedly. I bit my tongue, resolving not to say anything. To my surprise, Max picked up the remote and turned it back to the children’s channel. The corners of my lips twitched with a smile as I went into the bathroom to clean it.

*

Over the next few weeks, we fell into a routine, as strange as it was. Max stayed away most of the day. From what I could tell, he trained in the mornings until early afternoon, and most nights, he would fight. I spent my days doing laundry for all of us, cleaning, and cooking. Max wasn’t present for most of our meals. I would leave leftovers in the fridge, and they’d eventually get eaten.

The days turned in on each other, cycling faster and faster. Wake up. Clean. Laundry. Cook. Sleep. Repeat. This was the treadmill I was on. It was a degrading feeling, washing the clothes of a man I barely knew and hardly saw, all so my daughter and I would have a place to stay. Was I destined to serve controlling men for the rest of my life? I was smart and well educated. How had things come to this?

My only hope was to get my nursing license renewed, though that seemed like an uphill battle. Since I’d let mine lapse, I’d need to take thirty hours of continuing education before I could apply for renewal. I’d need a job to pay for school, but with no childcare for Lily and my responsibilities at the guesthouse, I didn’t know when I’d find the time.