Shit. She’s going to hit the roof when she finds out about this.
“I have to go to the potty.” Mara hops from one foot to the other in the middle of the living room.
“Uh, you can take care of that by yourself, right?”
“Yeah.” She scampers over to the hallway half bathroom.
“I have to go too.” Caitlin runs after her.
The bathroom door slams shut. I sink down on the couch, feeling like I just ran a marathon. I wonder if parents feel this way constantly.
There’s roughly ten seconds of peace before the bathroom door flies open and Caitlin dashes back in here. She stops short right in front of me, her eyes wide.
“Mara wouldn’t get off the toilet.”
“There are other bathrooms in the house.”
“It’s too late.” Her face crumples. “I peed.”
“That happens,” I assure her.
“NO! I GOT PEE ON YOUR SWEATSHIRT!”
“It’s all right.” I reach out and pat her little shoulder. “It’s fine, Caitlin.”
She hiccups. “It is?”
“Sure. I didn’t like that sweatshirt anyway.”
“Really?”
“Yup. It’s too small for me. I look stupid when I wear it.”
She accepts that news with a nod. “Okay.”
When I hear the key rattling in the front door I’m expecting Danny to walk in.
Instead, Gretchen is the one who enters and stares at the scene in confusion. “What’s going on?”
Caitlin runs to her and can’t wait to share. “Mara threw up because of the bad tea and we saw Trentcassini’s house and I got pee on his sweatshirt but he says it’s okay.”
Gretchen looks at me. “What?”
I get to my feet. “She just about summed everything up. Mara’s in the bathroom.”
“Where’s Danny?”
“He’ll be back in ten minutes,” Caitlin offers helpfully.
Now Gretchen gets suspicious. “He left the girls with you, Trent?”
Caitlin answers first. “We found Trentcassini at his house. I still have pee on me, Aunt Gretch.” She pulls her aunt toward the stairs while Gretchen throws me a baffled look.
“We’ll talk,” I promise her.
“Yes, we will,” she says and takes Caitlin upstairs to help change her into clean clothes.
Seconds later, Mara skips out of the bathroom, having recovered nicely from her mishap with the ‘bad tea’.
“I washed my hands.” She holds them up as evidence.
“Good job,” I tell her. “You feeling better?”
“I want a fruit bar.”
“All right, let’s go find you one.”
She holds my hand on the short walk to the kitchen. But we have no chance to look for Mara’s fruit bar because Danny bursts through the back door looking like a wild man.
“Fuck, thank god,” he breathes when he sees Mara. He drops to his knees in front of her. “Where’s your sister?”
“Upstairs with Aunt Gretch.”
He grabs her up in a hug.
She squeals. “Swing me around, Uncle Danny.”
“Later.” He’s clearly shaken.
“Where the hell were you?” I ask him, my voice tight with anger.
He hangs his head. “I left my wallet at the gym this morning. I just ran down to get it. They were happily playing in their tent so I thought it would be all right.”
“You left them alone. Jesus, Danny.”
He fucked up and he knows it. “I’m sorry.” He hugs Mara again. “Uncle Danny is so sorry.”
“Don’t be sad,” she says sweetly. “I threw up from the bad tea but we went to Trentcassini’s house.”
Danny closes his eyes for a second. “They walked to your house, Trent?”
“They sure did.”
He stands up and he’s clearly distraught but I don’t have much pity for him right now.
A shadow falls in the doorway and Gretchen stands there, green-eyed and livid. She stares at her brother like she’s wondering which of his limbs she ought to remove first. Her long hair is swept up in a clip, exposing the graceful lines of her neck and even with the all the tension in the room I take the opportunity to admire the way her body looks in her tight black jeans.
“Gretch.” Danny’s voice comes out in a croak.
She cuts him off. “Not now.”
“Can I have my fruit bar?” Mara asks.
Gretchen moves smoothly to the pantry, extracts two shrink-wrapped objects and hands one to the little girl. “Come on,” she says. “Caitlin is already watching Frozen in the den.”
The two of them disappear.
Danny is miserable. He looks like he’s aged ten years today.
He swallows. “This is my fault.”
“Yeah,” I agree.
“I should have just taken them with me.”
“Damn right.”
“I’m fucking terrible at this, Trent.”
“Then do a better job, Dan.”
He nods. I should tell him that the girls also got into the whiskey he left lying around but he’s already on the verge of tears so we’ll save that for another time.
Instead, I make a suggestion. “You should go in and watch the movie with them. They’d like that.”
He relaxes. “You think so?”
“Sure. They’ll expect you to sing along.”
“I can do that.” He heads for the door and pauses. “Hey, thanks for being around today. I owe you big time.”
“No problem.”
With Danny gone I don’t see much reason to lurk in the kitchen all by myself. They’ve got some family shit to work on here anyway so it’s better if I go. The living room is empty and I’m about to reach the door when I hear her voice.
“Trent.”
I turn and face Gretchen, looking as seductively lovely as ever in knee high boots and those sexy jeans. She’s removed the clip and her hair hangs loose. The girls are now singing along to their movie in the den and I hear Danny’s deep voice getting all the words wrong. Gretchen joins me near the door and now that she’s close I can see the exhaustion in her face, which pulls on my heartstrings in all kinds of unexpected ways.
“Are they all right?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“What about you?”
She laughs half heartedly and yawns. “I don’t know. I could use a nap.”
I bite off the urge to say something dirty. “Did you get your errands finished?”
“Yes and no. I was car shopping. The Toyota I’m driving is a rental but I need to return it. I drove to three different dealerships.”
“Sounds like you couldn’t find something you like.”
She grimaces. “I couldn’t find anyone willing to give me a car loan. Not the banks, not the credit union, not the dealerships. I’m currently unemployed and I have a mountain of student debt. On paper, I suppose I’m not a good risk.”
I don’t know what to say to that. I’m kicking myself for failing to realize the financial reality of her situation.
“Anyway,” she continues, “I was hoping to find something before Saturday. I need to drive to the prison to visit my father. Danny refuses to see him but I feel like someone ought to go. Jules used to visit every three months. I’m sure he’s grieving.”