43.
~ Dylan was disgusted by the mess left behind. With every guest flushed out of the motel, with the police no longer using the large house, he could finally see what was left of his mother's business.
All the work she'd put into making the motel nice and cozy was gone. The mid century modern patio chairs were gone. The buttercup yellow paint she'd used to brighten all the cabins up was now covered in dirt from winter storms, spring rains and summer. All the careful landscaping Norma had done when they first came here was trashed or dead. The rush of people who called these small twelve cabins home for the past few months either destroyed or stole the motel property. And that was just the outside.
Inside, people had broken everything they could and somehow managed to steal a toilet from room one, damaged three others and break the sink in room eight. Mattresses were gone or ripped open and in Alex's old room, burned. The carpets were going to have to be replaced along with the motel furniture, TV's and bedding.
Even the light fixtures would have to be replaced after a few were ripped out.
Dylan was glad Norma wasn't here to see this mess. Glad that she was with the new baby and happily occupied. It was going to take work and capital to get the motel to half of what it was. According to Romero, Dylan was to order whatever he needed to get the motel up and running before the winter set in. Dylan had expected Norma to fail at owning this place, but the pandemic had created an epic influx of people renting a room by the month. Norma had made a fortune, but might lose it all again if her motel was allowed to flounder due to disrepair.
"So toilets and maybe a sink or two." Chick said scratching on a small notebook. "I can probably find decent used ones in Oregon. No need to break the bank on new bathroom fixtures. These hipsters always have resale shops for everything. We should try and hit up some garage sales in the nicer neighborhoods of Portland this week for the furniture,"
Chick Hogan, who Alex had recommend help with the repairs had crawled down from the mountains and made Dylan nervous. He spoke slowly and he seemed to be judging Dylan just as slowly. Trying to figure the younger man out.
Dylan wasn't exactly sure what to make of Chick. He was a giant of a man who wore a funny hat and a woman's kimono. He was either mentally handicapped or a genius. His solutions to this overwhelming problem was simple and direct. He had good ideas and took it all in stride.
"I'll try to make sure the bathroom fixtures are the same color. Best not to tell your mother though. Women notice everything and if she dose't notice it, why upset her?" Chick said and tapped the side of his nose.
"I can't believe these animals trashed the motel." Dylan said angrily. "Norma's gonna be pissed."
"Don't tell her." Chick chastised harshly. "She's got her hands full with the new baby and keeping the sheriff out of trouble. We can handle this." He wave a hand at the motel as though it was nothing. "This is just lipstick and rouge. Start pressure washing the grime and stuff off the walls, rip up some of the carpets. I'll go into Portland and buy what we need. Be back before dark."
"How is it Romero knows you?" Dylan asked suspiciously.
Chick looked a little bemused.
"Oh, he helped me hide some bodies in the woods once. Said never to tell anyone." The mountain man said carelessly.
Dylan's first instinct was to laugh but then thought better of it. Was Chick telling the truth?
"You get started on the the clean up, best we get all this down before fall really starts to set in." Chick said ambling to his worn out truck with a trailer attached to it.
Dylan was watching him, wondering if what he said was true. Romero had a reputation around town. Even the coldest businessmen seemed afraid of him. He wouldn't put it past him to do such a thing as Chick was describing.
He was about to hook up the pressure washer and start cleaning the motel's exterior walls when his cell phone rang.
The text on the screen saying "Romero" looking scary as the Sheriff never called him, but only texted. To call him meant an emergency.
"Hey." Dylan said into the phone.
"Hey." Came Romero's dry, humorless voice.
"What's up?" Dylan asked. He agreed with Chick that Norma, and by extension Romero, shouldn't worry about how bad the motel looked once everyone had left.
"Norman went AWOL from Pine View." Romero said curtly.
"What? When?" Dylan asked in disbelief.
"This morning. The term they're using is 'eloped'. Seems a van picked him up. Do you know any friends he might have called?" Romero asked.
"Friends?" Dylan laughed. "I don't know them. Not sure he has any. I think he was running around with some bad kids from school. He was breaking into houses last winter."
Dylan could have kicked himself for letting it slip that Norman had been apart of the rash of break ins White Pine Bay had suffered when the quarantine first happened.
"What?" Romero barked. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Ahhh… I promised Norman I wouldn't. He said he was going to stop hanging around them. Mom was so stressed out. I didn't want to piss her off." Dylan explained quickly.
"We're going to talk about this later." Romero said darkly. "Doctor Edwards thinks your brother is coming back to the motel."
"No one is here but me." Dylan argued helplessly. "That guy Chick is driving to Portland to pick up stuff. Where'd you find him anyway?"
"Never mind." Romero said. "If Norman shows up, keep him there and call me. I'll send a deputy out."
"To take him back?" Dylan asked. He hated the idea of his brother being dragged back to Pine View. Like an unwanted family dog who was now in the way.
"How's mom?" Dylan asked. "I meant to come by today but I think the motel is going to be a bigger job than we thought."
He heard Romero let out a long sigh.
"She's fine. It'd be nice if you could come visit though." He said. The harshness finally leaving his voice. "The baby is having a hard time with her formula and…"
Dylan heard his new baby sister crying in the distance. Her wails sounded more insistent than what was normal.
"We're going in for a check up tomorrow." Romero said distractedly. "Your mother's worried she's not eating enough."
"Oh…" Dylan said sadly. The worry that Romero and Norma must be feeling hitting him hard.
"I'm sure they can figure it out. There's all kinds of… things they can do."
"I need to go." Romero said quickly. "Your mother needs help."
The Sheriff hung up before Dylan could say anything else.
~ Norma was thankful to have a brief reprieve from the never ending cycle of Lulu's emotional cries. The mastitis was painful and only alleviated by a very hot bath now. The antibiotics helped but she could still feel the swelling and painful blockage in her breast tissue.
Her doctor had instructed her to massage the inflamed areas as much as she could, but it always hurt too much.
She felt annoyance at Alex and at Lulu for it all; then felt guilty for feeling that way. It certainly wasn't their fault. Alex had begged her to endure the high risk pregnancy because he was in love with the idea of a new baby between them. He honestly didn't know what he was getting into, and Lulu was especially innocent in all this.
But Norma couldn't help but feel slightly used. It had been her body that had gone through pregnancy, labor and delivery. She couldn't get the vaccine and had to stay isolated from everyone. Lulu was having trouble digesting her formula and was always hungry and crying.
Norma thought about how, if she'd never started sleeping with Alex, she would be a free woman today. Maybe Norman would be home already and preparing to go to a small community college. Dylan would be helping her run the motel and Alex…
Norma ran a hand over the breast that was especially sore and thought about where Alex would be in her path not taken.
Would they be married? Together? Maybe they would still be angry at one another. There was a time when they distrusted one another. Even hated each other.
"Owe!" Norma gasped in pain and saw blood dripping into the hot water from her breast.
At the same moment, she could hear her baby crying.
"Alex!" She called hopping he would try to feed her and not come rushing into the bathroom to tell her the baby was crying.
That was what Sam had always done. When Norman was born, anytime he cried, Sam's contribution to parenting was to say:
"The baby's crying. The baby's crying again, Norma. You're a bad mother, Norma. Don't you hear the baby crying?"
Norma sank her body further into the hot water. The heat soothing her exhausted body.
Maybe it had been a mistake to have Lulu. As much as she loved her, maybe she was a bad mother. Just like Sam was always accusing her of being. If she was a good mother, Dylan wouldn't have run away from home as soon as he graduated high school and Norman wouldn't have been… so complicated.
Norma was about to call for Alex again when Lulu stopped crying.
'Thank God.' She thought. She couldn't change one more dipper or try to coax her baby into eating again. Lulu had been resisting the formula since day one. They had finally found a formula that was for sensitive stomachs, but half the time, Lulu didn't want it. Hungry as she was, she fought the very idea of eating. It was an endless cycle.
Norma wondered if she could just leave. If she could run away from Alex, the baby and the motel. Not tell anyone where she was and just be free. Not have to wake up every few hours to try and feed her daughter only to fail at it. Not have to constantly worry about Norman who was practically a grown man and should be able to handle all his problems on his own. When she was his age, she was already a mother to Dylan. She wanted to be left alone and for her body to be like it was again.
"Owe!" Norma cried again and felt more fluid dislodge from her breast. A pale strip of white spilling around the bath water and she she could feel the blockage releasing. She wanted to cry at the pain that felt so wonderful. Her breasts becoming free of the fire and getting rid of the infection. The hot water finally helping to heal her body from the effects of child birth.
"Norma?" Came Alex's voice from the other side of the bathroom.
"Yeah?" She called back. "The door's unlocked. Is she okay?"
Norma tried to not sound strange. The odd sensation of her milk ducts finally working again was distracting. She massaged her breasts to keep flushing the blockages out and was was relived to feel they weren't hurting anymore.
The bathroom door opened and Alex was carrying Lulu in one arm and holding an empty bottle.
"Guess who finally finished a bottle?" He said holding up the bottle that had been throughly drained.
Norma's mouth opened ins surprise.
"You're kidding!" She laughed and glanced at the baby who looked ready to take a nap again. "She didn't throw up?"
"It's been ten minutes." Alex whispered and allowed Norma to see Lulu was already sleeping.
"Owe!" Norma hissed and felt another pain in her breast.
"What's wrong?" Alex asked with concern.
"The mastitis." She said angrily covering her breasts again with her hands. "The bath… finally worked. I think it's going to be okay now."
"You can nurse her?" He asked hopefully.
Norma didn't want to commit to anything. Her breasts still hurt, and to have her greedy newborn attack them felt too much.
"Maybe in a few days." She offered. "I'll have to take a shower after this." She looked disgusted at her own bathwater, but was reluctant to leave the warmth that had finally helped.
"I'm glad." Alex whispered and rocked Lulu gently.
He was so afraid of waking her up, of doing anything that might disturb the baby these days. He was a new father who was honestly trying his best. He went to the store at Norma's every command, he had been fixing meals for her and doing the laundry. The never ending chores that she had always had to do when Norman and Dylan were babies and she didn't have the energy for it all now. Norma was filled with intense gratitude that he was her husband and Lulu's father.
"Thank you." She said sadly looking at the sleeping baby.
"For what?" He asked.
She shrugged.
"For being such a good dad." She told him. "I couldn't have done this alone. Any of this. Not her, not Norman. Not even the motel. I always think I can and…" she shook her head.
"You never would have had to do this alone." He told her. "I'm goin to put her in the crib and make us some lunch. You finish up here and we can eat."
Norma felt her face crumple and she wanted to cry. She nodded at Alex. He was a terrible cook, but there was nothing she wanted more just now than to have him look after her.
Happy Mother's Day!