47.
~ "Has Dylan been in the house today?" Norma asked scowling into her reflection. She was seated at her vanity table, her lotions and night creams arranged in their never ending cycle of cost, newness and usage. She had worried, with time, that she'd look too old and weathered. That the younger mothers would all think she was Lulu's grandmother, but nothing so dramatic had happened so far, and she looked much the same as she did before she married Alex.
All the other mothers at Lulu's 'mommy and me' classes, thought Norma was exactly what she was; a woman who'd had her baby later in life. It never seemed to occur to them that Norma had been a teen mother before now and had a complicated background.
They assumed she'd put off having children for a career and Norma didn't correct them. They assumed she'd had some corporate job and decided, only when she was financially and emotionally stable, that she would have a baby and move to this town to own a small. It all fit together nicely; running a quaint motel and to fixing up and saving the Queen Anne house next to it.
All the gossip about her, her motel and what happened to Deputy Shelby had vanished with the pandemic and nightmare of the quarantine. There were hoards of new, young hip people moving into the community now. All of them opening slightly bougie shops and businesses and they thought Norma was just one of them. Her new friends Madeleine and Sam Loomis had abandoned California after the pandemic to start a new business in Oregon; and to hopefully start a family in a place where things weren't so chaotic.
Sam and Madeleine Loomis had the most darling hardware shop Norma had ever seen. Their prices were insulting, but there was now a hunger for the simple and clean mid century style, so they did quite well.
Alex wasn't a fan of socializing, but it was nice to finally have friends over to the house. Nice to have dinner parties like she'd always wanted to. Now that she was a happily married woman, had an adorable little girl and a successful business, she seemed to be looked on more favorably. Norma had even helped Madeleine select the new collection of paint for the store and redone Lulu's bedroom in a soft, vintage pink.
Madeline had suggested Norma put the big house on a national registry of historic houses.
"It's just a beautiful home!" She would say. "I'm so glad you and Alex saved it. It's like that Hopper painting."
But such a thing would warrant an investigation into the house. People would remember that Shelby had died on her front steps. That his body had been dug up and put in her bed. People had forgotten all that with the pandemic and it was better if it stayed forgotten. That all the bodies stayed buried.
After everything she'd been through, it was safe to say Norma Romero was living a good life. One that she wanted to keep frozen in time, like a magic sleeping spell. Where her husband loved her and wanted her sexually. Where her baby was perfect and slightly spoiled. If she had known it could have been like this, she would have been with Alex from the start. As soon as possible in fact. Although, maybe things were better after surviving the storms she and Alex had. They appreciated each other more this way.
Norma also realized that here was also something to having a baby past forty. Everything was different and… easier.
Not that money should matter, but having her own money, her own home and business, made her feel more secure. More confidant. Having Alex be a good father, a good husband, made things easier as well. He wasn't a complicated man; although he liked to think he was. He just wanted to come home, eat, play with his daughter for a little while, watch TV and go to bed. He didn't go to bars or have long mysterious work meeting that lasted past midnight. Norma never felt any suspicion that he might be even flirting with another woman. It wasn't like it had been with her last husband Sam Bates. All his overnight sales trips and coming home smelling of another woman's perfume.
Alex smelled like coffee breath and his sweaty work clothes at the end of the day. His wedding band always on and very obvious. All things that meant he wasn't trying to impress another woman. Not when he came strait home to her and Lulu.
No. Things were good and she felt calmer. It was like some kind of curse had been broken and she could see past all the storms. It occurred to her that she might be okay. That she and Alex would run this motel for a little while, then maybe find something else to do. The general vibrations of the young people she talked to were transitory about life and careers. They accepted that nothing would last forever and it was okay to have a change of life career, just like it was okay to have a change of life baby.
"Not that I know of." Alex said coming out of Lulu's bedroom and closing the door behind him. Their daughter was in Norman's old bedroom and it was becoming clear that this arrangement wasn't going to work much longer. It had been fine when she was a baby, Norma could get to her with ease. But Lulu had learned that her parents were right next door and a simple cry or refusal to go to sleep, meant they weren't able to go to sleep either.
They would have to move her to the room opposite the stairwell. A nice enough room that was Norma's current crafting and sewing room, but one that would give everyone more space. "Why?" Alex asked.
"I… that picture of me and Norman." She started to explain. "In the silver frame? I can't find it. It was on the hallway highboy. Now it's gone. It was up too high for Lulu to reach it."
"I'm sure it's somewhere." Alex said without concern.
"My blue sweater is missing too." Norma said. "I know it was right in the kitchen when I gave Lulu her breakfast this morning. I was going to wash it."
"Maybe you washed it." Alex reasoned.
"It's not there." Norma said.
"It's somewhere." Alex reminded her calmly. "You've been running around trying to take care of her." He nodded to the wall that connected Lulu's room to theirs. "And managing the motel. It's too much."
"We're doing this again?" Norma asked sourly.
"I just think…" Alex said choosing his words carefully now. "That it would be better for Lulu to go to daycare a few days a week."
Norma turned back around to her vanity and started arranging her make up and other products again. They had been having this conversation for weeks now.
"The spring registration is coming up. It will be good if she's with other kids, Norma." He explained.
"You know I don't want that." She said harshly. "I like having my baby with me at home. It's where she belongs. Besides, she'll catch something at that place and bring it home to us."
"That's…" Alex sighed. "That's the idea. That's what kids do. She needs more socialization."
Norma turned back to see him kick off his shoes and crawl into bed, fully dressed.
"How was your last day at the office?" She asked sympathetically.
"Fine." Alex said bluntly. "They had a cake for me. Regina took pictures of me in front of it. Pictures of me standing next to Flint. Posted them on the county webpage. I'm sure there's a lot of mean comments about me already."
Norma felt saddened by the idea that Alex felt like an unloved failure.
"I've been thinking." She offered gently. "Maybe we should sell out."
Alex looked amused.
"What?" He asked with a smile.
She shrugged.
"Well, aside from the motel, the house and Dylan and Emma, what's holding us here?" She asked. "We could sell the house and motel. Move anywhere. You could run for office again."
Alex laughed.
"We've worked really hard on this place." He said rationally.
"I know!" She insisted brightly and gracefully slipped onto the bed next to him. "It's worth so much more than when I first bought it."
Alex didn't look like he was buying it. He shrugged as though she was playing a huge joke on him. "Where would we move?" He asked realistically.
"Anywhere." She said instantly. "Someplace where we could do another fixer upper. Run another small business."
"Norma, we were lucky the motel survived at all." Alex said calmly. "The pandemic… we lucked out. A lot of businesses didn't make it. You know that."
"Look at all the places that are opening up around town." She reasoned. "All the new shops downtown. Even with Bob Paris' huge tax hikes."
Alex rolled his eyes.
"I happen to know we could get a good price for the house and motel. That annoying real estate agent won't leave me alone. She's practically filled out the paper work on the historic registry herself. We could sell and make a decent profit. That, along with your pension will make a huge difference in the future. With paying for college for Lulu, our retirement." She explained logically.
"What about Norman?" Alex asked throwing cold water on the whole idea. "I thought you wanted to leave this business to him."
Norma looked as though she'd been slapped. They never spoke about Norman except in the past tense. 'Norman's old room, Norman's clothes, that picture of Norman in the brown sweater.' It was more like he'd passed away than vanished.
"Or Dylan." Alex amended quickly. "Didn't you want them to inherit the motel? Protect their future? Give them a family business and home?"
He shrugged. "The whole reason we got married?" He added.
"That was just one of the reasons we got married." Norma sighed looking at the wall that separated their room from Lulu. "I'm not sure if the motel is the safest place for her to grow up in. All the strange people. What happened during the quarantine."
"This house is safe." Alex insisted.
"I just feel, that maybe we should start over." Norma reasoned. "Now that you're not married to the job anymore."
"What about Dylan?" Alex asked. "Shouldn't he have a say in this? I mean you bought this place in the beginning for them."
"I bought this place for me and Norman." She corrected harshly. "Now he's left me. Dylan's always done well on his own. I don't worry about him. He has Emma, we can let him run the motel for income until we decide what we want to do."
"You really want to leave White Pine Bay?" He asked seriously.
She shrugged.
"Maybe Hawaii?" She asked. "Rent a little place. Get tanned and let Lulu run wild."
"She'll do that." Alex smirked. "It's something to think about."
He looked saddened.
"This is still my home town, Norma." He explained soberly. "I don't want to abandon it."
~ It was almost midnight and, in typical fashion for Oregon, it was raining. Norman Bates pulled into an all night dinner for a hot meal before driving to Mother's motel just ten miles away.
He wasn't expecting to see it when he drove in, but there was the large and brightly lit billboard for 'The Bates Motel' just outside the dinner's parking lot. A very good place for advertising to the road weary traveler. There was nothing Norman wanted more than a place to rest. Except maybe some food. He felt like he hadn't had real food in years. The smells of bacon and other things cooking made him salivate as he settled into a lonely seat at the counter. No one else was int he all night dinner at this time of night.
The large billboard looming just behind him from outside the windows.
He recognized his mother's clean, but small motel anywhere. Someone had done it in a lovely water color drawing; the kind that would have been popular 70 years ago in advertising. The motel looked quaint and cozy in the drawing. Green trees all around the yellow cabins. There was even a blue classic car with fins parked outside of room one.
He read how Bates Motel was a family owned small business and boasted clean, air conditioned rooms, free wifi, a laundry room and free coffee with hot muffins from some place called Edison Bakery every morning.
'Enjoy hiking and canoeing around White Pine Bay!
Call now for a reservation or book online!"
Norman wished he had his laptop. He'd gone without internet for over three years now. It was insane how much the world had sped up without him. While he was in that desolate desert purgatory. Not to mention the horrible place mother had made him go. The place where he was locked away and forgotten about.
Mother had always wanted a nice billboard to advertise her motel. Now she had it. What else had changed?
"What will it be?" The waitress asked. She looked tired and older than her age. As though she was twenty, going on fifty.
"Bacon, eggs…" Norman said carefully. "Umm… whatever is most popular."
"You look like you need a good meal." The waitress said. "I'll put you down for the midnight special. Comes with everything. Want Coffee? OJ?"
Norma shook his head.
"OJ, is fine." He waited while the girl scribbled something on a tablet and spun it on the carousel back to the kitchen. The dinner was old. He'd remembered it when he and Mother first came to town. It had been run down then, but had been remodeled and cleaned up now. It looked like the dinner it had once been in the 50's or 60's.
Crome accents on the Formica counters and tables. Everything looked retro and polished. Mother would like it here. She liked the feel of nostalgic things. Of a time and place that wasn't real, but you could pretend you came from and missed; for a while at least.
"That motel." Norman nodded to the sign behind him. "The Bates Motel. Is it nice?"
"Yeah." The waitress said. "I guess. Never stayed there. It's for tourists. That house next to it is really pretty. The lady who owns it spent the whole pandemic fixing it up. Her and her husband."
Norman leaned back. His eyes growing wide.
He had't believed it. Not really. Maybe the paper had lied to him. But this girl was telling the truth. Mother had married Romero.
"Her husband?" He asked carefully.
The waitress nodded.
"Sheriff- well, WAS the Sheriff. He lost the election last November." She said.
"Romero?" Norman asked wearily. "Is his name, Alex Romero?"
"Yeah! How they treated him was really shitty if you asked me." She said in a conspirator whisper. "These rich people acting like the virus wasn't serious. I lost my uncle to it and I got really sick to. The rich never think about the poor. How we still had to go to work because we were essential."
She rolled her eyes.
"What do you mean? How they treated…" Norman swallowed hard. "Romero?"
"He and the old mayor were really criticized for the quarantine." She explained going to get his plate that was full of food. "Said it ruined businesses and was violating the law. The whole town bounced back fine if you ask me. They had to do something to save lives."
Norman felt his stomach bite painfully at him and started to eat the plate the girl sat in front of him.
The girl looked him over carefully as he ate.
"You know, that lady who runs the Bates Motel does't rent rooms by the hour." She said sweetly. "I know a place that does. If you have the money."