Chapter Nine
Fi sat down on the bed in front of me, and I watched her, waiting for the timer to go off, and for the bomb to explode. She avoided eye contact, fidgeting with her hands before finally opening her mouth to speak. Instead, she burst into tears.
"Baby, what's wrong?" I asked, reaching out to hold her. I half expected her to jump away from my touch, but she only fell into it, trembling.
After a minute or two she collected herself and wiped away the tears, not that it did anything to help the puffiness. She looked in my eyes and swallowed hard. "Carey said no."
"What?" I asked, confused. No "Mom, I heard what you said on the phone"? No "Mom, I know about you and Carey"?
"Remember yesterday after dinner, when I said that I was going for a walk?" I nodded, even though I really didn't. Lately I had been having trouble concentrating on everything that wasn't Carey. "Well," Fi continued, sniffling, "I did go for a walk. To Carey's house. I rang his doorbell and he answered and he let me come inside and we went in his bedroom and sat down and… and…" She started to cry again and I rubbed her back soothingly like a mother should do. "I told him how much I like him and care about him and that I wanted to go out with him, and it was so hard for me to tell him all that but… he said no. He said he liked me a lot but he thought of me only as a friend…" she trailed off, the tears flowing once again.
"Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry," I whispered, hugging her tightly.
"Mom, how could he do that to me?" she asked quietly, resting her head on my shoulder.
"I don't know…" I lied.
"I don't think I can ever face him again."
"Of course you can," I said. "Fi, I know Carey." Boy, did I. "Something like this isn't going to stop him from being your friend," I added. She remained silent, but at least the sniffling had become softer. "Do you want to see a movie?" I asked suddenly, the thought surprising even myself.
"Huh?" she asked, lifting her head up to look at me.
"We could see a movie," I said. "Me, you, and Annie. It'll be a special treat just for us girls." I grinned. "What do you say?"
Fi looked away, clearly thinking it over. Then her eyes met mine once again and she smiled for the first time this morning. "Count me in."
I thought we'd end up seeing a film that was a bit happier, so Fi could snap out of her gloomy mood, but the two girls immediately picked Planet of the Apes. I wasn't a huge fan of the original, but I only wanted to cheer up my daughter a little. After it ended and we left the theater, they both agreed that Mark Wahlberg is, as Annie put it, "a total hottie". This notion even seemed to get Fi's mind off Carey, because throughout the whole ride home, neither of them would shut up about Mark. So, the movie outing was a success. And maybe now that I was no longer a performer, and free to do whatever I wanted to, my entire life would be a success.
We had a peaceful dinner that night—me, Jack, Fi, and Annie. It was almost a miracle to have them all home and at the table at the same time, which had been a rarity lately. Jack had been accepted into the University of Colorado and since it was only a one hour drive from here, he was constantly driving there to get himself comfortable with the college and others who would be attending with him. This was the first time in a few days that he had made it home in time for a real family dinner. We were a real family now, a family that stayed in one spot and went out to movies and had homemade dinner instead of McDonald's burgers and french fries. I could really get used to this idea.
As I thought about this while lying in my bed late that night, my only regret was Carey wasn't with us. He dropped by for meals quite often and I really thought that he might have done so tonight. It wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary, and I had left him that horrible message on his answering machine. Then again, he was probably giving Fi some time to heal her broken heart.
A noise startled me just then, and I looked around to see where it was coming from. It sounded like knocking, but it wasn't the kind of sound that was made when someone knocked on the door. The only other place was—the window! I turned to look out it and gasped.
I stared through the glass and into Carey's eyes. Just like all the movies and TV shows and books, he had climbed up the tree outside my room and was using the window as his entrance. I opened it quickly and helped pull him inside. Over his shoulder, I noticed his car sitting parked on the road in front of our house. Carey steadied himself on the floor, breathing heavily. One look at his face told me all I needed to know: this wasn't good.