“One more thing. We’re taking Mom out to dinner tonight.”
“Come again?”
He snorts his disgust at the whole thing. “She thought she’d stay with us and so I lied and told her we had too much construction going on. You
might want to put a couple paint cans in the guest room just in case. I have a feeling that Annie's going to end up asking her mom to stay with us.”
“Why can’t she stay at Bright’s Motel?”
“I suggested that but the chick was not happy with that idea. My guess is she’ll play the poor me routine at dinner and Annie will cave.”
Someone calls his name. “I’ve got to go, but my grandma says that Mrs. Bloom is ‘vain and selfish’ so approach with caution.”
“Do I pretend I'm a friend?”
Easy snorts. “Fuck no, man. We don't hide who we are to no one, least of all Annie's deadbeat mother.”
I hang up and stew for the rest of the ride back to the factory where I trade the delivery truck for my bike. Mrs. Bloom's appearance raises a whole host of questions, not the least of which is she has why she thinks she's got to stay with her daughter she hasn’t paid an ounce of attention to for years.
When I roll up to our house, there’s a powder blue four-door Honda sitting next to the curb. After pulling into the driveway, I watch in my rear view mirror as she steps out of her car. Part of me can appreciate that this is a good-looking woman and that Annie’s going to be a good looking woman when she’s fifty too or however old her mom is. But mostly I’m wondering what the hell she's doing casing our house. Has she been parked there all morning?
I park my bike on the cement pad we laid shortly after buying this place. The house was a shit hole when we bought it four years ago. Since then, we’ve put a lot of time and sweat equity into fixing it up. It has a new roof, new siding, and all new appliances and flooring. After convincing Annie to move in, we added on a brand-new bedroom and bathroom to accommodate our new family. One of the existing bedrooms will have to be turned into a nursery. Fuck. A nursery. A big ass grin spreads over my face. It’s finally sinking in. I’m going to be a dad. My baby is growing in Annie’s belly and after some months we’re going to have a little person in the house. Hooleee shit.
Maybe I didn’t have any good examples of parenting growing up but I can use that as a guide toward what not to do.
I slide my leg over my bike and amble toward the side door cut into the garage. I can see her closing in but I pretend I don’t and step inside the garage, locking the door behind me. From inside the garage I can hear the doorbell ring. The shrill sound echoes once and then twice as she impatiently presses it again as if I didn’t hear the damn thing the first time.
I take my sweet time hanging up the spare helmet I had to wear since my main one is cracked after I'd thrown it against the wall. I'd have to get a replacement for that. I stop to get a drink of water in the kitchen and the doorbell rings three and then four times. Impatient cuss, I think. I rinse out my glass and turn it upside down on a towel to air dry and then finally go to the front door. I open it a crack.
“Sorry, no soliciting here.”
“Oh, I’m not selling anything.” She smiles innocently. “I’m Annie’s mom. I heard she lives here.” She tries to peek into the house but my big frame blocks any view. Oh she’s selling something all right. It might not be good but she wants something from us or Annie.
I don’t know a hell of a lot about Annie’s past other than this woman ran off with another man and had only the barest contact with Annie after she left. Shacking up with another man isn’t where she went wrong; it was not taking Annie with her where she tripped up. The fact she’s trying to claim some kind of relationship now makes me suspicious and disinclined to treat her with any degree of welcome.
“That's nice,” I say in a tone which tells her I think it’s anything but. If Annie were here, I might act differently for Annie’s sake. But she’ not here and all I can think of is that this woman walked away from her daughter and left her in the hands of a man who cared more about his appearance to his congregation than he ever did about his daughter.
“Mind if I come in?” she asks. She flicks her hair back in a move that I’d have said was a come on if it were done by club ass. Based on what Easy said about her being hooked on her own looks, I’ll chalk it up to habit rather than intentional flirtation. There are some women, no matter what age they are, that just like to kiss ass. She might be one of those.
I want to close the door in her face but decide I better not so I step back and allow her inside. Manners I didn't know I had prompt me to ask her if she wants a drink.
“I’ll take a vodka and orange juice.” She gives me my order and then walks into the living room. Her hand rubs the leather of the couch as if she’s testing to see if it’s real or something.
“We’ve got Dr. Pepper, water and beer.” Dr. Pepper is Annie’s favorite.
“No liquor? How quaint. I’ll take a glass of water then.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Oh gosh.” She laughs. It sounds like a bird. “Don’t call me ma'am. That makes me feel so old and I’m only a few years older than Annie. Child bride and all, you know. That's how people do it in religious communities. We aren’t allowed to have sex until we’re married so we marry very, very young.”
I scratch my head and then head for the kitchen to get this woman a glass of water. I don’t care how old she is and it’s strange as fuck that she thinks I would.
I stomp back into the living room and hand her the glass of water. She’s settled onto the couch and her short skirt is riding up so high I think her panties are showing. I avert my gaze. If there’s one woman’s cooch I don’t want to see, it would be Annie’s mom. “Nice place you got here. This sofa is really comfortable.”
“We like it,” I say. I don’t tell her why. We like fucking Annie there because one of us can stand behind the back of it and have her suck us off while the other one pounds her in the ass from behind. Or she can ride us, either reverse cowgirl or straight on doing the same. One in her mouth and the other in her cunt. So yeah, I like the couch a lot. What I don’t like is the way Annie’s mom is patting the seat as if she wants me to sit next to her. I fold my arms and stand by the entryway.
“I hear that Annie has moved in with you. Is that just a temporary thing while the issues with her father are being worked out?” At my stony response, she hurries to add, “I’m asking because I’m concerned about my daughter.”
“Seems it’s a little late for you to be concerned about her. After all, she’s twenty-two now, not eight.”
She smiles, not at all feeling any shame at leaving her young daughter to go pursue her own jollies. “You never stop worrying about your daughter. Her father kept us apart all these years. After I read about what happened in the newspapers, I had to come down and see how she was, no matter what her father demanded.”
She’s got a full line of bullshit she wants to feed me and it makes sense to just let her spit it all out. I nod for her to continue and she does. “I’ve been out in Seattle and had come back for a visit and I saw the whole sordid story in the paper. It’s been covered extensively in all the city newspapers because it’s so sensational. A small town pastor beating his adult daughter and then being arrested for it.”
Her narration has a sort of sick breathless quality to it as if it is about strangers, not her own flesh and blood.
“I bet,” is about all I can manage. “Why don’t I fill your glass for you?” I snatch up the barely drank glass and speed into the kitchen needing to get away before I give into my urge to deck this woman. Shit, I have to be able to do a better job than her at being a parent.
Unfortunately she follows behind me. I dump out the water and then pour her a new glass. When I turn to give it to her, she’s practically up my ass. I take a step to the side and feel a brush of a hand against my groin. Did she just touch my junk? Nah, I must’ve imagined that. Still, I move away and lean against the refrigerator as she walks around inspecting our small kitchen.
“They tell me that Annie’s got two boyfriends and that they all live together in sin. Is that right? That she’s sleeping with both of you? How scandalous!” Her eyes are roving all over me
as if she’s measuring me. “How long did you know Annie before you started seeing each other?” she asks, trailing her fingers over the granite counter top.
“A while.” Days, really. Easy saw her first at the library when he was sent in by Judge to make sure some skinheads didn’t hassle his woman, the town librarian. Annie was volunteering. He came back to the club that night and had no interest in the sweet butts strutting around the granary.
He told me he’d found the one. I tried to resist it because I didn’t believe him. Some pastor’s daughter who blushed when he flirted with her was not going to jump into bed with two strangers. He ignored me, gave her his claiming cuff, and that was that. He was right. Not only did she take his claiming cuff, but she wore mine as well.
“I heard that you all barely knew each other. Don’t you think you’re a little too much man for Annie?” She steps toward me, crowds me really.
“I think Annie’s got it under control."
“Both of you, though? I saw your friend earlier.” She sweeps her hand along the outside of my biceps in an unmistakable caress. “Maybe she could handle one of you but two? You should think about someone who has a little more experience.”
I push away from the refrigerator and walk to the front door. I wrench it open. “Time for you to go.”
She hesitates but under my unrelenting glare, finally scoots out. She puts a sway in her hips but I slam the door shut immediately. I don’t wait to see if she leaves before jumping in the shower. I don’t want any of her on me when Annie comes home.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Annie
We take Mom to the Hightop Cafe. It’s the nicest place to eat around here. On Thursday nights there is a prime rib buffet and the smell of roasted meat actually has my mouth watering.
I hadn’t wanted to leave Wheels Up when Easy showed up at five. Most of the filing had gotten down and I had started studying the product catalog. Judge pushed me out the door and ripped the product catalogs out of my hands claiming that Michigan and Easy would quit the club if I went home with a bunch of automobile repair catalogs.