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“Ready?”
Cue Ball looked up from his coffee cup.
Wait, why was he drinking coffee at three in the afternoon? I glanced at the clock on the stove and frowned. “Why does the clock say nine-thirty?” I looked out the window and was even more confused. “Why is it nine-thirty, and the sun is out?”
“Is this a trick question?” Cue Ball asked. He sipped his coffee and shifted stiffly.
“Unless we magically transported to Alaska where the sun is out all day long, then no, it’s not a trick question.” The clock had to be wrong.
Cue Ball cringed.
“And where is Rocky?”
“Uh, maybe you should have a cup of coffee,” Cue Ball suggested. “It might help.”
“Help with what?” I demanded. All I needed to know was where Rocky was and why the damn sun was out. Or why had Cue Ball changed all of the clocks?
“Help you realize that it is nine-thirty in the morning.”
“What?” I squawked. “How in the world is it nine-thirty in the morning?” I demanded.
He grabbed a coffee cup from the cabinet and filled it to the brim with coffee. “Uh, well, it’s nine-thirty in the morning because when you laid down yesterday at two, I just let you sleep until you woke up on your own.”
“That’s impossible! I have never in my life slept for seventeen and a half hours!”
“First time for everything?” Cue ball guessed.
I threw my hands up in the air. “I can’t believe you let me sleep that long. I didn’t even get to see Rocky yesterday. How did he get to school? Did he have dinner? Did he even brush his teeth this morning?” I demanded. This was absolutely insane. I was a mother who had no right to sleep for almost eighteen hours straight. I wasn’t some frat guy coming off of a bender.
INSANE!
He set the coffee on the table and stepped back slowly. “Are you hungry?”
I was absolutely starving, but that wasn’t important right now. “Why on earth would you let me sleep that long?”
“I didn’t let you do anything, Olive. You slept that long because you needed it. Your body was yelling at you to rest yesterday when you couldn’t even stand.”
“I was fine,” I insisted.
He tipped his head to the side. “Are you really going to be this stubborn?” he asked.
“I am not at all stubborn,” I insisted.
“Then sit down and have something to eat. Sleeping for eighteen hours isn’t going to do much for you if you refuse to eat.”
“I’m not refusing to eat; I’m just wondering why you let me sleep this long.”
“I told Rocky this was not going to be a good idea,” he mumbled.
“You told the ten-year-old this wasn’t a good idea? Who was in charge while I was sleeping?” I asked.
“I was, but your son was worried about you, Olive.”
“We had plans to get me a new phone and then go visit Faye.”
Cue Ball motioned to the black bag on the counter. “I sent one of the guys to get you a phone. We just need to activate it this morning.”
“You got me a new phone while I was sleeping?” I snapped.
“Yeah, pretty mean, right?” He finished his coffee and set the cup in the sink. “And Faye should be here around lunch with Fade. You should try to be done being irrational by the time she gets here. That is, unless you want to get mad at her for coming over to see you.”
“I’m not being irrational,” I shouted.
Cue Ball wiped his hands on his pants and leaned against the counter. “You’re right. Most people get mad when people take care of them so they can rest.”
“I never asked for you to take care of me.” Never. Not once did I ask Cue Ball for help. I never asked anyone for help. I could handle everything by myself. Sure, my mom helped watch Rocky when I couldn’t swing working while he was in school, but that wasn’t all of the time.
“I think you need to drink that cup of coffee, and then we can talk.”
“I don’t need to do anything.”
Cue Ball held up his hands. “Well, while you do whatever it is you want to do, I am going to go make a few phone calls on the porch.” He hesitated and motioned to me. “As long as that is okay with you.”
I scowled and shooed him with my hand. “Do whatever you want. Hell, you can even go back to the playhouse if you want.”
“Clubhouse,” Cue Ball chuckled.
“Whatever,” I muttered.
Cue Ball headed out the front door to the porch, and he left the screen door open. The low timber of his voice drifted into the house, and I plopped down in front of the brimming cup of coffee.
Coffee that I needed to help wake me up, but I didn’t want to drink because then Cue Ball would think it was his idea when, in reality, I drank coffee every morning without him telling me to.
I braced my elbows on the table and buried my fingers in my hair.
What on earth was I going on about?
I should appreciate the fact that I had been able to sleep and rest without having to worry about anything, but instead, I was mad.
Was I mad that I wasn’t needed?
Ugh. I don’t think I was ready to admit that.
By the time I got to the bottom of my coffee, I was a little less irrational, more human.
Coffee always seemed to do the trick.
And maybe getting a good night's sleep might have helped, too.
Not that I was going to let Cue Ball know that.
“Feeling better?” Cue Ball called through the screen door.
I rolled my eyes and set my cup in the sink. “I was feeling fine before,” I muttered.
“Sure you were,” Cue Ball chuckled. “Can I come to the kitchen, or are you going to throw your coffee cup at me?”
I eyed my cup in the sink. “You’re safe for the time being.”
Cue Ball walked back into the house and sat at the kitchen table.
“What?” I asked after he just stared at me. “Do I have something on my face?” I hadn’t stopped to look in the mirror after I woke up. I had been thinking we needed to get moving if we were going to make it to the phone store and clubhouse. Obviously, I had missed both of those.
Cue Ball shook his head. “Nothing on your face, doll.”
I didn’t want to be snappy with him, but why in the world was he just staring at me? “Is there a reason why you are staring at me, then?” I asked.
He waved his hand around his head. “Uh, well, you’ve got an interesting hairstyle going on.”
I frantically patted my head and cringed as I felt all of the lumps, bumps, and cowlicks. “Sweet Jesus,” I muttered. “This is why I don’t fall asleep when my hair is wet.”
“I’m assuming you’re going to add this to the list of things that are my fault,” Cue Ball drawled.
It seemed like a good idea to do, but I shook my head. “No. I’ll take the blame for this.” I slipped into the bathroom and managed to tame my hair to where I didn’t look like Medusa.
“You want to set up your new phone?” Cue Ball called.
I wrinkled my nose at myself in the mirror and shrugged. “That’s as good as it’s going to get,” I mumbled. I walked back into the kitchen and sat down next to Cue Ball.
He grabbed the black bag and pushed it toward me.
“How much do I owe you?” I asked. I had a little chunk in savings, and I was going to have to break into it for the phone. I grabbed the box out of the bag, and my jaw dropped. “Take this back,” I gasped.
“You need a phone, Olive.”
I shook my head and dropped the phone into the bag. “I need a phone, but there is no way in hell I can afford the phone you bought.”
“I know a guy,” Cue Ball reasoned.
I wrinkled my nose. “You know a guy who can get you the latest phone for the price of my four-year-old one?” I asked. “Highly doubtful.” There was a reason why I had a junky old phone. I couldn’t afford a new one. All of my money went to bills and Rocky. A fancy, high-tech phone was nowhere near a priority.
“Just take the phone, Olive. I didn’t buy it expecting you to pay me back.”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Are we back to you being stubborn?” he drawled.
“I can’t afford that phone, Cue. Take it back, and I will get something cheaper. I appreciate you getting it, but I can’t take that.”
“Then pay me what you can afford. I’m not kidding when I say I got a good deal on it.”
I wrinkled my nose. “What I can afford will insult you.”
“Fifty bucks,” he offered.
I choked and reared back. “You’re insane if you think I’m just going to give you fifty bucks for that expensive phone.”
“Then give me what you can afford, Olive,” he drawled.
I quickly ran through all of my bills and how much I had in savings. “Two fifty.” That would make things a little hard if I went too long without a job, but I had been through rougher times. “We’ll need to go to the bank so I can pull it out of my savings.”
“Deal.” Cue Ball pushed the bag toward me. “Now open it and get it hooked up.”
“We really can return this, Cue,” I tried one last time. Two hundred and fifty dollars was a fraction of what that phone was worth.
“Open the phone, Olive,” he ordered. “We made a deal.”
I huffed but pulled the phone from the bag. “It’s even purple,” I whispered.
Cue Ball chuckled. “I figured you would like that.”
I always had phones that were three to four models out of date, but that didn’t mean I was clueless about the latest phones. I figured I wouldn’t have this phone for at least four years.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“No thank you is necessary, doll. The club is the reason why you need a new phone.”
They were, but I still was thankful Cue Ball had helped me get this one. “So this is from...”
“It’s from me, doll. Yarder has enough to deal with right now without me throwing in your charred phone.”
I opened the box and ran my fingers over the phone. “Uh, I’m sorry about earlier. I’m just not used to...”
“Help?” Cue Ball laughed.
“Yes, help.”
“Could have fooled me, doll.”
I rolled my eyes and pulled the phone out of its protective cardboard. “Rocky has always been my responsibility, and it was just a little for you to take care of him.”
“I thought your mom helps you with him?” he asked.
“She does,” I drawled. “But it’s more like she helps when I have absolutely no other option. Don’t get me wrong, my mom will do anything for Rocky, but I don’t really give her the chance to help.”
“She thinks everything is aces even when it’s not?” he asked.
I nodded and powered on the phone. “That would be correct. Not that things are bad, but they’re not as easygoing as she thinks they are.”
“Or, she knows they’re not as easygoing, but she knows you would ask for help if you need it.”
“Which I don’t,” I pointed out.
“But if you did, you would ask.”
Maybe. “If I was desperate.”
“Damn, babe,” he laughed. “It really does take a lot for you even to say you would possibly need help.”
“But I don’t,” I reminded him. The phone powered on, and I started setting it up. “I’m probably going to have to call my carrier to get this done,” I mumbled. “Oh, no,” I groaned.
“What’s wrong?” Cue Ball asked.
“I’m going to have to use a new SIM card, and I won’t be able to transfer over my contacts because my old phone is a pile of ashes.” Son of a gun.
“I’m sure you’ll be fine, doll, and figure it out.”
It wasn’t like I had that many contacts, but it was going to be a pain in the butt to find the ones I did have and enter them into my phone.
“Faye and Fade should be here in an hour or so. They’re bringing lunch.”
I nodded and chewed on my bottom lip. “I’m going to need your phone to call my phone company.”
Cue Ball slid his phone across the table to me. “Have at it, doll. I’ll leave you to set up your phone.”
“Thank you,” I absently called.
Cue Ball plopped on the couch and turned on the TV.
Just like the past couple of days, I was doing things I never thought I would do. Holding a very expensive phone in my hand that was mine was insane, but here I was.
Life was a trip.
*
