The never-ending checklist scrolled through her brain as she mentally ticked off each item. Eleven-hour day to make up for the eight-hour day I worked last week. Check. Post office on lunch break to mail out mom’s china gravy boat. Check. Paid water bill, phone bill, gas and electric. Check. Filled up the tank with the five cents cheaper gas on the way to work. Check. Dinner in the slow cooker. Check. Called Kyle to remind him to turn on the slow cooker. Check.
Molly smacked her hand to her forehead, and then jerked back to the ten-and-two position Kyle always made fun of her for. She forgot to remind Kyle to let out and feed the neighbor’s dog. Twenty-seven, she reminded herself. Kyle is twenty-seven. He should be able to remember to take care of the dog he accepted the money to watch out for. It’s only two days. Kyle can stay on top of this for two days. Though, even as she reassured herself, she had her doubts. Kyle still didn’t know how to do his own laundry. Feeding a dog was on the cusp of too much responsibility for him to handle between drinking and trying to get laid.
Pulling her beat-up green Taurus into the driveway, Molly took a deep breath before opening the door. She told herself she was bracing for the weather, but dealing with Kyle in the full swing of drunkenness was a thing to consider when one was already wiped from the day.
Two deep breaths later, Molly opened the car door and took a determined step straight into a three-inch puddle of water, soaking her foot through her black tennis shoes all the way to the sock. Molly held her chin up, daring the storm to think it bested her so easily. Maybe she enjoyed walking around with wet feet. Mother Nature didn’t know.
Just to show defiance to her exhausting day, Molly stomped to the colonial and let herself in, pretending she was unperturbed, when what felt like a purposeful cup of water was poured down her back just before she crossed over the threshold. “Kyle?” she called. The television was turned on. His video game was paused, but Kyle was nowhere in sight.
“Hey, Moll. In the kitchen.”
“You okay? Johnny called me.”
“I’m fine. This food smells kinda funny.”
Molly did not smell anything, which was an indicator Kyle had not turned on the slow cooker. Normally she would be greeted with a delicious-smelling pot roast, a roasted chicken with vegetables, a soup, or some other warm welcome home. No, this was the smell of Kyle doing absolutely nothing all day, except apparently going to the bar. Again. Molly ironed out the irritation in her voice. “Did you let out Rex for the Petersons tonight yet?”
Kyle came around the corner, scratching his blond hair. “Oh, no. Forgot. Got caught up. Could you let him out? I’m not dressed for outside.”
Molly nodded. She had not removed her shoes in anticipation of this very answer. She took a deep breath to muscle through the wave of frustration she knew she shouldn’t feel. This was business as usual. If she grew upset with the predictable, she knew it would make for more misery on her part, and nothing would actually change, only her increasing unhappiness. “Did you even feed Rex this morning?”
Kyle gave a sheepish grin like he had been caught coming in ten minutes late to class. He would crack a joke, the teachers would smile and roll their eyes, letting him pass without a markup. Such was Kyle’s charm. He was a naturally good-looking kid with a promise for athletics and an average aptitude he did not have to work for. Molly knew there wouldn’t be a prayer for his social functionality if those freebies weren’t thrown his way. Or perhaps he might have to try at life, and thus have a more meaningful one. Molly wasn’t sure, and knew she would never find out what life would be like if Kyle actually tried. He shrugged and smiled his way through most things, sliding the responsibility off onto others. It passed for cute when he was a child, but the impish grin and drunkenly lidded eyes did not warm Molly the way it did his past authority figures. “I got company. Would you mind?” He tossed Molly the key to the neighbor’s house.
She saw no sign of Kyle’s guest, so she wagered with gratitude she would not have to endure yet another raucous party. “Yeah, yeah. I got it. But you’re the one who ruined dinner, so please figure that out for us. And us means me, too. Seriously, Kyle. I’ve had a long day.” Molly turned around on her sopping heel and stomped back out into the rainstorm that only seemed to grow more furious as the evening progressed.
Molly tried her best not to be upset, not to let Kyle make her day worse by letting her down. She knew she should have no expectation – that sometimes even turning the dial on the slow cooker was too much responsibility for him. As soon as she started flirting with the edge of angry, she switched her mind to naming three good things about her day.
- The overtime was a bump in her much needed paycheck.
- She loved her job. Interpreting for the deaf put her in front of all sorts of people. Though she was an introvert, the constant surprise of what each new work day held for her kept things from getting monotonous.
- …
It was always the third thing she drew a blank on.
Molly saw a puddle too large to jump across, so she stepped onto the lawn, which was so saturated, she sank several inches into the mud before she was able to pull herself free with several unladylike grunts. Three houses down waited Rex, who was possibly having an even worse day than she was.
3. She had been able to use the bathroom, which was more than she could say for Rex.
She nodded to herself in satisfaction, triumphing over the gloom Kyle always threatened to bring into her life. She had three good things that he hadn’t managed to take away from her. Somehow, an okay end to the day could still be salvaged.
Molly unlocked the door and was nearly mauled by the silver Great Dane. “Hey, Rexy. You poor buddy.” She kicked off her shoes and squished to the back door, sliding it open. She quickly stepped aside so Rex could tear past her and relieve himself.
There were four yellow puddles to clean up throughout the house, and one brown pile that made Molly feel exactly like the thing she was scooping into a plastic grocery bag. She fed Rex and rewatered his bowl, ready with the towel to wipe his paws when he came back inside. He kissed and nuzzled her face with enthusiastic gratitude as she tended to him.
“Kyle didn’t forget about you. Kyle loves you,” she said in a soothing coo. She did not know why she was sticking up for her brother to a dog, but she felt the need to cover over Kyle’s sins all the same. It was a lie, and she and Rex both knew it, but she said it all the same, hoping it would soothe at least one of them. “Kyle just doesn’t know any better.”
Rex permitted Molly to hug him, resting his head on her shoulder to let her know he felt her pain. Her lower lip quivered at the tenderness she tried not to need, so she bit her lip to keep it from giving her away. Rex was fairly chatty with the other dogs in the neighborhood; who knows what canine friends he would tell if she cried.
“Thanks, Rex.”
She spent ten minutes loving on the large dog before pulling herself to her wet feet. “How do I look?” She motioned to her sopping hair, heavy clothes and useless jacket. She was glad she never put much stock in makeup, or that would have added to the disaster.
Right on cue, Rex barked his affirmation of her. He wagged his long tail, grateful he had a friend – if only for a few moments. He licked Molly several more times as she slid her feet back into the wetness that made her cringe. Just a few minutes, and she would be home. Maybe ten more minutes, and she would be in a hot shower, where the wet surrounding her would be nurturing and purposeful, and not a freezing assault. Perhaps twenty, and Kyle would have ordered takeout that would be delivered at the perfect time. In an hour, she would be in bed, the feather comforter tucked under her chin and clean, dry pajamas wrapped around her finally warmed body. Her bed was her haven, the one thing Kyle couldn’t steal or break.
Molly gave Rex a hopeful smile as she bid him goodnight, letting him know that perhaps all would be well the next time he saw her.