SUSAN AND AMY got back home from their bead shopping and ice cream expedition a little after five. Danny had beaten them there and he was watching the Celtics on TV.
He got up and said, “Hi, guys!” and Susan could tell right away the open house had been a success. He’d taken off his sport jacket, but he was still wearing his light blue shirt with an open collar, and he flashed her that confident grin, and for the first time in weeks she remembered how sexy he was. She and Danny had been together since his senior year of high school—her sophomore year—when he was both star running back and starting pitcher. On their first date they went swimming at Fourth Lake, and she could still remember feeling short of breath when he took off his T-shirt. Now he stayed fit by working out religiously at the Y in Corinth.
If she did say so herself, they made a good-looking couple. She walked a couple miles a day even in winter, and between that and waitressing at the diner, she’d managed to get back to her pre-baby weight. She had a knack for finding nice clothes at the church thrift store, and she allowed herself one treat: having the ladies at Country Girls color her hair.
Amy ran up to Danny, jumping up and down. “Daddy, we got the best beads. The lady at the store said they had one hundred thousand of them.”
“Wow,” said Danny, sweeping Amy up and giving her a hug. “That’s a very big number.”
Amy squirmed out of Danny’s grasp so she could lay out her beads on the living room table. Susan kissed him hello. “How’d it go?”
Danny gave a fist pump. “We had fourteen people, including three primo prospects. I’m betting we get at least one offer by tomorrow morning.”
“That’s terrific! How about I make chicken to celebrate?”
Amy said, “Wanna see my pink duck, Daddy?”
Amy showed him her beads while Susan put dinner together. She baked the chicken thighs with lemon and garlic for slightly over an hour, just the way Danny liked it. The night before her wedding, Lenora had told her, “Men are simple creatures. Just feed them and they’re happy.” It was the best advice her mom ever gave her.
Their marriage had gone through some tough times. Susan had two miscarriages in her twenties. When Amy, her little miracle, was born, Susan was told her cervix was permanently incompetent and she would never be able to have any more kids.
But the marriage survived her medical problems and the uncertainties of Danny’s career. He had days when he’d get depressed by job stuff and feel like he should have gone to law school instead of settling for being a real estate agent, and he’d get snappish at Susan. But she always knew he’d be himself again soon.
And he hung in with her during those terrible months after she lost her babies. He brought her endless pints of jamoca almond fudge and took her snowmobiling to distract her. Sometimes he rode faster than she liked, but the excitement was probably exactly what she needed.
“Dinner’s ready!” she called out. Danny and Amy raced each other to see who would sit down at the table first. They all had second helpings of the chicken and potatoes, and Amy regaled her parents with a long, complicated story about a baby hoot owl that liked to eat snakes, but only if they were mean. Susan caught Danny’s eye and they smiled.
After dinner, while Susan did the dishes, Danny and Amy played with her dolls and then wrestled each other on the living room floor. “I’m gonna getchou,” Danny growled, and Amy squealed with mock fear. Susan loved it that her husband and daughter were so close. I wish I’d had that with my father, she thought. Susan’s dad had always come home worn out from his job at the paper mill and gone straight to the living room sofa, where he’d kill a few beers and watch a game. He dropped dead of a heart attack when Susan was only ten.
After that, she never had any other real father figures. Her mom went to work as a dental receptionist and began “sowing my wild and crazy oats,” as she put it, dating a variety of guys, some married, some not. Susan got that her mom had a right to her own life, but she felt Lenora made some pretty dumb choices, especially when she drank. It was one reason Susan went easy on the drinking herself.
As she scrubbed chicken fat off the baking sheet, she bit her lip and thought about what had happened two nights ago. Lenora was babysitting Amy, and they went out for ice cream with Lenora’s latest beau. Amy came home afterwards and declared the guy a “dodohead.”
“He kept calling me ‘Pretty Baby,’” Amy said. “Like ‘Hey, Pretty Baby.’ And then he’d touch my hair. Eww!”
Susan needed to have a talk with her mom about that. Amy shouldn’t have to spend time with Lenora’s boyfriends, especially the ones who made her uncomfortable. Susan had been putting off this argument since Thursday night, but she should get it over with. I’ll call Mom right now, she thought.
But when she finished the dishes, Danny was in his study with the door closed, sending emails to clients and potential clients and getting on real estate listservs. His being on the internet would tie up the phone line for the next hour, and Susan wouldn’t be able to call Lenora after all.
Well, that was okay. This computer stuff was important for Danny’s business. Besides, maybe she was better off waiting ’til tomorrow to talk to her mom. Lenora was never at her best on a Sunday night, when the weekend was almost over.
So Susan hung out with Amy at the kitchen table, stringing beads onto the necklace. They could only use about fifty beads for the size necklace Amy wanted, so they spent a lot of time choosing which ones to include.
“The dolphin and the duck should be next to each other, because they’re gonna get married,” Amy declared.
“That makes sense,” Susan said. “What about the blue unicorn?”
“Well, he should have yellow beads on both sides. Or maybe red … What do you think, Mommy?” Amy asked, furrowing her brow as if the whole world depended on it.
Susan smiled and smoothed Amy’s hair. How lucky was she to be able to bring this beautiful creature onto this earth?
They beaded the necklace together as the sky grew dark.