14

Rose

Rose relives Liddy’s hug and kiss as she hangs on to the strap in the packed Red Line subway car. Liddy held her really tight, like she was leaning on her. This must mean that they are really friends, maybe even special friends. The kiss on the lips was kind of weird but maybe that’s what some people do with their friends. Rose has never kissed a friend like that but she knows other people do things differently than she does. Like how Europeans kiss on both cheeks.

When she switches to the Blue Line she still has to stand but is grateful it isn’t as crowded as the Red Line. And the people in this car look a lot more like her than the ones in the last one. No Cambridge types here, with their cool glasses and fake-ripped expensive clothes, but her Revere folks. Down to earth and not afraid to say what they think.

It’s not that she doesn’t like people who are different from her. She likes Marta and Jason Franklin and there are lots of others. Like Liddy, who has lots of money. It’s just that she feels more comfortable with her own. Doesn’t everyone? Except that in the ten years she’s been making this trip, even the Blue Line has become more different from her than it used to be.

A boy with a backpack gets on the train and smashes her in the shoulder with it. He doesn’t apologize even though he knows he did it, and Rose supposes Michael wouldn’t apologize either. Her sweet little boy has been gobbled up by some large, smelly man-child who isn’t sweet at all. But even Michael, who’s always on her mind and is her biggest concern, can’t push away Liddy. Rose wonders what that whole thing about her wanting another unit is about and frowns. Somehow it seems like it must be something bad.

She feels a squeeze of thankfulness when she walks through the front door of her familiar apartment. It isn’t big, but it’s more than enough for the five of them. It’s the same as her mother’s and as her brother’s downstairs. The exact same layout of rooms she’s always lived in.

The entrance is through the small sunroom facing the street, then the living room and the dining room and the kitchen after that. There are three bedrooms to the left of the other rooms, with one bathroom. It would be nice to have two bathrooms, but there are dark hardwood floors and wide moldings and a pretty built-in china cabinet. Rose wonders if one of her children will live here someday. Then she and Vince will take over her parents’ apartment on the first floor and babysit for the grandkids.

Emma and Charlotte are doing their homework at the dining room table. Emma, who’s the little boss at eleven even though she’s only one year older than Charlotte, is making sure her sister is doing her math problems right. “One-quarter is the same as point two five,” Emma says, her voice a perfect imitation of a teacher disappointed by a slow student. “They mean exactly the same thing.”

Charlotte doesn’t raise her head. “That’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid. It’s math. You’re stupid if you don’t understand that.”

“I am not stupid!” Charlotte cries. “Math is stupid if it needs two ways to say the same thing. And you’re stupid if you don’t understand that!”

“Don’t call each other stupid,” Rose says. “Emma, do your own homework and let your sister do hers.”

“But she’s doing it all wrong, and I was just trying to—”

“Emma.” Rose points to the history book open in front of her older daughter. “Your homework.” She goes into the kitchen and checks the cabinets and refrigerator to figure out what to make for supper. She actually agrees with Charlotte because what’s the point in making math any more complicated than it already is?

There’s enough leftover lasagna for tonight if she bakes up a lot of garlic bread—and serves Michael last, because he could probably eat all the lasagna by himself. She’ll make a salad for herself and Emma, green beans for Vince and Charlotte because it’s the only vegetable they’ll eat. Michael refuses to eat anything green. As she pulls things from the refrigerator, she calls out for Michael. She gets no answer so she calls again. He should be home from football practice by now, and if he isn’t that’s a bad sign. She marches out of the kitchen and bangs on his door. No answer.

“Michael’s not here,” Emma tells her in a singsongy voice that shows how happy she is to know something her mother doesn’t.

“Where is he then?”

“Haven’t seen him.” Emma grins. “Probably should check your phone, Mom.”

It’s annoying the way the kids are always making snide comments about her lack of computer skills but she does as Emma suggests. There’s a text from Michael telling her that he’s going to have dinner at Reggie’s. He doesn’t ask. He just says. He’s been having dinner at Reggie’s an awful lot lately. Reggie is one of the boys Rose doesn’t like from Michael’s middle school days, and Reggie doesn’t play football. She should call his mother to make sure Michael is there, but she doesn’t know the mother and doesn’t want to admit that she doesn’t know where her own kid is. At least now she doesn’t have to worry about not having enough lasagna.

Rose goes back into the kitchen and softly presses her tongue to the exact spot where Liddy kissed her. She likes the feeling and likes the memory. Warmth spreads up her cheeks, and she smiles again. When she finishes dinner preparations, she shoos the girls from the table so she can set it. She should make them do it, but they always make such a fuss that it’s easier just to do it herself. Vince will be here in a few minutes and he likes his dinner on the table as soon as he gets home. Her Vince is a good man. A hardworking man, a good husband and father, and he doesn’t drink too much. She’s lucky to have him. Much luckier than her friend Katherine, whose Rick makes Liddy’s Garrett look like a pussycat.

Vince comes through the door and calls out his usual, “Daddy’s home!”

Emma and Charlotte go running. They push at each other to get to him first. “Daddy! Daddy!” they cry in unison.

He winces as he picks each girl up, but twirls her around and kisses her on the head before setting her down again. “Princess One and Princess Two! How are my two beauties tonight?”

“Dinner will be ready in five minutes,” Rose calls.

He comes into the kitchen, pecks her cheek, and grabs a Bud Light. “I’m beat.”

She doesn’t tell him she’s beat too. He works in a Home Depot warehouse, which is a hard job that’s sometimes backbreaking and made worse by the bad injuries he got in Afghanistan. While she gets to sit in a comfortable office all day mostly just drinking coffee and sometimes hanging out with Liddy. Rose presses her tongue to her lip again. It’s been a long time since Vince kissed her on the lips. Even longer since they had relations.

She counts back and realizes it might be a year. It’s not that she doesn’t love him, because she does with all her heart and has ever since they were kids. It’s just that sometimes it feels more like they’re brother and sister. But after being married for so many years she supposes this isn’t such a bad thing. She waves her good, hardworking husband toward the dining room. “Take a load off, hon. I’ll bring dinner right in.”