Mitch’s head turned and tipped back to look at her and when his did, so did Billy’s. I twisted my neck to look at her as well and Billie pressed deep to look around me so she could see her too.
But the woman only had eyes for me.
“Sorry to disturb you but I just wanted to say, you have the most beautiful family I’ve ever seen.” My heart stopped, she smiled big, touched Billy’s hair, a Billy who was staring up at her with his mouth wide open and then she looked back at me. “Kids are usually grouchy, everyone’s always snappy, fighting, loud, kids racing around. It’s nice to see a polite, happy, beautiful family for once.” She nodded to me and finished, “Keep up the good work.”
“Uh…” I mumbled.
“Thanks.” Mitch’s deep voice sounded.
She smiled at Mitch then Billie then Billy. She nodded to me again, turned and walked away.
I blinked repeatedly at her departing back.
“She was nice!” Billie declared exuberantly and my head turned to look at her smiling face.
“Yeah, baby, a very nice lady.”
“I’ve never been part of a beautiful family,” Billie stated.
I stared at her, my heart wrenched, my head turned again and I caught Mitch’s eyes just as his arm wrapped around my shoulders. He pulled me into his side and since Billie was in my arms she came with me.
Mitch leaned into us both so his face was close to Billie’s before he advised, “Live it up, gorgeous.”
“Yippee!” Billie cried.
“Hush, honey, that’s a little loud,” I whispered to her.
“I can’t live it up quiet,” she whispered loudly and logically back to me.
“She’s got you there, sweetheart,” Mitch murmured, gave my shoulders a squeeze and then turned to the waitress who was there with our bill.
I scooted a bit away and sucked in breath. Then I let it out. For the next few minutes I allowed myself to pretend this table with Billy, Billie and Mitch was me and my beautiful family. Something I never had. Something I always wanted. Something that wasn’t for the likes of me.
Then we left the restaurant to go deal with Bill.
Chapter Six
Butterflies and Flowers
My alarm went off. I opened my eyes and saw it was an hour and a half earlier than it was normally set to go off. I blinked at it and then I remembered.
I reached out a hand to turn it off and rolled carefully.
Billie was dead asleep next to me, sprawled out on my bed, the fingers of her right hand clutching a new, little, fluffy pink teddy bear. She was sprawled yet she was so small she didn’t take up much of the bed. And she was also apparently oblivious to alarm clocks.
I moved into her, kissed her forehead then exited the bed and went to my bathroom, yesterday evening playing out in my head.
Suffice it to say things at Bill’s did not go well. In fact, they went worse than I could have imagined because things at Bill’s were worse than I ever imagined.
This was not because I lost it or Bill lost it when I shared with him that I intended to get custody of his kids. Though he did lose it but not because I told him I intended to take his kids from him.
This was because Mitch lost it. I knew I didn’t want him to know about Bill, Billy and Billie and how all that reflected on me and him losing it only proved I was very, very right.
Even so, this had been surprising. I didn’t know Mitch very well but I’d seen him get angry. I’d heard him get angry. And he could be a jerk when he was angry.
Then again, I didn’t know just how bad things were at Bill’s.
And they were bad.
You see when we walked into Bill’s, he was on the couch and he was high as a kite. His eyes were glassy, his body limp and his limbs not in his control. There was an open bottle of half-drunk vodka next to some drug paraphernalia on the dirty, cluttered coffee table in front of him.
I stared at my cousin, frozen in shock. I’d never seen him like this. I’d seen him drunk, of course. I’d even seen him drunk around his kids, though infrequently. I’d also seen him high, back in the day, and guessed he still partook but my guess was he partook of weed. Not what would necessitate him having the kind of drug paraphernalia he had right then. I’d never seen him high like this and definitely not high around his kids
He didn’t hide his liquor from me or his kids which was something I didn’t like. I knew how weird and uncomfortable it was seeing a parent drink all the time, drink until they were fall down, crazy, stupid and sometimes mean drunk. And I didn’t want that for Billy and Billie. But it wasn’t illegal and to my knowledge it didn’t happen very often.
I’d never seen the drug paraphernalia. Not ever.