“Ouch!” she cried and looked again. The hand prints were still there. What could have such tiny hands? The prints were even too small to belong to Tina and Tally, her six year old sisters.
Tamara decided not to wear makeup to the tournament and went downstairs.
“Mom! Wake up! We have to leave in fifteen minutes!” she shouted and banged on her parents' bedroom door.
“Shut up, Tamara!” her mom called back, “Don't you dare wake up Tina and Tally! I plan on taking my ass back to bed once I drop you off. I'm going to a sale in St. Louis later today. Do you think you could get a ride back with someone from the club?”
“Maybe. I don't know. Why didn't you tell me yesterday so I could try to make plans?” Tamara slammed the empty orange juice container into the trash can.
“Because I didn't find out about it after you went to bed last night!”
“Whatever. What happened to all the orange juice and milk?”
“There should be a full gallon of milk in there, open your eyes and I just opened a new container of oj yesterday morning.”
“Well, they're gone now! Tamara said, tossing the empty milk jug into the trash too.
“What the?”
“Never mind, Mom. Really, it's okay. We'll figure it out later,” Tamara said, closing the refrigerator, “We need to leave s
oon. I don't want to be late.”
“Mrs. Kelly said you didn't have to be there until eight to register?”
“Yeah, but remember I'm meeting Hayden for breakfast.”
“And why couldn't this Hayden kid pick you up this morning?”
“I dunno, because I didn't ask him?” Tamara shrugged.
“Then why don't you call him and find out?”
“Fine!” Tamara dug into the bottom of her purse and retrieved her cellphone. Fortunately, she had saved his number to her contacts when he called her. It rang twice and went to voice mail. “He's not answering.”
“Sounds about right,” Mrs. Page, said stomping off into the bathroom.
Tamara's phone vibrated her palm.
“Hey,” Hayden's voice came from the other end of the line, “Either you're there really early or my clock's wrong.” His voice sounded thick with sleep and Tamara imagined him with bed head and holding a cup of coffee with his free hand. The image made her blush and shake her head.
“Neither. My mom is trying to bail on giving me a ride, so I was wondering….”
“Yeah, that's fine. I was going to ask you yesterday,” Hayden paused, taking a drink of something, causing Tamara's blush to deepen, “but you left before I could. I'll be there in about fifteen minutes.”
“Thanks.”
“Not a problem. See you then,” Hayden said and the line went dead.
“Never mind, Mom!” Tamara shouted, slipping her arms into her hoodie and went outside without waiting for an answer.
Leaves fell from the oak tree in the yard and were caught by the air currents. Tamara watched them swirl in mini-tornadoes before landing softly on the ground. She sat on the steps and rested her chin on the palm of her hand. Now that the adrenaline from arguing with her mother was fading, Tamara was exhausted. Her eyes drifted shut only to be startled open seconds later when Hayden pulled into the driveway.
Tamara drug herself onto her feet and into the car. She dropped her purse on the floorboard, fastened her seat belt, and locked the door before greeting Hayden.
“Morning.”
“You look like you got about as much sleep as I did.”