“Hey, boy child. Want to move the phone away from your face so I can actually see you?”
“Wait,” his mouth says, literally. “I want to show you something.” Something deep in the cavity of his mouth, by the looks of things.
“I see a lot of tongue.”
“The gap, Momma.” Wilder pulls the phone back and I see what I’m supposed to be looking at. “I lost a tooth this morning.”
“Oh, congratulations!” My heart gives a little squeeze because with each lost tooth comes the sense of him growing up.
“Annie says the tooth fairy will find it under my pillow here, at the cabin. Do you think she will? Find it under my sleeping bag?”
“Of course she will, honey.” Once I’ve told the fairy’s helper what the going rate is in our house.
“Good. I’ve got it in my pocket. Want to see?”
“No thanks!”
“It’s stuck in a piece of taffy. It looks really gross.”
My attention is pulled momentarily to the door at the sound of the bell. “You’re not selling it to me.”
“I know. I’m selling it to the tooth fairy.” I force a quick smile and watch as his falls. “What is it?” my little detective asks.
“Grandma Tina’s here.” My heart sinks, my gaze flicking from her approach back to my son. Of all the days, today is the one where I’m feeling least equipped to deal with her bullshit.
“Is that my boy Wilder?” she coos. She’s being nice, so I guess she must want something. I mentally slap myself upside the head. Of course she wants something, or else she wouldn’t be here.
“Yeah.” With a grimace, I flip my phone to face her. “Say hi.”
“Hi, Gr—I mean, Aunt Tina,” Wilder mutters in a flat tone as she slides into the booth next to me.
“Where are you, sugar? Is that the forest behind you? Are you camping?”
“He’s at Annie’s parents’ cabin,” I say, cutting her off and turning the phone back before she starts to tell him some story about communing with nature like she’s ever done anything of the sort. Unless we’re talking sex outdoors.
“Ethan and me are going fishing!”
“Be careful around the water,” Tina butts in. “You might slip and crack your head on a wet rock or something.”
Tina has always been good at pretending to care for an audience. I spend another couple of minutes with my son, uncomfortable at my mother’s proximity to my parenting. She seems to be paying supreme attention though I do spot how her eyes keep straying to my laptop. So I close it. As well as pretending to care for the benefit of others, she’s also good at sniffing out things she can use to her advantage.
“You baby him too much,” she mutters as I close the app on his silly, kissy face.
“Thanks for your parenting advice,” I reply, my tone leaning into now shove it up your ass.
“I heard you had a party.”
No need to ask the reason for her visit, then.
“It was Wilder’s birthday party.” I pause, waiting for her to ask why it wasn’t held in February. Good thing I’m not holding my breath because she doesn’t.
“A lot of people, so I’m told.”
“We invited the kids from his class.” I’m not being purposely vague. It’s more like habit after learning long ago doesn’t do to tell her stuff. She just twists it. Besides, I know where she’s going with this.
“Both parents too, I heard.”
“They’re elementary school kids. Some parents prefer to stay.” Unlike you.
“No, I meant Wilder had both his parents with him.” The look that accompanies this is quite a statement. A statement of triumph.
“It sounds like I don’t need to tell you anything. You’ve heard it all already.”
“I heard he’s good looking, and I heard he has money. A fancy car.”
I give in to a ripple of revulsion. She’s not interested in who Wilder’s daddy is. He’s just another opportunity.
“All this time, Keke. You didn’t need to be struggling. What happened? Did you fall out with him? Was he married?”
My laughter sounds like gunfire. “Married men are your speciality, not mine.”
Her nostrils flare, her eyes turning flinty. “You think you’re so much better than me, don’t you?”
“No, we’re just different, you and me. That’s how I prefer to think of it.” Because anything else would drive me crazy. What could’ve been and what should’ve been. I choose instead to frame it as I’m lucky. I had a good mother in Nana, and she made sure Holland and I would be okay when she wasn’t around any longer. There are so many children born into this world who are dealt much worse hands. My life is good. I have Wilder, and I don’t need anyone else. My heart pinches in contradiction.
“Oh, sugar, we’re not so different. I wasn’t the only one who got knocked up and should’ve had a termination.”