Page 3 of Picking Pismo

Her cheeks flushed with heat. Claire scratched her head. “Could you repeat that last part?”

“I said,” Dr. Clark turned off the overhead light, pushing it back to its proper place. “She’s on track to get her braces off in six months.” Then he instructed Alexis to sit up, stripping his gloves off, revealing his bare ring finger. He tossed his gloves into the trash.

“Six months!” squealed Claire. Realizing her overreaction, Claire cleared her throat and tucked some unruly hair behind her ears. “I mean, is it possible she could get them off sooner?”

Claire didn’t have six months.

Dr. Clark stood, grabbing Alexis’s medical chart off the side table next to the dental chair. He shook his head. “I don’t see that happening.” Flipping through her chart, Dr. Clark double-checked the photos attached to the back. Then he snapped the file shut. “It’s like I showed you, there’s still too much movement that needs to happen before Alexis can get them off.”

Claire pinched the bridge of her nose, forcing herself to calm down. “We have to be out of Mom’s house in ninety days.” She gnawed on the inside of her cheeks. “Scratch that, like seventy-six days. I don’t…” She threw her hands down at her side, trying her best to not spiral into a ball of stress.

It was like she was on a child’s teeter-totter. Up and down. All day long. The smallest thing pushed her almost to a breaking point, things months prior, she would’ve taken in stride.

“Hey,” Dr. Clark’s voice was warm and steady, loosening the knot forming in her belly. He tilted his head to the side. “Let’s not worry about any of that right now. Okay?” His gaze skidded across her face, making her heart palpitate.

Hypnotically, Claire repeated, “Okay.” Her uptick of stress dissipated. “I’ll worry about it later,” she robotically stated.

Alexis grumbled, “Can we go already?” Her gaze flicked between Claire and Dr. Clark.

Claire paused, blinking. “Yes, of course.” Digging into her purse, she located her keys. “If you want, you can go wait in the car while we finish up.” She held them out to Alexis.

Snatching the keys from Claire’s hands Alexis said, “Fine.” Then Alexis brushed past Claire, nearly making Claire stumble forward.

With the chart in his hands, Dr. Clark stood too.

Once Alexis was out of ear shot, Claire said, “Thanks again for covering the rest of Alexis’s braces.” She shuffled her feet, moving toward the exit.

“My pleasure.” His eyes crinkled around the edges. “I’m sorry for what you and Alexis are going through. I can’t imagine.” His voice faded off, and Dr. Clark looked away.

This was the part she hated. Claire didn’t know how to put others at ease, and Mom’s passing was like a dark cloud of gloom wherever she traveled. Instead of acknowledging his comment, Claire decided to pass it right on by. “So, do I just talk to Sarah to schedule Alexis’s next appointment?”

“Yep,” Dr. Clark placed the file in a box on a side table then started toward a patient waiting in another nearby dental chair. “We’ll see both of you in four weeks.” Then Dr. Clark sat down on a swivel chair two patients over and started speaking to the patient.

Claire left, wandering to the front reception. She made the appropriate appointment with Sarah and left. After walking to her car, Claire slid into the driver’s seat. With her earbuds firmly planted in her ears, Alexis didn’t acknowledge her entrance.

“You didn’t tell me,” Claire started the engine, “your orthodontist was a total hottie.”

Alexis removed one earbud. “What?”

Claire repeated, “Dr. Clark is totally hot.”

“Gag me.” Alexis rolled her eyes and made a gagging motion. “He’s like super old. Gross.”

“He’s not that old.” Claire glanced over her shoulder before backing out of her parking space. Then she slowly merged onto the street. “We’re probably only a few years apart.”

“Exactly,” Alexis scoffed. “He’s old.”

Claire refused to let Alexis get under her skin. She forced a laugh. “Then that means I’m old too.”

“Like I said…” Alexis shifted, staring out her passenger side window. “You’re old.” A long pause, then Alexis caught Claire’s glance in the rear-view mirror. “How am I going to get my braces off if we’re moving before then?”

“We’ll figure something out.” Claire gripped the steering wheel. Her endless list of things to do before getting Mom’s house on the market rattled off in her head. “We’ll drive back down if we have to, because Dr. Clark isn’t making us pay the remaining balance on your braces, which is very kind of him.”

“Everyone feels bad for us.” Alexis shook her head, popping her earbud back into her ear. “And they should… our lives suck. Our Mom’s dead. You’re stuck with me. And we have no parents and no money.”

Karate chop to the gut, Alexis’s words knocked the wind out of Claire.

“I— I—” stammered Claire. The world came crashing down on her again, a whirling mess of tragedy. The past weeks of her life were ones Claire never wanted to relive. No doubt she had made a thousand mistakes as she dealt with her mom’s affairs and taken on the role as Alexis’s pseudo mother. She gazed to her right, taking in the view of the ocean, wishing for its calming presence to dissipate the tension in her chest. “I’m glad we have each other, and I’m sure things will get better with time... for the both of us.”

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