Page 51 of Picking Pismo

Unloading their luggage from the back of the trunk, Alexis grabbed her bag from Claire. “When do we go back to Pismo?” asked Alexis.

“In a month.” Claire slammed the trunk shut and grabbed her roller suitcase. “I set the appointment for the week before school starts. You’ll get to start at your new school with no braces. I think that’s something positive to focus on.”

“But that’s the last time we’ll go to Pismo for who knows how long,” whined Alexis. She begrudgingly put on her backpack. “I will have nothing to look forward to after we go.”

Walking across the parking lot toward the elevators, Claire replied, “We’ll visit Pismo as much as we can.”

She had no clue how often. They didn’t have a place to stay, and hotel rooms were expensive in the little beach town. Maybe she could promise Alexis one visit a year? It sounded dismal even to her. Hopefully when their lives were more settled and Alexis made friends, Pismo would become less and less important.

“When?” Alexis followed behind her with her own luggage.

Arriving at the elevator, Claire hit the up button. “I can promise we’ll visit once a year.”

“Once a year!” Alexis shrieked. “That’s not enough. I’ll miss my friends too much.”

Her patience was wearing thin. A low grade headache made her neck throb. “You’ll make new friends here. I can’t promise you more than once a year. I don’t have the money.” She waved a hand between them. “We don’t have the money for expensive hotels, gas, and food. I am only a physical therapist. And Mom left us a mountain of unpaid bills. Remember?”

The elevator doors swung open. They shuffled inside. Alexis punched their floor button with a closed fist. “Everything is so unfair.” Alexis crossed her arms, leaning against the elevator wall. “I hate it here.” Her eyes narrowed into tight slits.

The elevator jolted up. Claire sucked in the air. “I thought you liked the new dance studio. You said it was challenging you, and you were improving quickly.”

Alexis jutted her chin up. “I lied.”

Alexis didn’t speak to Claire for the rest of the elevator ride, or the walk to their apartment. Then after dumping her stuff in her room, Alexis returned to the living room and turned on the TV while Claire scrounged around in the fridge for something to put together for dinner. Locating some bread, cheese and butter, Claire decided on grilled cheese sandwiches with some canned tomato soup. When flipping the sandwiches over in the hot pan, Alexis’s phone rang.

Alexis muted the TV and answered, “David,” replied Alexis. Her voice was animated once more.

Claire’s ear perked up. David. Flipping off the gas burner, Claire plated the sandwiches. Alexis continued to chat with David while Claire strained to hear what they were talking about. Besides the carefree laughs from Alexis, Claire couldn’t decipher the conversation. Grabbing two bowls, Claire filled them with the steaming tomato soup. Taking them to the table, along with the sandwiches, Claire waved at Alexis and pointed at the table ready with food.

Alexis turned her back to Claire, covering her face with her hand to no doubt keep Claire from listening in on their conversation. Claire shrugged and settled into her seat and began to eat. A few minutes later, Alexis walked over to the table and sat down.

Holding out her phone, Alexis said, “David wants to talk to you.”

“What?” Claire wiped her face with her napkin, shifting in her seat. “Tell him I’ll call him when I want to talk.”

“No.” Alexis shook the phone, pushing it into Claire’s hand. “We both know you won’t call him back. Just take it and talk to him.”

Exhaling, Claire slowly took the phone from Alexis. She pointed at the food and mouthed, “Eat.” Then she put the phone to her ear and said, “David, what’s up?”

“I heard it was a rough day,” said David with a voice as silky smooth as butter.

Running a hand over the top of her hair, Claire eyed Alexis taking slow bites of her sandwich and eavesdropping at the same time. Claire stood, placing the phone in the crook of her neck. Grabbing her dishes, she walked to the sink.

“Was that what you two were talking about?” Claire flipped on the faucet and quickly rinsed her dishes, placing them in the dishwasher.

“Partly,” replied David.

Claire twirled back to the table, covering the mouthpiece, she told Alexis to eat then shower. Then Claire took her hand off the phone and walked to her bedroom. “And what was the other part about?”

“I promised Alexis I wouldn’t tell,” said David.

Claire plopped herself down on her bed, kicking off her shoes in the process. “What part can you tell me?”

“I can tell you Alexis said today was hard. She misses her mom, friends, and Pismo.”

Claire pinched the bridge of her nose. “That makes two of us, but there isn’t anything I can do about that. We’ve been over this.”

“I know,” replied David.

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