Page 88 of The Gathered Fragments of Us
"Well, I'm driving down to Providence tomorrow to visit Gladys for the night. Angie and Alex are coming up from Hartford." Gladys is Sandy's sister; Angie and Alex are her grandkids—adorable twins just a bit younger than Macy.
Caden smiled, and I could see him picturing the chaos those three created when they set their minds to it. The last time everyone was at my in-laws', the kids were upstairs while we were in the family room. Things got quiet—we all know whathappens when kids are quiet. Caden and the twins' dad, Andy, went up to check. Lo and behold, the three of them had decided they wanted to see how the upstairs armoire was put together—so they found tools and took the whole thing apart. Every piece, from the shelves and drawers to the doors, was completely disassembled.
I started laughing to myself, remembering my mother-in-law's reaction. Troublemakers, the bunch of them. Caden looked over at me questioningly. I just shook my head, still smiling.
“Oh! Nice, Ma. You have enough quarters for the rounds of poker you’re sure to lose to them?”
“Quarters!” she laughed. “More like dollars now. They’ve progressed from amateurs to pure sharks.”
Caden let out a solid belly laugh, Sandy following suit.
“Anyway,” she said, “I thought Macy might like to come along. Gladys always spoils them rotten, and you know how much Macy loves hanging out with them. Plus, she’s been asking about them since Easter.”
I watched Caden’s expression shift, becoming more thoughtful. “That’s really thoughtful of you, Mom, but are you su—”
“Plus,” Sandy continued, not letting him finish, “I thought it might be nice for you and Felicity to have some uninterrupted time together. You know, without an eleven-year-old’s ears and eyes around the house. Just for a couple of days.”
Caden looked at me, eyebrows raised in question. His mother was about as subtle as a Mack truck, but her heart was always in the right place. Honestly, the idea of a full day with just Caden sounded almost too good to be true.
I found myself nodding before I’d even fully thought it through.
“Actually,” he said into the phone, “that sounds perfect. Let me ask Macy, but I’m pretty sure she’ll be thrilled. Those kids always have the best adventures together, and I think she could use a little fun and mischief right now.”
“Wonderful! I can pick her up around ten tomorrow morning. Pack enough for a few days, then. I’ll bring her back Sunday or maybe Monday. We’ll see how things go. With everything going on, I think she could use a little grandma time, and I could use a little time with my grandbaby. Plus, your father will want to see her when I get back from Providence, so we’ll just plan to keep her another night unless she grows tired of us.”
Not two minutes after hanging up, Macy’s voice exploded from the kitchen.
“YES!” she shouted. We heard some unintelligible sounds and squealing, then through the back window, “Daaaaaaaaaaaad! Felicity!”
Caden scoffed. “Here we go,” he said to me. Then he called toward the house, “Yes?!”
“Grandma said I’m going to Providence tomorrow!”
“Yup! So I heard!” he yelled back through the window.
Getting up, both of us groaning a bit from stiff muscles, we headed toward the house. Following her voice toward the stairs, we found her practically bouncing a couple steps up, the remnants of a sandwich in her hand quickly disappearing into her mouth.
She started to rattle off questions but found her mouth too full. Unprepared for the moment, she stomped her foot, looking at the ceiling, chewing as fast as she could while clearly dying totalk. When she finally swallowed, Caden and I both laughed at her antics.
After swallowing, she took a deep breath and began at a rate just shy of the speed of light. “Grandma said she’s picking me up in the morning. We’re staying at Aunt Gladys’s house. She said Alex, Angie, and I can bunk together. Do you think they’ll take us to that ice cream place with the weird flavors like last time? Do you think they’ll remember the magic trick I taught them at Christmas? Oh my God, I need to pack my art supplies in case Aunt Gladys takes us on a hike again. Oh! And I can bring my bathing—”
“Slow down,” Caden laughed, holding up his hands. “Grandma won’t be here until ten. That gives you exactly”—he checked his watch— “fourteen hours to pack and repack your bag three times.”
“I need to text Angie!” Macy was already heading up the stairs. “She probably doesn’t even know I’m coming yet!”
“Don’t forget to check the laundry,” I called after her. “I just did a load.”
“Thanks, Felicity!” came the muffled yell from upstairs, followed by the sound of drawers opening and closing.
After the whirlwind of Macy’s excitement settled into the background noise of her getting ready, I settled beside Caden on the couch with a contented sigh. “Your mom’s pretty transparent, you know.”
“Subtlety was never her strong suit,” he agreed, pulling me closer. “But she means well. And she’s probably right—we could use some time without having to wait until Macy’s asleep to have real conversations.”
“The timing is perfect,” I agreed, leaning against his shoulder. “We could use some time to just… be together without a filter.”
“So, what do you want to do with our unexpected freedom?”
“Sleep in,” I said immediately. “Then maybe we could drive out to Ipswich?”
