Page 14 of A Winter of Discontent for Henry Milch
“Great. We’ll do that.”
It’s not that I was in a rush for Emerald to grow up, it’s just that I was in a rush for her to grow up. For one thing, diapers. For another, someday I’d need more help with my grandmother. She might be useful by the time she’s eight. Maybe even seven.
Wait, what was I thinking? I wasn’t hanging around here for eight years. I was going back to Los Angeles. I was going backsoon. Maybe I’d just bring Emerald with me? Leave my grandmother to fend for herself? Okay that was all reallycomplicated. There were a lot of details to work out. I was going to have to think it through. Another time.
Before the visit ended, Dr. Tammy asked, “Have you heard anything from Emerald’s mommy?”
“She and Emerald’s daddy have gotten married, and they’ll be setting up house soon.”
“What? When did you—” I shut up. There was a lie afoot here, I just wasn’t sure who was being lied to, me or the doctor.
“Well, I hope they set up nearby. I’d love to watch Emerald grow up. She looks great. I’ll see you back in about a month. Stop at the desk and make an appointment on your way out. If it turns out, if Mommy comes back and you don’t need it you can go ahead and cancel.”
The door shut and I glared at my grandmother, “Did you talk to my mother and not tell me?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
“They’ll be setting up house soon?”
“That’s what people do after they get married, isn’t it?”
“You know she doesn’t follow those kinds of rules. People don’t usually get marriedafterthey have the baby, people don’t usually have a baby when they’ve got a twenty-four-year-old son, and people don’t usually disappear and abandon their kids. Do they?”
She sighed and said, “I’m going to wait in the car.”
As she wobbled out of the exam room I called after her, “Don’t you dare try to get in all by yourself.”
We hadn’t locked the car. It was Masons Bay, after all. Still, I had the keys in my pocket. I took them out, aimed the fob at the front of the building, and pressed LOCK. Hopefully, that would do it.
I secured the baby in her carrier and went out to the front desk. Over Emerald’s screams, I asked that they send an invoice for the visit then made an appointment for the next visit ina month. I walked out of the building half expecting to see my grandmother spread out across the sidewalk. But she was leaning on her cane next to the passenger door looking like she wanted to spit on me.
“You locked the doors.”
“I did. Let me get the baby settled and I’ll help you in.” I unlocked the doors with the fob. As I reached for the back door, Nana Cole opened hers and made to scramble in. I set the baby carrier down in a snowbank and got behind her in case she fell. Luckily, she didn’t.
When she got into her seat, she saw me there and said, “Get off me.” I decided to interpret that as ‘Thank you.’
I got the baby situated in the back seat, climbed in behind the wheel, then drove three blocks and parked again in front of Fudge You!
“What are you doing?” Nana Cole asked.
“I need to go into the fudge store for a minute or two.”
“No, you’re not giving the baby fudge. You heard the doctor, rice cereal or mushed up fruit.”
“That’s not why—I need to talk to someone who works there. Okay?”
“Oh. Fine.” Before I got the door fully open, she added, “Get me half a pound of chocolate pecan.” She opened her purse and dug around for her wallet. She gave me a five and I got out of the SUV.
Inside, Fudge You! was a narrow storefront with glass cases on one side and two marble-topped tables in the center. I knew from previous visits that the fudge was made on the marble and that somehow made it special. Don’t ask me how.
Behind the cases, dressed in a red-and-white smock, was an awkward looking girl a few years older than me. She wasn’t who I was looking for, that was clear.
“Hi, I’m looking for Zoey Calder. Do you know when she’ll be here?”
“I’m Zoey.”
“Oh, okay. Are there two Zoeys?”
