My fingers stroke Ari’s hair, sliding through her head of soft, brown curls, and I start humming. After a little while she starts humming along with me, until she’s singing the words to ‘You Are My Sunshine’ out loud. It’s moments like this that I wish I could bottle up and save, so that I can revisit them whenever my heart needs some tenderness. Or when I feel like I’m failing my little girl. It’s my reassurance that, despite all of the stupid things I’ve done, I’m still doing something right.
There’s a soft knock on my door and I look up when my grandmother sticks her head through the door. She smiles warmly at the sight of me and Ari, her eyes wrinkling at the sides. Her face is weathered, but she has the heart of a twenty-five year old. Sometimes she feels like more of a mother to me than my biological mother was and in some way we both filled a void in each other. My grandfather died a year before I moved here and I guess my sudden arrival helped ease my grandmother’s loneliness. But it was the arrival of my darling, Ari that seems to have given my grandmother’s soul the healing that it needed.
“There’s someone at the door for you, sweetheart,” she says quietly. “You’d better hurry.”
I frown. Who would be here at 8 am on a Saturday morning? The door closes and I slide out of bed, lifting Ari onto my hip. I walk downstairs and come to a standstill when I see Taylor standing in the entryway. There are two bags on the floor next to her and Macy is clinging to her, her little face red and blotchy, stained with tears. Her uniform is rumpled, her hair thrown into a bun haphazardly on top of her head. When my eyes land on Taylor’s face I suck in a breath. Her lip is swollen, a drop of dried blood on the side, and her eye is swelling shut. A bruise is starting to form where her eye puffs up and on her cheekbone.
“Oh my God,” I breathe, taking a step closer to her. Her lip starts trembling. “What happened?”
She sniffles, saying, “It’s Jace. H-h-he showed up a-a-and he was d-drunk.”
I look at my grandmother. “Take the girls into the kitchen, please, Gama, and make them some pancakes for breakfast?” I ask. She nods, not asking questions, and instead of reaching for Ari, she reaches for an obviously terrified Macy.
“C’mon, baby girl, I’m not going to hurt you,” she soothes, her gentle voice calming. “I bet you’d like some pancakes, huh?”
Macy looks up at Taylor and she nods. “It’s okay, Macy. Momma will be right here, okay?”
Taylor hands Macy over and I put Ari on her feet, watching as she follows my grandmother and Macy into the kitchen. I lead Taylor over to the sofa and motion for her to sit down. “I’ll be right back,” I tell her. I walk to the guest bathroom that’s downstairs and open the medicine cabinet. When I find the first-aid kit, I make my way back to the living room and take a seat next to Taylor. Without saying anything, I go about cleaning her face, tending to the small cut on her lip and then the one above her eye, which I missed earlier. She hisses but sits still until I’m done. I hear the girls giggling in the kitchen and the sound somehow helps both me and Taylor to relax.
“You want to tell me what happened?” I ask gently. Taylor swallows hard, her eyes glazing over with tears. I slip my hand into hers and give it a reassuring squeeze.
“You can tell me,” I reassure her.
“I don’t even know where to begin,” she says. Her voice is soft and shaky. “It all happened so quickly.”
I don’t say anything. I wait for her to gather her thoughts and piece herself back together.
“I decided to pick up an extra shift,” Taylor continues. “And I got a sitter for Macy. I got in about an hour ago and Jace showed up soon after the sitter left. He was so drunk. When he started yelling I was worried that he’d wake Macy, but after he threw the first punch I didn’t care. He accused me of cheating on him when we were married and he said Macy isn’t his,” her chest moves with her sharp intake of breath and tears start sliding down her face. But she finds it in herself to continue, I see the resolve in her eyes. “It’s a good thing my daddy taught me how to defend myself before he died,” she laughs sadistically. “I just wasn’t expecting to have to defend myself against my soon-to-be ex husband. I knocked him out with a lamp and grabbed Macy, along with everything that could fit into those bags. And I’m sorry to just show up, but I had nowhere else to go, and I needed to get Macy away from him.”
My arms wrap around Taylor’s shoulders and I feel her sobs. They travel from her body, into mine, and I feel her anguish and heartache as if it were my own. “I’m glad you came here,” I tell her. “You and Macy can take the guest bedroom downstairs and stay as long as you need to.”
“Thank you so much, Hayley. I promise we won’t get in your way.”
“You can make yourself at home and I’ll go check on the girls.”
Taylor nods. “I think I’m going to shower and then Macy and I will get some sleep.”
Taylor picks up her bags and I show her to the guest bedroom before heading to the kitchen. Macy and Ari are munching away on pancakes and I take the opportunity to pull my grandmother aside.
“Is your friend alright, sweetheart?” my grandmother asks. Worry lines her face.
“I’m not sure,” I reply honestly. “But I think she will be. Is it okay if she stays here for a little while?”
“Of course, sweetheart. They are welcome anytime.”
I smile, grateful for grandmother’s hospitality. I kiss her on the cheek and say, “Thank you.”
After Taylor and Macy get a few hours of sleep, we sit outside by the swimming pool and enjoy the summer heat. I watch as Taylor plays with and Ari and Macy in the pool and let my thoughts wander back to the swim meet yesterday. More specifically, to Cameron. Hannah invited me to their party last night but after the week I had I wanted nothing more than to relax and spend an evening at home with Ari. A small part of me can’t help but admit that I was avoiding Cameron. As much as I wanted to see him again last night I decided against it. He’s trouble.
Taylor’s voice breaks through my thoughts. “What you thinking about so hard over there?”
“Nothing,” I say.
Taylor helps Macy and Ari out of the pool and takes them inside. She reappears a few minutes later, two tall glasses of sweet tea in her hands. She takes a seat on the lounger next to mine and passes me a glass, all the while her eyes bore into my face.
“What?” I ask. My lips meet the cool glass and the tasty liquid refreshes my mouth, traveling all the way down into my belly. It’s a welcome reprieve from the sweltering mid-August temperatures.
“What’s his name?”
“What makes you think it’s a guy?”
Taylor’s eyebrow rises and she smirks. “I may be blonde, but I’m not stupid. I know when a girl is thinking about a guy.”
I blush, and I’m not even sure why. Maybe it’s because I’m thinking about someone I hardly know but wish I knew better. Or maybe it’s because I had the urge to trace Cameron’s tattoos with my fingers after seeing the ink that covered quite a bit of his body. I’m willing to put my money on both and then add thinking about how mouthwatering he looks, with water dripping off every bulging muscle of his defined swimmer’s body, for good measure.