Chapter 24 - A Million Rainbows

I was huddled beside the entrance at Charlie’s school, freezing my butt off.

My hands were in my pockets, my arms stiffly at my sides. My jacket was too thin for this frigid weather. And thanks to Lyndsay, I no longer had my hoodie for that extra layer of warmth.

I was so cold I was afraid my chattering teeth were going to shatter me.

“Hey, Bree!” I looked up to see Sue crossing the parking lot. She was wearing a puffy white coat with a matching red hat and mittens, looking classy and beautiful.

“Hey?” I said. I wasn’t sure why she was here. Kyle was hanging out with a friend until basketball practice. I wasn’t expecting to see him or Sue today.

“I was thinking we could spend the afternoon together?” she said. “Have a girl’s day?”

Oh no. She was up to something.

“Sure,” I said. I wasn’t so sure, but it seemed like being polite was my only option.

The school bell rang a second later and Sue waited with me, linking our arms and cozying up beside me to keep warm like we were best friends.

“So,” said Sue once we were back in her car. She had the heat blasting, and we both had our fingers on the air vents. “Are you up for the mall? We can go shopping. Grab a bite to eat?”

The mall with Sue? I didn’t know what to think about that. But I felt like I had no other option, so I agreed.

It was a thirty-minute drive to the mall, and Sue talked the entire time, leaving no time for any awkwardness. It was pretty great.

I texted Kyle on the way over to inform him I’d been kidnapped by his mother.

His text back came through with a wink emoji: I know.

So he was in on this: What’s going on?

He sent back a line of question marks: ?????

He was such a liar.

In the mall, Sue led me to LensCrafters. “Now, this was all Kyle,” she said as we stood outside the entrance to the store. “I had nothing to do with it, but he said he made you an appointment. It’s all set up for four o’clock.” She handed me a small envelope—a gift card. “I’ll take Charlie over to the food court to get a snack if that’s all right?”

“Yeah, sure,” I said, stunned, feeling speechless.

She took Charlie by the hand and left me standing at the front of LensCrafters in a daze.

I pulled the card from the sleeve envelope. It was a prepaid debit card. The value was written on a small sticker: three hundred fifty dollars.

There was a short note with it.

Dover,

The exam will be about $100. The cheapest glasses are $80-90. And there’s a sale on lenses for students, so show them your ID.
I didn’t want you getting stuck wearing something you hated, so there’s a little extra.
The extra is yours. Spend it on the glasses or whatever you want. 

Kyle

PS. Sorry about my mom. I made this appointment before basketball started. Wasn’t thinking! AGH! 

PSS. Send me a pic. You. Glasses. ASAP.

After my exam, we walked around while my glasses were being made. I picked out the cheapest frames they offered, which left me with sixty dollars to spare.

It would have made more sense to keep that money. Save it for groceries or something nice for Charlie. But Sue was such a casual shopper, buying random things in every store we went into, that it was starting to rub off on me.

I ended up buying myself a new hoodie from Old Navy. It was dark gray, so it would go with everything I owned, and it was a lot nicer and thicker than the one I had lost. It was only thirty dollars, so I ended up buying Charlie a pink sweater that would go with everything she owned.

Getting glasses and a new phone were very similar experiences. They both opened me up to a world I didn’t realize I was missing out on. It was incredible how much clearer everything was. I could see so many more details in everything, like the tiny specks of glitter in the tile flooring as we walked, and the individual lights on the giant Christmas tree placed near the front of the mall.

When Sue said “grab a bite to eat” she didn’t mean food-court food. Instead, she got a table at a fancy Italian restaurant just outside the mall.

I ordered the spaghetti and meatballs from the kids’ menu for Charlie and got chicken parmesan for myself, all the while, with tremendous guilt, running the numbers through my head. It was amazing how much money I had let the Roberts family spend on me and Charlie in just one day.

“So Kyle tells me you’re thinking about a business major?” asked Sue with a bite of her salad.

Oh god. Here we were. Talking about myself.

All night, Sue had been so good about keeping the conversation light and easy, but now, I guess, we were getting to the good stuff.

It was fine. I would just go with the same well-practiced answers I always gave the guidance counselor at school.

“Business administration, probably,” I said. “I need something solid. Something with lots of job opportunities.”

She nodded. “What would you want to do if you had your choice? Your dream job?”

I didn’t have to think too hard about that. “Probably something with writing. Maybe an editor or something. My mom’s a writer, so I think that’s kind of where it comes from.”

“Is she?”

I nodded.

“Would I know any of her work?”

“She’s a mystery writer. Margaret Lane.”

Sue shook her head. “No, sorry.”

“Yeah, well, it’s been a while since she’s published anything new.”

Sue gave me a slow, thoughtful nod, one that carried a lot of understanding and a lot of questions behind it. “You know,” she said. “I wouldn’t be so quick to put off writing if that’s what you really want to do.” She took a sip of her water. “Especially now that every business is online. I myself am always on the lookout for good content writers and editors for our website.”

“Are people shopping for wedding dresses online?”

“Yeah, you’d be surprised. About half of our sales are online these days, and that number keeps rising. We still do fittings and a lot of business in-store, of course, but our website is the reason my four small boutiques are thriving. An online presence is absolutely crucial these days … a blog, social media, the whole shebang.”

Sue checked her phone, and I took the opportunity to check on Charlie, who was covered in red sauce. I grabbed a napkin and wiped her face.

Sue was smiling at me when I looked up. “So how’s your mom doing?” she asked.

I clenched the napkin, tucking my hands between my thighs. “She’s okay.”

Questions about Mom were inevitable. Of course, Sue was curious about her. I had spent an entire day sick in her guest bed while she and Kyle took care of Charlie. And not once did Mom call to check on us.

But I didn’t want to have this conversation with Charlie around. Charlie was still upset about Halloween, and talking negatively about Mom in front of her would break her heart all over again.

Luckily, Sue could sense my unease. “Do you guys have plans for Thanksgiving?” she asked, steering the topic away from Mom just enough that the focus wasn’t so obvious.

Did we have plans for Thanksgiving? No.

We never had actual plans for Thanksgiving. After my grandmother died, back when Charlie was just a baby, so did any holiday plans. It’d been years since we did anything special for Thanksgiving. I usually just made some of the food I got from the school. But it was all canned, and it was never very good. And it was always pretty depressing.

“Yeah,” I said, deciding to go with an easy lie. “We usually have some family over.”

“Oh, well, good,” she said, sounding a little relieved. “I was going to invite you over if you wanted? I always host a big party at my house. Everyone comes. My parents make the trip from South Carolina. Kyle’s dad and his new wife … my late son’s wife and our granddaughter are coming from California. It’s always a little crazy, but always a lot of fun.”

I hesitated. I was thinking about it. Because it did sound like fun. Especially in that beautiful house of hers. But Charlie would want to be with Mom. Besides, I had just lied to her and told her I had plans.

The waitress put the bill on the table. Sue took it and placed her credit card in the folder. She looked up at me, reading my silence. “That’s an open invitation. To you, Charlie, and your mom,” she said. “I know Kyle would love to have you.”