Chapter9
Rita slowly tiptoed out of the bedroom in the morning, leaving Axel in bed, fast asleep. She felt much better about everything, especially after her wonderful night with him. As the images and feelings of last night whizzed through her mind, she smiled to herself before she was suddenly tackled to the ground.
“Ah!” Rita screamed, her eyes growing wide with fright.
On top of her was a very excited Dalmatian, who was now eagerly licking her face all over. He was laying right on top of her, his heavy body pinning her to the ground. As the dog continued to bombard her with licks, she grew frightened. What if this dog wanted to hurt her?
“Spot! Get off!” A small, childish voice sounded before a pair of tiny hands wrapped around the Dalmatian’s collar, pulling him off Rita. Eliza stood there, with the Dalmatian now loyally laying down by her side. She looked down at Rita with a curious look on her face before her eyes widened in realization. “You must be Rita!” All of a sudden, she lunged forward, wrapping her arms around the woman’s neck. “You really are pretty!” She giggled.
“Um…thank you…but how do you know my name?” Rita inquired. She was confused by the entire ordeal.
“Big brother told me about you! Well…he didn’t tell me much…but that time he was out all night, he said he met you and that you were really pretty.” Eliza offered a warm smile as she continued to hug Rita. Almost naturally, Rita wrapped her arms around the small girl and rubbed her back in an affectionate hug.
“Is that so? That’s very nice of your brother,” Rita said before she got up, carefully prying the small girl’s arms from around her neck. “So what’s your name, pumpkin?”
“I’m Eliza. And this here is Spot!” She smiled and placed a hand on the dog’s head who barked in affirmation.
“I see. Well, has anyone told you that you’re also very pretty?” Rita smiled as she squatted down, getting to eye level with the young girl. Eliza’s fair cheeks turned a rosy color as she heard the compliment. Rita’s smile broadened as she reached up and gently touched her hair. “And what beautiful hair you have…it’s so long and healthy.”
“Thank you! Big brother braids it every day for me!”
“Does he now?” Rita mused as she tried to imagine the god-like man in the bedroom, braiding this innocent girl’s hair.
“Uh-huh! He’s pretty good at it! But he doesn’t know how to do anything fancy,” Eliza said with a bit of disappointment in her voice.
“What do you consider fancy?” Rita inquired, tilting her head to the side.
“Well at school…some of the girls have French braids or fishtails. And there’s this one girl, Makenzie, whose mommy is a hairdresser and she always comes in with the coolest braids! One time, it even looked like a flower!” Eliza’s voice took on a breathlessness as her words rambled into one another in her excited pitch.
“I see…well, I don’t know if I can do a flower…but I can certainly do a French braid if you’d like,” Rita offered, a kindness to her face.
Eliza’s eyes grew wide at the offer and she quickly bounded out of the room, heading for the bathroom. Rita followed her movement and smiled to herself as she waited patiently for the girl to return. A few moments later, Eliza came back with a hairbrush and a few of her prettiest hair ties.
“Okay, can you sit down next to the couch for me?” Rita instructed as she sat down on the edge. Instantly, she felt the cushion’s lumpiness and was grateful that Axel had saved her from a night of sleeping on it.
“Like this?” Eliza asked excitedly. By this point, she was sitting cross-legged between Rita’s legs.
“Perfect. Now just let me know if I hurt you by accident okay? I haven’t done this in a while, but I will try my best,” Rita said calmly as she started to undo the girl’s existing braids and then slowly combed through her hair. She thought back to all the times she had done Carolyn’s hair when they were younger, but now, that felt like eons ago. But how hard could it be to remember?
When Eliza’s hair was all combed and tangle-free, Rita carefully parted it in half. She then meticulously worked on weaving it together, each time taking a strand of hair near Eliza’s skull, to grant her the French braid look she was going for. By the time she was done with the first one, she tied it off and smiled. She had actually done pretty well. Straightaway, Eliza reached up, wanting to touch it.
“Not yet. You have to wait until the end,” Rita warned, moving the girl’s hand way.
With a huff, Eliza placed her hands in her lap and tried to remain patient.
As Rita started to work on the second braid, Axel stumbled his way into the living room, bright-eyed and bushy tailed.
“Axel!” Eliza yipped as she saw her brother who was currently stretching.
Rita looked over and bit her lip as she noticed he was shirtless. He had nothing more on than a pair of old sweatpants, precariously hanging off his hips. She could see the faintest tease of his “V” and it made Rita shudder. She quickly looked away. It was still way too early in the morning to be aroused and besides, she was still working on Eliza’s hair. She didn’t want to disappoint the young girl.
“Look Axel! Rita is doing my hair in French braids.” Eliza pronounced the word ‘French’ very carefully as if to show off its added fanciness.
“Wow…look at you.” Axel grinned as he looked at them. He watched Rita’s fingers slowly weave the hair together.
“I like her!” Eliza blurted out honestly as her face beamed with happiness.
“I like her too…” Axel whispered, hoping no one could hear him, but Rita’s head shot up in his direction as she heard his words. Her whole face felt like it was on fire. Did he really mean that or was he just saying it to make his sister happy? A flush of glee wrapped around Rita as she tied off Eliza’s braid.
“There…all done.” She patted Eliza’s head, who promptly got up and ran to her room to look at herself in the mirror. Axel and Rita were now alone. “Did you really mean that?” Rita asked as she got up and made her way over to him.
“Of course, I did…I really do like you…and you are amazing in bed…and you seem really good with kids, too…it might be a nice change to have you around,” Axel admitted truthfully as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, gently kissing her lips as he smiled into them. “Plus… you taste awesome.” He grinned at his statement as he looked at her, referencing both their present kiss and last night.
“It looks so cool!” Eliza suddenly chimed in as she came rushing into the room and jumped onto the couch. “I love them! Thank you so much Rita!” Eliza babbled as she started to play with them.
“I’m glad.” Rita smiled as her stomach growled angrily. Last night must have really built up an appetite.
Axel’s face suddenly darkened as he heard her stomach. With a measured step, he quickly made his way into the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator hesitantly. To his dismay, it was practically empty. All that was in there was a nearly empty bottle of mayo and some sticks of celery. He groaned to himself as he felt embarrassment crawl up his face.
Slowly, he moved over to the cupboards, opening them one by one. They, too, were empty.
“What do you say we all go out and get some breakfast?” Axel offered, trying to defend his pride. He still had a twenty in his wallet. If they ordered from the dollar menu, he would be able to stretch the money for a bit until he got some more cash and could properly do the groceries.
Eliza giggled in glee before she ran off, constantly a ball of energy, in search of her jacket.
“Is everything all right?” Rita asked in concern as she looked at Axel. She had seen him opening and closing the cupboards when she had entered the room but hadn’t been able to get a look inside of them.
“Yeah,” Axel answered bitterly. Curiously, Rita walked up to the fridge and was about to open it, when Axel stopped her. “Don’t.” His voice was harsh. Despite his warning, she pulled her hand back, opening the door. She gasped as she saw how painstakingly empty it was.
“Why don’t you guys have any food?” Rita asked the obvious question.
“Don’t worry about it,” Axel said quickly.
“Seriously. Are you guys okay?” Rita’s voice was full of concern.
“I said don’t worry about it.”
Rita sighed and made her way out of the room. She found her way back into the bedroom and searched through her luggage until she pulled out her wallet. Stuffed inside, was all of her savings she had kept in a small safe at her father’s house. It was now clear that Axel and his sister needed some of it more than she ever would. Taking out a crisp hundred dollar bill, she walked back into the kitchen and handed it to Axel.
“Take it,” she stated, her voice firm as she stood in front of him, looking confident in her decision to help the family financially.
“I can’t just take your money,” Axel stammered as he felt his pride being shot down. How could he, a man, take her money? It didn’t feel right. He was supposed to be providing for his family and it was his fault that he was making his sister suffer. He clutched his fists by his side, angry with himself.
“You’re letting me stay here. Consider it rent,” Rita answered with a soft smile. “Please, take it. Don’t let your pride get in the way if you need money for food. Just take it.” Her voice was sincere as she picked his hand up and pressed the note into his palm.
Hesitantly, his fingers wrapped around it and he sighed. “I’ll pay you back…”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Before they could discuss the situation any further, Eliza came back into the room and grabbed Rita’s hand.
“I’m ready!” she eagerly said as she looked at the two grownups with an accusatory look, reprimanding them for not being ready to leave themselves.
“All right. Hold on, we need to get our jackets.” Axel chuckled, his mood instantly lightened by his sister’s constant happy-go-lucky attitude.
“Hurry up!” she said as she let go of Rita’s hand. Rita smiled and followed Axel into the room. While she was getting dressed, she noticed Axel placing the hundred dollar bill in his wallet. She was just glad he had taken the money.
***
“Does your brother always go out at night?” Rita asked Eliza a few days later, as the two of them sat in the living room together, crouched over the old, rickety coffee table.
“Only when we are running low on food,” Eliza answered as she started to draw a large, red flower in the corner of her page. “What are you doing?” she asked as she looked up and saw Rita’s face, dangerously close to her page, writing something down with the utmost concentration.
Rita, however, in her focused state did not hear the young girl address her. An idea for a poem had suddenly forced its way into her mind and she knew she had to write it down quickly or risk losing her spark of creativity. So, with a bright orange crayon in her hand, she jotted down the lyric verse and smiled to herself as the poem seemed to flow naturally from her mind onto the paper.
“Rita?” Eliza said again, poking Rita’s side.
Rita’s head snapped up and she let the crayon fall from between her fingers as she looked up at the small girl with a confused look on her face. It took her a moment to compose herself. “Sorry Eliza, I was just writing a poem.”
“Oooh… can I read it?”
“Maybe some other time,” Rita answered quickly before she picked up the piece of paper, folded it up and tucked it away in her pocket.
“Aww, why not?” Eliza pouted as she crawled over onto the woman’s lap. “Is it bad?”
“Maybe. I don’t know yet…” Rita whispered more to herself than to Eliza. “Anyway… do you know when Axel will come home?” Rita inquired as she kissed the little girl’s head. In the short amount of time they had lived together, they had formed quite a bond. She now felt a special attachment to the endearing young girl.
“Sometimes he doesn’t come home. When we are low on food, he is always out of the house…” Eliza whispered, her face turning gloomy. It was so unusual for the little girl to be unhappy that it actually caught Rita off guard.
“What do you mean?’ Rita turned her in her lap so they could face each other.
“Well…I don’t know what he does exactly…but he leaves once it is night time and doesn’t come home for a while. That’s why he got me Spot so that I wouldn’t have to be alone all the time.” Eliza explained as she played with the dog’s floppy ears.
“I see…you don’t know anything else?”
“Well…I think he goes to his car shop because when he comes back, he always has grease on his shirt. This one time, I saw him with these small bags that had green stuff inside. I tried touching one once and Axel got real mad at me.” Eliza frowned, looking down at her fingers before she let out a large yawn.
Rita frowned as well, quickly connecting the dots. It was no mystery what Axel was up to. She ground her teeth together, knowing that Axel didn’t have to stoop down to selling weed in order to sustain himself and his family. She would put an end to this, but first, she needed to put poor Eliza to bed. She couldn’t risk leaving her alone tonight, especially with the forlorn look on the girl’s face.
“Come on, let’s get in bed. Since Axel probably won’t come home tonight, why don’t we share a bed? It can be like a sleepover,” she offered with a kind voice.
Instantly, Eliza’s bright blue eyes widened with glee. She hugged Rita tightly. “I would love that! Pretty please!” she begged as she hung onto Rita’s neck and gave her a very effective puppy dog face.
“One condition,” Rita said seriously.
“What…?” Eliza positively bounced with anticipation.
“Go brush your teeth nice and clean for me.”
Without another word, Eliza rushed out of the room. Rita could hear the sound of running water as Eliza started to brush her teeth. She got up from the coffee table, slowly tidying up some of Eliza’s coloring books and such into a neat pile. Once done, she made her way into the bedroom she shared with Axel.
Since the apartment didn’t have a working washer or dryer, Rita had no choice but to wash their sheets by hand. They were still fresh and smelled nice. She smiled at her own hard work as she quickly jumped into some pajamas and patiently waited for Eliza.
A few minutes later, Eliza appeared in the doorway, already dressed in her almost-too-small pajamas and her faithful purple teddy bear in hand. His fur was all dirty and one of his eyes were missing. Rita smiled at the little girl before she picked her up and placed her on her lap.
“You know, your big brother loves you very much,” Rita whispered in the girl’s ear.
“I know. I love him too.” She giggled as she gave her teddy bear a hug. “But I wish he could be at home more often…I miss him…a lot…” Her words were downtrodden as she whispered them softly as if telling some secret to her little bear.
Rita’s expression soured as she gently squeezed the girl before she picked her up and laid her down on the bed. After tucking her in, Rita laid down next to her. Eliza turned around and looked at Rita with a serious look on her face.
“What is it?” Rita asked, a little concerned. She had never seen the little girl this serious before.
“How long are you going to stay with us?” The question was rushed, almost as if she were afraid to ask. Once done, she half hid her face in her pillow. She peered out at Rita with one eye, waiting for a reply.
Rita noticed her tightly holding onto her bear as if she were nervous. “I’m not sure…a couple weeks maybe…but…I don’t think your brother has told you …” Rita trailed off. Was she in a position to tell the little girl about her pregnancy or should she leave it to Axel? She didn’t even know how much longer she would stay with them in the first place.
“Tell me what?” Eliza asked quickly.
“Nothing. Go to sleep.” With that, Rita leaned forward and gently kissed the girl’s forehead. “Sweet dreams.”
Eliza looked dissatisfied, but nonetheless, she was so sleepy that she turned over, holding onto her teddy bear and fell fast asleep. Rita on the other hand, couldn’t get a wink of sleep as she thought about Axel and what he was up to. She had to get to the bottom of this. There was no need for him to be a dealer. She would stop him herself if she needed to.