Veronica
"What are you doing?"
"I've decided to take up a second job as an ostrich," I deadpanned. My voice echoed inside of the box I had my head buried in. "What does it look like I'm doing?"
Gabby laughed, not even remotely taking my annoyance seriously.
"If you tell me what you're looking for I could probably help you find it much faster," she offered.
I clawed at the edge of the box until I could manage to force myself upright. The sight of Gabby staring down at me in her perfectly pressed beige dress was almost enough to make me want to bury my head back in the box. Fingers adorned in nude fake nails clutched tightly at the clipboard in her hands. A fat stack of paper she referred to as her "moving bible" was clipped to the top of it.
I sighed as an admission of defeat. "I just need some jeans for work."
One of Gabby's perfectly manicured fingers immediately slid down the top page of her clipboard. Not for the first time, I inwardly cursed her decision to color code and number our moving boxes instead of labeling them with words like normal people.
"Well, no wonder you're not having any luck. These are Stella's boxes."
Oh, hell.
"Right." I glanced down into the box so that I didn't have to look her in the eyes as I admitted, "I may have thrown some of my things in with Stella's."
I waited patiently for her to say something, anything. The click of her setting down her clipboard filled the silence between us. I watched out of my peripheral view as she carefully peeled the tape off of a box.
"What are you doing?" I blurted out.
"Helping you look."
I turned my head and stared at her as she sifted through the box of Stella-sized clothes. Interacting with Gabby always put me on edge. She was too… everything. Too nice. Too organized. Too beige. Her and Vinnie were quickly approaching their one-year wedding anniversary. Much to my brother's chagrin, I still hadn't managed to warm up to her.
"Where's Stella?"
A warm smile crossed Gabby's face. The one thing I couldn't fault her for was her love for Stella.
"The two of us happen to be smack dab in the middle of a rousing game of hide-and-seek. I'm trying to pretend I didn't hear her closing the hall closet door. I figured I'd give her a couple minutes before finding her."
My heart melted a little. "That's nice of you."
"It's hard to be anything but nice with a little girl that sweet. You've done a great job with her." Gabby suddenly made a triumphant sound as she held up a wad of denim. "Here you are."
I thanked her as she handed the jeans over to me.
"Are you sure you'll be okay with Stella while I'm gone?" I hated having to rely so heavily on the woman, but it wasn't like I could afford daycare. Besides, regardless of how I personally felt about Gabby, I couldn't imagine a stranger taking better care of Stella than she would. And since Gabby worked from home, she was basically always available.
"Don't you worry about the two of us. We're going to have a great day," she answered earnestly.
Our lukewarm conversation was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. Vinnie stepped in, his eyebrows rising when he saw Gabby and I standing together amidst the boxes. Gabby practically tripped over herself in her rush to greet him.
She beamed up at him. "How was the first day?"
"It was interesting," he answered, but it was me he was looking at as he said it. "Where's Stella?"
"Hiding," Gabby and I answered at the same time.
A wide smile spread over Vinnie's face. "You might be the only parent in the world with a kid who'd rather play a quiet game of hide-and-seek than wreak havoc. I thought she was supposed to be hitting her terrible twos."
"There's still time," I joked.
I wasn't holding my breath. The idea of my quiet, perceptive daughter going through a terrible twos phase was absurd. Some days I was pretty sure Stella was more mature than I was.
Vinnie's face grew serious. "I have to talk to you about something."
"Can it wait until later? I start work in…" I pulled my phone out to check the time. "Thirty minutes."
He rolled his eyes. "I still don't understand why you'd take a job working in a place like that."
"Because I need to work."
"You don't need to."
We'd been having the same argument for weeks. Vinnie's contract to coach football at Kelley University was more than triple what he'd been making to coach at the high school level. He seemed to think that meant that I should let him financially support me while I stayed home full-time with my daughter.
Living with him already made me feel more dependent on him than I liked. In the back of my mind, the fear always lingered that he'd someday come to resent Stella and me.
"Can we not do this right now?" I asked. Already, I was moving away from him, towards the hallway that led to my bedroom.
"I'll go get Stella so that you'll have time to say goodbye," Gabby offered.
I had a feeling she was trying to excuse herself so that Vinnie could say his piece. Instead of waiting for the inevitable, I darted out of the room and into the safety of my bedroom. I didn't have time for whatever was inspiring Vinnie to use his bad news voice with me. No way in hell was I showing up late to my first day at a new job.
I pulled my hair up into a high ponytail and traded my shorts for my jeans. A happy squeal made me pause as I leaned in front of the mirror to put on mascara. I closed my eyes and savored the sound for a moment. It was so rare to hear Stella like that.
She was quite the kid. I was pretty sure she was already more mature than more than half the people I'd gone to high school with. Everything she did, she did with so much purpose and focus. Even when we were doing fun things, she had a tendency to sometimes be just a bit too serious. My goal was to find us some fun things to do in Kelley—and soon. I loved seeing and hearing her get all excited, and I was determined to pull that out of her even more as we settled into the new place.
"Ronnie!" Vinnie shouted through the door, banging on it to emphasize his presence.
"I really am in a hurry," I was already saying as I swung the door open.
Vinnie was standing on the other side with Stella slung over his shoulder. Her cheeks were bright red and she was giggling so softly that I could barely hear it.
"There's my Stelly-Belly," I cooed as her chubby little hands reached out for me.
Vinnie helped her into my arms and I let my cheek settle against the top of her head. I'd keep her that small forever if I could.
"What?" I asked Vinnie, realizing he was staring at my daughter with a peculiar look in his eyes.
"She looks so much like him." The way the corner of his lip curled up in disgust spared no confusion about who he meant.
"I don't want to think about that, much less talk about it."
He didn't let up. "Do you think he'd know she was his daughter? Like, if he ever happened to run into her on the street?"
"I'm sure he'd be too drunk to recognize his own reflection, much less recognize the kid he's never met."
"But what if he wasn't drunk?"
My stomach churned. I kneeled so that I could put Stella on her feet. "Hey, baby? Mommy's getting ready to leave for work. I'll miss you." I kissed the top of her head, inhaling that sweet baby scent that still lingered on her skin. "Why don't you go hide and let Uncle Vinnie find you?"
Stella answered with an enthusiastic nod and wide eyes.
After she'd run from the room, I turned back to Vinnie. "We don't play the what-if game anymore, Vin. And especially not in front of Stella." The toddler may have been quiet, but I'd learned the hard way that she was like a little sponge when it came to soaking up what other people were saying.
"I know that." He leaned against the doorframe.
I didn't have time to investigate why he looked so agitated. My eyes scanned the room for the burgundy colored waist apron I'd been issued. I ignored the way Vinnie's eyes followed me around the room until I finally found it folded under a stack of paperwork on my dresser.
"Gabby would probably burst into tears if she saw what a mess your room already is," Vinnie teased.
Relieved that he was letting the other topic go, I turned to him and grinned. "And I still haven't even unpacked two-thirds of my boxes."
"You should try harder to get to know her."
"I know her," I protested. Vinnie's left eyebrow shot up. "I know her well enough," I grumbled.
"If you'd make a little effort I think you'd discover the two of you are more alike than you realize. And Ronnie, you could really use someone in your corner. This place is a lot different than we're used to."
That was one hell of an understatement. The day before, a woman at the grocery store had asked what pre-schools I'd toured so far for my daughter—my daughter who had only turned two a few months earlier. Apparently, Kelley mothers started touring pre-schools the second their pregnancy test read positive. It was a far cry from the small town we'd lived in before, where Stella had been dubbed a child prodigy for not trying to eat the fish bait when we went camping.
"Gabby is fine. We get along fine," I insisted, despite how weak the words sounded to my own ears.
"Mhm." He didn't look convinced, rightly so.
I dodged around him, pulling the bedroom door closed behind me. As much as I liked messing with Gabby's control-freak personality, I didn't want to give the poor woman a heart attack. She really would freak if she saw my room. And I needed her alive if she was going to keep watching Stella for me.
"Ronnie?" he stopped me just before I'd reached the front doors. "I was serious about needing to talk to you."
"Is it something bad?"
He nodded solemnly.
"Then can it please wait until this weekend? I'm not even settled in here yet, and now I'm starting this new job. I'm not ready to handle any bad news."
Vinnie looked like he was prepared to argue when Gabby stepped up behind him. "Vinnie, don't make Veronica late on her first day. Whatever it is, it can wait."
I sent a grateful smile in her direction. There was no use trying to outrun bad news, but that didn't mean I couldn't put it off until later.