Susan Crosby - I'm Your Man

“Okay, bud.” Daniel stood. “Let’s go.”

“What’s got your knickers in a twist?” Cherie asked the second they were alone.

“I wish Daniel weren’t here. Frankly, I want Riley to myself.”

“Well, I can see your jealousy, Maureen, and Riley’s going to pick up on that, too. You’ve got Riley. Let go of the old hurt, and everyone will be happier.”

“I’m trying.”

“Building a relationship takes time.”

“I know.” Maureen rubbed her forehead. “I do know. He calls Daniel Papa.” She put a hand to her mouth. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud, to sound belligerent about it.

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Daniel has a nickname, Papa. Riley calls me Grandma. Nothing special.”

Cherie sat back, holding her wineglass, swirling the contents. “Papa is probably the most common variation on Grandpa. It’s those double-repeat syllables that babies learn so much easier—mama, dada, papa. He was there every day with Riley. Aren’t you being overly sensitive?”

“Maybe.” Probably. “It’s just been a long, trying day dealing with everything.”

Cherie sipped her wine, then set down the glass gently. “How’s Ted taking it all?”

Maureen summed it up, adding, “He’s being amazingly patient.”

“Hmm.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’ve been wondering how he would handle it if you ever didn’t go along with what he wanted.”

“I don’t know what that means, Cherie.”

“Just what I said. You defer to him, that’s all. Today you didn’t. I’m glad he’s being patient.”

Even if Maureen had wanted to explore the point further, Daniel and Riley returned then.

“Grandma, that bathroom is crazy!”

Since Maureen was a regular customer at the restaurant, she knew what Riley had discovered. “How is it crazy?”

“There’s no reg’lar lights but there’s colors all over the walls and they…glow. What’s it called, Papa?”

“Day-Glo paint and black lights.”

“Black lights. Isn’t that funny? Papa says that’s what the hippers liked.”

“Hippies,” Cherie said. She touched her peace-symbol necklace. “I was a hippie.”

“You were?” His eyes went round. “Did you glow?”

Cherie laughed. “Oh, honey, did I ever. I glowed like a neon sign.”

“I’ll show you pictures,” Maureen said. “She was beautiful.”

“She’s still beautiful,” Daniel said, lifting his glass in a toast.

“Well. Flattery will get you everywhere.” Cherie clinked glasses with him, then Riley wanted to join in. After much toasting and clinking, their meals were brought and everyone dug in as if they hadn’t eaten in days.

After dinner they walked to Daniel’s apartment. Ty wasn’t there.

“This isn’t too bad,” Maureen said, looking around. Nothing was new but it wasn’t too cluttered or dirty.

“I decided to clean the place up a little before I went back to your house. It reminded me too much of dorm life.” Daniel led them into his bedroom. He turned to Maureen. “Any chance you’ve got an extra set of sheets you can loan me? I don’t think even bleach will help these.” He lifted the ratty quilt to unearth equally ratty sheets.

Maureen pictured his house in Seattle, a three-bedroom craftsman with wood-shingle siding on a quiet, tree-lined street, a far cry from this tiny, street-noisy place. She caught Cherie’s pointed look.

“I’d be glad to loan you some bedding,” Maureen said. “Anything else you need?”

“Nope, thanks.”

Cherie glanced at her watch. “I’m supposed to meet some friends in a few minutes, so I’ll leave you. Thank you for dinner, Daniel.” She hugged Riley. “We’ll make a date soon, okay?”

“Okay. Auntie Cherie? You know my mom, right?”

“I know your mom very well. Your mom and grandma lived with me until your mom was six, just like you.”

“Really?”

“That’s right.”

“She’ll come back, right?” he said, almost whispering.

Maureen’s throat ached. Why did he have so little faith in his mother returning? Why was he so insecure? Jess had never once left him.

“She’ll be back just as soon as she’s done with the TV show.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.” Cherie looked at Maureen then Daniel. “In the meantime, you’ve got two doting grandparents and one doting great-aunt to spoil you rotten.”

“I don’t want to be rotten. I—”

“It’s an expression,” Daniel interrupted. “It’s an okay thing, bud. She means you’re going to have a whole lot of fun.”

“Oh. Okay.” He grinned finally.

“May I escort you where you’re headed?” Daniel asked Cherie.

“Wouldn’t that shock and delight my girlfriends, me walking into the club with a young stud on my arm.” She laughed. “Maybe another time. But thanks.”

They all left the apartment, Cherie heading in the opposite direction. Back at her house, Maureen loaded bedding and a fresh pillow into a shopping bag and brought it to Daniel where he was sitting with Riley, playing Go Fish.

“I added a can of air freshener,” she said.

Daniel grinned, and for the first time Maureen saw Riley in him. She’d never noticed before, maybe because she and Daniel hadn’t smiled at each other much.

“It did have a hint of unwashed student about it, didn’t it?” Daniel said.

“More than a hint.”

“All part of the adventure. Go Fish,” he said to Riley.

Maureen sat next to her grandson but addressed Daniel. “This is an adventure to you?”

“Isn’t it? Something unexpected. A chance to explore a part of the country I never have before—and not just for a weekend but for enough time to really get to know a place.”

“Is there a girlfriend at home who’s not too happy about this?” Almost instantly she folded her hands in her lap and tried not to fidget. She didn’t know how to take the nosy question back.

“Do you have any sixes, bud?” His eyes sparkled at her discomfort. “Not one in particular.”

“Go Fish. Papa has lots of girlfriends,” Riley said matter of factly. “Do you have any Ks?”

“What are Ks?”

“Kings?”

“Right. Yep. Here you go.”

Papa has lots of girlfriends. He’d played a wide field for as long as she’d known him, never committing to any one woman, and most of them substantially younger. She studied him now, playing the card game animatedly with Riley, making him giggle. She wondered what he was like in the classroom. It was hard to picture him in the role of English professor, as Cherie had pointed out. He didn’t fit any stereotypical mold. She bet his students loved him—

“You beat me again,” Daniel said, ruffling Riley’s hair, most of the gel having worn off during the course of the day. “I’ll hit the road.” He stood.

Riley threw himself against him. “I don’t want you to leave.”

“Hey, bud. You saw where I’m living. I won’t be far away.”

“Sleep in my bed. You’ll fit.”

A part of Maureen understood Riley’s fear. A different part was hurt that Riley didn’t want to be alone with her. It wasn’t as if they were strangers, after all.

“I’ll be seeing you lots. So much that you’ll get sick of me and wish I’d go away.” Daniel lifted him and rocked him side to side, Riley’s legs dangling and flying, making him giggle again. “You sleep tight.”

“Don’t let the bedbugs bite,” Riley finished. “Will you be here when I wake up in the morning?”

“I will. Or before your grandma heads out, anyway.”

Maureen followed him down the hall to the front door. “Thank you, Daniel.”

“No reason why we can’t work together on this. Give him some great memories.”

“I agree.”

“I know you hate me,” he said. “But this can be our chance for a new start, too. For Riley’s and Jess’s sake. And our own.”

“I don’t hate you.”

He lifted his brows.

“I resent you,” she said, then added, “with reason.”

“That sounds so much better.”

“And I’ve been really pissed off at you. And stuck pins in a voodoo doll that happens to look like you.” She smiled, taking the edge off the words.

“And if that doesn’t add up to hate…”

“I can see where you might think that.”

He grinned. “Your aunt’s quite a woman.”

“She is, indeed. I don’t know where I would be today without her.”

“I’d like to hear more about that sometime.”

“I’d like to tell you. Sometime.”

“Good night, Maureen. Sweet dreams.”

He walked away, and Maureen went off to tuck her sweet grandson in bed. How much had changed in just a day—Riley was hers for now, and Daniel? Well, there might be more to him than she’d thought. Time would tell.

But for now life didn’t get much better than this.

Rileyism #3: “I have everything under control.”

The following morning Maureen paced her living room in front of the window. Back and forth, stop to look outside, back and forth again. Why hadn’t she asked for Daniel’s cell phone number? He was always late. She should’ve told him fifteen minutes earlier than she actually needed him to arrive. If she was late to work because of him…

She spotted him jogging up the street and hurried to the front door to fling it open.

“Good morning,” he said, as if nothing were wrong.

“You’re late.”

He merely raised his brows.

His hair was wet, either from a shower or the jog, which might have started an hour ago, for all she knew. He was annoyingly faithful about anything related to physical fitness, but not about everything else in life.

“I’m going to be late to work,” she said, arms crossed.

“You look…official,” he said of her gray pantsuit and crisp white blouse.

She didn’t think he was complimenting her. He wore not-new shorts he must’ve packed in his carry-on bag, and a Golden Gate Bridge T-shirt he must’ve bought since his arrival.

“If this is going to work for us, Daniel, you need to be on time. I don’t like starting my day frazzled.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, succeeding in making her feel like a shrew, when all she wanted was to catch her bus at the normal time and get to work at her normal time. The distance between Bernal Heights, where she lived, and the Mission District, where she worked, was short, but too far to walk in less than fifteen minutes.

“How’d you sleep?” she asked, forcing the harsh edge off her tone as they walked down her hallway, aware that Riley was within hearing range.

“Dead to the world.” He held up the shopping bag she’d sent him home with the night before. “Mind if I use your washer? My stuff could be delivered this afternoon, but maybe not until tomorrow.”

“Be my guest.” She passed him a business card. “Here’s my work information. Please call if you have any questions.”

Riley pounced on him then and she was off to work. She did miss her usual bus, but still arrived at work just at eight o’clock. She didn’t stop to chitchat with her coworkers, instead heading straight to her boss’s office. It was empty, a rarity. Maureen left a note on the desk, then settled into her own office. Only one voice mail awaited her—

“Hi, Mom. I just wanted to let you know that I got here okay. I hope you forgive me. I really am doing this for my son, the same way you sacrificed a lot for me. I just don’t have your patience to take it year by year. I kind of want it now. I know, I know. Gee, what a surprise.” Maureen could hear the smile in Jess’s voice. “But you’ll see. It’ll be a good thing. I’ll talk to you as soon as I’m allowed to. Tell Riley I love him. Bye.”