“I knew about some of the things she did because I read the articles and books she wrote. She spelled out her feelings about having a baby and raising me in her last book,Dimidiate. She also wrote about my dad inDimidiatebut what she said about him wasn’t true,” I said. “Luckily, she had saved his emails in a special folder that held rejections from different publishers and also job rejections. I hadn’t realized that she’d applied to teach at a bunch of different colleges, but it didn’t work out.”
“Wow. That was a lot to learn about your mom.”
“She was only human,” I noted. “We all have problems, but maybe I wouldn’t have saved those emails in the folder that I called ‘See You in Hell.’ I learned a lot about her past by reading all that, like how she’d never tried to get child support.” When I had asked about applying for it, she’d always said that she’d gone to court but somehow failed, and then she’d refused to explain it any further. But I had seen in the emails that she’d actually only requested money from my father and she’d only done it once. She had never tried to do things legally and I’d assumed that itwas due to her pride. “I think I would have swallowed my pride if it was something for my child,” I mentioned aloud.
“Maybe she thought that she was handling everything all right without it. Was she?”
“Well, no. We struggled but I didn’t understand how much until I was old enough to notice what other kids were doing, like what was in their lunchboxes and the clothes and shoes they wore.”
“Did it bother you?” he asked.
I thought for a moment before answering again, “Well, no.I like things to be comfortable and I don’t mind if they’re pretty—I like that,” I admitted. “Grant’s friends were very focused on their possessions and I never really understood why. It’s just stuff…anyway, that makes me think of tomorrow night. Did you pick up your tux?”
“Ava was going to do it when she got her husband’s, and I’ll grab it from her.” He moved his hand away from Coral to take mine. “You don’t have to worry. I’m not going to ask you anything else, or try to make you talk more.”
“I don’t care,” I said, but I was conscious of a distinct feeling of relief that we were done with that. I asked him about his practice that morning and about the chances of taking Everly out in a boat, which she had been angling for. We had more to unpack, too, and then we had dinner together in his new house.
“Salud, neighbor,” Levi told me, and clinked his bottle to mine.
The next morning, I woke up early with plenty to do. First, Coral and I had breakfast, and then I went for a walk. I wanted tobe loose for tonight’s reception where I assumed there would be dancing. In preparation, I had been watchingSwing TimeandOn an Island with You, among others, and I’d moved my coffee table to the side to try out some steps. Grant hadn’t been a dancer, unless he absolutely had to do it, but I already knew that Levi planned to be out there and so did his sisters. I wouldn’t be Ginger Rogers, of course, but I didn’t want to shame him. I also needed to make sure my dress was set, my shoes were ready, and my makeup was non-expired. There was a whole lot to prepare.
But when I got back to our building, Ava’s car was in front, and she and her husband Jeff were waiting outside. “Thank goodness,” she called when she saw me. “Why doesn’t anyone answer their phone?”
I had left mine charging in my kitchen, since the battery had died the night before as I re-watchedTop Hatin bed, and I assumed that Levi was still in his own bed because this was his one day to sleep in. I started to explain those things to Ava, but she was on a rant about the buzzers being broken at this building—she seemed extremely upset by that, or maybe she was upset in general.
“I’ll unlock the door for you,” I promised, and looked at the empty seats as I passed by their car. “Where are your children?”
They were at home with Liv and her family, who’d driven down for the wedding. They were fine, but Ava wasn’t and Jeff wasn’t very happy, either. “I have to talk to Levi and fix this,” she stated as I let them in.
“What’s going on?” I asked Jeff, and he shook his head.
“We’re having a little problem with the tuxedos,” he answered. “Little, that’s the operative word.” He held up the garment bag in his hand and shook his head again.
“What’s going on?” Levi also asked as he opened the door to his apartment. He looked pleasantly disheveled, like he’d just woken up. I’d been watching the movie last night, which was one of the reasons I hadn’t been able to sleep. Another was that I’d been imagining him just across the hall, lying there in his underwear or maybe naked—he’d put on pants now, though, and he told us to come inside.
“Get dressed. We have to go shopping,” Ava announced.
“What? No, I got them something off the registry,” her brother answered, then turned. “Hi,” he said, and smiled at me. “Were you already out walking?” I smiled back, feeling a warm glow of happiness.
“Levi!” Ava snapped, but then she inhaled deeply, and we all heard the sound that she made. It was like a whimper.
“Baby, it’s ok,” Jeff told her. “It is. Levi and I don’t care what we wear.”
“Yeah, Aves, whatever the problem…” Levi started to say, and she reached over and unzipped the garment bag in her husband’s grasp.
“Why do you have a toddler tuxedo?” I asked. “I thought no kids were allowed at this wedding.”
“Oh, damn,” Levi sighed. “Is that what I’m supposed to put on?”
She was searching in her purse with one hand and pulled out a napkin while Jeff answered. “There was a mix-up at the store and we got the wrong order.”
“I got it.Igot the wrong order,” she corrected. “I should have checked inside the bags! I should have known that this one was way too light for normal-sized clothing but I was distracted because I was also dealing with my intern who had locked herself in the bathroom after she backed into our boss’s car, and it was raining and I was wearing my shirt that gets water-stained. But I could have checked on Friday night, too, or all day yesterday! I was…” She sniffed and looked at the napkin she held. “What is this, chocolate? Why would I have put it in my purse?” She crumpled it. “At least yours is the right color.”
“My tux is bright purple, and I don’t know if I can pull that off,” Jeff replied. “But it fits. I can wear it if you don’t think your aunt and cousin will throw a fit. I don’t want to upset the bride.”
Levi took the tiny tuxedo to examine it while I got a piece of paper towel, a clean one, for Ava. “I can wear a suit instead,” he suggested. “I have suits and nice ties, too, for work.”
“Didn’t you hear what Jeff said?” she asked. “You know how Aunt Kellie and Britainy will react if you guys don’t follow the dress code. It was almost impossible to find the right gown to match that hex color list they sent out!”
