Thelma pursed her ruby-red lips. “Not a big fan?”
He grunted, as if she caught him off guard.He may be old now, but it’s the same belligerent look he used to get when he didn’t get his way.It would have made Thelma smile if it weren’t for the fact that Robbie always acted like he’d rather be anywhere else than talking to his mother. “I was a freshman in high school when he was shot. Lost my first girlfriend shortly after. She kept saying she wastoo sad.I never understood it. Sure, it was shocking, but what did the president's dying in Texas have to do with us in California?”
Thelma latched onto one thing from what he said. “You had a girlfriend already?”
“Well… yeah.”
There. The first sign of Robbie being a bit shy around her.
“How exciting. Who was it?”
He looked as if he didn’t think it safe to say.Because of who it was? Was it someone I know?Or was it because he still didn’t quite believe that this wasreallyhis mother?
“Gloria Stanton.”
“Gloria! Little Gloria!” Thelma laughed, imagining the little girl who lived down Hemlock Street being old enough to date her son! “How delightful.”
“Uh, sure.”
That was one of their better meetings. Shortly before Thelma was discharged from the FBI, however, they had one last get-together to go over how it would look for Thelma moving in with her son, who had done up his guest room to make room for her.
“You know, that last night…” Thelma waited until the agents had left the room, when it was just her, Robbie, and Megan, the latter of whom always listened to whatever she said with rapt attention. “All I thought about was you. I left the house to go to the store to get you your milk. Your father said he would make toasted cheese sandwiches for us. I was looking forward to it.” She offered him a smile, lest she begin crying. “He madeexcellenttoasted cheese. Said he learned how in the war.”
Megan grinned; Robbie shook his head.
“Who cares about that?” he spat. “It was just another night. I barely remember you being gone for a few days because I was so sick. Highest fever of my life.”
Thelma bit back what she had wanted to say next. “I’m sorry.” She didn’t know what else to express. “I wish I could go back and stop myself from leaving the house. Even if it meant telling you no.”
After a few moments of awkward silence, Megan elbowed her father, who grunted again.
“So, anyway…” He couldn’t look at her while he spoke, arms crossed and body slouched on the couch. “You’re gonna be sleeping in our guest room. Megan did it up. She can help you with, you know, women’s stuff. Shopping. Whatever.”
Megan finally spilled whatever she had been holding back. “I soooo wanted to tell Mom about this, but because they’re divorced, the FBI said I shouldn’t!”
“You’re divorced?” This was Thelma’s first time hearing about it. She had speculated where Megan’s mother was, but for some reason, death had seemed more reasonable than divorce. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah, well!” Robbie tossed his hands upward. “Becky always said I was too hard-headed! Couldn’t let go ofsomething!She felt ‘restricted’ with me. Like I was ‘suppressing’ her in our own home.”
Megan furrowed her brows. “You make her sound nuts. To be fair, youarea hard-headed ass. I’m just better at dealing with you because nothing you say surprises me anymore.” She turned to Thelma. “I’m rubber, he’s glue.”
“Where’s your mother now?” she asked her granddaughter.
“Glendale. With her current husband.”
“Left me for a pocket-protector wearing lab tech!”
“Dad, she hadn’t even met Gavin yet when she filed for divorce. You’re thinking of Ulysses, her coworker. Whom she didn’t get with until she officially left you. Get over it, old man.”
“My, there sure is a story here.” Thelma attempted to change the subject, but the agents returned with more information for them to go over.
Two days later, Thelma packed up her meager things from the hotel room and followed Agent Ortiz to the main office, where she was officially released to her son’s custody.
She had asked Miriam to help her pick out an outfit. The agent had been so patiently helpful with procuring period-appropriate clothing that matched the ‘50s style Thelma was accustomed to.“Pants are the main thing women wear now,”she had told Thelma when she came back with both jeans and linen pants for her to try on.“And shorts. But you don’t strike me as the type ready for that.”
Indeed, when Thelma perused the website for a local women’s apparel shop that the FBI had a charge account at, she blushed to see how short many of the skirts were and how low the shirts were cut.Nice to know my garters are a thing of the past…Yet she couldn’t bring herself to wear the kind of shorts she thought were more appropriate for her bedroom. She now had a small collection of adorable and comfortable pajamas, but the day clothes were limited to jeans and a handful of blouses and plain T-shirts.
To Thelma’s surprise, however, Miriam had sourced some modern-day curlers that would get her the same effect as what she was used to. When she saw what Thelma had achieved by the next morning, Miriam grinned and declared she looked “much more like herself.”
