Blessings Ch. 02

He sighed, greatly relieved. "I could come over," he offered. She paused to consider the offer but said that she would prefer coming to his place. She must still live at home, he figured. "Great, I really want to see you, Cassie."

She giggled again. "I really want to see you, too." The words made his heart soar.

The Kevin that went to school on Monday morning was a new man. With Cassie breathing softly beside him his dreams were no longer haunted by Mandy. She had looked so beautiful the night before, arriving at his door wearing a long antique-print dress. A crocheted cardigan draped her slender shoulders, the sleeves not quite reaching the wrists on her long, luxurious arms. Those arms had been wrapped around him for the better part of the night; those slender legs had been, too. As they made love that first time in a long time, he wondered why they had spent so many months apart. They were perfect together.

She had rescued him from the pit of despair. He was now happy and focused and in love with someone who wouldn't laugh at him.

She was waiting in the apartment when he got home. When they had broken up over the summer he had neglected to ask for his extra apartment key back. He was glad he had. She had changed out of her work clothes, opting to wear his blue quarter-zip sweater and, he hoped, nothing beneath it. The sweater barely covered her butt. A small portion of her powder blue satiny panties could be seen. As pleased as his eyes were, his nose was even more so. As he stepped into the kitchen he was greeted by the aroma of tomato sauce and beef and savory Italian cheeses. "Something smells great," he said, while depositing his messenger bag on the kitchen table.

"I'm making lasagna," she said, while smiling radiantly. "I know it's your favorite."

"You didn't have to make dinner for me, Cassie."

"I know, but I wanted to." She wrapped her long arms around him. "It's all homemade, too. I went to the store and got noodles and hamburger and ricotta. Wait 'til you taste it."

"You had work today; why did you go to so much trouble for me?"

"Because you're worth it, silly." She kissed his nose. "You deserve better than that awful Hamburger Helper."

Kevin touched his nose; it was still warm from the kiss. "I like Hamburger Helper," he said quietly.

"That's because you don't know any better." She kissed him again, this time on the mouth. "Do you have very much homework?" He shook his head no. "Good, get cleaned up for dinner. The sooner you eat, the sooner you get dessert." She lowered the sweater zipper seductively. As much as he liked lasagna, Kevin was ready to skip to dessert.

The next month went much the same way. He came home to Cassie every night, and every night she treated him better than he deserved. As November rolled around, the time to make holiday plans arrived. They decided to spend Thanksgiving afternoon with his family, and the evening with hers. Mom was thrilled with the news. She eagerly agreed to move the turkey dinner to noon. Dad was excited about Cassie being back in his son's life as well. He felt a sense of pride that perhaps it was somehow his responsibility, that his nudges in the direction of Amanda had somehow sent Kevin back to Cassie. Amanda was the wild card.

She liked Cassie as much as anyone, but her relationship with Kevin had been forever changed. After the night on the couch they had only seen one another a few times, and it was always in passing. Sunday movie nights were a memory. Now Kevin's Sundays were spent with Cassie, as were all of his days.

He kept waiting for autumn to bare its teeth, but Indian summer persevered right up to Thanksgiving morning. It was sunny and seventy when Kevin's car squeaked to a stop in his parent's driveway. Dad was up on the ladder, trying to hang Christmas lights without killing himself. Kevin volunteered to help, but first he had to hand Cassie off to Mom. Mom absolutely adored Cassie and looked forward to spending the entire morning with her cooking and catching up.

Amanda heard the knock on the door but chose to ignore it. Another knock was followed by the turning of the doorknob. Amanda remained in the same position, flat on her back on the bed. She didn't look up to see who her visitor was; she didn't care.

"Mandy, aren't you going to come downstairs? Your brother and Cassie are here."

Amanda twirled her finger. "Whoop-dee-doo," she said in a monotone. She sat up on the bed, not caring that the blue Old Navy t-shirt she wore had ridden up her belly.

"Good God, girl, look at you. Can't you find something nice to wear?" Mom was such a nagger. So she had on a t-shirt and jeans. It's not like Thanksgiving was some special occasion, or Cassidy Zenk was some kind of guest of honor.

"I have a lot of things to do, Mom." Like lie here on my bed and wait for everyone to go away. "Could you just call me when it's time to eat?"

Mom shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "At least go talk to your brother. You hardly see him anymore."

She wanted to shout back And whose fault is that? But Mom had already gone. She missed movie night, and she missed him coming over to raid the fridge and do the laundry. She missed the way he ate her horrible Hamburger Helper and acted like it was the best food in the world. But most of all she missed him, the way he laughed, the way he made her laugh. God, if she hadn't acted like such a slutty tease, maybe he would still come around.

She heard a thump on the outside of the house. Peeking out the window, she saw Kevin atop the extension ladder. He was trying to hang the Christmas lights from the gutter clips, a task that would have been much easier had he kept his eyes open. His back and neck were stiff like wood. His left hand had the top rung of the ladder in a death grip. He was terrified of heights, but there he was twenty feet above the ground just to keep Dad from breaking his neck. She smiled, in spite of her melancholy mood. She decided she could be a little more sociable; it was a holiday.

Mom and Cassie were in the kitchen chirping along like a couple of bluebirds. They were so much alike, both tall, though Mom was a brunette like Amanda, and they both loved to cook and clean and organize and watch Martha Stewart; it made Amanda sick. Mom sliced into a fat yellow onion, while Cassie chopped ribs of celery. Each woman deposited her chopped vegetables into a sauté pan of melted butter. The wet vegetables crackled a bit as they hit the hot pan. Cassie stirred the pan with a wooden spoon. She waved the spoon at Amanda and offered a phony smile.

"Alright," Cassie exclaimed, "another recruit!" She wiped her hands on a dish towel and came over to embrace Amanda.

Amanda reluctantly accepted the hug.

"Okay, so what do you want to do? How about mashed potatoes?" Cassie asked.

Amanda held her arms out and shrugged. "I can make instant potatoes."

Mom tisked, and Cassie shook her head negatively. "No, sweetie, our guys are out there risking life and limb to make the holidays brighter. They don't deserve freeze-dried spuds; they deserve the real thing." Cassie tapped her chin as if racking her brain.

Did Cassie just call them "Our guys?" Was she officially adopted by Mom or something?

"How about the pumpkin pie, can you make crust?"

Amanda narrowed her eyes at Cassie. "I don't bake," she said firmly.

"Then I think we'll let you handle the cranberry sauce. You do know how to work a can opener, don't you?" Cassie's little jab earned snickers from Mom.

Cassie was so lucky that she was the one holding the chef's knife.

Amanda opened the pantry and grabbed two cans of jellied cranberry sauce. She opened the cans and theatrically plopped the red jelly onto the fancy serving platter that was supposed to be reserved for carving the turkey. "And they tell me that cooking is hard," she said. She stomped outside, happily ignoring Mom's chastisements.

Kevin was still up on the ladder, clinging for dear life. He had resorted to slinging the strands of Christmas lights like a rodeo cowboy hoping to lasso a steer. He was so pathetic. "Kevin, let me do that before you kill yourself." He left the lights dangling from the roof and shakily descended the ladder.

"Are you sure you want to?" he asked. His eyes traveled from her to the top of the ladder. He gulped.

"Not really," she admitted. "But you're dressed so nice," and he was; he looked exceedingly handsome in a dark argyle sweater and chocolate slacks, "and I'm just wearing jeans and an old shirt." She climbed the first two rungs of the ladder. "Besides, you looked like you would piss your pants if you stayed up there any longer." He made to swat her backside but didn't.

She reached the top of the ladder and stretched to gather the dangling strand of lights. She draped the cord over the gutter clips, went to the bottom of the ladder, and had Kevin move the ladder over a few feet so she could drape some more. He was completely silent down there, but she felt his eyes. I've noticed the way he looks at you. That's what Mom had said that night in the bedroom, the night her nonexistent relationship with Kevin had been given their parents' blessings. She knew that he was only watching her with the concern of a big brother, but she couldn't help but imagine what he was thinking. Did he have to fight himself from checking out her butt? She had noticed him looking at her before when she knelt or bent, but she had always figured that it was some kind of automatic reaction by a guy: see a butt, check it out.

It had taken close to an hour, but she had just about strung the entire house when Kevin called up to her. "It looks like you have everything under control." Amanda blew the bangs from her eyes in frustration. Men were so alike. First Daddy and now Kevin, they let her do all of the work. There was no way that she would do the entire cleanup. Like she even knew where the light tubs went, or the ladder! "I'm going to see how Cassie's managing dinner."

Cassie, oh we wouldn't want her to get lonely. You can ignore your little sister for a month, but you can't leave your slutty girlfriend alone for an hour. Amanda had no idea where her sudden ill-will for Cassie came from. Maybe she never liked her. Nevertheless, she had enjoyed Kevin's attention for the past hour and she was determined to keep it. Suddenly inspired, she stretched her free hand out and purposely hooked her wristwatch with the last gutter clip. She pretended to thrash about. "Kevin, help."

"Mandy, what's wrong?"

"I'm stuck," she said, rattling the gutter with her wrist. She pretended to have her foot slip. She leaned back on the ladder. Her heart fluttered when she felt the ladder rock. Below, Kevin grabbed the base of the ladder. He wrapped his arms around it, holding it steady.

"Stay still, Mandy; I'm coming up to get you."

Her acting skills must have been pretty good. Kevin forgot his fear of heights, ascending the ladder surprisingly fast. She felt him beside her. His feet were one rung below hers. His front was pressed to her back. She felt his breath on her neck as he told her not to move. He grabbed her wrist and delicately freed her silver bracelet watch from the gutter hook. She liked being close to him, feeling safe with him. It was like being in his arms at the movies, only more...vertical.

"Let's get down," he said.

She shook her head. "I have to finish the lights."

He took her arm and unlatched her watch. He put the watch in his pants pocket. "I'm going to hold the ladder for you."

"I'll bet you are," Amanda said, suddenly emboldened by the adrenaline rush. He asked what she meant by that. "You just like it down there because you can stare at my ass." He tried to protest, but she interrupted. "Don't tell me you haven't been looking." His reluctance to argue was proof that he had.

"Just hurry up," he said.

As the lights were finished and the tubs put away, Mom and Cassie had finished dinner. The entire family sat at the dining room table. It was a small gathering, just the five of them. As soon as blessings were said, Cassie hijacked the conversation by bragging about how large her family holidays were. She had four brothers and two sisters. All of them were married, except for her, and most had kids. Amanda felt sorry for Kevin. He would be stuck with the entire Zenk brood that evening. I wonder if they're all like Cassie. Yuck!

Cassie volunteered to clean the table, but Kevin overruled her. He gathered the plates in his long arms and hauled them to the kitchen. Cassie excused herself and headed for the bathroom.

"She's probably making room for dessert," Amanda quipped, while pretending to stick her finger down her throat.

"Mandy, don't say those kinds of things about Cassie," Mom said.

"Oh, yeah, I'm being way out of line." How did they think Cassie stayed so skinny, good genes? Amanda walked a mile every day and watched what she ate, and still she could never shrink below a size 6.

Kevin and Cassie returned to the table at the same time. He pulled the chair out for his emaciated little lovebird.

"Alright," Amanda said, "now that we've purged the table of all the dirty dishes, we can cut into that yummy pie."

Mom sliced into the pumpkin pie, flashing Amanda a dirty look as she did. Mom handed the first plate to Cassie. "Do you want any whipped cream, sweetie?"

Before Bag-of-Bones could answer, Amanda chimed in, "Sure she does. The extra calories are nothing the back of a toothbrush can't take care of."

Cassie tried to look nonplussed at Amanda's comments. Kevin looked confused, and Dad just looked shocked. Mom's face gave no indication of how angry she was; her voice did that. "Amanda Crystal Armstrong, I want to have a talk with you upstairs." When Amanda didn't immediately respond her mother's voice grew sterner, "Right now, young lady!"

Amanda was twenty; she didn't have to submit to her mother's orders. But she was also practical. She lived with her parents and ate her parents' food. The least she could do was respect their wishes. Mom was already halfway up the stairs when Amanda slowly scooted her chair from the table. She glanced at Cassie, who was staring at the slice of pie on her plate. Amanda apologized for being so rude, and Cassie accepted with a nod.

Amanda slowly made her ways up the steps, feeling for all the world like a POW on a forced death march. Mom was in Amanda's room, sitting on her bed, just like the last time they'd had a major talk. Amanda had laughed at her that night. It seemed so ridiculous that she and Kevin would have anything going on. She doubted she would have such a laugh during this talk.

Amanda pulled the padded chair from under her desk. She kept a safe distance from her mother.

"Why are you behaving so strangely?" she asked. Mom was too much of a mother to ask what was really on her mind: Why are you being such a bitch? "Cassie is a sweet girl, and she makes your brother so happy. What you said to her was so out of line."

Amanda started crying, she had no idea why. Maybe she just wanted some maternal sympathy. "Am I fat?" she asked. "I am, aren't I?" The question surprised them both.

"Baby, what...?" Mom held open her arms. Mandy went to the bed and allowed her mother to hug her. "Why would you think such a thing? You're beautiful, the prettiest girl I know."

"Then why did you think that Kevin and I were doing it together? You and Daddy thought I was so pathetic that I had to sleep with my own brother."

"Oh, baby, it wasn't like that at all. It's just, the two of you weren't dating very much." Amanda sobbed as her mother explained. "And, well, we noticed the way that you looked at each other." Those were the words she wanted to hear. Though they weren't very comforting, they gave her the most incredible tingling sensation. She realized she had goosebumps. "Look, you're a wonderful girl, and Kevin's very handsome and very sweet, and he's always been just crazy about you. We thought you deserved someone like him." Mom stroked the back of Amanda's head; she ran her fingers through the long brown hair.

The tears came faster now. Amanda felt her nose start to trickle. She finally figured out what was wrong with her. "It's not fair that Cassie has Kevin and I don't have anyone." She worded that awkwardly. She wiped her right eye; it itched so badly.

"You'll find someone," Mom assured. She touched Amanda's cheeks and brushed away the tears. "And he'll be absolutely wonderful."

Yeah, Mandy thought, but will he be handsome, sweet, and crazy about me?

*

To be continued...