Stealing Heaven (16 page)

After I make her a couple of cups of coffee she calms down and
leaves a fake tearful message on Harold's voice mail saying she loves him and
wants him but things are complicated and maybe they need a break. He calls back
later that night, but Mom doesn't answer. She listens to the message he leaves,
though.

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"Nothing like shaking them up," she says as she turns
her phone off, smiling at me. "Tell them you love them and then run
away--makes them crazy. I bet you I've got the security code for the alarm
system at the house down in Florida by the end of next week."

"Maybe we won't be here next week. I mean, after I go back to
the Donaldson house we won't need to hang around."

"We'll see."

I know what that means. I'm not happy about it, but what can I do?
Once Mom decides she wants something, there's no stopping her. "I'm going
to bed. I have to spend all day tomorrow cleaning up people's crap. And I do
mean crap."

She looks at me. "It's what you have to do. And if you get
the Donaldson house, you--"

"I know, I'll call."

"Good."

In the morning Mom is so tired that she actually stops on our way
out to the car. At first I think she's checking her cell for messages, because
she's looking at it, but then I realize that she's just standing there.

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"Mom?"

"I'm coming. I think that stupid fish Harold insisted I try
was bad. I feel like shit."

"Make sure you take it out on him when he calls, then."

She grins at me. "Good one, baby. Feel like breakfast?"

I roll my eyes at her. "Fine, we can stop on the way and get
you, I mean me, a donut."

Work is the same as always--long, boring, and filled with Joan
nagging us for gas money--but when we get back to the office at the end of the
day Allison is waiting outside, sitting on the decorative bench Stu has warned
us to never sit on. It's okay for there to be maids in Heaven but we're not
supposed to actually be seen. She waves when we pull in.

"Isn't that the Donaldsons' daughter?" Maggie asks.
"What's she doing here?"

"Who cares?" Joan says, but looks at me in the rearview
mirror. "I think she's waving at you. What did you do, steal something
from her?"

I laugh and after a second Shelly joins in--she's one of those
people who hates to think she's missing a joke. Joan gives me another look,
then shrugs

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and lights a cigarette.

I say hi to Allison when we're on our way inside, very aware that
everyone is watching us, even Joan (though she's mostly trying to suck down as
much smoke as possible before she goes inside).

"Hey," Allison says. "I was going to call you but
then I realized I don't have your last name so I couldn't get your number. So
then I figured I'd ..."

"So you came here. Look, I'd love to hang out but I'm still
at work and we've got this meeting ..."

"I can totally wait." Allison smiles at Maggie and
Shelly, who finally stop gawking and go inside. "I've been dying to talk
to you! We have to go eat ice cream or something completely fattening because
my mom is obsessed with losing, like, a pound before the party and so there's
nothing to eat but some disgusting things that look like candy bars but so
aren't and plus--" She leans over and grabs my arm. "Brad! We're
dating! Like, for real! Oh my God, I've finally said it out loud."

I should be alarmed that she's tracked me down, but I'm not. It's
nice someone wants to hang out with me. I just wish I could.

"It might be a while. We usually get a lecture on

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some exciting new cleaning product before we're allowed to go
and--"

"I don't mind waiting. There's some stuff--" She breaks
off, looking a little unsure, and I wonder what she means. I don't get a chance
to ask, though, because Stu comes out and clears his throat, my cue to go
inside.-I do, turning my cell off as I sit next to Joan and listen to him
outline an exciting new way to clean toilets--like that's even possible.

When he's finally done, I go meet Allison.

It's not a big deal, seeing her. Not really. After all, I know
what I'm doing.

I think.

Allison and I get floats at the ice cream place. I notice people
looking at my uniform--the tourists kind of curiously, the rich summer people
with eyes that go vacant as soon as they see it--and I figure Allison will
probably be embarrassed by it, be embarrassed by me. But she doesn't seem to
care at all and even introduces me to everyone who stops and says hi to her.

"I think you're freaking people out," I tell her after
I've just shaken hands with a horrified-looking man dressed in a polo shirt
with the collar turned up.

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If you ask me, I'm the one who should have looked horrified.

"Please. Everyone around here has such sticks up their asses.
Besides, did you see what he was wearing? He should be thanking us for talking
to him."

I laugh. "That's what I was thinking."

We talk for a while more and even though I know Mom is waiting for
me I'm not in a hurry to leave. It's nice, just sitting around talking to
Allison, and for a while I'm able to pretend we're friends, real friends. She
tells me about going to the beach with Brad. I tell her about cleaning the
crazy demon spawn lady's house.

"I guess you must be totally ready to go back to school then,
right?" Allison asks.

"Pretty much." And just like that, all the fun I was
having totally disappears. I can't pretend I'm just sitting here talking to a
friend anymore. I'm not a college student, never will be. And Allison--I'm not
her friend. She doesn't know my last name. She doesn't even know my real name.

"Look, I should -- " I say, and then break off because
she looks nervous like she did before.

"What's wrong?"

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"Well, it's just ....okay. I'm glad I'm going to school, but Brad
is--I really like him, you know? I don't want the summer to end. And then I
find out ...." She pauses, looks down at her cup. "You know how he
was acting weird for a while? I knew--well, I thought James might have said
something to him."

"Why?" I'm sure he said something. James reminds me of
Mom in a lot of ways, and she would have said something.

She turns her cup around in her hands. "It's just how he is.
And then, yesterday, Brad told me he and James ended up at the same party a
couple of days after we got here and James told him I didn't really like him,
that I thought it was funny to have some beach guy chasing after me."

"Maybe he was joking. Brother-type stuff, you know?"

"Yeah," she says slowly, and I can tell we both know it
wasn't a joke at all. "Maybe."

"So," Mom says that night, after she's done giving me
the silent treatment. "What's going on with you?"

I'm lying on the sofa trying to sleep but when I hear her voice I
rub my eyes and sit up. I knew what

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was coming the moment I got in the car and she didn't say a word
about how late I was, but I also knew I'd have to wait. Mom does things her own
way and in her own time. She always has.

"Stu wouldn't shut up about some new grout cleaner. And no, I
haven't seen the schedule, so I don't know when we'll do the "Donaldson
house again. But as soon as I do--"

"Baby, I'm not talking about the house. What I mean is,
what's going on with you?" Mom sits down, curling an arm around my
shoulders. "I know you wouldn't be over an hour late because some moron
was talking about cleaner. I know there's someone. You want to tell me about
him?"

Tell Mom about Greg? I can't do that. And besides, it's not like
we're...anything, really. He just took me out. And made me dinner. And is a
cop. No, I definitely can't mention him. She'd be furious.

She wouldn't get the Allison thing either. I know how she feels
about people in general, and the whole idea of friends in particular. She
thinks people are there to use and nothing more.

"Well, the thing is... the Donaldsons have a son, and I
figured any information is good information, right?"

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I can't believe I just said that. She'll never buy it.

But she does, because she says, "James, right?" She
doesn't even sound surprised. I can't believe that either. She thinks I would
have anything to do with him? He's everything I can't stand in guys. He's
someone who charms and lies and then walks away. He's-

He's everything I'm supposed to be.

"I saw you together at the party," she says. "Not
that hard to figure out, baby. He's not the kind of face you forget. How long
have you been seeing him?"

"I... um. Not long. And I know you're probably mad, so I'll
stop --"

"I'm glad," she says, and I stare at her, stunned. If I
was messing around with James she'd be happy?

"Don't look so surprised, baby. Remember, I did see you two
together. And look, I know what happened with--oh, what's his name?--never
mind, it doesn't matter. It was ages ago. Anyway, I know it was--"

She squeezes my shoulder and I barely, just barely, manage not to
flinch. "I know it was hard and I'm glad you're out there having a little
fun now. It's what you should be doing. It's what makes life worth

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living. Plus, I know you'd never do anything stupid. We both know
what really matters, and it's all that silver just waiting for us."

"But--" I say, and then fall silent because I can't say
what's next. I can't say she's wrong. I can't say James is nothing to me and
always will be. I can't tell Mom I don't care about the silver. I can't say I'm
not like her and don't want to be. I can't say it because it would hurt her. I
can't say it because it doesn't matter. Everything's set and there's no way out
of it now.

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21

I don't normally care what day it is but I know today is Thursday.
Why? Because I have the day off. No scrubbing toilets, no vacuuming, no sitting
in the car with Shelly pigging up every inch of space and Joan doing her part
to keep the cigarette industry in business.

I get up and make eggs and bacon and coffee. Well, sort of. I
don't know if I'd eat the eggs, but the bacon seems to have turned out okay.
Mom's still asleep when I'm done, which is surprising because normally the
minute she smells coffee she's up and asking when it will be ready.

I go to her bedroom. Her door is open and the blinds are up but
she's lying in bed staring at the wall.

"Mom?"

"Hey, baby." She sounds awful, like there's a

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whistling teakettle stuck in her chest.

"You sound awful."

"I just slept funny. Will you bring me a cup of coffee?"

"How about"--I go into the bathroom, look around until I
find the bottle of cough syrup, and then go back out and wave it at
her--"some of this?"

"I'm not coughing anymore," she says, and then does,
twice.

"What?" she says when I look at her. "I told you I
slept funny. Will you please bring me some coffee? I've got to meet Harold
in--what time is it?"

I tell her and she hops out of bed, saying, "Coffee, baby,
now. I've got to get ready."

She rushes into the bathroom, turns the shower on. I go downstairs
and come back up with a mug. She sticks one arm out of the shower for it.

"Thank you," she says as I wrap her fingers around the
mug. "I feel better already. Don't I sound better? I do. So stop making
your worry face and go do something fun."

"How do you know what face I'm making? You can't even see
me."

She laughs. "And now I know I'm right. Seriously,

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baby, go out, have fun. Maybe go see that someone you've been --
"

Eww. Must stop her now. "Okay, okay, I'll go out."

Her laughter follows me into the hall. I go back downstairs and
clean up the kitchen. After she's left to meet Harold, pressing a kiss on my
cheek before she heads off to meet her cab, I go into town, end up at the
grocery store. I stand in the cough and cold remedy aisle again, looking for
something she can take. Or rather, will take.

I skip the cough syrup--that certainly hasn't done much good--and
check out the cold remedies. Most of them say they'll clear a stuffy head or
nose but I don't see anything about fixing odd noises when you breathe. But
maybe that's "stuffy chest."

"I'm starting to think this is your second home."

Greg. I know his voice. Strange but true, and not only that, I'm
glad to hear it. I turn and he's standing a few feet away, smiling at me. He's
wearing his uniform today. His nose is a little sunburned.

My first instinct is to--well, it should be to smile politely and
leave. I know this. But my actual first instinct is to smile back. To smile and
stay.