When Mary Met Halley

Ten

When I brought her back to my house the next day, Leif was waiting as instructed, his skateboard upside down on the lawn. I wasn't doing this awkward good deed alone. Because I was a caretaker to a fault, I'd blown up the air mattress and put clean sheets on it, then arranged Caleb's boxes a little better. We hadn't been sure of what we would want to keep when we moved into a new house together, so it had been stuffed into the spare room.

But that wasn't a problem anymore, apparently, and if it wouldn't have upset the kids and raised too many questions, I would have taken it all back to his house.

"Wow, this is really nice," she said appreciatively of my house. She had two mismatched suitcases and a brown bag, which held some of Caleb's things. The ever-present bun held her hair, the same jeans looking grungy.

"You pay storage fees in Arizona all this time?" Leif asked, putting down the suitcase she couldn't carry. He ran his fingers along the old dresser, then pulled out a purple fidget spinner from his pocket.

She ran her hand over the ocean-themed bedspread. It was really soft and one of my favorites, and I didn't know why I'd shared it with her of all people. "No, I actually don't have anything else." She shrugged a little, the tips of her ears turning pink. I'd never seen that happen to anyone before. "I love this," she said of the blanket.

"Yeah, me too." I bit back a comment about her using things I loved.

She followed us back out.

"You really don't have any more stuff?" he asked as he lounged on the couch and sparked a joint. I pushed his boots off my coffee table and he slipped them off his feet. He took another hit and held out the joint to me as I sat by him.

I took a drag, holding the smoke because I liked the feeling of getting lightheaded. The bird was off doing bird stuff or he would have been in the room because he liked a contact high. I'd tried to keep him away from it when he first came, what with his delicate avian lungs and all, but he had a mind of his own.

"Nope. Everything I care about is in those suitcases." She motioned to the bedroom and accepted the joint when I held it out. I was dying to know what was in them while at the same time trying to figure out what I would keep if I had to fit it into two suitcases.

She sat in the comfy blue armchair. Her t-shirt was tight and powder-blue and said Free Shrugs, which I secretly thought was funny. She took a second hit and began coughing, holding it out so I took it back and handed it to him. "Damn," she said. "Haven't smoked in a while. That, anyway. Thanks."

I nudged Leif and nodded toward the kitchen. He sighed but obediently went in and brought back some Red Bulls, Cokes, and a water. I saluted him and cracked a Red Bull and smoked. She took the water. Explained the perfect skin.

"Ugh, these jeans are kind of filthy," she said, fingering one of the tears in them as she took the joint from me. Her fingers were cold.

"Take 'em off," I said without pre-thought, and then gave Leif the slightest of glares before he could make a dirty joke. He raised his eyebrows but bit his lip, which helped him shut up. "I have a washer and dryer," I clarified, as she coughed again and nodded. "Might as well get all your dirty stuff."

She stood and passed it to Leif, then disappeared into the bedroom. The door shut most of the way and I could hear the loud zipper of the luggage.

You're crazy, Leif signed to me, meaning because I'd invited her to stay and now I was doing her laundry.

I flipped him off with both hands because he was right and took the roach.

"Mother Mary," the smartass continued out loud. His eyeliner was thick, which meant he'd been fighting with their dad. He'd touched up his roots and his hair was as black as it could get. Somehow he looked like a little kid dressing up.