Jane Rizzoli
"Tomorrow's Thanksgiving, right?" I asked Maura while I was nursing Isa.
"Yes. Did you forget?"
"No. It's just that Ma hasn't been in here cooking up a storm. I was just wondering why not."
"She said something about doing most of the cooking in the guest house so she wouldn't disturb you and the baby."
"She doesn't have to do that. Then she'll have to haul everything from her place to mines." I reached for my phone, finding it to be quite a challenge with a baby attached to my breast.
Maura saw my struggling, "Do you need help with something, Jane?"
"Um...yeah, if you don't mind. I can't quite reach it."
Maura giggled and retrieved the phone for me. "Do you need me to call your mother for you?"
"How did you know I was calling my Ma?"
"Seeing we were just talking about her and how you thought it was crazy for her to cook at her place and haul it to yours, I put two and two together and figured that is who you wanted to talk to." She ended her speech with a smile.
"Why Dr. Isles, I think we might just make a detective out of you yet." I giggled. "If you would. Yes, please call her."
On the third ring, Angela answered. "Janie, honey. How are you?"
"Fine Ma. How are you?"
"Now, Janie, I know you didn't call just to ask me how I was. What do you need?"
"I want to know why you aren't in my house cooking. I'm not much of a cook but I'd like to try."
"Are you offering to help me cook Thanksgiving dinner, Janie?" Angela asked in disbelief.
"I'd at least like to try." I said. "I'll do what I can when the baby's resting."
"If you're sure you want me to come over, I'll pack everything up and come over."
____
Soon enough I heard a door open and shut. "Ma? Is that you?"
"Yeah, sweetie, it's me. I'll be right in. I just need to put a few things in the fridge. Do you need a drink or something before I come in?"
"I'm fine. Thanks, Ma."
Angela walked into the living room just as I was removing Isa from my breast.
"Would you like to burp her?" I asked my mother.
"I'd love to." Angela said as she took the baby from me, sitting down. "Is everything alright with you?" She placed Isa over her shoulder and patted her back until she let loose with one of her signature belches which made both me and her grandmother smile.
"Yeah Ma. Why do you ask?"
"I don't know. You seem a bit off today."
"I'm fine, really. I guess I must be having a hormonal day. Maura says it will take my hormones a while to get back to normal and that I can expect up and down days. I guess today must be one of those days," I tells her. "I kinda miss Pop too. I can't believe he's not joining the family for the holiday."
"You'll be alright, honey. I remember feeling like that after I had you and your brothers. As far as your father is concerned, don't pay him much mind. He's so-called living the best years of his life,"she finished with an eye roll.
"You mean the last years of his life. I'm not sure he's healthy enough to deal with that wife of his."
"Janie..." Ma dissolves into a puddle of laughter and I can see her stomach shaking as she fights a new gale of giggles. "Why don't you go upstairs and take a hot shower. Then when you're done, we'll head into the kitchen and start on dinner. Okay?"
