9. Took Pride In It

9

TOOK PRIDE IN IT

“ I t smells good in here,” Phoenix said the following week on Thanksgiving morning.

“Thank you,” she said. “Can I confess I’ve never made a turkey breast before?”

“Neither have I, but everything else you’ve made has been great so I’m not worried.”

Crystal liked hearing she was doing a good job at something that was so new to her. She was trying harder than ever before in a job, but this just came so naturally to her.

It was almost like being a housewife or mother and she never thought in a million years that was what she’d want to do. Not after listening to her mother bitch about it her entire life.

No way she was risking this job for anything and made sure she took pride in it.

In the past, she might have half-assed herself through things that were new or didn’t interest her all that much. It was more to just get by.

But she wanted this more than she wanted anything and realized that sometimes things do fall into your lap.

“It’s good to hear,” she said. “I’m trying. I know this whole setup is new for both of us. You’re not used to having another adult in the house with you, right?”

“Nope,” he said. “Maryn is the only person I lived with in an apartment. No one in this house. Not to say that I haven’t had an overnight guest now and again.”

She knew he might have thrown that out there so she didn’t think he was a loser that never dated. It seemed to her he was kind of flirting, then embarrassed over it each time something slipped.

Just like now when his face flushed adorably.

“We’ve all had overnight guests a time or two,” she said. “And when you share an apartment with people, you find out that is more than you bargained for.”

“Did you have any bad experiences?” he asked. He moved over to make another cup of coffee. Seemed to her he drank a lot of it. Probably to fuel him through his work that he did nonstop.

“Not personally. I mean no one gave me a hard time in terms of a strange guy in the place that wasn’t with me. But it’s not comfortable to walk out of your room barely dressed and come face to face with someone who wasn’t sharing your bed with you.”

She was grinning when she said it. Sometimes they played this little game with each other. It was kind of like what happened last week in the kitchen with them, but she wasn’t uncomfortable with that encounter and didn’t think he was either.

Like his eyes on her when she came down half dressed. She wouldn’t do that again. Well, she’d go to the kitchen if she needed something, but she’d at least put a pair of shorts on with her T-shirt.

Just like he’d most likely put more clothing on when he came out of his room that night.

She hoped he didn’t put a shirt on again. Damn, he had a better body on him than she thought he would. Last week when she’d walked by his room on her way to do laundry, she couldn’t resist the urge and opened his bedroom door and just peeked her head in there. Probably wrong on her part, but it’s not like she went in or touched anything.

She saw a large room with a treadmill in the corner and then some handheld weights and a mat rolled up.

The shape of the weights let her know what those marks were on the carpet upstairs. She’d noticed that the couch had been moved by the leg marks too and then she realized that he must have covered where his treadmill was where he watched TV.

He gave up his workout space for Elsie.

“I can see where that would be a problem for some,” he said.

“I normally just turned around and went back to my room,” she said. “But the last place I was, the person who had the apartment…she did it a lot. She lost a lot of roommates over it. One of them was accused of flirting with the guy, which I don’t believe happened. It was most likely the other way around, but it was too much drama.”

“I’d think you’d be the one they’d flirt with,” he said, smirking.

“They tried, but as I said, I’d just turn around and shut my door. I never wanted to worry about having to leave and have nowhere to go.”

He frowned. “You could never go back home?” he asked. “You don’t talk about your family much.”

“I didn’t have the life you did,” she said. “And I do talk about my siblings.”

“True,” he said. “But never your parents.”

She decided to have a cup of tea over coffee and went and put a tea bag in a cup and under the one-cup maker for the hot water.

“Not much to say. I came from working poor. Not even middle class. Everyone went to college but Landon. He busts his butt as a grocery store manager. Makes good money, but I’m not sure money is everything.”

“No,” he said. “It’s not, but it helps to have it.”

“Trust me,” she said. “I know. My siblings, I’d say they are mostly living the middle class dream or life. Good for them. Taylor probably got it the best, but she still works. She had it bad for years.”

“What happened?” he asked. “If you don’t mind sharing. You seem to be the closest to her and it sounds like she’s got a great husband and life.”

“She had a baby in her mid twenties or so. I don’t remember her age exactly. She met this guy. He had a privileged life, but she liked him a lot. The pregnancy was an accident and he didn’t want any part of it. He moved back to New York and had to pay support.”

“Asshole,” he said. “He didn’t want to see his kid? I’m assuming that is Angie, the niece you’ve talked about?”

“Yes. But his parents had the money and they wanted their grandchild. Since Jack’s parents were pretty much supporting his lifestyle, they forced his hand to file for custody.”

“Damn,” he said.

“Taylor didn’t have the money to fight and moved to New York so that Jack could see his daughter. Which of course he didn’t want anyway. It was more for the grandparents.”

“At least someone wanted to see her,” he said. “I’m sure it was stressful, but a child should get as much love as they can from people.”

She thought that was the sweetest thing ever. “You make a good point. And since Taylor ended up marrying her boss, Angie gets lots of love and now has two younger siblings. She has a whole new family in her life because Reed’s family is awesome. And she still has Jack’s parents. Last I heard, Jack rarely sees his daughter. He normally gets her and drops her off at the grandparents for them to have the time with her.”

“You can’t force people to be a parent,” he said.

Crystal looked over to the side and saw that Elsie was watching some TV show. She promised the little girl they’d do a ton of arts and crafts tomorrow while Phoenix worked from home. But today she needed some time to cook and have dinner on the table.

She wanted to make it special for the first holiday without Maryn. Phoenix had said he spent most holidays with Elsie and Maryn anyway if he couldn’t get home.

“No,” she said. “Can I ask what kind of mother Maryn was? Just so I know. Maybe there are things I should be doing more of. I mean I don’t want to replace her, but if I can help any.”

“That’s nice of you to think that way. Maryn was great. She was strict but fun. She worked a lot and at times would take Elsie with her if she had to get a house set up. Elsie would play on a tablet or color.”

“Elsie went to house showings with strangers?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “Just if Maryn was setting the house up for someone else to come. It wasn’t often, but it happened. I had Elsie a lot too. Not in my company building. It’s not always safe and I felt bad having her stuck in my office. But at night I’d be working from home and would entertain her here. She had her own room but nothing like it looks now.”

She grinned. “It wasn’t pink?”

“Oh, it was pink, but not full of that many toys. There are things still at Maryn’s house. I’ve got to get over there and clean it out so I can put it up for sale. It’s just finding the time.”

“And maybe letting go of it is hard?” she asked.

“You have no idea. I’ll have to bring Elsie there to get anything she wants, but thoughts for another day. I forgot to tell you I’ve got counseling set up for Elsie starting next week. I had to wait to get in.”

“That’s good,” she said. “I was going to suggest it anyway, but she seems pretty good. She has moments where she gets upset. I tell her to talk it through, that it’s okay to cry. I ask her questions about her mother and she seems happy to talk about her at the same time she’s upset. I hope that is okay.”

“It is,” he said. “I should talk about her more too. I need to keep Maryn’s memory alive.”

“But it’s hard for you too,” she said. She reached her hand over and laid it on his. The heat sent tingles up her arm and down to her belly again. Maybe it was a test of sorts, but she just wanted to offer comfort.

“It is,” he said. He turned his hand and covered hers for a second. Probably a test for him too. “But it helps to have you here and give me a reminder.”

“Maybe a distraction too,” she said softly.

“Yeah,” he said.

Before either of them could say another word, her phone rang on the counter. She moved over to see her mother calling.

“I should take this. It’s my mother.”

“Sure,” he said. “Do you want me to leave the kitchen?”

“No,” she said. “Hi, Mom. Happy Thanksgiving.”

“You too, Crystal. What are you doing today on your day off?”

“I’m cooking dinner for Phoenix and Elsie,” she said. “They are alone too.”

Her mother snorted. “You should get a day off. I hope he’s not taking advantage of things with you living there. You didn’t say anything about being a cook and maid, just a nanny. Talk about an easy job. You’ve got hours to yourself daily.”

“Mom,” she said. “I’d be alone today too and this is a nice way to spend it.” She rolled her eyes at Phoenix. She’d be able to explain more of why she didn’t talk to her parents much when this call was over.

“You could have gone out. Maybe he should have taken you out since you’re doing so much work. He’s got the money by the sounds of it.”

She wished she didn’t tell her mother everything about her job. But her mother was always money hungry and thought her kids should be supporting her now that they were all out on their own.

She remembered how Taylor got so much crap dropped on her that she purposely got pregnant by Jack to live life easily with child support. There was nothing easy about what Taylor went through. No amount of money made the stress and heartache go away.

Then marrying Reed hadn’t changed her mother’s mind about Taylor’s motives in life. She still couldn’t figure out why her mother thought that of her older sister.

She knew the truth and that was all she cared about.

“That makes no difference to me. What are you doing today? Are you cooking?”

“I’m going to Anne’s house. She’s cooking and Kyle and his family will be there too along with Landon and Brittany. Kurt is going with Karla’s family. Heaven forbid he spends time with ours.”

She let out a sigh. Her mother always complained. “I’m sure Kurt will be there for Christmas. You know everyone splits holidays.”

“Whatever,” her mother said. “You should have come home. I’m not sure why you couldn’t afford the flight now. It seems as if you’ve got no expenses and are living for free plus making more money.”

“It’s not a good time,” she said. “We’ll see what happens around Christmas. And I need to go. I’ve got to check on dinner.”

“Bye,” her mother said and hung up.

She didn’t even get a chance to ask about her father because her mother was diving right into complaining as always.

“Sounded like a cheerful conversation,” Phoenix said.

“Always is,” she said. “I’m not sure my mother has ever said anything positive to me in life unless it had a sarcastic twist to it. My sister Anne is cooking today for her family, my parents, Kyle’s family and Landon and his fiancée. But Kurt is going to his wife’s family and my mother is annoyed. Everyone shares and splits holidays. She just can’t stand it, but she never offers to do anything to bring everyone together either.”

“Did she want you to go home?” he asked.

“She did, but it’s not like she was cooking or doing anything. And you need me here.”

“You could have gone,” he said. “I told you that. I would have worked it out for a few days. I’m working from home tomorrow anyway.”

“Trust me, I don’t want to go. It’s not worth it. I’ll think about it for Christmas, but I don’t really want to do it then either. If you’re going home though, maybe I will, unless I can stay here alone.”

“I haven’t thought much of Christmas,” he said, “but you live here now. Don’t even think you can’t stay here if I’m not.”

“Thanks,” she said. She hoped he stayed because she’d rather spend Christmas with him and Elsie whom she’d only known a short time than family that had been in her life forever.