Dance Away with Me(99)

“Are you even listening to me?” Savannah said from behind her.

“I’m listening.”

“Promise you’ll tell me if I’m doing anything wrong. I’m not screwing up Zoro like Mom screwed me up.”

“Savannah, since when have you ever listened to my advice?”

Savannah cracked her chewing gum. “I’ve changed. I’m a mother now.”

“How have you changed? Not even twenty minutes ago, you told me my jeans were too baggy and I should dye my hair because it’s boring.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with the baby! That’s for your own good.”

Tess raised her eyes to the roof of the car. “Dear Lord, don’t let me dump her on the side of the road no matter how tempting.”

Savannah grinned. “I did great yesterday, didn’t I?”

“You did great,” Tess acknowledged.

“A lot better than mom.”

“I’m pleading the Fifth.”

“I don’t know what that means, but all I’m saying is that I didn’t go batshit like she did.” Another crack of her gum. “Because of you.”

“I’m glad it was a good experience.” More glad than Savannah could ever know.

“You were so calm through the whole thing. You knew exactly what to do.”

“If you give me any more compliments, I’m going to have you checked for a head injury.”

“I’ll make Phish clear out the back room so Mom and I can set up a nursery there for Zoro and John. What kind of a lame-ass name is John? All the kids’ll make fun of him.”

There were so many responses Tess could make, but she took the high road. “It’s nice they’ll grow up together.”

“Wren’ll grow up with them, too.”

“I hope so.”

In the rearview mirror, Tess saw Savannah drape her arm over her son’s car seat. “You need to open a doctor practice, Tess. You really do.”

“I’m not a doctor.”

“You know what I mean. Being a midwife. A lot of women around here don’t like doctors, but they’d go to you. Remember that empty building Phish owns down from the Broken Chimney? You could rent it from him. Have some kind of office there.”

“You’re going too fast for me.”

“Somebody has to push you. It’s like you have to take forever to make up your mind about anything.”

“Don’t forget how many people still think I murdered Wren’s mother.”

“Nobody really thinks that, Tess. It’s just that a lot of people—like a lot of women—are kind of threatened by you.”

“Threatened?” The windshield wipers squeaked against the glass. “Why would anybody be threatened by me?”

“Oh, come on. Like you don’t know.”

“I don’t know!” Tess exclaimed.

“Keep your eyes on the road. You’ve got babies back here.”

“This coming from the worst driver in the world.”

“I s’pose you’re clueless enough not to know. It’s because of the way their guys look at you,” Savannah said with exaggerated patience. “Not like all of them. But like a lot. Even guys who don’t screw around, like my dad. It drives Mom crazy. The wives and girlfriends don’t like it.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“For a medical person, you should be more observant.”

Tess remembered that silly thing Ian had called her. A luscious widow. She stomped on the accelerator. “Ridiculous.”

*

After she’d settled Savannah and Zoro, Tess stopped at the cabin to check on Kelly and was greeted with the smell of fresh baking. “I know this is an imposition,” Kelly said from the couch, where she and Ava were each eating a sugar cookie as they watched the rain tap on the windows. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure where else to go right now.”

“Mom, you said you were going to stop apologizing all the time.”

“Yes, but . . . We’ve taken over Tess’s home.”

Tess hung up her jacket and transferred Wren into the sling. “You’re welcome as long as I can have a cookie. Did those really come from my oven?”

“I hope you don’t mind.”

“I’m glad to know it works.”

Tess sat in the armchair across from the couch with Wren curled against her and took the cookie Kelly offered.

“This is only temporary,” Kelly said. “Staying here.”

There was nothing like a warm cookie to help stave off sadness, and Tess took another bite. “If you keep baking like this, I don’t care how long you stay.”

Kelly resettled next to her daughter and gazed out the window. “I’m thinking about going to college.”

“Really, Mom?”

“I’ve wanted to do it for years.” She looked over at Tess. “Whenever I brought it up to Brad, he’d tell me I already had everything I wanted, and I didn’t need a degree.”

“He’s weird,” Ava said. “He’s always telling me how important it is to go to college. He wants me to be a lawyer.”

“What do you want?” Tess said.