Arlene grunted. “I’m sure Brad gave them the line about Paige being a lot older.”
“Yes.” Suzanne pressed a plastic lid on top of the dish with more force than the chore required. She hated it when her stepdaughter got to do anything her own kids couldn’t. Never mind that Bradley and Lauren were mere teenagers to Paige’s twenty-one. She still didn’t like it.
But she didn’t want to concentrate on anything negative. Today belonged to Brad. She wasn’t even going to ask him if he’d known about Paige and Gregory. That could wait. “So I didn’t feel it was necessary to go out for dinner on top of that,” she explained. “I figured some nice boneless ribeye would make Brad happy. It’s his favorite cut of steak.”
“It was nice of you to invite us…even if we didn’t get to join you for breakfast.”
Suzanne sighed. If her mother had her way, she’d never go anywhere that didn’t include her. “Of course we’d invite you to dinner at the house, Mom,” she said, choosing to ignore the mild reprimand.
“Derrick and Matthew will probably stop by a little later to pick up plates.”
“That’s fine, as long as they don’t walk off with all the meat.” After a party Suzanne and Brad gave a number of years back, her brothers had collected all the meat and seafood leftovers. Brad was the one to discover what they’d done the next day, when he went to get a snack and found that all the leftover containers held nothing but salads and cakes. He’d been furious.
Suzanne loved her family, and she tried to help them as much as she could, but sometimes they took advantage of her generosity, and that had definitely been one of those times.
This seemed to be a good time to bring up a subject that she’d been worried about. “Mom, you do know your rent is due next week. You’ll take care of it, won’t you?”
Arlene sighed. “I might be a little late.”
“Mom!” Suzanne exclaimed in a whine. “I thought you told Derrick and Kenya that they need to contribute. It’s not fair. You’re paying the utilities, buying all the food…”
“It’s hard for them, Suzanne. I manage. It’s just that I don’t get paid until the fifth.” She sighed. “That means an extra ninety dollars. Suzanne, why can’t you get Brad to stop those late fees?”
“I’ve told you, Mom. Those fees go to the property manager. It’s not like Brad is getting the money.”
Arlene took a sip of her drink. “Well, then, can you loan me a couple of hundred, just for two days?”
Now it was Suzanne’s turn to sigh. “Mom, you say that every time, but you never pay me back. You always say something came up. I’m sorry, but I can’t risk Brad finding out that I was paying your rent, which means that he’s paying it, since it’s his money.”
“All right, all right. Well, you won’t have to worry about the boys walking off with your leftover meat. Derrick will probably have eaten at work, anyway.” Brad had first offered the job of managing his Subway franchise to her youngest brother, Matthew, but he declined, citing that he needed his days free to attend classes at the local college. Instead he found a job at the hospital on the evening shift, using Brad as a reference. Suzanne knew Brad had been reluctant when Derrick volunteered to take the job, but he’d given him a try, at her urging. Suzanne hoped her brother would pursue a career in restaurant management. Derrick was nearly thirty years old and needed to think about his future. Takeout was always popular, even in lean economic times.
“Is Kenya back from the store?”
“Oh, yeah. She wasn’t gone long. I think she just ran down to Walgreens. She’s probably watching TV with Lauren.”
“Good. Lauren felt kind of left out, with Bradley at the movies with his friends.”
“She’ll be all right. What’re you making to go with the steak?”
“Just a salad, some baked potatoes, and I’ll put some mushrooms on the grill.”
“Mushrooms? Don’t you know some of those are poisonous?”
“I didn’t pick them up along the side of the road, Mom. I bought them at the supermarket.”
“That Paula is certainly giving you grand ideas about food.”
“I’m trying to make more foods that Brad likes. But Paula has been a big help, yes.” Suzanne’s friendship with Paula, her closest in many years, helped her feel more confident about herself, and she was learning new things as well.
Kenya entered the kitchen. “Hi,” she said dully.
“Hey,” Suzanne replied. “Is the movie over already?”
“No, but I missed the beginning, and it was too hard to keep up with. I promised Lauren I’d watch the next one with her. It comes on in about forty minutes.” She climbed up on a stool next to her mother.
“Dinner will probably be ready when it’s over.” Suzanne looked at her sister quizzically. Kenya seemed so down. It had to be because of Gregory. “Did you buy yourself something nice when you went out? Sometimes when I’m in the doldrums I buy myself something new, and I feel a lot better.”
Kenya responded by putting her head down on the granite counter, framed by folded arms, and sobbing.
Suzanne cast a wild look at her mother. “I don’t get it. What’d I say that would bring this on?”
Arlene returned the look of confusion before standing up so she could embrace Kenya from the side. “Kenya. Don’t cry, baby. Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad.” When Kenya continued to sob she tried again. “It’s Gregory, isn’t it? Don’t cry over him. There are plenty of other fish in the sea.”
She lifted her tear-stained face. “None of them will want me. I’m pregnant.”
Suzanne, about to prepare the salad, dropped the knife and jerked her hand away to avoid getting cut. “What?”
“I just took the test,” Kenya said, her face wrinkling. “It came back positive.”
Arlene returned to her chair and took a sip of amber-colored liquid. “Is it Gregory’s?”
Suzanne found her mother’s casual reaction puzzling. Here Kenya was sobbing her heart out, and she acted instead as if Kenya had just announced nothing more significant than plans to go down to South Beach for the weekend.
“Yes. He’s been the only one. I don’t know what to do, Mom, now that Gregory is with Paige.”
“That may be so,” Arlene said loftily, “but he has a responsibility to you and your baby now. Isn’t that right, Suzanne?”
“Well, yes.” Suzanne found Kenya’s comment about Gregory being her one and only hard to swallow. She suspected her sister was promiscuous, and she’d spoken to her once about not sleeping with every guy who asked her. Then she realized that Kenya probably meant that Gregory was the only one she’d slept with who could have impregnated her in the last six weeks or so.
“Are you sure you want to go through with this, Kenya? It isn’t easy being a single mother, you know. I’ve never been one, of course, but Mom was single most of our lives, and we all know what a hard time she had.”
“This baby is mine, mine and Gregory’s, Suzanne. I’m not going to kill it.”
“Besides,” Arlene added matter-of-factly, “since we all know that single motherhood is difficult, maybe Kenya should be married.”
The smile