"He said...he said I initiated it." Was her defense.
Maria's stare was unwavering, "You were sleeping! You did not remember initiating it! You woke up and found him on top of you. You did not ask for it!"
"I'm his girlfriend! If he wants to have sex, who else would he go to!"
"You! But after waking you up and asking you about it!"
Janelle was ready to end the conversation, "I don't want to talk about this anymore. It's just one time, OK? I can't believe you are using this against me. I'm fine. Mia's fine. We're fine."
Maria buried her hands in her face. There was silence between them. Only the café music drifted softly through the air.
At last, Maria lifted her face. "Fine, I won't talk about it anymore. At least not today."
"Just remember," Maria looked at her, "I will help you however I can when the time comes. I am and will always be your friend. OK?"
Janelle smiled, "OK." She looked at the clock, "I should go pick up Mia now."
She did not want to leave her friend on a low note, so she said, "You want to come by Bright Horse tomorrow tonight? I can give you free dessert! Mr. Cook says she throws out pies after they are a day old, so if you get there at 8PM, we can finish whatever leftover pies there are! I'm not kidding when I say Mrs. Cook makes the finest strawberry pies in the whole Monterey peninsula!"
Maria nodded and promised she'd come by later to where Janelle had recently started working. They hugged and parted ways.
Stepping outside, Janelle could hear the seagulls yelping, the wind gently blowing, and cars humming by. It was a Saturday afternoon and she could see cars piling up heading southbound towards Monterey on Highway 1. The Monterey peninsula was always packed with tourists on weekends.
She lived in the small town of Seaside, which was adjacent to the tourist hot spots on the peninsula. Seaside itself offered no tourist attractions so local traffic was non-existent. She got to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson's house in five minutes. She found her daughter Mia in the backyard helping Mrs. Anderson pulling out weeds.
Mia, with her wavy curly hair, blue eyes, and rosy cheeks, was a doll-like 4-yr old with endless energy and too many questions. She was badgering Mrs. Anderson about why she could not water the succulents for the tenth time that day. Mrs. Anderson had bought her a pink watering pail and since then, all Mia wanted to do in the yard was water the plants to their certain death.
Janelle would not have been able to start working at the Bright Horse café if it not for Mrs. Anderson. It had taken a lot of convincing on her end to get Tom to agree to let her return to work. Four years as a stay-at-home parent was enough for her. While she loved being Mia's mom, she also yearned for structured work responsibilities. Bright Horse café had recently suffered two sudden staff departures and was in desperate need of a waitress. But the hours were awkward, being two day shifts and two night shifts. Janelle got Tom to begrudgingly agree to watch Mia for the two evenings, but for the two day shifts, she was waiting for an opening at a preschool that wasn't available until a month later. That's where Mrs. Anderson came in. The Andersons owned an auto repair shop on the same block as the restaurant and the Andersons were frequent diners at Bright Horse. When Mrs. Anderson overheard Janelle talking to Mr. Cook about having trouble covering childcare during the day for the first month, she generously offered to watch Mia for her.
"My kids are all grown up and have been out of the house for years and I don't have much work managing the books at the repair shop anyway. I can watch Mia for you until she goes to that preschool."
Janelle was at first worried that Mia would not like Mrs. Anderson. Like all parents who had been the sole caregiver of their child, she thought she was the only one who could care for Mia the right way. Mrs. Anderson proved her wrong. Mia didn't even want to go home the first time she went to pick her up after her first work shift! Janelle and Tom lived in an apartment and didn't have a garden. Mrs. Anderson had a nice backyard with plants to water, two adorable puppies to play with, and even an old treehouse that Mr. Anderson had built for his own kids when they were little!
In fact, Mia had liked going to the Andersons so much, that she cried when Janelle told her today would be the last time Mrs. Anderson would watch her. Starting the week after, she would be going to the preschool when Janelle was working.
"I don't want to go to school! I want to stay here!" Tears rolled down Mia's cheek as she was once again reminded by Janelle that this was the last time at the Andersons.
"You can't, my baby," Janelle smiled at her red-faced teary child, "You need to go to school! Plus, Mrs. Anderson's son will be coming home soon and she says she won't have time for you."
"Well, that's not exactly true." Mrs. Anderson quickly clarified, "Mia, I always have time for you! But my son, Ezra, is coming home tomorrow. I have to go to the airport and pick him up, then I have to drive him to the hospital and see doctors and make sure he is taken care of. I will be busy for a while, but once he is settled in, I will tell your mama that you can come visit us even if your mama doesn't have to work, OK? You can come and play with me and Ezra and give your mama a break on her days off! Do you like that idea?"
"Yes!" Mia's tears of sorrow turned to tears of excitement, "I want to climb the treehouse with Ezra!"
"Well," Mrs. Anderson paused and chose her words carefully, "I'm not sure Ezra will be able to climb that treehouse with you. He is injured, you know, and he needs rest. But we definitely want you back helping us water the succulents very, very soon, OK?"
Mia was satisfied and went off into the house to collect her toys to get ready to go.
Janelle thanked Mrs. Anderson once more for her kind help. She also reminded Mrs. Anderson about the free pies at Bright Horse, even though Mrs. Anderson already frequently took advantage of the 8PM cutoff.
"I hope I will be seeing you at Bright Horse with your son soon." Janelle said politely.
Mrs. Anderson flashed a weak smile. She had been reticent about the circumstances of her son's impending return. All Janelle knew was that both Mrs. Anderson's sons were in the military and that Ezra, the younger one, had been recently injured while being deployed overseas. While she was warm and caring towards Mia, Mrs. Anderson talked little about her own children. She was a reserved woman who neither gloated about her children's accomplishments nor bashed their downfalls, but Janelle could tell that she loved her two sons dearly and would do anything for them. Mr. Anderson, on the other hand, had a strong opinion on what his sons ought to be for them to be a man in his eyes. On the few occasions she got to chat with Mr. Anderson, Janelle got the impression that Mr. Anderson thought his sons "finally became real men" when they went to serve their country. Though he was polite to Mia, he would sometimes reflect on how his sons were naughty when they were little and he'd "give them a good whooping till they learned their lesson".
Janelle could tell that Mrs. Anderson did not agree with many of Mr. Anderson's views, but she was the sort of wife that would not confront her husband. She had survived half a lifetime with him like that, and would continue to do so till the day she died.
Janelle went home with Mia and started to prepare dinner. Tom worked a 9-5 job as a warehouse associated at a local grocer. He usually came home around 530PM. When it was past 630PM and he hadn't returned home, Janelle felt a knot form in her stomach. She fed Mia her dinner and began prepping her daughter for bath and bedtime.
Sure enough, shortly after 7PM, the apartment door swung open and Tom stumbled in. The smell of liquor was so dense she immediately rushed Mia into her room. "Bed time, sweety! I'm going to make sure daddy gets his dinner then I'll come read you stories, OK?"
Tom was staring at the contents on the dining table when she returned to the kitchen. "What is this?" He asked.
"Uhm, it's dinner." Janelle explained.
Tom looked at her. Janelle's heart started beating wildly as she knew she had the wrong answer. Tom's voice was surprisingly calm, but that made it all the more terrifying, "I know it's dinner, idiot. I'm asking why the fuck you put asparagus in front of my eyes. You know I hate asparagus."
