A couple of notes because I neglected to give the proper acknowledgements in the previous two installments:
Many thanks to my editor 'tigerssman' for his assistance.
Thanks to the individual who approached me with the idea.
*****
III
With Kurt on his stomach and snoring away beside her, Amie stared at the ceiling as hints of sunlight peeked through the window. She wasn't really thinking of anything, beyond whether she should continue to lie in bed or get up and do something. Kurt snorted again and she had her decision. Pushing her small frame off the mattress, she swung her plaid pyjama-clad legs off the side of the bed and dropped her feet onto the ground.
Walking into the en suite bathroom, she bent over the sink and splashed water on her face. Looking up, she shook her head and laughed at her reflection. Despite her best efforts with creams and moisturizers, her age showed in her skin. And in that moment, she gave herself a reality check about everything that went on yesterday.
What Erik would ever see in her? He had free pick of any 20 or even 30-something young vixens. Why would he even bother with her? She was convinced he had to be humouring her. No sensible young man would have an interest in an aging housewife. Drying off, she stepped into the quiet hallway and carefully made her way downstairs.
Even though it wasn't her house, she resolved to cook everyone breakfast. She reminded herself she liked doing this kind of stuff. She liked caring for her family. That was, after all, her duty, wasn't it? It took a bit of locating to find the mixing bowls and whisks, but she eventually had all the ingredients and utensils for a big breakfast.
Soon enough, the kitchen and the house filled with the aroma of eggs, pancakes, bacon, toast, and coffee. And naturally, the Schafer men found their ways to it.
Victor walked in and incredulously noted the stack of pancakes and the steaming cups of coffee on table, and then his mom toiling away putting strips of bacon on a plate. His Dad was less shocked. He sat down with a cup of coffee.
"Mom?"
Amie turned around just as she finished. "Oh! Morning! I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd come down and fix some breakfast. Hope that's OK."
"Mom, you didn't have to do this. You're on vacation here."
"I know. But I really wanted to show my boys how much I like taking care of them, and show you my appreciation for letting us stay here," she sweetly said. "Where's Erik?"
"I think he had to go into work. He didn't say anything to me, though."
Victor's dad was already pouring syrup over his pancakes. Victor joined him while Amie turned off the stove. More toast popped out of the toaster and she added it to the stack on the table. "Bread? I've margarine here but I can get jam if you want."
Victor declined. "Just sit, Mom. This is great."
Amie did. Kurt was moving through his breakfast at a high pace.
"So, how do you like it here so far?" Victor asked, then addressing it to his father in particular. "Dad?"
"It's OK. A bit of a young neighbourhood, isn't it?"
As Amie was dressing a piece of toast, she wondered to herself how he knew that given his refusal to do anything yesterday. For the sake of her 'turning a new leaf' approach, she said nothing.
"Yeah, a little bit. We have a few families though, like the one across the street from us," he said. "How's the theatre centre doing?"
"We had to wash the walls last week, which was a challenge because the lobby has such a high ceiling. We couldn't use the scissor lifts because of the potential for ruining the protected stuff."
Amie crunched into her bread. Kurt worked in a still functioning century-old theatre that was attached to a modern community centre. Working the operations and cleaning of the place was difficult because there were so many heritage factors that couldn't be disturbed. She was annoyed, yet again, still silent that he didn't promote the difficulties and the gorgeous venue the other night. Only he called it a community centre!
"So what did you do?"
"We had to make makeshift mops out of extend-o-poles and mop heads."
Victor wolfed down his food. He was always a fast eater Amie remembered. She stood up, "More, Vic? There's a lot left." she said, picking up the stack of pancakes and sliding one on his empty plate. Her tiny body couldn't quite reach over the table so she had to really lean for it. "Bacon, too?
"No you don't have - " he started, but he already had a couple of pancakes and three strips of bacon in front of him, "Well, OK. But no more."
He liked this - his family breakfast together again. His mom was smiling, his dad was talking, and they could be a family. Best of all, there wasn't Erik around.
Kurt finished and left the kitchen, leaving Victor and Amie to lift the table. Amie told him she would handle everything, but her son insisted again that she didn't have to do so much work and that she should at least let him help her. She obliged. She rinsed the oily scraps off the plates and he loaded them in the dishwasher.
"So, how are you?" he asked, slotting a plate in the rack.
"Good!" she smiled. She meant it too.
"I didn't get to ask what you thought of yesterday."
"It was OK," she said, although she might have been downplaying. "That was a really nice part of town."
"Yeah, it's very tourist-y, but the people who live here also like it."
Amie nodded, "Mhm," and passed him a handful of forks and knives.
They were quiet for the next few moments while they emptied the sink. Victor was a bit anxious being next to her now. With everything Erik had said about his mom and the known charm he had on women, it scared him that his roommate would somehow move in on his own mom! He had to know what was happening from her perspective.
"So how has Erik been?"
Amie did not waver in responding, but she wasn't adamant one way or another in her delivery. "He's OK...seems nice enough..." she paused, making him a bit nervous, but then added with a smile, "Kind of brash though, no?"
