Making the wrong right

 "I think what you need to do is just be there for your Mom," Naoki told Tyra as he was squeezing a lime for a fresh margarita. "You need to think of something you can do with her. Like write a song. Or maybe you and your sister could take a road trip with her."

Tyra sighed. She was too hot even in her bra and slip pants. She might as well get naked. The AC was blasting, but she felt as if she could melt. There was no way she was going anywhere with her sick pregnant sister.

"I mean, I wouldn't mind if we had a kid, but you know, you might not be up for that." He shrugged. His back turned to her in the open kitchen.

She just wished he'd hurry up with the drink, but no, he had to shake it like a professional before he would pour it over a bed of ice.

Tyra blew a breath. Was he serious?

"What has gotten into you?"

"I guess I love you." He teased. "It's just everyone's got a kid."

"That is not true. Just your brother and, well, you know, Millie."

He handed her the salty and tangy drink. She wished he'd made it sweeter, but he knew where to cut calories. "You'd really want to be a dad?"

He cracked up, a bit giddy, but then he nodded. "If my brother can do it, I know I'd be a much better dad."

Now Tyra laughed with a smile. "Millie is so miserable. She can only keep Dr. Pepper down. I don't know what's wrong with that girl."

"Maybe, we should ask your parents over for dinner."

"But, then we'd have to ask your parents too?" Tyra shot him a look.

"Not necessarily, we could just ask them, some other time." Naoki had accepted Jo to be his new stepdad. After all, he was handy when it came to car troubles.

"Oh, God, I just thought if we were here and they were there, it would be, far enough away." She closed her eyes. She was tired. She just wanted to sip her drink and ask for another, but Naoki was already making the stirfry.

"We need to be there for them," he said, looking back at her as he scooped up the slices of chicken and veg while they browned. "I love your mom. I want her to feel happy. She needs us."

Tyra guessed he was right, but when was the last time she told her mother that she loved her?

Q & A with Nico and Amy

 

Is there anything you don't know about each other that you want to talk about?

NICO: [he laughs and shakes his head, no] I already know she has a boyfriend. Besides, I know I'm really not her type.

AMY: Things have been different since [she presses her lips as if she'd rather not say] since Eli's been so......I had no idea he'd be this way about...my best friend Junie. I mean, I didn't know. [She looks as if this is all Eli's fault, not hers. She hugs herself] Maybe..maybe our love had... an expiration date.

NICO: Now don't you go blaming him, I think it was over a long time ago, and you just didn't want to face it. You didn't think you'd meet anyone. That's it. Yeah, it's expired all right. 

AMY: I dunno. [she looks as if he might cry, but she doesn't.] I know he means well, but we just don't have the connection. [she sighs and looks at Nico.] We were good, but it didn't happen overnight, you know..with Eli. Not really. We've known each other since, middle school. I wanted to believe he was the one, but it took work. We had this goodbye thing that we both waited for at the end of the date. It's not like we...we ever did it. Sex. You know. But I've just gotten used to how it is. At the end. Kissing. At first it was so new, and later it got old. I guess. I don't mean for it to end this way. But he knows it too. I know he does.

NICO: Don't you think it'll be that way with us, too? [He looks at her out of the corner of his eye as if she might have been using him for an excuse].

AMY: [Shakes her head no.]

NICO: You don't really know me. [He stares at her hard] I don't look like your family's type. Besides, I like to buck dance.

AMY: [She looks at  him as if he's talking about a strange sex life, perhaps].

NICO: [laughs and points his finger at her] I knew I'd get you on that one. I come from a whole different world. A world where everyone wants to be the same, and they'll go out of their way and make life hell for you until you realise you are the same. And then you're stuck. [He's straight-lipped yet a little sad] You don't want to go out of your way to be any better. They call it unity, but the truth is they want to drag you down as far as they can. And if you don't, well, they'll kill you. 

AMY: What's Buck Dancing?

NICO: [shakes with laughter] I thought you'd never ask. [He grins from ear to ear] My grandma used to play the fiddle, and she knew an awful lot about the Tennessee walk. It's not exactly tap dancing, but you gotta keep up with the music. It's not that I've ever been in a competition, but sometimes when I got nothing to do, I remember. Maybe I do the soft shoe for her, or maybe it's just for me.

I beg your pardon I never promised you a rose garden

 

Carol had heard enough out of Tyra wanting her to retire. She couldn't. Not right now. Especially, with the husband home.

No way did she want to let her daughters know how hard it was getting used to this truckdriver at home.  They might as well have been in quiet divorce mode. Now this didn't mean they'd actually get a divorce. They were cheap, and she did need his insurance even if she was already on Medicare. She needed to work to pay for it. Besides, they were nice to each other, even if she was very tired of his jokes that were never funny to begin with.

"Things are fine at the coffee shop." Wasn't like she was there every day, but if she wasn't a cashier, she was mending ways with the cook and his girl (who was supposed to be the manager while Millie was having morning sickness). But even the manager needed a day or two away from the Coffee Shop.

"We're just lucky your sister is going to give us a grandchild." Carol let slip. She didn't mean to put Tyra down, but she felt the girl was a little selfish. Deep down, it was a dream that Tyra and her significant other would start a family, but she knew it wouldn't happen, even in those dreams where she imagined having a baby for them.

Why was it that she was always having to take care of the baby in those dreams? Hell if she knew what these dreams meant.

Carol didn't apologize to Tyra. She meant to, but she couldn't. It felt to her these days she was being treated like the misled teenager, and Tyra was her overbearing mother. Still, the conversation kept her up at night. Tyra came back with nothing, and the flowers she had given her for Mother's Day were dying in the kitchen. It would have been nice to have gotten a gift card from Amazon or even Walmart, but she'd never suggest it.

Perhaps she was the worst mother. She couldn't think of their good times at the moment. She felt she was slumming in this old house that she knew he'd never think of leaving. He had too much junk that he couldn't live without. After a while, Carol had made it a competition. She got her own stuffies. Even rescued a few from thrifting. There was a whole room of them now. She took over Millie's room before her husband could.

What was Tyra expecting if she retired? Bedazzling her wardrobe.

And when Spring gets to me

 "God, when is this going to stop!" Nico threw the wet dish towel into the steel sink. He was tired of all these questions from CW. Wasn't it enough that he still worked the weekends at the coffee shop? He was there for the Mother's Day Special. So was Amy.

"Something is going on with you two," CW pointed a finger at him, as it were just the two of them cleaning the kitchen after the place closed. "I just know it."

Nico rolled his eyes at him. They weren't even fussing. They were giving each other the silent treatment. It was perhaps a truce. It had to be this way, or....

He kept a straight lip that posed a grim frown. At least, he was still in the building. He hadn't gone anywhere. He worked at Joe's mechanic's place during the week. He'd shown he was good at the simple tasks, like changing oil and filters.

"Just shut up," Nico was tired of CW, accusing him of liking Amy. "She's a kid with a smart mouth, that's all." Besides, he wasn't one to be smitten. He'd learned the hard way to just be alone. Always. He gritted, turning away from CW.

"No, no, you two are trouble, I just know it." CW shook his head and went back to wiping down the stove to get ready for tomorrow. 

Nico went numb, stopping himself from going back to when it happened. The kiss. He sighed, thinking he'd grown accustomed to being a crusty old fart that was immune to such a thing. Obviously, that was not true. 

Yes, they were putting each other down at closing time, not so long ago. CW left early for some reason, while Nico was left on his own. He tried to get stuff done, but Amy popped him on the arse with a dish towel. That was like a wake-up call, evidently. Before he knew it they were playing around all giddy and silly. Maybe it was the laughter that got to him. When they fell into each other, their lips touched with a burst of laughter, and yet to make it better, they kissed again as if they might be perfect for the dance. And they were.

Now it made him want to squeeze his eyes shut. Neither had admitted to defeat. It was silent now. Just where it should be. Couldn't CW understand this? It wasn't like he was that much older than her, but old enough to know better.