Tightening the Knot Read online

  When Greg returned he helped Meredith move the crate into their bedroom. There was no whining that night, but Meredith still had trouble falling asleep. Something wasn’t sitting right with her new plan. Judy had acted strangely that evening, almost as if she knew there were problems between her son and daughter-in-law. Meredith was no longer sure that telling her anything would be a positive step. But what would be? She couldn’t abandon another step two until she invented something better. Greg’s mother would be in town several more days, so confiding in her could be relegated to back-up plan status. There was something else swimming in Meredith’s head though; something with the potential to be either very encouraging or very troubling. She had noticed that she and Greg seemed better while Judy was around. In talking to her, they talked to each other. Had Greg noticed this? Surely it couldn’t be unique to Judy. This was the potentially troubling aspect. Meredith looked forward to testing their interactions with her family starting with her brother’s arrival the next day. They didn’t need family at night. There was no tension when Greg was sleeping and he was so warm. She finally found some sleep listening to him breathing.

  Friday morning was deceptively cold. It was one of those mornings where the sun shines bright and clear and creates a warming glow through the windows. And yet, it was thirty-five degrees. Meredith didn’t normally wear a hat because her curly bob was excessively prone to static. She readily made the sacrifice that day and dashed back inside for her hat and gloves. As the door closed behind her a second time, she heard Greg call, “Have a nice day,” after her.

  She spent the entire ride to work neurotically obsessing over this simple phrase. Did he realize he hadn’t given her so much as a “goodbye” in the morning for quite some time? Was that why he said it? Could there be even the slightest chance that he also wanted to prove they didn’t need his mother in the room to have a conversation? Then again, “Have a nice day” was hardly a conversation. It could have been a reflex. The odds of it having been a reflex actually seemed greater than the odds he had suffered over not saying anything the first time she left the house. How Meredith wished he had suffered over it. Not really suffered of course, but just agonized a little over it, like she would have.

  She resolved to think nothing more of it as she prepared to start the school day but was still somewhat agitated when Jacob walked in loudly smacking his gum. She snapped and told him to “lose it immediately and the next time she saw gum in his mouth he would have detention faster than he could swallow it.”

  “Great,” she thought. “Now I’m the mean teacher.”

  She recovered nicely in the afternoon, giving the kids a little extra free time in anticipation of the vacation. At the end of the day, Meredith stopped briefly in Mercy’s classroom to congratulate her on the start of her maternity leave.

  “You made it!”

  “Yes. I have just a bit of paperwork and then I’m officially a stay-at-home mom… till July anyway.”

  “I’m so excited for you. Now will you tell me the name?”

  “Well… You can probably wait a few more days.”

  “But the baby will be here by then.”

  Mercy replied only with a slightly self-satisfied smile. She had announced about a month ago that she and her husband had finally decided on a name for their future son. If Meredith had responded with a little less interest, she’d have likely known the name for just as long, but Mercy sensed it would be fun to hold the information over her and had enjoyed a month of playful torture at Meredith’s expense. Meredith knew this, but could not help herself. The lure of anything baby-related continued its hold on her. They said their goodbyes, both knowing the next time they saw each other Mercy would be holding a newborn. This meant different things to each of them and would change the friendship. How it would change was something neither could know until it happened.

  Meredith met her brother and Ellie in baggage claim as planned. Tom had dark hair like Meredith. His was very straight and he kept it shaggy so that it wasn’t much shorter than hers. Ellie immediately extended a hand to Meredith as she approached. “Meredith Donnor… It’s so nice of you to pick us up.”

  “No problem. Hey, Tom.”

  He nodded. “Sis.” The sibling relationship had improved as adults, but he was still just a little too cool to be too happy to see his sister. “I have my bag. We’re just waiting for Ellie’s.”

  Ellie’s bag turned out to be a hot pink hard shell case with a giant sparkly rainbow sticker on both sides. Meredith couldn’t decide whether this was embarrassingly juvenile or borderline genius, as there was certainly not going to be another like it on the conveyor belt. She offered to take the suitcase, but was outmaneuvered by Tom’s chivalry. The automatic doors prevented him from trying to get the door and two bags at the same time.

  “I still hate that sculpture,” he said as soon as they were outside.

  “The giant sundial?”

  “What sundial? It looks like a crashing airplane. You shouldn’t have a crashing airplane sculpture in front of an airport.”

  “I’m pretty sure it’s not supposed to look like that.”

  “But it does.”

  Meredith squinted at the sculpture a moment. She didn’t see what her brother did. “I think you must be looking at it wrong.”

  “Wrong? How can you look at something wrong?”

  “When you look at an airport sculpture and see a crashing airplane, you’re looking at it wrong.”

  “Well, it’s not a sundial. I’ll tell you that much.”

  “A sundial makes more sense.”

  “I don’t know what planet you’re living on. What does a sundial have to do with airplanes?” Tom gave her a look that said there was no point in arguing it further and Meredith didn’t care enough to pursue it. They rode to their parents’ house chatting about this and that with Ellie sitting quietly in the back seat.

  Tom was embraced like the prodigal son before he even made it up the driveway and assured by his mother that his visit would be the highlight of their Christmas. Since he moved to Ohio, Meredith had grown accustomed to the short end of the parental affection stick while he was around. She gave her mother a playful scowl.

  “And of course Meredith is the other highlight.”

  “Thanks, mom. Glad I at least rank an afterthought.”

  Jeanette Kester ignored the sarcasm and moved toward the third arrival. “And Ellie…” She stopped awkwardly as though waiting for a signal on whether a hug would be acceptable.

  Ellie reached out a hand. “Thanks for having me, Mrs. Kester.”

  “You’re very welcome.” She took the offered hand with both of hers. “But please call me Jeanette.” This was not the first time Ellie had been given permission to use the first name and might not be the last time, not even on this visit. It might be a long visit.

  ╣ Chapter 9 ╠

  At a glance, it might appear that Meredith’s mother was not a great housekeeper, for there was “stuff” everywhere. But the house was clean, very clean. Jeanette had a scrubbing arsenal in the back closet that collected less dust than anything else in the house. Dust, however, was about the only thing she did not collect. A house could never contain too many twist ties or unmatched socks, otherwise known as future dust rags. And the assortments of bread bags, boxes, various-sized screws and nearly empty bottles of who-knows-what might be considered clutter if everything wasn’t organized so darn neatly.

  The house was particularly full this time of year. While most of her compilations grew out of a desire to not be wasteful, the Christmas decorations were actively pursued. She had a passion for Victorian Santas in any form. As Greg arrived with his mother, Jeanette had just finished setting the table with the matching Santa plates and delicately painted Santa goblets. The seven assembled around the table for a festive meal. Tom took a seat near the leg he had reattached himself about ten years earlier. Undetectable under the embroidered tablecloth was a web of nails and string and copious amou
nts of wood glue, though no one knew for sure which actually held the table together.

  As they began dessert, he raised his fork to give one of those fragile goblets a gentle tap. It was either not as gentle as he intended, or hit the glass in just the wrong place as it cracked and left a puddle of water and Santa-shaped ice seeping into the cloth. “Oops. I’m sorry, mom.”

  “Stay there. I’ll clean it up.”

  “You Ichabod!” Meredith hurled the childhood insult towards her brother. Both had long ago forgotten the source, but Ichabod was a long standing, all purpose insult between the siblings.

  “I didn’t mean to break it.”

  “Then why were you beating it with your silverware?”

  “Beating it? It was a light tap. How was I supposed to know it was so fragile?”

  “Don’t worry. I have plenty of these.” Jeanette was back with a towel and was carefully dabbing the table. She left again with a handful of pieces.

  “What made you want to tap the glass anyway?”

  “It never breaks when anyone else does it.” Tom was a little sullen.

  Bill Kester, Tom and Meredith’s father, stood up. “I think I might know where this is going. I better get your mom back in here.” But Jeanette was already in the doorway holding a fresh glass.

  “What did I miss?”

  “Nothing. You saw him break it.”

  “Were you trying to make an announcement, son?”

  “Ooh!” Jeanette sat down excitedly. “I’m so glad you waited for me.”

  Meredith glanced at Judy, sure a snide remark was forthcoming about the fact that someone had an announcement. Judy was silent though and seemed to be intentionally avoiding looking in Meredith’s direction.

  Tom was a bit frustrated and seemed unsure about saying whatever it was he had to say now that the moment had been through the ringer. His mother was not going to be put off and gently prodded him with, “So let’s have it. You better have some news after all this build up.”

  “Alright.” Tom stood up. It was clear this was not the way he had intended for this to go. “I’m very happy to tell you all that Ellie has accepted my proposal. We haven’t set a date yet, but are hoping to get married sometime this summer.”

  There was a general outcry of jubilation, with Judy’s squeal hitting the highest note. Tom shook his father’s hand while Ellie sat quietly, smiling pleasantly at the exclamations. When things settled down and Tom was seated, she stood up and said, “And I’d like to wear your dress, Mrs. Kester,” before sitting down just as quickly.

  “My… Okay… It’s… I think it’s in the attic.” Jeanette had a questioning note in her reply that had nothing to do with the location of her dress. Ellie was tall and thin. While Jeanette had been a little thinner on her wedding day, over thirty years ago, she had not been any taller. Her empire-waist, tea length gown might look odd on someone with a full six inches on her height. If the relationship with her future daughter-in-law had progressed at least to a first name basis, she might have suggested this. Instead, she groped for a safer argument. “So… um, your mom won’t be upset if you don’t wear her dress?”

  “She’s not sentimental at all.”

  “Well, I’ll just have to look for it after we’ve cleaned up.”

  There was a weird silence at the table, given the exciting news and pre-Christmas spirit they were all in a short time earlier. Even the men, who had little understanding of sentimentality, wedding fashions or women, sensed that something was amiss. Meredith wondered how many at the table were secretly hoping moths had gotten into the attic.

  Meredith helped her mother clean up the kitchen after dinner while the three guys absorbed a Hurricanes game and Ellie and Judy sat with Ellie’s wedding book between them. It might have been an odd pairing, but it became immediately obvious that neither woman would rather be doing anything other than fantasizing about the perfect wedding. They spent the majority of the evening discussing possible hairstyles for Ellie’s curly black tresses.

  Because of the hockey game, Meredith hadn’t had much of a chance to talk to her husband. Not that she would have had anything meaningful to say, even if they hadn’t been surrounded by relatives. The point was that she really had no reason to feel like a failure for having exchanged no more than a few lines of small talk with Greg that particular evening, but she felt badly all the same.

  He left first to return his mother to her hotel and Meredith followed a short time later, determined to make an effort not to ignore him. She took the dog into the back yard when she arrived and heard Greg’s car in the driveway a minute later. She was unexpectedly distracted from all thoughts of a forced conversation.

  “Greg!” she called. “Come out here! You’re not going to believe this.”

  He slid open the back door. “What is it?”

  “Come see what just came out of this dog.”

  “Ewww. You’re not seriously calling me out here to look at dog… the dog’s business.”

  “Just look.”

  He seemed unconvinced that this was a good idea, but came closer anyway. Then his mouth fell open. “Is that? She ate it!?”

  “I can’t think of any other way she could have deposited it in our yard. But I had no idea a dog could eat a whole washrag and even so, I don’t know how I could have missed it. Though it doesn’t look like she really spent much time chewing it up or…”

  Greg suddenly burst out laughing. “And you tried to blame me for losing it.”

  Meredith followed Greg from bewildered to amused and they had a good laugh before taking Katie back inside. They got ready for bed making half-serious jokes about the things they’d need to keep out of her reach from now on and Meredith felt pretty pleased with the situation as she tried to drift off to sleep. Until she suddenly realized that the first time in ages she and Greg had enjoyed each other’s company had been sparked by a pile of doggy doo. This might be worse than help from her mother-in-law.

  ╣ Chapter 10 ╠

  Meredith woke up on Saturday morning feeling as though she had been enjoying a rather nice dream. She closed her eyes and tried to recall the details, but it evaporated quickly. Instead, she focused her thoughts on the day. Greg was having lunch with a friend before catching a new movie. She was supposed to entertain Judy for a few hours on her own. It wouldn’t be that bad and they were all to have dinner with her parents again in the evening.

  It was around 10 o’clock by the time Meredith came downstairs and Greg was fully dressed and engrossed in his laptop. She poured herself a bowl of cereal. “No paper today?” It was more observation than question.

  Greg put the computer aside and jumped up. “It wasn’t here when I got up. I’ll go look for it.” He slipped out the front door. Greg had always been an early riser. Meredith used to joke how that would come in handy when they had a baby wanting 6 am feedings. When he came back with the paper, Katie was ready for him. She went right between his legs and took off down the street faster than a kid on the last day of school. The paper hit the floor as Greg turned to go after her. Meredith ran onto the porch a few seconds later, but Greg called over his shoulder, “I’ll chase her. You get the leash and catch up to us.”

  Meredith ran back inside and slipped on some shoes and a jacket. Where was the leash? They’d only had the dog a few days so there was no usual place for it. She surveyed the house and found it on the floor in a corner. She bunched it up and ran outside. Meredith was not much of a runner. The December air burned her lungs a bit, but the adrenaline kept her going. Until she came to the spot where they had caught Katie the last time. This was when Meredith realized she had no idea where she was going. Neither Greg nor the dog were anywhere in sight. She stopped for a moment and listened. There were cars going by on a nearby street and someone somewhere was using some sort of power tool. She had hoped to hear Greg calling for Katie. Maybe he had already caught her. Maybe he was too out of breath to call for her. Or maybe he simply sensed how fruitless it would be. />
  Not knowing what else to do, Meredith decided to go back for her car. She could cover more ground that way and Greg would probably appreciate the ride back, assuming she could find him. She jogged home, looking up side streets and between houses. Her bag was on the counter. It had a usual spot. She flung it over her shoulder and hurried to the door, then stopped. She scribbled a quick note to Greg, saying she was in the car and asking him to call her if he got back first. It was unlikely that he had his phone on him already this morning, but she dialed his number just in case. A familiar ring started in the closet and reminded her that her husband was also running around without a coat. She rushed to the car, feeling the whole time as though she was moving in slow motion.

  She drove serpentine through the neighborhood until she found Greg, walking awkwardly with his hand on Katie’s collar. She pulled over and he put the dog in the back seat before opening the door to the front. But she jumped over the front seat and back through the open door before he could get in.

  “Stupid dog!” He lunged after her and managed to grab hold of her only about ten feet from the car. This time, he asked Meredith for the leash and got into the back seat with Katie. Greg didn’t drop his end of the leash until they were safely back in the house. And with the door locked.

  “Where did you catch her?”

  “Holmes Street. Only a block or so from where you picked us up. I waited for you for a few minutes before I started walking back.”

  “Sorry. I lost sight of you and didn’t know which way to go. That’s why I came back for the car.”

  “It’s cold out there.” Greg was rubbing his hands together with the laptop still sitting next to him on the couch.

  “Yeah.” Meredith hung up her jacket, feeling badly that she had taken the time to put it on while Greg was waiting out in the cold. She thought she had handled the situation as best she could, but Greg seemed a little annoyed. Was he upset with her or just kicking himself for bringing the dog home in the first place? She sat back down to her now soggy breakfast without the newspaper. If he was annoyed with her, flaunting that she was the reason he had gone outside in the first place would probably not be the greatest idea. Still, wouldn’t he be more bothered that he had chased the dog after fetching the paper and now she didn’t even seem concerned with reading it? And there was always the possibility that she was imagining his mood.