Cocktail by Lisa Alward

Author:Lisa Alward
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Biblioasis
Published: 2023-07-23T00:00:00+00:00

We found them in Carl’s home office, the giggling audible even before Maeve turned the knob. They were hiding underneath his desk, which was huge and dark and ugly like all the furniture. Against one wall, I noticed a metal shelving unit stuffed with faded brown file folders and what looked like stacks of science journals. Across from this was a couch with a cushion loosely stuffed inside a pillowcase and on a small round table a cloudy glass.

“Bethany, come out, right now,” Maeve said. “Joshua’s mommy has been very worried.”

“No!”

Maeve set Lydia down on the floor, then folded her arms. “You know Papa doesn’t like you in here.”

“Papa doesn’t care. It’s you he doesn’t like in here.”

“That’s enough backtalk, young lady. Do you want a timeout?”

“NO!”

“I’m starting to count. Ten.” She tapped her foot. “Nine. Do you hear me, Bethany? Eight.”

But Bethany had begun to sing. “I looove you. You looove —”

“Seven.”

Now Joshua was piping in. “We’re a haaappy —”

“Six. Five. Four.”

They were singing faster. “I-love-you-you-love-me —” Then louder, drowning out Maeve’s three. “WE’RE A HAPPY —”

I knew there would be no time-out, that Bethany would win this battle as I’d guessed by now that she did most. For Maeve’s sake, though, I called out feebly, “Joshua, listen to Bethany’s mommy.”

“LY —”

“Two,” Maeve said. “Okay, one and three-quarters. One and a half.”

Bars of late-afternoon shadow were advancing across the softwood. It could have been four o’clock or six. Suddenly, I felt so incredibly tired. All I wanted was to lie down on Carl’s office floor, to press my cheek against its dark, dusty coolness. Instead, I swayed on my heels, waiting for Maeve to give in.

Yet, when it came, her retreat was so complete I felt embarrassed for us both. “I’ve got cookies!” she announced. “M&M chip.”

“Can we have four each?”

“Yes, and you can have your apple juice in Mama’s special teapot.”

Satisfied with these spoils, Bethany elbowed her way out from beneath the desk. For a moment, I thought she was naked, and my legs went soft. When she scrambled to her feet, I saw that she still had on her panties at least and that the jagged square of red cloth tied around her neck was meant to be a cape. With her bright cheeks and tumble of soft brown curls, she looked like a cherubic Wonder Woman. All that was missing her golden rope.

But I was now more focused on Joshua crawling out behind her. At home, our dress-up clothes consisted of a firefighter’s hat, a wand, and a couple of plastic swords, so it’s possible that I might have pressed my lips together, even wondered fleetingly what Chris would think. That’s when Maeve laughed: whether at Joshua or at me, I couldn’t tell at first. The laugh was not a nice one. The realization crept over me that this was a test, a test of my mothering, and that Maeve was watching to see how I would react. Bethany too appeared flushed with anticipation, and even

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