The Patchwork Hearts

Chapter THIRTEEN

Maya

I'm in the back seat of Nella's car, sitting next to Willow's car seat. George is driving and Nella is next to him, in the passenger seat. The stereo is playing some cutesy version of Itsy Bitsy Spider and George is telling Nella about the project he's working on, and how it's a bigger job than he originally thought. Willow reaches out to me and wants to hold my hand, so I do that without thinking.

   And then we are pulling into Marcus' driveway. We are here for Sunday dinner, which Nella ended up explaining to me, finally, as she put away the groceries earlier. She said they started it when Willow was a baby, Marcus or Kayleigh would invite Nella and George over for dinner once a week, so they didn't have to cook. They'd kept up with it almost weekly since then, though Kayleigh's husband Philip worked out of town a lot these days.

   "Phil's in town?" George asks Nella as he parks behind a blue truck.

   "Yeah, he was gone last weekend but he's home for a couple weeks now, I think," she answers.

   As we get out of the car, Nella tells me, "Kay's husband is a pilot. But he flies private planes, so he sort of works on call."

   I nod and reach in for Willow, who happily lets me get her out of her seat.

   George walks right into the house without knocking, and Nella and I follow, Willow on my hip. We remove our shoes and I can smell something amazing cooking already. George disappears to the kitchen, where I assume Marcus is, and I follow Nella to the living room near the back of the house. There, my boss, Kayleigh, is sitting, a glass of wine in her hand.

   "Hey!" she shouts, standing up. Her hair is up and she's wearing a cardigan and jeans.

   Willow squirms to get down, so I lower her to the ground and watch as she runs over to hug Kayleigh. I feel so attached to this little girl that I forget she is already attached to other people. People who have known her her entire life. I might be her aunt, but I'm still new in her life.

   Nella drops her diaper bag to the ground and leans down to unzip it. A minute later, there's an array of small toys on the hardwood floor. She obviously packed them to keep Willow busy while they are at Marcus' house. He clearly doesn't have any toys or kid-friendly things in this beautiful house.

   I feel weird because this is the first time I'm in a situation with my sister and her friends, since I've been back. I stand there as Nella crosses the room and gives Kayleigh a hug.

   "How's it s going?" she asks, as she pulls away.

   "Oh, you know. Same old. I miss Hawaii," Kayleigh laughs, then sits back down.

   Nella sits beside her, laughing. "You spent ten days in Hawaii for your honeymoon. Be grateful, bitch."

   "I am. It was just... amazing, and hot and I got the best tan. And now Maine seems pretty depressing," she says, then laughs too.

   "God, I want to go to Hawaii. I think maybe when this baby is a year old or so... we'll go," Nella goes on, rubbing her belly. "Speaking of babies... are you and Philip trying now?"

   I'm still just standing across the room from them, listening to their conversation. Willow is pulling out more stuff from the diaper bag, then she pulls at my jeans to get my attention. I look down at her and then crouch, to see what she's doing.

   "We are. We started trying on the honeymoon. God, I hope it happens fast," Kayleigh answers. "We will hopefully have babies close in age."

   "I'm so looking forward to raising babies with you," Nella laughs, then glances over at me.