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For the first time in what felt like forever, Carol would have Rindy all to herself for Christmas.
Oh, of course, that was an exaggeration. Carol looked to Therese through the top mirror of her car, watched as her expression shifted from general pleasantness to mild discomfort. Therese explained at some point that she had never been the best with children; she didn’t know how to speak to them without being patronizing, she said. “It changes when you’re a mother and you have kids of your own,” Carol laughed, much to Therese’s own doubt. Therese promptly responded that she had no plans to have kids of her own.
If she were to be honest, she wasn’t quite sure how Rindy felt of Therese. They had only met with each other twice, at best, and even then, Carol found that they didn’t talk to each other. If they did, it was never in her presence. Carol, being the ever-distant woman that she was, simply forgot to ask up until the point where it mattered.
The elementary school that Rindy attended was a fairly small private school. Of course , Carol thought with an appropriate amount of distaste, of course Harge would only give her the best. When had she ever been able to compete? Every year Rindy was given more and more on Harge’s part, but what was it that Carol was supposed to give her? A sad little Christmas tree in a sad little apartment. You could argue that perhaps homeliness and family were the greatest gifts of all, but perhaps not to a child.
“I think I’m stressing myself far too much over this,” Carol admitted suddenly, into the open air. “Do you think Harge has already turned her against me? I know that she prefers me over Harge. Or at the very least, she used to.”
“I’m sure she loves you all the same,” Therese whispered soothingly, or perhaps it was with some amount of annoyance, though Carol felt herself relax anyway. “Do you want me to wait in here while you go and greet her?”
Half-shrugging and half-shaking her head, Carol made a noncommittal noise. “She knows what car to look for. I’ve had this thing for quite a while, don’t you know?”
So they waited in the car, the radio playing a kind of gentle tone that Carol hadn’t really heard before. Therese pointed at a young girl who was giggling at the hands of another girl next to her. “That looks like her.”
“Oh my, she’s growing her hair out,” Carol said solemnly. Rindy skipped up to the car, though before she opened the door, she wrapped her arms around her friend. It was probably Penny, Carol thought. She remembered Rindy calling her excitedly, and though she doted on all of her friends with equal fondness, she had always been more interested in her older friends. They had more to say, Rindy said once. Didn’t treat Rindy like she just a little girl who knew nothing and thought nothing.
“Hello, mother,” Rindy chirped pleasantly, sliding into the backseat. “Hi.” The second greeting was aimed at Therese, though Carol wondered if she even remembered her name.
“You remember aunt Therese, don’t you?” Carol asked with a warm smile, and then she began to drive. “It’s been a while, so you might not…”
“I know,” Rindy said simply. Without any kind of malice or bitterness, but there was no pleasantries in her voice either. It put Carol more on edge than it would have if Rindy hadn’t said anything, or even if she just said she forgot. With one hand, she drummed an uneasy rhythm on the steering wheel, and with the other, she turned up the volume knob on the radio.
As lunch rolled around, Rindy began to feel more talkative. Carol asked one question and that seemed to open the floodgates. “We had our big math test today,” she said with the beginnings of boastfulness seeping through her voice. “I got the highest mark in the class!”
“My little girl, she’s going to be a little mathematician!”
Rindy immediately shook her head. “Nuh uh, I’m gonna be a cowboy. Like Hopalong Cassidy.” Proudly, she puffed her chest out. She looked a little ridiculous, to the point where Carol couldn’t help but to smile. Therese was smiling as well, though she was not looking at Rindy, nor was she looking at Carol. She seemed out of touch, and Carol’s smile dimmed once more.
“Hopalong Rindy?”
“I don’t have a wooden leg, so I don’t limp. Not Hopalong Rindy. I like the name Cassidy though, but…” Rindy made a face as though she was entrenched in thought.
“Make your own cool name,” suggested Therese. Her smile was in full force now, and she looked at Carol for a moment. “You could be the rival cowboy.”
Carol made a face. “Would that make her the bad guy or the good guy? I don’t watch a lot of television these days.” That was true, it was often Therese who watched shows on the television, while Carol preferred to curl up with a book, though they were always in the same room when they did it.
“Well,” Therese shrugged, grinning impishly. “She could always work with the big guy himself.”
Rindy made a noise of excitement. “Yes! I’d be the best helper ever!”
“Aren’t you already the best helper ever?” Carol asked with an adoring little smile. She’d forgotten how much she loved to spend time with Rindy, she’d especially forgotten how much heart her daughter could pour into her interests. Even if it was just a silly little show that Carol had only seen in passing.
Rindy brushed off her sleeve. “Could be better.” Her tone was coy, and not quite as uncomfortable as it had been when they first picked her up. For a moment, Carol wondered if she had simply been misreading the situation (and that was something that she was prone to doing, she supposed). “Aunt Therese, we should show mother the wonders of Hopalong Cassidy!”
Therese pondered for a moment. “Well, we’d best be getting back to the house soon if we’d like to catch it while it’s still airing, wouldn’t we?”
Wriggling out of her booth the near moment Therese began to speak, Rindy nodded her agreement. “Yeah! Come on, we gotta go!” She was already halfway out the door before any one of them could stop her. Carol supposed Harge hadn’t been able to suppress that part of her yet. She smiled unconsciously.
Therese shook her head, smiling. “That’s our cue to leave as well, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Carol, on impulse, ended up taking Therese’s hand in hers. It was brief, lasting only a short second (because they were still in public, and this was not the kind of thing people did in public, and as much as Carol wanted to change that she knew very well that she couldn’t), but it felt right. It felt good. “By the way, you’re doing excellent.”
Therese’s smile widened.