See No Evil

September 20, 2010 6:32 AM

The smell of eggs and sausage filled the air in the small kitchen as my daughter, Amelia, sat at the table working on a homework sheet. I hustled around the kitchen making coffee and breakfast for us, all while trying to keep anything from burning. I wasn’t complaining though, I simply couldn’t. This was one of those rare Monday mornings when I had time and Mia actually wanted to get out of bed before I left for work. It was a nice toss of things. I looked over my shoulder at Mia, she was watching me with a smile on her face and I could tell she was trying not to laugh at my attempt to cook.

I wasn’t a cook. Usually I just pick up a bagel from the coffee shop I stop at in the morning before work. The last time I had cooked dinner I almost burnt the house down. So why try and do it again? Because I was feeling adventurous today and stirring scrambled eggs, browning sausage and putting bread into a toaster was as simple as it got for cooking breakfast. It wasn’t long until I got everything cooked, not burnt and not undercooked, and Amelia and I were at the table, her homework away, eating breakfast like a normal family.

I smiled a little before taking a sip of my coffee, looking across the table. “How’s school going?”

“Good.” She smiled at me after swallowing her food. “There is this boy in my class though.”

“Uh-oh.” I laughed.

“No, I don’t like him. He’s a jerk.” She took another bite of her food.

“Why is he jerk?” I asked placing my elbow on the table, my head in my hand.

“He pushed me off the swing.” She stated as if she was telling me that it was sunny outside.

“He what?” I hollered, my mama bear instinct kicking in as my head shot out of my hand.

“He got suspended and grounded for a month.” A smug look on her face. “Serves him right.” She downed the rest of her orange juice.

“Anything else I should know about?” I asked feeling like the worst parent for not knowing my daughter got hurt at school.

“Career day is coming up.” She beamed. “You’re coming this year right?”

“I’ll tell Craig it’s coming up and that he needs to let me off that day, okay?”

“Okay!” She nodded her head with excitement.

“Knock-knock.” My brother’s voice filled the house as he came through the front door.

“I gave you that key for emergencies.” I said flatly as he walked into the kitchen.

“This is an emergency, my niece is eating your cooking.” Shock filled his voice as he knelt down next to Mia. “Mia, does your stomach hurt, do you feel funny, do you have a fever, how many fingers am I holding up?” He asked in a rushed tone as Mia laughed loudly.

“Ha ha, very funny.” I glared at him.

“Wow, you’ve been working at the FBI way too long.” He laughed standing back up. “Why don’t you go get dressed kiddo.” Mia got up and took off towards her room to get ready. “You know Lore, all work and no fun makes for a dull girl.”

“Shut up.” I stood up clearing the table. “Besides, I think you have enough fun for the both of us.” I rolled my eyes as I rinsed the dishes. “Man-whore.” I coughed out.

“At least I still get some.” He nudged me in my right side as I started to wash the morning dishes.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Mia and that boy at school?” I asked as he pulled up the sleeves of his dress shirt to rinse the dishes.

“It wasn’t that big a deal.” He shrugged. “She didn’t get seriously hurt, if she had, I would’ve told you.”

“But the point is that she still got hurt and I had no idea, Luke.” I smiled over at Mia as she came running back into the kitchen.

“Ready, Uncle Luke.” She beamed as she grabbed her bag up. “I love you mom.” She hugged my waist as Luke dried his hands on a towel.

“I love you too, honey.” I kissed the top or her head before Luke kissed my cheek.

“Try and have fun.” Luke said grabbing Mia up.

“I will.” I rolled my eyes as I watched them walk out of the kitchen before finishing the dishes.

Luke moved here to Washington to help me with Mia when I got a divorce from her father. He didn’t mind much because it gave him a better job and got him away from our small rinky-dink hometown. He also liked the fact that he never fished in this pond before so it gave him a lot more ‘opportunities’. It also gave us the chance to rekindle the relationship we used to have before I moved away when he was thirteen. We used to be inseparable. When he was younger I would sing him to sleep when he had nightmares, I would cook dinner when our dad had to ‘work late’. Everybody in town knew that my father was a drunk and knew that ‘working-late’ meant sitting at a bar drinking.

He hadn’t always been like that. It started after my mother died a couple years after Luke was born. When it started, it never stopped. It made me grow up fast, to realize that I couldn’t screw up, that I needed to be there for both of them. It may sound like I had a horrible childhood, but I didn’t. If I could go back and change it, I wouldn’t.

I finished taking care of the dishes before heading upstairs to take a shower. I had become a master of quick showers over the years so it only took me about ten minutes to wash my hair, my body and shave. I climbed out of the tub, my hair dripping wet. I ringed my hair out before putting it up into a high ponytail, wrapping a towel around my body. It didn’t take me long to get dressed since I had picked out my outfit last night, jeans, tank-top and a light green button up shirt. I was just about to do my hair when my cell phone started to ring from downstairs. I ran down the straight stairs, my bare feet smacking against the wood.

“Hello?” I answered out of breath.

“Did I interrupt something?” Justin laughed from the other end.

“No, I was upstairs taking a shower.” I breathed in loudly, my heart slowing down.

“Oh.” He said in his perverted tone and I knew he was waggling his eyebrows.

“Shut-up.” I snapped. “What do you want, I’m getting ready?”

“Boss wants everyone in. Our late start is a no go.”

I sighed out heavily. “When does he want us in?”

“Thirty.”

“I can do that.” I shut the phone before going back up stairs to get ready.