Happily Ever After

“Hi, princess,” Cadeau mumbled against her daughter’s hair.

Jolie, her daughter. Three years ago, her birth changed Cadeau’s life. Not for the worse, never for the worse. She may have been a single mother at twenty four years old, barely making enough to give her daughter everything she needed, but her life hadn’t been ruined by the tiny ball of energy. Jolie saved her. Jolie encouraged her to be better. Jolie was her life. Cadeau never blamed her for the difficulties she faced.

After all, her idiocy is what got her pregnant. Her daughter wasn’t at fault.

“I made a pi’ture for you,” Jolie said, pride in her precious voice.

“Did you?” she asked, pulling away to look into the tiny, smiling face. “Why don’t you go get it for Mommy?”

“Okay.”

And she darted out of her hold, racing through the small home to grab her latest masterpiece. Cadeau stood and smiled warmly at the woman standing before. Emily Edwards, Reese’s wife, Cadeau’s best friend and sorority sister, the woman who acted as babysitter when Cadeau’s parents weren’t capable of taking care of Jolie. Emily’s smile lit her brown eyes, her blonde and brown hair shimmered in the dim lights, ever the vision of innocence and loveliness. A troublemaker in disguise.

“How was she?” Cadeau asked, leading the way to the kitchen.

Emily followed, the smell of greasy food her guide. “Perfect, like always. How was practice?”

She placed the bag on the rickety dining table and Emily dove in, pulling out her burger and ripping open the wrapper with impatient hands. Leaning against the table, she waited for her to chomp on her unhealthy fix, knowing she came second to her best friend’s stomach. Emily took a large bite from the center of her burger and sighed—groaned, really, far more like she was in the midst of having sex than eating.

Late nights listening to her friend appease her sexual appetite through the thin walls of their apartment left that noise permanently etched into her memory.

Taking another bite, Emily motioned to Cadeau. “Practice,” she said through a mouthful of burger. “What happened?”

“Sage showed up.”

Emily’s eyes widened and she swallowed. “You had to face the beast alone? I’m so sorry.”

“She’s not that bad.”

“Liar.”

Positive thinking, not lying. Sage wasn’t a beast. She was a scarred child. Cadeau needed to break through her walls to become her friend, not tame her. Sage didn’t need taming.

Alright, she was lying.

Jolie fluttered into the room, saving Cadeau from verbally admitting she was lying to make Sage seem less scary, paper clutched in her hands.

“Look it,” she demanded, holding the paper up.

Crouching to her daughter’s level, Cadeau gently took the paper from her hands and gazed at the drawing. Crudely drawn stick people lined up on scribbled, green grass. Six of them, each a different color. The sun presided over the top corner, smiling down on the little people.

“That’s beautiful,” Cadeau cooed. She pointed to one of the figures, all pink expect for the blonde sticks of hair poking out of the head. “Is that Mommy?”

“Yeah,” Jolie chirped and began pointing to the rest of the figures, listing out their names as she went. “And Unc' Reese”—the blue one—“and Aunt Em”—the brown and blonde haired pink one—“and Grayson”—the red one—“and Granma and Granpa”—the two purple ones—“It’s everyone.”

“Wow. I bet my little artist is hungry after making her masterpiece.”

“Yeah.”

She stood and reached into the McDonald’s bag, finding the cardboard box housing Jolie’s food. “Well, guess what I have.”

“Chick’n nuggets,” Jolie exclaimed, her tiny body wiggling with pent-up excitement.

“That’s right.”

She handed the box to her hopping three-year-old. Squealing in joy, Jolie grabbed the box, chirped a “thank you,” and sprinted to the living room. To eat away from the adults, probably while pouring over another piece of art.

“She takes after me,” Emily said and took another bite of her burger.

“So you’re who I have to blame for her never-ending stomach?”

“I think you mispronounced ‘thank.’”

Cadeau laughed and unloaded the bag of food. More burgers, another set of chicken nuggets, fries. Cheap feast. She almost felt bad for not having the means to provide something better for Jolie. But she squashed that despair. She was doing the best she could on the salary she had. So she couldn’t always afford to buy the brand-named cereals and candies her daughter wanted. She gave her what she could. And things would get better. They could only get better.

The front door lock clicked and the door squeaked open, two sets of footsteps entering her home.

“Hey,” she called.

“Hi,” Reese said, walking into the kitchen, Grayson in tow. He hugged his wife, a quick embrace followed by a peck on the lips. “Hey, babe.”

“Hi, sexy,” Emily returned, then bent to hug her step-son and murmur a greeting in his ear.

Jolie darted into the room, squealing Grayson’s name. He pulled away from his step-mother in time for her tiny arms to grapple around his neck. He stumbled under her enthusiastic embrace. Cadeau smiled at their customary greeting. Only a year apart, the two children were close. Best friends, even. They grew up together, saw each other daily, helped each other through the few problems they faced. Like what color to use for water, mopping over not having pets, and taking on bullies in the park.

Not to mention the breakdown Cadeau suffered from after Jolie’s birth.

She just looked so much like him…

Cadeau shook her head, shoving the image of Jolie’s father into the back of her mind, where she couldn’t see him, couldn’t think about him. He didn’t have a right to appear in her thoughts, much less in person.

“Here,” Grayson said, shoving the paper in his hand towards Jolie.

“For me?” Jolie asked, eyes wide. At his nod, she took the picture and stared at it. “Oh, so good.” She held the picture out for Cadeau to see. Hearts, smiley faces, two stick figures in the center she assumed were meant to be the two of them. How cute. “Look, Mommy.”

“I see. That’s very nice Grayson.”

Bashful, he mumbled a “Yeah” and dug his toe into the floor. Cadeau couldn’t summon the power to be upset over Grayson’s crush on her daughter, never could. Her past experience hadn’t scarred her badly enough to lock Jolie away from the male species to preserve her innocence. Besides, their ongoing flirtation was cute, and she had more than enough fodder to tease them when they got older.

She couldn’t wait.

Cadeau handed Grayson his container of chicken nuggets, and, after mumbling a “thank you,” he took Jolie’s hand and walked her back to the living room. One of the many moments she should have had her camera.

“I’ll buy dinner tomorrow,” Reese said, “Hope you like Chinese.”

Ah, the pay back. Reese always bought the more expensive items for their dinners in return for the food Cadeau supplied. She’d tried to talk him out of that once, told him he could just buy McDonald’s in return, but his speech about wanting to treat her and her daughter to something nice, better, got her. He was sweet, one of her closest friends. If she weren’t a lesbian, she may have fought Emily for him.

“Jolie hates Chinese,” Cadeau said.

“So does Grayson.” Emily said.

“Pizza it is,” Reese said.

Chuckles over their children’s ability to designate their dinner menu followed by a comfortable silence as Cadeau and Reese opened their own burgers and began eating.

“So Sage…” Emily started.

“Is being a bitch,” Reese finished.

“She can’t help it,” Cadeau said.

She was defending her. Again. Against her own friend this time. But after the tension and sharp looks Sage received every time she insulted Cadeau’s playing—no, not insulted, wrongly corrected—she supposed the band members weren’t the type to let her get away with petulant behavior.

“You are a saint,” Emily said.

“I’m understanding.”

To an extent. She knew of her difficult upbringing, the abuse she faced at the hands of her foster family, and she could guess well enough how Sage was affected by that. The interviews she had seen highlighting Sage’s attitude helped steer her to her assumptions. She didn’t like new people, wasn’t very trusting, acted out when things upset her. She was an abused child who hadn’t quite found a way to overcome her demons. She might never overcome her demons. But Cadeau could find a way past them to befriend her.

“Emily’s not too good at that understanding thing,” Reese said.

“She deserved everything I did to her,” Emily retaliated.

“What did you do, haze her?” Cadeau asked.

She wouldn’t put it past her.

“Something like that.”

Reese rolled his eyes. “She cursed her out, popped all of her tires, and stole her front door.”

“So you hazed her,” Cadeau stated.

“I gave her door back.”

“After she filed a police report.”

Cadeau expected no less from her friend. They learned from the best, the girls in the sorority where they met. They’d be proud of Emily’s behavior.

“At least, she stopped being a jackass,” Emily said.

“I think she’s come to respect you,” Reese said.

“She hates me.”

He snorted. “She’s probably afraid of you.”

“Good.” She looked at Cadeau, devilish glint to her eyes. “Do you need help plotting?”

“I don’t want her to be afraid of me,” Cadeau said.

“Honey, it’s the only way to go.”

“Come on, she’s like a kid in a grownup’s body. Stubborn, tantrum-prone, and sexier-than-sin. I want her to like me.” She paused. “Oh, God, I sound like a pedophile.”

She had a celebrity crush on a woman she equated to being an overgrown kid, a woman who was busy pitching fits over her presence. Her taste in women said a lot, and what it said didn’t speak well of her.

“Only a hint of pedophile,” Emily said.

That didn’t help.

“Stop crushing on people who are jerks to you,” Reese said.

“She’s not—okay, she’s a jerk but she’s a cute jerk,” Cadeau said.

“Jerk’s a jerk,” he said, “I love Sage to death, but she’s not going to change because you want to be her friend, or bosom buddy, or whatever.”

“She likes you.”

A weak point, she knew. Sage liking Reese wouldn’t make her like Cadeau.

“But we’re different, Doe. Look at you and look at me.”

She felt an odd sense of offense at his statement. She was different but she didn’t think that was a problem. Their band encouraged diversity. Looking nothing like a musician shouldn’t have hurt her.

“I’m sexier than you. What’s your point?”

He sighed, placed his burger on top of his wrapper, and ticked off his list on his fingers. First finger. “You’re new, strike one.” Second finger. “You want to treat her like your child, strike two.” Third finger. “You look like a girl who would shove her in a locker or steal her front door, strike three.”

Emily glared at him but he didn’t seem to notice.

“What am I supposed to do then?”

“Nothing. Either she’ll warm up to you or she won’t.”

Cadeau didn’t believe that. She could do something, anything, to encourage Sage to accept her. Treating her like a child wasn’t the best way to go. Okay, she would try not to. Acting like Emily would only make her afraid of her or hate her. She hadn’t been entertaining that option anyway. What was left?

“Seduce her,” Emily said.

Was she reading Cadeau’s mind?

“Excuse me?” Reese asked.

“I think it’s plausible. You don’t even have to really seduce her. Just strip down and tell her you want to fuck her. No seduction necessary. Wam, bam, thank you, ma’am. And you two will be fine.”

“Stop trying to give advice.”

“You’re jealous my advice is better.”

Cadeau ignored the quips flying between them, letting the thought of becoming a seductress to put an end to Sage’s issues with her flourish. An interesting plan, one that would leave them satisfied, one that might work. At the very least, they’d enjoy themselves. And for a moment, Cadeau considered acting out the suggestion.

But her daughter’s face popped into her thoughts. She couldn’t risk Sage and Jolie meeting. Jolie would become attached to a woman who wouldn’t stick around, have her little heart ripped apart when she realized she wasn’t getting a second mommy yet.

And Sage, in her panic, would tell the band about Jolie. She would think they already knew about her three-year-old daughter but they didn’t and the news of her single-mother status would cause them to draw their own conclusions about the type of person she was, all of which wouldn’t be accurate, and they would kick her from the band.

They’d find out eventually, from Cadeau’s mouth, after she signed the contract making her an official member of Say Goodbye. This was her chance to change her life, give her daughter a better future, she wouldn’t let being a single mother hurt her.

She’d do the only thing she could do: be nice to Sage. She wouldn’t treat her like a child, wouldn’t steal her door, and wouldn’t give her any reason to show up at her home and meet her daughter.