Free Odd Stuff by Virginia Nelson Page A

“What are you wearing? Do you shop in the boys section of Walmart? How can you bear to be in public with her, Victoria?” 
    I sighed.
    It took over a half an hour of sheer hell to enroll Vickie. We met with the principal and vice principal, I filled out a small mountain of redundant paperwork then I signed my name after a lot of X’s. Since I wasn’t really reading what I was signing, I could have signed over custody of Vickie to the school for all I knew. 
    The whole time, my mother continued to berate my life choices, wardrobe choices, and parenting abilities. I smiled at her and nodded when it seemed appropriate. The principals got to know much more about our lives than I thought necessary, including the fact I had been slow to begin talking. 
    We toured the building and met her teacher. My mother shut up for that part, but on our way to the door, she explained I handled it poorly. I was, apparently, expected to form a bond with Vickie’s teacher. “Do you still exchange Christmas cards with my old teachers?” I couldn’t help the sarcasm as I twirled my keys.  
    It was the wrong thing to say. Besides a scathing look, it earned another ten minutes of lecture in the parking lot. In summation, it would be wonderful if I did end up life-long friends with Vickie’s teachers, since it would beat my previous life choices. Aside from not wanting to give her further reason to berate me, I couldn’t argue with any degree of certainty after the night I had due to Mia. 
    Finally, I breathed in her spring-like scent as she kissed my cheek. I was only half paying attention as she told me to call her if we needed anything. She, it seemed, was glad we were closer to home, even though the circumstances were unfortunate. Unfortunate, meaning in this case, my fault.  
    Hugging her, I could, at last, dive into the warmth and relative safety of my Ford Focus. My mom pulled away while I waited for my car to warm up. I rubbed my hands together for a minute then picked up my cell phone. One missed call. Wow, am I popular.  
    Looking at the readout, I was glad my mom wasn’t near enough to hear me shout, “Damn!” Mia had called. I quickly dialed voice mail. 
    “Hi. Hear you had a rough night. Also you didn’t listen to me—you ran into Vance already. Just kidding. Anyway, I am at Puritan Bakery. Meet me? We can do lunch and you can tell me what I’m missing. Love ya.” Click.  
    I stared at my steering wheel. Well, that was fast. She was back in town. Thank God. She could take her crazy life back, and I could go back to job and apartment hunting. I ignored the twinge in the pit of my stomach. If I hadn’t, I might have called it regret. A relationship with a vampire was out of the question anyway and I hadn’t needed all of this additional weirdness. Right.  
    I pulled out and headed for the bakery.
     
    ~
     
    My all-time favorite bakery, Puritan was a tiny store, with hardly any room for tables and the display cases. The size, though, condenses the scent of warm, sweet things and melty, buttery goodness. Their donuts made everyone else’s donuts look like stale wheels. Their bread made everyone else’s taste like large cracker loaves. And cakes? I would kill people for their cakes. They weren’t a bakery, they were a way of life. I walked to the counter and ordered a pumpernickel bread sandwich with spinach dip spread and juicy ham. 
    Which, by the way, is the only way I will eat spinach. I spotted Mia seated at a table toward the back, not in any way trying to be incognito. Her floaty skirt, trademark Mia, hung in shades of blue. Her tiny feet were wrapped in blue, semi-precious stone beaded sandals, matching pendants of crystal hanging from her swanlike neck. Dark curly gypsy hair hung to her shoulders in artful disarray. In deference to the weather, she had a blue velvet blazer draped over her chair. Suddenly, we were hugging and gushing. “It has been so long! You could have visited more often, you know.