Chapter Text
The first time it happened, Nat was hungover.
Like, really hungover. Like the type of hungover that made her wonder if she’d even fallen asleep in the first place.
Last night was a jumble of nothingness. She remembered that she’d already been up for twenty-four hours, splitting time between getting her apartment ready for rent inspections and working her own shift at the bar. She’d only really gone out to grab a pack of cigarettes and maybe some beer but she ended up at the bar across the street.
She didn’t remember much from after that. She remember meeting up with some co-workers. She remembered one overzealous girl in the restroom pivoting from sobbing into the sink to complimenting her eyeliner. She remember one really hot woman with long legs, tanned skin and dark hair that looked a little too like someone Nat was meant to be forgetting. That was probably why she kissed her.
But, after that, it was probably a blur.
At some point, she clearly made it home, throwing her boots haphazardly around and passing out on the couch with an attempt at a glass of water and some painkillers for the headache. It was ‘an attempt’ because the glass was barely a quarter filled and the painkillers had been thrown onto the floor for the evening when Nat jerked awake, hand instantly swinging out and spilling what was left in the glass of water all over her side table.
The worst part was that it was early. Too early to be awake on a normal day and too early to be awake when she was hungover.
Groggily, she looked around for the cause of her abrupt awakening. The usual suspects were out.
The curtains were closed so no sunlight was streaming in. The cat that liked to climb the fire escape and scratch at the window wasn’t making noise. The fridge was definitely closed. She’d woken up too many times to it beeping because drunk Nat went rummaging in it at night and forgot to close it. The tv was off. The fire alarm wasn’t going. There were no odds smells. No smoke.
She flopped back down onto the couch cushions, content on using her one day off to sleep off the hangover and maybe order food from the Chinese place down the road.
But there it was again, that obnoxious sound that snapped her awake.
Someone was knocking on her door. Nat froze, groggily pulling her face from the cushions to stare daggers at the door like she was attempting to will the person away with her mind. For a moment, it seemed to work.
Then, the knocking resumed only this time, it sounded a lot more like someone was kicking the door rather than knocking on it.
She groaned, head pounding. “I’m coming!” She hollered,” For fuck’s sake! I’m fucking coming!”
She swiped the painkillers up from the floor and swallowed them dry, massaging her throat as they went down stiffly. She threw open the door after a moment of fumbling with her keys. Sober Nat really needed to have a talk with drunk Nat about her issue with putting things back where they belonged. This was the third time she’d found her keys tucked into a pair of shoes she never wore.
She wrenched up the door. “What?” She snapped, already glaring.
Nat faltered. There was no one there. She frowned, leaning out of her door to look down both sides of the hallway. Still no one.
She frowned. “What the fuck?”
“Hello!”
The sound that came out of her mouth was undignified and definitely a sound she would deny ever making if someone asked. It was a pathetic noise that Nat would now have to take to the grave.
She looked down, eyes still wide in panic and heart beating out of her chest. A kid stood in front of her door, darked haired and grinning. It was a girl, beaming up at her with pearly white teeth, missing one of the front ones. It either came out in a fight (unlikely considering this stranger was a kid) or she’d lost it naturally (Nat wondered what the going rate for teeth was for the tooth fairy nowadays).
“Can I…help you?”
The girl nodded, wiggling her way through the gap between the door and one of Nat’s legs.
“Hey! You can’t just- Hey!”
There was still no one in the hall and none of the other doors were open. It was like the kid had just appeared out of thin air. Did kids do that now? Was that a new kid update Nat had missed? Did they just spawn out of nowhere?
She swung her door shut again, letting it rattle against the frame.
For a kid that spawned out of nowhere, she was remarkably well cared for.
Her dark hair was brushed neatly and pulled into two pigtails that bounced as she walked. She was polite enough as well, toeing off her light up sneakers before she wandered further into the apartment.
Her clothes were remarkably clean. Nat always got the impression kids were unclean but there were no spills or stains on this kid. She wore cute little denim overalls and a butterfly patterned shirt underneath. Even her unicorn backpack wasn’t messy, perfectly zipped up and clean.
The girl looked around the room, head on a swivel. She abandoned her shoes on the ground and immediately wandered over to climb up on the couch, wrapping Nat’s abandoned blanket around her shoulders like a cape.
“Hey!” Natalie snapped before wincing, immediately softening her tone. It was still a kid at the end of the day. “I’m talking to you!”
“Your house smells funny.”
“Oh my god.” Nat dragged a hand over her face in annoyance. Her downstairs neighbours would surely complain as she stomped across the floor and cracked open the window. “Better, punk?”
The girl hummed, nodding and swinging her feet happily. “I like it here,” She declared,” It’s nice.”
“Thanks.” Nat swiped the tv remote the moment she saw a sticky little hand reach out for it. She perched on the coffee table, acutely aware of the spilled water soaking through her sock. “Now who the hell are you?”
“My Mommy says that hell is a bad word.”
“So you do have a mom. Where is she?”
“Out.”
“Look, punk, there’s two ways this can go. One, you fess up about who you are and why you’re here and maybe, maybe, I crack open the mac and cheese I’ve been saving for a special occasion or, two, I call the police and say there’s a little runt hanging around my apartment who's been abandoned. Your choice.”
“They won't arrest me,” The girl said smartly,” I’m just a kid.”
“Yeah? You want to put that to the test? Do you?”
The girl’s bottom lip wobbled like she was about to start crying, eyes darting from side to side in worry.
“‘Cause I’ve got a friend who’s a cop.” Nat whipped out her phone. “Let me just find his number. Where is it? Oh, here it is. I’ll just-”
“Wait! I…I think we can come to an agreement here.”
Thirty minutes later, Nat was eating mac and cheese out of a bowl, drinking water out of one of Calliope Sadecki’s ‘fun straws’ and watching a Phineas and Ferb rerun. In that thirty minutes, Natalie had learnt a lot about Calliope Sadecki.
For one, nobody but her teachers called her Calliope. Everyone else called her Callie or Cals. Her middle name was Jackie which Nat wasn’t going to touch with a ten foot pole, and her parents were one Jeff Sadecki and Shauna Shipman. She was nine years old (nearly ten), had never been to New York before and her favourite thing to do was spin around in circles until she fell over because she once watched Shauna do it after drinking too much adult juice and thought it looked fun. Nat also wasn’t going to touch that with a ten foot pole either.
“So,” She said through a mouthful of cheese,” Why are you at my place?”
“Mommy dropped me off!” Callie said brightly. Her face was covered in sauce as she kicked her legs about.
“Right, yeah, I got that. What exactly did Shauna explain to you?”
“Mommy and Daddy are going through a dee-horse,” Callie said helpfully and Nat’s awful headache waned a little.
“Divorce.”
“Yeah, that’s what I said. A dee-horse. So Mommy and Daddy are doing that ‘cause Mommy saw Daddy kiss Miss Allie with the big boobs.”
“I don’t think you’re meant to attach ‘with the big boobs’ to anyone.”
Callie shrugged. “Mommy said to describe people how I see them and Miss Allie has big boobs. She wears silly tops around Daddy because Daddy likes boobs. He always says so after drinking adult juice.”
Nat scrubbed a hand over her face is disbelief. “Right,” She said,” Shauna and Jeff are divorcing because your dad’s a boob guy and Shauna caught him tonguing Allie Stevens. Right, fine. Why does that mean leaving you on my doorstep? Where did she even get my address from?”
Callie blew out all of her air noisily. “I was getting to that!” She huffed. “Mommy is meeting with a law man today ‘cause Auntie Tai recommended one but I pretended to be sick! So Mommy had to bring me along. She talked to a lady made of mist which is funny because I didn’t know there were mist people in the world! Mist lady found your address and Mommy really had to go so she had me knock.”
“Misty,” Nat said through gritted teeth,” Hey, punk, you have the rest of mine, I need to…I need to make a call.”
Natalie stepped away. Callie seemed fairly self-sufficient. Most kids of divorces did, at least from Nat’s experience. There wasn’t much she could get into anyway. She stepped into her bedroom, stripping off her sweaty pjs and changed into something a little more respectable.
ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO UNBLOCK CONTACT?
YES//NO
NATALIE [6:56 AM]
you found my new apartment?????
and gave it to Shauna?????
what the fuck, Misty?????
MISTY [6:57 AM]
Nat!!!!!!
Hello!!!!!
Hi!!!!
You finally replied
I was worried you had blocked me or something ;)
It’s so nice to hear from you
Of course I found your new apartment
It’s not safe for no one to know where you live
What if something bad happens?
NATALIE [6:57 AM]
van knows where i live
MISTY [6:58 AM]
Van lives in Ohio
She wouldn’t be able to get to you if something bad happened
I’m much closer
NATALIE [6:59 AM]
do you have van’s address too?
MISTY [7:00 AM]
…
It’s a beautiful day today, Nat
You should go outside and get some vitamin D
I’m worried you don’t get out enough
NATALIE [7:00 AM]
you’re a crazy fucking bitch
Nat found her one good shirt that didn’t smell like beer and whisky. She smelt it just to be sure but it didn't smell of much apart from detergent and fabric softener.
“Natalie!” Came Callie’s cry from the lounge,” You have a kitty?!”
Nat looked at herself in the mirror. She counted to three. She counted to three a second time. Then, she counted to ten for good measure.
“He’s a fat bastard, punk! Don’t dare you feed him your mac and cheese!”
When Nat thought about high school, the Jackie-Shauna fight/breakup thing was always the thing she ended up cycling back to. Mainly, because of how bat shit fucking insane it was.
It was nice that something was happening around Nat and not to her for once. It was a nice change of pace. Though, really, she should have known that it would all come back to bite her in the ass one day.
That day, sadly, had to be today.
Shauna sat across from her at the measly kitchen table, nursing a coffee that Nat had spiked with vodka while Callie was fast asleep on the couch with that fat bastard of a cat curled up next to her. Nat should have known he would keep coming back after she left tuna out on the fire escape for him a few weeks ago.
“So,” She said,” You actually stayed with Sadecki then?”
Shauna groaned into her drink, downing half of it so quickly that Nat was surprised she hadn’t burnt herself. “I was pregnant,” She confessed, staring down into the mug,” At Nationals. I was pregnant. It was Jeff’s.”
“Well, yeah,” Nat said,” We were all there in the locker room. Jackie never exactly had a quiet voice.”
“The baby,” Shauna cleared her throat,” He didn’t make it. I stayed with Jeff because I thought we were going to have a baby. I should have left the moment I miscarried but…” A choked sob escaped her and Nat, for Shauna’s dignity, pretended it never happened. “I couldn’t bring myself to. I fucked up so bad. Fuck, he was Jackie’s boyfriend and I fucked him for what? To get back at her? I couldn’t leave after all that. I couldn’t do it.”
“And then Callie,” Nat filled in.
“Yeah, then Callie came along.”
“She said you caught Jeff cheating.”
Shauna’s answering laugh was bitter. “Once a cheater, always a cheater, I suppose.”
Nat slid over the little bottle of vodka and Shauna poured a liberal amount into her drink. “And now you’re divorcing and moving to New York.”
“Trying to. Rent prices are insane but I can’t stay in Wiskayok. I’ve found a job at a publishing house but…Getting an apartment is going to be tricky, especially with Callie. I just-”
Nat was going to regret this. She knew she would but her mouth had always been faster than her brain and the words were out of her mouth before she could think it through. “I’ve got a spare room. Well, a spare room and an office space I don’t use. Reckon I could turn it into a room for Callie if you want.”
Shauna froze, mug halfway to her lips. She lowered it and reached for the vodka instead, downing it like a shot. “Why would you do that?”
“Fuck if I know. I can’t just be nice?”
“You’re never nice.”
“Wow, Shauna. I can be nice. That’s what I’m doing. I’m being nice.”
“But, why?”
“Look, getting an apartment is a bitch. I lucked out ‘cause Kevyn knows the landlord here. I get a pretty good deal. Just pay half and stay here, saves money for that fancy lawyer you’re gonna need. Jeff Sadecki’s always been a little bitch and your kid, somehow, is kind of alright. I could use the company.”
“Just until we get on our feet.”
“Yeah. Jesus, Shauna, I wasn’t offering to be your roommate permanently. I’m a solitary creature.”
“You’re a loser.”
“That too.”
Calliope ‘Callie’ Sadecki was nine years old (nearly ten), slept in a box room that used to be an office, loved the colour green and had single-handedly convinced Natalie to keep the cat.
The fat bastard sat primly on Nat’s kitchen table. His stump of a tail flicked back and forth casually as she approached, wiping the sleep from her eyes and slumping down into the stool, head down on the smooth grain of the table.
He pawed at Callie’s glass of milk as the kid ate her morning toast, flicking at her fun straw. His shredded ear flicked and the bell on his green collar jingled as he tapped at it again.
“Mornin’ Uncle Nat!” Callie said happily and Nat groaned into the table.
“Morning, punk,” She muttered,” Toast good?”
“Really good!” Callie exclaimed,” I wanted cereal but Mom said I can’t have it because Mr Scampi will try to drink my milk.”
“Yeah,” Nat said, face still squished against the table,” He’s not meant to drink people milk.”
“Silly, Uncle Nat,” Callie giggled,” That’s cow milk, not people milk.”
“Right.” Nat sat up again. She glanced around the room, frowning. It was too early for her to be up, especially after another late night bar shift, but she had a few odd jobs to do. Miss Callahan two doors down needed her sink unblocked. Gen from high school needed shelves put up and Jackie’s showerhead needed maintenance again. “Where’s your mom?”
Callie shrugged. “I dunno.”
Admittedly, Callie was a really good liar. She knew how to act casual with it. She knew how to make it seem like she wasn’t completely avoiding eye contact as she tucked back into her cereal, cramming her mouth full so she wouldn’t have to answer any follow up questions.
Callie Jackie Sadecki, at her core, was an exquisite liar. If Nat was to teach a course about lying then Callie would be her first case study. She could fool other kids at the park. She could fool teachers and bus drivers and even Shauna on occasion.
Unfortunately for Callie, Nat had written the book on childhood lying and she certainly wasn’t fooled.
“Callie,” She said sternly,” Where’s Shauna?”
“I don’t know.”
Nat sighed deeply like she’d been forced into something she really didn’t want to do. “Yeah? You don’t know where Shauna is?”
“I don’t know where my Mommy is.”
“Fine.” Natalie stood slowly, scooping up the fat bastard of a cat that was attempting to nudge the cup off the table.
“Wait…Where are you taking him?”
“We have to find Shauna,” Nat said,” So I guess we’ll see if Mr Scampi can find him. I’m going to open the window and-”
“No! You can’t!”
“I can’t? It’ll be fine, Callie, Scampi will-”
“Mommy’s at work!”
Natalie placed Scampi down by his food bowls. He hissed at her.
“Right, and why is Shauna at work so early?”
“Publishing emergency?”
“Meaning?”
Callie shrugged. “I dunno.”
“Right. Great. Yeah, that’s exactly what I wanted to hear. Don’t you have school to get to or something?”
“Mommy said you would take me.”
“Gee,” Nat said sarcastically,” I’m really loving this open line of dialogue Shauna and I have. It’s not like she has a phone where she can text me these things.” She grabbed the coffee pot and drank straight from it, wiping her mouth off with the back of her hand. “Where do you go to school anyway?”
“Er…I don’t know.”
“Well, what time does it start?”
“I don’t know that either.”
Nat watched as Scampi flipped his food bowl upside down and then yowled in heartbreak.
“Well, I guess you’re taking the day off.”
“You’re not calling Mommy to ask?”
“Must be some publishing emergency,” Nat said with a grin,” She might be too busy to come to the phone.”
Callie positively lit up as she went crashing off her chair. She collided with Nat at full speed, arms around her waist and head buried into her stomach. “Yes!” She cheered,” Nat, yay! We can go to the aquarium, you promised you’d take me!”
Nat frowned. “I don’t remember that.”
“You did it in my dream last night.”
“That’s not exactly legally binding, punk.”
“It can be!” Callie said brightly,” Auntie Tai’s my lawyer.”
“Tai does land use.”
“I don’t know what that is.”
Natalie sighed. “Yeah, I don’t know either.”
“So, aquarium?”
“We’ll see if we’ve got time,” She said eventually,” I’ve got a few odd jobs to do but we might be able to fit it in.”
The unblocking of Miss Callahan’s sink was fairly straightforward even if it meant Nat had to take apart the pipes and clean them out that way. Callie was happy enough, sitting at the kitchen table with her legs swinging and eating cookies while talking old Miss Callahan’s ear off apart the fact that her Daddy sucked and her Mommy had a work emergency and how Uncle Nat was going to take her to the aquarium when all this was over.
The work at Gen’s crappy downtown apartment took a little longer. The shelving unit she’d bought for cheap was the worst piece of shit Nat had ever seen which said a lot because Nat had seen a lot of crappy shelving units.
“You sure you want this one?” She said doubtfully as the wood all but crumbled in her hands.
Gen looked over from the slapping game she’d been playing with Callie with a wince. “It was cheap?”
“Jesus, Gen,” Nat said,” I could build you a better one for cheaper if you let me go to the scrapyard.”
“Would you?”
“Uncle Nat’s very good at building things,” Callie said brightly,” She built my bed.” She slapped the back of Gen’s hand.
“Give me-” Nat looked at the flatpack wood for what she could salvage. Not much. “-An hour? I’ll pick some stuff up from the scrapyard.” She eyed Callie. “Actually, make that an hour and a half. I need to get some food into that one.”
“Get what you need,” Gen said,” I’ll pay you back for it.”
“Nah.” Nat waved her away. “I’ll get the stuff, you just pay for my services.”
“I can’t do that, Nat. Let me just-”
“La la la, I can’t hear you. Come on, Callie. La la la, we’re not listening!”
The drive to the scrapyard was an achingly familiar one as Nat’s old beaten up pickup truck went trundling down the roads. Callie hummed in the passenger seat as her little milk teeth scraped at the sub that was almost as big as her arm.
“Goin’ to the scrapyard,” Callie sung, spraying crumbs and chunks of half eaten beef all over Nat’s floor,” Goin’ to the scrapyard. Yay! Yay!”
“Yay,” Nat muttered with a distinct lack of amusement as she pulled up, killing the engine.
Callie unclipped her seatbelt without prompting and reached for the door handle.
“Callie,” Nat said in warning and the smile she received was nothing short of evil.
“Yes, Uncle Nat?” Callie asked sweetly.
“Do we need to go over the scrapyard rules again?”
Callie huffed, arms crossed over her chest like a tinier, eviler version of Shauna. She blew out her air noisily. “I know the rules.”
“Which are?”
“Don’t pick things up because they could have nails in them. Don’t run around. Don’t go off with strangers. Don’t distract you when you’re lifting.”
“And?”
Callie huffed.
“Punk, if you don’t tell me the last rule then we’re not getting out.”
“And don’t tell Mom you took me.”
“Excellent. Alright, let’s go.”
Shauna would crucify her if she found out just how familiar Callie was with the scrapyard, inspecting unused lumber and pieces of scrap metal that people had thrown away. Of course, what Shauna didn’t know couldn’t hurt her and, with a bit of bribery, Callie could definitely keep her mouth shut.
Especially when that bribery included her own little scrap souvenirs for Nat to make into little toys or trinkets to put on her bookshelf.
Finding wood for Gen’s shelf was infinitely easier than finding a bit of scrap for Callie’s collection.
“Callie,” Nat said in disbelief,” Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“Callie, we live in an apartment building with a broken elevator.”
“I know.”
“You want me to carry that up the stairs?”
Callie gave Nat a condescending pat on the bicep. “That’s what your strong muscles are for.”
“Punk.”
“Uncle Nat.”
Nat snuck another wary glance at Callie’s pick. Why anyone would throw away a wooden carving of a German Shepherd was beyond Nat but, then again, why anyone would want a life sized carving of a German Shepherd was also a mystery.
“That’s going to be very heavy.”
“You’re very strong. You’re stronger than anyone else in the world.”
Nat looked at the carving. The carving stared back at her tauntingly. She glanced at Callie and the hopeful look on her face.
“This is worth three scrapyard trips,” She said,” Not including this one.”
“Two,” Callie bargained,” Including this one.”
“Two,” Nat replied,” Not including this one.”
She held out her hand. Callie looked at it, then back at her face, brow furrowed in concentration. She took Nat’s hand.
“Two trips,” Callie agreed,” Not including this one. Thank you, Uncle Nat!”
The stupid carved statue was all she could talk about when they got back to Gen’s. It was all she could talk about on the drive back. It was all she could talk about when they got there. It was all she could tell Gen about as Nat hunkered down with her scrap wood to build a shelving unit.
It was all she could talk about on the way to Jackie’s as well.
Nat fished out her spare key to let herself in. If someone had told her all those years ago that one of her closest friends would be her uptight soccer captain, Nat would have asked for her joint back because clearly they’d been smoking it.
But, here she was now, letting herself into Jackie’s apartment to fix her stupid water pressure while Callie sat on the closed toilet lid and spoke her ear off about her new dog statue.
Nat’s nose wrinkled in disgust as she unscrewed the shower head and peeked inside. The whole thing was caked in limescale. No wonder Jackie’s water pressure had been on the out and out. It was a wonder how she was even still getting water through the nozzles.
“Is this our new house?” Callie asked suddenly. Clearly, she’d run out of things to say about her new statue.
“No, it isn’t,” Nat said as she dug her miniature flashlight out of her multitool to check the shower cable. It was just as disgusting as the showerhead. It look like the thing hadn’t been cleaned in at least fifty years.
“Then why are we here?”
“This is my friend’s place.”
“Oh.” Callie was silent for a moment. “Where is your friend?”
“She’s at work.”
“What does she work as?”
“She does marketing,” Nat replied. She unscrewed the shower cable and peered inside again, rummaging around on her multitool for the little knife. She scraped it across the thick layer of limescale. Barely anything came up. It was almost cemented on.
“That sounds…”
“Boring?”
“I don’t know what marketing is,” Callie said,” But Mommy does publishing and that’s boring. All adult jobs sound boring.”
Nat grinned down at the shower cable with a soft huff of amusement. “Even my job?”
Callie’s head tilted to the side in consideration. “You serve adult juice at night,” She hummed,” Which is alright, I guess. And you play with fun tools during the day.” She sighed. “I guess you have a fun adult job.”
“Glad you approve.”
“Yes,” Callie nodded seriously,” You should be.”
Nat rolled her eyes fondly before focussing back on her task. She was so focussed on her task, Callie wiggling into her lap to watch her fiddle with the shower components, that she didn’t even hear the front door opening and slamming closed again. She didn’t notice the footsteps and loud groan as heels were kicked to the side.
She didn’t even notice anything until Jackie was leaning in the doorway with a soft sigh.
“Do my eyes deceive me?” She teased,” Or is Natalie Scatorccio sitting on my floor?”
Nat rolled her eyes, adjusting Callie on her lap. “Aren’t you meant to be at work? What? No marketing for you today?”
Jackie laughed. “And miss this? No chance.”
“Well, you’re not missing much. You’ve got two choices, Jax.”
“What do you recommend?”
“That you replace the shower hose completely.”
“And the other option?”
“You let me soak this in limescale cleaner for a few days and I’ll scape out the rest.”
“The second one.”
Nat groaned, bumping her head against the bathroom tiles. “You suck. Why would you do this to me?”
“I can’t want to spend time with you?”
“Well-”
“Uncle Nat,” Callie said in awe, eyes fixed on Jackie’s face,” Your friend is so pretty.”
Jackie positively beamed, abandoning her spot in the doorway to offer her hand to Callie. “You, young lady, flatter me. You’re much prettier than me. Introduce me to your friend, Natalie.”
It must be something in the Shipman genes. It was the only explanation that Nat could think of. There was something in the Shipman genes that made Shipman girls completely enamoured with Jackie Taylor. It had to be a biological thing because there was no other explanation as to why both Shauna and now Callie were obsessed with Nat’s old captain.
Of course, Shauna would deny any such obsession but Nat had known them both since kindergarten and she knew what she saw back then all the way up to high school. Her suspicions had only been confirmed by little Callie’s sudden and intense desire to suck up Jackie’s presence like a sponge.
There must be something in the Taylor genes too, Nat mused as she trudged behind them both during Callie’s promised trip to the aquarium, the dark blue lights reflecting in her eyes as Jackie crouched in front of the seahorse tank to point out all the cool colours and frills to Callie.
Jackie took to both Shipmans like a fish to water.
“Can we bring Jackie home to Mommy?” Callie asked as she sat at the little cafe halfway through the visit. She swung her legs happily, eyes tracking Jackie’s every movement as the woman waited in the long line to grab some snacks from the pastry shelf.
Nat winced. “I don’t know how much your mom would like that, punk” She said,” Jackie and your mom stopped getting along a long time. I don’t know how much she would like it if we brought Jackie home with us.”
Callie slammed herself back in her seat, arms crossed over her chest and classic Shipman pout on her face. “Mommy’s a liar!” She declared.
“Whoa, punk,” Nat said,” Let’s calm it down.”
“No! She is!” Callie insisted,” ‘Cause Mommy loves Jackie so much! She tells me stories all the time about Jackie! And! And how much she misses her and wishes she was here! And she is now! We can give Jackie to Mommy for Christmas!”
Nat cleared her throat. “Well, maybe Jackie doesn’t want to see your mom.”
Callie stuck her tongue out, blowing her air out noisily. “Uh-uh!” She said, wiggling her finger,” Jackie was telling me how much she misses Mommy. We have to take her home!”
“Callie.”
“Uncle Nat.”
“We’re not bringing Jackie home. She’s not a stray like the cat.”
“Who’s not a cat?” Jackie asked as she set the tray down. “You’ve got a cat now, Nat?”
“Don’t even get me started,” Nat grumbled, reaching for the muffin,” I’ll pay you back.”
“Don’t be silly.” Jackie reached out to ruffle Callie’s hair, who giggled and kicked her legs again. “It’s on me. I’ve still got to pay you for helping with my shower.”
“I can pay!” Callie said brightly, spraying cookie crumbs straight from her mouth.
“Yeah?” Jackie said indulgently, taking a napkin to Callie’s face,” And how are you going to do that sweetheart?”
“With this!”
From Callie’s pocket, she slammed down three crisp hundred dollar bills.
Nat felt her stomach drop. She picked one up. Real. It was real. It was a real hundred dollar bill. “Callie,” She said carefully,” Where did you get this?”
“Gen!” Callie said brightly,” She told me that it’s for you and we should split it but you’re an adult, Uncle Nat, and you have adult money so I took it for myself.”
Callie Sadecki was nearly ten, spent nearly ten whole minutes staring at a starfish, had sticky fingers that reminded Nat of another dark haired girl she used to know, and didn’t know how to keep her mouth shut.
She’d just finished the back breaking task of hauling that stupid German Shepherd statue up the stairs and into Callie’s room, pushing it across the floor whenever Callie decided that she wanted it somewhere else.
Callie, like the little dictator she was, sat on her bed hugging the stuffed octopus Jackie bought her. She practically lit up when she heard the front door open and close and Shauna’s familiar footsteps weaving through the apartment.
Nat hurried to throw one of Callie’s many blankets over the statue and leaned halfway out the window to make it look like she was doing something. Scampi the cat stared judgementally at her from his spot by Callie’s feet.
“So,” Shauna said, aiming for casual but definitely not achieving it,” Do either of you want to explain why I got a call from the school about Callie not turning up?”
Nat slowly drew herself out from the window, turning on her heel and putting on her most confused face. “Nope,” She said,” It might have been because we were a little late? Callie didn’t know when school started so we just kind of winged it. Honestly, Shauna, I think-”
“We met Uncle Nat’s friend today!” Callie said brightly,” And she bought us muffins and this!” She held up her octopus proudly.
Shauna’s eye twitched and Nat considered throwing herself out of the window when a frosty glare was sent her way.
“You met Natalie’s friend?” Shauna asked stiffly,” That’s funny. When did you meet that friend?”
“On the way to school!” Nat hurried to say.
“At her house. Uncle Nat was fixing her shower.”
The window was looking really tempting now.
“And she came with us to the aquarium.”
“Callie, shhh.”
“And she thinks I’m pretty!”
“Callie, please stop.”
“But she’s soooo pretty! I can see why you’re in love with Jackie, Mommy! She’s the best!”
“Okay!” Nat launched into action, grabbing Callie from her bed and throwing the kid over her shoulder. Callie giggled uncontrollably. “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about, Shauna. Clearly, we need to dunk her off in some water or something.”
“Uncle Nat!” Callie giggled, hands thumping Nat’s back,” Put me down!”
“Did you hear something? Because I didn’t! Nothing at all! So, I’m going to go dunk this kid in the toilet and-”
“But Mommy should hear what Jackie said about her! Mommy, Jackie wanted to come back home with us! She really wants to see you!”
“It must be the wind!” Nat said quickly,” Really, ever since we got that stupid cat, there’s been a permanent breeze and-”
“Wait.” Shauna held her hand up for silence and Natalie’s mouth snapped shut audibly, jaw creaking and teeth clinking against each other. “Jackie wants to see me?”
Slowly, Nat lowered Callie to the ground. The kid bounded back towards her mother, clutching at the sleeves of Shauna’s flannel and tugging.
“Jackie’s so nice!” She insisted,” And she said she misses you so much! And her apartment is so big! And-And-”
“She misses me?” The dazed look on Shauna’s face would have made Nat laugh if she couldn’t hear the hope in Shauna’s tone, dazed and hopeful and full of awe all at once.
“You’re all she talked about,” She confessed softly. Shauna and Callie’s eyes both snapped to her. “I’m pretty sure she keeps breaking things in her apartment so I can come around and listen to her talk about you while I fix it.”
“And it’s because she misses me?” Shauna asked,” Not so she can…”
“What?” Nat said,” Punch you in the face? Ruin your life? No, Shauna. Jackie genuinely misses you. To a disgusting degree, she misses you. It’s embarrassing.”
“Really?”
“Jesus fucking Christ, Shauna,” She groaned,” How many times do we have to say it? Jackie adored Calle today and all she could talk about is you. Yes, she misses you. No, she doesn’t want to beat you the fuck up. So, do you want her number or not? Because I have to sort out the shelves n my room and I still have work later.”
Calle Sadecki was two months off her tenth birthday, had a nose like a bloodhound when it came to gossip, still didn’t know the name or where her school was, and tried to fight the barista at the local coffee joint because he gave her sprinkles instead of chocolate shavings.
Nat could relate to that but, at least, she had never thrown actual fists at a barista. Kids like Callie ran on different rules apparently as she sipped from both her her sprinkle whipped cream hot chocolate and her chocolate shavings hot chocolate.
“Yo, Nat,” Said one of her co-workers wiping down the fridge,” Is the kid allowed to be here?”
“Look,” Nat muttered from under the sink,” If Shauna didn’t want me to take her punk ass kid here then she shouldn’t have left me to babysit her. So, really, this is her fault.”
“Lots of things are Mommy’s fault,” Callie said helpfully,” Like last night’s yucky mac and cheese and the messed up laundry and the breaking of the bookshelf and the funny smell on the couch and-”
“Besides,” Nat continued like Callie wasn’t still talking,” This is my day off. I have commitments.” She made a gesture towards Callie as if to prove her point. “So if the boss man wants to call me in to fix the shit you broke then fine but my tagalong comes with. Hey, punk, show him what I taught you.”
Callie banged on the bar top. “Hit me,” She said proudly.
“You heard the girl, hit her. There should still be some orange juice left. Give her that.”
By the time Nat reappeared from under the sink, covered in grime and gunk and reminding herself that she couldn’t just survive on fixing random things and she actually needed to keep her job at this dingy bar, Callie was rotating between her two hot chocolates and her orange juice, chattering the poor co-worker who was in charge of deep cleaning the bar’s ears off.
“-Getting a new mommy,” Callie was saying as Nat reappeared,” Her real name is Jackie but I’m gonna call her Mom. Mommy and Mom are ‘dating’ right now which means sometimes they hang out without me but that’s cool because I get to hang out with Uncle Nat and she gets me hot chocolate. Sometimes Mommy and me sleep over at Mom’s house and sometimes Mom tells me she’s going to get me a puppy.”
Nat buckled her tool box with a frown. “Hey, punk,” She said,” What do you mean get a puppy? You can’t get a puppy. They’d terrorise your cat.”
“I don’t have a cat, Uncle Nat.”
“Er, yes you do. Shredded ear? Half a tail? Ring any bells?”
Condescendingly, Callie reached across the bar to pat Nat’s arm, speaking to her just like Shauna did when she tried to explain some publishing mumbo jumbo while Nat was attempting to enjoy a beer on the couch. It was scary how similar they sounded sometimes.
“Mr Scampi’s your cat, Uncle Nat. Not mine.”
“You’re the one that made me keep him inside.”
“Because you shouldn’t leave your cat outside in the cold,” Callie said,” Everyone knows that, Uncle Nat.”
“Yeah,” Came the voice of her co-worker,” Everyone knows that, Uncle Nat.”
“You-” Nat shoved a finger in his general direction,” Zip it before I write you up for bullying and harassment. And you, punk, zip it as well. That thing is not my cat.”
“Are you worried that Lottie won’t like him?”
Natalie froze. She had been staring up at the wine cabinet, fishing for one that was fancy but not too expensive to swipe. She wasn’t a big wine drinker but Jackie was and Shauna was eager to get back into Jackie’s good books again, not that she needed to because Jackie Taylor was forever head over heels for Shauna Shipman. But, still, Nat had promised to grab something for Shauna to give to Jackie on their next date and wine was always a safe bet.
Her hand was already outstretched to grab one she knew wasn’t in the inventory yet and so wouldn’t be missed. It hovered in front of the neck of the bottle, fingers shaking before withdrawing. Her arm hung limply at her side as she turned on her heel.
“Where did you hear that name?”
Callie had made a game out of sucking the hot chocolate shavings hot chocolate up with as many straws as she could manage when Nat turned around. She mumbled around them all. “Mommy talks about her sometimes.”
Nat took a breath, hands tightening around the edge of the bar top so hard she was surprised it didn’t creak under the force. “And what did Shauna say about Lottie and me?”
Callie shrugged. “I dunno.”
“Clearly you do, punk. Come on, spill.”
Callie pretended to think for a minute. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “What do I get out of it?”
“This isn’t a bargain, Cals,” Nat warned her,” I’m being serious here, spill.”
Callie continued to watch her. It was amazing how similar she was to Shauna in that sense. She made it feel like Nat was a specimen being watched under a microscope. That had to be a Shipman thing.
“Mommy said you and Lottie used to be close,” Callie said eventually,” And then Lottie went away to Switzerland and you stopped talking.”
Nat expelled all the airs in her lungs in relief. That was all Shauna had said, thank god. It could have been worse. She could have mentioned-
“And Mom said you get sad when she talks about Lottie to you and sometimes Lottie gets sad when Mom talks about you to her.”
“Jackie knows not to talk to either of us about each other,” Nat muttered even as an uncomfortably familiar feeling shone in her heart. She rubbed at her chest.
“Well, Mom told me that you would say that and she told me to ignore you. She said Lottie would really like to see you again.”
Nat scoffed. “Lottie Matthews,” She hissed,” Doesn’t have the time in her rich girl, wall street schedule to even think of me, let alone actually meet me.” She whirled around to grab the wine. “Come on, punk, it’s time to go.”
“But Uncle Nat, maybe Lottie actually-”
“If you’re good on our way to Mari’s place then we’ll swing by the scrapyard before going home.”
Callie practically fell out of her chair in excitement, all other thoughts falling out of her head. “Uncle Nat! Let’s go! Let’s go! The sooner we get to Mari’s the sooner we can get me a new gift!”
Nat took her hand and shook her head fondly, waving goodbye to her co-worker and leading Callie back out to the truck.
There was absolutely no way Lottie Matthews still thought about her.