Working nights at the motel was never part of the plan, but I wanted to give my boy the birthday he deserved. My husband was on another business trip, at least that’s what I thought until his name showed up in the guest book. What I did next would shock everyone.
I was stirring a pot of dollar-store noodles with one hand while leaning over to help my eight-year-old son, Liam, spell “astronomer.” He’d been obsessed with space since he was five and saw his first shooting star. Every night, he’d drag me outside to point at constellations he’d memorized from library books. It was no wonder he’d chosen a space-related profession for his homework task, “What I Want to Be When I Grow Up.”
“A-S-T-R…” Liam chewed his pencil eraser, squinting at his homework.
“O-N-O-M-E-R,” I finished, reaching over to ruffle his dark hair. “Good job, buddy.”
The front door creaked open just as I was removing the noodles from the stove. Trevor dropped his gym bag by the door and headed straight for the couch without so much as a hello.
He didn’t even glance at Liam. I quickly set the pot aside and walked over slowly. You learn to move carefully around men like Trevor.
His moods are like thin ice; one wrong step and you’re drowning. “I found the perfect gift for Liam’s birthday,” I said, keeping my voice soft. “There’s a pawnshop near the diner that has a telescope.
It’s still pricey, but the owner offered me layaway.”
Trevor didn’t even look at me. He just grabbed the remote and started flipping channels like I wasn’t standing there. “What do you think?” I continued.
“$20 deposit and 90 days to pay. I’m sure we can manage—”
“But we can make it work, Trevor, and it would mean so much to him. You know how much he loves space…”
Trevor rolled his eyes.
“For now, but next year he might decide he wants to be a firefighter. Are you going to lay away a fire engine for him then, huh, Maya?”
I flinched at the casual bite in his words, but I wasn’t about to give up. “What about all the business trips you’ve been on recently?
You told me your boss said he’d be giving you a small bonus for them.”
Trevor dropped the remote and stood abruptly. “Do you have to nag about everything? I told you it won’t work, so just give it up already!
You have no idea how the real world works. You’re just a waitress.”
Just a waitress. I pressed my lips together, fighting the urge to snap back at him.
It wasn’t just that he’d called me a waitress as though my job at the diner made me less than human, but that he’d conveniently left out the fact that I did all the work at home, too. But men like Trevor don’t see that as work, do they? He stormed off, muttering under his breath.
There was no point in trying to convince him to buy that telescope. As usual, I’d have to make it work all by myself. Liam and I ate dinner together, and Trevor wandered in sometime later, took his food, and sat down to eat on the couch.
I know it sounds awful that we didn’t eat together, but at least it ensured that dinner was peaceful. Later that evening, just after I put Liam to bed, I stepped outside to make a phone call. “Hi, yes, it’s Maya,” I said into my phone.
The story doesn’t end here — it continues on the next page.
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