The Unwelcome Guest

The Unwelcome Guest
Adrienne pulled along the curb just before the mailbox making sure her tires were in the cement. She took a deep breath as she put the car in gear and ended the ignition. Looking at the house, she could see that it was dark inside with a faint glare in the window.
Great, Tom is still up.
Adrienne grabbed her briefcase and got out of her car. She walked across the grass peering inside as she got closer to the house. She reached the security door and saw her mom’s laptop switch to its screensaver.
Yes, they must’ve just gone to bed. I could do laundry in peace.
Adrienne unlocked the door. She went inside and quietly shut it behind here. She glanced upstairs and saw her mom’s bedroom wasn’t wide open. She slowly walked down the hallway to the family room. She could hear the dryer spinning and the washer churning. She opened the laundry room doors to look inside.
41 seconds. Guess I’m gonna be up late. She must’ve just gone to bed.
Adrienne pushed the doors closed making the wheels squeak. She gritted her teeth and tried to be quieter. She went in the bathroom to get her clothes and saw the basket was emptied.
“Urg, why can’t you leave my stuff alone?” She said quietly to herself.
Adrienne went into the garage. She pulled out shirts, jeans, and socks stacking them in her arms. She tossed her mom’s clothes on the floor to find more of hers. She saw the phone on the pool table and dialed. She listened through the rings and heard Tristan answer.
“Hey, I just wanted to say good night,” Adrienne said.
“Okay, goodnight. Call me tomorrow. Do you have some jeans washed for me?”
“Yeah, I will. Give me to Wendy.” She took the clothes inside dropping a view on the carpet as she walked. She saw the vacuum in the middle of the room with the cord lain out on the floor. She tossed the clothes into a pile in front of the couch.
You think I care that you vacuumed? Just something else for you to use, well guess what, I don’t really care.
“Hi, momma. Where you at?”
“I’m at home. Where are you?” Adrienne asked.
“I’m at Kelley’s house and grandma’s house, grandma Bristol.”
“Are you getting along with Wallie and your cousin?”
“Kay. Goodnight. See you Friday. Be safe,” Wendy said. She shuffles to someone else making the phone make a static sound in the receiver.
Adrienne smiles at Wendy’s silliness. She holds the receiver to her shoulder with her jaw. She looks around for the remote and clicks on the TV. The channel blares as the picture comes in. Crap! She frantically lowers the volume.
“Mom?” Wallace gets on the phone.
Adrienne holds the phone to her ear, “yeah kid, it’s me. What are you up to?” She begins to sort the clothes into separate matching piles. She sat on the couch setting the remote next to her.
“I’m ‘bout to sit at the table to eat dinner with grandma and grandpa. I think grandma made spaghetti and meatballs.”
“That’s dad’s favorite.” Adrienne tucks the phone under her jaw to use two hands. “You finished your homework, right?”
“Yeah, I didn’t have a lot. I got to ride bikes with Kelley and her friends on the street. Then Auntie came and picked her up, so I didn’t do anything till you called,” Wallace’s voice faded from the receiver. There was chatter in the background, “Okay, grandma, I’m coming, I’m talking to Adrienne.”
“Mom, why can’t I stay with you while I’m in school?” Wallace asked.
“Because your dad and I don’t have a babysitter for you and my jobs already too far from your school to drive back and forth. It’s just until your grandpa gets better,” Adrienne takes a deep breath. “I’ll let you eat, kid. You mind your grandma, okay. Are you helping your dad with Wendy?”
She heard him sigh and say, “yeah mom, love you. Here’s dad.”
“Hey, babe. How was work?” Tristan asked.
“Good, it was pretty busy, but Candace wants me to do some paper work tonight. Did you call the Union today?”
“Yeah. Ernie says their going to get some work back in a couple weeks.”
“He said that a couple of weeks ago,” Adrienne shook her head pressing her lips together, “I can’t stand it here anymore, Tristan.”
“I know babe, but it’s the only thing right now. You know when work picks back up we’ll be able to get another place. This time we’ll prepare for it being this slow. Come over tomorrow and you can drive to work early in the morning. I really wanna see you and the kids miss you,” Tristan said in a soothing voice, “I love you, babe.”
Adrienne closed her eyes and said trying to keep composure, “love you too, hun.”
Adrienne pressed off on the phone and set it on the couch. She stood up to wrap up the cord to the vacuum and rested it along the bar in the kitchen. She sat on the couch and grabbed a pair of jeans checking the pockets. She tossed them in the hallway in front of the laundry room doors.
Adrienne finished sorting the clothes and rushed upstairs. She glanced at her mom’s door and saw that it was cracked open. She turned the light on in the bathroom to keep the glare out of her mom’s room.
There were a pile of clothes on the floor in the loft. The boxes that were in the hall closet were now in her bedroom doorway. I don’t go in your room and get into your things. Stay out of my stuff! Adrienne put the clothes back in the hamper in her room. She shoved the boxes along the closet doors getting them out of the way. She stood up and sighed as she looked at her cluttered room. She pushed the hamper into the loft towards the stairs.
Adrienne heard voices from her mom’s room. She rolled her eyes and slowly slid the hamper down each step. She could hear the ceiling creek from movement in her mom’s room. She continued to sort the clothes ignoring the sound of their heavy footsteps on the stairs. Each step squeaked under their weight. She rubbed her forehead and raised the volume on the TV station. She could hear the rasping of her mom’s slippers against the tile.
It stopped and Adrienne guessed they were in the room. She saw Tom open the garage door and step outside. She could tell her mom was standing behind her or somewhere in the hallway staring. Adrienne continued sorting occasionally glancing up at the program.
Cecelia walked onto the carpet. She picked up a p,hurple shirt and set it in a pile of darker clothing. She was wearing a blue nightgown with some kind of faded critter patterned down to the seam covering her excessive belly just bellow her butt. Her wavy blonde hair was wrapped in a clip. She rested her hand on her hips.
“Is Tristan gonna bring Wendy over Friday? She’s been gone for, what two weeks?” Cecelia stretched her night gown further down her thighs. She began to rub her wide arms, “It’s chilly down here.”
“Tristan’s helping his dad right now. I don’t know what his plans are for this weekend. Did I wake you up?”
“No, we were watching a movie upstairs. He’s not gonna bring that boy?”
“Yeah mom, that boy is his son, of course he’s gonna bring him.” She could hear agitation in her own voice. “Are you done with laundry?”
“I’m gonna put a load of jeans and then you could use it. You know we might be going to the desert this weekend. I just bought a pipe for the razor, Tom’s going to put it on and he wants to work on the sand rail before Thanksgiving.”
“Okay.” Adrienne flipped a logo shirt inside out and set it next to her. She picked up the purple shirt and put it where it was before. “Isn’t it going to be boring for you?”
Go away please.
“Yeah, but I was thinking I could take Wendy so she can learn more on her quad.”
“Can you put your load in the washer so that I can start laundry? And no she’s not gonna go if your not gonna take Wallie.”
“No, he’s a pain. He gets into everything. And you’re not the one that has to clean after him.” Cecelia goes to the laundry room to put her clothes into a basket and then the dryer.
Adrienne pressed pause on the DVR. Here we go. She reached to the bottom of the hamper and pulled out a bundled sock. She unraveled it and tossed it with the socks.
“Mom, you know I clean after my kids. What do you think I’m doing now?” Adrienne curled up her lip. Did I ask you why? All as said is you have to take him too and it turns into a big huge guilt trip.
“Well, the bathroom was filthy. He just makes a mess and he’s loud. Why should you have to take care of him, he’s not your kid?” Cecelia’s voice echoed from the laundry room.
That’s what it’s really all about.
“We all use the bathroom.” She said in a monotonous voice.
“Oh, by the way, Tristan needs to stop leaving his stuff around or I’m gonna throw it away. I need you to give me some money for the bills it’s due on the twenty-sixth, but I need to send it out before we leave for Thanksgiving weekend-“
“Can you ask Tristan to mow the lawn on Thursday before the trash gets taken out?” Tom walks inside and heads down the hall before she could respond.
Adrienne opens her arms. Okay then, guess it wasn’t a question. She stared at the carpet pretending to concentrate on Cecelia as she started listing complaints and things that need to be done. She didn’t want to look at her mom. She forced a smile and rubbed her forehead with the tips of her fingers.
How am I supposed to look at her? How am I supposed to “respect” her like this? Does she realize what she’s doing? No nothings ever enough.
Cecelia came out of the laundry room. “I’m having my surgery on Tuesday, so I’m gonna need you to be here to take me because I won’t be able to drive afterwards.”
“Tom can’t do it? I have to work.”
“No, Tom has his weekends. He chose Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s instead of Saturday and Sunday.”
Yeah, so he can party on the weekends. What a loser!
“You can tell Wallace’s mom to take him while I’m recovering so I don’t have to deal with him.”
“Oh my gosh mom! He’s a boy, he’s gonna be rowdy and adventurous. Besides, his mom’s not in the picture; she never has been. I’m the one who’s helped raise him for five years now. I’m his mom it’s time for you to finally get used to it.” Adrienne picked up her jeans and threw them in the washer with her mom’s load. She grabbed her briefcase and went towards the stairs.
“This is something else I have to do now. No.”
“Just leave it, mom. I’ll do yours too it’s not a big deal.” Adrienne jammed up the stairs ignoring what else her mom had to say. “Urg!” She went in her room and shut the door. She opened her briefcase ripping out her folders of paperwork. She sat on her bed and tried to read them over.
Cecelia walks in her room carrying a pile of wet jeans. She drops them to the floor. “I’ll need my money by the morning,” she says nonchalant.
Adrienne’s mouth opens. She raises her eyebrow and watches her mom walk out the door. Adrienne stares at the pile of soaked jeans unsure of what to think. She let out a chuckle and went back to her paperwork.
I’ll just use the laundry mat then. And I won’t have to pay as much of your stupid bills. Guilt trips are longer going to work, mom.


Adrienne stood in front of her mother-in-laws house holding her hamper in her arms. She rubbed her forehead as she waited for someone to answer the door.
Kelly yanked the door open with a smile on her face knowing who it was. “Auntie!” She stepped outside and wrapped her arms around Adrienne’s stomach.
“Okay Kelly, it’s nice to see you, too. Can you let me in so I can see my family?” Adrienne grinned.
“My mom says I can spend the night cause she has to work really late so she’ll pick me up after school tomorrow.” Kelly stepped into the foyer and walked down the entryway.
“Are you happy about that?” Adrienne leaned her head to the side pondering.
“Yeah.” Kelly went into the family room. “Guess whose here, Wallie?”
Adrienne dragged her hamper inside and left it in the entryway. She shut the door and walked in. She could smell something frying in the kitchen and took a deeper whiff.
“Mommy!” Wendy runs from the family room and rams her face into Adrienne’s thighs making her take a step back.
Adrienne picks Wendy up and holds her in her arms. Wendy rests her head against Adrienne’s shoulder. She could hear a muffled I missed you. “I missed you, too, baby.” She walks into the family room and spots Wallie in front of the TV waiting for a greeting. “Come here, kid.”
Wallace stands up and hurries to hug her waist. He clenches tightly resting his cheek over her belly button.
Has it been that long? Man, I can’t wait till we get another place.
“When are you gonna come home?” Wendy asks with inquisitive voice.
“You mean when are you gonna go home?” Adrienne kisses her cheek.
Wendy lifts her head and looks at Adrienne’s face. “No. When you gonna come home. Not this house the other house?”
“Grandma Russo’s house?”
“No! The other house.”
Adrienne sets Wendy on the ground. She kisses Wallace on the forehead. “We don’t live at that house anymore, baby. We’ll get our own house real soon, but it won’t be that one. Come on; show me where you’ve been sleeping.”
Wallace takes Adrienne’s hand and pulls her towards the hallway. Wendy begins to whine about their old house. Wallace yanks harder talking about having a TV in his new room and how it used to be his dad’s room.
Adrienne stumbles over a toy, but braces herself against a couch. She catches a glimpse of Tristan coming in the kitchen from the backyard. He grins and drops tongs he was holding on the counter.
He steps around the sink walking towards her. He was wearing a green flannel with a stainless white shirt underneath. I love it when he dresses up. His hair brown hair is styled back. His cheekbones were puffy and his skin was dark under his eyes. He hugged her shoulders and pressed his lips against her neck.
Adrienne let her eyes drift close. She took a deep breath rubbing her cheek against his ear. She stepped back and stared into his hazel eyes. She could see flour on his cheek and grease on his nose, but didn’t care. What a dork. She kissed his mouth caressing his cheek with her palm.
“Mommy, I thought you wanted to see my new room?” Wallace asked pulling her hand in his direction.
“I missed you babe,” Tristan said. “I made chicken.”
“I brought laundry and I paid my mom fifty dollars.”
“Good. You brought jeans.” Tristan said calmly forging a smile.
“I had to, hun. And no, I brought laundry to wash.” Adrienne gritted her teeth.
“That’s fine, babe. You’re here and that’s all that matters. How was work?”
“Mommy!” Wallace shook Adrienne’s hand.
“Okay, okay.” Adrienne followed Wallace trying to look back at Tristan. “How’s your dad?”
Tristan shrugged his shoulders. “He’s barbequeing.”
Is that good?
Wallace pulled Adrienne into the room. There was a TV against the wall. There were scattered toys on the floor and a desk next to the closet. Wallace and Wendy’s bags lay next to the bed. Tristan’s camping bag was rolled up and tucked under the mattress.
Adrienne let out a breath letting her cheeks puff out. It’s enough for now. It has to be better here.
Tristan came into the room rested his arm on the door frame. He stared at Adrienne. “It’s lime chicken.”
Adrienne stared at Tristan while Wendy and Wallace raved over their new room and how they get to share with their dad. She shook her fingers through Wallace’s brown hair. Adrienne grabbed Wendy’s hand fitting her fingers in her palm. She looked up at Tristan and smiled tilting her head to the side.