Perfect Snapshots: Episode Thirty-five: Play

12/11/2019

Perfect Snapshots: Episode Thirty-five: Play

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Episode Thirty-five: Play

Esther never stopped talking. I thought that I was chatty. But it was apparent that she loved her daughter-in-law like she was her own. They joked and teased each other, laughing around the dinner table. Claire kept staring at her aunt and me, smiling brightly whenever we made any sort of contact with one another. It was actually really cute.

After dinner, everyone crowded into the tiny living room to keep chatting. Mike, Bella’s brother-in-law, was a pleasant, if not a little boring, middle-aged man. He obviously had no idea who I was, or why his daughter was so excited to see me, but that didn’t seem to slow him down from making mindless chit-chat with me. I didn’t really mind, but my eyes kept flicking to the floor where my lovely girlfriend sat with her niece.

They were playing with some of the makeup that I had gotten her when she was in Los Angeles. It was in a big bag in her even bigger purse. They had everything spread out in front of them, and she explained what each of them was and how best to use them. She would hold the young girl’s face delicately, praising her beauty the entire time.

I wanted to watch her do these things with our daughter. It wasn’t hard to imagine her in my living room with a sweet little infant with a light tan and maybe brown eyes like hers and red hair just like me. Almost everyone in my family had red hair, the genes strong. They only achieved more unique looks with a bottle.

Maybe if we were really lucky, she would have the same unique blue eye. Bella had said it was genetic.

“So, do you play any sports?” Mike questioned, pulling me out of my fantasy world. I glanced at him, trying to connect all the words. It took a second. “You’d be great at basketball.”

I laughed a little awkwardly. “Um, I’ve never played that much, actually. I did do some wrestling in school with my mate, Jasper. He won a bunch of championships. I was never as good as him, even though I always beat him,” I chuckled. “But I’ve got about a foot and probably fifty pounds on him, so it’s not exactly fair. And I played a bit of football as a kid. Or rather, what you Americans call soccer.”

Dr. Zucker snored, coughing a little before he shifted in his spot. His wife shook her head and picked up the remote to turn the television off.

“I played soccer in high school!” Ash, Aiden’s cousin, added into the conversation excitedly. “Do you watch any?”

“Sometimes,” I replied, thinking back to my friends. “My mates and I used to go out to a pub and watch regularly. My brothers-in-law bloody love the sport as well, so we’d often have watch parties. But I have to admit, I usually end up on the floor with the kids,” I smiled down at my girlfriend, and she grinned in return.

She had made the spotty thirteen-year-old look almost runway ready. Carefully, she smoothed a shimmering tan powder over her eyelids, holding her pinkie up in the air as she did so.

“Your aunt has done my makeup too, you know,” I blurted out.

The little girl looked at me in curiosity. She tilted her head to the side slightly. “Really?”

Bella smirked, nodding her head. She pulled a wand from a purple tube. “I gave him fake eyelashes and everything,” she paused to paint mascara onto hers. “He looked very pretty.”

Claire giggled softly, biting her lip as she glanced at me. “Why?”

I shrugged a little, leaning in a bit. “I lost a bet, and I had to do it for a video. And I did look fetching. Purple is my shade. You'll see that one soon enough.”

She laughed at my silliness, blushing a little. Her attention quickly went back to the makeup, though. Bella was watching me, her smile so warm and adoring. And it was all for me. I winked at her, making her flush a little as well.

“Aunt Bella, can I do your makeup?”

Looking over at her with a smile, she quickly nodded her head. “Of course, baby. I’m not wearing anything right now.”

“So, what do we start with again?” She questioned, looking at the loot between her legs.

She reached forward, pointing at a tiny tube. “Primer.” Her aunt rearranged everything so that it was in a neat row for her. “Primer first, foundation second, then concealer, blush, and powder.”

My girl was a great teacher, patient and kind. She didn’t care if Claire painted her teeth three different shades and poked her in the eye more than once. Her eyelids were colored to her eyebrows.

Claire didn’t stop until her mother told her that it was time for them to get ready to go. She pouted a bit, hugging Bella tightly. Whispering that she missed her, she promised to talk to her very soon. Ash, her wife, and mother all left when Helena and Mike did.

“How do I look?” Bella teased as she pulled a plastic package out of her bag after all the goodbyes. She raised her overfilled eyebrows. “Am I sexy?”

“You are the most beautiful woman in the world,” I swore right away without a bit of hesitation.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, thinking that I was teasing. I wasn’t. When she walked past me, she lightly brushed her fingers over my shoulder. She went into the bathroom to get cleaned up. I watched her leave with a smile.

Esther looked at me knowingly. “I think that we’ll be seeing a lot more of you.”

“I hope so.”

She smiled a little. “Thank you for coming with Bella today. This day has been very hard on her in the past.” She paused for a moment, looking down at her long sharp nails. The words were hard for her. “The first birthday without him was just a couple of weeks after he died. She barely made it through the Shiva.” She shook her head. I had no idea what a Shiva was. Another thing to add to my list of googling when I got a chance. “She spent it in the hospital, alone.”

“Hospital?” I said in surprise. The word just fell from my lips.

Esther nodded, looking down grimly as she shook her head once more. “She needed some help that we couldn’t give her. She wasn’t eating or sleeping. Or talking. Bella didn’t speak a single word for two months after Aiden died. At all to anyone. Not even to poor Alice, who never left her side.”

“What?” Jonah moaned as he sat up, finally waking up. He rubbed his face roughly. “What are we discussing?”

“I’m telling him about Bella after Aiden died,” she whispered. She just kept shaking her head as if she was trying to dislodge the memory. “How hard it was on her. My sweet baby.”

He instantly frowned. “Poor girl,” he agreed with a sigh. “She was catatonic for weeks. We were worried that she would never come back. It’s taken years.”

The older woman stood from the couch. “She seems happy right now, though, and I think I know why, too.” She kissed my cheek lightly. “You’re a sweet young man. Here. Let me go get you some food to take with you.”

She fluttered away before I could say anything else to her.

“Well, I will be scrubbing that off forever,” Bella joked as she came back in. “Oh, good morning, Jonah. How was your nap?” She asked she picked up her purse from the floor.

He yawned and stretched. “Fantastic. It was exactly what I needed before bed.” Bella giggled at his words. “You two about to head out?”

“Yes, sir. I think that I should probably go feed Alice. You know she can’t survive without me,” she replied sardonically.

“I’m getting you some food to take home!” Her mother-in-law shouted from the kitchen, making her smirk.

“Oh, no. But will you have enough if someone shows up in the middle of the night?” She asked her dramatically. Dr. Zucker laughed under his breath as he stood from his recliner.

He leaned in to whisper in her ear. “If not, there is probably six months worth of food in the freezer.” He rolled his eyes hard as he shook his head. “Come over soon and eat some of it.”

“I will,” she promised.

When we walked out of the front door, both of us were carrying the bags of leftovers that we were given. It was probably several meals worth for a couple of people. Bella turned to look at me. “We could wait for a car, but it’s only about a five-minute walk to the subway from here,” she explained. “I need to put this food away at the apartment. We don’t have anywhere to keep it at the hotel.”

“That works,” I answered, taking her hand.

The snow was piling on the grass as it drifted from the sky, but the concrete was still too warm for it to stick. We walked in silence, Bella leading the way. There were a million things going on behind her eyes. With every step closer, her tension picked up just a little.

I bought one of the all-you-can-ride metro cards, catching a train within seconds of stepping onto the platform. There was almost no one around us, an elderly woman on the other side of the car.

“Was that too much?” She suddenly blurted out. Her eyes were wide with anxiety.

I looked at her in surprise. “What? It was an overall, very nice day. Very wholesome. I gained ten pounds, I think.” I patted my gut. “They seem lovely. They love you very much and only want you to be happy.”

“Thank you.” She suddenly embraced me, her face shoving into my neck. “For today. I didn't even ask. It all just kind of happened.”

I held her back, squeezing her tightly. “Did you get what you needed?”

She didn’t say anything for a long minute, finally tilting her head back to look at me. “I think so. I feel better than I did this morning. This isn't how you wanted to spend your vacation, though, I'd imagine.”

“It's exactly how I wanted to spend it. With you.”

She pressed her face into my shoulder, closing her eyes. She didn’t say anything else, and I had too much on my mind. I thought about the day and everything that I had been told. It was an overwhelming amount of new information about her. All of it just endured me to her even more.

I wasn't surprised that Bella had a breakdown after Aiden. It had obviously torn her apart in a way that I could not imagine. My heart broke for her, and I wanted to cry. For her pain and suffering, her loneliness and fear. Dr. Zucker had warned me against hurting her, but I don’t think there was any kind of torment that she hadn’t already gone through.

“Food,” Bella shouted as soon as we walked in the front door of her apartment.

Both her roommate and the cat answered. Patty shrieked as she came skittering down the hall. “What kind?”

Bella took the other bag from me. “Esther cooked for Aiden's birthday.”

“Is there matzo balls?” Alice appeared in t-rex pajamas that had a hood. I hadn’t been expecting it. She had seemed so professional before. But this made her look like a very cute twelve-year-old.

“Yup. And she gave me a whole loaf of homemade challah. Brisket. There are a few kinds of cookies. Apple cake with honey frosting. You know how she does.”

She did a little dance, taking one of the bags from her grip before trotting towards the kitchen. “Fuck yes. I was about to order soup. Are you going to practice tomorrow?”

She nodded her head. “Yeah, I need to.” Then something popped into her head. “Would you mind bringing my gear with you so that I don't have to haul it to the hotel and back?”

“Sure. I'm going to take a Lyft anyway. I have a half off code. Put it on your bed, so I know that I'm taking the right stuff.”

Bella grinned, dusting off her hands as she finished putting the food away. “Okay. Thanks.”

She took my hand and led me back to her bedroom. Once again, I sat as I watched her gather her supplies for the next day. She pulled a large case from underneath the bed, reaching over to pick up the banjo.

“Will you play for me?”

Without saying anything else, she started to strum a tune that I knew right away. It was ‘The Rainbow Connection.’ Her fingers expertly danced over the strings.

And then she began to sing. My heart was going to explode out of my chest. It went a million miles an hour. She did it perfectly, every note exact. Her voice was airy and soft. I couldn’t pull my eyes away from her for even a second. When she finished, her roommate clapped from the other room as she continued to heat up her food.

Bella rolled her eyes and shook her head hard as she began to put the banjo away into the case.

“It is filthy just how wildly talented you are. You should be the one going on Broadway.”

Alice leaned against the door as she looked into the room. “You know that's why she came here, right? She wanted to be in the theater.” She blew on her food several times, stirring it with the too big silver spoon before trying some. It was still too hot, though.

Oh. I was stupid for not even thinking about that earlier. Bella would have been perfect on Broadway. She could sing, dance, play instruments, and command an audience with charm and grace. Certainly, I couldn’t be the only person who saw that. I couldn’t understand why she wasn’t a starlet.

She didn’t look up as she finished her work. “That's why a lot of people move here, and like most, I wasn't good enough. It wasn't for me, anyway. I was just too young to know that at the time.”

Quickly, I shook my head. “I don't know. I think you'd be great. I think you could be a star.”

I was going to do that. Somehow, I was going to give my girl the fame she wanted when she was younger. She was beyond talented, and it was a shame that no one had noticed before then. But I could give Bella her every dream, starting with that one. We could make this journey together.

My girlfriend shook her head, her face blank. “I mostly like being behind the camera. And you two are both intensely biased. One of you wants to sleep with me, and the other is dating me.”

I tried not to laugh at her bad joke, and it came out as a snort. Her best friend looked so unimpressed, turning a little red in the face before flipping her off. It sounded like something Jasper would say.

When we got back to the hotel, she turned to look at me. “Would you like to take a bath with me?”

“Yes, I’d love to. Let me run to the loo, and I’ll start the water,” I offered, kissing her cheek as I went to the bathroom for a private minute. When I did, I checked my phone. Jasper had sent me a couple of messages, but I didn’t want to be rude and text in front of Bella’s inlaws. I wanted to make a proper impression.

“How’s it going? I’m going to assume good since you’re not answering. You’re probably too busy fucking and eating pizza for me.”

“Actually, we went to the cemetery and spent the day with her inlaws. It was Aiden’s birthday today. She didn’t tell me until yesterday, and she wasn’t going to. She was going to suffer alone, so I’m glad that I showed up when I did. I think that she needed me.”

“Jesus, poor girl. Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she seems to be. Quiet, but that’s understandable.”

My phone beeped in my hand. “And how are you?”

“I’m great, actually. I’ve decided something.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m going to buy an engagement ring tomorrow.”

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