Safety Pins

Monday 6th December

Dear Noah,

I woke up an hour before my mom got home. I had a shower and brushed my teeth and was just popping my head out of my T-shirt when I heard the front door opening.

My mom was wheeling her suitcase over to the staircase as I descended.

"Hi, Mom," I said.

She greeted me and gave me a quick hug.

"I made you a cake." I felt awkward telling her, and she sent me a strained smile.

She said something like, "That's nice," in a manner that told me that baking cakes was the pestiferous sort of thing harebrained daughters did for mothers who were not aware of what one slice of cake would do to their bodies.

"Do you want to have some?"

She pursed her lips and flicked her eyes to her watch. Time was money, and even though it was a Monday morning and she had only just returned, I was wasting both. She relented with a sigh.

I led her to the kitchen and got the cake out of the fridge. It looked as good as it had yesterday, and I could see the surprise on my mother's face. I cut two slices. We ate them in silence. She finished hers quickly and complimented me. Then she returned to her suitcase and heaved it up the stairs.

The cake wouldn't last much longer, but I put it back in the fringe anyway.

I didn't see you in the hallways or the cafeteria or even at Madame Reena's, when I'd walked Mariette. I wanted to congratulate you on baking such a magnificent cake.

Instead, I called Lucy and asked her to come over for dinner. We spent the evening doing our nails and watching movies and eating the rest of the cake. She didn't believe that I had made it, of course, but I didn't tell her that you had. I hadn't told her about talking to you in the park that night, either, because I had a feeling she'd have something to say if she knew that you'd had been baking cakes at my house and pointing constellations out to me in parks.

We were laughing at something some contestant of a TV reality show had said when my mom came home and told us to cut it out.

After eating, and listeningto Lucy chatting happily with my mom, who had decided that yes, she could sparea few minutes to wolf down some supper before disappearing back into heroffice, I watched as both went their separate ways and left me to my owndevices. I had planned on finishing off an assignment, but the minute I pulledit out, I came to the conclusion that I would start all the hard work at alater date. I was tired. I got ready for bed and then lay staring at theceiling, thinking of nothing and everything and getting steadily more agitatedbecause it felt like I was wasting time.