Everywhere, All At Once

Chapter 21

Kenna was the happiest she could ever remember being. Over the next few weeks, she and Aaron spent at least two nights a week together with the kids, and they usually got to spend a night together on the weekends. Of course on those weekday evenings, they had to go hours just looking at each other but not being able to touch. It was especially hard since when they were together otherwise, they were always touching, always kissing, always holding each other.

Still - the nights they did spend together were pure bliss. That was the only way Kenna could describe it. It sounded ridiculous when she'd said it out loud to Noelle one day, who'd laughed at her for about three full minutes, but it was true. And Noelle had admitted, after wiping the tears of laughter from her face, that she hadn't seen Kenna so happy, so "herself" in a long, long time. Kenna agreed with her.

"He's been complete shit this year!" Kenna argued intothe cell phone crushed between her face and shoulder. She stood grinding platanos at her mother's kitchen counter for the pasteles her mom was starting to make for the upcoming holidays.

"He's batting .306!" Aaron groaned from the other end of the line.

Kenna snorted. "I'd love a job where I only have to do well thirty percent of the time."

Aaron laughed and made another argument, but Kenna was distracted by her mother who'd come in already speaking to her.

"Are you almost done with those? I need you to cut -"

"Mom," she whispered, gesturing that she was in the middle of a call while trying to simultaneously pay attention to what Aaron had said.

"Who's that?" Michelle interrupted again in a stage whisper.

Kenna rolled her eyes and said into the phone, "Hey, I gotta go, can I call you back?"

But her mother, who remarkably had lived her entire life with no sense of boundaries or privacy whatsoever, sensed Kenna's evasiveness and ran over to her, grabbing the phone from her hand.

"Mom!" Kenna shrieked, reaching in vain to grab it, but Kenna knew she'd have to outright tackle her mother to get it back and she didn't have a death wish.

Walking to the middle of the kitchen, Michelle put the phone on speaker and began the interrogation. Kenna sank down into a chair and put her head in her hands.

"Hello, this is Mackenzie's mother. Who is this?"

"Uh - it - it's Aaron?" He responded, clearly caught off guard. She could imagine what was going through his head after he'd heard her screech followed by the scuffle over the phone.

"Aaron," Michelle crooned. God, Kenna was going to kill her own mother. "Are you my daughter's boyfriend?"

"Yes." He stopped to clear his throat and sounded much more confident the second time. "Yes, ma'am, I am."

"So polite," Michelle said to Kenna with a grin. Kenna scowled at her. "When are we going to get to meet you, Aaron?"

"Oh, I don't -"

"Mom!" Kenna shouted over Aaron's answer, completely drowning him out. "¿Estas loca, mami? Remember who's gonna be taking care of you when you can't wipe your own ass, old woman."

"Callate," her mother commanded, silencing her daughter with a wave of her hand, completely unphased by the threat. "Aaron, I'm sorry for my daughter's rudeness," she said primly into the phone, turning her back on her daughter. "I didn't hear your answer. When will we get to meet you?"

Aaron was silent for a moment and Kenna hoped, prayed, he'd just hung up. She could deal with the fallout of that some other time.

But alas, no such luck.