Pennies and Dimes (Mini Series)
“I made you an appointment, Blake. You need to sort this out, I’m telling you.” Dot spoke into her phone, holding Emmy on her hip. The seven-month-old squirmed in discomfort, gripping at her grandmother’s sweater as they waited for Miranda to show up and take her home.
“Ma, I told you I’d take care of it.”
“What about when they take the house? Your car? When they take everything and you’re left on the streets with a wife and three kids you can’t afford?”
“Is Ran there yet? Because if she’s not, I’m pretty sure Em needs you.” He was sitting in his office on the other side of town, waiting for a shipment of materials to come in before he could sign the papers and call it a day.
“You need to be an adult for once in your life, okay? I’m not kidding.”
“Bye, Ma.” Blake hung up and ran his hand over his ragged face. He leaned back in his desk chair as his gaze fell on the framed photograph of his entire family; Emmy sitting in her mother’s lap while Allen and Laney sat on his.
“Hey, baby. Just calling to see how your day was. Call me back when you get this, okay? Love you.” He left a message for his wife to find when she got around to checking her cell phone.
While the rain turned into snow outside, Blake sat in his heated office and signed paper after paper. The clock on the far wall of his office read three o’clock, which meant his wife was just pulling into the elementary school to pick Allen and Laney up after a long Friday.
He was supposed to be done at five, but when the truck rolled in at six-thirty, Blake signed for the shipment and punched his time card at the door. He locked up like he did most nights and climbed into the shiny truck sitting outside. The best part of his promotion, in his eyes, was a company car. No matter how much his mother nagged him about it, he knew in his heart that it was a better investment than a couple thousand dollar bonus.
“Laney says her belly hurts.” Miranda was sitting at the dining room table, shuffling through a pile of papers when he came walking through the door.
“You never called me back?” Blake stomped his slushy boots off in the mudroom and kicked them onto the mat. “I left you a voicemail.” Miranda just sighed and shook her head.
“My phone plan lapsed.” The device was sitting beside her as she scoured the newspaper.
“Those better not be the want ads.” Blake bent down and lifted Emmy out of her bouncer, nuzzling his face into her sweet smelling neck as her chubby fingers tangled in his hair. “Miranda, I said no.”
“I’m just looking.” She folded the paper back up to put his mind at ease and rubbed her tired eyes with her fists.
“You look like you need a break.” His brawny hand squeezed her shoulder. He knew his touch was comforting and his wife was clearly down on herself. “Hmm?”
Miranda just nodded and looked up at him and her youngest baby.
“Head upstairs, I got them.”
“We need to talk,” she whispered. “Alone.” Whether Blake knew it or not, the kids listened to every word they said even if they didn’t act like it.
Blake internally cringed at her seriousness but agreed to follow her upstairs so they could have some privacy. When she pulled an envelope off the top of his dresser, he shook his head.
“Just tell me.” His voice was half muffled into Emmy’s cheek as he kissed her silky skin.
“The electric company again,” her voice cracked. “How long are we going to ignore them, Blake?”
“They can’t shut it off on us, it’s winter.” He bounced their baby in his arms and tried not to notice his wife’s glossy eyes. “They need to give you more than one notice anyways.”
“They did, two weeks ago, when we missed our first payment.” She dropped her hands to her sides, clearly discouraged.
“I don’t want you to worry about it, okay?”
“We can’t keep ignoring them.”
“I said, don’t worry about it.” His hand continued to pat Emmy’s bottom as he lowered his voice. “Have you fed her yet?”
Miranda just rolled her eyes and set the yellow envelope back on his dresser.
“Allen gave her a bottle when we got home.” Her voice was shallow, her face expressionless.
“I thought we said you’d be feeding her?” Blake hinted at his hesitation to wean Emmy off of breastmilk, and Miranda picked up on it for what seemed like the hundredth time that week.
“Before she goes to sleep.”
“And you said Laney was sick?”
“She’s had a cold for a couple days, but I thought it was just from playing outside.” Miranda took Emmy from him and sat on the bed. “So I kept them inside after school and now Allen’s sniffling…”
“What’re you getting at?” Blake hurried her up, wanting her to spit out whatever she was going to stay.
“Maybe that space heater just isn’t doing the job. His room is freezing, Blake. You know it is.”
He just turned his back to her and let out a long breath. He plucked his wallet from his back pocket and sat it on the dresser.
“We could move his bed into Laney’s room and move her dressers into his room. They could share until the Spring.”
“And who’s gonna be moving all of that?” His brows rose, but she didn’t see. “You? Your back still kills you, Miranda. And I’m working weekends now.”
“No, you can’t.” His voice was firm. “And you’re not.”
“It’s cold in there.” She softened up, knowing it would get through to him. “Can you do baths tonight?”
“They had a bath last night.” He unbuckled his belt. “We’re trying to limit it, right?”
Miranda just cringed at the thought. They were trying to cut costs in every way possible, but the water bill was probably the most painful. Denying her kids a bath every night was a tough task for any mother, including Miranda.
“Get them into their pajamas then?”
“And you feed her.” He turned to his wife and nodded toward his baby. Miranda pressed her lips together and nodded.
While she sat upstairs with their youngest, Blake headed toward the kids’ bedroom to fetch a couple pairs of pajamas. Even though he didn’t want to admit it, Blake could feel the noticeable difference between his son’s and his daughter’s rooms. Laney’s was toasty warm, but Allen’s lacked the coziness.
“Put these on for me.” He tossed the fleece clothes in his kids’ laps as they sat on the couch, watching “The Grinch” for the hundredth time.
“Is it bedtime?” Allen looked up at his stepfather. Blake shrugged.
The six-year-old grinned and shook his head.
“Just watch your movie, okay?”
Allen was perfectly okay with watching tv for another hour while putting off bedtime. Blake leant down and kissed both their foreheads, checking Laney for a fever at the same time. When he felt the warmth radiating from her skin, he cupped her chin in his massive hand and brushed his thumb over her cheek.
“You’re not feeling good?” He asked softly. His little girl shook her head and looked up at him with big eyes, knowing how to gain all his sympathy. “That’s what Momma said.” He ran his fingers through her hair. “I’ll get you some medicine, okay?”
“And sit with us?” Allen wanted in on the attention, so he too made his voice a little weaker.
“I’m gonna eat supper first,” Blake had skipped lunch after they ran out of bread that morning and Miranda could only scrape together two sandwiches; one for Allen and one for Laney.
Miranda made herself scarce for the rest of the night. Blake sent each of the kids in to say goodnight to her before they crawled into bed, but that was all they saw of her. He tucked them into Laney’s bed, after insisting that they have a sleepover. He claimed it would be fun and plugged in Laney’s Disney night light before heading to get ready for bed himself.
When he opened his bedroom door and saw his wife already laying under the covers with her eyes closed, he crept across the floor to the master bathroom as quietly as he could. Miranda held her breath and pretended to sleep until she heard her husband start the shower.
Her little girl was asleep in the crib across the room, her other kids were doing the same down the hall, but she had a feeling she wouldn’t be sleeping again tonight. Unlike her husband, her mind ran rampant with the thoughts of how they were going to make it, or if they were going to make it. She couldn’t rest thinking about all the holes they found themselves in.
The only thing that jarred her from her daydream was her husband plunking down beside her on the mattress. He shimmied under the covers and let out a deep breath.
“You awake?” He whispered into the darkness. The scent of his cologne overwhelmed Miranda’s nostrils as she nodded.
“Mmhhmm.” Was all she could muster.
“We’re gonna be okay, you know that, right?”
“And we always are,” he said matter of factly. “We pay the sewer bill this week…”
“I don’t want to think about it,” Miranda shook her head.
“Might as well just give her my paycheck.” There was something about it that irked Miranda. After taxes, she brought home just over four-hundred dollars a week, but all that was gone to waste when they paid four-hundred to Kimberly, Emmy’s sitter.
“I get my check from Roy tomorrow. That’ll help.”
“That’s groceries.” Miranda cringed in the darkness.
They laid in silence for a minute or two before Blake spoke up again.
“Every family goes through this kind of stuff,” he said it more for himself than his wife. “We’ll be fine.” His voice faded as another one of Emmy’s faint snores sounded from across the room. “Everything’ll be fine. I promise.”
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