11. Chapter 11

When the movie is over Mason asks Andrew if he wants to see his art supplies. “I have over a hundred colored pencils.”

“That’s a lot. Are there even that many colors?” Andrew asks in awe.

Maya chuckles a little.

“Oh yeah.” Mason gets up, throwing the blanket on the couch. “They’re upstairs in my room.”

Andrew gets up and follows him.

Carina sighs after the boys are gone.

“What?”

“I’m glad they get along. Mason seems- not very outgoing.” Carina shrugs like it’s no big deal but she and Maya both know it is.

“He’s not.”

“And Andrea can be quite particular.”

Maya hums. She can also see how the two boys might not gel together well, but it seems to be working so far.

Carina pulls their hands out from under the blanket. “I don’t want to force anything on Mason or Andrea. But I’m glad we can do this.” She glances down at their hands and then over to Maya.

“Me too.” Maya whispers.

“Should we change the movie?” Carina gets up without a reply from Maya, releasing her hand in the process.

Just when Maya was getting used to the feeling of having Carina’s hand comfortably locked in hers, it’s gone. But then Carina is changing the DVD and coming back over to the couch. Maya watches every move she makes, fascinated at how comfortable Carina seems to be in her home. Maya isn’t even completely comfortable in her own home. And here Carina seems to move about effortlessly. She’s so caught up in the thoughts that she doesn’t realize that Carina is moving to sit in a different position than she was before.

Carina sits over where Mason and Andrew were sitting, turning sideways, and throwing her legs up onto the couch, feet over the arm. She situates the blanket Andrew was using over her legs and lays down, her head resting in Maya’s lap. “I thought they’d never leave.” She looks up at smiles softly at the curious blue eyes that are looking down at her.

Maya is a little shocked by Carina’s change in position. She definitely didn’t expect it. She licks her lips and fumbles to say words.

Carina sees the distress. “Is this okay?”

“Y-yeah.” Maya recovers after a moment. “I’m just a little surprised.” She holds her hands against her stomach, not sure what to do with them or where to put them now that Carina’s head is occupying her lap.

Carina reaches up with her right hand and takes Maya’s right hand, pulling it down, resting them against her own stomach.

Maya relaxes at that. She keeps her eyes on Carina’s, getting lost in those warm, inviting browns. She reaches over with her left hand, ghosting her fingers over Carina’s cheekbone and the nasty black eye that Carina had.

“You can touch it.” Carina whispers.

“Its nearly gone.” Maya barely lets her fingers come into contact with the skin.

“Good. My papa came home last night, and he hasn’t noticed.” Carina chews on her lip.

Maya frowns at that. At the thought of Carina hiding something from her father. Then again, she hides stuff from her dad too.

“What are your college plans?” Carina asks. They are four weeks away from graduation. The future not that far away.

“I have a scholarship to the University of Washington. I just have to have a successful track season. It all hinges on that, really.” The plan right now is to go to college, run track, improve her times and try out for the Beijing Olympics. “I’m going to try to get to Beijing.”

“China?” Carina doesn’t understand why Maya would want to go to China. And what that has to do with college. “What’s in China?” She wonders and looks up at the ceiling.

Maya chuckles at Carina’s clear confusion. “The next Olympics.”

Carina raises an eyebrow as things click into place. “Oh. That’s in like three years.”

“Just over. Yeah.” Maya nods.

“The Olympics, Maya. That’s impressive.” Carina lights up at the thought that someone she knows could be in the Olympics, could be an Olympian.

Maya plays with Carina’s fingers in between her own. “I haven’t done it yet, so don’t get ahead of yourself.

“But still-“ Carina shrugs. “For that to be your goal.”

“It’s going to mean a lot of hard work, dedication, focus.” She sighs.

Carina shifts her eyes over to Maya’s again, searching her eyes, trying to see what the blonde is feeling. “Do you not want to?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s that it’s all consuming.” Maya looks off to the corner of the room. “That six, or even nine, months before the Olympics is training and trials. They wean the group down to a smaller and smaller number. The margin for error is minuscule. And then if you qualify that’s only like two or three weeks out from the start of the games. I can imagine it’s a whirlwind.”

“I’m sure it is.” She can understand that. Carina has her own daunting tasks that lie ahead. “I have to go to medical school. That means at least eight years of college.”

Maya doesn’t want to even ask the question, but she knows if she doesn’t get an answer it will eat at her. She thinks it’s better that she knows now than at some point in the future. “Where are you going to school?”

Carina hums. “I’ve been accepted to Gonzaga, University of Washington, University of Portland, and a few others like Cal and Stanford.”

“Stanford, that’s huge.” Maya is impressed. She looks down and grins happily for her friend.

Carina shrugs her left shoulder. “They’re all good schools. I’ll probably have to go to medical school somewhere other than where I get my Bachelors.”

“Where go you want to go?” Maya is curious about what Carina thinks about colleges and her choices. Her decision will tell Maya a lot about her.

“In an ideal world-“ She makes sure Maya has her eyes on her while she says this. “-I’d go to Stanford.” She sees a little flicker of something pass over Maya’s face. Disappointment or maybe something else. “But it isn’t an ideal world, and I don’t think I can go somewhere that far away. With my mom gone and my father- he’s not always the most put together-“ That’s putting it mildly some days. Carina thinks he might have something wrong with him other than that he’s just obsessive and focused on his work. “I don’t feel like I can be that far away from Andrea. So, I’ll probably stay in the state of Washington.” That narrows it down to University of Washington, Gonzaga, and University of Portland, which is just over the Washington border with Oregon.

Maya hums quietly, taking in the information. Part of her wishes, now that she knows Carina, that Carina would stay close. In an ideal world, they could go to the same college; but it’s not an ideal world, as Carina put it, and who knows what’s going to happen.

She starts the movie without further discussion and Carina turns onto her side, back to Maya, facing the tv. Carina brings Maya’s hand up from her stomach and tucks it against her chest, holding it there.

They are watching the movie that Maya picked. Ladder 49. They get towards the end and the main firefighter character dies. The fire chief does the eulogy at his funeral and Maya starts sniffling, trying not to cry. She had picked a manly looking movie about firefighters so she wouldn’t be worried about crying, but here she is.

“Damn it.” She wipes at her wet cheeks. “I picked this movie cuz I thought it would be some macho men movie and not sad. And here I am crying like a baby.”

“You’re not a baby.” Carina says softly. She sits up from laying with her head in Maya’s lap and sits next to her. “Plus, I’ve already seen you cry.” Carina grins at her own little joke. An attempt to lighten the mood.

“That doesn’t help.” Maya sniffles and wipes at her eyes.

“Can I give you a hug? Will that help?” Carina finds Maya’s eyes.

Maya hesitates. She looks into those warm brown eyes and all she sees is earnest compassion. She nods and Carina wraps her up in a tight hug. Maya hangs one arm loosely around Carina in return.

They became fast friends in the short time that they’ve actually known each other. Maya knows that even with Travis or Vic she wouldn’t be hugging them like this. She knows this is different. She knows this relationship with Carina is different, unique.

“We should go to bed. I do have to get up in the morning for a run.” She suggests.

They get up and Maya shuts everything off downstairs before leading Carina up the stairs to the main level. It seems her parents have gone to bed. Only the light over the sink, in the kitchen, remains on. She walks over and turns it off, shrouding them in darkness. Maya, then, comes back, finds Carina’s hand, and leads the way so Carina doesn’t bang into anything in the dark.

“So, here it is.” She says flatly as she turns on the light in her bedroom. “Not nearly as impressive as your room.”

Carina looks around and the room is smaller than her own, with a twin bed. She spots the sleeping bag on the floor near the bed. “Is this where I’m sleeping?” She points down at the bag.

Maya shrugs. She’s embarrassed about the setup, about her smaller bed, about the sleeping bag on the floor. Her mother must have set it up at some point because it wasn’t there the last time Maya was in her room before Carina and Andrew arrived. She knows the set up in Mason’s room is probably nearly identical.

“Was this your idea?” Carina wants to know. If not, it means one thing. If it was, it means something else.

Maya shakes her head. “Sorry, it’s not as nice as yours.”

Carina sighs. “Don’t concern yourself with that. Do not compare the two.” She looks at Maya as she stands there, but won’t look back at her. “I’m gonna go change.” Maya does nod at that.

Carina changes with the thoughts about the sleeping arrangement. Maya seemed embarrassed about it for some reason, so she decides not to bring it up again.

When she returns, Maya slips past her wordlessly to go to the bathroom. Maya comes back and Carina is sitting on the floor with her back to the bed. “You better not step on me in the night.” She jokes. It gets a little smile out of Maya.

“Okay, well.” Maya looks around awkwardly. She doesn’t know why she has to be so awkward. “Let’s sleep. Remember I have my training in the morning.”

“Okay.” Carina doesn’t exactly know what that means though.

Maya scurries over and slips into bed. “Goodnight.”

Carina giggles a little. “Goodnight, Maya.” She settles into her sleeping bag. It’s one of those slippery sleeping bags. And it makes noise with each and every move that Carina makes. The floor is hard, and she can’t get comfortable, so she moves around again and again trying different positions. Carina is about ready to give up and go down to the basement and sleep on the couch down there. She flips around onto her right side with a sigh. She feels like a fish flopping around.

“Quit moving around.” Maya grumbles.

Now Carina feels guilty for keeping Maya awake. She knows she needs her rest, especially with training in the morning. “I’m sorry, Maya.” Carina sits up and looks at the bed, her head at the right level with Maya’s as she lays down. “Open your eyes.” She whispers.

“Why would I do that?” Maya scrunches up her face. “I’m trying to sleep.”

“Okay. Fine.” Carina moves to get up. “Is it alright, if I go downstairs to sleep on the couch? I can’t sleep on the floor.”

Maya’s eyes pop open at that, she pushes up onto her elbow. “What? No.” She sits up in bed. “Don’t.” She doesn’t want Carina to leave. She doesn’t want her sleeping so far away.

Carina grins a little, liking that Maya doesn’t want her to go; but she can’t sleep on the floor, and she doesn’t know where else to sleep but the couch. “Where am I supposed to sleep then?”

Maya looks over at her pillow on the bed.

Carina’s little grin turn into a smirk. “You know what that means, right?”

Maya looks down at the mattress avoiding Carina’s grin. “Yeah.”

Carina gets to her feet. “Do you want to be by the wall or on the outside?”

“Outside.”

Carina taps at Maya’s shoulder. “Up. Up.” Maya gets to her feet and Carina gets on the bed and lays on her left side. “Okay, your turn.” She rubs her right palm over the sheets.

Maya tries to decide if it’s better to face Carina, or face away from her, or neither and lay on her back. She decides on her back is best. She lays stiff like a mummy, her hands folded together against her stomach. This is different than when they were in Carina’s bed. The main thing is that they are a lot closer together here, now, and it makes Maya all sorts of anxious.

The brunette doesn’t want to tease because she knows Maya would be sensitive to it right now, but she walks two of her fingers up Maya’s arm. “You know, if you would’ve said a few weeks ago that we would’ve slept together twice already I wouldn’t have believed you.”

Maya wrinkles up her face. “Why would I have said that?”

Carina laughs. Loud. Too loud.

“Shhhh.” Maya whispers, reaching over and putting her hand over Carina’s mouth without thinking about it.

Carina stares at her with wide eyes. They are so close together that Maya can almost see the color in Carina’s eyes even though it’s dark in the room. The hand doesn’t leave Carina’s mouth, so Carina pokes her tongue out and licks at Maya’s palm.

Maya gasps, trying to be quiet, but pulls her hand away and wipes it on the blanket at her hip, leaving her hand there.

Carina reaches down and laces her fingers with Maya’s. “I quite like this. Having you so near.” She whispers softly.

Maya settles at that. Relaxing, she turns to lay on her side, facing Carina. “We should be sleeping.”

Carina smiles. “You and your rules.”

“It’s not a rule, it’s what normal people do at nighttime.”

“What if I told you I wasn’t normal.” Carina comes back with.

Maya shakes her head. “You’re the most normal thing in my life.” The words sound funny coming out of Maya’s mouth when she says them, and she hopes that Carina understands without her having to explain further because she’s not sure that she could.

Carina sighs at that, thinking that it might just be the most beautiful thing to come from the blonde yet. “Okay, bella, go to sleep.” She squeezes Maya’s hand and waits until Maya closes her eyes. But Maya doesn’t. “What?” Maya is staring at her.

“Nothing.” Maya lifts one corner of her mouth. Her eyes shift to Carina’s lip. They are only there for a millisecond before she raises them back to looking into Carina’s eyes. “Goodnight.” She shuts her eyes promptly.

“Goodnight.” Carina says and now that Maya has closed her eyes, she can close her own as well.

The alarm starts blaring. Maya jumps awake. She always does. It’s like a jolt that startles her. She feels herself lifting off the mattress before falling back down. It always takes a few seconds to get orientated.

“Make it stop.” Carina mumbles.

That startles Maya even more. She reaches up and shuts the alarm off. It’s not that she forgot that Carina was in bed next to her. But hearing her voice brings back the proximity; how close they actually are in the tiny bed. As she regains her senses, she can feel it too. Laying on her stomach she feels the press of Carina’s knee against her leg, toes near her ankle. And the arm, the arm that rests lightly over her lower back. It all makes Maya a little nervous. But excited nervous more than anything. The warmth of Carina’s body, the warmth of the arm that she feels through her t-shirt is pleasant. It’s not quite a hug but it feels just as good, maybe better.

But training calls. She can hear her father getting up and going into the bathroom. She knows she better get up and get ready before he has to say something about it. “I have to go for my run.” Maya whispers to see if Carina is awake or if she went back to sleep.

“Why so early?” Carina whines and presses herself closer to Maya, curling her arm around Maya more, pressing her fingers into Maya’s ribs on the opposite side.

“Because.” Maya doesn’t really have a reason. That’s just the way it is. She doesn’t like getting up early either. At least this time of the year it’s getting light out. In the winter, when it’s dark until seven in the morning, it’s hard to get up for a five-thirty run.

Carina grunts out a hum or maybe it’s more of a growl. Maya grins at how adorable and grumpy Carina is about being awake.

Maya scrambles out of bed after a moment of just looking at the girl in her bed. Maya shakes her head. There is a girl in her bed. Even if it’s a tiny bed. She looks at Carina again, making sure she’s asleep before changing into running clothes. When she’s all ready to go, Maya puts a palm on the mattress and leans over the bed. “Stay here.” She’s not sure if Carina is even awake. She hasn’t said anything in the last few minutes.

“Where am I going to go at-“ She opens her eyes and looks at Maya, a little smile tugs at her lips, she looks at the alarm clock. “-at 5:34am on a Sunday?” Her eyes shift back to Maya. The blonde gives her the most bewildered look. “What?” She whispers. Maya shakes her head and stands up straight. “Not every day that you wake up with an Italian woman in your bed?” She just can’t help herself.

Maya turns around so Carina can’t see her blushing. “I’ll be back.” She says and heads out. She hears a light chuckle from Carina as she closes the bedroom door. She is reminded of the open door rule, but figures since she has a guest over, she is allowed to break it.

Maya returns within an hour after running seven miles and stretching. She enters the back door of the house, into the kitchen. Her father is sitting at the table, reading the Sunday paper. It’s the only day of the week that he reads the paper in the morning, because it’s the only day of the week that he has time to sit down and read it in the morning.

“How was your run?”

“Good.” Maya licks her lips and goes to the cupboard to get a glass and then gets some water from the tap. “Is anyone else up yet?” What Maya is really asking is if Carina is up and if her father has seen her.

“Your mother is downstairs starting some laundry. I haven’t seen your little guest yet.”

Maya knows better than to roll her eyes but that’s what she wants to do. “Okay, thanks. I’m gonna go shower and change.”

“Sounds good.” He never looks up from his paper.

Maya climbs the stairs quickly. The entire time she was running she was thinking about Carina. More specifically about Carina in her bed. She wondered if other people thought of stuff like that or if her line of thinking was borderline psychotic. Maya still has a hard time sometimes believing that Carina is really interested in her. Like, could it be some joke or a prank that someone put Carina up to. But that wouldn’t explain some things that have happened. She just wonders what Carina sees in her. Maya isn’t going to complain about it though. That would just be stupid. She hasn’t really thought about it, but she does have qualities other than her ability to run or win a race. She supposes, at some point, life is about more than just running, or that it will be at some point. Some point in the future, her running career is going to end. That isn’t going to be anytime soon though. There are a lot of goals that Maya has to reach before she can even entertain the idea of hanging up her running shoes.

She puts a hand on the doorknob and pauses. She isn’t sure what she’s going to find on the other side of the door. It makes her nervous. Maya thinks of knocking on the door but decides against it. It’s her room, after all.

The door pushes open and Maya peeks into her room. She lets out a pleased sigh when she sees that Carina is still in bed. She lays on her stomach, her arms around the pillow she was sleeping on, and the pillow Maya was using; both tucked under her head and chest.

Maya sits on the edge of the bed and lays a gentle hand on Carina’s back.

“You awake?”

Carina hums.

“You’re still here.” Maya smiles.

“You told me not to go anywhere.” Carina turns her head towards Maya, opening her eyes. “Are you coming back to bed? It’s still very early.”

“I’m all sweaty. I probably smell terrible.”

Carina pushes herself up onto her elbow and leans over and sniffs around Maya. “Not great but not terrible.”

“Stop.” Maya rolls her eyes.

“I’m serious. I’ve smelled worse.”

“You know, you have a very charming way of trying to get me back into bed.” Maya says playfully.

Carina raises an eyebrow, a challenge. “What if I did this?” She reaches out and grabs the front of Maya’s tank top and pulls her down on top of herself.

Maya laughs.

“Charming now?”

Maya shakes her head and settles at Carina’s side. She kicks off her shoes and curls onto her side, facing Carina.

“That’s better.” Carina whispers with a little sigh. “I want to just lie in bed with you all day.”

“Really?” Maya furrows her brow. “That doesn’t sound very-“ She not sure what.

“Exciting?”

“Yeah.”

“Not everything has to be exciting.” Carina tells her.

“I used to think that your entire life was just jokes and fun and excitement. That you only did cool things.” Maya admits of her not so stellar impression of Carina.

“Are you saying lying in bed all day isn’t a cool thing?” Carina smirks.

“Maybe.”

That gets a little laugh and a lip bite from Carina. She reaches over and runs her hand down Maya’s arm from her shoulder to her wrist. She wraps her hand around that wrist. “There’s something endearing about being able to, being comfortable enough to want to do that with someone. To be able to be in the same space as someone for a long period of time. The security that comes with that. Or is required for that to happen.” She looks down at her hand where it has a hold of Maya; her thumb stroking over the inside of Maya’s wrist.

Maya licks her lips. “Are you saying you feel that with me?”

Carina looks up, finding Maya’s eyes. “Yeah, bella.”

“Bella? You keep saying that.” Maya chews on the bottom lip. The little butterflies in her stomach bounce around trying to escape.

“Bella. Pretty or beautiful. Bellisima is beautiful.”

“Oh.” Maya is awestruck.

“Your eyes are so blue.” Carina whispers, her hand shifting up to hold onto Maya’s elbow. She feels like she always has to be touching Maya.

“Why haven’t you tried to kiss me again?” It’s one of the things Maya thought about during her run.

Carina hums, a soft smile appearing. “Do you want me to?” She teases.

“Would I be asking, if I didn’t?”

“Maybe.” Carina shrugs her right shoulder. “I don’t know. I don’t know what you’re thinking. I didn’t know if it would be too much.”

“You talked a big game earlier this week. The chocolates.”

Carina grins fully at that. “That was pretty slick, wasn’t it?” She’s actually proud of herself for thinking of that one.

“Very. That’s why I thought you would try again. Like last night or something.”

“Are you saying you don’t want my chocolate anymore?” Carina wiggles her eyebrows.

Maya shakes her head. “Did you just make Hershey’s kisses sound dirty?”

“Maybe.” Carina giggles a little. “So, Maya Bishop wants more kisses.”

“Yes, please.”

“That’s very bold of you.” Carina scoots a little closer.

“I know. So out of my comfort zone.” She almost can’t believe she said it out loud. There’s just something about Carina that gets her saying and doing things that she hasn’t before.

“Can I get into your comfort zone?” Carina whispers.

Maya closes her eyes and lets out something between a hum and a moan. She reaches out in the small space between them and fists her hand in the stomach of Carina’s t-shirt. She’s just waiting. Waiting for Carina to close the distance. Waiting for Carina to kiss her again.

But then there are footsteps in the hallway and Maya gets spooked. She rolls backwards but forgets that they are both on the small bed. She rolls off and falls on the floor. The next thing she knows is Carina is looking down at her trying to hold in a laugh.

“Falling over me already.” Carina teases. She pushes herself up and sits on the edge of the bed.

Maya groans, embarrassed on multiple levels.

The bedroom door pushes open, and Lane is standing there. “What are you doing on the floor?”

“Uh, sit-ups.” Maya doesn’t look at him. She stares at Carina instead, willing her with a look not to saying anything to her father about what was just happening.

“Okay, well, your mother is starting on breakfast. Remember this door has to remain open. Even with friends over.” He pushes the door all the way open for emphasis.

“Right. Sorry. Thanks for letting us know about breakfast.”

“Thanks, Mr. Bishop.” Carina smiles over at him.

He eyes Carina curiously before going to Mason’s room to wake up the boys.

Carina gets down on the floor on her knees, in front of Maya. Maya is sitting on her butt, her hands to the sides holding herself upright, the knees bent upwards in front of her. Carina grins and puts her hands on top of Maya’s knees, leans over them, and presses a quick kiss to Maya’s lips.

Maya panics and pulls away. “My dad is-“

Carina laughs and stands up. She holds a hand out to help Maya up. “Don’t worry, bella. I won’t do anything to get caught.” She whispers.

Maya breathes out the breath that she didn’t realize she was holding.

“Maybe later-“ She doesn’t bother to finish that sentence. She instead winks at Maya, taking a step away from her, still holding her hand, stretching it up between them. “Go shower. I’ll be downstairs helping your mamma with breakfast.”

Maya swoons, her knees going weak. The things that Carina does to her. She doesn’t know if she’ll ever be able to put them into proper words.

Carina asks to help with breakfast and Katherine has her making banana bread. She mashed the ripe bananas, mixed in all the other ingredients and Katherine put them in a loaf pan. Katherine slipped it into the oven to bake for an after breakfast treat.

“So, do you like to cook?” Katherine asks Carina.

“Yes and no.” Carina taps her fingers against the counter. “I can follow a recipe just fine, but if I have to create something on my own I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

“You want to know a tip?”

Carina nods.

“If you make everything with love, it will turn out alright.” Katherine grins. She likes that Carina wants to help with breakfast.

Carina smiles softly. She thinks that’s such a mom thing to say but maybe still good advice.

Maya comes flying into the kitchen. She skids to a halt at Carina’s side. She showered as quickly as possible. One, she didn’t want Carina left alone with her mother or father for too long. And two, she didn’t want to miss out on any time with Carina. She doesn’t see her father in the kitchen and briefly wonders where he is.

Carina grins over at Maya, almost laughing at the sped with which Maya appeared. “How was your shower?”

“G-good.” Maya stutters. There’s a hand on her back and a little rub before it’s gone.

“Did you want to help with breakfast?” Carina asks.

Maya doesn’t really want to help with breakfast, but she wants to be doing whatever Carina is doing.

Katherine speaks up. “I told you, Carina, that you didn’t have to help out.”

She turns from Maya on her left to Mrs. Bishop on her right. “I know, but I want to.” She shrugs like it’s no big deal.

“You girls can work on the scrambled eggs, then.” If Carina wants to help, then Katherine will give her a task that is easy enough to complete. “Maya, can you get the eggs from the fridge?”

Maya moves over to the other side of the room to get the eggs. Maya cracks the eggs into the pan and Carina stands there manning the spatula and pan handle, stirring.

“Whoops.” Carina giggles as Maya cracks an egg and a piece of eggshell gets in with the eggs.

“What happened?” Katherine asks.

Maya ducks her head. “I got a shell in there.”

“Not a big deal, dear.” Katherine says at Maya dejected frown.

But Maya knows it will be a big deal if her dad is the one to be eating his eggs and there’s a shell in there. “Where’s dad?” She asks.

“In the garage.” Katherine supplies with a smile. “He’s working on his bicycle. I think he wants to ride along with your afternoon run.”

Carina wrinkles up her face. Maya already went for a run today. She wonders if Lane is punishing Maya for having friends over. She’s not really sure though. Carina doesn’t know if two runs in a day would be considered normal or not. But she thinks not.

Everyone is sitting down at the table, having breakfast.

Carina is messing around. She is sitting between Maya, who is to her right, and Andrew, who is to her left, at the end of the table. Mr. Bishop sits at the head of the table, to Maya’s right. She takes her knife and butters Maya’s piece of toast. She does the same thing with Andrew’s. Andrew rolls his eyes at her. She then butters her own piece of toast. She holds the butter dish out. “Anyone else?” She grins.

Mason sits across from Carina and takes the butter dish from her. “Thanks, Carina.”

“You’re welcome, Mr. Mason.”

The boy grins at the little nickname that Carina has given him. He likes it, he likes the special attention.

Lane watches all this with annoyance.

It’s quiet at the table, awkward. Carina breaks the silence. She doesn’t do well with lots of silence. “So, what are everyone’s plans for the afternoon?”

Lane hums.

“I have laundry to do today.” Katherine comments. “I was going to go grocery shopping, as well.”

“Can I come?” Mason asks.

“Sure, dear.” Katherine pats at his leg. “Eat your breakfast.” She points at his plate with scrambled eggs and toast and pancakes.

Everyone has the same meal except for Maya. Instead of pancakes, Maya has fruit. This doesn’t go unnoticed by Carina.

“What about you, Mr. Bishop? Any exciting plans for today?” Carina asks cheerily.

“Maya has training this afternoon. A ten mile run and weight training.” Lane grunts. “I will be riding along with her on my bike.”

Carina frowns. “That doesn’t sound like a Sunday funday.” She knows for a fact that Maya already ran today. And the way he speaks about it sounds very militaristic and controlling. She wonders if he was in the military at some point in his past. “Sunday should be a day of rest.” Carina voices her opinion.

Lane has had enough. “Get out.” He says sternly. Calmly, in a chilling voice. Nobody moves, so he says it again. “Get out of my house.” This time pointing his arm at the front door. “Now.”

Carina isn’t sure what to do. She looks to Maya, but Maya is sitting there with her hands in the lap, her head bowed to look at those hands. She then looks to Mrs. Bishop. The woman is looking at anything that isn’t Carina or her husband. Next, Carina looks to Andrea and sees the scared look on his face. It’s then that she knows she’s fucked up royally.

Not only is she in bad standing with Mr. Bishop now, but she’s also put Andrea in a vulnerable position. He’s scared, she can see it. And then there’s Maya, who probably will take the brunt of the punishment for what she’s done. Her heart sinks.

Lane stands up abruptly. His chair crashing over behind him as he does so. Everyone flinches. He pounds his fists on the table, making the cutlery jump, and juice and water slosh over the top of glasses. “No one comes into this house and disrespects me like you have, young woman. You don’t get to tell me how to raise my children.” He yells and points a finger at Carina. “I don’t appreciate the little games you’ve been playing. I know what you’re trying to do. Sweet talking me into things. No more.”

“Lane.” Katherine whispers, trying to get him to stop.

“NO.” Her turns from Carina to his wife. “None from you either.” He points his angry finger at her next.

“What I say, goes. This is my house.” He pounds his right fist into the table again. He rights his chair and sits down again. “Now take your brother and get out of my house. You won’t be allowed here again.” He says, but stares at Maya as he speaks. “I don’t care whose daughter you are, or what country you come from. Fucking immigrants.” He spits the hateful words out in anger.

Carina is shocked by that last part. She knew Lane wasn’t a nice guy, but she didn’t know he harbored hatred towards those who come to the United States from other countries. She looks around the table, but nobody will meet her eye.

She stands up. “Andrea, go collect your things. We are going home.” She musters the strength to say this without her voice trembling. “Mrs. Bishop, thank you for having us.” She glances over at Lane and can see him clenching his fists tighter. “I was really looking forward to trying the banana bread but thank you.”

Katherine only nods in return.

Carina looks to Maya, but Maya hasn’t moved or looked up since Lane’s outburst started. She puts a hand on Maya’s shoulder. Maya flinches and takes in a shaky breath. “Maya?” She just wants Maya to look at her. She just wants to convey to her that she’s sorry and that she wished this wasn’t how their morning together was ending.

But Maya won’t look at her.

“Go.” Maya whispers finally. She breathes heavily, trying not to crack, trying not to break down in front of her father.

Carina sighs, her hand slipping from Maya’s shoulder. “Okay, bella. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“ENOUGH.” Lane yells.

Carina frowns and turns to head upstairs. Andrew is coming down the stair as she reaches the bottom. “Go wait outside. I’ll be out in a minute.” He nods without looking up at her. Carina runs up the stairs and gathers her things. She comes back down and looks in the direction of the kitchen. She also wants to gather up Mason and Maya and take them with her. It’s silent. The kitchen is silent, but she can see that the Bishop family has resumed eating their breakfast. With a sad sigh, Carina heads for her car.

She gets in and starts it up. She looks in the passenger’s seat and Andrew is looking down at his lap, playing with the string on his overnight bag.

“I’m sorry you had to see that and go through that.”

“He’s really scary.” Andrew whispers.

“He is.” Carina runs a hand through his hair. “And that’s not how you should treat your children.” She tells him. “Or your spouse. Or anyone really. Even guests in your house. That kind of behavior is unacceptable.”

“Doesn’t Mr. Bishop know that?”

Carina smiles a little at Andrew’s innocence. “He’s a grown man. He should, but he doesn’t.”

“Does this mean I can’t have Mason over again?” Andrew wonders.

Carina wonders too. “I don’t know. For your sake, I hope not.” She wraps an arm around him. “Mi dispiace, fratellino.” She really is sorry. Carina knows she messed up here. And it not only affects her life, but everyone else that was in that kitchen this morning.

“Papa yells at us sometimes.” Andrew says.

“He does.” Carina nods against his head. “And he shouldn’t, but this is different. Do you understand?”

Andrew nods. “Papa yells at us for not listening or for being sassy, but not for no reason.”

Carina is starting to wonder if that’s that different though. The way her father acts verses Maya’s dad. Are they that different? “Yeah. Let’s go home. Do you want to stop somewhere to get breakfast?” She sits back in her seat and sighs.

Andrew shakes his head. “No, lets go home. We still have our pajamas on.”

Carina chuckles. “That we do.” She clicks her tongue and backs the car out of the driveway, heading home trying to wrap her head around what just happened.