AR Returns Ch1

The truly strange weather is gone, but it’s still an unseasonably chilly winter in central Florida.

The home of Stef and Jessica is perfectly warm. A quiet bubbling comes from the slow cooker in the kitchen, full of little sausages bathing in barbecue sauce. Jessica finds it appalling, but it makes Stef happy.

They’re at the table together in the toasty kitchen, safe in the quiet. The soccer league for kids is over, and last night Riley and Adella took all the kids to the next town over for pizza. Apparently one of the little girls had asked if they could cross the street to the go-kart place, which had been about to close. Riley had somehow convinced them to let the soccer team in, and they’d raced late into the night.

Maybe they hadn’t gotten into the soccer for the right reasons, but involving Riley and Adella had been the right call. Those two, at least, had made sure that the kids had fun. It wasn’t clear that they’d accomplished much in slowing down Ellen’s ambitions, so it was good to be able to see it as some kind of win.

“Whatcha doin’?” Jessica asks. She’s leaning on the table, her face resting on her palms, gazing at her wife.

Stef looks up from her phone.

“Nothing.” She places it flat on the table.

Jessica snorts and grabs it. She knows who she’s married to. She unlocks it as Stef rolls her eyes.

“Oh,” she says. “FUTA ads.”

“Those ads are everywhere,” Stef says. “I was looking at the stock ticker.”

“Baby, you don’t know what stocks are.”

“We have some, don’t we? So, it’s good when they’re green.”

“We do have some. It is good when they’re green. I notice that this is a butt.”

“What? It’s an ad.”

“The ad is a butt.” Jessica shows Stef the phone. “Is that Riley Jameson?”

“Hey, look. You had sex with her. I just looked at an ad,” Stef says defensively.

“While you were doing it with Mrs. Universe Barcelona?”

“I was just buying time for you so you could have fun.”

“Right. Right. You’re so thoughtful.”

Seconds go by. The slow cooker bubbles on. Stef picks up her Miller Lite bottle only to find it empty. She puts it back down and twists her neck to look out the window.

“How long before Riley goes back to all that?” Jessica asks innocently, twirling one lock of golden hair.

“I don’t know. A few weeks at least.” Stef narrows her eyes. “You’re kidding me.”

“What? Am I not allowed to have a midlife crisis?”

“Is that what we’re doing?”

“See if they’re busy tonight.”

Stef raises an eyebrow. She glances at the slow cooker.

“Offer them some wieners,” Jessica adds, stifling a laugh.

“I think you’re the one who wants some wieners.”

“You don’t want to? If you don’t want to, it’s fine,” Jessica says seriously.

Stef stares at her.

“Oh. I get it.” Jessica snorts. “You can’t say that you want to because it’s Mary’s kid. She’s all grown up, Stef.”

“You said if I even think about Mary, you’d kill me with an axe,” Stef reminds her wife.

“That was at least ten years ago.”

“And if I want to think about Mary’s daughter?” Stef asks dryly.

“You’ll have to get in line, bitch.” Jessica does a little shimmy in her chair.

“Just when you think you know someone.” Stef picks up her phone and goes to her texts.