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Maddie was concerned. Taking in Mara had seemed like a great idea at the time, but the more weeks that passed, the more doubt that set in. It wasn’t like Mara wasn’t happy. She was. As happy as she could be, at least. The four of them had settled into their temporary arrangement quite nicely. Mara was content, and far safer than she had been in the group home. Hen and Karen now had time to come up with a plan and sort out fixing their foster license. Jee-Yun was excited to have a new playmate, and Maddie…well, Maddie was stuck.
Because, no, it wasn’t that. It was what happened when the sun went down and there wasn’t the chaos of their daily lives to distract from everything going on inside. Every night they’d have dinner, wash up, put Jee to bed, and Mara would hole up in her room. Regardless of if she was tired or not. At first, Maddie could hear the faint sound of crying coming from inside. Now, whenever she happened to walk by (which was often) she’d find Mara curled up in the middle of the bed, staring at some spot on the wall. Staring into nothing.
They weren’t strangers. Before any of this current mess, they were family, and they had fun together. They still did. They’d go for walks in the park, explore the mall, take trips to the ice cream truck. Sometimes they’d stay up late trying to put together some impossible puzzle, while Chimney told Mara funny stories about her moms she had to swear not to share. Those were the best parts. Seeing that girl smile, and knowing they were doing all they could for their friends. The worst part was understanding that there was nothing neither she nor Chimney could do to fully relieve the stone that pulled at Mara’s heart each time she said goodnight.
So here she was, sitting on the sofa and trying to think of solutions. Maybe she could take Mara out on a girl’s night, just the two of them. Get their nails done or something like that.
Maddie sighed. It was a temporary distraction, but maybe they could all use more of those.
“ Alright ,” The sound of Chimney’s voice entering the room broke through her downward spiral of repetitive thoughts. In his hands he carried a newly rented DVD and a bottle of wine to fill their currently empty glasses on the table.
“Jee-Yun is asleep. Mara has clocked out for the night, and now ,” he smiled mischievously, “the real fun can start.”
“Right,” Maddie said as he handed the case to her. “Because nothing says hot date night like…” she squinted her eyes as she tried to read the cover, “Edge of Tomorrow?”
Chimney hummed in agreement, leaning down to press a quick kiss to her lips, “Live Die Repeat, colon , Edge of Tomorrow,” he corrected. “They changed it for home release…besides” he kissed her again, “nothing says date night like curling up and staring into Tom's beautiful face for two hours.”
Maddie feigned a frown, but he’d already turned away to finish pouring their wine.
“Now I’m starting to think I should be staging an intervention for this little celebrity crush of yours.”
“You’re just now thinking that?”
“Well” She mused, “I guess I can’t judge too hard. He did bring us together in a way.”
Chimney spun around, snapping his fingers to punctuate her response. “Exactly!” he said, and the dvd player clicked closed as if in enthusiastic agreement.
She rolled her eyes, smiling. It was funny, almost. The way movies like this and their star punctuated the start and so many other beginnings of their relationship.
“So, how’s Mara?” Maddie asked once they were both settled in.
“She’s good. She’s in her room reading that book I picked up for her.”
“Oh, that’s nice.”
“Yeah,” Chimney said. “It is. I think yesterday’s dinner with Hen and Karen was a good idea.”
“I’m full of them.”
She certainly didn’t feel like it. There was no use dwelling on it though. Last night was a step in the right direction. Proof that they could take a terrible situation and turn it into something new. Something better. Maybe this was them building a better family together, all seven of them.
Chimney pulled Maddie closer and kissed her temple.
“Yes you are, my beautiful wife.” he said.
She smiled as she shifted to better fit her head into his shoulder. Things were feeling more at ease already.
Maddie almost didn’t hear her a few moments later. The soft padding of Mara’s feet barely made a sound as she approached the living room.
“Can I sit with you guys?”
Maddie looked up. Mara was standing to the side of the couch, watching them. Waiting for permission.
“Of course sweetie,” Maddie said. She re-positioned herself to make sure there was enough room for all three of them. “We were just starting a movie.”
“And you made it just in time,” Chimney chimed in.
“You missed all the boring set up stuff,” he added in a whisper, covering one side of his mouth as if that would prevent Maddie from hearing what he said. Mara laughed.
“What is going on anyways?” Maddie asked.
“Great question!”
Chimney paused the movie before turning his full attention to Maddie and Mara.
“In the historic time period known as 2015, aliens have invaded Europe, and underdog Tom Cruise has arrived to save them all,” he paused, then, “Well honestly Emily Blunt is the real hero. Tom is just there to get blown up a lot and live through alien groundhog day.”
“ Oh !” Maddie suddenly exclaimed, “ Live. Die -”
“ Repeat ,” they both finished together.
“Clever.”
“Cool,” Mara said. “What’s groundhog day?”
“The perfect flick for our next movie night,” Chimney replied without missing a beat.
Mara’s eyes lit up. Her smile mirrored the one currently on Maddie’s face as Maddie watched the two of them interact. Of course Chimney would find a way to turn Mara into his movie buff protege before sending her home. He’d probably been waiting for this moment the second that she stepped inside.
“Okay well, let’s finish this movie first before planning for next time.”
“Wait!” Mara said, “Can we have popcorn?”
“Of course we can.”
___
Maddie almost half expected Jee to stumble in halfway through the movie, rubbing sleep out of her eyes, and wanting to join them. She couldn’t help but smile at the idea of it. It felt right. Watching Mara and Chim joke about what they’d do if they were stuck in their own time loop, seeing them cheer along with the action, hearing them laugh together. She could get used to this. A home that no longer had an unspoken sadness hanging over it at night. It was a nice thought.
By the time the movie ended they were all comfortably drowsy and full of fun and popcorn. Somewhere during the runtime Mara had made herself comfortable, carving out a space on the couch to curl up on, and leaving Maddie and Chimney with a tight, cozy corner all to themselves.
“I think she’s asleep,” Maddie whispered.
“What?” Mara’s voice sweetly piped up.
“Or not.”
Mara stifled a yawn as she sat up.
“That was fun,” she said. She was clearly fighting back sleep as she spoke. “ So , can we watch Groundhog Day tomorrow?”
“We are
definitely
watching Groundhog Day tomorrow.”