“Ouch!” I cursed as I tripped over yet another ill-placed box. I again managed to catch myself before I ate carpet luckily, considering a trip to the emergency room would make me later than I already was. Lexie and I almost had the house unpacked but there were a couple of rogue boxes that seemed determined to be a part of my demise.
“Lexie! Get you A into G—we are totally late. If we don’t leave soon you’re going to have to have Pop-Tarts for breakfast,” I threatened as I descended the stairs. “Pop-Tarts full of dangerous and delicious things, such as sugar and added preservatives,” I added, feeling hungry.
“Coming!” I heard her yell from her room.
I made it to the bottom of the stairs and scanned the room for my jacket. I spied it lying across an ottoman and slipped it on.
“Ready, ready.” Lexie came rushing into the room, packing her bag full of books.
“Okay, let’s go,” I said, making my way out the door.
“Mom,” Lexie called.
I turned to see she hadn’t moved. I waved my hand, “Come on, kid, I haven’t had coffee yet and I need some in my veins. Stat.”
The plan was to head to what was now our local breakfast spot for a quick caffeine fix and a muffin before work. I hadn’t had time to make some this morning and Lexie had uncharacteristically slept in, which meant we were both running sans caffeine. The Spencer girls did not do well without caffeine.
“You don’t have shoes on,” Lexie informed me.
I glanced down at my bare feet to see I had indeed forgotten footwear. The most important part of an outfit, no less. “I hate Mondays,” I muttered.
“It’s Wednesday,” Lexie pointed out.
I scowled and thrust the keys to the car at her. “Wait in the car. I’ll be down in a second.”
I struggled to think of a pair of shoes that would go with my pencil skirt and floaty blouse. “The blue pointy heeled ones,” Lexie called to me as she walked out the door.
It seriously freaked me out how much of a connection we had sometimes.
With shoes firmly on my feet, I left the house to see Lexie standing in the driveway staring at the car.
“You’re actually meant to get in the car in order to travel places,” I informed her.
She pointed at the back tire. It was flat.
“Drat and damn it all to Hell,” I snapped at the air.
We were silent for a moment, both staring at the flat tire, which I thought was taunting us.
“You know how to change a tire?” I asked Lexie.
“How would I know how to change a tire?” she replied, looking at me with disbelief.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. You could have decided to take a course, watched an online tutorial.”
She turned to face me. “I don’t think there’s such a thing as tire changing courses. I can’t even drive yet—why would I learn how to change a tire?” Her expression had changed from disbelief to regarding me like I may be slightly crazy.
“You’re old enough to drive, yet you don’t seem to have the driving gene,” I pointed out, referring to the many times Lexie had risked my life when I tried to teach her. We were currently on hiatus. “Plus, you like learning things. You might have a tire passion I don’t know about.” I stared at the tire.
“A tire passion?” Lexie repeated. Now I was getting the full crazy stare.
“I haven’t had coffee,” was my answer.
There was silence.
“Do you think we can call AAA?” I pondered.
“That’s like, roadside assistance. We’re not on the road. We’re at home,” my smart daughter pointed out. “I don’t even think they come for flat tires.”
It worried me slightly she had more knowledge than I did. But, as mentioned, I hadn’t had coffee. Who knew what sort of stuff my caffeinated brain would have been able to come up with? It might even have been able to change that tire. The one that was for sure taunting us.
“We could walk,” Lexie suggested after another long silence.
I stared at her. “Walking would mean changing my shoes. Changing my shoes would mean changing my outfit. We’d be way late and I wouldn’t get coffee.”
“You’ve got coffee at the hotel,” Lexie said.
“Yes, but it’s not the good coffee. Shelly makes the good coffee. It sets me up for the day. Without it I’d be lost,” I told her, although this was something she already knew. She had experienced the Shelly coffee in all its glory. She had felt its effects.
“You’ve only been drinking it for a week and you survived before then without it.”
I frowned at Lexie. She was starting to tick me off. “What are you, the coffee police?” I searched my handbag. “We’ll get a taxi,” I decided.