Page 78 of Cosplay & Consequences

She blinked in confusion for a second, and then her eyes widened. “Tea!” she shouted and scurried away.

I laughed and followed her into the small kitchen as she raided the cupboards for mugs and tea before starting to heat water in the microwave.

“Our tea selection stinks. We have black tea or chamomile which tastes like ass in my opinion.”

“Well, I don’t want ass tea,” I said, trying very hard not to laugh.

“Black it is.” She stood in the kitchen for a moment scratching her arms. “Is it alright if we talk in here?

“It’s fine,” I assured her and took a seat at a Formica topped kitchen table. “How are you feeling after the other night?”

Faye frowned. “Well. Uncle Danny was pretty chill, but Mom is still in a mood about it. I thought she wouldn’t notice me being gone. She’s always glued to her phone after we settle in for the night. I thought I could sneak out and have a little fun without her knowing. I swear, I didn’t even know I was drinking alcohol. I thought it was some fruity little mocktail. I didn’t think it would get out of hand like that. I feel bad that I made her worry.”

“She cares a lot about you,” I told her. “I could hear her shouting at Danny that night. I didn’t expect to see such a protective momma bear instinct come out of her.”

“Yeah. I know. She’s not your typical mom,” she admitted with a trace of chagrin. “When I was younger, I was embarrassed of her. Everyone thought she was my older sister, and I’d cringe whenever someone said that. When other moms showed up to volunteer for class, they didn’t wear combat boots and a biker’s jacket. Back then I wished she would be more like a normal mom. When I got older, I realized she was pretty cool. I got to do things most kids don’t. I got to travel with her when Uncle Danny went out of town for shows. She would take her GTX out on the open road and play her favorite music. She also didn’t mind taking me to the library three times a week to get new books when I ran out of something to read.”

“Three times a week?” I let out a long slow whistle. “Damn. That’s impressive. I could only convince my parents to take me once a week.”

“Once a week?” Faye asked in disbelief.

I laughed. “I could convince Nana Richards to take me again if I begged.”

Faye’s eyes lit up. “I want to know more about her.”

I shrugged, beaming at her. “Ask your questions.”

“Buckle in. I have a lot.”

I caught a glimpse of an embarrassed grin as she grilled me for the next thirty minutes with questions and thoughts about the stories. I had read those stories so many times in the last nineteen years that I almost knew them by heart and was amazed by how much this kid had absorbed in less than a few days.

And when it came to Valley of the Red Tyrant, I wasn’t easily impressed. “Wow, you’re quite the reader.”

Faye tried to shrug it off, but I knew she liked the compliment. “Mom says I get it from my dad.” She looked up from her notes, already in tune with my thoughts. “He’s not in the picture. He’s never been in the picture.”

I nodded. “Have you ever met him?”

“No. Mom has told me a little about him. Book nerd. The total opposite of my mom. He had big dreams. Didn’t want to be stuck in Mission Verde his entire life. Which didn’t include having a kid.” Her lips formed a flat line, and she shrugged again. “My grandmother died when my mom was born. So, when she got pregnant, she wanted to keep me and be the mom she didn’t get to have. She named me after my grandmother. I don’t remember my grandfather. So, it was always me, Mom and Uncle Danny. I remember one day when I came home from first grade feeling anxious about being different from other kids and not having a dad.”

She reached into the book and pulled out an old picture that she had been using as a bookmark. It was Danny and Paige fussing over a baby Faye in Christmas pajamas. “She showed this to me and said-”

Faye’s voice got gruff like Paige and did the little head tilt she always did. “Kid, you got so much love in this house it's giving other families an inferiority complex.”

She glanced at the picture for a second before replacing it. “So now if I ever feel left out or weird about it, I just look at this.”

I had only seen Paige interact with Danny and Faye in a tone that was rarely serious. Hearing this side of her made me realize how loyal she was to her family.

“Your mom is pretty amazing,” I said in a quiet tone.

“She is,” she admitted, then her eyes shifted from the picture back to me, a slight anxiety creeping into her voice. “Don’t tell her I said that.”

I made the zipping of the lip gesture, complete with the whole throwing away the key pantomime. I got a flat stare in return from her.

“Yeah, that’s great,” she deadpanned, but then her face softened. “What can you tell me about your grandmother? I’ve read the Tyrant books multiple times, and each time I find something different in the text that I missed before. I keep trying to imagine what she was like as a person, but there’s not a lot about her personal life.”

“Oh, she was so funny,” I started. “Always teasing me and making me laugh. When Gramps came home from work or errands, she would always give him a hard time until we were all laughing out loud. She was an avid reader, and there were always stacks of books everywhere in the house. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, it didn’t matter. She also was fairly non-traditional and spoiled me rotten. I was visiting my grandparents one day, and I remember my mom forgot something at the house that I needed. She came back to find me eating a ribeye steak and chocolate pudding for breakfast. Mom thought Nana was nuts and asked why. Nana replied ‘Well, dearie. That’s what I have in the refrigerator, and she didn’t want oatmeal.’”

Faye smiled, and beneath the table her foot was tapping a mile a minute. “She sounds incredible. How did she come up with the idea for Valley of the Red Tyrant?”