WHO: Beth Chastain, with a cameo of Sophia Petinos WHEN: Evening of October 23 WHERE: Her dormitory SUMMARY: Beth receives a surprise gift from her mother, which is more familiar than it should be. WARNINGS: None, unless you don't like the Yankees
Beth hadn't been expecting any packages, so she was surprised when her dad sent her a text about one that had been delivered to the house. When she swung by later that afternoon to collect it, she realized immediately just why she hadn't known she was getting something. The box was neatly wrapped, with her name and address penned in a neat penmanship in the center, her mother's name and address similarly penned along the top. It wasn't her mother's writing, of course; she'd gotten enough birthday and Christmas cards to know what Sophia Petinos's handwriting looked like and that wasn't it.
After staying for dinner, Beth took her box back to her dormitory and began the unboxing process. That was interrupted, though, when she peeled back the brown paper from the box and found the same clean handwriting on the top of the box.
Facetime me before you open this. -- Mom
Beth sighed. She hadn't been expecting a conversation with her mother, which meant that she hadn't prepared herself mentally the entire day as she normally had to. Part of her was tempted to call Peter and ask him to be there for moral support, even if only in the background, but she didn't want to bother him with this. Instead, she just found her phone, drew in and released a long breath, and called her mother.
The ringing seemed to go on forever and just when Beth was going to hang up, her mother's face appeared on the screen. It was in her mother that she saw her round face and curly hair, but it was their matching grey eyes that were impossible to ignore.
"Ah, Naomi said that the box had been delivered today!" her mother exclaimed by way of greeting, a smile on her face. Beth could see that she was in her office, moving around and clearly having had been interrupted.
"Is now a bad time?" Beth asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Oh, no -- no, this is fine, honey, just fine." The words came out quickly, a bit distracted as Sophia looked beyond her phone. Beth wasn't sure if she was looking at a clock or a crowd of people. Either could be the case for the Massachusetts senator. "Open it up!"
Beth managed a quick smile, then reached for the box. It took some doing to get it open one-handed and she could tell that her mother was getting impatient on the phone, her face losing the bit of excitement that it'd had previously. It had been a long time since Beth had seen her excited about much of anything that wasn't revolving around poll numbers and she felt a twinge of disappointment at seeing it fade away.
"Sorry." Beth wrinkled her nose. "Naomi did a number on tape."
"Yes, she tends to do that." The comment was offhanded, but it made Beth wonder how many presents her mother's assistant purchased and shipped to her. This was the first that her mother had insisted on actually seeing her open it, however, which gave her a feeling that she actually had something to do with its purchase.
Finally, she got the box open and pulled out a bundle of tissue paper. A few seconds later and she'd unwrapped the paper to reveal a blue baseball cap. Beth's brow furrowed as she turned it around, then they shot straight up instead. It was a Yankees cap, which might have broken her heart given the recent news, were it not for the signatures that were scrawled across the bill and along the sides.
"Oh my god."
"Do you like it?" If Beth weren't so preoccupied with turning the cap over in her one hand, she might have noticed the tone of concern in her mother's voice. "I know it isn't too timely, but I thought -- "
"Mom, this is awesome," Beth breathed, looking back to the phone with a grin. "Thank you."
Sophia's face split into a matching grin, clearly relieved at how well received the gift was. Their mutual love for the Yankees was one of the few things that the mother and daughter had in common. In fact, once the two of them had learned that they both liked the team, it had made their first real visit together halfway bearable. It wasn't much, but it led to a foundation of a relationship, however slight.
"I'm so glad you like it, Beth. I meant to send it to you earlier, but you know how it goes. I had gone to a game a few weeks ago and was able to get the whole team to -- "
There was a quick tap at the door that resonated through the phone. Beth watched as Sophia's eyes glanced up, irritation flashing in them for a brief second before calming.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you, Senator," came a woman's voice. It wasn't Naomi's, as Beth was all too familiar with the assistant, but a bit lighter, bouncing with a British accent. "There's been an incident that I need your take on."
"Of course. I'll be right with you, Lucy." Beth looked back to the phone, cringing in a fashion that looked all too much like her daughter's expression when she had bemoaning the tape. "Sorry, honey. We'll talk soon?"
"Yeah, we'll talk -- " Before she could finish the words, the session ended. Beth watched as her face fell in the reflection of her phone, then quickly tossed it aside onto her nearby bed.
With her hand free, she looked back to the Yankees cap. It really was a cool gift and she had every intention of cherishing it more or less forever, even if she knew that it probably meant that her mother was going to insist that she make some appearance at her side for a dinner or fundraiser sometime soon. She liked to remind her constituents that she was a single mother, like so many of them, and not mention that her father had primary custody of Beth and she hadn't even seen her in person until she was well beyond the age of young child.
There was more to it than that, though. Looking at the cap, Beth felt a nagging sensation in the back of her mind. It wasn't her first Yankees cap, but it was the first one that had been given to her by her mother. She felt like that was important, like she was missing something.
After a few long moments, she shook her head. Clearly she was thinking about it too hard, which wasn't any help to anyone, especially not her. Setting the cap onto her desk next to the now empty box, she turned on her laptop. Mystery package taken care of, she had a paper to write.