One Woman’s Treasure

by Jean Copeland

  She waved Sophie off, went inside, and collapsed facedown on her living-room sofa.

  Chapter Two

  Nina Colombo looked over at her son, Noah, in the passenger seat playing his Mario game on his iPad. To her delight, but not her surprise—for Noah had always been a precocious kid—he was taking the upheaval to their lives a lot better than she was. Maybe it hadn’t hit him yet. Maybe she should have him see a therapist that specialized in the delicate issues of a ten-year-old, only children whose parents had recently divorced. And whose mom had also recently begun the process of coming out as a lesbian. Poor kid. Behind that brave face, he must be so torn up inside.

  She reached over and squeezed his knee. “I’m sorry we’re spending your April vacation moving instead of going somewhere awesome.”

  “It’s okay,” he said, not looking up from his game.

  “Noah. Hey.” She shook his leg. “Is it really?”

  “Aww, Mom. You killed me,” he said, finally looking at her.

  “I’m sorry, baby. But listen. I want to talk to you before we get to the house.” She gently pulled the tablet from his hands.

  “I was listening,” he said. “I don’t care that we’re not going away this month. Honest. You said we’re going on a Disney cruise in June.”

  “Yes. It’s already booked,” she said. “But I know you look forward to going to Disney World with Dad and your cousins on spring break each year.”

  “Yeah, but we do that every vacation. No biggie if we can’t this year.”

  Nina sighed to ease the knot in her stomach. She assumed he wasn’t grasping the big picture. “Noah, you realize you won’t take any more vacations with me and your dad?”

  He rifled through the glovebox until he found a pack of gum. “Duh. I know what divorce is, Mom.”

  “I know, honey, but now that it’s done and we’re moving…away from Dad, how are you feeling about it?”

  Noah shrugged as he chewed a big wad of fresh gum.

  Now it was Nina’s heart that felt twisted in a knot. Noah was always an outgoing, outspoken kid. A shrug and a distant stare were not his typical reactions.

  “Noah, how are you? Tell me an adjective, a word that describes what you’re feeling.”

  “Shitty,” he said after a moment. “Can I have my iPad back?”

  “In a minute.” Nina gripped the wheel tighter and looked up at the highway signs. Their new exit was coming up. “Well, I feel like that, too, so that’s one thing we have in common.”

  “Why do you? Do you miss Dad, too?”

  “I miss seeing you happy,” she said.

  “I am, I guess. It’s just kinda weird how things are now.”

  Nina reached out to Noah and gave the back of his neck a comforting caress. “You know you can see your dad any time you want. Just because I have primary custody, we don’t have to follow it down to the hour. Your dad and I may have had our differences, but we’ve always agreed that you are our number-one priority. You know that, don’t you?”

  “He told me that a bunch of times, too,” he said. “Can I have my iPad back now? Please?”

  She handed it to him with a smile. Feeling somewhat relieved, she allowed her mind to review the afternoon’s agenda, which included organizing Noah’s bedroom, unpacking the household essentials, and having the security system installed.

  Out of the silence came Noah’s voice. “Do you miss Lacey?”

  She almost veered off the road. What exactly did he mean?

  “I do…sometimes,” she said, unsure if she should elaborate. She’d introduced Lacey to Noah as her new “friend,” and that’s how she’d labeled their year-long relationship while she was still married to Zack. How else could she have explained the woman who’d inspired her physical and emotional awakening and subsequent filing for divorce?

  They’d broken up after a year of passion, confusion, and apprehension, and she’d told Noah that Lacey had moved away. That explanation seemed to satisfy him. Until now.

  “Why doesn’t she ever come to visit? She always did before.”

  “Well, she moved pretty far away,” Nina lied. “And besides, we’ve been busy with our own move.”

  “Maybe she can come over after we’re all moved in,” Noah said.

  She tried not to let her facial expression reveal her surprise. She simply hadn’t considered Noah’s attachment to Lacey even with only occasional interaction. “We’ll see,” she said reassuringly.

  She hated using mother-speak on him, but she wanted to drop the topic of Lacey. She hated even more having to lie to her son. At some point in the near future, once the dust from the divorce settled, she would be honest with him about the full spectrum of who she was—for his sake and that of her next relationship.

  She’d learned early on this uncharted journey that the “new friend” safety net didn’t usually fly for long with women these days. Once she’d created order from the chaos of her family life, she would sort out her inner self so another good one wouldn’t get away.

  But where or how was she supposed to find another good one like Lacey?

  Chapter Three

  In her cubby at Sky-Hi Airlines call center, Daphne adjusted her headset and prepared mentally for the second leg of her double shift she’d taken as a favor to a coworker and to earn extra cash for her “future business” envelope. Her timing couldn’t have been more unfortunate. Still nursing a hangover from her ill-fated night of closure-seeking with Savannah and then the wine and ghastly food combining with Sophie, she eyed the microwave bean burrito challenging her from the paper plate. She blew the steam off a chunk and stuffed it into her mouth before facing the next irritated traveler that lit up her customer-service line.

  “Ahhh! Poop.” She grabbed for her bottled water and guzzled it when the lava-hot filling scalded the roof of her mouth. At precisely the same moment, her line began twinkling like Christmas bulbs. After one more swig, she answered. “Sky-Hi Airlines customer-care center. My name is Daphne. How may I serve you today?”

  “Yeah, this is the fourth fucking time I’ve had to call this number for service today,” the woman bellowed. “When are you getting these planes off the ground here in Texas?”

  “I’m very sorry, ma’am. The Dallas-Fort Worth area has been experiencing severe weather all day—”

  “I know it has,” the woman growled. “My friends and I have been stuck here since this morning watching it. But the hail wasn’t that big, and it’s been over for a while. When the hell are you getting us to Vegas? We have tickets for Barry Manilow tonight.”

  “Again, I’m very sorry for the inconvenience, ma’am.” Daphne tried to respond in the calm, soothing tone she’d been trained to use.

  “I don’t want any more apologies,” the woman shrieked. “I want your major, overpriced airline to get us out of this airport now.”

  “I understand, ma’am, but flights are backed up because of the weather delays and the maintenance inspections we’ve had to—”

  “Don’t give me that garbage. The storm stopped hours ago.”

  “Yes, I know but—”

  “Now you listen here, Daphne. If that’s even your real name. Am I even calling America on this number? Let me talk to your supervisor. Hopefully, he won’t have an accent like yours. I can barely understand you.”

  “Accent? I was born in Connecticut.” Daphne’s head spun from the customer’s tirade.

  “We’ve been trapped in this airport for nine hours now, and we can’t sleep here. We have a woman on a CPAP machine with us who needs a power outlet to—”

  Daphne put the customer on hold, closed her eyes, and inhaled slowly. Your life could always be worse. At least you have a job. She repeated her mantra once more, then called out to her supervisor.

  “Galena, I have a Def-Con Five on my line.”

  “Another one?” she shouted back from the cubicle next to her. “You have to learn how to diffuse these situations yourself, Daphne. How long have you worked
here?”

  Daphne heard Galena grumble out a few more demoralizing statements before taking over the call. She sank into her chair and fought back tears of inferiority. She played with the antique fountain pen on her desk she’d bought for a steal at an estate sale and promised herself that tomorrow she’d treat herself to a day trolling for roadside goodies people had cleared out of their houses for spring cleaning.

  Maybe tomorrow she could also think about putting that business plan together.

  * * *

  The next morning Nina awaited the delivery of the rest of their furnishings and belongings to the new house. This time she expected a smaller truck from a company specializing in transporting breakables and other valuables that required extra care. She stepped out onto the large, wooden front porch with her coffee in hand, watching Noah ride his hover board around the driveway while recording himself on his new cell phone.

  “Noah,” she called out. “Watch out for the moving truck while you’re on that thing. I don’t need you to get run over our first weekend in town. ”

  “When is it coming?” he asked in the middle of a series of circles on the board.

  “Soon. And stop getting fancy on that thing. I don’t know where the nearest urgent-care walk-in is yet.”

  “Relax, Nina,” he said with a devilish grin.

  “I’ll give you ‘relax, Nina,’” she said. “I’m not kidding, Noah. I have some cleaning to do inside, so if you’re bored, you can ask Dad to take you for the day.”

  “I’m fine, Mom.”

  “Okay. Call me when the truck comes. And don’t leave this yard.” She went inside, grabbed her bucket of cleaning supplies, and started on the downstairs half bathroom. She was relieved that Noah chose to stay home with her instead of going with his father for the day. Evidently he wasn’t harboring any subconscious resentment toward her or being tempted to take the side of the spurned parent.

  Although Zack had been decent to her during their divorce proceedings, he hadn’t been when she’d first told him she was filing. He hadn’t wanted the divorce and still hadn’t seemed ready to let Nina go completely, even after confronting her about the nature of her relationship with her new “friend” from work, Lacey.

  Not long after meeting Lacey, Nina had come to understand that the unsettling feelings of emptiness and discontent that had dogged her throughout the latter half of her twelve-year marriage to Zack had nothing to do with Zack’s success or failure as a husband. The solution wasn’t about piecing together something that had come apart. For her, the two pieces hadn’t truly fit together from the start. When she fell in love with Lacey, their relationship felt whole and satisfying, despite its limitations.

  Six months in, she began promising Lacey she’d file for divorce, but it would take time. But Lacey grew more impatient with each passing month. Ultimately, she couldn’t hang in through all the ups and downs that accompanied loving a married woman who had only recently discovered her true sexual and emotional orientation.

  As Nina swirled the toilet brush around the blue water, she again found herself deflecting the question of whether the biggest decision of her life hadn’t also been the biggest mistake. She’d broken up her family, taken Noah away from his father, and alienated herself from friendships she’d made during her years with Zack. Served her right, she supposed. She should’ve paid more attention to her emotional needs instead of spending the last fifteen years focused on her career as a rising corporate executive. Now, in her early forties, her career thrived, but her family and personal lives felt like they were circling the bowl like the foamy water after a flush.

  Almost as if she’d summoned his presence, Zack’s name appeared on the screen of her vibrating phone. She wanted to let it go to voice mail, but she’d basically done that to him all week.

  “Hey,” she said, watching the sparkling toilet bowl refill.

  “How’s Noah doing?”

  “Call him and ask him yourself. He’s outside on his hover board obsessing over his phone.”

  “He’s gonna break his neck on that thing,” he said with a chuckle.

  “Too bad you didn’t think of that before buying it for him for Christmas.”

  He groaned into the phone. “Like you did before getting a ten-year-old his own cell phone as a divorce present?”

  Nina bit her lip to stop herself from lashing back. “Divorce present? Really, Zack? I need to be in contact with him while he’s finishing out his school year in Greenwich.”

  “Whatever. Look. I didn’t call him directly because all I get from him is ‘I’m fine.’ I want to know how he’s really doing in all this.”

  “He’s fine, and I’m not being flippant. I ask him until I’m tired of hearing myself. He’s rolling with the changes a lot better than I am.”

  “We’ll see next year when he has to start at a new school.”

  Nina clenched her jaw. “He’s always been resilient. He’ll make it work. But you win on passive-aggressive digs. I need to get back to my housecleaning. The movers are coming any minute.”

  “No cleaning service? I’m sure they have some good golfing in Madison you could be doing on this gorgeous Sunday.”

  She recognized that as another dig, this time about her and Lacey. That’s how they’d struck up the conversation and friendship at work that ultimately led to everything else. She held her tongue on this one, privately acknowledging that Zack had so much to be hurt about and obviously still hadn’t worked through it all.

  “Zack, please. I’m done going there with you. It’s over. Everything is over. If you really want to know how Noah’s doing, hang up and call him. He’d love nothing more than to talk to you.”

  He sighed into the phone and then cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. Honestly, I didn’t call you to start something. I want you to be happy, Nina, and not just because it’s the right thing to want for my son’s mother. I want it for you, too.”

  She sighed, too. “I know. I want to say I’m sorry, Zack, but I’ve said it so many times it just comes out sounding trite.”

  “You had to do what you had to do. I get it.”

  “I’m not sorry for doing what I had to do.” Nina made sure her voice was clear and confident. “I’m sorry it hurt you. But I can’t keep harboring guilt. We both need to learn how to move on and be okay where our lives are heading, whether it’s what we’d intended or not.”

  “I’ll call Noah now,” he said and ended the call.

  It saddened her that conversations with Zack always drained her so much. But she was impressed with the conviction in her extemporaneous speech, especially the part about refusing to feel guilty about taking care of her own needs. It was sound advice, and she was more determined than ever to follow it.

  After a peek out the window at Noah, she found it fitting to move on to the next toilet.

  * * *

  Daphne loved this time of year. With most towns in New Haven County offering free bulk-trash pickups, people seized the opportunity to clear out old furniture and declutter their cabinets, storage areas, and lives. They did their spring cleaning with a vengeance, and Daphne usually “cleaned up” picking through people’s refuse and rescuing forgotten or discarded treasures.

  Over the last year or so her acquisitions had been a metaphor for her life. Savannah had wanted to declutter her life, and after she’d disposed of her excess weight, Daphne was the second thing she’d let go. Savannah’s sudden marriage to Francesca only confirmed her suspicions that Savannah had had a foot out the door before Daphne even realized they were in trouble.

  But enough of that. Sophie was right. It was time to refocus on the positives in her life rather than remain mired in the negative. Yes, her job sucked, and she was alone and lonely in an empty house reeking with memories of her and Savannah, nee Ann Marie, but she still had her dreams.

  Since she wasn’t able to borrow her coworker Pascale’s F150 this morning she was on the hunt for smaller collectibles that would fit in her 4-door
sedan: vases, dishware, lamps, etc. She pulled down a street in Madison she’d had luck on last year, an upper-middle-class, manicured cul-de-sac where people tossed out the kind of “junk” that Daphne could use to upgrade her entire house.

  She rolled up along the curb of a colonial with a dresser and some end tables stacked up near the driveway. After scanning the pile and seeing only those larger items, she drove on to the next house with a tempting offering of smaller discarded fare.

  Before she’d even thrown her car in park, an antique Tiffany-style lamp grabbed her eye. She practically salivated as she walked toward it and recognized it as early twentieth-century slag glass. These people must’ve been crazy to throw it away just because of a slightly frayed cord. Meh. They probably had five others just like it inside but in perfect condition.

  “Come to Mama,” she said aloud as she cradled it in her hands. She laid it on the front seat, strapped it in with the seat belt, and gingerly drove away. She could easily sell it to a collector for at least three hundred as is—that is, if she didn’t decide to keep it for herself.

  She still had several more stops to make that day, but she was surely not going to find anything that would top a treasure like this. Driving away, she glanced in her rearview mirror and noticed a twinkle in her eyes at the rush of excitement in discovering something new and the possibilities it held.

  This was going to be a good day.

  * * *

  “Mom, the moving truck was here,” Noah said from the bottom of the stairs in the foyer.

  Nina wiped the sweat from her forehead after switching the arrangement of dressers in her bedroom. Wait. Did he just say the truck was here? She called down to him. “You mean they’re here now?”

  “No. They dropped everything off. I signed for it, and they left.”

  Nina bounded down the staircase and stopped at the open front door. “Oh, Noah. You were supposed to let me know when they arrived. My car was blocking the driveway.” She met him at the foot of the stairs, upset that she wasn’t there to supervise the delivery.