by K. F. Breene
Lump laughed. “It was the timing. You can’t spring things on the guy. You have to explain that he is cleaning because you cooked—only fair. Then you would’ve had to explain that throwing salt was because of luck, not because you wanted him to dirty what he’d just cleaned.”
“Too much work.”
“Yeah, you are too wound up. Plus, he finds it strange that you follow him around with deodorant.”
“And cologne. Both spray on. I just give him a little fixer-up squirt. He barely has to move and voila, he’s smelling like a million bucks. Man, I do sound crazy, don’t I? But you know I have a sensitive nose!”
Lump laughed and finished her coffee. “Yes, you do. I don’t, thank God. I think Willie likes the constant entertainment. Adam finds it exhausting.”
“Good thing I’m not with Adam, then. Speaking of, I told him you were coming over tonight.”
“Jess, don’t get involved.”
“I’m not involved. I just told him you were coming over. No biggie. If everyone thinks I’ll sit still while everyone plans out my life for me, then I’ll just start meddling.”
“I’m not pushing you around.”
“Yes you are. You’re just more subtle about it. Self-defense classes weren’t my idea…”
Lump shrugged. “We going out tonight?”
“Adam won’t let me. He says I’ll probably start a bar fight. I think he is counting down the days until William gets back.”
“Yeah, he’s given up the idea that he can keep you safe. I knew about his rage. You were there; I was confronted with it. But I never knew how deeply his soft spot went; his vulnerability. I think he keeps that bottled down even deeper than the rage. I see it with you, though. I see it come out. I know it now because of the other night. I don’t touch that place in him.”
“He probably likes you better for it.”
“He does, yes. But it is a small point of jealousy that I want to bring up.”
“Oh. Well, let yourself nearly get raped twice, then get shot at, cry a few dozen times and you’re there. Nothing to it.”
“Yeah. I’m not that girl.”
“I know. I wish I wasn’t.”
“I know. I’m sorry for showing up late to the party the other night. Adam isn’t the only person that you harass with your getting into trouble trendsetting.”
“Was that code for, ‘Jessica, I deeply regard you as my friend, love you as such, and you complete me, but God damn it, stay out of danger because you are poking me in my excuse for a heart with a stick and I can’t take it no more?’”
“No. What I meant was, stop getting in trouble or I’ll kill you myself.”
“Yeah, same thing.”
Lump covered the touchy bits with humor, just as I did. Just as William and Adam didn’t. It’s why she was awesome, and they were just boys.
God I missed William.
Chapter Seven
Moving day.
I sighed, sitting cross-legged on the grass in front of the cottage, looking across the large expanse of yard. If I had lived here longer, I would’ve definitely put in a volleyball court. This place would rock with one! Otherwise, a lot of carnage had happened here, recently, but before that a lot of great memories. I did love this place. I hated to leave it.
“Can I sit down?”
Gladis, followed by Lady holding two fold-up chairs, shielded her face from the glare of the midday sun as she looked down on me. That’s all it had taken, a half a day to pack and load all my stuff. All I had was a truck full. Nothing else in the cottage was mine. Nothing in the house I was moving into was mine, either. I felt like a gypsy.
I wanted to say “it’s your lawn” but she didn’t deserve my unsettled bitterness, so I left it at, “Sure.”
“Would you care for a seat?”
“No thanks. I just want to sit on the grass.”
“Do you mind if I sit on the chair?”
“Gladis, don’t be stupid.”
“Ah, you’re in that kind of mood. I see.” Gladis knew me pretty well by now. Obviously.
Lady unfolded a chair for her, and one for herself. As was customary of “help” in the old school, Lady sat slightly behind Gladis. It irritated me and Gladis no end, but Lady had her rules, and by darn, order from her employer or no, she would follow her own rules.
“I am happy to see that you are taking the next step with Willie.”
“Yeah.”
Silence.
Gladis was a lover of staring out at a beautiful landscape, letting the thoughts flow and drift. As was I.
After a spell she said, “He’s the best of the lot. The best of the Davies. And he will love you forever. Even his friends love you, which is a testament to how well you fit together.”
“Yeah.”
More silence. There was a beautiful bird chirping away in the trees. I briefly wondered what kind of bird it was.
“He has a beautiful place. It is spacious and cozy and ready for the feminine touch.”
“Except that none of it is mine, and every time we have a fight we’ll each know it.”
“Ah. So that’s the problem.”
“I just—I love it here, Gladis. I love this place. I love that you and Lady and all your staff are a walk away. Everyone you’ve employed is surly and mean, but they love their job and they do it well, and I love that about them. I love the smell of my own place. The freedom of it. I love that William comes to my house. Even if it is just a pool house. Now I am moving into his house, with his stuff.”
“It is hard for an independent woman to become entrenched by her man.”
“I mean, I love him. And he never makes me feel like the proverbial 1950’s woman. When I put my foot down, he listens. He compromises better than I do. But… I don’t know. I am being stupid.”
“You are certainly not being stupid. But you haven’t thoroughly explored all your possibilities either, have you?”
“Obviously not, since I have no idea what you mean.”
“Well, what if it is his shell, but your stuffing?”
“Gladis, just spell it out, please.”
“He owns the house, but he can’t live there without furnishing.”
“I don’t have any furnishing to move in.”
“Well, then, I guess you should buy some.”
“I have enough for a couch and some end tables, Gladis. I’m not from money. I can’t just redecorate on a whim.”
“Well, I’ve never paid you for keeping up the pool house.”
“Keeping up? You mean giving you a reason to send your cleaning staff into it? Or sending your grocer to stock it with food? Or having someone sneak in to turn down my bed, even if I might not be home? Or what about having my friends litter all over half your yard? Or let’s not forget my dog—“
“Jessica,” she cut me off firmly, “I am not ready to hear that spoken aloud.”
I sighed. Most things Gladis could laugh away like Lump and I, but how close I had come to death wasn’t one of them. She never apologized for it, thankfully, but she looked at me with tears in her eyes more than a few times. Saying it was her contacts didn’t fool anyone.
“Bottom line, Gladis, you don’t owe me anything.”
“Nonsense. My accountant says I owe you this—“ I was handed a check for $20,200.
“Does he? That’s all he thinks my services are worth, huh? Some pimp he turned out to be.”
“It is your returned rent, plus interest, and a few investment returns.”
“You know quite well I will not accept this.”
“Yes dear, I do. That’s why I love you. It is also why I put it into a set of non-refundable gift cards.”
I stared at a duck dipping into the pond in the distance. That duck probably noticed me and thought someone was planning to assassinate him.
“You talked to William.”
“Guilty, I’m afraid. That was his advice.”
“What if I took this check?”
“You wo
uld have twice the amount.”
“Damn it! I am so sick of people with money trying to push me around!”
“Yes, dear.”
“Don’t yes dear me!”
“Yes, dear.”
I ignored her for a while. When she didn’t go away, I huffed and shook my head. “So what, I am going to—wait, did you say you talked to William about this?”
“Yes, dear.”
“Now you are just trying to piss me off.” I looked up at her and saw her smirk.
“And succeeding,” she affirmed.
Was it bad taste to punch an old lady in the nose?
“So he is okay with me completely redoing his whole house?” I asked in a sour voice.
“He only had it done in the first place to appease Denise.”
“I am getting a sickening suspicion that he likes me because I resemble his mother. ”
“The finer qualities that hold him to a high standard, yes. But you also resemble his father, with hardworking, deep hearted qualities. You are a perfect match for our Willie. Perfect. Did I ever tell you? I knew right away to whom you were referring when you described your first encounter with him?” To my disbelief she smiled and nodded. “Right away. But the Willie I knew wouldn’t spend any time on a strange woman at the grocery mart. He would make sure she was taken care of, by someone else, and move on. He wouldn’t pay her no mind. That he saw you to the end raised my eyebrows.”
“It was probably my breath. He was probably wondering if I was undergoing chemo with the radiation on my breath.”
“Yes, dear.”
“So I am supposed to buy a whole new house of furniture?”
“Did Betz tell you that that’s what she is doing?”
“No.”
“Ask her about it. She isn’t a talker; she doesn’t voice her feelings like you do—in fact, I don’t think she really makes up her mind until someone suggests it to her…but she is taking up the redecoration of Adam’s house, and spending a lot of her own money to do it. It’s smart. She feels at home there, and if push comes to shove, she has leverage. It’s what gave me the idea.”
“You two are the same person, only different ages.”
“The same age where it counts.”
“Then being wise must not count.”
Gladis laughed. Even Lady snickered.
“Lady,” I said, “What do you think?”
By rule, Lady never said much. She spoke when asked, or spoke up when it had to do with Gladis’s wellbeing, but otherwise she hung out and waited until she was needed. If you dragged an opinion out of her, though, it would prove insightful and necessary.
“Jessica, he is an attractive, well-bred young man. If he makes you happy, he is worth a sacrifice. But only you can determine how much of a sacrifice that is.”
I take it back. She was a Gandhi impersonate.
“I don’t know. But I am moving in today, so my time for figuring this out is running out.”
“Two outs don’t make a right.”
“Gladis, your sense of humor isn’t great.”
“My sense is, but maybe the delivery is lacking.”
My stuff was in. It was in bags in William’s room; it mostly being clothes and accessories. I was standing in the doorway in a house I knew like the back of my hand…but was uncomfortable. William came in, followed by Adam and Lump, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. It was all brought in. My whole life was moved in a day.
I gave a forced, fake smile I hoped William didn’t notice and went into the bedroom with Lump, noticing Adam watching me closely.
“If he’s stopped trying to protect me, why is he freaking staring at me, trying to catch a chink in the armor?” I asked Lump as we hung up my clothes.
“I told you—you hit that vulnerable place. He’s always aware of you--probably half worried you'll randomly cry. But always remember, Willie is number one with him. I bet he sees that something is wrong, and now is trying to protect Willie. Seriously, he is always trying to throw a blanket over someone’s head. Glad it’s usually you two and not me!”
“It's never you, it's always me.”
“No, not always.”
“What do you mean?”
Lump scoffed. “I was being aggressively hit on by someone at the school the other day. It wasn’t my day to teach, and students don’t know I am the owner, so I was just a nobody as far as he was concerned. Anyway, the guy hit on me and was doing a suggestive lean when I rebuffed him.”
“Did you kick his ass?”
“Jess—no! It is my school! I’m not trying to bust the heads of students in my school! I’d get bad Yelp reviews!”
When had she turned into such a businesswoman?
“Anyway, as I was politely telling him to F-off, Adam walked in. He was territorial, number one, and seriously aggressive, number two. When he saw I was trying to control the situation, he gave me to the count of ten, then ripped the guy away from me by the scruff of his collar.”
“No way!”
“Don’t sound so excited. It wasn’t good news.”
“What did the guy do?”
“He was the kind of guy I would have gone for when I first moved here—what do you think he did?”
“He tried to fight Adam?” I got a nod as Lump put a suit on a hanger. “What did Adam do?”
“Kicked his ass.”
“Shut your face! Details!”
“For a gal that doesn’t like fighting, you sure like to know about them.”
“I am constructing an inner romance novel, and you are the heroine. Your man is fighting for your honor. Oh God, I have Goosebumps!”
“You are so dumb,” Lump said with an eye roll and a smile. “Well, the guy, about Adam’s height, thought he was invincible—“
“Young guy?”
“Early twenties, yeah. He was a purple belt, so not all that experienced.”
“But Adam has no belt.”
“Well, that’s what this guy figured out when Adam just waited to see what this character would do. He wasn’t in a stance—not even boxing like Willie might do—he just sat there and waited to see what came next. I thought I needed to bail Adam out.”
“You did? Adam?”
She shrugged. “I never actually saw him throw a swing.”
“What about at Froggy’s?”
“Way too drunk.”
I nodded. Good point.
“Anyway, this guy threw a punch at Adam—not even a good one; I actually talked to his instructor about it. The guy is a class clown.” She looked at me like that was the worst thing in the world. I nodded in sympathy, though I didn’t really care.
“Adam just shrugged it off," she continued, "He barely moved, but dodged the punch completely. Then—get this!—he looked up at me to see if it was okay to punch him back. He had that much time! Well, rules of engagement say that if someone throws a punch, you are allowed to defend yourself.” She paused, reflexive, “I should have said no.”
“But you said yes!” I asked excitedly.
“Yeah, I did!” She giggled. “Then Adam clocked him. The guy barely moved to get out of the way. Adam is fierce fast! Knocked the guy clean out!”
“William said Adam knocked him out once. Then punched him at Christmas, remember? Didn’t knock him out then, though.”
Lump looked over at me, moving on to the dresses. “I heard about that. The first one. Adam still feels badly for it. But then, Willie has knocked him flat twice, so they’re even.”
“What?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“Wait. There was the time with Dezeray.”
“Oh yeah. She sounds like some bitch.”
“Oh yeah, serious bitch!”
“That didn’t count, though. One time they were pissed at each other over a chick—both of them screwed her or something. I think Adam called her but Willie grabbed her. She double dipped that night or something.”
“Ew! She did two guys in one night?”
L
ump laughed. “Yeah, that’s what it sounded like. Anyway, Adam was pissed—he was the second so it was gross—“
“I don’t want to know about this stuff.”
“Willie knows stuff about you that you didn’t tell him.”
I stopped what I was doing and stared at her.
“Nothing too terrible, but I did tell about that nasty, short kid that you ended up with. The one whose sheets smelt like ass?”
“You didn’t! Lump…I hate remembering that. What must William think of me?”
“He’s probably had worse. Actually, there was a fake-boobed one that looked like Ozzy Osborne with bleached out hair?”
“Yeah, she was gross.”
“Well, apparently William is still disgusted with that. Anyway, Willie got so worked up about being accused, and also because Adam was pitching a fit, that they boxed. Willie knocked Adam out flat. Adam said his ears were ringing he was hit so hard. And from out of nowhere.”
“You should have seen what he did to Dusty.”
Lump put down what was in her hands. “Jess, I had no idea how bad that was. Adam told me in Adam detail what it was like seeing you, which I took with a grain of salt. But the part about you holding a gun to a man’s head, execution style—how are you? After everything. Honestly.”
“Fucked up on the best of days,” I answered flippantly.
“Jess…”
I sighed. “What do you want from me, Betsy? I am fucked up. I have a regular appointment with Dr. George. I saw a man dead with his throat ripped out. I heard a gunshot while staring at its bang-hole. I was nearly raped, twice. I thought I would lose William on one of those. I’m fucked up.”
“But hanging on?”
“Barely. Some days, barely. Texas has been my life blood some days, but my worst nightmare others. Adam is right to be defeated up by it. Especially with his past. I’m sure I looked worse than he described. I don’t know why William isn’t more messed up. Maybe he’s better at hiding it. I’ve been through some shit. But I’m still here. Somehow.”
“I’d give anything to be in those shoes instead of you. I’d give anything for a crack at Dusty.”
“You wouldn’t even be phased by him. You’d probably knock him out accidentally. Then make fun of me.”
“I wouldn’t… Look. Truth?” Lump turned to me, baring her soul, tears coming to her eyes. “I’ve always had a special place for you. You think you are a pessimist, but in reality, you think only the best of everything. Then you’re still shit on. Constantly. It is heart breaking to see. You get so few breaks you haven’t worked your ass off for. The courage you’ve always shown when you’re in over your head has always made my chest hurt. Then to see you go through one of your…Texan issues. To walk into a room, with two dead bodies, and my friend lying on the ground with blood inching toward her head—it’s unbearable. I would take your place, if only to ease your suffering. I can’t bare it. I think Willie dies a little everyday thinking of what he heard and saw on the news. I don’t blame him. The horror is still in your eyes. You are still half wild. And it kills me.”