A Good Woman

by Liz Cronkhite

  A door opened in the distance and Erika returned a moment later. “I’m sorry. Work.” She saw Aly looking at the photos and joined her.

  “I’m trying to take it all in,” Aly said, and then explained the pattern she thought she was seeing.

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “Are you an only child?”

  Erika paused. “I never know how to answer that. I was raised alone. But there was a little girl before me. She died of pneumonia before she was a year old.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.”

  “She was a ghost I lived with.” Erika briefly and lightly touched Aly’s arm. “I don’t mean I saw ghosts. Just that, my mother, you know…”

  “How devastating for her.”

  “I think my childhood was hard for her, watching and fearing. She didn’t want to go through it again, so I was it.” Erika moved out of the dining room and Aly realized the interview was over. “Well, I think we’re done here. I’m going to get that background check and call your references. Do you mind me speaking with people we both know? I can be discreet.”

  “Anyone. Except my mother,” Aly said with a little laugh, but when Erika gave a small frown and questioning cock of the head Aly shook her head and waved off any need to comment further.

  Erika let it go. “The girls go with Julio to his family’s beach house in the Florida Keys for all of July and I’ll be gone for the first two weeks, too. So I will let you know this week.”

  Aly called out a goodbye to the girls who offered distracted waves and goodbyes in return. As Erika opened the door she said, “You handled the girls very well. Lu, especially, can put people off. It’s not that she lacks filters. She just only uses them when she feels they’re justified.”

  “I like her,” Aly said honestly and she could see this pleased Erika.

  Erika said goodbye and Aly heard the door close behind her as she made her way up the driveway to her car, unconsciously rubbing her arm where Erika had touched her.

  7

  Well, it was a nice dream for a day.

  Sunday, Gemma worked but Nick was home. In these situations Aly left the kids to their father, except for applying a light structure of meals for all and naps for the little ones. She spent the first part of the day processing the interview and her impressions of the Miltons. She liked the girls. Erika intimidated her. The second part of the day she slipped into a funk over the likely loss of such a good prospect, even if it meant living so close to the Ice Queen. The beautiful home, the privacy, the quiet, the salary would have more than offset any discomfort she felt in that regard.

  On Monday she determined to find a room soon. That evening and the next day she saw three rooms, one of which had potential. It was in a neighborhood in west Summerlin, which, though not Far Hills, was really quite nice. It was a studio above a garage, better than she had dared hope for. Of course, unlike the Miltons’, it did not come with a job and salary. But it made a nice consolation prize. She had to answer by the weekend and, on Wednesday afternoon, she was thinking she should call that evening and snatch it up when her phone tribbled and the screen showed it was Erika. She had put Erika in her contact list after the last call.

  She was sitting on the couch watching cartoons with Zoe and four year old Hayley. Down the hall, Troy and Tyler were noisily playing a video game in their room. She left the girls on the couch and took the call in the kitchen.

  After greetings Erika said, “Sorry this has taken so long. If you’re still interested in the position I’d like you to take one more step. Julio would like to meet you. But I don’t think there will be any obstacle there.”

  Aly nearly dropped the phone. She didn’t speak for a moment and Erika said, “Hello?” thinking maybe they’d lost the connection.

  “Um…great!”

  Erika seemed confused by Aly’s hesitation. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, yes. I just didn’t think I’d, you know, be seriously considered.”

  “Why not? You were great with the girls. And everyone I spoke with about you thinks you’re wonderful.”

  “Oh.”

  “I hate to rush you, but we’re all leaving town on Sunday…” She went on to say that Julio could meet with her any of these next three evenings. And, if he gave the green light, Erika wanted to see her at her house again to show her around and to go over the contract for the position. Would Aly be able to move in the last weekend in July?

  Dazed, but excited, Aly made arrangements to meet with Julio that evening, and, if he approved of her as their new child care assistant, to meet with Erika Saturday morning.

  ◆◆◆

  Julio lived on the eastern edge of Summerlin, off Rampart, not too far from Aly’s mother’s home. His neighborhood was built in the 1990s, all light peach stucco and orange concrete tile roofs. His home was large and two story. Aly arrived at seven as arranged and was surprised when Lu opened the door.

  “Hi!”

  “Hi, Lu.”

  Julio came up behind Lu. He was around forty and had grown a full beard since the time of the family photo Aly had seen on the Milton’s dining room wall. He was wearing blue jeans and a grey heather T-shirt, untucked. His feet were bare.

  Lu looked at him and he nodded before she turned back to Aly. “Aly Wong,” she said carefully. “I’d like you to meet my father, Julio Allende. Dad, this is Aly Wong.”

  Aly smiled at Lu’s earnest efforts and then at Julio, who rubbed Lu’s shoulder in approval with one hand while he put out the other for Aly to shake. “Nice to meet you. Come in.” He had a high voice and the hint of an accent around certain words that indicated he was a first generation English speaker.

  Aly stepped into an entry that opened onto a high ceilinged white living room with warm, apple wood laminate floors. The room was empty so Aly’s eyes went to the high windows that ran the length of the room. They overlooked a long, narrow backyard with a kidney shaped pool, its surrounding deck, and a row of shrubs against a high, peach stucco wall. That seemed to be the extent of the backyard.

  Stairs to the immediate left led upward. Julio led Aly right and past a dining room at the other end of the living room. It had a dark formal dining table and chairs. This was the only furniture in the very long room.

  Aly could just make out the smell of what must’ve been an earlier dinner. It grew stronger as they entered another area with a small family room to the left and the kitchen to the right. The family room was very masculine, decorated in dark wood and black leather, with brown and red accents. Whitney was on the couch watching basketball on a large screen television. Aly exchanged greetings with her and Lu joined her on the couch.

  Julio led Aly into the kitchen. It had not been upgraded for twenty years. The counters were the original off white tile and the manufactured cupboards were made to look like unfinished oak. It was large, bright, and airy, in sharp contrast to the dark family room. Except for a black and silver pod coffee maker, the counters, like the living room, were bare. There was no trace of the dinner that was still in the air.

  “Did you just move in?” Aly was confused by the half-finished look of Julio’s home.

  It was Whitney who answered. “No, he just lives like this.”

  Julio motioned Aly to a stool next to an island in the middle of the kitchen. “I’m only here to sleep. The house is for the girls.”

  “All the rooms upstairs have actual furniture,” Whitney offered.

  “She doesn’t approve,” Julio turned down his mouth in mock disappointment. “Can I get you anything?”

  Aly declined and Julio began. His interview was very informal compared to Erika’s. Without any notes he went over the same things, watching her sharply with Whitney’s eyes. Aly sensed in him a steeliness that belied his laid back manner. At times she felt she was on the stand. It was as though she had given her deposition to Erika and Julio was questioning her in court, probing for any inconsistencies. In the course of the conversation she learned that he and Erika were not just pa
rtners as parents but partners in law as well.

  Only then did Aly wonder about Bianca. There had been no mention of needing her approval of Aly. Was she in the parent mix? The girls’ had Erika and Julio’s last names. Aly longed to ask but didn’t feel it was appropriate. They were within hearing of the girls and, since Bianca’s position had never been volunteered, she didn’t know if it was a safe topic to broach in front of them.

  Of course she also wondered about the girls’ conceptions. But there was certainly no appropriate way to ask about that. She knew from the photos that Bianca was there at the girls’ births. Erika had also said she and Bianca had picked out Whitney’s name before she was born. And Bianca and Erika were certainly the couple in the pictures.

  Julio went on to tell Aly about their arrangement. He spoke with the girls daily. He had dinner with them every Wednesday, which explained why the girls were there that night. They were with him every other weekend, from dinner Friday through dinner on Sunday. They went with him to the Florida Keys for the entire month of July, where his mother and his sister and her family joined them. He was involved in all decisions about them. He paid a third of all of their expenses and into their college savings. (So Bianca must be in the mix, Aly reasoned). Julio seemed to want Aly to understand that he was very involved with his girls and that he was as much their parent as Erika.

  “Erika said that I would be on with the girls except when they are with her or you.”

  “Yes, that’s right. We are very committed to our time with them, but unexpected things happen. We have to know you will be there when we cannot be. With adequate warning when we can, of course. You will be paid for lost time off.”

  Aly felt the weight of the trust he and Erika would be putting in her, a stranger. It was different with the Gianni’s. Gemma took Aly’s interest in the children for granted because they were her family. But the Milton-Allende’s had no such assurance. She now understood the generous compensation they offered. She would be paid to be interested in their girls and to be their backup when they couldn’t be with them. This made her feel better about the position. The compensation was commensurate with the responsibility.

  As she said goodbye to the girls and was seen out by Julio, she hoped he had found nothing amiss in the interview.

  8

  The arrangement was that if Aly didn’t hear from Erika she was to show up in Far Hills on Saturday morning. So Aly’s stomach fell to her feet when she found a text on her phone from Erika on Friday morning. She had been busy with the children and had not heard her phone chime an hour earlier. A text seemed a lousy, impersonal way to tell her she didn’t get the job. It reinforced her image of Erika as an Ice Queen. She was quickly awash in the feeling that this disappointment is the way her life would always go for her. Of course this opportunity fell through. She was not qualified for such a good situation. She was a fool to have read things in any other way.

  But, in fact, Erika was simply asking if Aly could come earlier Saturday. Aly fell into a dining room chair with a deep sigh of relief. Then she realized with joy that the text wiped out any doubt. It confirmed she had the job. She quickly texted a response agreeing to the earlier time.

  For a moment, she wondered if Erika texted instead of called because she knew Aly might see the incoming call and expect it was a rejection. But then she decided Erika probably texted because it was more convenient.

  Aly told Gemma when she got home from work.

  Gemma had wanted to look forward to moving to someplace new, especially when that place was as historic and exciting as Boston. But her sadness over leaving Aly and the rest of their family was compounded by her anxiety for Aly. So, besides being relieved and overjoyed for Aly, Gemma felt set free to enjoy her own new prospects. Suddenly, even the enormous amount of packing they had to do didn’t seem so intimidating to her, and she quickly set about making a to-do list.

  That evening Aly called her father. He said he knew she’d land on her feet. “I know it’s been tough for a while now, honey. It’s time you got a break. You deserve this.” Her father was the antithesis of her discouraging mother.

  She sent her brother an email since she never knew when he was flying. Finally, out of common courtesy, she texted her mother, “Found a place to live.”

  Her mother’s response was equally pithy, “Good.”

  When it came to Aly, Linda didn’t care to know the details. When she called her mother to tell her that she and Toy had split up , Linda had said simply, “Okay.”

  Aly also called Anita and told her that her next day off she was taking her to lunch to thank her. “Oh, honey, this is great news! For both of you. Isn’t it interesting how your needs dovetailed? It was meant to be. And I will be happy to let you take me to lunch!”

  Taking a friend to lunch was something that Aly had not been able to afford for a long time. She marveled at the money she would make. Her salary, free and clear of shelter and food, was more than she had yet to make in a year. And she would still have income from the medical billing. She would get out of debt much sooner and save for, well, whatever the future held. Even if Erika realized she had rushed into hiring Aly because she was pressed for time - a possibility that Aly could not deny even in her present happiness - after a couple of months she would still be ahead of where she was now.

  ◆◆◆

  “You must have a sensor or something,” Aly said as she found Erika waiting for her at the front door again.

  “We do. There’s a chime when someone crosses the top of the driveway.” Erika was dressed much like last time only more relaxed, with her shirt untucked and her feet in gatas sandals. “It’s a smart home. It does all sorts of stuff for us. The girls will teach you. Let me show you around.”

  Aly stepped into the cool house, passing Erika at the door. This time instead of the smell of laundry she caught Erika’s scent. Not perfume, but Erika. Dry earth and ash. It was disturbingly intimate. And what made it worse for Aly was it caused a pleasurable twinge in her stomach and a desire for more. An involuntary image of nuzzling Erika’s beautiful long neck rose in her mind. But this was normal, she reassured herself. She loved women. There were always sights and scents her body responded to when she was around them. However, when Erika passed her to lead her down the hall, Aly held her breath to avoid a repeat disturbance.

  “These are our bedrooms. Yours is on the other side of the house.”

  The girls’ rooms overlooked the driveway. Lu’s room had white walls and furniture. Her bedding and louvered closet doors were pink and red. The wall above her bed was covered in pink and red plastic hearts. An elaborate pink plastic doll house was closed up in a corner and there was a pink or red stuffed animal here and there.

  “Obviously, she’s into pink and red,” Erika said. “The shades matter. Red red and pink pink, as she sees them. I tell her not everyone sees shades the same. It’s a disaster when we get her something that’s a little off to her. It’s full of land mines.”

  “Good to know.”

  The walls of Whitney’s room were painted silver grey and sky blue. On the grey wall above her bed was a blue poster of the boy band In Real Life. The boys seemed to be floating in air. But for that touch her room was impersonal. “Everything’s on their devices now,” Erika said. “When I was her age my room was stuffed with books and CDs and VHS tapes.”

  “Me, too. Well, DVDs.”

  Across the hall was the bathroom the girls shared. White walls, neat beige and brown marble counters, beige and brown towels and accessories.

  Erika’s room was at the end of the hall. She pointed at it in passing and Aly glanced in. Her impression was of more color than the rest of the house. Beige walls, darker furniture, and browns and plums and violets on the bed. She caught sight of a bathroom suite, glimpsing a stone shower and the edge of a fiberglass tub before she turned to follow Erika. Her private space triggered another hint of intimacy and she didn’t want to see more.

  Erika led her past the
dining room and down the short hall off the kitchen. The powder room she glimpsed on her first visit and a large laundry room were there. At the end of the hall was the door to the garage. Aly had expected to find her room tucked back there. But instead Erika led her past the kitchen and through the living room.

  Just past the small sitting area in front of the ledgestone fireplace they veered left to a corner. Angled away from the living room and tucked out of sight was a small alcove and then a door.

  “This is your room,” Erika announced, opening the door. “Casey just moved out yesterday. She favored Ikea so that’s what we have in this room. If you want it changed out we can do that. Or you can bring your own. You can paint the walls, too.”

  Aly immediately loved the privacy. She’d be away from the family’s bedrooms. And though off the living room, the angle and the alcove ensured her room was not part of the public area. “This is great,” she said, entering the room behind Erika.

  The walls of the room were a light rose. A bare queen sized bed with a slated blond wood headboard was against a west facing window. There were matching end tables on either side of the bed. At the end of the bed, in the far corner against a wall shared with the living room, was a simple matching desk.

  “I like the furniture,” she assured Erika. A replica of the girls’ bathroom was on the other side of the room. It had a generous walk in closet. “You have no idea. This is heaven.”

  “Good,” Erika beamed at her approval. “Come, I have the best part to show you.”

  She led Aly back out and they snaked between the sitting area and the living room toward the sliding glass doors. They stepped out onto a variegated beige travertine patio created by a white aluminum lattice cover attached to the house. The travertine continued into the deck that flowed around a kidney shaped pool. A small yard beyond the deck combined a rockscape with lush desert landscaping of lavenders, ornamental grasses, silver blue agaves, flowering aloes, and spreading purple, yellow, and red lantana. The yard ended in a low, caped ledgestone wall.