She called her mom, although Anna wasn’t eager to explain that she and Edmond would be in Maui with Gil and Lelani. So she simply inquired as to whether any mail for the credit card had come to them.
“As you know, your father takes care of those things,” her mom told her.
“Is Dad there?”
“No. But, tell me, Anna, why this sudden interest in that credit card? I know how you hate credit, mi’ja. Surely you’re not having an emergency, are you?”
“No, Mom, it’s not an emergency exactly.”
“Not exactly? But perhaps a little?”
So Anna told her mother about Maui.
“Oh, Anna.” Her mother’s voice was laced in disappointment. It was the same tone she had used when Anna was ten and came home with grass stains on her pale-blue party dress after a birthday gathering where all the other girls had been wearing pants—just like Anna had told her mother they would be.
“What?” demanded Anna. “What is wrong with that?”
“Gil told me.”
“Told you what?”
“That he and Edmond are going to Maui for spring break too. Certainly you’re not going to Maui with your boyfriend for a week, mi’ja. What would people say?”
“Of course, I’m not going with Edmond, Mom. I’m going with Lelani.”
“Lelani?”
“Yes. Didn’t Gil tell you she was going?” Even as Anna said this, she knew she was in trouble—again.
“No, Gil told me he was going with Edmond. Is that not true?”
“Yes, it’s true, Mom. Gil is going with Edmond.”
“And you are going with Lelani?”
Anna didn’t answer.
“My children must both think I am a fool.”
“No, we don’t.”
Anna’s mother started talking in Spanish. Rapid Spanish.
“It’s not like you think, Mama,” Anna said loudly. “Really. I am staying at Lelani’s parents’ house with Lelani. They are very old-fashioned—”
“Old-fashioned? Their daughter has a child out of wedlock and that’s old-fashioned?”
“Mama, what about Alicia?” Anna reminded her.
“Yes, yes. But that’s different.”
“How is that different?”
“Alicia and whatever his name is finally got married.”
“A year after the baby was born, Mama? How is that different?”
“It’s different because they were not my children.”
“Oh, Mama!”
Her mother launched into more Spanish, and Anna was tempted to shout a quick good-bye and hang up, but she knew she needed that credit card.
“Mama,” Anna pleaded loudly. “You need to understand that it’s not like you think. Lelani and I will be at her parents’ and Gil and Edmond will be at a hotel—probably on the other side of the island. It’s no different than how we’re living here. Can’t you see that?”
There was a short stint of silence now, and her mother finally sighed. “If I could only be sure.”
“Why can’t you just trust your own children, Mama?”
“I do, but I know boys will be boys, and girls will be girls, and I was young once.”
“Aha,” said Anna. “That explains everything. Maybe I should ask Abuela about your youth?”
“Speaking of Abuela, Anna, are you and Edmond coming to the farewell dinner Sunday night?”
“Maybe.” Anna thought this might be her ticket.
“Maybe?”
“Here’s the deal, Mama. I need that credit card to pay for my airfare to Maui. Can you ask Dad if he has it? If not, maybe you can loan me the money.”
“You’re asking me to loan you money for a trip to a tropical island with your boyfriend, mi’ja? Do you think I’m a fool?”
“No.” Anna’s voice grew hard now.
“We’ll talk Sunday, Anna. I have much to do.”
“But I need to book the flight now,” said Anna desperately. “The rates go up daily and there might not even be any flights left if—”
“Don’t talk to me about this anymore, Anna.”
“But, Mama—”
“Anna!”
“Fine. Good-bye, Mother.” Anna hung up and stormed downstairs, where Kendall, Megan, and Lelani were still talking about Maui and why Kendall needed to let it go. Not that they were having any luck.
“What’s wrong with little Anna?” Kendall asked her in a snide tone. “For someone who’s going to Maui, you sure don’t look very happy.”
“Maybe I’m not going to Maui,” Anna snapped at Kendall.
“But you got the time off,” Megan reminded her.
Anna looked at Megan, then shook her head. “Sure, I got the time off. But I just found out my Visa card expired and my mom refuses to help me with it.”
Kendall actually laughed now. “So Anna’s got the time off, but no money. And Megan’s got the money, but no time off.”
“And your point is?” asked Lelani.
Kendall reached for the tin box on the coffee table and opened it up to show a big pile of bills. “My point is that I’ve got the time off, and I will soon have the money.” She waved the wad of bills at Lelani. “Pick me! Please, please, pick me!”
Lelani looked like she was on the verge of tears or a nervous breakdown. She held up her hands. “I can’t even think right now.” Then she turned and went to her room as Kendall continued to beg her.
“Please, Lelani,” she called out. “You won’t be sorry. I’m great on vacations and I promise that I’ll be—”
“Don’t you see that you’re driving us all bonkers?” Megan told Kendall. “Can you please give it a rest?”
“Okay.” Kendall straightened up her money and put it back in the tin. “I’ll give it a rest for now. But when this garage sale is over, and when I’ve sold my things on eBay and at the consignment shop, and when I’ve paid down my bills, if I still have money left over, I think Lelani should take me to Maui.”
“How about you let Lelani decide,” said Megan quietly. “Now if you’ll excuse me.”
And then it was just Anna and Kendall in the living room, although Anna wanted to make a getaway too. But before she could, Kendall turned to her.
“I know how you can make some money, Anna.”
Anna knew she should know better, but she bit anyway. “How?”
“You can sell some of your things at my garage sale.”
Anna couldn’t believe she was actually considering this. “What kind of things?”
“Like anything you have that someone might want to buy.” Kendall pointed to her money box. “It’s easy.”
“Maybe for you. I don’t think—”
“Hey, how about if I make a deal with you.” Kendall got a sly look now.
“What kind of deal?”
“If you’ll work the garage sale for me, I’ll give you a piece of the action.”
“What action?”
“You know, I’ll give you a cut. Like, how about 10 percent?”
Anna frowned. “That probably won’t add up to much.”
“Okay.” Kendall’s mouth twisted like she was thinking. “The truth is I’m not really into the selling part of this garage sale. I mean it’s no fun bickering with people over my stuff. Everyone keeps wanting me to lower the prices and I think they’re getting some serious bargains. I mean when was the last time you saw a pair of barely worn Prada boots for ninety bucks?”
Anna shrugged. Really, why was she even having this conversation?
“Okay, I’ll give you 20 percent to work the sale for me, Anna. But that’s my final offer. And if you’d been doing it today, you’d have a nice fat wad of cash right now.”
Anna
considered this. “Okay. 20 percent.”
“But you have to promise to work all day Saturday and Sunday. Okay?”
“Okay.” Anna was desperate.
“And you have to be ready to open at 7:30 a.m., like the ad in the paper says. Megan told me we’ll lose some of the best customers if we don’t open early. And she won’t come down to help out until around nine.”
Suddenly Anna wasn’t so sure. “Seven thirty on a Saturday feels pretty early.”
“Take it or leave it.”
Anna sighed, but she did agree. And then they shook on it.
“Really, Anna, you should go look through your things. You’d be surprised at the kinds of junk people will buy at a garage sale.”
Anna was pretty sure that was an insult, but the idea of possibly earning enough money for her airline ticket without having to go to her parents was good motivation. So she went through her drawers and closet, slowly making a pile that steadily grew, of anything she knew she didn’t need and wouldn’t miss. In a way it was fun getting rid of some things, kind of like a real spring cleaning. Now if only this stuff could transform itself into a ticket to Maui.
Sixteen
Kendall
Kendall was so relieved to be able to sleep in on Saturday. Unfortunately, Tinkerbell did not get the same memo. She thought it was her job to bark furiously at every single garage-sale shopper that came and went from the house. Finally Kendall gave up and got out of bed, and it wasn’t even nine yet. Still, she felt hopeful as she pulled on her sweats. With all that traffic down there, she’d probably made several hundred dollars by now. Maybe even more.
But when Kendall went into the garage to check the progress, Anna glumly informed her that there’d only been three sales. “A chipped teapot that sold for seven dollars. A first edition Clancy book for ten and a pair of sunglasses for three.”
“You’re sure they weren’t the real Christian Dior ones that are marked thirty?” demanded Kendall as she glanced nervously at the designer section right next to the money table. “You’re keeping a close eye on those things, aren’t you? I saw a teen girl who looked like she was going to steal something from there yesterday.”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Anna. “So you told me last night. And I was watching it. Trust me, the lady bought the counterfeit shades, the ones with the rhinestone CC on the sides, right?”
“Yeah. Those were the Coco Chanel fakes.”
“Three sales for a grand total of twenty dollars.”
Kendall frowned. “With Tinker barking her head off upstairs, I was certain that you were down here raking it in. All I’ve made is a measly twenty bucks?”
Anna glared at her. “Don’t you mean a measly sixteen bucks? Don’t forget that I’m getting my 20 percent commission, which means I’ve made a whopping four dollars for almost two hours out here. At this rate, I might be able to buy a ticket—for the bus!”
“Maybe you should try harder.” Kendall noticed an older Mercedes parking in front of the house now. “Here come some customers. Make some money, Anna!”
Then Kendall slipped back into the house, where Tinkerbell was barking like a crazed dog again. This was looking to be a long weekend. If only there was someplace where she could go to escape the madness. After all, she had “hired” Anna to take over for her.
Kendall went back to her room and dug in her closet until she finally found a clean set of pale pink sweats. Then she showered and dressed and even put on makeup. She put a matching pink hoodie on Tinkerbell.
“We’re going shopping,” she informed Tinker as she slipped the little dog into her carrying case. “Mama needs some new clothes.” And the truth was, she did need some new clothes, because there was no way she could go through this pregnancy looking like a bag lady in dirty old sweats. If she was really going to have this baby, which after her talk with Megan’s mom seemed to be the only thing to do, she was going to do it in style!
But first she stopped by the garage sale, where Megan had finally joined Anna and was just selling the brass spittoon, and a few other items, to an older woman who said she planned to use it as a container for silk flowers. Kendall waited for Megan to make change from the woman’s two twenties.
“It’s about time you came down to help,” said Megan as she put the cash in the money box.
“Didn’t Anna tell you that I hired her to help? She’s getting a commission.”
“Yes, she told me that. But does that mean you don’t plan to work at all today?”
“Not today or tomorrow.” Kendall reached under the table to the place where they were keeping the money tin.
“What are you doing with that?” Megan watched suspiciously as Kendall opened the box.
“I don’t think it’s safe to leave all this money out here at the garage sale,” Kendall whispered. “Your mom said that sometimes people try to steal the money box.”
“Oh, that’s right.” Megan nodded. “I forgot.”
“Anyway, I’ll leave enough cash to keep making change and put the rest in a safe place,” Kendall assured her. But Megan was already heading over to help a customer who wanted to know if he could try out Kendall’s old treadmill.
Kendall removed most of the cash as well as the checks, leaving plenty for change. Then, feeling slightly like a thief, she slipped the thick wad of bills into her purse and headed straight for her car, which was parked down the street. She knew that Megan might get irritated at her for spending some of the garage-sale money, but after all, it was Kendall’s money. And besides she really did need some maternity clothes. Not only that, but she planned to be frugal about it. She’d gotten a Macy’s flyer last week, and they were having a big sale in their new maternity department. And some of the clothes weren’t that bad looking. In fact, a lot of them didn’t even look like maternity clothes. Who knew? Maybe this would actually be fun.
In a way, it was fun. Other pregnant women were shopping and happily discussing which clothes looked best and which trimester expanded waistlines the most and what they were going to name their babies and when they were due.
“You don’t look too far along,” the sales woman said to Kendall. “When are you due?”
Kendall blinked and tried to remember when her obstetrician had said. “Uh, in the summer.”
“Must be late summer.”
“Oh, yeah.” Kendall remembered now. “Not until the end of August.”
“You poor thing,” said a woman who looked fairly far along. “I had to go through summer with my first baby. Let me tell you, that was one long, hot summer too.”
“When are you due?” Kendall asked her.
“May 14. Right around Mother’s Day.” The woman put her hand on top of her rounded tummy. “But I’ve already outgrown some of my old maternity clothes that I wore to full term last time. They say that happens with your second pregnancy.”
Kendall nodded like she knew all about this, although it was news to her.
“Is this your first?”
Kendall nodded again. “How did you know?”
The woman chuckled as she pointed at Tinker in the dog carrier. “Once you have a baby, you won’t be dressing up your little dog anymore.”
The sales woman helped Kendall to find the right sizes and showed her how some of the garments would adjust to the growing size of her stomach. Kendall found it hard to believe she’d ever need all that room. “I can’t imagine my belly ever getting that big,” said Kendall as the woman expanded the waist so that it looked like it might fit around a midsized cow.
“You’ll be surprised,” the sales woman told her. “Your body will change drastically before you give birth.”
Kendall pushed those kinds of thoughts from her mind as she tried on clothes, finally settling on an assortment of things. Her favorites were the mix-and-match stretchy kn
it pieces, including yoga pants, a wrap skirt, several expandable camisoles, a hoodie. But she also picked a little black dress and even a pair of jeans. She was tempted to get some summer pieces in case she went to Maui but decided that was pretty unlikely.
“Did you know they’re having a sale in the baby department too?” asked the woman who was due on Mother’s Day.
“Really?” Kendall tried to feign interest.
“Come on,” urged the woman, “everything is at least 20 percent off, and some of the markdown racks are an additional 60 percent off. I swear they’re practically giving some things away.”
And so Kendall tagged along with this woman, whose name she learned was Beth. She taught at the same middle school that Kendall had attended ten years ago.
“I was a cheerleader in eighth grade,” Kendall proudly told her. “If you looked up an old journal, you’d see me in it.”
But Beth wasn’t interested in Kendall’s illustrious history as a Madison Middle School Pirate. All Beth could think about was baby things, and since her next baby was going to be a girl (the first one, now three years old, was a boy) everything she picked out was pink-pink-pink. Not that Kendall didn’t like pink. And not that Kendall couldn’t imagine a sweet little infant swaddled in pale pink ruffles, but she just couldn’t imagine herself with a baby, period. Buying maternity clothes (which didn’t really look like maternity clothes) was one thing. But envisioning herself walking around with a Cadillac stroller was something else.
Despite all that, and to Kendall’s own surprise, she got slightly caught up in the baby craze too. And, before she left that busy baby department, she had purchased a khaki diaper bag that could almost pass for a D&G; a soft robin’s-egg blue chenille baby blanket that she wished were big enough for her own bed; and what Beth told her was a “newborn layette”—something the baby (either for a boy or girl since it was a buttery yellow) would wear home from the hospital. Now that was an event that Kendall could not even begin to imagine.
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