Change of Heart (The True Heart Series Book 3)

by Layce Gardner

  “Babe? It’s two in morning,” Steph said. She wore a white v-necked T-shirt and boxers with fire hydrants and dalmatians on them. Her hair stuck up like a hedgehog’s.

  Susan laughed through her tears. “Nice hair,” she managed to sputter.

  “What are you, the hair police?” Steph said, trying to flatten her hair.

  “Tess threw Susan out,” Rosa explained.

  “Shit. She found out about Carrie,” Steph said, the situation dawning on her.

  Susan nodded. “I didn’t tell her and she must’ve found out somehow. I came home and she’d packed my bags and told me to leave.” She began crying again, burying her face in her hands. Rosa pulled her into a hug and gently rubbed circles on her back while she cried.

  “Steph, get her glass of brandy,” Rosa said.

  “Sure, babe.” Steph disappeared into the kitchen. She was back seconds later, setting a juice glass of brandy onto the coffee table in front of Susan.

  Rosa picked up the glass and offered it to Susan, saying, “Drink this. It’ll make you feel better.”

  Susan took the glass and downed it.

  “People usually sip it,” Steph said. She flounced into her well-worn recliner. She stroked the chair arms. “I can’t help but say I told you so.” She shook her head. “You fucked up, major.”

  Susan stared at her glassy-eyed.

  “Steph, you’re not helping the situation,” Rosa chastised.

  “Sorry, babe. But the truth hurts.”

  Susan held up her glass. “Can I have more?”

  “I think we could all use one,” Steph said, getting up and taking Susan’s glass. She went back to the kitchen.

  Rosa draped an afghan around Susan’s shoulders and put a box of tissues beside her. Susan grabbed a tissue and wiped her nose.

  “Okay, go ahead,” Susan said. “I know you’re dying to say it.”

  Rosa shook her head sadly. “What were you thinking? You had time to tell her. We all kept quiet so you would have time to talk to her, to give your side of the story. She wouldn’t have been happy, but I don’t think she’d have thrown you out.”

  “At worst, you wouldn’t get laid for a while, but that’s better than being homeless,” Steph said, coming into the room with a tray containing a bottle of Hennessy and three brandy glasses.

  “I must be truly messed up for you to break out the Hennessy,” Susan said, taking another tissue and dabbing under her eyes.

  “It’s big,” Steph said. She poured the brandy and handed Rosa and Susan each a glass.

  “We can fix this,” Rosa said. “Tess is angry and hurt right now. Give her time.” She sipped her brandy.

  “You didn’t see her. She hates me. And I hate myself. If I hadn’t seen Carrie that day outside the bank…,”she left off that thought, then added, “Everything I own is in my car. Two suitcases. How pitiful is that?”

  “Could be worse,” Steph said. She took a drink. “Though right now I can’t think of how.”

  “What am I going to do?” Susan said, pouring herself another. “I’ll buy you more.”

  “Oh, for Chrissakes, like I care about that,” Steph said.

  “Let’s get your stuff out of the car and get you settled,” Rosa said.

  “Give me your keys,” Steph said. “I’ll get the suitcases.” She stood. Susan fumbled in her coat pocket and handed over the keys. Steph left the room.

  “The guest room is ready to go,” Rosa said. “You can stay as long as you want.”

  “I don’t want to be an imposition,” Susan whined.

  Rosa raised an eyebrow and gave Susan a hard stare.

  “Of course I’ll stay,” Susan said. She knew better than to go against Rosa.

  “That’s better,” Rosa said.

  ***

  Amy woke up, hearing a voice. She rolled over in bed to find Parker awake and on the phone.

  “Okay. You think I should go over there now?” Parker said.

  “What’s going on?” Amy mouthed.

  “Hold on,” Parker said into the phone. She looked at Amy. “It’s Steph. Tess threw Susan out of the house. She’s at Steph and Rosa’s. They think I should go over to Tess’s and check on her.”

  “Oh no,” Amy groaned. She sat up and turned on the nightstand lamp.

  “Does Susan know you’re calling?” Parker asked into the phone. She put the phone on speaker so Amy could hear.

  Steph’s voice reverberated over the speaker, “No, she’s inside with Rosa. I’m getting the bags out of the car for her. She’s a mess. I can only imagine what Tess is feeling. You’ll go over right away?”

  “As soon as I get some pants on.”

  “Thanks,” Steph said. “Call me if you need help, okay?”

  “I will.”

  “I’ll talk to you later. Bye.” Steph clicked off.

  “Tess threw her out?” Amy asked. Her astonishment registered on her face.

  “Yep,” Parker said, turning on her bedside light. She pulled on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. “You want to go with me?”

  “I think you should go alone,” Amy said. “Is that okay?”

  “Of course.”

  “I just think Tess would feel more comfortable talking to you without me as an audience.” Rascal jumped on the bed. “Hey, buddy,” Amy said, stroking his head. “Maybe you should take Rascal with you. He’s always good in a crisis.”

  Parker sat next to Amy on the bed and slipped on her sneakers. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She stroked Amy’s cheek, stared deep into her eyes, and kissed her.

  “Be safe, love,” Amy said. She gave Rascal a final pat.

  Parker snapped her fingers, saying, “Wanna go for a ride?” Rascal leapt off the bed and followed her out with his tail wagging ninety to nothing.

  Amy lay back in bed, thinking how sad and angry Tess must be feeling. She knew that Susan was in the wrong, but did she really deserve this?

  ***

  Parker could see a light on in Tess’s living room. She pulled her car up in the drive, shutting the door quietly, conscious it was the middle of the night. Rascal checked out the perimeter of Tess’s yard and peed on the redbud tree. Parker went up on the porch and tapped lightly on the screen door. She noted that part of the screen had pulled out of the frame.

  Tess cautiously opened the door. Her eyes were swollen from crying. “I wondered when you’d show up.”

  “Am I that predictable?” Parker said.

  Rascal nosed his way through the door and into the house. Tess knelt and hugged the dog. Rascal licked her face and she smiled. “Actually, I’m really glad you’re here. Thanks for coming.”

  “Of course.”

  Parker and Rascal followed Tess into the living room. “Have a seat. I’ll make us some tea.”

  “I can do it,” Parker said.

  “No, I need something to do.”

  “Okay,” Parker said. She sat in the easy chair. The room was lit by only one low wattage lamp. Parker noted the pile of used tissues that sat on the end table.

  Rascal followed Tess to the kitchen. Parker heard Tess open a cabinet and shake a box of dog biscuits. Tess and Susan always kept biscuits on hand for Rascal’s visits.

  “Only give him one biscuit,” Parker called out.

  “Too late,” Tess said.

  Parker heard the roil of the electric kettle and Tess getting into the cupboards for the tea and cups.

  A couple of minutes later, Tess returned with Rascal and the tea. She set the tray down on the coffee table and poured.

  “I won’t ask how you’re feeling,” Parker said. “I’m pretty sure I know.”

  “Thank you.” Tess sat down heavily on the sofa.

  “What’s the plan?” Parker asked. She blew on her tea. Rascal sat with his head on Tess’s knee. Tess stroked his velvety soft ears.

  “I don’t have one,” Tess said, reaching for the box of tissues. The box was empty. She grabbed a half-used tissue from the pile on the end table a
nd dabbed at her eyes.

  “Susan loves you. She has a past with Carrie, true, but her future is with you.”

  “She promised me that she’d tell me everything that happened between her and Carrie. She lied.”

  “She didn’t lie with intent to harm. She didn’t want to hurt you and she was afraid to tell you.”

  “Afraid? Why, because I would beat her?” Tess said archly.

  “No, because she was afraid you’d overreact. As in pack her bags and throw her out.”

  Tess mulled this over. “I don’t want to see her.”

  “Ever?”

  “Not right away. It hurts too much.”

  Parker nodded and sipped her tea.

  Tess spoke again, “I just wish Carrie had never come back here. She’s ruined everything.” Tess blew her nose.

  “You’re letting her ruin everything. Yes, Susan should’ve told you about the loan. But that doesn’t mean she’s in love with Carrie. You have to remember that Carrie has lost everything. Susan saw that. Don’t we all have a tiny place in our hearts for the people we once loved? I’d have a hard time looking away when they were suffering.”

  “That’s because you’re a good person.”

  “And Susan isn’t?”

  “Don’t do that to me,” Tess said. “I’m not the bad guy here.” She poured more tea, refilling Parker’s cup.

  Parker said, “I need to fix your screen door. It needs a new screen.”

  “Oh, Parker,” Tess said. “What would we ever do without you?”

  “Flies would get in your house?”

  Tess chuckled. Parker put down her cup and stood. “Where are you going?” Tess asked.

  “To get my tools out of my van.”

  “You’re going to fix the door right now?”

  Parker shrugged. “Why not? If I can’t fix your relationship, I can at least fix your door.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Well? What did Tess say?” Steph whispered into the phone. She looked over her shoulder to make sure Susan was still taking a shower. Rosa had left for work and Susan worked the afternoon shift. Steph was on the third day of her rotation. She had one more day to get Susan and Tess back together before she had to be back at work and was essentially helpless in remedying the situation.

  “She said she needed time,” Parker replied. She was putting up the copper-embossed backsplash on Mrs. March’s kitchen. Parker had talked her into changing it.

  “I’ve only got one more day to fix this,” Steph said, flipping the hash browns in the skillet. Susan would need a good, solid breakfast if she were going to get through the day.

  “Steph, you need to remember this is not about you. Tess and Susan will work this out if it’s meant to be.”

  “That’s your idea of a plan?” Steph said, incredulous. “I got them together in the first place and I intend to get them back together.”

  Parker was silent.

  “Is my omnipotence misguided?” Steph tucked the phone in the crook of her neck and cracked four eggs into a bowl and added a tiny bit of milk. She was making omelets. The big, gooey kind with lots of cheese and mushrooms.

  “You could say that.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  “We are going to be supportive and helpful and hold the Kleenex box,” Parker said.

  “Ugh! I hate your plan. Shhh, here she comes. I’ve got to go.” Steph quickly clicked off and pocketed her phone.

  Susan shuffled into the kitchen, looking glum. She stared at the breakfast Steph was making.

  “I can’t eat.”

  “Correction. You will eat,” Steph said, putting a heaping plate of omelet, hash browns, and four slices of toast on the table. She poured Susan coffee and orange juice. “Or I will tie you to that chair until you do. We have all morning.”

  “I forgot how bossy you can be.” Susan sipped her coffee. “But this helps,” she said, holding up her coffee cup.

  Steph sat down with her own plate, which contained considerably less food. She noticed Susan frowning at her. “What? I had toast with Rosa before she left for work.” Steph pushed the open phonebook toward her.

  “What’s this?” Susan asked. She took a bite of omelet. It was delicious. And it probably had more fat in it than she was allowed in a single week.

  “It’s the number for the florist. You need to send a big bunch of roses.”

  “She won’t accept them.”

  Steph was glad that Susan was even considering her suggestion. “There isn’t a woman on the planet who turns down flowers.”

  “I could send her flowers that she could repot,” Susan said. “That way they last forever.”

  “See, it’ll work.” Steph ate quietly so Susan could mull over the flower situation.

  Susan chewed on a piece of toast and tapped her fingernails on the yellow pages. After a while, she asked, “Do you really think she’ll take me back? You didn’t see how angry she was.”

  “Let’s run over the events. If you were her, how would you feel if someone else told you that your girlfriend had signed a loan for her ex-girlfriend?”

  Susan exhaled and said, “I’d be angry and hurt.”

  “Okay, that’s a start.”

  “I’ll get her the flowers,” Susan said resolutely.

  “Perfect,” Steph said. “Step one of Operation Angry Girlfriend Retrieval.” She squinted at Susan. “You didn’t sleep with Carrie, did you?”

  Susan nearly choked on a bite of toast. “Of course not. I love Tess.”

  “All right then. Order the flowers and that’ll be a start. I’ll give her a call later to check up on her.”

  “I don’t know if she’ll want to talk to you.”

  “She already talked to Parker last night. I sent her over to Tess’s right after you got here.”

  “You called Parker last night? In the middle of the night?”

  “I did, and she went over to Tess’s to check up on her. And probably deliver some of her Aspergerly truths,” Steph said.

  “Oh my god, I can’t believe what I’ve put you all through. First, my botched wedding and now I’ve lost the love of my life.” She put her head in her hands. “I’m an awful person.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re a misguided fool.”

  “You’re not helping.”

  “Is Tess really the love of your life?” Steph asked, her face serious.

  “Yes, she is.”

  “Then fight for her.”

  Susan stared at Steph for a long moment, then nodded.

  “I’ll be your Mickey,” Steph said.

  “My what?”

  “Mickey. You’re the fighter, Rocky Balboa. Tess is your Adrian. And I’m your trainer, Mickey.”

  “Can we just stick to flower talk for now?”

  “Sure, sure,” Steph said. She cut into her omelet while humming the song “Eye of the Tiger.”

  ***

  Tess called in sick. It wasn’t exactly a lie. She was heartsick. Besides, she had accumulated enough sick time to take the next three years off. She told her supervisor, April, the whole story. She told her that she had broken up with Susan and was not functioning well. April, who had liked Susan, commiserated, said all the right things, and told her to take off as long as she needed.

  Tess put on her comfy overalls, went to her gardening shed, and pulled out her bucket of tools and a bag of potting soil. She had needed to replenish and mulch her front flower beds for months now. She also knew the best way to keep herself from bursting into tears hourly was to keep busy.

  Talking to Parker had helped. After she had calmed down, she began to feel like perhaps she was being overdramatic. They should have had an argument rather than ending the relationship. Then she remembered how distraught she’d been last night. She was not letting Susan off the hook that easily. She needed to be punished.

  Tess felt bad because she loved Susan and would take her back in a second, except she knew Susan wasn’t the type to come crawling back.


  What a dismal mess, she thought, putting soil around the base of her clematis vine. The beautiful purple flowers seemed to glow with the sunlight as it passed through the silky soft petals. By summer, the flowering vine would climb up the lattice on the side of the porch and shade the swinging bench, making it feel like an arbor suffused with green and violet.

  The Judge, Millie’s nickname for her bright orange GTO, pulled up in the driveway, its engine rumbling with power. The car shut off and Millie hopped out.

  Good lord, did the whole town know? Maybe she should move to the city where people didn’t give a rat’s ass about each other.

  Millie started talking as soon as she shut her car’s door, “Edna told me what she’d done. I don’t condone it, but she did burn down a house over a similar instance. I think we should all cut Edna some slack. Even Mabel gave her a pass on it because you were going to hear it through the grapevine, as the song goes, and goodness knows it would have gotten blown way out of proportion. More than it already is.”

  Millie sat down on the ground next to Tess, her legs crossed and tucked in next to her body.

  “I don’t know how you do that. I haven’t been able to sit that way since I was twelve and I only did it to sit around the campfire and pretend I was an Indian Princess,” Tess said.

  “Yoga. You should try it. And the pants help,” Millie said, pulling on the stretchy material of her yoga pants.

  Tess smiled. Millie’s enthusiasm for life never ceased to amaze her.

  “I want to talk about Carrie,” Millie said. She leaned over and picked out a clump of crab grass. “Darn it, I hate this stuff.”

  “I know, right? It’s so invasive. I can’t do a thing with it.”

  “Pour hot vinegar on it, but mind you, be careful. It’ll kill anything else in the vicinity.”

  “I’ll give it a try,” Tess said. She was glad they’d gotten off the subject of Carrie.

  “Hot bacon grease works great, too. However, it does attract stray dogs, so I don’t recommend that,” Millie said.

  “I haven’t eaten bacon since I got with Susan. That’s a drawback to having a doctor in your kitchen. No bacon.” Tess was intentionally trying to keep her tone light. She didn’t want everybody to think she was horribly depressed.