by Lynn Galli
“Why else live here?”
“Exactly,” she agreed.
“Independently wealthy or do you plan to get a job here?” I meant it as a joke, but the shocked then almost angry expression that flashed across her face forced the levity from me.
She managed to will calm into her expression. “I’ve got a job.”
I knew that but wasn’t about to chance her thinking I had been spying on her. “Wonderful.”
“I think it is.” Her genuine response validated my school board vote.
“Somewhere I might know?”
Her eyes lifted to mine, blinking twice. “I’m a principal.”
“Oh, right, at the high school.” I debated whether I should tell her I’d been one of the reasons she got hired. No, probably not a good idea. “I thought I recognized you out front when I dropped off my neighbor the other day.”
“You drive your neighbor to school?”
“Rarely, but she was running late.”
“I didn’t realize the Cranes or the mayor had high school age children.”
I should have guessed that Spence and the Cranes had already introduced themselves. Nancy and Calvin probably showed up before the movers even got out of the truck. Nancy considered herself the neighborhood watch captain. A neighborhood of four whole houses. Tough beat.
“They don’t. This neighbor lives by my office building. She shovels our driveway and mows the lawn in the summer. Good kid, best athlete you’ve got.”
“Ashlyn,” she said after going through a mental list of kids at her school. After only a week, she already knew many if not all of the kids? Impressive, and further validation for my vote.
“She’s a great kid. If you need your yard taken care of in the summer, she’s the one you want to go to.”
Lena chuckled, fondness spilling with the sound. “Thanks for the tip.” She took another sip of coffee and set her cup down with finality. “I should get going. I appreciate the coffee and the welcome basket. Very tasty.”
“Where did I land on the thirty-five point scale?”
“Well,” she drew out, getting up from the stool. Her movement was fluid like a bubble rising in a lava lamp. “I’ve only had the two samples. Can’t make a judgment based on two items.” Before heading to the front door, she flashed a wicked smile, sparking a raw tingle in my stomach. With her provocative challenge, she’d just managed to coerce more baked goods from me.
I had to applaud her. Not many people could make me reconsider my initial reaction to having a new full-time neighbor.
From the Journal of Lena Coleridge:
Made it through my first week at school. It still feels strange being someplace new. The staff is leery and the kids aren’t used to me yet, but I expected that. My vice principal, Kirsten, seems to want me to succeed. What a change of pace that is. Paul the Prick would have sabotaged every move had he been my vice principal here. God, I’m glad I left Baltimore.
Took advantage of our half day today and finally got up on the mountain. It felt good. I still can’t believe it’s so close now. I should have moved here years ago. Who knew that being able to come home from work and practically ski out from my backyard would bring such calm? I’ll have to test one of the cross country tracks tomorrow. Snow as psychotherapy. I wouldn’t have believed it before moving here.
All it took was a couple hours of skiing and I was ready to face my neighbor again. I almost lucked out, but she drove up just as I was leaving her picnic basket. No hat hair tonight, and my, she looked good. Young, but good. Just the body type I like, slender and petite with proportionate curves. Those eyes of hers, translucent peacock blue, simply mesmerizing. From what I’ve seen, her attitude is easy going with a touch of snide. The perfect antidote for my temper. She would be trouble if she weren’t so young, straight, and involved.
That’s one thing about this place. You learn really quickly who is with whom. Three teachers practically fell over themselves telling me about my two neighbors, Glory and Spencer. I never would have put them together, but whatever works.
Super sweet, that lady. Made me coffee, didn’t pry too much, seemed happy to know I was settling in at home and work. Maybe it’s the whole thing with Regina that has me predisposed to be cautious around Glory. I’m over that gold digging user. Way over her. So why am I letting the actions of another young, beautiful woman affect how I feel about this one? If I want more of her fabulous coffee, delicious zucchini bread, and agreeable companionship, I’m going to have to drop that false association.
Chapter 5
The sound of a car pulling into my driveway was unexpected. My best friend slash business partner coming through my front door without knocking wasn’t. We treated our homes like we lived in both and had been since becoming friends in high school as the two newest transplants. It wasn’t easy trying to break into the long formed groups at school. For an international student like Mei, it was next to impossible. Our new kid status put us together, and we’ve never looked back.
“Hey, Glor, how’d your week go?” Mei reached up and pulled her stick straight black hair into a twist knot as she advanced toward me. The extra pink in her cheeks told me she’d left work early to go skiing today. The color looked good on her round, makeup-free face. So did her button nose and cute chin.
I grabbed the coffeepot to refill. I knew why she was here, she knew why she was here, and it had nothing to do with a casual howdy. When I turned back, she was re-twisting her knot, tipping her anxiety.
She let a few more seconds of silence pass before slapping her hand down on my countertop. “Come on, how’d it go? You’re okay, right? Clean bill of health?” Her caramel brown eyes, unusual for her Chinese heritage, always displayed every emotion she endured.
She’d been the only friend to come visit me in the hospital during my junior year, one of only two friends to stop by my house during my recovery, and the only friend to treat me the exact same way as she had prior to and after my surgery. If I hadn’t been convinced how good a friend she was before, I would have killed for her afterward.
“Trouble with a stent,” I told her.
“Like the deal in college?”
“Yep, possibly more work this time.”
She came around the island and pulled me into her. She liked hugging, always had, but this hug was for me not her, and I appreciated it all the more. “When?”
“Two weeks.”
“Want me to move in?”
We both laughed. We already spent eight to twelve hours a day together at work. “You’re here enough, lady.”
“True,” she drew out the word, testing to see if I wanted to say any more.
One look told her I wasn’t ready yet. She hopped up onto the countertop, settling her skinny behind on the hard surface. It was okay with her that I didn’t want to talk, but she wasn’t going anywhere. I handed her the coffee mug and leaned against the counter next to her dangling legs.
After taking a sip, she offered a topic she knew I’d bite on. “Spence thinks it’s time to take the next step.”
Many different thoughts and words of advice came to mind, but I’d given my opinions before. Rewording everything now wouldn’t do either of us any good. “And Andy?”
Her head tucked against her chest in a moment of guilt. “He’s running for re-election soon.”
I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t help it. “He’s always running for re-election. He’s never going to lose, not when he’s the best judge we’ve got.”
“He might if the town knew about his wife’s affair.” Her eyes dropped again. That word, technically correct, but so inapplicable for her situation. Her marriage hadn’t been a marriage for many years.
“The town won’t know. He doesn’t know. You’re going to decide what life you want to live, Mei. And once you do, stick to it, go through all the hard steps, and live that life.”
She thought about that. Her head nodded in time to the thoughts going through her mind. “What if life with And
y is what I choose?”
Stay with the man who gives her no regard or be with the man who makes her heart giddy? Didn’t sound like a tough choice to me, but I wasn’t the one making the move. “Andy chose that in college. High school, actually. The town chose that life, your parents chose that life, you didn’t really choose it. You have a choice now. Make the right one.”
“You make it sound so easy.”
“It starts with five simple words.” Andy, I want a divorce, I thought. Words I hoped Mei would be brave enough to utter. After seven years of a lackluster marriage and many months in an affair that made her happier than I’d ever seen, I wasn’t sure she’d go through with the request.
“I should do it, shouldn’t I?”
“You should.”
We’d had this conversation before. Mei’s problem was that she couldn’t break her husband’s heart and disappoint the people who cared about her. What she didn’t seem to get was that his heart cared more about his perception in town. They’d been together so long and had gotten married so young they didn’t really have a marriage so much as a role. The perfect high school sweethearts.
As a respected judge, Andy wouldn’t want to give that up. It didn’t matter that he didn’t have any passion for his wife. He was more concerned about their status in town. It could be a long hard fight, but Mei had to start it. Spencer was the love of her life. It was just too bad that she didn’t know that until it was too late.
*
“Really? You’re going to drop this on me now? A week before doomsday?” I stared at my least favorite client.
“You’re a magician with this stuff, Glor. I didn’t realize I’d hired and fired two other people. What’s the big deal?”
“Only about four other state forms and twelve lines on your federal form which I’ve already finished. You were done, Keith, done. I was wrapping up my others.”
“Jeez, sooorrry, but I do pay you, you know.”
I knew. I didn’t like it, but I knew. It meant that I’d have to do these fixes. If he weren’t also my most billable client, I’d file an extension and encourage him elsewhere. “You know the rules. Any changes within a week of the fifteenth and it’s triple the rate.”
“That’s a crime!” His outrage was comical. He did this every year, which was how I’d afforded the down payment on the construction loan for my house a few years ago.
“Take your forms someplace else, then.” The reply slipped right out of my mouth. Maybe I did really want him to leave. Or maybe it was the fact that very soon I’d be heading in for my procedure, and I didn’t want to waste my time on someone stupid like this idiot anymore.
“Bad mood, huh? Is this week getting to you, Glor? Ready to pack it in?”
I wanted to smack him, just for fun, just to see how he’d react. Instead I simply smiled and told him to get the hell out of my office. Grouchy, he could put up with, fired, he could not. The pink slip of paper reminding me of my medical appointment two days after the tax deadline had been picking at me all day. I was getting grouchy, something I didn’t often feel. I really just wanted to get it over with. Not that having it over with would make me want to keep Keith as a client.
“That dude makes me want to bathe,” Brooke pronounced as she walked into my office. “Why the hell isn’t that weasel Ted trying to pick him off like so many of our other clients?”
I watched her plop her long frame into the chair Keith had just vacated. When one of us got a client, more than likely, we all got a client. Keith utilized our services far more than any of us wanted. As much as I resented Ted, the resident financial planner slash investment counselor slash tax advisor slash business attorney, and his smarmy ways of hitting on our clients, I had to commend him for staying away from a troublesome client like Keith. I doubted we’d ever lose the guy unless he decided to move to another town.
“Did you kick him?” she asked with a mischievous grin. It was Brooke’s greatest fantasy to kick some of our clients in the shins. She liked to resort to her third grade tendencies when clients acted up. She felt if they were acting like children, she should be able to.
“I’ll leave that pleasure for you.”
“Speaking of pleasure, help me ditch my husband tonight. Come out and have some fun.”
“A week before tax day? Are you high?”
She laughed, almost giggling, a sign that she’d been looking at her computer screens too long today and needed a break. “Every year you become a tax form zombie. Won’t you have a minute to spare?”
“A minute, yes, the entire evening, no possible way.”
“You’re no fun.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for years, Brooke. Time for you to figure out a way to ditch your husband for the night without using me as an excuse.”
“But he likes when I go out with you.”
“He likes having you out of the house. He doesn’t really care with whom.” After seventeen years of marriage, Brooke’s husband appreciated some time alone, probably more than Brooke did.
“We could ask your new neighbor out with us. I haven’t had the chance to meet her yet, but Izzy seems impressed.” Brooke’s daughter was a sophomore and, like many teenage girls, loved to talk.
“If I could go out, that would be a good idea. I’m sure she’d appreciate making new friends.” I wasn’t, but I didn’t want to make her sound unfriendly.
“What’s a good idea?” Mei stepped into the open doorway.
“Inviting Glory’s new neighbor out with us tonight.”
“Are we going out tonight?” She looked excited by the prospect and my heart fell. I hated disappointing her.
“If you convince Glory.”
“Hazel could,” Mei threatened.
“No she couldn’t,” Hazel called out, overhearing us. “Not when Glory’s still got twenty plus clients to finish. But it would be nice to meet the newcomer.”
“What’s the ‘sip on her?” Brooke looked back at Hazel.
“Not much. She’s from Baltimore where she left as principal of a much larger high school.”
My eyebrows shot up. Hazel shouldn’t know that unless she’d asked Lena, but I couldn’t see Lena being more forthcoming with her than she’d been with me. “Which board member told you that?”
“Well, I never.” Hazel brought a hand to her chest and sucked in a gasp.
We laughed at her acting ability. “Terry?” I guessed about my fellow board member.
“Who else,” she countered. “That man couldn’t keep a secret if his life depended on it.”
“What more do you know?” Brooke asked me.
“She likes baked items and coffee.”
“That’s it?” Brooke insisted.
“That’s all you’ll get from me. Go introduce yourself. You’ve got a kid in high school, the perfect excuse.”
“Might have to do that, or you could just invite her out tonight.”
We laughed again at Brooke’s determination. It was a tempting offer, but with my deadline, I couldn’t afford to entertain the thought. No matter how much I’d like to see Lena try to deflect Brooke and Hazel’s attempts to squeeze information from her.
Chapter 6
Rhythmic beeping and the acrid smell of antiseptic hastened my awakening. Mom’s face hovered over me, smiling, but worried. My chest hurt but not nearly as much as my neck and leg. It took half a minute before I could hear Mom’s voice, another half minute before I understood her words.
“How do you feel?”
“I,” I started but my mouth was so dry I couldn’t talk. I tried clearing my throat but felt it in everything that hurt.
A straw and cup appeared where Mom’s face was. I swigged in some cool water and felt the liquid travel all the way down to my empty stomach.
“Better?”
“Thanks.”
Fogginess surrounded my thoughts. I looked past my mom out the window to a view that I didn’t recognize. I turned my head and felt a sharp pa
in in my neck but not before I spotted someone sleeping in a hospital bed a few feet away. That’s right. I was in the hospital. These drugs always did a number on me. Not enough to take away all the pain, but they made me sleepy enough to ignore it.
“Doc Pickford said everything went great.”
“Everything?” I knew the answer despite my foggy brain.
“He couldn’t in get through the femoral.”
“No kidding.” I reached up to my neck but the motion made me wince. It really hurt. I felt for the bandage and wondered if I looked like a true vampire victim now. If it took more than two stitches to close, I’d have to start applying concealer every day until the scar faded.
“He got in the stent. That’s all that matters, honey.”
“I know, Mom.”
“Do you feel okay?”
“My neck feels like I got shivved. My leg, too. Did they do the operation in a prison yard?”
She shook her head and tried not to smile. Relief passed over her face. If I was making jokes, she knew I was okay.
“When can I leave?”
“Tomorrow, and don’t even try it, young lady. You’re staying as long as the doc says you’re going to stay.”
“She’s up?” Gail, the night duty nurse, walked into the room.
“And complaining,” the traitor formerly known as my mother told her.
“Hey, Gail. Can the doctor sign me out now?”
“Aren’t you hilarious?” she said, checking my IV and monitors. “Even if he didn’t specifically tell me that you’re not going anywhere until tomorrow morning, do you really think I could find a doctor in a hospital at this hour? Lie back and deal.”
They both ignored the disgruntled sound I made. Staying the night was never fun. They always insisted on morning sponge baths even if you could do it yourself and you were leaving that day anyway. Plus the food sucked and the nurses kept waking you every two hours to make sure you’re still alive.
Yeah, Mom called it. I was complaining. I had woken up and should be focusing on that achievement. I was in store for another few weeks of aches and slow motion movement. After that, I should feel like a teenager with all the energy I’d gain. I could deal with a night in the hospital.