Mending Defects

by Lynn Galli

  “My sexual preference. Abby’s giving a news report.”

  Cassie laughed. “Get a life, Abby, and mind your own business.”

  “I can’t believe you knew.” Abby looked devastated. “I thought you were Andy’s friend. How could you just stand by and watch her seduce his wife?”

  Cassie doubled over with laughter this time. “Seriously? Glory seducing Mei? That’s nuts, Abs. Whoever told you that is crazy.”

  Abby looked even more confused. I should be thanking Cassie for getting through to her. Mei didn’t need the headache and heartache of having rumors flying around about her marriage. Divorce was hard enough without rumors. “But why would Mei leave Andy?”

  “That’s none of your business either. You need to sleep this off, okay? Let’s get Patsy to give you a ride home.” Cassie steered Abby toward the entrance. She glanced back at me and winked, knowing she’d diffused the situation. I felt a sigh of relief slip through my lips. Mei owed Cassie a fruit basket or something.

  *

  Brooke poked her head into my office after she’d walked her clients out. She wore a bright smile but looked a bit tired. I checked my watch. She’d already been here nine hours.

  “Want to tell me why those were the third clients to ask me if the rumors about you being gay were true?”

  “Oh, gaawwd. Really?”

  “I’m pretty sure it’s why some of them made appointments with me today.”

  “This town.” I rolled my eyes.

  “Tell me about it.” She dropped heavily into a chair. “Who’s talking?”

  I recalled drunk Abby. “Andy probably. Seems he can’t keep his mouth shut about anything these days.”

  She nodded, shoulders slumping. “No kidding. He cornered me in the grocery store the other day. He doesn’t seem to be too sad over the divorce, but he sure as hell seemed concerned that Mei shouldn’t be having any fun.”

  “Men, huh?”

  She smiled and glanced at her wedding ring. “Sometimes I wonder if I’ve got the only good one.”

  “He is pretty good.”

  Brooke’s husband, David, was great, actually. Besides the wonderful personality, he was a master handyman who’d saved our business bank account with all the repairs to this house. Hundred year old homes were maintenance nightmares.

  “If you’d settle down with someone, no one would be whispering around town.” She brushed an unworried hand through the air. “Once you’re a couple, you’re old, boring news.”

  “That easy, huh?” I joked.

  “I hear your neighbor might be a candidate.”

  “Now who’s gossiping? Did Mei say something?” Heat flared straight to my cheeks.

  She sat up straighter, eyes twinkling. “No, Jennifer told me about Lena. Why? What does Mei know? I wasn’t just making a wild guess?”

  “Very wild.”

  Her eyebrows shot up. “I’ve met her a few times in passing. She seems lovely.”

  “Don’t you start.”

  “Someone else has already started?” She gave me a wicked smile. “Mei? Your parents?”

  “Both, and I don’t want to hear it from you, thanks.”

  “Dinner party at my house,” she declared. “I’ll invite the usual suspects and you can invite Lena.”

  “It’s your party.”

  “Baby,” she accused and stood up. “Fine. I’ll invite her. This is going to be fun.”

  She delivered on her promise. All of Brooke’s dinner parties were fun, but this one was especially entertaining. She and David played wonderful hosts. Hazel and her husband added to the comical atmosphere. Mei and Spencer finally seemed relaxed again. Brooke’s neighbors on both sides of her house joined us last, and everyone helped make Lena feel welcome.

  “Were you a high school principal back in Baltimore, Lena?” Brooke’s neighbor Julie asked.

  “Yes, and middle school before that.”

  “Did you go for the hat trick with elementary?” Julie’s husband joked.

  Lena made a face. “No thanks. You spend more time talking to parents than dealing with kids in elementary school.”

  “You must like kids,” Brooke’s other neighbor Leo said.

  “Short humans make life interesting,” she agreed.

  “They sure do.” Spencer wrapped an arm around me, and everyone laughed. He towered over me by close to a foot. Even Brooke’s daughter grew taller than me last year.

  “But she’s been out of high school at least three years, hasn’t she?” Lena joked, shooting me a teasing glare.

  “I remember when she came to work for me after college,” Brooke started, “I swear she looked younger than when she left for school. This one, too.” She pointed at Mei.

  “Is there a portrait of you both somewhere?” Spence teased. He had no room to talk. If he’d shave that beard, he’d look younger than we did.

  “Visited a crossroads while you were in college?” Hazel’s husband offered.

  “Such faith you have in us,” Mei said.

  “Notice she didn’t deny it.” David elbowed Leo. He often kidded his wife about trying to keep up with her decade plus younger partners. It was a running joke because Brooke was more active than either of us.

  I glanced at my watch, shocked that it was already so late. “I hate to be the one to shut down the fun, but I’ve got an early appointment and Brooke has to wake with the roosters.”

  Everyone took their time saying goodbye and heading out. Spencer, Mei, Lena and I piled into his car and headed back home. It was like we’d been doing this hundreds of times. The three of us had, but adding Lena to the mix hadn’t changed the dynamic. A blessing really, considering how much I liked Lena.

  Chapter 22

  Spending Saturday doing yard work would have been so much less fun without Ashlyn’s help. She mowed lawns for a lot of her neighbors, but I’d get her over here a few times a year to do some major pruning and planting. We’d been at it an hour, and I felt completely wiped out. Perhaps it was the heat, but I couldn’t keep going without a break.

  “Need some lemonade?”

  Ashlyn looked up, wiping her arm across her brow. It left a dirt streak on her shiny forehead. She’d been working really hard, much harder than I had. If I weren’t so tired, I’d feel guilty.

  I collapsed into a chair on the porch and reached into the cooler. Ashlyn bolted up the steps with more energy than I’d ever had, joining me in the other chair. She grabbed the bottle and took in half the lemonade in one drink, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

  When she noticed me watching her, she smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. Mom says I need to work on my manners.”

  I shrugged. “I’m the one that’s been making you work for an hour in the hot sun without offering you anything to drink. Make sure to help yourself for the rest of the day.”

  “Okay.”

  “Are you going to volleyball camp again this summer?”

  “I don’t think so.” She looked away.

  Without needing to press, I knew it was because her parents wouldn’t pay for it. Sometimes I wanted to shake them and make them notice how great a kid they had. When other teenagers would be giving attitude and causing trouble, Ashlyn ran her own business, excelled at sports, and got amazing grades.

  “Junior year is when scouts start getting serious, right?” I tried not to sound like I was pressuring her, but her coach wouldn’t be able to do it. He wasn’t so much a volleyball coach as an English teacher who needed the extra income.

  “I think so.”

  “Those camps would make a big difference in getting you on their radar.”

  “Yeah, probably.” She tried not to look defeated, but I could tell she was really disappointed.

  “I like that you’re a modest kid, Ash, but you’re in the best position to know if you have a shot at a scholarship. You’re playing against kids all over the state and last year’s camp was in California. You saw the best athletes there. How do you think you measur
ed up?”

  Her cheeks went pink and she looked away. Modest was right. “I did okay.”

  “You got to choose teams every time, I bet.” If she’d been a team captain, she was definitely one of the best in the camp.

  She shrugged, acknowledging my guess. “Almost every time.”

  “You should be getting letters this fall, but I bet there’d be a lot more if you went to that camp, right?”

  “Probably.”

  I let that hang in the air for a while. “It might be time for you to decide what’s more important. Having enough money saved up in case you have to pay for college, or spending some of that money for a better chance at a scholarship.”

  I knew I was crossing a boundary that a non-family member shouldn’t cross, but her parents were so overwhelmed by the triplets they let too many things slide with her. I took care of their finances and taxes. It wasn’t too much of a leap to include Ashlyn’s financial situation in that mix.

  “It isn’t just spending the money.”

  “It isn’t?”

  “Not really. I wouldn’t be making any money for those three weeks either. And I couldn’t help with the Trips or Kyle.”

  I considered that, holding my tongue about how the Trips and her brother weren’t her responsibility. “Have you asked your parents?”

  “No.”

  “If you could make what you’d make over those three weeks before you leave, would that make a difference?”

  She giggled. “I can’t mow people’s lawns more than once a week, Glor.”

  “No, but Spence asked me to talk to you today about some extra yard work. The Vic needs the conference room and kitchen painted. I want to put down a floor in my garage, hang some storage, and paint the guest room. And my parents are in desperate need of some closet and cabinet organization.”

  Her eyes grew wide as the possibilities came into view. “Really?”

  “Spence wants you to start as soon as you can. You’ll make more than you would mowing lawns for three weeks. My parents would probably buy you a car if you could make it so they can find things in their closets.”

  She giggled again. It was a fun sound. The kind of sound all teenage girls should make on a regular basis. “I’ll talk to my parents.”

  “Sounds like the right move to me.” I glanced over and noticed that the troubled look she brought here this morning wasn’t completely gone. “What else is up?”

  She drank down the rest of her lemonade and stood. “Not much. Better get back to it.”

  I stood with her but had to reach out to grab her shoulder for balance. The rush nearly made me topple back into my chair. That hadn’t happened in a long time. I didn’t think I’d been working that hard. Gardening was the best type of exercise for me. It used nearly every muscle without being aerobic.

  “You okay, Glory?” Ashlyn now had both hands on my arms. She looked panicked by my unsteady stance.

  “Yeah, thanks. It’s a lot hotter than I thought. Must be dehydrated.”

  “Sit. Let me work. That’s what you’re paying me for, right?” She forced a laugh, still worried. The last thing she’d want to deal with today would be having her mentor keel over in front of her.

  “I’m good. We’ll take some water bottles with us this time.” I took a small step, testing my balance. It came back, but I still felt tired. More than I’d been over the past two weeks when I’d find myself taking longer to do almost everything. It was moments like this, though, that made me realize something might be wrong. It could be the heat and exertion, but I’d have to monitor my status until I was sure it wasn’t anything else.

  “Sure, okay.” Ashlyn reached into the cooler and took out two bottles of water. She shadowed my every step back out into the front yard. If I looked back, I’d probably see her arms outstretched ready to catch me if I fell.

  We both settled back onto the knee pads and picked up where we’d left off. I was weeding and she was reshaping plants. We had bark to spread later and a few tree branches that needed tending. If my energy didn’t perk up, we might have to stretch that out over the next couple of days.

  “You were going to tell me what else was up?” I urged again. Sometimes it took a few nudges before Ash opened up.

  “You won’t say anything?”

  This was always a tricky one. “If it’s something I think your parents should know, I’ll encourage you to tell them. Strongly.”

  “It’s nothing like that. You know my friend Maddy?” She waited until I nodded, recalling that Maddy had come to the office a few times with Ashlyn and Brooke’s daughter, Izzy. They were all on the volleyball team together. “She, um, she told me she was gay.”

  I kept my face blank, hoping to get everything from her before I said anything. I tilted my head, encouraging her to continue.

  “She’s afraid to tell her parents. She’s been stressing for weeks. I don’t know how to help her. I just feel bad.” The tightness in her shoulders had eased, clearly relieved to get this off her chest.

  “Are her parents the type to freak over news like this?” I’d met them a few times whenever Brooke had them over for dinner parties. They seemed very nice, but no one could predict how a parent might respond to this kind of news.

  She shrugged. “She gets along great with them, but who knows? They’re always asking if she has a boyfriend or which boy she likes. I think it’ll be a surprise, but it’s not like I think they’ll kick her out or anything.”

  I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. Poor kid. I never had to go through that. My instincts told me that my parents wouldn’t be fazed. I probably should have been nervous, but I was completely secure in how much they loved and accepted me. “Has she ever had a boyfriend?”

  “No way. She’s never been interested in boys.”

  “So you always knew?”

  She contemplated that. “Pretty much. I didn’t really think about it, like label it or anything, but I’m glad she told me.”

  “Was she nervous telling you?”

  “Yep. Never seen her that way before.”

  “Could that be how she’s thinking of her parents? Maybe worried for nothing?”

  Ashlyn’s eyes blinked, her head tilting up to look at the sky. “Do you think? Like maybe they know already?”

  “Possibly. It may be why they’re always asking her about a boyfriend. Give her the opportunity to tell them.”

  “God, that would be great. She’s so stressed.”

  “Does she know there are support lines she can call?”

  Her head was nodding. “Yeah, we got some brochures from the guidance counselor’s office. She may call. I’m just trying to keep her calm.”

  “You’re a good friend, Ash. A big support for her.”

  “Thanks.”

  “If she needs an adult to talk to, I’d be happy to talk with her.” That might be crossing a more precarious boundary since I didn’t have a connection to Maddy, but I had to make the offer.

  “Yeah?” She glanced up, pausing with the clippers. She carefully put them down and picked up the branch cutters. “Because you’re gay, too, right?”

  My eyebrows rose. I couldn’t tell if she was guessing or if someone had told her. She and I had a mentor-student thing going. As such, it was my job to listen and guide not focus on me. I would have told her had she asked, but she never had until now. “Yes, but that’s not the only reason I’d talk to her. Sometimes you just need to hear from someone other than your best friend that everything has a way of working out eventually. It might be a tough road to get there, but it will happen.”

  “Thanks, Glory. That’s cool. I’ll let her know.”

  “Anything else on your mind or did we cover it?”

  She giggled again. “Nope. Think we got to everything.” She gave me a grateful smile and headed toward my garage. “I’ll get the ladder. We can start on the trees next.”

  She really had matured over the past year. I was looking forward to her grad
uating college so I could grab her up as a trusted friend.

  Chapter 23

  Before I turned onto my street, I caught sight of Lena’s dogs up ahead. I slowed the car because they were being walked by an elderly couple who were stopped at the intersection, looking down the road in every direction. When they heard my car approaching, the woman waved me to a stop.

  I rolled down my window and accepted the doggie snouts that shoved inside for my attention. The couple tried pulling them back, but they were pretty excited to see me. “Hello. Are you just starting your stroll or are you on your way back to Lena’s?”

  “On our way back,” the man said. He was probably in his eighties, tall and slim, African American, handsome with a full head of grey curly hair.

  “Trying,” the woman clarified. She looked younger than the man, Asian, short and slender, beautiful with more black than grey chin length hair. “We have been up and down this block ten times.”

  “We have not, my darling,” the man corrected gently.

  “I’m going to ride this dog home if we don’t figure out which street we need.” She pointed at an enthusiastic Kitty. “Are we even close?”

  I laughed with the man and gauged how close a half mile would be for an elderly couple. “Why don’t you jump in and I’ll give you a ride back. It’s still a ways to go. I’m Glory by the way. Lena’s neighbor.”

  “That would be wonderful, but the dogs,” the woman said.

  “No problem. They’ve been in my car and house many times before.”

  “They do seem to like you,” the man told me, pulling on Kitty’s leash to get him to jump down. “If you’re sure you don’t mind. I’m Owen and this is my wife, Tamiko.”

  I got out and opened the back hatch to let the dogs jump into my car. Owen opened the back door for his wife and settled into the front seat when I got behind the wheel. Pulling back onto the street, I got us headed toward home.

  “I told you we’d passed the street we needed, Owen.”

  “You’re right, my darling; you always are.” He shot me a wink before glancing at Nancy and Calvin’s house.

  “The architect who built this place also built three others on the street you were just on. It’s easy to get turned around.”