Mending Defects

by Lynn Galli

  I let us in to my house. The dogs scampered ahead, sniffing through each room. Lena would have followed them but her nose already knew where the kitchen was. It took two minutes to warm up some coffee cake for her and start the coffee. She waved me off to a shower, telling me she could handle making some eggs.

  My shower lasted longer than hers. Drying off, I glanced in the mirror. Stupid grin aside, it looked like my skin was glowing. The scar that usually made my eyes skip across to find something else to focus on didn’t look as red or ugly this morning. Not when the incredible woman who’d been making my heart flutter for months didn’t even falter when she looked at me. Studied me, touched me, and made love with me without one moment of hesitation. I’d been wrong about how it would go, and it never felt so right.

  “You sleep in, you take long showers, what else are you lazy about?” Lena teased when I got back to the kitchen. She was just finishing the scrambled eggs, having already set out plates for us. The coffeemaker chimed, and she almost skipped over to pour some into mugs.

  “You wore me out last night, and I had to wash my hair. That’s the drawback with fine hair. You of the Thick & Luscious Clan can probably go a couple days without washing yours.”

  Her eyes roamed over my wet hair, a grin on her face. She took a long sip of coffee and shuddered as the caffeine hit her system. “Three days sometimes, and for this coffee and cake, I’ll let you laze away a whole day if you want.”

  “Oh, you would?” I slinked over and pushed up against her. Another shudder ran through her body, this time without the caffeine. My whole body flushed with heat that I could do that to her.

  “Perhaps. What did you have planned for today?”

  My arms reached around her, stroking her from her neck to her perfect ass. “Nothing planned, but lots of options. Spence, James, his dad, and my dad are going fishing. My mom, Mei’s mom, and Spence’s mom are headed to Eagle for some festival or another. Brooke is taking her daughter and Ashlyn for a tour of the campus in Boulder. And Mei-”

  The front door opened and Mei’s voice called out, interrupting me. She walked into the kitchen and came to a sudden halt, seeing me in Lena’s arms. “Oh, sorry to barge in.”

  Lena looked down at me. “You were saying about Mei?”

  I stepped back and said hello to my friend, trying to assuage her embarrassment at storming in on us. “She was going to stop by this morning to see if I wanted to visit Cassie’s new colt.”

  Lena laughed. “Morning, Mei.”

  “Hey, Lena.” Her eyes darted to mine, a huge smile on her face. She’d be grilling me the first second she got me alone. “I’ll be knocking from now on.” She looked at Lena. “Damn glad I finally have to.”

  “Hey!” I objected, but it did make me look like I wasn’t a slut in front of Lena.

  “We can see the horse some other day.” Mei started backing up.

  “Sounds fun,” Lena said, turning to pull another plate from the cupboard. “Had breakfast yet?”

  I tried not to look surprised at how she was taking things in stride this morning. Almost as if we’d switched personalities last night. Or perhaps I was rubbing off on her.

  Mei gave me a questioning glance but when I tipped my head in encouragement, she took the last stool at the counter. “You’re up for seeing the new colt?”

  Lena looked at me then Mei. “Never seen one before.”

  I tried to gage if she was being polite or if she really thought spending part of Sunday looking at a two-day-old colt would be fun. Her unwavering gaze told me she was looking forward to it.

  Mei nodded and flipped open her phone. A second later she was telling Cassie we’d be coming by after breakfast.

  I took the moment to lean in and ask, “Thought you were going to kick me out today.”

  Lena smiled wide, lowering her head for a soft kiss. “Today’s not over yet.”

  No, it wasn’t, and I’d be savoring every last longitudinal rotation of the earth today.

  From the Journal of Lena Coleridge:

  I’m so screwed. Last night was, hell, I can’t even bring myself to say it. I’ll sound like a bad romance novelist. An unpublished romance novelist, so sappy and clichéd I can’t even get an online site to publish the bad prose. I knew this would happen. I knew it would be amazing-she would be amazing. Just kissing her is the stuff of fantasies. Better than any fantasy I conjured up. The whole night, it just, and the number of times she made me-God, I really can’t say it.

  Then spending the day together, getting to touch her whenever I wanted, kiss her all day, imagine her laid out on my bed. So beautiful, everything in perfect proportion to her lovely small frame. And those scars, the ones she wanted to hide from me, I could worship them all night knowing they were there so that she could be here with me.

  So now I’m screwed because, dammit, she’s mine. Not about to tell her that yet. She likes making me crazy. She’d take that little nugget of knowledge and do everything in her power to torment me. Stupid, stupid me. Should have just slept with her in that first month. Quick and unemotional. But no, stupid me, had to get to know her, get to care about her, want to spend time with her, crave her friendship, and then sleep with her so the only possible outcome is-nope not going to say it. I’m not there yet. I’m not! But I am screwed.

  Chapter 33

  Three weeks into the new school year, the extracurricular clubs at the high school held a carnival. Even if the board hadn’t been invited to attend, Ashlyn, Izzy, and Maddy had all stopped by the office to get Mei, Brooke, and me involved. Brooke and David would be building their booth and games, Mei would be getting her mom to make her spring rolls on sight, and I would bake and bake and bake.

  In between using every oven on my street, I typed up my resignation letter for the board. I’d offer it to Terry at the end of the carnival. The need to resign had grown since the last meeting, but now that Lena and I were together, it became urgent. She’d tried to discourage me from quitting, not wanting to make me change anything about my life now that we’d become much closer. After a week of debate, she began to see things my way. I couldn’t be in a position of authority over her.

  The soccer, softball, baseball, and track fields were teeming with people by the time I showed up. Ten bucks later, I’d gained entrance to the carnival. I spotted Cassie and her husband right away, their two small kids already sticky with cotton candy. Many other parents from the school board meetings waved hello as I did a tour of the booths. The kids had done a creative job this year.

  “Glad you could make it, Glory.” Kirsten stopped me in my perusal of the kids’ booth.

  “I didn’t have much choice. You’ve got some pretty savvy negotiators at your school.”

  She laughed, nodding her head. “They are persuasive.”

  “Have you seen Lena around?” I tried for casual and think I pulled it off.

  “Two of the games were having structural problems. She was dragging David over to shore them up last I saw.” Her finger pointed off toward the far end of the lane.

  I thanked her and headed in that direction. I wasn’t sure if Lena had told Kirsten about us, but she had a knowing smile on her face as I followed where she’d pointed.

  “Glory!” Ashlyn’s voice called out from my left.

  I looked over and found her standing in front of a plywood shelf system with stuffed animals ready to be toppled over. A long line of kids stood ready to throw the softballs. Ashlyn was the money taker and barker, getting more and more kids interested.

  The booth beside her stood out with bright colors and creative decoration. It also looked the most professional of the ones I’d seen. David really was a master handyman. Four tiers were filled with my cakes, breads, cupcakes, and cookies, all with price tags equal to an upscale coffee shop. An equally long line stood waiting to hand over money for a small taste.

  “Looks great, Ash,” I said, drawing up to the side of her game table.

  She didn’t miss a beat, taki
ng the next contestant’s money, explaining the instructions and handing over the three softballs that a teammate of hers was stacking from the missed attempts. “Doesn’t it? Maddy thought of everything. Did you see the other game?”

  I glanced over on the other side of the booth and found a ring toss game, manned by Izzy and a couple other teammates. I waved as she took in the money from the next gamer. “Popular booth.”

  More than popular, actually. It had twice the number of people waiting to play or buy than any of the other booths I’d passed. I felt proud of these kids, the three girls especially.

  “Your stuff is selling like mad,” Ash told me. “Some dude bought one of your cakes for a grand.”

  My eyes popped wide. I knew it was part fun, part fundraiser for the clubs, but it was a lot to plunk down that kind of money for a cake even if it supported a great cause.

  “Hey, Glory,” Maddy came out from behind the booth. “Did Ash tell you?”

  “Sounds like you guys are doing great.”

  “Yeah, you’ve got to meet the other kids in the club.” She dragged me back to meet the other four kids. They all gushed and thanked me for contributing to their bake sale.

  “You know my parents, right?” Maddy pointed to her mom and dad, who were helping Mei’s mom with the spring rolls.

  “Wonderful to see you again, Glory.” Maddy’s mother was her twin, just older.

  When Maddy’s attention got pulled away, her father leaned in. “We’d like to thank you for talking to Maddy. We could feel her pulling away, and I don’t know if she would have had the courage to tell us what was bothering her if she didn’t have some support.”

  I smiled, happy that Maddy’s stress had evaporated. She’d been pretty shy when Ashlyn brought her by and we all talked. I encouraged her to make a decision to tell her parents or not. One way or the other, she couldn’t stress anymore. It wasn’t good for her health. I learned through Ashlyn that her parents had been relieved when she’d come out to them.

  “Ashlyn is the one you want to thank. I was happy to listen, but Ash is your daughter’s biggest supporter.”

  They agreed and flashed big smiles when Maddy came back to tell us all about how much their booth had made so far. It sounded like a lot to me.

  “Glory,” Terry greeted when he came across me. “Heard you had quite the summer.”

  I frowned and wondered what gossip he’d been listening to. Terry loved being in the thick of things around town. When reporters from travel magazines wanted tips on where tourists should go to feel like a local, they called Terry much to the chagrin of many locals.

  “Are you feeling okay?” he asked.

  I nodded, understanding now. I hadn’t run into Terry at all this summer because I’d spent eight weeks mostly homebound. “I’m well, thank you for asking.”

  “Worried us a bit, you know. We don’t like to hear about your ticker giving you problems.”

  “Me, neither, Terry.”

  He laughed and leaned over to pat me on the back. Jennifer approached us with a problem parent. She gave me a tight lipped smile. I wasn’t sure if my health status this summer had made her uneasy around me or if it was something else, but she hadn’t called even once. Normally, she’d be good for a movie or dinner a few times over the summer. Maybe Lena’s guess had been correct.

  She suggested that we grab Mitch and Joel for an impromptu board meeting to address this parent’s concern. Just what I wanted at a carnival. Nothing spells fun like a board meeting.

  It took a few minutes before we found Mitch and Joel and a table where we could all gather. I could feel the resignation letter so ready to pop out of my pocket before anyone even said a word. Terry encouraged Katie, the problem parent, to speak.

  “I would like to know,” she started, and I settled in for another of her diatribes. She used to be one of my clients years ago, but since marrying a rich doctor who wintered in Aspen, she’d switched to his accountant in Denver. She glanced over her shoulder in the direction of Maddy’s booth and continued, “what this board is going to do about getting rid of that club?”

  Our eyes followed her bejeweled finger as it pointed to Maddy’s booth. Five kids were chatting happily with the customers, selling them baked items, and handing out brochures about their club. To their left and right, the girls from the volleyball team raked in dollar after dollar on their fun games.

  “Why would we want to do that?” Terry asked.

  “Don’t you see what it is?” Katie said to him. “What do you think those letters stand for?”

  “What do you think they stand for?” Joel asked.

  “I had to look it up online. LGBT means gay.”

  “It means lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender,” I corrected.

  “You’d know,” Katie snorted as she all but ignored me.

  “I would,” I confirmed, causing different reactions from everyone at the table. Andy’s mouth must have stopped yapping once he finally signed his divorce papers. It didn’t look like everyone had been clued in quite yet. “And so should you. It isn’t some secret society; it’s a well known acronym.”

  “And you’re fine with that?” she asked Terry. “It might as well be a gay sex club.”

  “Really, Katie,” Mitch scoffed at her.

  I looked over at him, surprised that he’d spoken up. He didn’t normally comment in meetings, but especially not with Katie. They apparently had a bad history.

  “Lena,” Terry called, catching her as she was walking by.

  She stopped and turned toward us. Her eyes took in everyone, casual professionalism in place. She looked exactly as a principal should look at an extracurricular activity: dressy jeans, nice blouse, minimal makeup, and casual hair in a French braid. Her eyes inched wider as she saw us gathered together, but she sat in the offered chair with a quick glance at me.

  “Tell us about the LGBT club,” Terry asked her.

  She nodded. “It’s one of six new clubs this year. They’ve been doing wonderfully tonight.”

  “Katie seems worried that it might be, what did you call it?” Joel flicked his gaze at Katie. “A sex club.”

  Lena was so cool, she didn’t even laugh. I knew she’d think this was as ridiculous as I did, but she was better prepared for ridiculous parental rants. “No sexual activity will take place at any of our clubs, Mrs. Stafford.”

  “They play chess in the chess club. What do you think they’re going to do in the gay club?”

  “These students want a support system.” Lena said. “Chess players like to hang out with other chess players. Homosexual and bisexual students want to know that there are other people like them at school. High school is hard enough. They don’t need to be completely ostracized because of their sexual identity.”

  “But it’s about sex!” Kathy demanded.

  “No, it’s about sexual preference. I don’t see you objecting to the abstinence club.”

  “That’s different.”

  “All the clubs are different, but they all have one similar goal: to provide support to like minded individuals.”

  “This shouldn’t be allowed.” Katie told Terry.

  “These kids need the support this club provides. They need it. If it helps prevent even one kid from becoming another tragic statistic, it’ll be the most important club at this high school.” Lena spoke calmly, despite the tension I spotted in her shoulders. She had more patience than I thought anyone could have.

  “I can’t believe the board allows the district to spend money on extracurricular activities like this.”

  As treasurer, I spoke up. “That’s what this carnival is all about. The faculty advisors are not paid overtime and any activities or competitions the clubs want to take part in are self-funded.”

  “What teacher is going to want to lead this, this…club?” Katie insisted.

  “I am,” Lena’s strong voice left no room for argument. “And for the record, that booth has already brought in twelve times more than
any other booth tonight. Since all the money goes into a pool, they’ll be mostly responsible for funding the activities of all the other clubs.”

  “If there’s interest and we have faculty support, I don’t see anything wrong with any of the clubs here tonight,” Terry said, glancing again at the popular booth. “And Lena is capable of running any of these clubs.”

  I felt Lena turn fully toward Terry. I tried not to look at her because I knew she’d be as shocked as I was by Terry’s full support.

  “I still think-”

  “Thank you for your comments, Katie,” Terry cut her off. “This is a carnival. I think it’s time we enjoyed the fun.”

  I glanced at Lena as everyone broke and headed out to have that fun that Terry talked about. A sweet smile played across those lips that had been driving me wild for two weeks now. If I were being honest, they’d been driving me wild since I’d met her. Damn, she was fine.

  “I’ll be back in a minute,” I said and left to corner Terry alone. “Terry, do you have a sec?”

  “What’s up, Glory?” He stopped his advance to the bake sale.

  “I wanted to let you know that I’m resigning from the board.”

  “What? No. We need you on this board. You’re the only one that can keep all the finances straight. Sometimes you’re the only one with a voice of reason.”

  “Well, thank you, but I’ve been doing this for three years, and I think it’s time.”

  “The school year just started. You can’t leave now.” He reached out to literally hold me in place. “I know the last couple of meetings have been tense, but it’s an adjustment period. Lena is doing a terrific job, but she’s new, an out of towner. As soon as everyone gets to know her, these meetings will go smoothly again.”

  “It’s not the tense situation. I’m not comfortable being in a position of authority over many of my friends. It’s time for someone else to step up and serve her time on the board.”

  “I can’t stop you, but will you stay on until we can find someone else?”

  “One more meeting. Two months should give you plenty of time to find someone else.” I shook his hand and said goodbye.