“How do you think she found out?”
“My mother still refers to my birth as the day I ran away from home. She’s always known every evil thing I’ve ever done or even contemplated doing.”
Ellis moved to the front edge of the chair. “Aren’t you worried that she’ll cut you out of her life?”
Mary smiled wistfully. “Some days, that’s my fondest wish.” She unbuttoned the top button of her shirt. “But she won’t. She’ll fume loudly and pray unceasingly and say things she’ll regret, and eventually, it will fade into oblivion.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“It’s what happened when Naomi married—gasp—a Methodist. Mother swore she’d never allow the heathen in her house. That lasted about two months, and then Naomi turned up pregnant with her first grandchild, and Barry’s horrible deficiency was forgiven, or at least forgotten. Same story with my divorce from Nathan. You’d have thought I’d single-handedly unleashed all the plagues of the Old Testament. She still nags the daylights out of me about that, but she doesn’t think I’m the devil’s stepdaughter, either.”
“So I don’t need to worry about her looking in your bedroom window and alerting the DeKalb Police Department?”
“I’m not saying we can be totally free around her, but give me some time to work on her. We might as well hope for the best.” Mary undid the next button on her shirt. “And speaking of best, weren’t we supposed to be getting on with the best thing to do next?” She crooked a finger at Ellis.
Ellis began undressing as she rose from the chair. “Thanks for reminding me.”
∗ ∗ ∗ ∗
They made love slowly at first, then with an intense abandon that left them both sated, lying in one another’s arms. Mary dozed, but Ellis stayed awake, savoring the joy of Mary’s long, lean body nestled against her and doubting that anything could ever go wrong between them again. No, they couldn’t be together every night, and maybe not even every weekend, but they would journey on together as a team. Yes, there were still misgivings nipping at the edges of her happiness—Natalie being one of the biggest of those—but for those few electric minutes while Mary reposed peacefully beside her, Ellis had the distinct feeling that her life was only going to get better and better.
∗ ∗ ∗ ∗
Mary stirred awake and spoke. “So you’ll help me get ready to move when the time comes, right?”
Before answering, Ellis settled Mary’s head in a more comfortable spot on her shoulder and tightened her embrace. “Sure I will. Of course, given the way you made me feel over the last hour, you could ask me to carry every piece of your furniture to Clarkesville one by one on my back, and I’d probably do it. I guess it’ll be easier to use my truck, though, huh?”
“I didn’t know my body could feel so much pleasure.” Mary breathed deeply. “Why is it that everything I want seems to be in direct opposition to something else I want?”
“Such as?”
“I want this house to sell fast so that I don’t have to have an endless parade of potential buyers traipsing through it, but at the same time, I don’t want it to sell at all, because it’ll mean moving away from you.”
“Okay, that’s one dichotomy. What else?”
“Having you here in my bed, doing what we’ve been doing is like a dream come true. It was so nice not to have to worry that Nat was going to bang on the door and interrupt us.”
“She can be the queen of less-than-perfect timing, can’t she?”
“No joke, but even though I’m glad she’s not here this very minute, I still miss her. I know she’s safe with Nathan, even if he’s not making her behave herself, but I feel like there’s a giant hole right here in the center of me”—Mary rubbed her chest—“whenever she’s gone.”
“Understood. Anything else?”
“You bet. There’s Nathan. I need him in my life, and I want him to go away and leave me alone. My mom and my sisters make me certifiably insane, but I know they’ll always come through for me if I really need them. I’m excited about finding a new house up in Clarkesville, but I’m not sure what it will be like to live there.” Mary sighed for dramatic effect. “Do you think I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown?”
“No, I don’t think so. It’s more likely a reflection of how complicated your life is.”
“I didn’t even mention the biggest struggle I’m having.”
“Which is what?”
“Now that I know what it means to want somebody, body and soul,” Mary said and hugged Ellis extra hard, “all I want to do is lie in your arms.”
“That doesn’t sound like a conflict of interest to me.” Ellis returned the hug and added a kiss for good measure.
“It is when you take all of the other things I mentioned and put them on the opposite side of the scale. Somehow, I need to tell my ex-husband, my daughter, my mother, and my sisters that I’m Gretchen VanStantvoordt’s love slave.”
“At least that’ll keep me out of the crosshairs. They all think I’m Ellis.”
“See what I mean? I haven’t even told them your real name yet. How will I ever tell them the rest of it?”
“From what I saw of your family the one and only time I’ve been in their company, they probably won’t even hear it until at least the fourth time you say it.”
“Yeah, and even then, I’ll have to stand in the middle of the table, naked as a jaybird, and shout it through a megaphone.”
“Now that paints a picture. Please be sure to videotape the event for me.”
“Tape it? No, m’dear. Despite what I said earlier, the more I think about it, the best way to break this to my mother will be for both of us to be there. She won’t dare go totally ape-shit if you’re right beside me when I drop this little bombshell.”
“I don’t think your mom’s table can support both of us. I’d still vote for your telling her when I’m a safe distance away.” Ellis chuckled. “Say, South America, or maybe Australia.”
“We’ll see.” Ellis heard the distress in Mary’s voice as she continued. “But first things first, I guess. I need to get this house shined up so that the first people who look at it buy it on the spot.” Mary got up to dress.
“I can help,” Ellis said as she pulled the comforter into place on the bed. “Where should we start?”
“Nat’s room. I think the EPA is considering labeling it a hazardous-waste dump. We should probably wear protective clothing while we’re in there.”
“I could go out to the truck and get the heavy-duty gloves I use when I’m spraying weed killer.”
Mary rounded the end of the bed and wrapped Ellis in her arms. “Good idea. The very last thing I’d want you to damage is those magical fingers of yours.”
“Make up your mind, Moss,” Ellis said as a new surge of adrenaline hit her. She caressed Mary’s lower back as Mary pressed herself tighter against her. “Are we packing up your daughter’s room or going back to bed?”
“Let’s tackle the brat’s room.” She kissed Ellis deeply. “And when we’ve had as much of that as we can stand…” She looked meaningfully at the bed. “I know the perfect reward.”
Chapter 9
“Have a good weekend with your dad, sweetie.” Mary leaned out the car window to give Natalie a quick kiss on the cheek and waited until she was inside the door to Nathan’s apartment before backing out of the parking space. Her ex-husband waved once as he shut the door.
“He knows,” Mary said, a hint of hysteria in her voice.
“Knows what?” Ellis asked.
“Knows there’s something going on between you and me.” Mary pulled onto the street in front of Nathan’s apartment complex.
“Do you think he and your mother have been comparing notes?”
“Maybe. Have you ever known him not to chat up a storm when he and I are making the handoff with Nat? He didn’t ask us to come in, didn’t offer to get Nat’s backpack. He just stood in the door and looked at us like we had incurable cooties.”
“Maybe he had a rough week at work. Maybe he was watching something on TV he didn’t want to miss.”
“I’ve known the man my whole life.” Mary turned south on Route 115. “I’ll bet he knows.”
Ellis tapped Mary’s forearm. “So what? We’ve said all along we need to find a way to tell him and Natalie and the rest of your family. We could maybe make an ally out of him. I bet if he were to come out—pardon the use of the words—on our side when we talk to your mother, it might help in the long run.”
“It might, but I wanted to tell everybody in my own way. I worry sometimes now that he’s back in the original land of the Bible-thumpers.”
“How so?”
“If he didn’t want to be my loving and supportive ex-husband, he could get some crazy ideas about having me declared an unfit mother or something.”
“Do you really think he’d do that?”
“I hope not, but if his mother joined in the inevitable preaching from my mother and sisters, it’s a possibility. It would kill me if I had to become a part-time mother.” Her hands shook as she clung to the steering wheel. “What if I could only see Nat once a month?”
It wouldn’t be the worst possible situation, Ellis thought to herself. She had the good sense not to say it out loud. The past three months of dealing with Natalie day in and day out (save for the weekends when she was with Nathan) had rekindled her opinion that children were God’s demented idea of a poorly executed practical joke.
The downturn in the housing market had slowed house sales to a crippled tortoise’s pace. There had only been three lookers at Mary’s house, and none of them could make an offer until their own houses sold. Mary and Nathan had agreed that they wouldn’t take a contract contingent on the sale of the buyer’s house, so things hung in suspended animation.
Nathan had moved to Clarkesville in early January. Every Friday since, except for the weekends Nathan was working, Mary had driven Natalie up so that she could have time with her dad. If Nathan had to come pick her up, he probably couldn’t get her until Saturday mornings. Since Mary could flex her schedule, she could have Natalie there when Nathan got home from work Friday afternoon. Mary preferred that arrangement.
Most Fridays, Ellis rode along. The trip back to Atlanta from the foothills—when she was alone with Mary and had the entire weekend to look forward to—almost made the drive up worth the aggravation of Natalie’s endless chatter.
“Let’s not assume gloom and doom yet, okay?” Ellis suggested. “No point in thinking Nathan is plotting against you.”
“You’re right, but I can’t help but get the feeling the excrement is going to hit the air-circulation device any day now.” Mary reached for Ellis’s hand and held it briefly. “I love you, you know? But why does being in love have to be such a kick in the pants?”
They drove on past the rolling hills. Mary merged onto the four-lane, weaving along with the heavy Friday-evening traffic. “I swear gas could cost ten dollars a gallon, and all these fools would still be on the road.”
“Pot calls kettle black. Film at eleven,” Ellis said with a drop or two of sarcasm.
“I know, I know. It costs me about thirty dollars to get Nat to and from her dad’s every weekend, but what can I do?”
“I’m not arguing, love, merely making an observation.”
“God, I wish my house would sell.”
“Yeah, then I could be the one spending thirty dollars to drive up to see you on weekends.” Ellis let the sarcasm quotient rise unchecked.
“Sorry. I know there’s no such thing as a perfect solution to this mess. I’m starting to feel like I have a split personality.” Mary braked sharply to avoid a car that darted into her lane. “Idiot!” She eased up on the accelerator to put a greater distance between her and the car. “I don’t want to be away from you, but driving to and from the mountains every weekend is going to be the death of me.” She glanced at Ellis. “Are you sure you couldn’t move up to the mountains, too? Assuming my house ever sells, that is, and I actually get to relocate.”
Ellis silently counted to ten. “We’ve been through that at least a hundred times. I’m barely able to cover my expenses as it is. Even if I could find enough landscaping jobs up in the hills, which I seriously doubt, the cost of gas to get to them would kill me. It’s bad enough now, even though I cluster jobs together so I don’t have to drive so much. I don’t think my moving to north Georgia would be a smart career move.”
“You could do something besides landscaping, couldn’t you?” Mary asked quietly.
“Sure, if Wal-Mart is hiring or one of the service stations needs somebody to sell lottery tickets to people who can’t even afford to put five gallons of gas in their uninsured pickup truck.”
Mary didn’t respond right away. “We’ll just have to see what happens, huh?”
“Yep.”
Mary turned on the headlights. “Another week or two and we’ll be able to make this whole drive in the daylight.”
“Another week or two and I won’t be making the trip with you because I’ll still be out on a job at this time of day.”
“Then I guess we need to make the most of the rest of this one.” Mary reached across the console to touch Ellis’s leg. “I love you, El.”
“Love you, too.” Ellis gripped Mary’s hand. And for at least the millionth time, she almost wished she didn’t.
∗ ∗ ∗ ∗
“Thanks for taking the day off to help with the move, Ellis.” Mary crammed the vacuum cleaner into the Xterra’s rear hatch, already stuffed with Swiffer’s litter box, a bag of cat food, several suitcases, and three coolers bearing whatever had been left in Mary’s refrigerator. “I can’t believe this is really happening.”
“I know what you mean.” Ellis hoped the growing lump in her throat wasn’t evident to Mary. “Sam and I spent more time here in the past five months than we spent at my apartment. She’s gonna miss her backyard.”
“I’m gonna miss ol’ Sammy.” Mary leaned against Ellis. “And I’m gonna miss her mama even more.”
“I’m still surprised you decided to move when there’s only a little more than a month left in the school year.”
“Nat’s been a mess since Nathan moved up north in January. In her heart, she’s already living in the mountains. Because she’s spent so many weekends with Nathan, she’s gotten to know a lot of kids up there. She’ll probably have the easiest adjustment of any of us.”
“Good thing she could stay with your mom this week while you finished packing up the house.”
“Yes and no. Good to have her gone so she’s not underfoot, but it’s anybody’s guess what Baptist garbage Mom’s stuffing into her impressionable little mind.”
“I thought you told me you’d already enrolled her in school up there.”
“I did, but school only runs six hours a day. My mother has the other eighteen hours to pollute her brain.” Mary pantomimed opening the top of her head and pouring liquid into it. “I told you what a battle I had with Mom over putting Nat in public school. She wanted her to go to Christian Academy where my nieces and nephews go.”
“Starting tonight, you’ll be there to keep the scales balanced.”
“Sort of. But there’s no such thing as winning an argument with my mother. And you’ll have confirmation of that if we ever get around to having that long-overdue discussion with her about our relationship.”
“Don’t remind me. Today is hard enough already.” Ellis offered a sympathetic smile. “What’s left in the house?” she asked, hoping to have some last chores that would keep her from acknowledging the hollow ache that was growing bigger with every passing minute.
“My laptop, a briefcase with the notes I’ve taken for the stories I’m working on, and Swiffer and her carrier.” Mary took a shaky breath. “And ten years’ worth of memories.” She stepped back from Ellis. “The sweetest ones came in the last six months, thanks to you.”
Ellis swallowed hard, barely keeping the
tears from having their way. “Better get you loaded up and on your way. The truck is already ten minutes ahead of you.”
“You’re right. Come inside and kiss me one last time.” Ellis followed Mary into the house. Swiffer was locked in the cat carrier sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor. She yowled as if she were caught in the rollers of a wringer washer.
“That will be pleasant to listen to all the way to Clarkesville,” Ellis said.
“I figure after the next two weeks at my mother’s, I’d welcome Swiffer’s serenade as a melodic change of pace.”
“It’s too bad you couldn’t get into your new house ’til Memorial Day weekend.”
“No kidding. After three months of treading water waiting for an offer on the house, everything happened in a torrent. Lord only knows how much of my stuff will get lost or damaged in storage over the next couple of weeks.”
“As long as the guys don’t drop those huge crates when they’re unloading the truck at the storage facility, it’ll be fine.”
“I hope you’re right.” In the living room, Mary took a long look around the barren space. “I brought my baby here when she was two days old. How can she be almost ten already?”
“I remember meeting her right there”—Ellis gestured toward where the sofa used to sit—“the day I fell for you on LaVista Road.” Ellis draped her arm around Mary’s shoulder. “Quite a detour we’ve been on since last November, huh?”
“And we’re not exactly on the highway to heaven right now, either, with you staying here in the city at your apartment while I’m up in the far reaches of Outer Hooterville.” Mary’s voice cracked as she spoke.
“Don’t start, okay? Neither one of us can afford to think right now about what all this means. You’ve got to go so you can meet the moving van at the storage place in Clarkesville.” Ellis stanched a snuffle. “And I’ve got to get out of this house before…”
“One last thing, and then we’ll go.” Mary led the way down the hall to her bedroom. Their footfalls echoed off the walls. Once in the room, Mary cradled Ellis to her bosom. “I’ll always remember the way it felt to kiss you for the first time. I never want to know what it might feel like to think we’ve had our last kiss.”
Detours Page 14