The third song must have been an old favorite, because nearly everyone followed along happily.
Then came another complex number with a sequence that totally baffled Leesa’s posse. I missed the steps the first time through, but the second round, I knew instinctively when to step and when to pause. Next came a set of moves that culminated with a change of direction. Suddenly, I stood at the front of the class instead of the back. In the mirror’s reflection, I watched Leesa’s eyes focus on me. She followed my moves carefully. Clearly, she expected me to fail in my new position at the head of the class.
But I didn’t. Smoothly, flawlessly, I led us through the choreography. In fact, I even put my own flare in the steps, a nice touch, because Leesa moved in a sort of herky-jerky way that looked clumsy. She lacked what dancers call “quality of movement.” Obviously, she’d come to dancing late in life. She didn’t understand that energy flows from inside your core to the outside of your body.
For example, Leesa would stick her hand in the air, while mine would float there. She would put her foot on the floor, while mine would slide there. Her body seemed stubby while mine looked elongated.
Once she realized I was innately better than she, Leesa watched me like a burning intensity. An extra propulsion of anger fueled her steps, turning them more awkward than they needed to be.
Since I hadn’t danced in practically forever, when we reached the fifteen minute mark, I huffed and puffed. But I didn’t care. Despite the toll the exertion was taking on my wind, I kept up with Leesa. I gave myself over to the music, flowing with it. By contrast, she grew more and more perturbed, and it made her clumsy.
At the end of the hour, I was exhausted. Nevertheless, I felt deeply satisfied. I was keeping up. The others were falling behind. Leesa had taken to barking orders. A snarl marred her pretty face. I, on the other hand, felt joyful. A glance in the mirror confirmed I was drenched and glowing.
I really did need to do this more often!
39
“Way to go!” Maggie gave me a big grin and a slap on the back. “I usually head over to Panera Bread after class. Want to join me?”
“I would love to, but I have a little one at home.”
“You sure? We worked off a ton of calories.”
Before I could answer, Leesa bowled into Maggie, practically shoving her out of the way. “You,” she said as drops of spittle landed on my face, “you are stalker. You follow me. You spy on me.”
“Lucky thing, huh? I was there when your husband fell off his bike. If it hadn’t been for me, no one would have called for help. He might still be lying there in the grass.”
“I say he fall because of you! We had nice neighborhood until you come.”
“Really?” I shook my head. “Leesa, I’ve had enough of you. Grow up!”
“Grow up? Like you? Fat woman? I see you in my class, and I laugh. You look funny, like kielbasa that tries to dance.”
“Whoa,” Maggie stepped forward, “Leesa, you are seriously crossing a line here. You have no right to speak to her like that. None. I’ll report you to management.”
“Say what you want. I am best teacher ever. They know that. They will not listen to you. Where will they find another teacher good like me? They will not ever.”
“Is that so? Honest to Pete.” Maggie shook her head.
“Who is Pete?” Leesa glanced around. “Where is this Pete? I talk to him.”
It was too much. I laughed so hard that I couldn’t stop. Rather than fall down, I grabbed Maggie. She held onto me, and our laughter proved infectious. The two of us staggered out of the classroom, while Leesa screamed what I assume were obscenities in her native tongue.
“Bread Co. here we come,” I said as I unlocked the door of my BMW. “After that, dinner’s on me, Maggie.”
“I’ll lead the way.” She hopped in her car.
40
Although the proper name is St. Louis Bread Company, everyone in the area calls it “Bread Co.” to rhyme with “Bread Dough.” The chain is one of my personal favorite places, and it has many locations scattered around the city and suburbs. Maggie showed me a back route that brought us to a Bread Co. not far from CALA, the Charles and Anne Lindbergh Academy, a fancy private school.
“I teach at CALA,” Maggie explained once we were inside. “Right now, I’m only a substitute. I hope to get on full time. The position comes with a discounted tuition for teachers’ kids. CALA is terrific, but it’s also very pricey.”
“My husband and his mother are both alums,” I said.
“Sheila Lowenstein is your mother-in-law? Wow. Should we leave and go someplace where you can get a stiff drink?”
“Sugar will do the job for me,” I said with a giggle.
We joined the line of patrons placing their orders. Maggie had a “You Pick Two” combo of broccoli cheese soup and a turkey sandwich. It sounded so warm and filling that I ordered the same. We settled on iced green tea for our drinks. I gladly paid. Once we found a booth in the back, we settled in to wait for our names to be called so we could pick up our orders.
“How long have you been taking Zumba?” I asked.
“Two years now. Like I told you earlier, my first teacher was Grenata. Gosh, she and Leesa were different as night and day. Grenata made the class so much fun. Best of all, she really liked her students. Grenata knew our names. On our birthdays, she’d let us pick our favorite songs, and she’d play them as a special treat.”
I was impressed and said as much.
“Yeah, it was a real bummer when she lost her job.”
“You said that she died.”
“Right, but before she was diagnosed, Leesa took her place. We all think that Leesa got Grenata in trouble. I’ve heard rumors that Leesa told management that Grenata wasn’t officially registered with Zumba as an instructor. That was a lie, but the manager didn’t bother to check. He gave Grenata the boot. I mean, he showed her the bottom of his tennis shoe. Didn’t even give her a chance to stand up for herself.” Maggie stirred the ice in her green tea. “That was bad enough. Then we heard that Grenata had ovarian cancer. After a long fight, she died. It’s so sad.”
The worker behind the counter called our names. Maggie and I got up to grab our trays. She caught me sneaking a peek at my cell phone.
“Worried about your sitter?”
“The sitter is my husband. He’s never taken care of our daughter this long before.”
“Take it from me, mother of two. Stay out as long as you can.”
I must have looked astonished.
“I’m not kidding, Kiki. If you hurry back, he can avoid doing all sorts of yucky stuff, like changing a dirty diaper. But if you stay out, he’ll be forced to roll up his sleeves and dig in. That’s good. For him and your baby. It’s too easy for the dads to pawn our children off on us, especially if we’re stay-at-home-moms. When they do, they miss out on all those special moments, like when your little one smiles at you after a diaper change. Or how adorable your kid looks after a nice bath. It might feel like you’re cheating by leaving them together, but the truth is that you’re cheating them, if you don’t give them the chance to bond.”
Her words rang with the conviction of hard-won truth. As we walked back to our booth, she walked back her commentary. “Look, I didn’t mean to lecture you. Tell me, how do you know Leesa? I got the impression you two had met before.”
“First, you don’t need to apologize. I can see where you’re coming from, and I think you are right. George and Anya need to spend more time together. Second, Leesa is my neighbor.” With that introduction, I told Maggie about all the problems we’d had since moving in. I finished with, “I can’t believe she came to class, even though her husband is in the hospital. I’d be worried sick. Of course, maybe that’s exactly why she did come. The class would have been a good distraction.”
“Right.” Maggie tapped a fingernail on the table top. “Like she needs a distraction. Truth is, Leesa cares about one person and one person only, and that per
son’s name is Leesa. I’ve never seen such a self-absorbed person in my life. Did you notice that she rarely ever glanced at us? No, ma’am. She was totally focused on one person in that class – Leesa. If that song hadn’t forced us to turn around, she would never have noticed you are a terrific dancer.”
I shrugged. “I took a lot of dance when I was young. I love it. What a workout!”
“Since you’ve taken lessons before, you had to have noticed Leesa is not much of a teacher. She’s collecting money and showing up for her own benefit. The rest of us are just along for the ride.”
“Maybe she teaches as a way to keep up with her husband. Her husband is this fantastic bicycle rider. He goes miles and miles every day. That guy doesn’t have one ounce of fat on his body.”
“If she cared about him that would make sense.” Maggie sucked in a deep sigh and let it out slowly. “But she doesn’t. She’s a shameless flirt. Her husband has come into the gym many, many times. He’s seen her rubbing up against the other men, flirting with them, and being a tease. They’ve even had words about it. Public fights. They don’t seem to care who hears them.”
I stored all this away.
Tomorrow I would phone Detective Everbright.
41
Maggie and I exchanged phone numbers and promised to get back in touch, although we agreed that might be difficult. She lived in the far western suburbs, and I lived near the heart of the city. Once we figured out that our kids were close in age, we agreed that the long drive was unimportant. When I told her goodbye, I felt good. I’d finally made a new friend. Sort of. At least I was on my way.
I got home at eight. I expected recriminations from George, but when I walked to the great room I found him huddled with Anya on the sofa. He was reading Goodnight Moon to her.
If I live to be one hundred, I will never forget that image of the two of them, their heads bowed over the pages, her little fingers curled over his big hand as he propped the book up so they both could see it. It is, in fact, the dearest moment of my life to date. Whatever else George was or wasn’t, he was certainly an adoring dad. He treated his child as if she were made of delicate blown glass. At this special moment, he gave her his full and total attention.
In the illumination of a lamp he’d perched on top of a box, George’s face was a study in light and shadows. I stared at his strong nose and chin, the lock of hair that wouldn’t lie down on his crown, and his dazzling blue eyes framed with long lashes. Anya had his coloring, his intensity, but her features had softened when mixed up with mine, so that her nose was smaller and more delicate. Her chin was firm but not chiseled. I knew, without seeing them, that her eyes were as blue as his.
Since they didn’t notice me right away, I lingered in the shadows. A box hid me from their view.
“Where is that mouse?” George asked. “I think he’s on every page. Do you see him, Anya?”
“Da.” She stabbed the page with a tiny index finger.
“Smart girl. That’s right. The mouse is hiding, isn’t he? Do you see a clock in the room? You probably don’t know what a clock is, do you, sweetheart? You’ve never seen one. We’ll have to buy one, won’t we? Just so you’ll understand. This is a clock. See? You use it to tell time. Like when it’s time to go to bed.”
“Be-ah?”
“Bed.”
I stepped into the light. “Bedtime is right about now, Anya-Banana.”
George smiled up at me. “I fed Anya dinner and wiped her face, but I didn’t feel confident enough to give her a bath by myself. Will you show me how? I’m scared to death I’ll get water in her nose.”
“Of course.” I held out my arms and Anya climbed up to snuggle against me. She wasn’t exactly dressed for bed. He’d changed her into a play outfit that could have fooled anyone except a mother. The big buttons on the front would not have been comfortable for snoozing. “Does she need a clean diaper?”
“I changed her ten minutes ago. Actually, I’ve changed her several times. The first time, I guess I had her diaper on backwards, because I got a soaking. The second, I ruined the tape. You might want to check up on me. I’d hate to have her diaper fall off in the middle of the night.”
“Will do.” I turned away, heading for the stairs.
“Kiki?” he called after me. “Wait a minute. Let me give her a goodnight kiss first, okay?”
He joined us. To my surprise, he wrapped his arms around both Anya and me. “My girls,” he said in a husky voice. “The women in my life. I love you both.”
I was so stunned, I thought I’d fall over.
42
After we put Anya to bed, George asked, “How was your afternoon? Have you had any dinner? I didn’t get the chance to eat. If you’d like, I’ll make you something, too.”
That was incredibly thoughtful of him, and I said so. In the kitchen, I handed over the bag of pastries from Bread Co. We sat across from each other at the kitchen table, while he ate a Reuben sandwich.
Before I could tell him my news about Detective Everbright’s visit, he said, “I got an update on Sven Nordstrom. His sister’s here from Minnesota. I think her name is Brita. Anya and I saw her while we were out for a walk. Sven’s not doing well. In fact, they don’t think he’s going to make it. He suffered a brain injury called a coup contrecoup. Basically, your brain sloshes around inside your skull. When you smack down hard, it jostles one way and rebounds the other. That causes an injury to both sides.”
George picked up his dish and loaded it into the dishwasher.
“I heard a similar report,” and I told George about the visit from Everbright.
George shook his head; those blue eyes of his turned the color of frozen ice. He sank down into the chair across from mine. “Kiki, you shouldn’t have been so honest with him. We know nothing about Everbright. What if he was pumping you to get information? What if you inadvertently said something he took wrong?”
My exercise session and time with Maggie had made me bold. George had a lot of nerve criticizing me, especially in such a scolding tone.
“Okay, George. Here’s what you’re failing to consider: I never, ever have any adult companionship. No one to talk to. When I do talk, usually no one listens. Yeah, I probably was far too trusting. I don’t see any way that Everbright could misinterpret anything that happened. So Sven fell off his bike, and I called for help. Big deal. Isn’t that proof of my good intentions? I wasn’t even on Sven’s side of the street when he fell. Did I mess up? Maybe. But in the big scheme of things, should I blame myself? Nope. It’s not my fault you’re never available, your mother treats me like dirt, and I spend most of my waking hours all by myself.”
The hard look he’d been giving me vanished.
I thought about telling him what I’d learned about Leesa, but I had run out of energy. The high I’d felt after the exercise class was wearing off. A wave of exhaustion hit me.
For what seemed like an eternity, neither George nor I spoke. Finally, he said, “I can see why you’re upset with me. In fact, I’ve been meaning to tell you I know I need to make more of an effort. Taking care of Anya tonight, it hit home that staying here with her isn’t a vacation. She’s a lot of work. Twice I turned my back and discovered she’d gotten into mischief. I was pretty proud of myself for unpacking that bouncy walker of hers. She went scooting around the floor. Had a grand time, until she found a piece of unprinted newsprint paper and tried to eat it. I had to fish around inside her mouth to get her to give it up. While I was picking up more of the same, she discovered an extension cord. I’d strung it over the counter and onto the kitchen table to charge my laptop. I turned around to see her gumming it. Scared me to death.”
“Can you believe what a little monkey she is? Smart and fast and curious. Because her new teeth are coming in, she’s eager to test them on whatever comes her way.”
I told him about meeting Mert at Home Depot. When I got to the part about the vacuum cleaner sucking up the candy, I thought George was going to pass out.
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“The good news is I think I’ve found a cleaning lady. She’ll work us into the next opening on her schedule. I’ve also learned exactly how to get a stray object out of a child’s nose. After we came home, I googled it. The modified vacuum cleaner hose process comes highly recommended. If I’d taken her to the ER, they might have dug around for it.”
“Don’t even tell me.” George covered his face in his hands. “That is completely gross.”
“And needlessly expensive. And painful.”
“Let’s not tell Sheila,” he said. Once in a while, he called his mother by her given name. Usually, he did it in conversations like this, when there was a tacit understanding that she was our mutual adversary.
“Agreed.”
“Speaking of which, she phoned while you were out. When I told her all that Anya had gotten into, she volunteered to come and get her tomorrow and the next day and so on, until we’ve made more headway getting organized. I told Mom it was up to you. She said she’d plan on it, unless she heard differently.”
“While I hate to impose on her, I think that’s the only way I can move ahead. Anya’s just too active for me to plop her down in the playpen all day — and I really, really am sick of living in this mess.”
“Our mess,” George said as he smiled at me. “I don’t tell you this enough, but we are partners. You’re doing a wonderful job with our baby. She’s terrific. So are you.”
That night, George and I slept in the same bed. I guess you could say we normalized our relationship. All I know is that I felt happier than I could remember. I didn’t fool myself that we were soul-mates, but finding common ground with Anya — and in bed — could be the foundation for a good marriage. Or, at least, that’s what I told myself.
43
Anya’s moving around in her crib woke me up the next morning. I left George sleeping on his stomach, sprawled across our bed. He looked so relaxed that I didn’t have the heart to wake him. As I dressed, I stared down at him, remembering the good-looking frat boy who had swept me off my feet at that party three years ago. He had only grown more attractive with age, a process that struck me as incredibly unfair. Men mellowed and grew more debonair. Women wrinkled and closed up like spent flower blossoms dying on the stem.
Kiki Lowenstein Books 1-3 & Cara Mia Delgatto Books 1-3: The Perfect Series for Crafters, Pet Lovers, and Readers Who Like Upbeat Books! Page 10