***
Grant
The doorknob turned easily, and Grant pushed the door open, sighing. “Nana, you left the door unlocked again.”
He sat on the bench in the hallway and pulled off his boots. He was lucky Nana hadn’t noticed he’d had them on earlier and hadn’t made him mop the floor like she did when he was twelve.
“Nana?” Grant made his way into the living room and found Nana watching black and white episodes of some old comedy. “Hey, there’s my girl.” He kissed Nana on the top of her head. “You left the door unlocked again.”
“Well, the mailman came by. He brought you two or three big packages. Well, I couldn’t lift ‘em, so I opened the garage door and he tucked ‘em right inside.”
“Thanks, Nana.”
“Whatcha got in them big packages? A mail-order bride? They were so heavy. I wasn’t sure Richard was going to be able to get them into the garage himself. Never was a strong boy. You know he had braces on his legs when he was little. Looked like a little marionette.” Nana giggled. “Joe used to call him Peeni. You know why he called him that?”
“No, why?” Grant chuckled. Nana was giggling so hard, tears were coming to her eyes. It was good to see her crying from joy rather than pain.
“He called him that because he had them braces on his legs and he has that big long nose. Like Pinocchio.” Nana was laughing so hard she could barely get the words out. “And you know what else?”
Grant laughed and shook his head.
“Joe said his dad, Mel, has a micro-penis.” Nana doubled over. Grant jumped forward to stop her from tumbling out of her chair.
“Nana,” Grant stumbled over chuckles. “Did you just say a micro-penis?”
“Yup, I sure as shit did. Your papa used to go to the base gym, and Mel was always there, strutting around proud as a peacock with his little thing hanging out and no clothes on. More like a pea cock.” Nana roared with laughter, holding up her two fingers with just the tiniest space in between. “Cuz it’s the size of a little pea.”
Grant wiped tears from his eyes as he chuckled and looked at the old lady, roaring with laughter and holding up her two fingers.
“Your papa said there’s no way on God’s green earth that any offspring of tiny Mel Collins was going to escape with anything over an inch or two. Like a little button.”
The pair continued to laugh, each trying to calm themselves but starting up again when catching a glimpse of the other. Anyone walking in would think they were laughing at the old comedy on the television and not the micro-penis of the town mailman.
“I’m not sure too many people have conversations like this with their nana.” Grant shook his head, putting his hand on her arm and giving her a squeeze.
“Well, why not? It’s not like we become inhuman when we age. I still feel exactly the same inside, and you know your Papa Joe gave it to me on the regular.”
“Okay, Nana. That’s a little too much information. New subject?”
“Oh, Grant, stop blushing. I am a woman, after all.” Nana calmed herself from giggling as Grant squirmed. “Okay, my sweet boy, what should we talk about? Well, how was that party you went to at the school? Seem like you’re gonna like it there?” Nana pulled a fresh handkerchief from her pocket and wiped away the tears that still streaked her face.
“That’s kind of a long story. I’ll start back before my dentist appointment this morning. I was running late. You know how I hate to be late.”
“You take after me on that.”
“Anyway, I drove like an asshole behind this car. I was tailgating. I’d normally never drive like that. I just had that pit in the stomach anxiety over being late. Anyway, the car in front of me turned into the dentist office as well. I couldn’t just miss my appointment and not go in. Nana, when I got inside and she turned around, I saw the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my whole life. It was like my breath was just sucked from my body and I couldn’t remember how to get more. Well, as you can imagine, she avoided all eye contact with me, and when she finally did look in my direction, I was staring right at her. She looked away immediately, probably thinking I was some gross pervert.” Grant took a deep breath. “So I’m at the going-away party and there she is. A friend of hers introduced us. It was obvious she wanted nothing to do with me. She couldn’t walk away fast enough.”
“Well, who is she dear? Anyone I would know?”
“No, she’s not from Altus, originally.”
Nana huffed and shook her head.
“What is it? There’s plenty of good people that were born outside of Altus, you know?”
“Dear, I know that. But if she’s not from Altus, and she’s working as a teacher on the base, then most likely, she’s married to someone on the base. Did you ask her if she was married? Or check to see if she had a ring on?”
Grant searched his memories for answers. “No, I didn’t ask. But I don’t recall seeing a ring.”
“Honey, you need to find out if she’s married. You don’t wanna head down that road even an inch if she is. I can tell you’re already ready to give this girl your heart.” Nana crunched the handkerchief to her face and let out a few tears and sniffles before she was able to straighten herself out again. “I’m gonna tell you something not many people know about.”
“What is it?”
“One of them sluts that worked as a maid at the base lodging tried to come between your Papa Joe and me. They had an affair, Grant. Her name was Flor. Can you believe that? Like floor. Well, it suits her. She was a dirty ol’ trollop. They met cuz Papa was the services officer, so he was over to check on the lodge quite often. I found out about it because SSgt. Tim Wetmire, who worked for your papa, told me. He took a big risk telling me, was afraid your papa would discipline him. But Tim was my good friend too, so he told me anyway. Couldn’t stand that your papa was making a big fool out of me. You know, he would tell me he was working late, but he’d really be taking that trollop to Lawton for steak dinners and dancing. Can you imagine? Wasting good steak on someone named after a floor.”
Mouth hanging open, Grant could do nothing but force a blink or two and shake his head.
“After I found out, I packed up my things and I left. Your dad was only two at that time, so he doesn’t remember. I was gone for about a month, back to Kansas with my parents, when he comes driving up full of tears and apologies. Said he realized what a mistake he had made and begged me to come back. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to, but I eventually forgave him. He spent the rest of his life trying to make it up to me. And he was so careful never to hurt me again. And he never did. I never told anyone that, and all anyone remembers is the way he was with me afterwards. I guess I didn’t want anyone to know that our love story wasn’t perfect. But that’s the truth of it. I’m only telling you this because I don’t want to see you go through any pain. You’re a treasure, Grant, and when you do find that special someone, I know you won’t be making anything up to anybody because you’ll love them right from the start.”
Grant, still speechless, learned forward and kissed Nana on the cheek. They sat in silence and watched the old black and white comedy, but the laughter had stopped flowing. Grant searched his memory for the sight of a ring on Lottie’s finger and crossed his own that it hadn’t been there.
Chapter Five
Lottie
The sunlight cast an angry red light across her lids. The blinds were closed, but one asshole corner had been caught up. With a certain person on her mind, she was a little distracted and hadn’t noticed when she turned them closed the night before.
Lottie pulled the covers over her head and flung them back off again after two minutes, muttering, “I hate stale air.” She pulled down the sock she wrapped around the alarm clock to block out its obnoxious blue light, and it read 6:58. “Way too early.”
Turning on her side, she took her second pillow and placed it on her hip, to block the sunlight that was still too brightly beaming through the window. Smiling, she
closed her eyes and sighed, ready to sink back down into the illusions of her dreams. Maybe she’d fall back into a sexy dream. Like the reoccurring one she often had about the Russian Submariner who was only able to speak two words in English: “beautiful” and “more.” Or even the one she occasionally had about the Italian mobster who was heartless and cruel to everyone but her.
“Ugh,” Lottie kicked off the covers, her bladder mocking her all the way to the bathroom. There was no going back to sleep now. Sure, she could knock that corner of the blind down where it belongs and try to get back to sleep after she peed, but there had already been too much physical activity, and her mind had already begun to drift to the events of the day before. That wretched morning followed by that unexpected and flattering afternoon. She washed her hands and slid out of the bedroom, padding down the hall to her little galley kitchen. She grabbed the French press and filled it with coffee. Reaching over, she pulled her lime green teapot to the sink to fill it with water. She sighed and looked out the little front kitchen window.
Why would anyone get up this early on a Saturday if they don’t have to?
Apparently, no one on her street did. It was like a ghost town. A crow hopped along the middle of the street, almost as if it were celebrating the fact that the roads were not bustling yet. It almost looked like fun. What would the neighbors think if they woke up and found her hoping in the street and randomly shouting like the crow? “Caw caw caw.” She grinned.
Maybe when I’m an old lady and can use senility as an excuse, I’ll give it a try.
The stove knob for the front right burner was missing. It had been since she moved in. She’d asked the landlord about it, but he said he’d get her one and never returned. Always avoiding confrontations, she didn’t have the nerve to bring it up to him again.
I can do without it.
Lottie picked up the pliers and turned it on. It wasn’t her landlord’s fault that she insisted on using the front right burner. Lottie returned to the window, looking for the crow who had been so happily hopping, but he was gone. The red Vespa of the old man who lived on the corner came zipping down the street. The bird crowed from the telephone pole above as though he were cursing the thing. Lottie caught herself wishing the bird would dive-bomb the old man’s head. He’d had that Vespa for sale when she’d moved in three months ago. They’d agreed on a price of $1,800, but he changed his mind as he held her check and was supposed to hand over the keys. Millimeters from her hand. Millimeters! And he quickly closed his fist tightly around them and placed her check back in her waiting hand.
She unlocked the window and slid it open partially. “Next time he’s standing under a tree, do me a favor and shit on him, would ya?” Lottie smiled up at the crow and gave it a thumbs up. The crow cawed back a few times as though replying with a ha ha.
The tea kettle screeched out as though judging them in disapproval. Lottie grasped the pliers and twisted the burner off. She picked up the tea kettle and poured the water over the grounds. The glorious, sweet aroma of the coffee filled the kitchen. Lottie sucked in a deep breath.
Yes! This almost makes getting up worthwhile. Welp, maybe. Okay, not really.
She twisted the little kitchen timer—that looked like a pineapple—to set it for four minutes. A frown took up residence on her face as she set it back down. The memory of buying it was one of the last happy memories she had of her life with David.
He had called her from work to say he’d found out their next duty station. Joint Base Pearl Harbor/Hickam in Hawaii. She’d jumped up and down and squealed like a piglet. He asked her to meet him at Roma’s for dinner because he wanted to talk about something important.
Of course, she thought she knew what he wanted to talk about—the next logical thing for them to do—start a family. Excited, she’d dashed out of the house the moment she got off the phone and headed straight to Walmart. She bought a rattle, and as she was waiting to check out, she’d spied the little pineapple waiting to be purchased impulsively. And it worked. How could she resist its sweet smiling face, complete with rosy cheeks? Especially when you consider that she’d just found out she was moving to Hawaii—the land of pineapples.
The appetizer order of Mussels Marinara had just been placed in the center of the table when David looked straight up from the plate, to her eyes, and blurted out, “I’m in love with someone else.”
She's still not sure how much time had gone by before she was able to speak. He continued, perhaps taking advantage of the silence. He had fallen for another C-17 pilot, Veronica. Who was named Veronica anyway? She got assigned to Hickam as well. They were going to get a place together, near the beach.
Near the beach? She still couldn’t figure out why he would feel the need to add that little bit of information. To twist the knife? To fill dead space? Lottie couldn’t do anything but stare at him. Who was he? He looked like the man who’d only five years earlier promised to love, honor, and cherish her until death do them part, but clearly, he wasn’t. Blinking, she stood. He quickly stood with her.
“I’ll wait in the car,” she muttered.
Lottie got up and bolted out of the restaurant without looking back at him or any other living soul. And after fumbling through her purse through teary eyes, unable to find her keys, she leaned against the door of the car, her hand touching the rattle inside her purse. She groaned at it as she pulled it out and chucked it across the parking lot. Reaching back in, she clutched the pineapple, pulled back to throw that too, but stopped. Lowering her arm, she looked at the pineapple’s sweet, happy face and tucked it softly back inside her purse.
The ride home had been silent. David insisted she was too upset to drive and that she should ride back with him. They’d pick up her car the next day. He looked over every few seconds as though he were fearful of a—well-deserved—sucker punch to the nads. Probably smart on his part, but she hadn’t thought about doing anything to hurt him. She wasn’t even sure she was thinking. It was more like she was trapped in a space of nothingness. Was time going faster or slower? Was the car moving? Had he really said he was in love with someone else? Someone named Veronica?
Lottie’s head snapped to the timer, which sounded the four minutes were up and her coffee was ready. A sliver of the ache she felt that evening was drawn out of her memories and hung around her the rest of the morning until almost noon when she had to put on her work-out clothes and meet Beth for their Saturday afternoon walk around the reservoir. Today, she really wanted to skip it but realized it was probably the kind of day in which she’d need it most.
Begrudgingly, she pulled on the spandex pants and sports bra, questioning why she even bothered. She didn’t have the type of breasts that flapped when walking. She pulled on one of David’s old Air Force Academy t-shirts and her brand-new pair of walking shoes. She filled a bottle with water—no ice. The weather was a prefect seventy-two degrees. She hopped in her car, wishing she was hopping onto that red Vespa instead. She stuck her tongue out at the old man’s driveway in the rearview mirror. She left the windows down and turned the radio up, arriving at the reservoir before two songs could finish.
She pulled up next to Beth’s green Jeep Wrangler and hopped out. Beth was sitting in the driver’s seat with her leg dangling out the door, listening to the same song Lottie had just turned off. She held up a finger. “We can’t start until the song’s over.”
Lottie nodded and walked over to where a woman and her small son were feeding bread to some ducks. She smiled at the mother who only looked up from her cell phone for an instant, too preoccupied to smile back or notice the fact that her son had just picked up a duck turd. Lottie shook her head.
“Not my job,” she muttered as she looked out over the water.
I wonder if there are any dead bodies in there. Maybe.
She’d seen enough beer cans and used condoms as she walked around the reservoir to know that it wasn’t always the beautiful, angelic place that it was during the daytime.
Only
the sounds of the begging ducks remained when Beth flipped off the Jeep’s engine once the song wrapped up. She joined Lottie and clapped her hand. “You ready for this?”
“As ready as I’m gonna be.”
“Let’s get to it then, lady.” Beth slapped Lottie’s ass and charged over to the paved walking trail like some kind of psychotic drum major.
Lottie sighed and followed after her with heavy steps. “You know I haven’t lost a single pound since we started doing this. You said I’d lose twenty.”
“I never promised anything. You have to stop making all those trips to Happy Donuts. I lost seven pounds.” Beth motioned for Lottie to catch up with her.
“Yeah, well, you lost it all in your boobs.”
“Jealousy! At least I could lose seven pounds of boob and still have some. If you lost seven pounds of boobs, I could use you for my cereal bowl and coffee mug.” Beth stuck out her tongue.
“That’s true. Veronica has huge boobs.”
Beth stopped in her tracks. “Oh, honey, stop. You know I was just joking. I’d love to have your perky little tits any day. Mine are starting to look more and more like oranges dropped down into a pair of pantyhose.”
“Men love big boobs. It’s just another one of my many shortcomings. I’m surprised David married me at all, to be honest.”
Beth wrapped her arms around Lottie. “David is an asshole. A stupid asshole. I don’t know why he would leave you for that ugly twat, but Lottie, if I were into eating fish taco, I’d hold you tight and never let you go. You’re a treasure.”
“Sometimes I wish we were both into that. Because I know I’d be happy with you.”
Easy Love Page 4