“Well, I need someone to chair the Spring Fling,” she continued on. “Laura Anne has just stepped up and done everything this year, so I couldn’t possibly ask her again. Do you know of anyone?”
I turned awkwardly to look at her. Mrs. Taylor peered at me, and, Father Rob, wiping a stream of dirt across his sweaty forehead, said, “I can’t think of a better person for the job than Annabelle. She’s an ace with the organization and handles anything that’s thrown at her like a total pro.”
I turned back toward the bushes and shot him an evil look. “I know you’re my boss and a pastor,” I hissed at him, “but that doesn’t mean that the devil can’t still find a special place for you.”
He laughed and said louder, “In fact, I think it would be great for Annabelle. It will give her an opportunity to meet all kinds of new people.”
“Well, then it’s settled,” Mrs. Taylor said, shifting so that the sides of her flabby body spilled over the frame of the chair. “I’ll call you about our first meeting.”
When I told Ben about it over a candlelit dinner at La Cava that night, thankful for the first time in months not to be pregnant, as a rich cabernet numbed the stress of the day, all he could say was, “Please, let’s not become one ofthosecouples.”
He didn’t have to elaborate. We had spent many a moonlit night lying under the stars on the top of the RV, talking about how our lives were going to be different. We weren’t going to be one of those boring, by-the-book couples who settled into suburbia and joined the PTA and had sex once a month. But, as I took another sip of wine, I felt a sinking feeling that, here we were, living in Salisbury,steadily employed and already volunteering for things we didn’t care a thing about. We needed to shake it up—and fast.
I didn’t mention the Facebook thing to Ben, not wanting to hurt his feelings. And it shouldn’t have been a big deal. But I couldn’t count the number of times Cameron and I had rolled our eyes and said that having to share your “love” with your Facebook friends was so fake. And I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was a sign that something was amiss.
Our waiter, tall, thin and prematurely gray, approached the table, and, in a tone that said he and Ben went way back said, “Our special tonight is penne a la vodka with shrimp. I highly recommend it.” He turned to Ben and said, “Laura Anne had it earlier this evening and said it was fabulous.”
“O-kay...” Ben said the word like it was two. “I guess I’ll have that.”
“Make it two,” I said, smiling generously. When the waiter was out of earshot, I said, “Who the hell is Laura Anne? Mrs. Taylor was talking about her earlier today.”
Ben swigged his wine and said, “Weird. She’s a girl I went to high school with. Classic overachiever. Kind of annoying.”
I nodded. “Oh. Well, things don’t change. Mrs. Taylor said Laura Anne is the only one who ever helps her with the volunteer stuff.”
“Anyway,” Ben said, “tell me more about this event. Are we going to have our pictures on the front page of theSalisbury Postas the town’s most philanthropic new couple?”
I sighed. “Can’t we go on the road again?”
Ben shrugged. “Dad’s partner should be back from his ‘sabbatical’ in six months. And then I’m all about it.”
“Sabbatical?” I whispered.
“Court-ordered sabbatical,” he whispered back.
Ben’s mom picked us up in the Subaru station wagon she had had since he was in elementary school, and I felt like I was a kid again as we giggled and held hands in the backseat. Even when you live alone, sometimes it’s nice to have a couple of hours to really talk and reconnect.
That night we lay in bed and whispered about nothing and everything all at once until the sun came up. “I’m so glad I found you,” I told Ben. “Being with you has made me free.”
He stroked my face, kissed my mouth and said, “You are the only woman in the world to me, TL. Nothing is better than knowing I get to be with you for the rest of my life.”
It was exactly what we needed. And, as I drifted off for a couple of hours before I headed into work, I felt so content that, no matter where the future led, my forever was lying beside me.
When I woke up that morning, I had an e-mail from the other man who wanted to be my forever.
Good morning, lovely. Just wanted to inform you that I’m booking a Paris trip for two weeks from now. You know no one does Paris quite like I do. Give me a chance to wow you. We can rebuild what we had. I love you.
Just like Cameron had said only a few hours earlier, I thought I might throw up.
Lovey
Little Lies
It was a woman’s responsibility to replace herself and her husband times two, according to my momma. And that was even more important for me, since momma only had Lib and me to carry on the family. I listened, but there were an awful lot of times when my five girls were growing up that I thought I must have been insane.Who,I would ask myself,would sign up for all of this time after time after time?But now that the tantrums are over, the fights about late nights out and car dating and boys and outfits and shoes, and Dan walking through the house counting how many lights had been left on, I’m so happy that I have my five girls—and that they have each other.
That afternoon, sitting at my squeaky-clean new assisted living apartment, there they all were, crowded around their daddy, doing their best tricks to get his attention even though he didn’t know if he was in North Carolina or Timbuktu.
“I think he knows what’s going on and just can’t express himself,” Sally said.
