Sounds great. See you then.Shedecided to forego the exclamation point and happy face she wouldhave added in a text to her friends.
Dammit. Now what? She reconsidered her plansfor evening. Maddy had already told her she was surprising Chasewith a romantic dinner at home tonight. Aiden, Maddy’s brother, wasin Boston for the weekend visiting some of his law schoolbuddies.
Aiden had offered to take her with him so shecould visit her family, but she had no one else to watch the shopthese days. Natalie had said she she’d be willing to lend a hand.However, Natalie was working long hours at the gallery for theupcoming grand opening, so Payson didn’t feel right asking her.
Not that Payson minded, Natalie was a buddingartist and a hard worker and deserved her own success. Nor did shewant to take advantage of Natalie’s generosity, not unless she wasdesperate anyway. She still hadn’t found Natalie’s replacement, sono time off was foreseeable in the near future.
She could run the shop alone quitecomfortably, but she finally recognized that she needed a break nowand again. Not to mention, she offered fair-priced delivery oflarge items within a thirty-mile radius and would need someone tohelp with deliveries. Come spring, she’d desperately need someassistance. Maybe she’d find a high school or college studentneeding some extra cash.
Looks like she was spending the eveningalone. As usual. Not that she minded too much; she enjoyed her owncompany. Although, she admitted, it got a little lonely sometimes.Payson took a few motivating deep breaths and walked through to theback, skillfully dodging the boxes cluttering the small hallway andstoreroom on her way out the rear exit. She pushed open the heavysteel door, setting the alarm on her way out.
Living upstairs was handy, as it made for aconvenient commute. Forgoing a coat for the quick dash up thestairs, she rubbed her arms to stay warm against the chill wind.Shivering violently in the icy, thirty-five mile-an-hour gusts, shebarely managed to get the door unlocked.
Just as she settled in with a glass of wine,curled up in front of the blazing fire with a favorite book, herphone chirped again.Can you come down to Boston next week? Iscrewed up.
Double dammit, Cara. Payson had been calleddown for bad grades, broken hearts, food poisoning… you name it,Cara didn’t hesitate to call for help. She was glad her littlesister felt she could turn to her for support, but she alsowondered if she and Jen were overly enabling of her during thetough years, rather than empowering.
Rather than texting, she went straight forthe direct approach. Cara could dance around the topic for hours.She tapped the send button. As soon as the call connected, shestarted, “I’m sure you didn’t screw anything up. What’s goingon?”
Sniffling on the other end. She could hearCara trying to breathe slowly so she could speak. “I broke aten-thousand-dollar piece of equipment.” And more blubbering.
Yikes. Let’s hope she didn’t expect Payson topay for it. “Back up a few steps for me, sis. What did you break?”She sat up and marked the page of her book. This would take awhile.
“It was my turn to check on the weatherstation in Rockport. It’s been buggy lately, so I knew some repairswere needed. I took up a few undergrads to do the grunt work, asusual. Total rooky mistake, but a huge gust of wind rushed through,right as I had the panel open and exposed. One of the undergradswas messing around and knocked into me…” Uncontrollablesobbing.
Payson could just make out words like “I…bruised butt… the computer…” Not knowing a darn thing aboutmeteorology, she had no idea what she was talking about, but itdidn’t sound good. “Cara, I am sure no one would blame you; itsounds like an accident. Are you ok?”
“I’m sore, but I’m ok. Mistakes like thatshouldn’t happen.”
“Did anyone say that you need to pay forit?”
“No.” Sniffle.
“Do you know how to fix it?”
Goose-like honking sound of dramatic noseblowing.“Sort of.”
“Do you have a professor you can ask to helpyou fix it?”
Hiccup. “Yeah; Moser would help if Iasked.”
Calmly, Payson helped her sistertroubleshoot. “Do you still need me to come down? Since Natalieleft, I don’t have anyone else to run the shop.”
“I forgot she was leaving. No. No. I’ll befine. I can handle it.”
“You can do this. You’re going to be Dr. CaraRoberts in a few short years. Teach your own class or even run yourown research or meteorology department. You won’t have been thefirst one to break an expensive piece of equipment, nor will you bethe last. Most importantly, you are taking the initiative to fixit.”
Cara agreed to update her with her progressor to call again if she just couldn’t make it work. “Love you,sis.”
“Love you too. Go relax for the rest of theevening. Nothing you can do tonight.”
“Pace?” She could hear the relief liftingfrom her sister’s shoulders, her voice less watery and moreperky.
“Yeah?”
“You’re so much like Dad. I love Jen, and Iloved Mom, of course. But you’ve got that steadiness like he did.”Payson was touched. It had been years since they’d done it, but sheand her sisters used to stay up late, recollecting their parent’sstrengths, their idiosyncrasies. Somehow, it helped them to feeltheir parents were still with them.
She knew she had quite a bit of theirmother’s perfectionism in her, but it felt so good to hear herselfcompared to their dad. Her mother’s dreaminess, but her father’spatience and perseverance. Her favorite inherited trait, however,was her exuberance for even the little things - that came fromGranny, their dad’s Irish mother. “Thanks. I like to think so.”
