“No, not mad,” he said. “I’m not sure what I am. I have to think about it. I understand how complicated your emotions have been. I get that you’d boxed yourself into a corner. But I wish you’d told us.”
“I understand. I’m so sorry.” She hoped she hadn’t ruined the best thing to happen to her in years. But if she had, she’d figurethings out. She had walked into the light and she wasn’t going back into the dark.
“If you’re not going to buy it, then where are you going?” Seth asked.
“Well,” Lorna said sheepishly, “I was thinking of checking out those condos you found. If... if that’s okay with you.”
Seth suddenly grinned. He took her hand in his and squeezed it affectionately. “Lorna Lott, that would be awesome.”
It felt like her body cracked open and flooded with light when he grinned at her like that.Yes, that would be awesome.
Chapter 38Lorna Is Forty-Three
It is bean’s ninth birthday, and he and lorna have made a German chocolate cake. Bean has his baking badge now, the result of the chocolate cake he finally decided on.
There is to be a party at Seth’s condo, which, how convenient, is just next door. When she bought her condo, she was a little nervous about the only unit left being next to his—familiarity breeds contempt and all. But Seth thought it was fantastic. “Are you kidding? We’ve been neighbors all this time. It’s perfect.” He’s even put a gate in the fence between their small backyards so Aggie can come and go as she pleases.
Lorna is in a much better place. She’s been to see Kristen twice since the first time. She has won the position of senior vice president at long last and received a substantial raise and signing bonus, which she donated to Kristen’s care. When Deb told her the good news, Lorna shrugged a little. “It was a team effort,” she said.
She has a much better working relationship with her staff, although she can still be a bit hard on them. But ever since she returned to work and adjusted the sales quotas and apologized to everyone, things have steadily improved. They are selling more than they ever did when she was mad at them all the time.When she bought her condo, she had a housewarming party and invited them all, much to their collective surprise. But they all came—Suzanne, looking gorgeous. Lance and his wife. Sheldon and his boyfriend, who opened her drawers to look inside as if it were a perfectly natural thing to do. Lorna even invited Beverly Rich from HR, who, after seeing the boxes of Precious Moments figurines in the garage, offered to sell them on eBay for a cut. The arrangement worked out well for them both. The only one Lorna kept was of the lady, the boy, and the dog. The one Bean had handed her the first time she went in to see Kristen.
The most surprising thing of all is that, even though she now wears her hair naturally curly and wild, as Montreal called it, Lorna has not heard anyone call her King Kong behind her back. Suzanne has even complimented the dresses Lorna has been wearing to work.
Callie and her family have come for Bean’s birthday party. Lorna and Callie are slowly making their way back to friendship. “Isn’t it awesome,” Callie said once, “that the friends you make as children can be the friends you want as adults?”
“Yes!” Lorna replied, beaming. “Does that mean you want me?”
“Sort of, but not if you make it weird,” Callie warned her.
“I can’t make any promises!” Lorna cried, still beaming.
Four of Bean’s fellow Ranger Explorers have come for the party, and they can hardly wait to cram with Callie’s kids into the bouncy castle that barely fits in Seth’s backyard. “We should really take down the fence between us,” Seth muses as he watches them set it up.
“We should,” Lorna says. “It would make things easier.”
Seth looks at her and winks. “Make what things easier?”
Lorna smiles back. “You know.”
“I do. I just wondered if you did. You know, we could eventually knock out the wall between our dining rooms too.”
Lorna smiles. There is something true between her and Seth, but it’s a slow burn. There was a bit of a trust issue after they came back from Florida because she had not been forthcoming about the house. And she suspects he is still getting over the death of Jill. Those traumas don’t clear out as quickly as one would like. She should know—she’s still cleaning out her brain. But there have been a few dates, lots of hand-holding, and in the garage last week, he kissed her. Not just a peck, either, but a full-blown,he’s so hotkiss. They are working their way up from friends to more than friends, and then they will be taking down fences and knocking down walls, and Lorna could not be happier.
Martin has come to the party. When he moved out, Lorna saw the enormous speakers that explained the noise she always heard coming from his apartment. Not a marching band after all, but the thump of heavy bass. He moved to San Antonio into another property Mr. Contreras owns and says it is in the same state of repair as the old place. “It’s good to see everyone—even you, Lolo,” he says with a grin, giving her a playful chuck on the shoulder. They started calling her Lolo after the Florida trip. It made them all laugh then, and still does, apparently.
Liz also bought a condo in this complex, a smaller unit on the other side of the property. But she comes to drink wine on Lorna’s back deck from time to time, and Seth relies on her to babysit Bean when he and Lorna go out to dinner. She joins Lorna and Seth and Bean at least once a month when they volunteer at the soup kitchen. Peggy comes too. Lorna invited Candy to the party, but Candy told her she was crazy and she still hadn’t forgiven her. Besides, she was busy that day, but maybe next time.
Liz’s frequent visits have reminded Lorna of her mother andPeggy, and then before she knew what was happening, Liz and Peggy became friends too. Peggy has come to the party with vanilla cupcakes decorated with little explorer hats she made from felt. “What are they?” Bean whispers, his brow furrowed as he examines them.
“Explorer hats, I think?” Lorna whispers back.
“Awesome,” Bean says. “She could get a badge for that.”
When it comes time to cut the cake, Lorna lights the candles and Bean almost takes too long thinking of the perfect wish before he blows them out. One of the boys asks what he wished for.
“I can’t tell you,” Bean says.
“Or he’d have to kill you,” Lorna adds. There is a pause... Everyone looks at her. And then everyone laughs.
