Rebecca’s throat moved as she swallowed. “Okay, well, I wanted…Iowe you an apology.”
Thatwas a surprise, and Spencer was sure it showed on her face.
“I was terribly unprofessional. You were right. I wasn’t treatingyou like I should, and I wasn’t helping you enjoy your workouts. That’s totallyon me.”
Spencer watched her face, looked for sincerity. Found it.
“I’d like you to give me another chance. Come back to class. Ipromise it’ll be different.” She lifted herself up on the balls of her feet,then dropped back down, chewed on her bottom lip as she waited for a response.
“I…” What to do here? While Spencer knew she hadn’t really giventhe class a chance because Rebecca had made it so difficult, she’d beenrelieved to call it quits. But now…Rebecca looked so genuinely sorry. Spencerwasn’t stupid, however. She knew that Rebecca could simply just be doing damagecontrol, trying to save her reputation, trying to keep BodyFit from getting abad review (which Spencer had no intention of posting, but still…). Her face,though.
“Please?” Rebecca’s expression was softer, gentler than Spencerhad seen up until now, and it made her waver.
A car pulled up out front, and that took care of Spencer’swavering, as time had run out on her. “Okay,” she said quickly and with a waveof her hand. “Fine. I’ll give it another shot.” She wasn’t about to stand thereand argue, so she took the easiest path. Spencer didn’t count on how Rebecca’sface would light up. Or how warm that would make her feel.
“Great. That’s…that’s fantastic. Thank you.” Rebecca took a stepbackward. Another. Her face held the same expression as a kid who has just beentold there’s a snow day. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”
Spencer nodded as the car began to empty and a young couple lookedup at the house. “Yes. Yes, fine.”
Rebecca continued to grin, gave Spencer a little wave, then turnedand went back to her own yard.
Having correctly predicted the popularity of the neighborhood,Spencer was kept busy pretty much for the entire two hours of the open house,as potential buyers tromped through almost nonstop. There were a few who wereobviously there just to look—it wasn’t unusual for people to use open houses toget ideas for decorating their own homes—but there were also a couple ofserious contenders.
By the time she’d fastened the lockbox back onto the frontdoorknob and was heading to her car, Spencer was way overstimulated. Thatwasn’t going to change when she stopped by her parents’ house, so she sat inthe driver’s seat for a good ten minutes to decompress. She sent a text toJennifer, told her about the success of the day and that she’d send informationon the potential buyers once she got home. Tucking her phone back into herpurse, she ventured a glance to her left. She was in no way up for dealing withRebecca again but found herself feeling a mix of relief and disappointment whenshe noticed the Accord that had been parked in Rebecca’s driveway was now gone.
Yeah, that was for the best.
Ninety minutes later, she was seated at the dining room table inher parents’ house, having been talked into staying for dinner by her youngerbrother, Travis.
“And I got to push the huge cart today with all the stuff on it,”he was saying as he shoveled food into his mouth.
“Heavy stuff?” Spencer asked.
“Yeah. Dog food and cat litter and stuff like that. I really hadto use my muscles.” He held up an arm and flexed. “Feel.”
Spencer squeezed his biceps, then dutifully widened her eyes andmade all the right sounds of being impressed by his manly strength. It made himbeam with pride, something Spencer always loved to see. “So, the job’s workingout?” she asked him, but it was more directed at her parents.
Travis nodded as he forked half of a rather large salt potato intohis mouth.
“Honey, small bites,” Spencer’s mother said gently. “You don’twant to choke.”
Travis nodded again and spat the potato out onto his plate, thencut it in half.
Spencer tried not to grin as her mother just sighed and shook herhead. “Yes, the pet store owner is very patient with him,” she told Spencer.“Seems to be good so far.”
“Tomorrow is adoption day,” Travis said, his blue eyes sparklingwith excitement.
“Yeah? What does that mean?” Spencer loved when Travis was thisanimated about something. Life could be hard at times for an intellectuallydisabled thirty-year-old, and finding a job that held his interest, evenharder. Travis had been through many since he’d been old enough and educatedenough to give it a shot. He always started strong, but his mind would wanderand he had a terrible time concentrating.
Travis started to talk with his mouth full, but caught the lookhis mom shot him. After he’d made a show of swallowing, he said, “The animalshelter brings in some dogs and we put them in pens around the store. Peoplecan come and look at them and play with them and maybe adopt them.”
“And do you get to play with them?” Spencer asked.
Travis nodded vigorously.
“That sounds awesome.”
“It is.” Travis shoveled more food into his mouth. “I loveadoption days.”
