Read The Ladies' Room Online

Authors: Carolyn Brown

Tags: #Married Women, #Families, #Contemporary, #Fiction, #Romance, #Family Life, #Dwellings - Remodeling, #Inheritance and Succession, #General, #Domestic Fiction, #Dwellings, #Love Stories

The Ladies' Room (21 page)

Should I make the first move and reach out to her? Or
should I wait? If she needed me, she had the phone number.
But-in motherhood, there's always a but or two lying around
in the wings-I should be the one calling the shots.

A dark colored pickup slowed down and turned the corner,
coming to a stop in my driveway. I figured someone had turned
at the wrong corner and was using my driveway to turn around.
The engine stopped, and the door opened. That got my attention,
and I recognized Drew the moment he stepped out of the
truck. Squared shoulders. Belly sucked in. Chin up. He wore
confidence as casually as his dark, pleated slacks and a
white long-sleeved, lightly starched shirt. An evening breeze
carried the smell of expensive shaving lotion across the porch as
he shook the legs of his trousers down and rang the doorbell.

My heart caught in my throat. Something was wrong with
Crystal. She'd had a car wreck and was dying or already dead.
That was the only reason Drew Williams would set foot on
my property again after the stunt with "his" car. He rang the
bell a second time, waited a moment, and rang it again. When
I didn't answer, he knocked hard and long.

"I'm around here" I finally got words to come out of my
mouth.

"Where?" he called out.

"Side porch."

He strolled around the porch and sat down beside me without an invitation. He didn't look too shook up, so maybe our
daughter wasn't hooked up to every known medical device in
an intensive-care unit.

He slid a look from my dangling foot up to my hair. "Good
evening, Trudy."

Wonder how he liked the jeans cut off just below my knees
and frayed at the hems. I hadn't had time to hem them. I had a
house to work on, furniture to stain, a mother in the nursing
home, a child who wasn't speaking to me, and decisions to
make. If he didn't like my jeans, he could take his charisma
and go visit with the devil about it.

"Drew?"

"I've come to ask you nicely to come home where you belong, Trudy."

If that didn't beat all. Drew Williams asking me to come
back to him and saying it was where I belonged. Had Charity
found someone younger with even more money? Or did he like
cut-off jeans with paint splotches these days? And to think of
all the lovely lingerie I'd bought through the years.

He laid a hand on my knee. "Well?"

I picked up his hand and dropped it.

He sighed and looked out across the yard. "Okay, I was
wrong. I've been a fool. But I don't like coming home to an
empty house in the evenings. I miss supper being ready. I miss
everything you did to keep a home together."

Not a single endearment. He missed having toilet paper on
the roller and pot roast on the table. I couldn't remember the last time Drew had told me he loved me. I think he'd said the
words when we were dating, but, sitting there beside him, I
wasn't sure he had actually said those three words even then.

He threw an arm across the back of the swing but was careful not to touch me. "What do you say? Let's call a truce. I'll
forgive you for the car. I'll forgive you for taking my money.
We can sell this property and reclaim most of it. You've done
a pretty good job of making this old place decent, so it should
bring a fair amount. We'll put it back into the savings account."

Still he didn't mention loving me or apologize for all the
misery and embarrassment he'd put me through. I was being
offered my old car that no doubt still smelled faintly of sardines. And Charity got one of those new Thunderbirds.

"I've got a bottle of wine in my new truck. We'll celebrate
tonight. Go lock up the house, and come with me. Your clothes
are still in the house. I'll move them back into your closet if
you'll come home. Please, Trudy?"

"Back into my closet?" I whispered.

Were Charity's short skirts and skinny little size-extrasmall shirts on my hangers? Were her red satin thongs folded
neatly in my underwear drawer? The drawer would be offended if my Hanes Her Way white cotton briefs were put back
in there after it had known such tasty little treats. I just couldn't
do that to a perfectly good dresser drawer.

"No, thank you," -l said loud and clear.

His tone changed. "Don't play hard to get. I know I made a
mistake or two, but you were so busy with Crystal and your
own life, I just wanted someone to make me feel special. I'm
past that now."

So now it was my fault. I'd spent too much time with our
child. He hadn't felt special. Poor baby. Bless his heart.

"Marriage is built on trust and respect, and when that's
gone, it's like sticking dynamite under the foundation of a
house and expecting it to go on standing. I could never trust
you again. Every time you got a phone call, I'd be wondering
if you were setting up a date. Every time you said you had to
stay overnight on a trip, it would be in the back of my mind that you were with another woman. So no, thanks. I'm not interested."

"You are a fool, Trudy." His voice took on a sharper edge.

"I can be a happy fool for not living with you or a -miserable
one for living with you. I'll take happy."

He jumped up and folded his arms across his chest. "I gave
you a place in society."

"Give it to Charity. I don't want it anymore."

It takes me a while sometimes to get the big picture, but
when I do, it's an amazing revelation. Drew was in a bind, and
I was the only way out of it. It must be serious for him to arrive all dressed up, freshly shaven, smelling good, and with
wine waiting.

"She wants to get married, doesn't she?" I guessed. "I provided the fire wall between you and your young toys, didn't I?
You couldn't leave poor old dumb Trudy, so you were protected
from all those young twits. Now I'm gone, and you are in hot
water, aren't you?"

He jerked his head around to glare at me. "So what's the
price? I can't marry that girl. She'll ruin me financially. Give
me a ballpark figure of what you want"

"Price? As in money?"

"Or cars or a new house or you name it, Trudy."

"What if I said absolute celibacy?"

"What are you talking about? Me or you?"

"Both"

"You are crazy. You can have your own room, your own
bed, and whatever else it'll cost me to get you back home. But
Iwon't.."

Oops! He'd gone too far, and he knew it the minute the
words left his mouth.

"I wouldn't ask it of you, Drew. You need a good, stable
woman, but I'm not that woman. Not anymore."

"It'll cost you," he said.

"Oh?"

"I'll turn Crystal against you. I've already started. You'll
either take us both or you don't get her. She'll hate you."

I raised my voice. "Don't threaten me"

"Hey, Trudy." Billy Lee pushed back the hedge and headed
straight for the porch.

His timing was perfect. I thought about kissing him right in
front of Drew.

"Over here, Billy Lee. In the swing."

Drew completely ignored Billy Lee when they passed on the
steps. "You've got until tomorrow morning. Think it over," Drew
threw over his shoulder when he reached the truck.

"I've thought about it. The answer is no. Forever." Strangely,
I wasn't even angry.

"Got any sweet tea made up?" Billy Lee sat on the porch,
bracing his back up against the house and stretching his legs
out in front of him. Sawdust clung to his hair and clothing,
and he smelled like wood shavings. He needed a shave, and
the way his shoulders sloped, I could tell he was tired. But he
was handsome beyond words and smelled like heaven to me.

"Yes, I do. I'll get us a couple of glasses. I could use one too"

He followed me into the house. "The floor man called me a
while ago. Said he had a cancellation and can get to the office
and guest room tomorrow if we want"

"Guess I'd better reserve a room out at the Western Inn?" I
thought aloud.

"Well, if you want to catch up on some rest, that would be
fine. But I was thinking maybe a little two-night jaunt somewhere would be nice for some of that rest and recuperation
stuff. You up for another trip?"

Billy Lee hadn't even mentioned Drew. Plain old curiosity
would have prompted a couple of questions about why he'd
been there.

"Sure. Where are we going, and what kind of clothes do I
need to pack?"

He drank deeply of the tea I set in front of him. "Well, just
how tightly can you pack a small bag?"

"How little of a bag are we talking about?"

"If we leave tomorrow morning, and you wear jeans and a
T-shirt and maybe wrap an overshirt around your waist and
tie the arms in front, could you make it with just the bare
necessities?"

"But why would I need to take so little?"

"Thought we might go on the motorcycle."

My heart skipped a beat. "Then I can pack in a grocery
sack"

"Duffel bag will be fine. I've got an extra one if you need it.
We'll take the back roads down to Nocona, Texas, and prowl
around in that area for a couple of days."

"That sounds wonderful. Billy Lee, I've got a decision to
make, and I need the help of a good friend, if you don't mind
listening."

A smile twitched the corners of his mouth. "You callin' me
a friend?"

"Guess I am. You got a problem with bein' my friend? I
wouldn't blame you if you did. It comes with a lot of baggage"

"I'll take the baggage. I've got baggage too, you know."

My heart felt lighter than it had in a long time. "Oh, yeah,
what's your baggage? I'll bet mine is heavier."

"This is beginning to sound like a television commercial.
`My dog's bigger than your dog,'" he said.

"So what is your baggage? You don't have an ex-husband
who's a horse's butt or an obstinate grown child."

"I don't want to discuss it tonight. What's the decision your
friend can help you with?"

"Actually, I've already made it, but I guess I just want you
to be in agreement with me," I said.

He looked away from me. "What is it?"

"I'm not going back to school this fall. We're not nearly
through in the house, and I really like the remodeling business. It's like resuscitating an old lady who's almost dead
and finding she's got a lot of years left in her. Hey, did I tell
you I found an old lamp up in the attic that I plan to use in
my bedroom? It's got this strange shade. Maple leaves around
the edge, and it's kind of like a leaded Tiffany lamp, but it's
not."

He turned back to me with a big smile on his face. "I remember that lamp. It used to sit on a table in the living room
when I was a little boy, back before Gert married Lonnie. I was afraid you were going to say that you'd decided to give
Drew another chance after all."

"Drew has had all the chances he's getting. He can fix his
own problems from now on," I said.

"I'm glad, Trudy. I didn't want you to go back to him. I
like us."

"Us?"

"Yes, I like us right where we are in this moment in time. I
hope if it has to change, it goes forward, not backward," he
said. "Now, about that lamp?"

"You changed the subject, Billy Lee. Why?"

"Because I'm not sure I want to hear what you've got to say
about our going forward"

"I think I'd like that"

"Good. Now let's talk about the lamp."

I smiled. That was enough for tonight for both of us. "I'd
love to have another one just like it, but there was only one in
the attic. When I buy a computer, I'll do some research and see
if I can find another, but I bet it's the lone survivor of an era."

He rolled his neck to get the kinks out. "Can you be ready
by seven thirty in the morning?"

"I can be ready in ten minutes if you want to go tonight."

I got one of his crooked grins and thought again of Harrison Ford. "Seven thirty in the morning is early enough. And I
think you made the right decisions about work and Drew."

The next morning Billy Lee brought over a duffel bag, and
I filled it very carefully, carrying only the barest of necessities
to get me through the next two days. I carried it to the kitchen
and handed it to Billy Lee. The Harley was parked in the
backyard, so we went out the kitchen door. The floor man
arrived as we were leaving, and Billy Lee told him to lock up
when he left. Billy Lee shoved my duffel into one of the
empty saddlebags on the cycle and helped me settle a brandnew helmet on my head. He brought out a tube of sunscreen
from his pocket and said, "The wind and sun will blister your
fair skin. Put on your overshirt. It will protect your arms from
the heat as well as bugs. I'll put this on your face and neck,
and you can use it like hand lotion to protect your hands."

His touch was as light as butterfly wings. I didn't know
which I'd rather do-ride with the wind or just stand there in
the yard and let him cover my neck and face with sunblock all
day. He finished and climbed onto the cycle, then patted the
backseat, and I carefully hopped up behind him. Suddenly I
was embarrassed. What did I do with my hands?

Billy Lee solved that crisis when he reached around behind
him and grabbed both my arms, wrapped them firmly around
his midsection, and revved up the engine. By the time he got
to Main Street and turned right, I was in love with the cycle.
Too bad Drew hadn't offered me a Harley. I might be moving
my clothes back into my old bedroom.

Yeah, right, I thought.

Not even a Harley was that good.

Ravia, what was left of Russet, Mannsville, and Dickson
blew past at seventy miles an hour. I was definitely resigning
when we got back to Tishomingo. There was no way I was
ever going to be stuck in a classroom if Billy Lee wanted to take
a two-day jaunt on a motorcycle and I had the opportunity to
go with him.

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