Aftershock

by K. G. MacGregor

  Anna pulled into the garage and turned off the engine. As far as she was concerned, it had been the perfect weekend, and that had nothing to do with taking over the dealerships in Palm Springs. She and Lily had finally reconnected, talking intimately again of their feelings for one another for the first time since the weekend in Yosemite. More than once, Anna had been tempted to spring her big question, but Lily deserved her own getaway for that, not an add-on from a business trip.

  “That was fun, Amazon. Remind me to think up a nice way to thank you for asking me along.”

  “I’m sure you’ll come up with something,” Anna said, hoisting their bag over her shoulder.

  “Right now, I’m thinking something involving the pool.”

  “Sounds good to me.” They had driven to Barker Dam inside the national park at Joshua Tree, and then hiked three more miles to visit the oasis. It was certainly beautiful, but difficult to enjoy in the overbearing heat.

  Lily opened the side door. “It’s weird coming in and not being bowled over by Chester. I got used to him in a hurry.”

  “How will we ever sleep without him?”

  “I plan to wear you out.”

  Anna grinned and followed her upstairs, where they discarded their clothes and put on their robes. Minutes later, they dropped them on the chaise lounge and slipped nude into the heated pool.

  “It seems like a year since the last time we did this,” Lily said as she glided through the water on her back.

  Anna swam faster to catch up, and hooked Lily underneath her breasts. “We have a lot to catch up on. This weekend has been a nice start.”

  Lily spun in Anna’s arms and they sank beneath the water as they kissed. “I’m drowning in you, Amazon,” she sputtered when they came up for air.

  “Let’s get in the hot tub.” That was Anna’s favorite way to relax. She settled into the warm churning water and pulled Lily’s feet into her lap. “I’ve missed this.”

  “Is the worst of it over?”

  “I probably won’t have to work the long hours anymore, but it’s going to take months to make sense of the mess Gordon Sweeney left. And I can’t hire someone to manage it until I get it all straightened out.”

  “And Palm Springs?”

  “I can pop in there a couple of times a month to check on things. Maybe we’ll look for a condo down there. Would you like that?” She shuddered as Lily slipped a hand between her legs.

  “If all our weekends in Palm Springs are going to be like this one, that’s an offer I won’t be able to refuse.”

  “Winters could be nice. Summers we’d spend inside . . . in our air-conditioned bedroom.”

  “Now you’re talking.”

  Anna moaned as Lily’s fingers went inside her. No doubt about it—she and Lily were home again.

  “We find the defendant not guilty, Your Honor.”

  Lily had performed her job nicely, getting her client acquitted of charges of reckless endangerment of a child. She felt like shit. She had demonstrated to the jury probable doubt that Mr. Thuy was aware that his children had access to his gun. The family had narrowly avoided a tragedy when their four-year-old son fired the gun into their mattress as he rushed to place it back under the bed. She wanted to take Mr. Thuy down to the morgue, where on any given day he could see firsthand the damage a gun can do. Then perhaps he would trouble himself to get a gun lock, or better still, get rid of the goddamned thing.

  She spoke briefly with the prosecutor, accepting his congratulations and assuring him that she had already taken steps to educate her client on gun safety and children. Both were hopeful they had seen the last of this careless father.

  Lily trudged back to her office and closed the door. She hated criminal trials, but Tony had assigned her this one when he and Lauren had gotten behind in their own work, having split her workload while she was gone. With the trial over quickly, she could get back into the divorces, adoption filings and custody hearings that comprised the majority of her cases.

  There was a light knock, and her door was opened a crack. “Lily, you got a minute?”

  She looked up to see Tony in her doorway, unusual for this late on a Friday afternoon. “Of course. Anytime.” She gestured to a chair across from her desk.

  Tony stepped into her office and closed the door. He looked nervous. “So how are you doing, my friend?”

  “It’s hard sometimes, Tony.” She turned and picked up the newly framed picture from Strawberry Peak. “I still miss her. I guess I always will.” She knew her eyes were misting, but she held the tears in check.

  “I’m sorry, Lily. If we can help you with anything, you’ll let us know?”

  Lily nodded. After a few quiet moments, she asked, “Is there something else?”

  He shifted his feet from back to front and leaned forward in the chair, as if reluctant to continue. “I wanted to ask you about your workload. I was wondering if maybe we’ve pushed you back into things too quickly.”

  “I don’t think so. Is there a problem with my work?” she asked testily.

  “I’ve gotten a couple of calls. Silvia Flores said you didn’t seem like you were prepared for her custody hearing last week, and she asked for another attorney.”

  “She got her son back yesterday. What more does she want?”

  He looked across the desk at her, but she wouldn’t meet his eye. “It’s not like you to go into court unprepared, Lily.”

  “It was the Thuy trial, Tony, which by the way, ended this afternoon with an acquittal. You know how I hate criminal stuff. It just takes me longer to slog through it all.”

  Tony nodded in apparent understanding. “Okay, Lil. But if you need any help, you’ve got to let me know. Colleen still hasn’t heard anything from the PD’s office, so she’s available to lend a hand.”

  Lily bit her tongue to keep from blurting out a sarcastic reply about Tony’s flagrant suggestion that his wife could do her job. Instead, she answered crisply, “If I need any help, Tony, I’ll be sure to ask.”

  Tony returned to his office, leaving Lily to stew. The clock by the door read only a few minutes after four. Quitting time.

  The headaches at Premier Volkswagen continued to grow. Less than a month after the takeover, only Ben Dunlap remained. The service and finance managers were dismissed for failing to follow Anna’s new guidelines. While Ben was loyal and easy to work with, he wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, which meant Anna had to look elsewhere for management help. She had replaced Tommy Russell with Marco Gonzalez, a thirty-one-year-old dynamo who loved Volkswagens. She desperately needed Hal’s help with the books, but was reluctant to add to his workload, especially since he was already spending two days a week in Palm Springs. So here she was on a Friday night, poring over printouts in the conference room, trying to reconcile the inventory with the revenue.

  Realizing she wouldn’t make it home for dinner, she called Lily with a plan. “Hey, sweetheart. How was your day?”

  “Well, I won my case, but all things being equal, I’d rather have seen my client do a little jail time,” Lily said cynically.

  “So, I guess it’s too bad you’re so good at what you do.” Lily sounded genuinely dismal, and Anna hoped she would like her idea. “I’m going to be stuck here at the VW place for awhile. I was wondering if maybe you’d . . . pretty please . . . pick up a pizza and come by.” She listened hopefully for Lily’s response.

  “Hmm . . . That actually sounds better than cooking. Do you have a nice tip in mind?”

  “Definitely.”

  An hour later, Anna saw the X3 pull onto the lot, slipping into the space beside her Z8. She was happy to see Chester hop out from his crate in the backseat. Anna met them at the side door, taking the leash and the pizza box as Lily returned to the car for their drinks. Once they were all inside, she threw the deadbolt to lock them in.

  Alone in the dark showroom, she quickly stole a kiss. As their lips met, she was immediately aware of the overpowering taste and smell of a
lcohol, and of the breath mints Lily had obviously used to cover it up. The realization that Lily had been drinking alone so early on a Friday night set off a few alarms. First and foremost was Anna’s worry that something had happened again to trigger her depression about losing her mother. She was even more concerned that Lily had driven herself to the dealership when she likely had no business driving. Bringing that up would probably set off a fight, but stopping Lily from driving drunk was too important to dance around.

  As they ate and played with the dog, Anna watched for any of the telltale signs that Lily was drunk. She seemed to be in complete control, but the smell of alcohol was pronounced on her breath, even as she masked it with the pizza and soda. There was no way around the awkward exchange.

  “You know, I don’t feel like working anymore tonight. Why don’t we head home?”

  “Good call, Amazon. Come on, Chester!”

  “Whoa!” Anna grabbed her arm. “Why don’t we ride home together? Would you bring me back in the morning?”

  “That’s silly. Can’t you just follow me?”

  Anna sighed. “Lily, I’m sure you’re fine to drive, but I can smell the alcohol on your breath from all the way over here.”

  Lily bristled. “Yes, I had a drink this afternoon when I got home from work. No, I am not drunk.”

  “I know you’re not. It’s just that—”

  “So if you know I’m not drunk, then what’s the problem?” Lily stood up and began to pace around the conference room. “I worked hard this week. What’s the big deal about me having a drink to relax?”

  “It isn’t a big deal. But—”

  “How many times have you driven home from Empyre’s after a glass of wine? Once? Twice? More like fifty times, I bet.”

  Anna hated Lily’s angry tone, but she wasn’t going to be pushed around on this. Even though Lily didn’t seem drunk, she smelled strongly of liquor. “Sweetheart, anything could happen, and if it does, you’d be the one in trouble, no matter whose fault it was. It’s just silly to take a chance when we both have our cars here.”

  Her eyes dark and piercing, Lily finally tossed her keys on the table and they noisily slid across. “Fine. Let’s just go.” She snatched Chester’s leash and walked quickly down to the showroom, leaving Anna to tidy up their mess.

  Despite Anna’s chipper attitude, Lily remained irritated about their confrontation at the dealership, especially when she realized she would have to drive Anna to work. Her first instinct had been to rip into her for working on a Saturday in the first place. She had said she would try to do that less, and if she had stayed later last night instead of insisting on playing babysitter, she might have finished her work. But that didn’t matter today, because Lily was in no mood for company—at least not Anna’s company. She didn’t feel like having to defend something as insignificant as an after-work drink, and she wasn’t going to be dictated to as if Anna were her boss.

  Instead, she was heading out with Kim, who had called earlier to invite her along for a walk today through Topanga Park. She wasn’t emotionally ready to take on the rugged hiking trails again, but she missed being outside in the fresh air.

  With amazing energy, Kim pushed the three-wheeled stroller up the steep path. “I’m sure you’re getting tired of this question, but how are you doing, Lily?”

  Lily was tired of the question, but she hadn’t seen Kim at all since the funeral, so it was fair. She lowered her sunglasses from her forehead to cover any tears that might spring up and looked out across the hills. “I’m doing okay, most of the time. It’s hard sometimes though, like putting on these boots today. The last time I went out, it was with Mom.”

  “I’m glad you came with me. I know how much you like hiking. You’re welcome to join Jonah and me any weekend. The other ladies don’t walk with me then, because their husbands have normal jobs.” She sneered as she said the word “normal,” as if knowing Lily would understand.

  “I hear you. I get to watch Anna come home in time to fall into bed exhausted, and she’s going out the door again when I get up.”

  “That’s exactly like Hal, and now he’s gone one night a week to Palm Springs. How do you deal with it?”

  By pouting, Lily thought. “I don’t always deal with it. Sometimes it gets to be frustrating, and the next thing I know, we’re fighting about it.” Lily wasn’t sure she should be confiding their problems to Anna’s sister, but she thought it would be nice to hear from someone who at least understood what she was going through.

  “Hal and I had a few fights at first. But you know, I shouldn’t complain. He’s really happy with this new job and all the responsibility. And he’s pushing himself to do a good job for Anna.”

  “Anna’s pushing herself too.” She didn’t add that Anna was working even harder to keep from asking more from Hal. “But she loves it.”

  “So does Hal. Not like Anna—she’s a fanatic. But he’s happy working there, and I wouldn’t want to take that away from him. I guess I expect him to be some sort of ‘super dad,’ home every night to take over with Jonah and help with the dishes. That’s just a fantasy. But I have to admit, he’s holding up his share. And with him working at Premier, we don’t even miss my income.”

  “Anna says it’s going to calm down soon. What do you think?”

  “It’ll calm down for Hal when he gets through the books in Palm Springs. But I think my sister will work herself to death to take the load off everyone else. I hope you’re making her come home sometimes and relax a little.”

  Kim’s words gave Lily a fresh perspective. Anna wasn’t just working because she was obsessed. Her long hours meant others could have a more normal life, and it was typical of Anna to put her employees first. “We do the best we can. I catch myself making little comments every now and then to make her feel guilty about being gone so much, but I always apologize. I can’t deny it’s there, though.”

  “Believe me, I understand. Just call me if you get lonely in that big old house. Jonah doesn’t have a pool, you know.”

  These days, it seemed to Lily that she was lonely all the time. The loss of her mother had left her feeling like a family of one. And her irritation at the extra hours Anna was putting in at work was probably only a symptom. She needed more from Anna than just her presence. She needed to know now what Anna saw for their future. Otherwise, there might be no end to the sadness she felt.

  Lily smiled to herself as Chester dashed off to greet Anna in the family room. After studying her feelings all afternoon, her mood was a hundred and eighty degrees from where she had been this morning. Fresh from her shower, she was barefoot and wearing one of Anna’s large gray BMW polo shirts over long baggy shorts.

  Anna entered the kitchen with obvious apprehension. “Did you and Kim have a good walk?”

  “It was nice. I’m glad she called.” Lily set aside the salad she had been tossing. “Come here, Amazon.” She held her arms open.

  Anna grinned broadly and stepped into the hug, returning it with ferocity. “I love you, Lily.”

  “I love you back. I’m sorry I was a jerk.”

  “Me too.”

  Walking with Kim today, Lily had reached an understanding about why she had felt so much anger of late . . . and why she expressed it by drinking more than Anna thought she should. Now more than ever, she needed a constant in her life. The love she shared with Anna was strong and still growing, but Lily wanted a promise. She wanted to dream, to look ahead as she grew old, and to know that Anna would always be by her side.

  Eleanor Stewart was the only person on earth who had ever made such a promise to her, and that vow of love and commitment had always been her anchor. If Anna couldn’t do this, Lily would have to plant her own stake in the ground. Her heart knew that Anna would be her last chance.

  But today wasn’t the day to press the issue. She certainly didn’t want Anna having doubts just because she had been such a brat lately. They needed some time away from all the things that pulled at them, time
just for one another.

  “Sweetheart, whatever happened with the Maui thing? Did we lose that or can we reschedule for another time?”

  “I’ve still got the tickets,” Anna said. “I think all we’d have to do is call the travel agent and try to pick another time we could go.” She reached past Lily and snatched a cherry tomato from the salad. “What if we tried for Labor Day?”

  That was more than six weeks away. Lily feared she would be a basket case by then. “Any chance we could go before that? I could really use a getaway,” she asked hopefully.

  “I don’t know. The VW place is a mess. Everything else is running fine, thank God, but every time I put a fire out over there, another one breaks out. If we don’t stop hemorrhaging money in the next two months, we’re going to lose our shirts.” Anna had slipped seamlessly into her CEO persona.

  “Okay, let’s shoot for Labor Day.”

  Lily wheeled the X3 into the narrow driveway of the simple house in Hispanic East LA. Maria Esperanza’s old neighborhood, she remembered, thinking of the night she had rushed out to protect her client from her violent ex-husband, now her loving current husband.

  Beside her in the front seat was thirteen-year-old Marga Alvarez, a foster child who had deeply touched Lily’s heart. Inside the house, Marga’s young mother lay dying, in the final stages of liver cancer. Too soon, Marga Alvarez would be all alone. Sandy had called last week asking Lily to represent the Alvarez family, and she had agreed to serve as both the executor of Mrs. Alvarez’ estate and as guardian ad litem for Marga.

  As guardian ad litem, Lily made the decisions about Marga’s placement. It was a tough assignment, especially after losing her own mother, but she couldn’t say no to Sandy. Lily had comforted the girl about her ordeal, even talking about her own loss, as Anna had when she reached out to Lateisha, the Kidz Kamp girl whose mother had died.

  The teenager jumped from the car almost before it had stopped, running eagerly into the house to see her mother. Marga had been in foster care since last week, when Lily had reluctantly deemed the home situation unsafe. The only adult present was now almost fully incapacitated, and the house teemed with home health care workers, whose job duties did not include caring for a thirteen-year-old. Fortunately, Mrs. Alvarez had relatives in Chicago, and Marga was welcome in their home. But for these last few days, Lily stood by the girl’s decision to stay close to her mother.