Kindred Souls

by Ellie Wade

  I lean against the front desk, looking down at Jen. The front of the desk is tall, like one would see at a hotel. Jen sits behind it with a workstation at her height. “Well, good. What branch is your boyfriend in, and when did he get home?”

  “Just last night. He’s in the Navy. He’s stationed in Chicago, which isn’t that bad. I normally spend weekends with him, but he’s been deployed for six months, so it’s been a while.”

  “Last night was the first time you’ve seen him in six months?” I ask.

  “Yeah.” She bobs her head. She reminds me of Tinker Bell with her short blond hair and large blue eyes. I know Tinker Bell well, courtesy of Love. That fairy is one of her favorites.

  “Well, what are you doing here?” I say with all sincerity. “You should take the afternoon off and start the weekend early.”

  “I wanted to, but there’s just so much going on here, and with you know…”

  You know has become the official slang around the office when someone refers to Alivia and her thieving ways.

  “Oh, it’s fine. It’s a Friday afternoon. There aren’t any more appointments scheduled. Take the rest of the day off. Go spend time with your sailor. I’ll man the desk after I finish lunch,” I offer.

  “Really? What about the people coming in for the self-defense course?”

  “I’ll direct them to the gym. No worries.”

  “Are you sure? That would be amazing.”

  “Absolutely. Go. I’ll let Alma know, but you know she won’t mind. Have a great weekend.”

  “Oh my gosh! Thanks!” Jen retrieves her large purse from under the desk and skips for the door, already on her cell.

  I shake my head with a smile and grab the bag of food that was delivered a few minutes ago and the original reason for my visit with Jen.

  “Knock, knock,” I say as I’m entering Alma’s office.

  She waves me in with a grin, the office phone pressed up to her ear. “Absolutely. Well, hopefully, her mom signs the form and sends it back. I’m making a note to call you on Monday morning, and we’ll go from there. Okay. Sounds great, Judy. Thank you so much.”

  “Who was that?” I ask as Alma hangs up the phone.

  “A social worker at one of the local schools. She has a teen girl she needs help with. The girl’s going through a hard time, cutting, a possible eating disorder, bad grades…the works. We think there’s definitely some emotional trauma, possibly abuse involved. We’ve just had a difficult time getting in touch with a parent. I might have to make a home visit next week. Sounds like this sweet girl is going to need a village.”

  “Then she definitely needs access to this place.” I set the bag of food down on the coffee table in front of the office sofa. “I’m so impressed with everyone here, Alma. All of your employees are great and have big hearts.”

  “I agree.” She stands and walks around her desk. She’s wearing a formfitting cream pencil skirt with a white top. The auburn highlights are brighter now that it’s almost summer, and the sun visits more often. Her hair bounces against her tanned arms as she closes the distance between us. She’s elegant, and sexy, and utterly beautiful. “What did you bring me?” Her voice rises an octave, her interest piqued, as it always is when good food is involved.

  I clear my throat. “Sushi.” I start pulling out containers.

  “Uh, I love you. I literally had a dream about sushi last night. I’ve been craving it all day.” She sits on the couch and opens up a container. “It was so weird. In my dream, I was in a minivan with my grandma and a whole bunch of siblings. I don’t remember even meeting my grandma. She died when I was young, leaving us the house, which is why I moved in next to you in the first place, and obviously, I don’t have any siblings.” She picks up a roll of sushi. “But in the dream, I did, and we drove around for hours and hours looking for sushi. Finally, we found a food court that said it sold sushi, but it was like this maze, and the deeper I got into this food court maze, the more worried I got, afraid that I’d never find the sushi.” She shrugs and plops the rolled rice into her mouth. “It was strange.”

  I take a seat beside Alma. “Did you ever get to find it, the sushi?” I ask with a chuckle.

  “No.” She shakes her head. “I spent the whole night searching for it and never found it. So, I’m serious when I say I woke up craving the hell out of it.” She laughs.

  “I’ve been craving it, too. Not to that extent.” I grin. “But I thought it sounded good. We haven’t had it in a while. Oh, by the way, I sent Jen home. Did you know her boyfriend just got back from deployment?”

  “Bobby’s back? No, I didn’t know. Well, that’s great. She should’ve taken the day off today.” Alma puts another sushi roll in her mouth.

  “I thought the same thing, but she said that she didn’t want to with you know going on.”

  Alma lets out a grunt. “I’m so sick of you know. I just wish she’d go to jail already. She deserves to be in jail.”

  “She will, but it takes time,” I reassure her.

  “I love these ones with this crunch stuff on top and that kind of spicy orange sauce drizzled on it. I think they’re called tiger rolls, right?” Alma asks.

  “I think so. Yeah, they’re really good.”

  “This weekend is going to be beautiful. I’m taking Love to the zoo tomorrow if you want to come, then we can continue our Vampire Diaries marathon when she’s in bed. You haven’t voiced whether you’re team Damon or team Stefan, and I’m going to need you to do that.”

  “I’d love to go to the zoo, and I suppose I can stay for your vampire show. But don’t you find the whole, ‘Dear Diary, today I wanted to suck the blood of a hot girl who looks like another hot girl from a hundred and fifty years ago, but I didn’t,’ stuff cheesy and weird.” I chuckle.

  “Stop.” Alma tosses a napkin at me. “The diary entries aren’t that bad.”

  “They basically are.”

  “Maybe but Quinn says that the whole Dear Diary part of the show fizzles out after the first season. Plus, if Lee-Anne and my dad had been normal parents, and prescribed to social norms, like TV and cable, then you would’ve been watching it with me when it first aired anyway. So, thanks to Netflix, this is an experience that we don’t have to miss out on.”

  “We are very fortunate,” I deadpan. “I have to say, I’m surprised that you’re on Stefan’s team…and equally surprised that I’m discussing the merits of two fictional vampires.” I scoff. “Anyway, I thought you’d go for Damon. He’s the bad one, which is kind of how Leo started out. Plus, the actor who plays Damon has dark hair and blue eyes, just like Leo. I just figured he’d be your type.”

  I’ve always kept my opinions about Alma’s husband to myself. He wasn’t who I thought Alma would’ve been interested in, at least in the beginning. He changed and grew up and was an awesome person most of the time I knew him. But initially, I had my reservations.

  Alma is quiet for a moment. “Oh my gosh. You’re right. Why am I not team Damon?” She sounds concerned.

  “Alma, I’m kidding. You can’t compare Leo to a TV vampire. It’s not the same. It doesn’t mean anything,” I remind her.

  She shakes her head as if clearing her thoughts. “You’re right. It doesn’t. It just caught me off guard. I guess I like Stefan’s character because he’s good and he’s not selfish, and he wants the best for everyone. Plus, he is very cute.” She puts emphasis on the last two words. “What are you doing tonight? We could do dinner with Love and Lee-Anne and hang out after Love’s bedtime.”

  I raise a brow. “By hang out, you mean watch the show?”

  “I mean, if you insist, I could be game for that.” She shrugs, a sly grin on her face.

  “Sure.”

  “Yay! Okay, well, I’m going to get back to work. I still have a lot of things that I want to finish before I leave.”

  I catch her stare in mine. “Remember we spoke of delegating? Bruce and Holly were hired for a reason. They were your top two choices after
the interviews, and you got them. They’re talented and capable.”

  “Agreed, and I’ve handed off a lot of the work. I’m simply trying to finish up things I’ve already started. It would just take more time to go over everything that I’ve previously done to get them up to speed than to finish it myself.” She pauses when she takes in my look of skepticism. “Stop.” She chuckles. “I am delegating. The pile of files on my desk is a quarter of what it used to be. I swear. And I’ve left Bruce in charge of this weekend’s activities here, and I’m not even going to check in on him.”

  “Alright. I’m just looking out for you.”

  She tosses the empty containers into the trash. “I know. You always are, and I love you for it.”

  Reaching her office door, I open it to leave before turning to say, “I’m going to grab my laptop and be at the front desk if you need me.”

  “Why? Oh yeah, Jen. Got it.” She waves her hand in front of her and nods. “Okay. I’ll see you in a bit.”

  Before I’ve closed the door, she’s already typing away feverishly against her keyboard with a look of determination on her face. She may have gone to college for a teaching degree, but she makes one hell of a CEO.

  “Hey, man,” Jude Martinez, an Ann Arbor police officer, greets me.

  I pull my eyes away from the computer screen and stand from the desk. Walking around to the front lobby, I shake Jude’s hand.

  “Everything’s all set up for you. A few women are here already.”

  “Sweet. You gonna help me out again today? Jane can’t make it.” he says of his partner, a fiery police officer, who normally helps instruct these classes.

  “Yeah, sure. Jen went home early today. So, I’ll just hang up here until everyone arrives, then quickly change, and meet you in there. How many are signed up today?”

  “Fifty.”

  “Great turn-out.”

  “Yeah.” He nods. “I’m so grateful to have the larger space here. We can run these bigger classes.”

  Jude heads off toward the gym, and as women start to steadily trickle in, and I direct them to the class space.

  Alma volunteered the Lair’s gym space to Jude a couple of months ago. He runs these free self-defense courses for women throughout the city. They’re quite popular and always have a waitlist.

  Jude’s a cool guy. He says he was raised by women—his sisters, mom, and grandmother—and wants to give back and empower women with the skills needed to defend themselves. He hasn’t directly spoken about it, but I get the feeling that one of his sisters went through a traumatic experience involving a man and unwanted contact.

  When most of the women have arrived, I put a sign on the front desk with an arrow pointing toward the gym, then change into a pair of track pants and a T-shirt.

  I run into Alma as I’m exiting the locker room.

  She eyes my attire. “Shooting some hoops?”

  “No, Jude’s here. I’m going to help him with the class.”

  Her eyes light up. “Oh, I forgot that was today. I want to go.”

  “Go change. It’s just starting.”

  Alma and I keep athletic clothes on hand in case we have the time to play with the kids. Shooting some hoops or hitting around a volleyball with the teens is an incredible stress reliever. There’s so much that goes into keeping this place running. Sometimes, it’s nice to hang out with the kids to keep it all in perspective.

  “Alright, I think I will.” She raises her brows. “But just so you know, I’m going to kick your ass in there.” She shoots me a wink.

  “Oh, we’ll see,” I tease.

  “Well, it wouldn’t be a very good self-defense class if you don’t let me win.”

  I shake my head with a laugh. “True. I’ll see you in there.”

  6

  Alma

  “Bring Gigi another yellow one, baby,” Lee-Anne says to Love, holding a bunch of freshly picked dandelions in her hand. She lies next to me on a large blanket.

  Love smiles big and runs off into the plush grass. The bright green lawn, in desperate need of a mow, reaches past her ankles. She giggles as it tickles her skin in search of her favorite flower.

  I make sure the front yard’s landscaping is attended to with regularity, but the backyard is left a little wild so the flowers can grow. Dandelions have always been one of my favorites. I know they’re technically weeds, but I think they’re too special to be classified as such. To me, they’re strong and resilient. In their short life, they bloom a happy yellow and then morph into a fluffy white wishing wand. I spent many hours throughout the summers of my life making wishes, and so much of what I’ve always wanted has come true.

  I lean back on my hands with my face toward the sky, letting the sun’s warm rays kiss my skin. I really should start using sunscreen, but I inherited my mother’s olive Venezuelan skin tone, and it loves the sun. Lee-Anne hasn’t worn an ounce of SPF her entire life, and her skin still looks great, so I’m not too worried about it.

  Love returns with another flower and tosses it to my mom before she runs off again.

  “I’m going to use these for dinner,” Lee-Anne says.

  “Of course you are.” I chuckle.

  “They’re great in salads and have astounding health benefits. You should give them a try,” she urges.

  “I will.”

  She sighs. “I failed you. I know that, Alma. I was a horrible mother.”

  “Mom, it’s okay. I said I’ll try the salad.”

  She shakes her head. “No, it’s not just the fact that your diet is alarming, and sugar is one of your main food groups. It’s everything that I did and didn’t do. I didn’t teach you anything. I didn’t guide you or protect you. I was so selfish. Now that Alman is gone, I realize that. I had no one, yet you took me in. You bought me a condo. You provide everything I need, and I don’t deserve any of it. I gave you nothing.”

  I turn toward her, grabbing her hand. “It’s okay, Mom. We’ve been over all of this. It’s water under the bridge. I’ve forgiven you, and we’ve moved on. You don’t have to worry about the past.”

  “You’re such a wonderful mother, Almalee. You’re successful, kind, and driven—and you’ve always been that way. I don’t understand how you’re so good when your upbringing was so bad.”

  “It wasn’t bad, Mom. Leo’s was bad. You never harmed me. You weren’t always present, but maybe that’s good. You and Dad weren’t in a great place. So, perhaps it helped that you were absent a lot, and maybe I am who I am because of my upbringing. Plus, I wasn’t alone. I had Amos.” I squeeze her hand. “I’m sorry you lost Dad, but I’m so grateful to have you now. And Love is the luckiest little girl to have a Gigi who loves her as much as you do.”

  “How could I not? She is perfect.”

  “She is,” I agree.

  “Momma! A wish!” Love charges toward me with a fluffy white dandelion in her hand.

  “Yay! You found a wish.” She plops down in my lap.

  “For you.” She hands me the wishing wand.

  “For me? Oh goodness.” I hold the flower in front of my face. “I need to make this a good one.” I close my eyes, think of something I want, open my eyes, and blow until all of the willowy seedlings are dancing through the air.

  Love giggles. “Good one,” she says, imitating what I always say to her when she blows the seeds off a dandelion.

  “It was a good one.” I nuzzle into her neck and pepper kisses up her cheek. “See if you can find two more so you and Gigi can make a wish.”

  “Okay!” she cheers before hopping off my lap and running through the grass.

  “Amos used to always bring you wishing wands.” Lee-Anne smiles at the memory.

  “Yeah, he did. He knew I loved them.”

  “That boy would do anything for you, still will.”

  “Yeah, he’s the best.”

  “You know he loves you,” Lee-Anne says, eyeing me to assess my reaction.

  “I know. I love him, too.”
/>   “No, like loves you, Almalee.”

  I press my lips together in a line and squint in my mother’s direction. “If you’re suggesting he loves me more than a friend, you’re wrong. We’re the best of friends, Mom, and have been for twenty years. We have a relationship that’s deeper than most, but it’s true friendship. That’s all.”

  Lee-Anne shakes her head. “I admit, I don’t know a lot. But I know what I know, and that man is in love with you, always has been since you two were young. You may not be ready to see it, but one day, you will. He’s a great person, and you’d be lucky to have him. You’re too young to be alone for the rest of your life. I had a lifetime with my soul mate, and I’m content being a Gigi and a Mom from here on out. I don’t want or need another romantic love. But you, my dear…you do.”

  “Mom,” I protest, her name coming out louder than I anticipated. “Stop. It’s not like that. Besides, I’ve already met and married my soul mate.”

  “Who’s to say that you only get one?” she questions as Love runs up with two more wishing wands and her daddy’s smile.

  My vampire crush is on the big screen in front of me, wooing his human high school love interest, and I can’t even focus. All I can think about is my mother’s words from earlier today. Everything feels off. Amos’s arm around my shoulder is heavier than normal. I’m aware of his every movement. His chest rises and falls beside me, and as he breathes normally, my lungs ache for air.

  I can’t think straight or breathe correctly with him so close to me. We’re hanging out as we always do, yet it’s all different now. Contrasting thoughts duel in my mind. Disbelief and realization battle, and I’m not sure which is stronger.

  Lee-Anne is wrong. She has to be. Why did she have to plant those seeds? Now everything feels off, just different.

  Amos and I have always been close. He was my everything when I had nothing. My protector when I was alone. Nothing has changed. When I lost Leo, Amos was there to pick me up. He took care of me as he always has. That is what we do, Cookie and Mutt. We make sure the other is okay—always.