Pieces of it All

by Tracy Krimmer

  "You don't need to be." She rested her hand on the back of the couch. "I wasn't. I focused on school, which you should too."

  It didn't make sense why someone who thought education was so important never finished college. She had spent years pounding the importance of higher learning into Beth's brain, yet she'd been a housewife for the past eighteen years. Each time an opening presented itself for this conversation, Beth managed to close it.

  She pulled her hair into a small ponytail with her hand, and let it flow over her shoulder. "I wasn't quite done."

  Tipping her head to the side, her mom replied, "Oh?"

  "It's just..." she touched her finger to her lips and inhaled deeply. She let the breath escape, a whistle forming. "I like him a lot. I'm not sure if I want to be unattached when I go. I guess when I say I don't want to be part of the crowd, I mean the girls that, well, you know, do things with all these different kinds of guys."

  Her mom's eyes widened, and mouth dropped slightly open. "Good. You don't need a serious boyfriend," she added. "Do you consider Harvey a serious boyfriend? You met only a few weeks ago and barely know the first thing about each other. If you move too fast you may regret things you ... do."

  Why was sex so difficult to discuss? "I know, Mom. Plenty of fish in the sea. Blah, blah, blah." Beth rolled her eyes. "You probably told me that a thousand times before I even hit high school."

  "Well, dear, it's the truth. There are plenty of guys available, and more than enough time to discover them. You should be happy and enjoy your youth."

  Beth wanted the same thing. She craved to immerse herself with Harvey. She yearned to spend every day engulfed in his touch, her heart racing every time he glimpsed at her, her insides twisting when his hand ran up her thigh. She didn't want to spend her time any other way. She bit her lower lip. "Mom, I know you say there's time, but I think about Lucy's dad and I'm scared. What if there isn't time? What if time is ticking away and every moment I don't spend with Harvey is a moment lost I can never get back? What if I'll be missing out on so much by going off to college? I could be here enjoying every single minute of every single day with him. I keep thinking about that."

  "Then don't! I don't think about those things. I look forward to the future." She took Beth's hand and rubbed it with hers. "You're a smart, beautiful girl." Tapping her hand she said, "The time you will have at college are those moments. Those are the moments you will look back on when you're my age, or older, and remember." She pressed her palm into Beth's hand. "Harvey ... Harvey's new. He's attractive. He's mysterious, and it's exciting. You want to live every minute and not miss a beat."

  Tears formed in her eyes. "Exactly."

  She curled her lips into a wide smile. "I understand your feelings. Every girl has one - the bad boy who just drives her crazy."

  "You had a boyfriend like that? That wasn't Dad?" She didn't want the rundown of her mom's past sexual partners. Her dad was enough.

  "All I'm saying is you and Harvey can date and have fun." She put her index finger up. "Safe fun. Aspire to the future. Don't worry about the moments you could lose. Live for them instead."

  She embraced her mom. "I love you so much."

  "Me too. I'm so proud of you."

  Beth's arms tightened around her. She breathed in the moment with her mother, the best conversation they had ever shared. Her mom had opened up to her like a friend, a confidant. Clearly her mom thought of her as a young woman, and she was a young woman. A young woman falling in love. This was her cheesy romance novel.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Harvey offered to bring Sue payment from the cleaning job since Beth wanted to spend time with Lucy and he wasn't scheduled to work until evening. He didn't mind. The ride gave him some quiet moments, a welcome change from the yelling and screaming that took place between him and his father. The only pleasant interruption around the house came in the form of a sixteen pound pug with little snorts coming from its muzzle.

  The envelope filled with three hundred dollars, of which Beth would only receive ninety, sat on the passenger seat. Ninety dollars for four hours work wasn't too shabby. If it were her business, the full three hundred would've landed in her pocket, all for a short amount of work. A couple more jobs and he could take the money and disappear - it'd be so easy. Even so, a few hundred was barely enough to start over. He'd need a couple grand for that. Now with Beth in his life, did he want to run?

  When he pulled up the driveway, Sue was standing outside leaning against her car. He wouldn't label her hot or gorgeous, but definitely pretty by definition. They had agreed to meet on her lunch break so she had some time away from the office. Her petite legs appeared longer with the short black skirt she was wearing accented with her crimson high heels. She took off her short sleeved black business jacket, revealing a low-cut red silky tank blouse. Her pointy glasses rested on the bridge of her nose, and her blonde hair spiked in the air as though it were running from her head. As he rolled to a stop, she pushed herself off her Jetta and walked over towards him, clearly not intending him to get out of the car.

  "Thanks for agreeing to meet me," she told him as they spoke through his open window. She scanned the Bonneville. "You could use a new set of wheels. Doesn't this thing have air conditioning?"

  "No. Unfortunately my a/c broke quite a while ago and I need money to get it fixed. The windows work just fine. I get a nice breeze while I drive. If it rains, then we have an issue."

  "I doubt we'll see rain anytime soon." She looked up at the beaming sun.

  He handed her the envelope. "Here's all the cash."

  She took the money from him, sifting through to count the bills. "This feels a little like a drug transaction." She snorted.

  "Well, I guarantee you it's clean money," he punned.

  She swatted the envelope on the car. "You're a funny guy, Harvey. I'm glad Beth met you. You seem good for her."

  "Thanks. She's sweet. I like her." He more than liked her. He'd been with plenty women in his life, but no one got him going like Beth did. A simple image of her flashing through his mind sent the blood rushing to his dick. She wasn't as eager as all the other women who jumped into bed with him, no questions asked. Shit, some of them he could barely remember their name, if they even gave him one. He wanted to get into Beth's pants more than anything right now, but had to tread lightly on this new territory.

  "You know I helped raise her," she said as she handed Harvey Beth's cut of the payment. He slid it in his pocket, wanting to keep every penny, but knowing he couldn't fuck things up with her by stealing her cash. "Her mom and I became pretty close after I married Ralph. We've spent so much time together, she's practically my daughter." Watching her face, déjà vu set in, a familiarity which startled him once before. Something about her struck a chord. Did he know her? Had they met previously? He pulled his brows in, getting a good look at her. Why was this face filed away in his brain? A shiver ran up his spine.

  She glanced at her watch. "I better get back to work. By the way, I have another job for Beth, if you can pass the information onto her."

  He shoved the money into his pocket. "No problem. Just tell me when and where. I'll let her know."

  "You're cute," she touched his shoulder. He reflexively put it down, allowing her hand to fall off. "I apologize. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

  "What? No, I'm sorry. It's nothing like that. I hurt my shoulder cleaning yesterday." Any other day, any other woman, he'd welcome the touch as invitation for sex, but her touch was different, maternal almost, something he hadn't felt for years until that moment.

  "So tell me about this client."

  "She's a spoiled little girl who lives on Lake Drive. I typically clean her house once a month. The place is a tad smaller than the last, but I charge her three fifty because there's an indoor pool. Well, and the fact her daddy pays for everything. I can't stand her." She slipped a piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to him. "Here's the address. She typically is home waiting
for me and takes off shopping with daddy's money while I work."

  "Sounds great. For tomorrow right?"

  She nodded. "Why don't you and Beth come by on Saturday about two o'clock to drop off the cash?"

  "Works for me."

  As Sue turned around to walk back to her car, Harvey noticed a bracelet dangling from her arm, a silver chain with charms hanging at every link. He knew he had seen it somewhere. He couldn't recall ever seeing Maggie with a bracelet, and he didn't pay enough attention to the girls he used to bring home to even have remembered it.

  Then the memory crashed into him, taking his breath out of his body. He'd never seen the bracelet before in person, but he definitely recognized it.

  He pulled out of the driveway and raced home in a record fifteen minutes. He ran into his bedroom and straight to his closet. He grabbed pieces of clothing and ripped them off hangers, knocked books onto the floor, until he found the shoe box. He placed his shaking hand on the cover. He lifted it off and moved the items out of the way to reach the picture.

  He held the fragile photo by the edges, examining each person within the frame. On the far left, his father, a well-cleaned man at the time, beamed from ear to ear. Thinking back through his tumultuous years, the fading photo may have been the only genuine smile he'd ever seen from him. His hair was slicked back, a clean white tee shirt on his body. Next to him sat a woman, probably in her early twenties, her auburn hair braided on each side. She smiled at Harvey's dad, her bright teeth overpowering the photo. Next to her was another lady with a short, almost manly, cut. A young Harvey sat on her lap. She had her arms wrapped around him, and they both were laughing. He held the photo close to his face to see the charm bracelet on her wrist.

  It couldn't be, could it? He sucked in his tears and set the snapshot back in the box. It had to be a dream. Any minute now he'd wake up and the whole thing never would have happened. No Beth, no cleaning, no Sue. This little piece of himself he'd been trying to find wouldn't be staring back at him. That would be too simple, and nothing in Harvey's life was easy.

  Beth's conversation with her mom reassured her when she needed it most. Harvey agreed to bring her aunt Dr. Naise's payment to give her time with Lucy. Lucy didn't care for Harvey, plain and simple, but it wasn't her life. Lucy could get used to her dating Harvey if Beth accepted her going to school in Boston. The topic was sure to come up, although she wasn't in the mood to discuss it.

  Lucy lived in a quaint little subdivision, a cookie-cutter setup, each house looking similar to the next. Beth's house had a nature preserve in the backyard, while Lucy's shared her neighbor's. An almost identical ranch home was behind hers. It didn't give much privacy (fences weren't allowed in the neighborhood), but Lucy never seemed to mind. When they were kids, they'd play with others in the neighborhood, games of tag spanning across the lawns.

  "Hold on a minute!" Lucy's mom called seconds after Beth tapped the doorbell. She fixed the strap to her empire waist top, the pinks and greens popping against her white capris.

  She opened the door in her green terry cloth robe, her medium length wavy hair snarled and sticking out at all angles. "Hi Beth. Come on in."

  "Good morning, Mrs. Parsons. Sorry to stop by unannounced. I didn't realize it was so early." Eleven wasn't early.

  "Nonsense," she said as Beth stepped inside. "I should be out of this thing by now. You'd think I was a teenager." She pulled the belt to her robe tighter and pushed her chestnut hair down. "Lucy and I got sidetracked getting her packed for school."

  Lucy emerged from her room, also in her pajamas. "I'm so overdressed," Beth teased her friend in a pink tee shirt and black pajama shorts with Hello Kitty on them.

  "I'll leave you two alone," her mom said. "I'll go get changed."

  "Bye, Mrs. Parsons. See you later." Beth waved to her.

  "You, too, dear." She turned to Lucy. "Get dressed as soon as you're done, so we can head out." She disappeared down the hall.

  "Where are you going?" Beth asked.

  "Shopping. She wants to buy some things for my dorm room."

  "Oh. She said you were packing. Are you headed to school already? It's only July." They lost all of June after their argument, and hung out and spoke to each other a few times since then. The whole summer still laid ahead.

  She waved Beth further into the house. "Let's go outside."

  They walked through the kitchen and out the patio sliding door, taking a seat at the table situated on a concrete slab. The heat had done a number on the grass and plants. If Lucy's dad were alive, the brown grass would've been nursed back to a plush green, and the flowers would be blooming. Yard work didn't seem to be a priority after he passed away.

  "School." Lucy said the word in a matter of fact way. "Um, well, here's the thing. I'm not leaving quite yet. I decided to head out to Boston in the beginning of August."

  Wow. Best friends should discuss these kinds of things. "Why so soon? Don't you want to spend some more time together before you go? We've barely seen each other."

  Lucy sneered, dropping her mouth open before saying anything. "Really? Spend more time together? You're wasting your summer with Mr. I-Screw-Everyone-on-the-Planet."

  "What? Don't call him that. So not true, and that's not how I'm spending my summer." Beth could count on one hand the number of dates she and Harvey had been on, which hardly qualified as spending her entire summer with him. Beth didn't know anything about Harvey's sexual past, and was sure Lucy hadn't a clue either. Where did she get off making such an assumption?

  "You could've fooled me. I haven't seen you much at all. Once you got together with Harvey, you've spent every waking minute with him. I'm sure you're not aware of his reputation. I honestly don't understand how you aren't. He's not the kind of guy to stick around." She started to bounce her legs.

  "He's stuck around this long. He cares about me." More than you at this point, Beth thought, but would never say out loud.

  Lucy slammed her feet to the floor and leaned back in her chair. "You're an Original Lifetime Movie. You'll be the one to change him, right? You'll be the one he'll finally commit to. Come on, Beth. When did you get so naive?"

  "I'm not naive, and I didn't sleep with him."

  "You're going to." Lucy crossed her arms and snickered.

  "Maybe I will. It's not like I've sat down and planned this out. I love spending time with him. You talk about this 'reputation' and you're right - you have no idea what you're talking about."

  She put the chair's legs back down on the ground, uncrossed her arms and sat her elbows on her knees. "Are you familiar with Ricky Hicks? He used to hang with him. He probably still does. He's a drunk and a drug addict. I've heard stories about Ricky and his buddies having little parties and screwing all these girls. I'm sure Harvey's included in that."

  "You don't know that."

  "Neither do you." She tapped her flawless fingernails on the glass top table. "I did some searching on him."

  Beth stood up. "You what? Why would you do that?" Snooping on a friend's boyfriend was something Beth couldn't even fathom doing. Whether Harvey was aware or not, it invaded his privacy, and in a way, Beth's, too.

  "I've told you before. I don't want him to leave you brokenhearted, and I'm afraid you'll get mixed up in his lifestyle. You're too good for that."

  "You don't know what kind of a lifestyle he has. I've never seen him drink or do drugs. He doesn't even smoke." She thought, anyway. They didn't spend all their time together. He could smoke pot when she wasn't around, although she doubted it. Harvey didn't deserve being classified in "druggie" crowd, the ones who would gather in a circle at lunch and puff on their cigarettes and whatever else they had. No. Harvey was too smart and sweet to fit the bill of an addict.

  "He's got a record. Did you know that?"

  Beth's mouth closed before any words came out. A record. With the police. Her muscles tightened as she debated the likelihood of Lucy's accusations. He would've shared that information with her. A wrap shee
t wasn't something you kept from your girlfriend.

  Lucy took the moment to smile. "Yeah. A record. I couldn't find a Facebook page for him. Believe me, I looked. I checked up on Ricky, as well. You don't even want to see the kind of pictures are on his page." She waved her hand in disgust. "Anyway, I went to the Circuit Court system website and looked him up. He's a thief. He's broken into a few houses and stole some stuff. Even written some worthless checks."

  "So he's been in jail?" Her voice cracked.

  "Briefly, I think. I don't understand all the notes, but from what I deciphered, he did some time in jail, and some sort of rehab center. He's still on probation and is completing community service."

  The pieces started to come together. He had been gone for awhile, just began living back at his dad's house, wouldn't touch alcohol, and refused to talk about his past. He should trust her, though. She never would hold his past against him. People make mistakes. Harvey deserved a second chance. Beth didn't want to worry about the past. "Thank you for your concern, Lucy, but you don't need to be concerned about Harvey. He's a nice guy and even if he's had some run-ins with the law, he's changed."

  She tossed her head back. "You can't be serious."

  "I am, Lucy. Let's not get into a fight again over Harvey. Please accept he's part of my life now. Can you, please?"

  Lucy reached her hand out in front of her to observe her perfectly painted nails. "Fine. I don't like it though. I mean this guy's been in jail, Beth. Jail!"

  For theft. For writing fake checks. Compared to other crimes, how bad was that, really? "It's not like he murdered someone."