Lily was home when Collin arrived. He saw her car parked outside their place. She worked as a nurse at the county hospital. She worked days Monday through Friday on the obstetric ward. Sometimes it was hectic and she came home exhausted. She would jump into the shower or take a hot bath. Then she would ask Collin to rub her feet with scented oil. He kind of liked it. He was glad to see she was home.
He parked his grey Prism next to her green Prius. His was old, hers was brand new. He liked to have a car nobody would notice. It helped in his job. She wanted to help the environment. That’s why she bought the hybrid. He walked across the parking lot to the row of townhomes and pulled out his key. Lily opened the door before he could put the key in the lock.
“Colly! You’re home.” She wrapped herself around him and gave him a welcome home kiss. They went inside and shut the door.
“Lily you’re beautiful.”
“Like I’m not always?”
“Yes you are. Did you do that to your hair on purpose?”
“Yes! You boob! I had it cut differently this time. It’s a popular style.”
Her hair was a medium brown and usually just cut shoulder length. This time she had the stylist cut bangs that started shorter on one side and got longer as they proceeded across her face. Then she cut the back so that now instead of being evenly cut across the hair started just below one ear and got longer until it got to the other ear. At that point the long bangs merged into the longer hair and came to a point at Lily’s shoulder.
“Well I like it. As I said you’re beautiful.”
“Collin sometimes I could punch you.”
“But I said you were beautiful.”
“Nevermind.”
Collin put his jacket into the closet.
Lily went into the kitchen. Collin went down the hall to change out of his suit and tie.
Lily called out to him, “You remember what day tomorrow is, don’t you?”
Collin heard her but before he replied he walked over to the bathroom and shut the door. He had a secret list of special dates taped to the inside of the vanity. He got down on his back and looked up at the list. It was Tuesday April tenth. Tomorrow would be April eleventh. He was screwed. April eleventh was not on the list. He lay there for a moment. Maybe it was because it was going to be Wednesday? Had she told him recently about an affair or something having to do with the hospital? He couldn’t remember. He got up off the floor and dejectedly opened the door and stepped into the hall.
“Can you give me a clue? I’m real sorry but nothing comes to mind.”
She didn’t hear him. She was getting a casserole out of the oven. He changed his clothes and walked out to the kitchen/dining area.
“Lily?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I help?”
“No. I’ve got it. Sit down.”
Collin sat down. The table was set and Lily brought the casserole and put it on the hot pad in the center of the table. A pitcher of lemonade and glasses were already on the table next to the salad bowl. The casserole, Collin was happy to notice, was her mother’s spaghetti casserole. Lily sat down and they said a silent grace.
Collin asked, “May I serve you some salad Sweetie?”
Lily handed him her salad bowl and then took it back full of lettuce, tomato slices scallions, peppers, celery and cucumbers. He served his own salad and Lily passed him the carafe of homemade salad dressing. She was eating her salad when Collin put out his hand for her plate. She handed it to him and he served the spaghetti casserole. It tasted like lasagna except it had spaghetti noodles instead of lasagna noodles. It was one of Collin’s favorite dishes.
They ate and Lily chatted a little about how her day had gone. Then as they were finishing up Lily asked again, “You remember about tomorrow don’t you?”
“Now Lily, don’t be mad at me.”
“Collin! You forgot?”
“Well. I guess I did. April eleventh, nothing comes to mind.”
“It’s the baby shower at church.”
“Oh, right. The Pastor’s daughter-in-law, Penelope, right?”
“Right.”
“Honey, you’re not really going to make me come to a baby shower are you?”
“You said you’d think about it.”
“Hmm. Well, I asked Clifford if he was going and he asked me if I was nuts.”
“Very well. I’ll go without you.”
“Thanks. Did you make a peach pie for dessert?”
“You don’t deserve it.”
“I know. I’m sorry. Is it still warm? There’s vanilla ice cream in the freezer.”
“Help me take the dishes into the kitchen. I’ll bring you some pie.”
Collin grabbed up the dinner dishes and cleared the table. He even put the left-over casserole into a plastic container and popped it into the refrigerator as he watched Lily scoop ice cream onto the pie slices. He followed her to the table. Lily loved to cook and she loved that Collin appreciated her efforts. The pie was delicious. After it was gobbled up, they did the dishes together and went out for a walk. Lily had talked Collin into the evening strolls as part of a healthy lifestyle. He enjoyed walking with her. They walked whenever it was not raining or freezing cold. After their walk they watched some TV and went to bed.
Chapter Five
Gene Search: A Collin Carter Mystery Page 4
