Just A Little Romance

by Mary Jane Russell

  Sam went to the sofa and sat beside Ava. Paul pulled out a chair at the small table.

  “Sweetie, it’s Thanksgiving,” Sam said gently.

  Ava’s face showed no comprehension.

  “How long have you been up?” Paul asked.

  “I think I slept here last night.” Ava looked at her clothes. “It’s Thursday?”

  Sam felt Ava’s hand—chilled. She looked at Paul. “How about coffee and toast?”

  “Coming right up.” Paul returned to the kitchen.

  Ava’s face crumbled. “Oh, no. It’s Thanksgiving. I did all the prep work yesterday. Everything’s in the fridge, ready to go in the oven. I sat down last night to rest for just a minute and started watching an old Jimmy Stewart movie on Turner Classics. That’s the last I remember.” She began to sob.

  Sam moved closer and put her arm around the small, frail body. “It’s my fault. I should have come over last night and checked on you. A full meal and buffet was way too much work for any one person to do by themselves.”

  Paul knelt in front of Ava with a breakfast tray of coffee, toast and jam, and fresh fruit. “Same here. I should have popped in last night and taken some of the food home to cook for you.” He looked to Sam. “Everything’s in the fridge, ready for the stove, just as she said.”

  Sam guided the breakfast tray to the sofa cushion. “Let’s get busy. We’ll take it from here, Ava. You rest.” Sam caught herself patting Ava’s shoulder.

  “Don’t say anything,” Sam said to Paul under her breath, “or I’ll be crying, as well.”

  They worked in tandem, calling out questions to Ava or checking the recipe file on the counter as they worked. Ava made her way into the dining room and cleared the table. “I’m going to put on fresh clothes.” She stared at Sam and Paul. “You won’t tell Donnie, will you?”

  Paul looked to Sam.

  “Let’s see how the rest of today goes,” Sam said.

  Ava glanced down. “How I hate growing old. I don’t feel as though I’m almost eighty. Where did the time go?”

  “It passes in a blink, doesn’t it?” Paul said.

  “You have every right to be exhausted from all that you did yesterday,” Sam said.

  “Are you reassuring me or yourself, dear?” Ava asked. “I’m so sorry that you two walked in on this.” She gestured around the kitchen. “You had plans this morning. I was going to be the big-shot cook—herb-roasted turkey breast, cornbread and oyster dressing, cranberry-orange relish, ambrosia salad, and sweet potato casserole. The buffet things I buy ready-made at the deli.”

  Paul rubbed his hands together. “But now I know where the recipes are that I covet each year. I’ve seen the secret ingredients.” He grinned at Ava.

  A sad smile spread across Ava’s face. “I’ll leave all my cooking things to you. Don doesn’t care about anything in this house.”

  Sam shivered. “That’s not true, Ava. He must have good memories of growing up here.”

  “I have an aversion to books and clutter.” Don Jacobs entered the kitchen having silently come in the front door. He was in his late fifties with a pot belly overhanging his belt and thinning hair slicked straight back on his head. His tan was as overpowering as his aftershave.

  Paul coughed. “I should have smelled you coming.”

  Don glared at Paul. “What happened? Did she forget to cook?” His gaze roved the room. “She didn’t answer the phone last night.”

  Sam could swear she heard him calculating the value of the house and contents as she choked back wanting to ask why he hadn’t checked on his mother the previous evening. “Don’t be silly. We’re her sous-chefs. I may finally learn how to cook if Ava doesn’t lose patience with me.”

  “I was trying to get out of setting the table for everyone,” Paul said. He held the tablecloth toward Don. “I’ve already piled all the projects in the corner.”

  Don set two plastic bags on the butcher’s block. “I brought beer and wine, the extent of my culinary skills.” He continued to eye the others in the room.

  “Let’s get out the good dishes.” Ava pointed to the sideboard in the corner of the dining room. “I want to see my wedding china again. We’re a small group since all of us are single this year. The other neighbors who bothered to respond are just stopping in later to munch.”

  “And a good time will be had by all,” Paul said quietly as he handed Don a corkscrew and wine glass.

  Sam caught Paul by the arm and pulled him into the dining room with her. “Ava, go ahead and dress. Paul and I will handle the dishes.”

  “I’ll be in the living room. The pre-game show is on.” Don’s voice faded away.

  “No, I don’t care for wine yet,” Paul said to Don’s back.

  “Thank you. Thank you,” Ava whispered the words as she hugged first Sam, then Paul. “You two are my real family.”

  “By choice,” Sam said.

  Haley timed her entry perfectly by accident. She held up the blue box that Sam knew from experience contained an ice cream cake. “Happy we’re-pretending-not-to-remember-your birthday.” She grinned at Sam.

  Paul reappeared from the guest bedroom, wheeling a mountain bike carefully into the kitchen. “From all of us.”

  “To get you out of the house for exercise,” Haley said.

  “I picked out the color,” Ava said. “It was all I could do not to give it a try while we hid it here.”

  Paul handed Sam a cherry red helmet.

  Sam stared from the bike to each of her friends. She hadn’t received a bright red bike since she was a child. She fleetingly hoped she still had her sense of balance, then didn’t care. If she fell off, she’d keep getting back on—life’s lessons on wheels. “You guys are the best.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Sam shivered, pulling the afghan around her shoulders like a cape as she stood. “Okay, so much for economizing. I’m freezing.” She hugged herself as she walked toward the thermostat. The midmorning sun was streaming through the front windows yet making no noticeable difference in how the room felt.

  Virginia’s quirky weather had gone from a seasonably cool Thanksgiving to a frigid December with night temperatures plummeting into the teens. Richmond had also been surprised by a freakish dip of the jet stream that left two inches of snow on the eastern portion of the state while the mountains to the west were clear of precipitation.

  The only place Sam was comfortable in her house was between the flannel sheets or within three feet of the gas logs in the living room fireplace.

  Sam tapped the electronic thermostat. Her inside temperature registered as fifty-eight degrees.

  “Great. The heaters in the ducts must not be working. I’ll ask Haley. This is the only time of year I hate my heat pumps.” Sam returned to the sofa, deciding to tough it out for the weekend and call for a repair Monday. She knew the maintenance guys were swamped that weekend, and it would likely do little good to call now. She also didn’t have the heart to call them out as long as she had some heat.

  Sam glanced out the front windows. At least the sun was shining, melting the snow, even if the slush would freeze into ice overnight.

  Sam did a double take. What were the colors dotting the yard at Haley’s? Sam walked to the front window and watched as Haley marched out of her house with an armload of clothing and flung it across the yard with the rest.

  Sam eased the front door open and stood at the storm door.

  “If anybody leaves this house, it’s going to be you. I’ve had enough! I’m sick of being afraid of you. I’m not tiptoeing in my own home any longer. This break we just had showed me how bad things were between us.” Haley stood on the sidewalk, challenging the person still inside the house.

  Sam’s chin dropped.

  KD strolled out the front door. “You don’t really want me to go. You have to let me come home from rehab. It’s our deal.”

  “And you’re already high. That’s not part of our deal. Make arrangements for another place t
o live. I told you this was our last chance. I felt sorry for you!” Haley walked in a circle. “I’m done with you and your crazy-ass lifestyle and the way you treat me!”

  “Baby…”

  “Don’t go there.” Haley held up her hand. “It’s too late. Get your shit off my yard and get the hell out of my house. Don’t make me call the police.” Haley’s face was as red as Sam’s hair.

  “Holy crap.” Sam reached for her phone and called Paul. “Home run. Home run.” She actually remembered their code. “Get over here. Haley finally found her balls.”

  KD ambled out of the house, pulling on a worn black leather biker jacket. “You’ll be calling me, begging me to come back. Don’t wait too long.”

  Haley kicked KD in the ass as she walked past her. “I deserve better than you.”

  “Uh-oh.” Sam grabbed her coat and dashed out the front door.

  Haley glanced in Sam’s direction and held her hand up to stop her. “KD’s leaving on her own.”

  “Like hell.” KD rubbed her butt cheek. She picked up the clothing and threw it into the bed of her pickup.

  Sam felt like dancing. She stopped on the edge of her yard. She caught sight of Paul sprinting along the street and waved him off.

  KD looked at Sam, then Haley. “I’m leaving, but I’ll still keep an eye on you, Haley. You’ll want me back just as you always do. You and I aren’t done.” She glowered at Sam.

  Sam couldn’t stop herself from striking a boxing pose.

  KD feigned a step in Sam’s direction, then turned to her truck and climbed in. She drove away, extending her middle finger at both women and swerving as though to run Paul down.

  Haley leaned forward and placed her hands on her knees. She looked up as Paul and Sam approached. “Well, I finally told her it was time for us to go our separate ways. She talked the rehab center into letting her come home for Christmas, then spent the holiday getting stoned. I refused to lie for her and say she was here and clean, and she started in on me. How do you think it went?” She had the beginnings of a black eye and a welt rising on her cheek.

  Sam and Paul jumped in the air for a chest bump.

  “Hot damn, girl, when you find your backbone, you do it in a big way.” Paul grinned at Haley.

  “Well, I figured if you could finally admit what was going on with Scott, it was time for me to do the same about KD. We both need to get off of self-destruct as far as relationships go.” Haley stood, touching her face gingerly.

  “Hallelujah!” Sam put an arm around each of her friends.

  Paul’s expression sagged. “You’ve got tough days and worse nights ahead.”

  “I know,” Haley said.

  “Thank God you came in to the bank last week,” Paul said.

  “It was all part of my plan.” Haley grinned and winced. She looked at Sam’s questioning expression. “I took KD off my bank accounts and changed my safe deposit box—just in case.”

  “You devil!” Sam squeezed Haley against her. “You did listen to what Paul and I said to you.”

  “I also went to a real estate attorney who explained to me about proof of mortgage payment all those years, as well as paying all the utility bills, giving KD no claim to the house.”

  “No shit!” Sam clapped her hands.

  “I also have a locksmith scheduled to come out Monday. I’m taking a vacation day to pack everything of KD’s and put it into storage and e-mail her the lock combination. The week between Christmas and New Year’s is always dead at our office.” Haley looked taller.

  “I bow to the master.” Sam bent at the waist.

  “Free at last,” Paul said.

  “Damn right,” Haley said. “I finally just had enough. I wasn’t going to allow her to hit me anymore or mistreat me in other ways. I deserve better!”

  “Bravo!” Ava called from her doorway. She motioned them to come to her house.

  Ava hugged each one as they came inside. Her living room was toasty warm. “I just made a pot of coffee, and I’ve been saving a bottle Max brought home from Ireland. Who’ll join me?”

  All hands went up. Ava chuckled.

  “That’s the first time I ever struck anyone,” Haley said. “I didn’t realize how fed up with her I was until she put you in the hospital. I’m so sorry, Sam. Then in a weak, or dumbass, moment, I gave her one last chance, knowing she would likely blow it.” Haley grimaced. “Sorry for the unintentional pun.”

  Sam shook off the apology. “Not to worry.”

  “I hope Scott can afford to lose the bail he posted for her,” Haley said. “She’s supposed to report in after the first of the year. My guess is that she’ll skip town for a while. She’s already violated the break the judge gave her, and she’s on a tear now.”

  “He can’t, but it serves Scott right.” Paul reached up and took the tray from Ava. He poured coffee for everyone, adding Irish whiskey before handing each woman a cup. “I feel as though I have a harem.”

  “And you love it,” Sam said.

  Paul nodded and tasted his coffee. “I could get used to this,” he said to Ava.

  Sam raised her cup slightly for a toast. “Good riddance to this past year. Maybe next year we’ll all meet the loves of our lives.”

  “Or be reunited with them,” Ava said as she looked at the photograph on the mantel of the Army Air Corps pilot.

  They tapped cups, careful not to spill any.

  “It can’t get any better for me,” Ava said, “because I have you three and you’re all I need. But I’m willing to bet there’s just a little romance in store for each of you next year.”

  They all savored the coffee and Ava’s prediction.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Sam felt like banging her head against the surface of her desk. She hated working on the annual departmental budget. It seemed a bit too Scroogish that the draft numbers were due to the county’s board by the end of the calendar year. She couldn’t shake the background noise of chains rattling.

  Her work was such a crapshoot. It would be too easy for county officials to look at the business incubator as an easy place to trim funds since nonessential services were provided. But her job was also akin to the “trickle-down” effect. If free support services and reduced rents weren’t dangled, new companies would locate in the counties farther west where the taxes were lower. No new companies meant no increase in business license tax or employment, especially when a grateful startup graduated to a stand-alone site. No increase in tax base or employment meant a tighter budget.

  “Arghh!” Sam threw her pencil against the wall. She immediately reached for a fresh Ticonderoga from the can on her desk.

  “You flip that into the ceiling tile, and I’ll put you over my knee.” Kelly stood in the doorway to Sam’s office. She glanced down at her Timex Ironman watch. “You’re working late tonight.”

  Sam glanced at the clock on the wall and couldn’t believe it was almost nine o’clock. “Shit, where does the time go when you’re not having fun?”

  “Have you had any fun at all lately?” Kelly leaned against the doorjamb.

  Sam motioned her to come into the office. She pointed at a side chair facing her desk. “Have a seat.”

  Kelly came in but sat on the corner of the desk closest to Sam. “Don’t mind if I do.”

  Sam grinned. “Well, make yourself at home.”

  Kelly chuckled. “What’s going on with you?”

  “That’s right. We haven’t had a chance to talk lately.” Sam put her hand on Kelly’s thigh and gave her a squeeze. “Haley finally kicked KD out on her fat ass.”

  “No way.” Kelly leaned slightly forward. “I thought KD was supposed to be a guest of the state for a while.”

  Sam’s gaze dropped to the open buttons of Kelly’s shirt. She forced her gaze upward. “Way. Dumbass was released early and immediately got wasted, then showed up at Haley’s. Haley threw out KD’s clothes, then made her leave. I haven’t seen KD’s truck making the circuit of the subdivision but on
ce. Haley thinks she’ll tuck tail and leave town before she’s to report back to the judge.”

  “Good for Haley. She’ll have the girls lining up to call her and ask her out. I’ll put the word out in my crowd,” Kelly said.

  “How about you? Haley’s a cutie. You’re just her type.” Sam asked the question for her sake, as well as Haley’s.

  Kelly shook her head. “I’m not into trolling for someone just coming out of a long-term relationship. Maybe a few months from now if Haley hasn’t already moved someone else in.”

  Sam nodded. “She says she wants to take a break, keep dating very casual if she goes out at all, and not rush into anything.”

  “We all say that,” Kelly said.

  “And usually don’t mean it.” Sam pointed to herself.

  “I heard that.”

  Sam ran her hand up and down Kelly’s well-muscled thigh, then forced herself back to the conversation. “Paul broke off his relationship with Scott. He finally admitted that he had allowed himself to be strung along, knowing Scott wouldn’t leave his family. He seems to be doing really well with being alone.” Sam shook her head. “I think I’ve been a bad influence on my friends—we’re all single.”

  “Some of us by choice,” Kelly said. “Good for Paul. Being strung along is only okay when both parties are willing to do the stringing.”

  Sam swallowed. “What are you willing to do?”

  Kelly reached over and lightly stroked Sam’s cheek. She slipped off the corner of the desk and knelt before Sam’s chair. She straightened up and pulled Sam to her for a long, deep kiss.

  Sam leaned back in her chair. “Remind me why we decided we weren’t right for each other?”

  Kelly sat back on her heels and laughed. “Because I’m too blue collar to your white collar. I’m a redneck and you’re a solid femme citizen. You’re still not comfortable with business casual, and I’d just as soon wear jeans and a T-shirt when I have to wear clothes.”

  Sam felt herself flush at the memory of Kelly in no clothes.