“And you normally just pop by, sort of a surprise inspection?” There was a smile on my face and I was trying to hide my exasperation. “If you had let us know that you were planning on coming by, we could have someone on hand to answer any questions and walk you through everything.”
“Yes, ma’am, but we don’t really work that way. There’s no way to determine exactly how long we’re going to be at any one site. That means that we might be early or late at the next one on the docket and that wouldn’t be fair to you.”
I kept the forced smile. “Well, isn’t that considerate? So, what’s next?”
“The kitchen. It’s communal, right?”
“It sure is. Right this way.”
This was the first time during my tenure as Managing Director of Veterans Lighthouse that we’d had an inspection from the county. I didn’t even know it was something that occurred, but they were polite and showed us ID, so I took it in stride and gave them the tour. They took a lot of photos and copious notes.
I had to remind them three times to not take any photos that would include the residents, and our visitors were firmly standing on my last nerve. Still, I gritted my teeth, kept smiling and politely answered their questions. They took forever and we finally walked around to the front of the building after they checked the foundation for termites or something.
“Would it be possible to get a list of your staff and salaries?”
My smile dropped. “What? Why on Earth would you need that?”
“I guess it’s not technically needed, but we try to be thorough.”
“Mr. Davis, I thought this was about safety practices or something. Are you actually here about our charitable status? Should I involve our accountant?”
“Oh, this is very informal. No need to get folks involved if you’d prefer not to. Would you mind my asking how much you make?”
“As the director? Actually, I sort of do mind. That seems out of the purview of the county, but the answer is nothing. I don’t take a dime. I’m a volunteer.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yes, really. Do you think I’m lying? Listen, I was supposed to meet someone for dinner thirty minutes ago. Are we about done?”
“Yes, ma’am. We’ll get back to you with any questions. You have a good night.”
I cocked my head to the side. “I’m sorry, I know you already told me. Who are you with again?”
“The county.”
“What department?”
“Special assistant to the county executive.”
Ugh. If I shook that guy’s hand I’d immediately check to see if he’d stolen my watch. He was every cliche of a glad-handing politician, with a fake smile and glib line prepared to offend no one and say nothing. I’d compare him to a used-car salesman, but their stereotypes were unearned.
We’d run into him before in my other life as a business owner and he always over promised and under delivered. He was the embodiment of the Peter Principle, but the other party never ran someone they thought could win. I had no idea if it was collusion or not, but we learned quickly to get along without much help from the county.
“I see. Please feel free to call if you need any other information.”
Shaking my head, I walked back in the house where Irene was waiting for me with a cold bottle of water.
“What the heck was that?”
“I don’t know, but if they made me so late that Nicky canceled his dinner and I miss my grandbabies, someone is going to pay.”
*****
When I got to my son’s house his sister was waiting for me.
“Veronica, I’m so sorry I’m late.”
She was sitting on the floor playing with the twins. “Oh, it’s not a problem. Nicky and Cat had reservations, otherwise I’m sure they would have just waited. Everything okay?”
“I think so. Just had some weird visitors from the county checking out the building.”
“Like, an inspection?”
“Exactly.”
She shrugged. “Is Alex coming?”
I checked my watch. “Yes, he should be here any moment. Thank you again.”
She smiled. “Okay, girls. I’m taking off. Be good for grandma.”
Scooping up the girls, I read to them until Alex knocked on the door. “Come in!”
He was tall and fit and still looked great in his uniform. When he looked at me with those deep brown eyes I felt thirty years younger. I was sure that he didn’t know it, but whenever he saw me when we’d been apart, a small smile appeared on his handsome face, and knowing that I had that effect just melted me.
“Can you keep reading to the girls while I heat up their dinner?”
“Read to the cutest girls in the world? I think I can manage that.”
As we fed them I told him about what had happened earlier at the veterans’ home. We had met there years ago and were friends long before he worked up the courage to ask me out.
“That’s odd. Call Melanie. See how often they had inspections before she retired.”
“Good idea. I’ll call tomorrow before we go to your parents.”
“Yeah, about that. Um, Mom would like to reschedule.”
“Again?”
“She said something came up.”
“Something always comes up. Was it always this way with women you dated?”
“No, but… Okay, I can’t really think of anything to say in her defense.”
“Is it just me? Did I do something to offend her?”
“She’s just old-fashioned. She doesn’t like her friends talking and they’re all from the older generation.”
“Why would they talk about me?”
“Well, you’re, um, well off. You have a kid. You weren’t a military wife like a lot of them were and, um, well…”
“I’m different. Really, Alex? She has a problem with what her friends might say?”
“They just… Yeah, I can’t explain it. Mom likes you, she really does, but there’s just something there that she has an issue with.”
“Okay, I’m not going to try to change anyone’s mind. She has an issue with us, that’s her problem.”
Alex smiled and shrugged apologetically. After feeding the girls and playing with them for a while, we put them to bed. Lori, always the adventuresome twin, was back out in the kitchen fifteen minutes later. We put her back in bed, told her to stay there in mock severity and went back to the living room.
Five minutes later I found Alex reading to her quietly by the light of his cell phone. Leaning against the door, I watched, smiling. When she was finally as asleep as her sister, Alex and I went back to the kitchen. As always, our fee for watching the girls was a small sampler box of truffles for each of us.
My daughter-in-law owned Cat’s Chocolates, a growing boutique downtown, and I had to use an iron will to limit myself to four truffles. We had finished a movie on Netflix and were searching for a second when Nicky and Cat returned home.
It was hard not to smile when I saw how he looked at her. When he broke up with his fiancée years ago I’d worried that he’d never find that sort of love again. Thankfully, they’d remained friends and are still very close.
“Hey, Mom. Did you guys eat? We left a casserole in the fridge.”
“We did. Thanks. Where did you go for dinner?”
“Casa Margarita. The girls were okay?”
“Fine.” I began putting my coat on. “I’m not going to be at the agency tomorrow.”
Cat put their leftovers in the fridge and called over her shoulder. “Everything okay?”
“I believe so. Just an odd day at the home today. I’m going to pop in and make some phone calls tomorrow.”
She came out from the kitchen with another box of truffles. “Can we help at all?”
“No, just some paperwork stuff from the county. It was unexpected but not a problem.”
“Okay. Call us if things change.”
*****
Alex followed me home and stayed the night. There were times when I had problems sleeping, but never when he was holding me. Maybe it was a bit of that manic energy that Nicholas had when he was younger, but I often found myself up in the middle of the night folding laundry or doing something else for half an hour.
We had breakfast and he went off to work while I dug through some of my old paperwork. I found the phone number for Melanie, my predecessor. She’d retired to Florida to be closer to her daughter and rarely stayed in touch. The county executive was Callum McGillen. I googled him and the county government and looked over the photos of the personnel. I didn’t find the guy who stopped by yesterday and couldn’t find anything about a special assistant to the county executive position.
I bought four dozen donuts and brought them with me. After leaving them in the kitchen, I went to my office and called Melanie. Thankfully, she kept the same number.
“Hello?”
“Melanie! It’s Lori from the veterans’ home. Do you have a few minutes?”
“Lori, how are you? Of course. Is everything okay?”
“Fine. We all miss you, but we’re plugging along. Can I pick your brain for a minute?”
“Sure.”
“Do you know if the county has anything to do with our charitable status?”
“Um, I don’t think so. No, now that I think about it, they don’t. Why, are you having any issues?”
“We had a weird visit yesterday by someone from the county, or who claimed to be from the county. They did a building inspection and I really should have asked more questions, like what authority they had to be inspecting us, but I just sort of fell in line and walked him around. He took lots of notes and then, right before he left, he asked if he could get a copy of everyone’s salary and seemed most interested in mine. When I told him I wasn’t paid, he seemed surprised. The salary thing made me think about the charitable status.”
“Well, that is definitely odd. We never had anything like that while I was there. Did you inform the board?”
“No, my first call was to you. I’ll be doing that today.”
“Okay, well, ring me back if I can be a help. So, tell me, is Irene still there?”
We kibitzed for a while and when I finally got off the phone, I composed an email to the Board of Directors asking for input and advice. Their replies trickled in throughout the day, most asking for more details and seeming stumped. Our CFO said she would spend the afternoon going over our finances, but she was confident that we had nothing to worry about. The amount of money we spent on the residents from every dollar of donations was higher than ever.
Shelly was in charge of our community relations. She called me right before lunch.
“So, does this have anything to do with the brownstone across the street and the old middle school property being sold?”
“I… Are you sure? I had no idea.”
“Yeah, I still have my realtor’s license and I try to stay on top of things. The same company bought both.”
“I see.” The wheels started spinning. “I’m going to have to look into this. Thanks, Shelly. Can you get me the name of the company and whatever else you can find out?”
“You bet.”
*****
Alex’s mother had no hesitation in letting me know that I wasn’t the right sort of person for her son. She thought I was soft. Alex told her I didn’t take a salary from the home and that I owned part of the travel agency. In this woman’s mind, that was all she needed to know. That I had worked seventy to eighty hours a week as a single mom when Nicky was little wasn’t even a possibility to Alex’s mom. That I bought all my clothes from thrift shops and saved every extra dollar so I could buy my son that helmet he wanted or that skateboard he longed for was out of the question.
That being financially comfortable was a recent development wouldn’t even occur to her. Her mid-fifties baby boy had retired from the military and I was the soft woman from a civilian life that had stolen him. Alex and I had been together for more than four years and my being invited to her home was still a rarity. What she did invite me to was their annual Juneteenth celebration where she trotted out every single woman over forty that she could find.
Alex’s father and two grandfathers served in the military, and it’s service like theirs that I tried to honor and respect by spending so much of my life working to ensure that veterans in our area aren’t homeless. According to his mother, their family history has made certain women the right kind of people for the men in their family and certain women were definitely not. Guess which category I was in? If Nicky had served, I probably would have been more welcome.
I usually just sighed, put a smile on my face and kept moving forward. It did get irritating when we invited them over to his place or mine and they showed up with what we had already made, as if I had no idea how to cook. The woman had the nerve to show up with her ‘special’ potato salad to a BBQ when she knew I was making some. What made it special? Raisins! Who on Earth puts raisins in potato salad?
Still, they were very kind to my granddaughters and were polite to Nicky. More importantly, Alex loved them without end and was a devoted son, so I dealt with her.
Taking a deep breath, I called his father. She answered. Grimacing, I tried to make my voice light and fluffy.
“Hi, Evelyn. It’s Lori. Nicky’s birthday is this Saturday. We’re having a surprise party for him, and I was hoping you and John would be available.”
There was a slight pause. “I think we’re free. Can I check and confirm tomorrow?”
“Sure.”
“Is it a big birthday, like his thirtieth? Just asking for gift purposes.”
“No, just a standard birthday. With the girls being so little we haven’t really been able to do anything over the top and we didn’t make a big deal for his thirtieth, so we thought we’d surprise him with something nice this year.”
“That sounds lovely. Can I make something?”
Like raisin potato salad? I pushed down my snark. “No, thank you. We have it covered.”
“Wonderful. I’ll get back to you tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Anne.”
Well, that was one good deed done for the day. I actually liked Alex’s father and, in all honesty, Anne wasn’t too bad when she put her passive aggression away for a while.
I decided to take a roundabout way into work and spent some time driving through the neighborhood. It’s strange how things creep up on you. The veterans’ home wasn’t in the best of areas, but we had a decent amount of property and the police stopped by frequently to check up on us. We kept up the maintenance and made regular improvements. We were doing well, the area, not so much. I’m not trying to make it sound horrible, but the reality was that most businesses had left the area and crime was on the rise.
When you view something every day of your life, you grow to see what you expect instead of what is actually there. As I drove around I noticed a number of the For Sale signs were gone and the construction on the new train station was much more extensive than I thought it would be. I was looking with new eyes.
Things were changing.
A few blocks from the veterans’ home was an old industrial warehouse. It now had a new paint job, a permanent sign for ‘Moe’s Tavern and Brewery’ and a temporary sign that read ‘Coming Soon’, with a date and website. I had pulled over and parked across from the building. As I put the car back into drive, the door to the new brewery opened and out stepped Callum McGillen, our county executive. He was with a man in a suit who seemed to be a peer and three other men who stood a few steps back, like lackeys. One of them was the inspector.
The block was empty except for them, myself, and two women at the end of the block. I wasn’t sure what I should do. Waiting was reasonable. Get more information, go in prepared, set up a meeting with the executive or his people, and handle things professionally. On the other hand, he was right in front of me.
Nicky has told me a number of times how, when he was competing, his emotions would shut down, he’d grow cold and confrontational and move ahead no matter what. He thought it was a trait he’d developed on the streets before he became an X Games professional. Nicky was wrong. He’d gotten that from me. That’s what drove me day in and day out after his father left us in poverty.
It’s also what pushed me out of the door of my car and propelled me across the street.
“Mr. McGillen?” I called out to his back.
He turned, a surprised look on his face, but the bright politician smile in place. “Yes?”
“We haven’t met, but I’m from Veterans Lighthouse. Someone from your office, this gentleman here, came by to inspect the building and grounds. I was wondering why that was? My predecessor said that had never happened under her tenure.”
McGillen’s eyebrows rose. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He reached out to shake my hand, so I shook. The man had that fresh botox look of plastic rigidity. “You people do fine work over there. Fine work. If there’s anything my office can ever do for you, please let us know.”
He turned back to the other men.
“Um, about that inspection?”
There was a brief look of annoyance as he once again looked my way. “Excuse me?”
“I was asking about the inspection. Why did it happen? What was the purpose and under whose authority was it conducted?”
His smile wavered a bit. “I’m sorry, I’d have to have someone check our paperwork back at the office.”
I looked at the guy who came to the home. “Sir, you must know why.”
His smile was so forced he looked like he belonged in Disney’s Hall of Presidents. “Yeah, not really. I’d have to go back and check the paperwork. But feel free to call the office and we’ll look it up for you.”
My eyes darted between them. “It just seems odd. It’s never happened before and then no notice, just a full-blown inspection of something I didn’t know was under your purview.”
The tall man that McGillen had been speaking with took half a step forward. “Ma’am, I think we can all agree that you do the work of the angels over there. Homelessness of veterans is odious to any right-thinking American. That being said, everyone wants to ensure that they are safe and well taken care of, right? Executive McGillen and his team should be commended for their thoroughness. If there is no issue with the facility, why the concern?”
Tilting my head, I looked up at him. “And you are?”
“Ken Sandalwood. It’s a pleasure, ma’am. Thank you for doing what you do for those that have served.”
“Mr. Sandalwood, would you happen to be in commercial property development?”
Raising an eyebrow, he stared at me for a moment. “Why, are you looking to buy or sell?”
“Neither. Certainly not sell.”
“If that ever changes and you have some property in mind, give me a call, little lady. I’m sure we could work something out.”
Little lady? I pulled my business card from my purse and handed it to Sandalwood. It was the card from the agency. “Can you please have someone call me?”
“Isn’t this Nicky Tremaine’s business?”
“I’m his mother and partner. It’s our business.”
“You’re Nicky Tremaine’s mother?”
“I am.”
He paused. “I see.”
“So, I can expect your call?”
McGillen turned up the wattage on his smile. “Absolutely, Mrs. Tremaine, and thank you again for helping our veterans.”
I nodded and walked back to my car. Little lady? Now I was getting irritated.
*****
It took Shelly two days to get back to me.
“Lori, I found out who’s behind most of the activity in the area. It’s The Boswell Group, a company specializing in gentrification and being just ahead of the curve on neighborhoods about to experience revitalization.”
She couldn’t see me, but I nodded. “Let me guess, it’s headed up by Ken Sandalwood?”
“Uh, hold on one sec. I’m in front of my computer and… Yes, exactly.”
“Do you know how we can go about finding who donates to a particular politician?”
“I don’t, no, but I’m pretty sure it can be done. They have to have records for that stuff, right?”
“Yeah, I’ll ask around. Thanks, Shelly. I appreciate this.”
“Is everything okay?”
“I think so. I’ll get back to you as soon as I have some information.”
Jill, our CFO, called to assure me she was combing through our financials to make sure that there were no irregularities. She had retired from a career as an executive at an accounting firm and she knew her stuff. Jill seemed confident and that reassured me.
I set up a meeting with the Board of Directors for the following week and then headed into the kitchen to help with meal prep. As I worked through the day there was always that niggling fear in the back of my head. If they truly wanted the property, was there anything we could do to stop them?
I left around six and stopped at St. Mary’s on my way home. I lit a candle and prayed for my son, his wife, my grandchildren, Alex and Veronica. When I was done, I asked for guidance regarding the home.
It could all be much ado about nothing, but I had a bad feeling eating away at me.
*****
We’re not unique. There are homes for veterans like ours across the nation. Most do a great job and almost anything is better than sleeping on the streets, but some claim to be non-profit while their management takes in obscene salaries that could be rolled over for the residents. There are government programs and numerous grants that will give a residence money for every occupant staying there.
The natural and unfortunate outgrowth of this is that less scrupulous venues will pack in residents in an effort to maximize the grant money. They will house guests six to a room and put up cots in communal areas. If we operated like that, an inspection of some sort wouldn’t be surprising.
Thankfully, we don’t have to. We are fully funded by donations from the public and fundraising. As long as we maintain our not-for-profit status, we should be fine. I did some checking and was surprised to find out that the status is conferred by the state, not the federal government. Thankfully, there was no involvement by local or county governments. So, why did they show up? What did they hope to get out of their fishing expedition?
I shook off the doubts and concerns that were yapping in the back of my brain like a Pomeranian on two espressos and concentrated on what needed to be done. We had two goals. The first was to ensure that no veteran was sleeping on the streets and the second was to help them graduate from the home and get to a place in life where they were comfortable on their own. To do that, we worked with veteran-owned businesses that came in and taught skills to the residents.
Most of our backyard was a large training facility that changed form and function every few weeks. You could show up and find a landscaper talking about topiary design and then come back a month later and see a carpenter guiding residents through woodworking. None of us at the home were naive; not the staff and certainly not the residents. We knew that there were reasons behind the homelessness and those reasons were varied.
Counselors were available, peer groups were a part of the home’s social structure and some of our residents had just run into some temporary hardships. We were incredibly proud of the residents that had moved out on their own and then returned to help those who were facing the difficulties they had surmounted.
I made sure that I was off the day before, the day of, and the day after Nicky’s party. Alex was a regular volunteer, so he got the day of the party off as well. His family owned forty-eight mobile homes that they rented out and he handled most of the hands-on aspects of the business. The ‘mobile’ in mobile homes may be a misnomer, as they were all in various communities where the homes didn’t move and hadn’t since they arrived.
He took a great deal of pride in ensuring that the modest homes were well maintained. Most of their renters were senior citizens and Alex kept a set of tools in both the trunk of his car and in the bed of his truck. If he was free and got a phone call he would head right over to one of the locations and fix whatever problem popped up.
We were driving over to a facility with eight of their homes to check on some gardening when he turned down the radio.
“So, where are you holding the party? Mom keeps asking if it’s going to be at a restaurant.”
“No, I decided to use the travel agency office off of Main. It’s large enough, they’ll be closed and I can get Nicky there without him being suspicious. I’ll be finalizing the catering order tonight. Any requests?”
Taking his eyes off the road for a moment, he turned to me and smiled. “Those mini-taco things would be great.”
For a smile like that, I’d get him mini-tacos every day of the week. “I think we can work that out.”
We pulled into the community and then into a driveway. An elderly woman popped her head out of the door of the mobile home.
“Good evening, Mrs. O’Reilly. Mind if we park in your driveway?”
She put her hands on her hips. “Of course not, Alex. What brings you by today?”
“Just checking in to see how you’re doing and I was thinking of putting in some plants. Everything okay with you?”
“Fine, just fine. Would you be able to put in some daylilies?”
“I can certainly look into it. Would you mind if I took a few pictures?”
“You do whatever you need to do, sweetheart. Would your friend like some tea while you work?”
I enjoyed the tea with Mrs. O’Reilly before we visited a few other of the homes Alex rented. Everyone we spoke to was onboard for the small amount of landscaping their tiny yards would allow. The difference between the homes his family owned and other units was obvious. His mom might be a pain in the butt, but she was clearly dedicated to her renters. I’d been with Alex when he visited his parents. We’d have coffee and pastries with them as his mother pored over spreadsheets and called renters one by one. She’d make sure that issues had been addressed or just check in.
When we were done we headed to Avery’s Wholesale Plants to look into availability and pricing.
“Look at this, Lori. Japanese Red Maple. That would look nice in your front yard. The side away from the driveway.”
“It would. I don’t like the colored rocks you see around them sometimes. The red or white stones in a circle around the tree? They just look tacky.”
“I can understand that. They feel unnatural, like they’re incongruous somehow. Not part of nature. What do you think, want to get one? I can have my guys install it.”
“Um, yeah, I guess. Let me think it over. I’ll make a decision tomorrow.”
That was the first time that Alex had made a suggestion for my home. Even when he helped me baby-proof the place, he was careful to just stick to my plan. I was happy to hear his opinion. He stayed over two or three nights a week. He should have some input or, at the very least, feel comfortable sharing his opinions.
We continued to walk the grounds and I slipped my hand into his. Alex was a bit oblivious. He never saw the looks he received from the women shopping. He looked younger than he was, stayed in great shape and had that bearing that served many military men well.
“How different is your place from where you lived while Nicky was growing up?”
I laughed. “Night and day. We were straight up poor back then. When he had his first big year with prize money and sponsors, he bought me a condo. It was nice and a beautiful gesture, but I’d always wanted a house with a nice yard. That was my sign of success, if that makes sense. I didn’t need anything big and fancy. Comfortable works just fine for me. When the travel agency took off, I took a risk and bought the new place.”
He nodded. “So, that’s your home now, I mean long term? No plans to move on to something bigger or in another neighborhood?”
“Oh, heavens no. I’m happy as can be and it’s close enough to work.”
We spent a couple of hours at the nursery and Alex ordered some plants, mulch and fertilizer to be delivered. He had a crew that took care of the landscaping for all their properties, but I knew that he would likely be involved getting his hands dirty.
The veterans’ home had one full-time staff member who lived on site and a part-timer who slept there three nights a week. Alex’s time there was usually in the evenings after our mid-day volunteer had gone home. Having served, he had a rapport with the residents that others didn’t.
We visited Salami & Friends, an Italian hero shop, on the way home. Alex got a sandwich for himself and Glen, the part-timer that was staying the night. He dropped me off at home and then headed over for his four hours of volunteering. Opening my laptop, I went over the plans for the party and made a phone call.
“Maggie? It’s Lori Tremaine. I’m looking at your website as we speak and I think that we have the menu locked down, but I don’t see an option for mini-tacos. Is that something you can do?”
*****
I usually put in about thirty hours a week at the home, but whatever was going on was bugging the heck out of me. Jill was sitting at my desk when I arrived. When I entered the office she started to stand, but I waved her back.
“Stay, relax. Find anything?”
She had a box of receipts in front of her and the computer to her left.
“Not yet. I mean there’s some very, very minor issues that really aren’t even issues. We sent out receipts for every donation, but we’re late on some quarterly acknowledgement letters. There’s no legalities or requirement for them, but it’s a bit sloppy. I have most of them covered and the rest will get done by the weekend. I’ve gone over all of the receipts from this year and they seem fine. I need you to get me the history for our Amex card. It’s in the name of the home, so I need to take a look. Our bank account is fine and the checks all match up.”
There was a sigh of relief as I felt some of the building tension release.
“So, we’re looking pretty good?”
“So far? Absolutely! Did you know that Glen has been taking photos of projects for the house and labeling them with dates, who purchased the materials and a JPG of the receipts? That man needs a raise. As long as the credit card has no issues, we’re not only okay, we’re way, way over the top as far as preparedness for any potential audits.”
I smiled. “That’s so good to hear. Thank you for coming in. Can I get you lunch?”
She lifted a bag of pretzels that was behind the computer. “I’m good, thanks.”
“Alright, I’m going to get out of your hair. Everyone knows to reach me right away if we get a call from the county, right? I’m hoping they’ll let us know why they showed up. Supposedly they have records they can reference.”
“Everyone knows, Lori.”
I spent the rest of the day handling scheduling and helping to prep the communal dinner. When I left I went back to the church. It wasn’t my local parish. Near my old apartment, it’s where I’d gone when Nicky was still an extreme athlete. I could still list every injury he sustained while competing and I was a regular visitor to those pews. There was a comfort in coming to the same church and being a member of the same community for so many years.
Thankfully, his greatest risk now was flying to Connecticut to do commentary on the X Games for ESPN.
When I finished praying, I got off my knees and sat back. Father Massey had just finished hearing confessions and walked over.
“Hello, Lori. Am I interrupting?”
“No, Father. I was hoping to run into you. We’re having a surprise birthday party for Nicky the day after tomorrow. We’d love to have you join us.”
“That’s very kind. What time?”
“He’ll be there by eight, so the guests need to be in place by seven.”
“That works fine. What can I bring?”
“Nothing. We’re requesting no gifts.”
He frowned. “I can’t show up empty-handed, Lori. Help me out here. A bottle of wine, maybe?”
“I’m sure he’d appreciate that. And maybe a few prayers for Veterans Lighthouse.”
“Is there a concern?”
I explained what was going on.
“Everyone over there is doing the work of the angels. I’m sure it will work out, but let’s pray together.”
He blessed me, made the sign of the cross and we prayed for the home and those we served.
*****
The manager of the office where we were hosting the party had to be informed, and that meant she had to be invited. If she was invited, we had to invite the managers of the other two offices. Jerry was an employee, but also a father figure to Nicky, so he was invited. It just made things easier if we invited all the employees.
Thankfully, we owned the parking lot in the rear of the building. We had tables set up and two large party tents in case of rain. The caterers upgraded to their large refrigerated truck at our request, so Cat could keep the desserts cold. Her sister, my ex’s wife, was watching the twins as I ran around making sure everything was ready. I walked over to the tremendous frame that was covered by a black cloth. The last thing I wanted was some gag gift unveiling if it was in horrible taste. I began to lift the corner of the cloth.
Veronica came rushing over. “Hey, hey, no peeking!”
“This was you?”
She smiled. “No, I’m just the present police. Yes, it’s from me.”
I relaxed. Veronica was an incredibly talented artist and got her professional start when Nicky had a company he had a licensing deal with hire her. I felt like an aunt to her and was proud of Veronica’s success.
I finally had to accept that things were as good as they were going to get, regardless of my futzing around. My text to Nicholas went well. I told him we had an issue at the office and we needed to meet with the manager that evening. He said he had plans with Cat and his sister-in-law was watching the girls. There were times when it still struck me as odd that his now sister-in-law was married to my ex, but I was long past worrying about that man. I told Nicholas that the meeting would be brief, but we really needed him there.
Cat was pushing him behind the scenes, and I knew that, but I still let out a sigh of relief when he texted and said he was fifteen minutes out. I did a quick sweep of the room, making a mental list of who was there and who wasn’t. Almost everyone had shown up.
“Hello! Can I have everyone’s attention for a moment? They should be here in about fifteen minutes. We’re going to turn off most of the lights inside, but everything will still be on outside. Cat and I will walk Nicky out back and hopefully he’ll be surprised. And yes, girls, there will be presents you can help open.”
The smiles on the twins’ faces made almost everything in my life worthwhile.
Walking outside, I gave pretty much the same speech.
“Thank you all for coming! Nicky’s almost here! We’re going to keep the lights off inside and then guide him back here. If you can just yell surprise or… Angie!”
I rushed over and hugged my son’s ex-fiancée and best friend.
“You made it!”
“Of course I made it, how could I miss Nicky’s party?”
Her husband, Tom, stood at her side. For a wealthy man, he dressed down. “Hello, Tom, thank you so much for coming.”
“Of course, Lori. It’s a wonderful party, thank you for inviting us. You look lovely, by the way.”
He was a nice man and he could afford the good-natured compliments. Angie was a former model and sports reporter who broke into mainstream news. Anyone could see that they were madly in love.
“And you’re looking very sharp yourself.”
I turned to see Alex in a heated discussion with his mother. She was carrying a large Tupperware cake carrier, but that was ridiculous. There was no way she would bring a cake to a birthday party without asking or being asked. Impossible, right? Wrong. She clearly thought whatever I would provide wouldn’t suffice.
Alex looked in my direction just as I was turning to walk back into the building.
It’s fine. It’s just a cake. It’s fine. It’s just a cake. It’s fine. It’s just a cake.
I kept muttering to myself until Father Massey approached me.
“Lori, where can I put the wine? Is there a table for gifts?”
“Out back, Father. You can’t miss it. It’s next to the table with the unsolicited cake.”
He looked at me oddly, but walked out the door to where the tables and chairs were set up. I turned most of the lights out, sat in the front by the large glass windows, waited for my son and daughter-in-law and stewed.
Standing when I saw Nicky pull into the small parking lot in the front of the building, I glanced behind me and held up my hand. Veronica pulled the door shut.
They got out of their car, walked over and entered. “Hey, Mom. This isn’t going to take long, right? Cat made reservations.”
“No, we should be fine. Todd and Mary are out back. Let’s get this over with.”
“Why aren’t we using her office?”
“Todd smokes.”
“Oh, okay.”
When we opened the door everyone yelled, “Surprise! Happy birthday”; the twins and his goddaughter rushed him and he stood there staring, mouth agape. Turning first to Cat and then to me, he shook his head as a smile formed.
“You got me.”
I laughed and hugged him. He went around to shake hands while Cat went to the refrigerated truck to check the desserts. I resisted the urge to accidentally knock the unsolicited cake on the ground.
The party was a success. We made sure that there were presents for the girls to open. After Nicky had opened his gifts, Veronica unveiled her large painting of Nicky as he raced down a mountain on his BMX bike. It was beautiful, like all of her work; he was going to hate it. Nicholas wasn’t a narcissist and tried to downplay his athletic career while not working; he was going to hate it. It was made by his sister; he was going to love it. It was beautiful; he was going to love it. We used his fame to fuel the adventure-tourism business.
Three loves trumped one hate.
“Lori, can I get a minute?”
Pangs of guilt hit me. I’d been ignoring Alex all night. “Of course.”
We walked into Mary’s office. He closed the door behind us.
“This looks serious. Everything okay?” I said.
“Um, yeah, fine, I hope. I, uh, I talked to Nicky. I didn’t want to steal his thunder during his party. He said it was fine.”
“What’s fine?”
He let out a long breath and wiped his palms on his pants. “I can’t remember the last time I was this nervous. We, uh, we’ve been seeing each other for five years now. You know I love you. If we’re apart for even a day I feel lost. I don’t ever want to feel lost again.”
Alex got down on one knee and pulled a small box from his pocket. My heart was beating like it was me on the bike hurtling down a mountain.
“Lori, you’re the best woman I’ve ever known. I love you and have almost since we met. You put up with my crazy mother. You’re better than I deserve, but I hope that you’ll make me the—”
I couldn’t contain myself. “Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you!”
He stood, pulled me close, gently lowered his lips to mine. I would have gladly stayed in his arms all night, but I remembered the box. I stepped back and held out my hand. Smiling, he opened the box. The ring was beautiful. Alex took my hand reverently and slowly slipped the ring on my finger.
“I love you, Lori.”
“I love you too, but did you tell your mother? If not, I’m going out to get a piece of that cake and tell her how great it is as I wave this giant rock under her nose.”
Alex laughed, and we rejoined the party, hand in hand.
I saw Nicholas as we walked back out. He was watching the door and when he saw us, a bright smile broke out on his handsome face. My son grabbed his wife by the hand and rushed towards us.
Like a little boy asking if Santa had shown up overnight, he rocked up on his tiptoes and back down while raising his eyebrows.
“Yes?”
I lifted the hand with the ring. “Yes!”
He picked me up off the ground and kissed my cheek. When he put me down, he shook Alex’s hand and then hugged him. Cat was oohing and aahing over the ring when Angie walked over. She hugged me and was looking at the ring when Veronica walked towards us.
I grabbed my fiance’s hand. “Excuse me. I just need to talk to Alex for a moment.”
We stepped away for a moment. “Did you tell your parents?”
“No. I’m an adult, Lori. I don’t need anyone’s permission.”
“Please tell your mother. Do it for me. I don’t want her to feel sandbagged.”
“I thought we could do that together.”
“Trust me, it will be better if you told her without me there, and then we’ll both go over in a little while. Let her get composed.”
He hesitated for a moment, stepped in and kissed me. “Alright. For you.”
When he walked off, the group of friends and extended family closed in around me. As we talked excitedly, I felt two pairs of arms pulling at me. I squatted down.
“I’m going to need some help from the two of you. Grandma’s going to get married, so I need to find the two cutest girls in the world to be flower girls. Can you help me look?”
We gave them some time before Alex and I walked over to his parents. His father, always a kind man, hugged me.
“Welcome to the family, Lori. We’re so happy for the two of you.”
“Thank you, John. Alex totally surprised me.”
His mother piped in. “He surprised me as well, but yes, congratulations.” She looked like she was sucking a lemon.
John gave me a brief hug and kissed my cheek. “Whatever we can do to help, you know that. Anything at all. Congratulations, son. The two of you are wonderful together.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
Alex was smiling, and that’s all I cared about.
I was on cloud nine for the rest of the evening. We’d paid to have a cleaning crew come in after the party and they did an excellent job. Many people ignored the ‘no gifts’ request and had brought presents. We kept them all on one table and the twins helped their father with the unwrapping. The cleaning people had taken all the paper away and the only thing left was a gift box and an opened card.
With the rest of the gifts scooped up and on their way home with Nicky, the remaining box looked forlorn and sad. I opened the box and saw a lovely watch that looked old, but in excellent condition. Pulling out the card, I read the note.
Nicholas,
This watch belonged to my father, your grandfather. I asked Veronica to give it to you. I know that seeing me at your party would be the last thing you’d want. Your grandfather would have wanted you to have this. I’ve been a failure as a father to you, but he was a better man than I am. He would have loved knowing you and would have been so proud of the man you’ve become.
Don’t think of me when you see the watch, think of him.
I know it’s hard to believe, but I love you. If you ever want to talk or if I can answer any questions about your grandfather or anything else, I’m here.
Your Father
Sighing, I put both the box and the card in my pocketbook. There may come a time when my son would want both. If that day ever arrived, I wanted to be prepared.
As wonderful as it was, the day had to end. Alex came back to my home for the night and we celebrated together twice.
I was back at work exactly a week later when I received a letter from the county. On my third reading, I grabbed my phone and called the lawyer who represented the home pro bono. Her secretary put me on hold and I fumed while waiting for her to pick up.
“Hello, Lori. Sorry for the delay. What can I do for you?”
“You can explain what the heck it means when the county says a building is a blight on the community and starts babbling on about economic development!”
There was a pause. “Can you send me a copy of the letter? Right away?”
“I’ll drive it over. What does it mean, Jackie?”
I could hear her sigh. “Eminent domain. They want to take the building.”
*****
Ginny Houstec was on our board and owned a small farm-to-table restaurant. We usually had board of directors meetings there on Tuesdays, the only day of the week they closed. We all threw in forty or fifty bucks and she fed us before we got down to business. No one was hungry that day.
“Okay, we’re all done with the formalities? We have a quorum, we took care of the minutes, let’s dive in. Jackie, what are our options?”
“Honestly, it’s not good. The government has pretty wide-ranging power in this arena. It falls under urban renewal condemnation. I prepared a summary for everyone and I’ll be passing out copies. This happens a lot more than you’d think, sometimes justified, often not. They will probably hew closely to Yonkers v. Morris. It’s in the summary. The concern is that the conditions under which a locale can be determined a blighted area are incredibly vague.”
I shook my head. “Wonderful. Is there any good news?”
“Well, yes. They’re politicians. We can try to get an injunction to slow them down, but our best bet is publicity. We need people to know that this is, and I apologize for my language, bullshit. Just as importantly, we need to wrap this around County Executive McGillen’s neck like an albatross. He needs to be tied to this tightly. We need to make him the face of this… This bullshit!”
I’d never heard Jackie curse before. It was bracing. “Okay, can you get to work on the injunction? We can put together a committee for some public relations.”
She nodded. “Sure. It’s just that this sort of corruption infuriates me.”
“Absolutely. It’s disgusting. Why would he even be doing this?”
“Campaign donations and probably a comfy position with the real estate firm after he retires.”
“Campaign donations? When is he running again?”
“Next fall.”
I smiled. “Next fall. Interesting. What are the chances that your injunction will get us beyond his election?”
“It’s possible, but he’s going to win. He practically ran unopposed last time.”
“Things change, Jackie. Things change. Let’s switch gears. What’s everyone thinking?”
Usually quiet, Fred cleared his throat and spoke up. “I, uh, I think we need to let people know that these claims are ludicrous. Maybe we could do a virtual tour of the home like realtors do for home sales? We could put it up on YouTube.”
I nodded. “Excellent idea. Anyone else?”
Jim spoke up. “What about inviting reporters in? Sort of a ‘day in the life’ sort of coverage. They can start with breakfast in the house, see how the residents go through their day, stuff like that?”
“Great. We do need to remember that we’re there for the residents. Their privacy has to be respected at all times. If it involves someone from the outside entering the home, they all have to be on board. If they’re not, it gets nixxed.”
Everyone agreed and Fred raised his hand.
“Fred, you can just speak up.”
“Right. Um, what… What if we had, like a fair or carnival? We have plenty of space. Gear it towards little kids. Do facepainting and stuff. It would be hard to depict us as an eyesore, a blight and a danger if people associate us with clowns, a petting zoo and helping veterans. Maybe we can get some celebrities to come by. Lori, would your son come down?”
“Fred, if you weren’t four chairs away, I’d kiss you. That’s a wonderful idea! Can you head that up? We’ll get a volunteer committee going.”
By the time we’d finished I was feeling much better. I even ate some of the finger food. I was grabbing my things when I scooped up the legal summary. That prompted me to look at Jackie, who had a frown on her face. She saw me and shrugged.
Well, she was the lawyer. She could worry about the nuts and bolts. I believed in people. If you gave them a chance, they would surprise you. We just needed to get the word out. They couldn’t shut us down if we had the support of the community.
“Great meeting, everyone! Keep the ideas flowing. I’m going to set up a conference call for Friday. Does that work for everyone?”
We all thanked Ginny for hosting us and headed to our cars. I sat in mine for a moment before pulling out my phone.
“Hello, Lori. This is a surprise.”
“Yes, well, I was hoping that we might be able to have lunch tomorrow.”
“Will my son be there?”
“No, I thought that you and I should talk.”
She tisked. “Sadly, I’m booked tomorrow. Maybe another time.”
I let out a slow breath. “Right. Can I ask you something? Have you ever put any thought into Alex holding public office?”
There was silence.
“Hello?”
She finally responded. “What type of public office?”
“There will be an election for county executive next year. I’m thinking that a decorated veteran with generational ties in the community, someone who’s a successful local business owner… Well, that sounds appealing to me.”
“You know, as we’re sitting here chatting, I checked my scheduler. It seems that I was mistaken. I am free for lunch tomorrow. Where would you like to meet?”
I showed up fifteen minutes early and she still beat me to the restaurant. The woman was aggravating. Forcing a smile on my face, I headed inside. When she saw me walking to her table, she raised an eyebrow and looked at her watch.
Sitting down, I jumped right in. “Thanks for meeting with me and for being so punctual. I’m early and you still beat me.”
“I was in the neighborhood, so I dropped in a bit early.” She took a small leather-bound notepad from her purse. “So, Lori, color me intrigued. Yes, I believe that my son would make a marvelous county executive. He has command experience and has had men and women serving under him more efficiently than those in our local government. And I’m not going to pretend that it wouldn’t interest me to see him be the first man of color to occupy the position. My concern is, where would we get the votes? He has no political apparatus and no name recognition.”
“Yet. He doesn’t have name recognition yet.”
“Alright, yet. But twelve months isn’t a long time. How do you plan on getting from absolutely nowhere to being a viable candidate by the start of the election season?”
The smile slipped from my face and I leaned in. “I have an ace up my sleeve. Angie.”
“Angie? Was that the blonde woman from Nicholas’ party? Is she involved in politics somehow?”
“No, but—”
She kept jotting things down in her little book. “Then how is she going to help?”
I sighed and forced the smile back on my face. “If you’d let me continue, I’ll explain. When Angie retired from modeling, she became a reporter for ESPN. She was low man on the totem pole and was assigned to the X Games. She was hungry and eager to learn, so she used the opportunity like it was her own private college. She learned to write copy, how to edit, presentation, audio and everything else that would help her career. She’s always been a perfectionist. Angie can help us present Alex in the most professional way possible. The key is, would he agree? Before I speak to him, I want your thoughts. Is this something I should even bring up to him?”
She kept writing. “Angie is a reporter now? For sports?”
“No. She graduated to network news. Google her. She’s immensely popular. So, is this something you’d support? Should I bring it up to Alex?”
Placing the pen on the table, she offered a genuine smile. “We should do it together, Lori. Come over tomorrow and help me cook dinner. We’ll sit down with him and discuss it. His father will do anything for him. We have some money and he’ll certainly have the support of the military community.”
In the entire time I’ve known this woman, the only times I’ve been to her home was when I was invited by Alex or his father. Now she wants me there to cook with her?
“Um, sure. We can do that. What can I bring?”
“Maybe some of those delicious truffles from your daughter-in-law?”
“That would be fine. What time?”
“Around four?”
“I’ll be there.”
We ate our lunch and had a civil conversation. Who knew she had it in her? When I got home, I called Alex and told him we were eating at his parents the next day. I then called Jennifer Cruz, my oldest friend, and she listened to me vent for an hour.
“Would you like me to fly out there? I can leave by Friday?”
I loved her dearly, but that wouldn’t be fair. “No, but I may take you up on that if things get crazy.”
“I’ll be there in a hot minute. I’m still upset I missed Nicky’s birthday. So, do you have a date yet and where’s the honeymoon going to be?”
Laughing softly, I shook my head, even though she couldn’t see me. “No, not yet. I guess we need to start talking about details. We’re hoping for sometime in late spring. You’ll be the first to know. Well, maybe the third.”
“Third is good. Call me, Lori. I’m here when you need me.”
“I know. You’re good people. Love you. Talk to you soon.”
Showing up the next day, I had some of Cat’s truffles as well as an unsolicited cake. Seeing the cake, her eyes narrowed and she smiled. I answered her smile with one of my own. Touché, lady.
We stayed on neutral topics while we cooked. She worked by the stove, I prepped at the table, each of us having our own space. She stopped a few times to accept calls from renters. Their problems were resolved quickly and she walked out of the room to talk to one. A Mr. Gastin was having difficulties and his rent was going to be late. She spoke to him gently and told him he was trusted and had been with them for years. They’d wait a month.
If she didn’t have such an issue with me being with her son, I’d probably like her.
Alex and his father trod lightly, as if caught between lions that had declared a temporary truce. We ate, she put out both of our cakes and Cat’s truffles and made some coffee. When everyone was done, she began.
“Alex, since you’ve retired, have you had a calling to continue to serve your community?”
He looked at me and then back to his mother. “Why are you always so formal? It’s like you’re a biographer or something. This is obviously leading to something, so why not cut to the chase?”
She rolled her eyes. “Alright, how would you feel about running for office?”
Alex appeared confused. “Like, a school board position or something?”
I took his hand. “No, a little bigger. We were thinking of county executive.”
He laughed. “Sure. Then governor. Or should I skip that and go straight to president?”
“Alex, we’re serious. You don’t have to commit to anything, but we’d like to look into it if it’s something you could see yourself getting behind.”
“I… Really? Dad, did you know anything about this?”
His father shook his head. “Not a thing, but it’s worth consideration. From what we’ve heard, the current guy has been seen with that developer how many times? More than a few. How often have we seen him at the trailer parks? There are some good people there that pay their taxes, but they don’t line his pockets, so they aren’t worth his time. You’d be a hell of an improvement. How that’s going to happen, I don’t have a clue. If the ladies want to look into it, why not?”
Alex looked at the three of us. “This is a lot to take in. I feel like I’ve been softened up with cake and chocolate. Can I get a few days to think about this? I mean, I don’t even know what it pays. I’d have to quit the company. I have my retirement, but still.”
His father reached over and squeezed his shoulder. “We’ll call it a hiatus. You’ll always have a job. One of the benefits of being an owner and knowing the founders.”
“Um, yeah. Okay, I guess. I’ll get back to you in a day or two, but I don’t know why we can’t look into it. But it’s a longshot, right? We have no money, no party, no organization, no consultants and no backers.”
I smiled. “We have friends, Alex. We can get everything else.”
He was quiet when we were back at my house. My voice was soft when I spoke. “Penny for your thoughts?’
“We’re doing this to scare the guy, right? Get him to back off the eminent domain thing? I mean, honestly, I don’t have a shot. If I’m the face of the effort to stop the seizure and I get some facetime with the media, it will bring attention he won’t want.”
I nodded. “Sort of. I want you to be the handsome face of the efforts. I want him scared. But I also want you to kick his ass and win. The people deserve better.”
“It’s a lot to think about, Lori.”
“It is. Let’s go to bed and start the day fresh.”
I took his hand and led him to the bedroom.
*****
Closing and locking my office door, I sat behind the desk and made a phone call I’d once vowed never to make. She picked up on the third ring.
“Lori, how are you?”
“I’m good, Angie. You?”
“A little busy, but fine. What’s going on? Is this about the wedding?”
“No, it’s… I’m sorry, this was a mistake. Everything’s fine. I’ll talk to you soon.”
I hung up. Twenty minutes later she called me back. Angie hadn’t had a normal homelife since she was fourteen and began modeling. Before that she lived in Norway and Sweden. Her accent poked its head out when she was stressed or angry and it was in full force now.
“They’re taking the home? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You called Nicky?”
“Of course I called Nicky! What’s going on? How can I help?”
I sighed. “I shouldn’t have… Look, we’ll get it taken care of. The board has a plan in place.”
“Lori, I swear by all that’s holy, if you don’t start talking I’m going to fly in tonight and get it out of you.”
“Okay, fine. It’s not a big deal, but the best thing that we can do right now is let people know what’s happening and get public opinion on our side. I was sort of hoping that you might be able to help out with a short documentary? Maybe point us in the right direction?”
The line was quiet for a moment.
“I see my real mom every couple of years and only when she needs money. In all the time I’ve known you, you’ve never asked for a thing. As long as I was good for Nicky, you were happy. You didn’t want to go to fancy parties or travel to photo shoots or get cheap designer clothes. The first time you’ve ever asked me for something and it’s for homeless veterans? Lori, I’ll be there tomorrow.”
“No, that’s… I thought maybe a Zoom meeting or two. You don’t have to—”
“I don’t have to, I want to. I’ll be there tomorrow. Maybe we can get Cat and do lunch.”
I smiled. “Thank you, Angie.”
“You’re welcome, Mom.”
I hung up and gently put the phone down before wiping my eyes and getting a tissue. Angie didn’t fly commercial, so that made picking her up a lot easier. No traffic, no long lines. We pulled up at Nicky and Cat’s and Veronica came out to meet us. She smiled when she saw Angie.
“Hello, Viking!”
Angie shook her head and smiled. “Hello, Ronnie. Will you be joining us?”
“No, I was drafted on the ‘watch the twins’ team.”
“Is Calvin coming by?”
Ronnie looked at me and then back to Angie. “Um, ixnay on the alvinCay stuff. It’s just me and the girls. Coming in? Cat’s almost ready.”
We went in and Angie played with the girls for a few minutes. We were in the car for less than a mile when I looked at Cat.
“So, who is Calvin?”
“A wrestler Ronnie is seeing.”
“A… A wrestler? Like, Hulk Hogan or somebody?”
Cat laughed. “No, actual collegiate wrestling. Couldn’t be more different than someone like Hulk Hogan and those guys. The boy is almost pathologically shy.”
“Where on Earth would she meet a college wrestler?”
“He has an excellent chance of making the Olympic team, and she’s doing artwork for one of their sponsors.”
“Is he, I don’t know, nice?”
“Very. Totally respectful. Nicky is helping him out with finding individual sponsors and Angie interviewed him for ESPN.”
“Huh. And she didn’t want me to know?”
“Beats me. She’s keeping it on the down low. Ronnie missed out on a lot when she was younger, including dating. Needing a kidney can crimp your social life. I think she wants to give the relationship a little breathing room before telling people.”
The restaurant was a bit lively until we walked in. The noise level dropped as most of the men that could see the entrance gawped at Angie. Cat looked at me and rolled her eyes. I doubt Angie even noticed it anymore.
I filled her in on everything that had happened and she grew more and more irritated, shifting in her seat, folding and refolding her napkin.
“And they can just do this?”
Sighing, I raised an eyebrow. “Our lawyer says yes. We’re assuming that the town will take ownership and after some time passes, the developer will purchase it. It’s slimy, but legal.”
“And a documentary will get people fired up and put the politicians on the spot?”
“That’s what we’re hoping. At the very least, we’d like it to put enough pressure on the right people to get a temporary injunction.”
Angie nodded and leaned back. “I had a thought when we were discussing Calvin. What if we find four or five world class athletes that have a parent or sibling who was in the military? They have to be seriously famous. We fly both the athlete and the family member in, give them a tour of the house and have them talk about how serving affected their lives and the plight of homeless veterans? I’m pretty sure I could get ESPN to pay for and air it.”
“Really? That would be just amazing. I’m so excited I could hug you.” I stood. “The heck with it, here come the hugs.”
She laughed as I hugged her and quickly sat back down. Some guy called out. “Are the hugs available to everyone?”
Angie laughed again. “Sorry, just moms.”
My heart did a little flip-flop and I couldn’t tear the smile off my face. Until now, it was just Nicholas and Catherine that called me Mom. I liked the addition.
When we dropped off Cat, I went in to see my granddaughters. A nice-looking boy was sitting on the couch reading to my namesake.
“Gramma!” The girls ran over to me and I knelt down to hug them.
Veronica came out of the kitchen with some sliced apples.
“Hello, Veronica. Who is this nice-looking gentleman?”
He looked to her and smiled. “I’ve never heard someone call you Veronica before.”
She rolled her eyes. “Calvin, this is Lori, Nicky’s mom. Lori, this is Calvin.”
He stood and extended his hand. “It’s very nice to meet you, ma’am. Mr. Tremaine has been a huge help.”
“He made it a point to leverage his performance while he was at his peak to network with people he could learn from, Calvin. As an athlete, it’s a good template to follow.”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.”
Well, he was certainly polite. The girls were quickly occupied when Aunt Ronnie put on a Disney video. Angie and I took our exit and drove over to the home. It was as if her head was on a swivel.
“You okay, dear?”
“Fine, I just thought that I had missed something. I haven’t been here in years so from what was going on I expected… I don’t know, something. Not this. Everything is neat and orderly. It’s the most attractive property in blocks. Blighted makes it sound run down. You have a large, beautiful front yard, an even larger backyard and the house itself is tremendous.”
“Yeah. The residents take a lot of pride in the home. We have a landscaping company that comes in. They’re owned by a woman retired from the Navy. She hires some of the residents when they are ready to move on. Her company does the heavy lifting, but the residents all pitch in.”
Angie received an extensive tour and she asked intelligent questions every step of the way. All of the residents wanted to take a selfie with her and she made sure she spent time with each.
“This is really pissing me off, Lori. You said you’re arranging a community event? How soon can that happen? I want to get as much of that on film as possible.”
“We were thinking next month, but we can pull it together quicker if it would help.”
She nodded. “ASAP. You needed the time to advertise?”
“Well, yes. We wanted to get people excited about coming down. That takes time to build.”
“If I can take care of attendance, can you have things ready in two weeks?”
“I guess, but if no one shows up, what good will it do?”
“They’ll show up, believe me.”
Nicky was grilling dinner for everyone, so we headed back to their house. Angie was on the phone the whole time. Between the veterans’ home and my son’s house, she had gotten commitments from two players from the Cincinnati Reds, one from the Cleveland Browns, an MMA fighter and three famous models. They all said they would be there if her husband took care of transportation.
Angie was a wonder to watch. Once she put her mind to something, she was a machine.
Alex met us for dinner and it felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I looked around the table at the people I loved and felt at peace. We were at the base of a scary bureaucratic mountain, but it could be scaled if I was climbing with friends new and old.
*****
Walking into the bathroom, I left the door open to draw out some of the steam. Alex took showers at a temperature just lower than that found at the center of the sun.
“Should we announce you at the event?”
“What?”
“At the event? We’ll have media. Do you think we should announce that you’re running?”
He stuck his head out. “What?”
I laughed. “Nothing. We’ll talk at breakfast.”
“You know, this water’s really nice.” He looked me up and down with a grin. “Want to join me?”
“No! It’s like lava in there.”
“Okay. Be done in a few.”
“You were supposed to say you’ll cut back on the heat.”
Alex smiled. “I’ll cut back on the heat.”
“Well, in that case…” I started to undress.
An hour later we were sitting at the kitchen table. He eyed the living room from where we were.
“I was thinking of buying an eighty-inch TV for the living room. And maybe a beanbag chair.”
I smirked. “I’m going to be so sad becoming a widow before we’re even married.”
He laughed and I stole a piece of turkey bacon from his plate.
“Did you know that Mom hired a political consultant?”
“Really?”
“Really. You found the way into her heart. Publicly pronouncing that her amazing mothering produced a son worthy of being an exalted county executive. It pushes a lot of other buttons, but yeah, that’s the big one.”
“Well, that’s a lovely side benefit.”
He carefully placed his napkin on the table, paused and then looked me in the eyes. “Lori, is this something you think I can do? Something that I’d do well? Or is this just to pressure the current guy?”
“Honestly? Both. You’d be amazing and I definitely want him gone.”
He nodded and then smiled. “Good enough.”
Alex spent the day working for his family’s company. In addition to the homes they rented, they also owned six large storage properties. His mother handled customer issues, his father looked into property acquisitions and recruitment and Alex took care of maintenance and inspections. He had plans to have dinner and drinks with some men he had served with, so I was on my own.
Today was going to be a travel agency day. I was part time at best, but it was never a good idea to have a co-owner neglecting the business. Like Alex’s mom, Nicky had that Type A personality that drove them to be always ‘on.’ He was the face of the company and would be there twelve hours a day if Catherine wasn’t there to remind him of his priorities.
I had a small office in our main location and was in there going over our finances when Sophia came in. Before she was old enough to go to school, she spent part of every weekday in the office. We were concerned when Cat got pregnant. Sophia was Nicky’s goddaughter and my sort-of granddaughter, and we didn’t want her to think she was being replaced by the twins.
Taking off my reading glasses, I smiled. “Grab a chair, Sophia. I want to know absolutely everything. You know what? Why don’t we make it a girls day? Things have been a little crazy and I’d love to have lunch with my favorite girl.”
“I think Mom brought PB&J.”
“A culinary delight. Do you think she might let us sneak out for something else and you can have the PB&J tomorrow?”
She shrugged her shoulders.
“Well, we can ask her. Are you feeling okay? Why no school?”
“Some parent-teacher-night thing.”
“Oh. Okay.” I assumed that was happening in the evening and the teachers had district meetings during the day.
Sophia’s mother had been in a tie with Angie for being my son’s closest friend. She was his assistant when he was still competing in extreme sports and had stuck with him throughout every phase of his career. She owns a small bit of the company and keeps everything running.
“Can I pick your brain, Sophia?”
“Pick my brain?” She leaned back and frowned.
I laughed. “Can I get your opinion on some things?”
“I guess.”
“If we were going to have an event and wanted kids to come down, what would make them want to be there?”
“Um, games?”
“Okay, great. What else?”
Her eyes narrowed and she seemed to be concentrating. “You know those drawings that Ronnie does of people, but they don’t really look like them but sort of do? They look funny?”
“Caricatures?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. Those are fun. Can she do those with the kids?”
“That’s an excellent idea. What else?”
“Maybe Mrs. Tremaine can show them how to make chocolate stuff or how to make gingerbread houses?”
“Right. Hold on.”
I grabbed a pen and started taking notes. She had much better suggestions than I’d anticipated.
“Anything else? Clowns?”
“No, clowns are scary. What about those guys that do tricks? Not, like, on a stage or anything, but right to you?”
“Close-up sleight of hand. Got it. You’re really good at this, Sophia.”
“I know. My teacher says I have good ideas.”
“She’s right.”
I added a note about talking to schools about bringing kids in. If Angie wanted this to be big, we were going to give her big.
*****
After working up a spreadsheet with a breakdown of the suggestions for our festival, I sent it out to everyone on the board and to our employees. Once we had enough people onboard, I’d speak to the residents. As always, they were the final arbiters. It was their home and their privacy was paramount. We had three directions we could head in. We could go full bore and open up the property and home and have the residents be participants, we could just open up the property, but make sure the home was off limits or we could cancel the event in its entirety.
Our residents usually cycled out within a year. They received treatment if necessary, got vocational training and moved into an apartment we helped subsidize for the first six months. We had a few who returned, but our success rate was far above the norm for homes like ours.
Feedback began dribbling in, an email here, a phone call there. When I received the call from Jill, I could tell she was annoyed.
“Lori, who is paying for all of this?”
“Well, hello, Jill. How are you?”
She sighed. “Sorry, but seriously, who is paying for all of this? If we’re under financial scrutiny, this can’t look good. I thought we were going to grill up some hotdogs and hand out balloons to kids. You have five world class athletes, seminars, schools bussing in kids, a skating lane so Nicky can do his whatever tricks and jumps and things that they do and a freaking petting zoo. Do you know how much insurance we have to get for a petting zoo? What if an animal bites a kid?”
“That’s, um, that’s fair. I was sort of caught up in the moment. Can we get sponsors?”
“We’d better. Can you get the food donated?”
Forgetting she couldn’t see me, I shook my head. “Okay, I need to start looking at this from a different direction. If we don’t have sponsors lined up by tomorrow, let’s start scaling back.”
After speaking to Jill, I called my oldest friend. “So, do you have some free time coming up?”
“For you, of course. What are you thinking?”
“We’re having an event next Saturday at the vets home. I’d love to fly you in.”
She was quiet for a moment. “Lori, are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I”m okay. It’s just a lot all at once. I just need to take a deep breath and step back once in a while. I volunteered to make a difference, help these people out and do what I can and now it feels like no matter what I’m doing, I’m swimming against the tide. My future mother-in-law hates me. The home has never had to deal with anything like this. I know we have plenty of time, but I keep thinking about wedding stuff… It’s a lot.”
“I’ll book a flight this afternoon. When can I get there?”
“Whenever you’d like, I’ll take care of the flight. Hold on, I’m sending an email. Jennifer Cruz from Pueblo Memorial Airport. What day works for you?”
“You don’t have to—”
“Stop. You’re doing me a favor and I own a travel agency. What day?”
“How about Tuesday? Will that give us enough time?”
“Tuesday it is. Okay, email is sent. One of our people will get it taken care of and I’ll get back to you with the flight details. Jen, thanks. It means a lot.”
“C’mon, we’re going to have a blast. We’ll steal some of Cat’s chocolates, we’ll take the twins out and I’ll see Nicky again. I don’t spend enough time with my godson. Just as importantly, I’ll get away from here for a while. It’ll be nice. Can you send me the names of the important players? I want to poke around a little. The councilman or executive or whatever, the realtor guy, whatever else you have?”
I knew that my friend was a world class snoop and gossip, but thought this was a little beyond her scope. I chuckled. “Sure. I’ll send it this afternoon. Go crazy.”
The aroma of garlic and onions being cooked made its way into my office. It was taco day and they must have been seasoning the meat. Realizing I’d skipped lunch, I called Alex.
“Hey, I’m going to stop by the church for a few and then pick-up something for dinner. What would you like?’
“Yeah, um, I have a meeting with the political people Mom hired. Can you head over?”
“Your folk’s place?”
“Yeah.”
“Why don’t you take care of that, let me know how it goes and I’ll get caught up on paperwork at home.”
He paused before continuing. “Lori, Mom asked me to have you come over. She wants your input.”
I was surprised and suspicious. “Your mom wants my opinions?”
“She does.”
“I, uh, okay. I guess I’ll head over. What time?”
“Six for dinner, seven-thirty for the political people.”
“I’ll be there. Oh, and Jen is flying in on Tuesday.”
“Really? Great. It’ll be nice to see her again.”
When we hung up, I wrote up another email and sent it out. This went to our general list of supporters, maybe two-hundred people. I explained what we were trying to do with the event, why it was so important and asked for suggestions for sponsors.
After saying goodbye to the residents, I headed to the church. Father Massey wasn’t there, so I was able to slip in and out fairly quickly. Again, I prayed for my grandchildren, Nicholas and Catherine, Alex, and the home. I was about to get up and leave when I thought of the watch Nicholas received from his father.
As much as it pained me, I prayed for the man who had abandoned us so many years earlier.
*****
I was afraid that Alex’s mother wanted me there as a prop for the political people. I could cut off my nose to spite my face and not show up, but what good would that do? Slapping a smile on my face, I knocked on their door at a little before six. Alex opened the door, raised his eyebrows and mouthed, “Thank you,” before hugging me.
His mother called out. “Is that Lori? Just in time. Dinner is hitting the table.”
I handed her the box with the cake from Bobka’s and went to wash my hands. We had a pleasant meal and she was making a concerted effort to be congenial. Their living room was set up for guests and while putting away leftovers I saw an assortment box from Catherine’s boutique. At least my future mother-in-law had good taste.
We were settling in with coffee and tea when I received a text.
I smiled apologetically. “Excuse me.” I pulled out my phone. The text was from Veronica.
Got a sponsor. Indians want to be involved. $11,500 if they can be title sponsor. Changing name next season to Guardians. Want to send new mascot.
Eyes widening, I read the text again. After wiping my hands on my slacks, I responded.
How?
Her reply was quick.
Doing art for next year’s score book and a poster for a give away day. Spoke to their PR people.
I couldn’t stop grinning.
You’re amazing! Thank you so much!
“Good news?”
I looked up at Alex and his parents.
“Yes, very. I’m not sure what Alex has been telling you about the home, but we don’t have too many fronts to fight the eminent domain seizure. One that we do have is publicity. We’re having an event for the public there next weekend and we needed sponsors. The Indians want to promote their name change and will be the title sponsor. I have to look into what that means, but it’s going to give us over ten thousand. Enough for insurance and food and… Well, it’s a big help.”
His mother smiled. “Wonderful news. This is from your son’s friend from ESPN?”
“Angie? No… Actually, maybe. It’s mostly Veronica, but she may have mentioned Angie. Either way, it’s a relief.”
“I can imagine. This certainly isn’t what you signed up for. You know how we feel about our veterans. Well, I… Alex’s father and I want you to know that we truly respect and appreciate everything you do for the veteran community.”
I sat there silent and stunned. That was the nicest thing she’d ever said to me.
“Um, thank you.”
“You’re welcome. More tea?”
We were interrupted by a knocking on the door. Four women and a man were escorted by Alex’s mother into the living room. We all stood and shook hands. Politics had never been my bailiwick. I certainly paid attention to the issues and voted for the candidate I felt the most comfortable with, but the ins and outs were foreign to me. Gerrymandering, the science behind polling, whisper campaigns and opposition research were all terms from movies that had no real meaning.
They spoke at length about what it would take to make Alex viable. It was a lot. Certainly more than I had anticipated. He was a good man, a veteran, a local business owner and handsome. I thought that would be enough. I was wrong. They finally wound down after almost two hours.
I could understand representation, but the woman who did most of the talking seemed more excited that Alex was black than she was that he had extensive administration experience while in the military. She homed in on what I’d thought I had been masking.
“Ms. Tremaine, we won’t get anywhere by ignoring the obvious. More importantly, it doesn’t matter how much experience he has if he doesn’t get elected. That experience won’t help anyone if he’s sitting on the sidelines.”
Smiling and nodding, I leaned back in my chair. I still didn’t get it. People would vote for Alex if they knew how good he would be, right? I decided to keep my mouth shut. She was the professional. They finally finished.
“Any questions?”
Everyone asked a few and I finally piped up when they were done. “I have to confess, I know nothing about this. Absolutely nothing. I’ve never been involved in any sort of campaign, even back in school. I have no way of making any judgments, so please don’t take offense, but how do we know that you’re the best people for the job?”
She smiled. “No offense taken. You can tell that we are the best because we’re passionate. You can tell we’re the best because we’ll work with you on structured fees because we want you to win. Most importantly, you can tell we’re the best because I’m leaving you with a breakdown of campaigns we’ve run in the past where we’ve helped elect political novices. People just like Alex. Men and women who brought something to the table and wanted to do the right thing for their community, not for their pockets.”
“I, um, okay. That’s a great answer. When do you need an answer by?”
“As soon as possible. Do you have anything coming up? Will Alex be anywhere with press around?”
His mother interrupted. “Actually, yes. There will be an event at the veterans’ home next weekend. We’ll all be there and I’m sure some press will be in attendance.”
The woman leaned forward. “Really? This is next weekend? We’d really appreciate an answer soon. This sounds like a great opportunity to get some work in. Alex, why don’t you take a day to think about this, look over the reading material we’re leaving with you and try to come to two decisions. Are you ready for the work that’s required and do you want to work with us?”
We again shook hands and they left. When we went back to the living room, Alex took my hand as we sat on the couch. I looked at his parents.
“Not to be gauche, but do we have a rough idea of what this will be costing us? I have some money, but I’d like to be prepared.”
His mother raised an eyebrow. “Lori, did you think… Alex’s father and I will be paying for this. All of it.”
*****
The dreaded quarterly reports and employee reviews needed my attention, regardless of the festival and the situation with the home. The branch managers write up the reviews, but Nicky or I have to go over them. I always kept the borderline reviews on the bottom of the stack. I absolutely hated having to fire someone, especially if they were trying to do a good job.
When I realized how close I was getting to those folders, I hopped on the internet and bought the twins some outfits. Sue me, I’m a procrastinator. I finally got some tea and grabbed the first borderline review. My phone rang and it was Alex.
“Did you call knowing I needed saving?”
“Saving? Everything okay?”
I sighed. “Yeah, just some paperwork I’ve been trying to avoid. What are you up to?”
“My mother is acting odd again. It seems that you’ve made a big impact with getting me to run and then volunteering to pay. She was actually talking you up to Gilda, our tax lady.”
“Really?”
“Really. So, can you be free in about half an hour?”
“Why?”
“I’m near your house and was feeling that maybe I should stop by and see you.”
“Is something up? Did you hear from the political people?”
“Lori, I wanted to see you.”
“For the… Oh.” I smiled, blushed and looked around to make sure no one saw me, which was ridiculous. “Well, any old excuse to blow off these reviews works for me. Half an hour?”
“Twenty minutes?”
“What are you putting in your vitamins, Alex? Okay, I’m leaving now.”
Alex was waiting for me on my porch when I pulled in the driveway. Leaning against a post while watching me approach, his grin was wide and his gaze was intense. Neither of us had anything against public displays of affection, but I was surprised when he pulled me to him. My body molded to his as Alex leaned down to kiss me.
“What has gotten into you?”
He smiled again. “I’m going to ignore the obvious jokes. Let’s go inside.”
Alex had kept up the traditions he’d developed in the military. He still ran daily and worked out frequently. He effortlessly picked me up and carried me to my bedroom. There are benefits to age and experience. We could take our time and enjoy each other. Our love wasn’t a fast running stream, it was a deep river.
Two hours later I was cobbling together two sandwiches from leftover roast turkey.
“So, that was different. Something happened today to get you… Well, I don’t know. Revved up?”
He chuckled. “No, not really. I’ve been feeling like this a lot lately. I like that you believe in me and want me to run. It would have been fine if it was just to piss off the current guy, but when I realized you really want me to win and think I’d do a good job it pushed me a bit. Every man wants a woman who believes in him.”
I put my hand over his and rubbed his palm with my thumb. “If this is the result, I’ll make sure to remind you of how much I believe in you more often.”
He lifted my hand and kissed my fingers.
It was late afternoon by the time I got back to the office. Sadly, the Review Fairy hadn’t shown up to get my work done. Sighing, I sat down and dug in. Marissa popped into my office.
“You look happy. Good lunch?”
I laughed. “Yes. Very good lunch.”
Alex slept over that night and we enjoyed an encore.
*****
After a half day at the agency, I was about to head over to the home when my phone rang.
“This is Lori.”
“Lori, this is Bill Kutnip. Sorry to call your personal line, but we have an issue.”
Bill was a regular volunteer and worked at Town Hall. He usually took care of anything for us that we needed there. He knew everyone and had to be there anyway. My heart sank when I heard there was an issue. I steeled myself for what was coming.
“Okay, what’s going on?”
“The health department isn’t okaying the permits and—”
I interrupted him. “For the food or the petting zoo?”
“Both. And we can’t get the block party permit, which means parking is going to be a huge issue. Lori, if people can’t park, they aren’t going to stay.”
Sitting down, I closed my eyes. “Is there a workaround? Is this one or two employees that we can avoid and have someone else get us the permits?”
“No. They were incredibly apologetic. I’ve known some of these people for more than a decade. This is coming from someone higher up on the food chain. People were scared, Lori.”
“So, no food, no parking and our biggest attraction for kids. Wonderful. Maybe we need to scrap this and rethink our strategies.”
“Bullshit, Lori. Bullshit! I’m sorry, I know you don’t like cursing, but there is no way I’m bending over for whoever is behind this. Screw that, Lori!”
Bill was one of those people who had to use your name five times in a conversation. It was odd, but not off-putting. He was a good man and passionate about the community. Bill was sixty years old and still coached Little League and taught basic water safety at the Y. I wished I could be as confident as he was.
“Well, I’m not sure what we can do.” I took a deep breath. “I’m sort of at my wit’s end. I didn’t sign up for any of this. I’m happy to do the heavy lifting, but I simply don’t know what the heck to do.”
“I get that, but fuck them. This is McGillen. I could smell his stench all over this. I swear, that man has been the worst executive in the thirty-five years I’ve worked for the county. Here’s what you need to remember, Lori. You’re not alone. You’re not going to get this taken care of, we are. All of us. Can you give me a day?”
Somehow he knew what to say. I’d been feeling alone and as if I was letting everyone down. I had to take a minute before I could answer.
“Yes, Bill. Whatever you could do would be great. And thank you.”
When I got to the home I checked to see if I had anything normal that needed to be taken care of. I didn’t, which was a relief. There was a strong need to get back to basics, to remember what this was all about. I rolled up my sleeves and walked into the kitchen.
“Hello, Marco. I’m here on cooking duty. What needs to be done?”
“We have it covered, Ms. Tremaine.”
“I… I need to be busy doing something with my hands, something that will directly help someone. Does that make any sense?”
Marco was one of our long-term residents. He sized me up and then nodded. “Okay, you’re on prep duty. We need onions peeled and then a rustic cut, potatoes quartered, celery chopped, red and yellow bell peppers chopped and garlic minced. Barry is out back browning the beef on the grill. He’s slow as hell, so you’ve got time.”
“Thank you.” I grabbed an apron and got to work.
The household chores were on a rotating schedule. Residents who were cooking or setting up that day came in and got to work while others would drop in for a moment or two while getting a water or socializing.
Mark sat at the table as I chopped. “What’s going on with this festival thing? No one’s going upstairs, right? I’ve got my stuff in my room. I don’t need nobody going through my stuff.”
“If people are coming in the home itself, it’s just for a guided tour and only of the first floor and the basement.”
He thought for a moment. “It’s just ’cause I’ve got my stuff there.”
“I understand, Mark. Nobody goes upstairs.”
“Alright. Didja know that I can do lasso stuff?”
Looking up, I raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“You know, tricks and stuff. I served with a guy who grew up on a cattle farm and did some rodeoing. We killed time by him showing me how to do stuff. You said there’ll be kids and a petting zoo. If we could put up some posts, maybe I could show them some stuff. You know, if you want.”
Smiling, I stopped chopping. “Mark, you are a wonder. I had no idea. That sounds wonderful. I’d love that. We’re running into some difficulties with the town about the event, but if we can get it running, we’d love for you to help out.”
His smile was as large as mine. “Sure. Sounds good. I’ll get some practice in.”
I texted Alex.
Having dinner with the residents. I’ll be home by nine.
He texted back.
Enjoy. Love you.
It was almost embarrassing how much I enjoyed reading those last two words.
When I was done chopping, I just sat back and watched the kitchen and the men who drifted in and out. It helped to put a face to logistical problems. They deserved so much better than what they’d received. Veteran homelessness was a stain on our national soul.
My phone rang and it was Bill.
“Bill, I’m at the home. I’m going to go to the office and call you right back.”
The office was on the first floor, so I could have just had him hang on. I called him back less than two minutes after hanging up.
“Okay, sorry. I didn’t want to talk about this in front of the residents. What’s the situation?”
“I couldn’t get the permits, but screw them. We’re going to make this happen. My cousin is the principal at St. Dom’s High School. When I told her what’s going on, oofa, she lost her mind. She made some calls and we can use the school’s parking lot. She then called the bus company and must have raised some hell. They’re going to donate the use of two busses to bring people from the school to the home and back again. They’ll run every half hour for eight hours. That long enough?”
I had to take a deep breath. “That… Bill, that’s wonderful. Thank you so much.”
“It’s not me, Lori. I keep telling you, you’re not alone. I’m not done, either. My butcher? His brother is a lifetime Marine. Still in the Corp and he’s gotta be fifty. He’s coming down with his grills and enough sliders and dogs to feed an army.”
“That’s very generous, but we still don’t have the permits.”
“Yeah, but we don’t need them. Someone from the health department snuck into my office today. If this is a private, invitee-only event and people aren’t charged for food, it’s none of the health department’s business. All we need to do is make sure that we have a list of everyone who is going to attend and only let them in. It becomes a private event, regardless of how large.”
“Okay, I don’t know anything about that, but great. You and your friends are a godsend.”
“Last thing, the petting zoo guy is pretty pissed. He said that as long as you want him, he’s still coming. He’s going to have his kid cut the lawn of the abandoned property next to the home. He’ll set up there. If the health department shows up, you can’t be blamed and the worst they can do is tell him to pack up and leave. This isn’t about you, Lori. It’s about the home. Nobody is shutting it down. Fuck these people.”
I wiped away a tear. “You know what? You’re right, Bill. Fuck these people!”
There was silence.
“Bill?”
“Lori, don’t curse. It sounds weird coming from you.”
Laughing, I reached for a tissue. “You’re the best, Bill. Please have your friends reach out to me and we’ll get the details ironed out. Frig these people.”
He chuckled. “Much better.”
I went back to the kitchen and soaked up the atmosphere. These were good people improving their lives. The aromas of the stew and the bread in the oven reminded me of how hungry I was. Marco looked over at me.
“You okay?”
I wiped my eyes. “Good tears, Marco. Good tears.”
*****
When I left the home, I stopped by St. Mary’s. As always, I prayed for my friends, my family and the staff and residents at the home. When I was done, I gritted my teeth and prayed for the county executive and Ken Sandalwood, the commercial developer. They clearly needed it.
As I was leaving I saw Father Massey pulling into the driveway of the rectory. Waving to catch his attention, I walked over.
“I’m sorry, is this a bad time? I can call and make an appointment.”
He smiled. “No, it’s fine. I stopped at the diner after rounds at the hospital. My day is over. What can I do for you, Lori?”
“Um, how long would someone need to plan for their pre cana?”
His smile grew larger. “I’ve been waiting for you to come talk to me. I’m so happy for you and Alex. Pre cana is a bit complicated. The actual amount of hours isn’t bad. It does take planning, though, as the Church asks that you take time between meetings to let things… settle, I guess. We want you to pray on everything we go over before we jump into the next section. There’s usually six meetings and the longest would take about seven hours, counting a break in the middle.”
“So, we would need a minimum of…”
“It varies depending on needs, but I’d be comfortable with at least a month and a half and preferably three months.”
“Oh, that’s not so bad. I was afraid you were going to say nine months or a year.”
Father Massey laughed. “No, it’s not that bad. Talk it over with Alex and we can set up a schedule when the two of you are ready. In the meantime, are you doing okay? Marriage is a big deal. One of the big seven, actually. If you’d like to talk or ask any questions, let me know. We carve out a couple of hours.”
“Thank you, Father. As long as I have you, who handles travel for the clergy?”
He seemed surprised. “The diocese. Why?”
“I’m not trying to drum-up business. I just want to make sure you’re being taken care of. I’ll call the offices of the diocese and set up a meeting. Have a good night, Father.”
“You too, Lori.”
“Um, one other thing. With things the way they are at the home, I was sort of hoping that you might be able to come by before the festival and bless the facility?”
He cupped my hand in both of his. “I’d be happy to. Let me check my schedule and we’ll figure out a good day.”
I spent Friday at the agency and the weekend at the home. There was a self-imposed pressure to plan everything out to almost the minute. Alex cleaned the neighbors property where the petting zoo would be. The check cleared from the Guardians and we used that money to pay for the insurance, rent porta-potties, tents, tables and to buy case after case of bottled water.
If there was going to be an employee review where the employee was being terminated or was on a final warning, either Nicholas or I would sit in. We had two on Monday. One would be leaving us, the other was on notice. It was the absolute worst part of being an owner. I felt so terrible for those people.
When the employee saw me or Nicholas as they walked into the office, they knew what was about to happen. Seeing the look on their face was heartbreaking. After we were done, I was back in my office, sad and feeling alone. My phone rang.
“How did it go?”
Alex knew what was coming and was kind enough to check up on me. “It had to be done, but I still feel horrible.”
“I sent you lunch. It should be there any minute.”
A small smile formed. “What did you send?”
“Greek salad and chicken pita.”
“You know me too well. I have a bottle of wine at the house. Maybe we could split lunch? I don’t really want to be alone.”
“And…”
I laughed. “Yes, you horndog.”
“Half an hour?”
Still chuckling, I answered. “Half an hour.”
It felt good to be held, to push away the thoughts that I was the cause of someone’s being unemployed. When we were done, we had lunch, wine and some cheese and crackers. It wouldn’t be fair to leave the agency for the day. It would put the manager in a bad position if I just left and was gone after we were done. I went back in for another three hours and used the time to call the comptroller for the diocese and set up an appointment.
Waking up excited, I straightened up the guest room and changed the clean linen. Taking my second car to the carwash, I had it thoroughly cleaned before heading to the airport. It took me ninety minutes to get to CVG. My hands kept tapping the steering wheel as I drove and my smile was firmly in place.
It didn’t matter how long it had been since I’d last seen Jennifer, it always felt as if it had been years. Five minutes after we were together we’d be laughing and gossiping, back to being friends closer than sisters. She was Nicky’s godmother and my dearest friend in the world. I walked to baggage claim as fast as would be dignified and waited impatiently.
Pacing back and forth, I kept looking at the screen to tell me her flight arrived. When the baggage carousel started, I nearly jumped out of my skin. I kept an eye on the bags as they slid down. She had two tan bags with a print of dachshunds that she’d been using forever. When I spotted one, I pulled it off the carousel. As I turned to look for the other, I saw her barreling towards me. Swept into a huge hug, we held onto each other for a minute.
Feeling a tear fall, I realized how much I’d needed to see her. Her thumb on my cheek, she wiped at the tear.
“C’mon, Lori. It’s going to be okay. We can handle whatever is going on. You and Alex are okay?”
I just nodded and hugged her again. She grabbed her second bag and we headed towards the doors.
“I’m so glad you’re here. I don’t want to lay this at your feet, but I don’t think I’m up to all of this with the town and the home.”
She hugged me again with one arm as we walked. “Well, it’s a good thing you have friends, then.”
Alex met us in town where we went out for an early dinner at a Spanish restaurant we’d been wanting to try. She praised my ring in front of him and asked questions about his candidacy. We ate, drank too much wine and had a great time.
“So, what’s the date? When do I have to be back here for the wedding?”
I leaned back in my chair. “We haven’t set a date yet. We’re thinking early January. The election is in November and it would be nice for Alex to have a month or so to settle in before the marriage.”
Jen nodded. “Well, let me know when you know. I’ll be on the next flight. I’m just so excited for the two of you.”
When we got back to the house, she got settled in and came out of her room with a large box.
“An engagement gift.”
I let Alex open it as I sat next to him on the couch. It was a stunning vase that matched the color and decor of the room.
“Jen, that’s lovely! How did you get the color so perfect?”
“If you check the base, it has your names and the date you received the ring. My neighbor in Pueblo is a glazier. I think that’s what it’s called. Someone who makes glass stuff? I gave him some photos to work from.”
“Well, it’s stunning.”
I put it in a place of honor, right next to an original charcoal drawing Veronica did of Nicholas.
We stayed up and talked late into the night. Alex went to bed at eleven and Jen tried to shoo me off to join him, but I was having too much fun. I realized later that she had gently pulled every last bit of information about the difficulties with the home out of me.
I finally checked my watch. “Okay, I have to get some sleep. The house is yours. Help yourself to anything. The key to the Ford is on the table. I had it cleaned and the tank is full. If I have to be anywhere while you’re here, feel free to use it.”
“I will. When is Angie getting in?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Good. She and I should talk.”
Well, that could be dangerous. A journalist and Jenny, the world’s greatest gossip. I went to bed wondering what would come from that pairing.