Back to Life (21 page)

“Davis!” I rush into his arms and hug him so tightly, I feel I might squeeze the very life from him.

“Well, for a sickly old girl, you still got quite the grip. I think Ronnie’s been lying to me about you being sick.”

“Davis.” I kiss his entire face everywhere I can plant my lips. “Davis, oh, how I missed you. Davis, marry me! Marry me!”

“I do believe I have the wrong house.” He searches around me, his dark chocolate eyes creased in their familiar smile. “I’m looking for Jane. She looks like you, but she doesn’t act anything like you. She’s against public displays of affection, and I do believe she may be allergic to intimacy.”

I shake my head. “She does believe in PDA now. By George, she does now. We’re a family again, Kuku!” I allow Davis to hold me in his arms for a long time, relishing the warmth of his embrace and wondering how I ever missed the beauty of such moments before. They’re what made life matter.

Davis lowers himself to one knee, but not without extensive groaning. He clears his throat and pulls out a velvet box from his pocket. “Not quite a family yet.”

“Davis, what are you doing? Get up from there. You’re not going to be able to get back up and then we’re both going to be laid up. What good will that do us?”

“I’ll get back up. I’m from the old school. This is my job. Jane, you are a pure delight to my soul, but I’ll not be your kept man anymore. It’s time you made an honest man of me. Will you finally marry me?”

I slide down to my knees and face him on the floor. “These tiles hurt.”

“Answer the question.”

“Davis, nothing would make me happier than to be your bride.”

“And you’re going to marry me in the church. We’re going to do this right.”

“I don’t think the church will let us in.”

“We’ll go to confession. We’ll own up to what we did.”

“You sure God’s ready for that?”

“Hoy mismo.
He’d better be.”

The door opens and Bette is standing on the porch. “Oh, heavens, I’m so sorry!” she says as she sees us in this ridiculous position.

“No, wait, Bette! I’m getting married!” I look at Davis. “Everyone’s trying to feed me because I passed out because of the diabetes.” I look up again to Bette. “Davis cooks for me normally. I get lost in my art and forget, and then I have to grab something fast so
I don’t pass out. Well, Bette, don’t just stand there, come get us two old folks up from this painful position.”

With a mighty heave, the three of us fall over into a laughing mound, and Kuku takes the moment to climb to the top of the heap.

Ronnie has met his father. The world has not crumbled, and he does not hate me. Coming clean is exactly what my life needed.

I feel a warmth seize me, and my whole being feels drenched with love and compassion.

Lindsay

O
nly ten days on dry land, and I have yet to start my color-coded life chart. Instead, I’m in a giant Pepto-Bismol ad. Thick, pink liquid flows freely and I clutch my stomach.
I think I’m going to be sick.
All of this overwhelming, goody-gumdrop romance and pixie-dust sparkle surrounds me. The idea that Hamilton Lowe is capable of this kind of response from a woman, much less my best friend, is cause for serious concern.

I mean, I flirt on a cruise ship, and everyone gets up in arms with all this deep concern; but Haley can have a wedding shower that resembles a
Quinceañera,
and everyone’s good with that. It’s nothing more than a quirk. What must one do to have a serious deficiency in taste known as a quirk? Lily, one of the most practical women I know, seems like the proper person for such a question.

I lift my arms to point out the putrid pink color surrounding us.
“Why is it a quirk when Haley falls for her ex-husband’s lawyer, but it’s a crime of passion when I flirt on a cruise ship?”

Lily exhales, rolling her eyes. “Would you get on with it already? Your best friend has a fifteen-year-old’s taste. Is this a problem for you?”

“Clearly it is a problem for me, or I wouldn’t bring it up.”

“It’s not your shower. You have no choice but to get over it. And speaking of taste, you were flirting with a man in a Hawaiian shirt and khaki pants, so you’re clearly
not
the arbiter of taste.”

I purse my lips.

“Lindsay, I have to give you props,” Lily says. “I can’t believe you did this all by yourself. It’s gorgeous.” Looking over the patio, it is gorgeous, albeit extremely pink. From the powder-pink rosebuds to the Hello Kitty pink napkins, with pink crystals and sparkles sprinkled over the table. It screams Haley’s name. “You did a fabulous job all by yourself.”

“I wanted it to be right, and I knew a professional party planner would screw something up, trying to make it tasteful.” I look to Lily. “No offense to Haley, of course.”

“Naturally.”

“The perfect shower is the necessary precursor to the perfect wedding, which I want to be the highlight of L.A.’s marital season.”

“Naturally,” Lily says again. To a trophy wife, all of this is unnecessary information.

What I don’t mention is how this shower is a celebration for new beginnings all around. It’s my last party in this Pacific Palisades’s mansion, and my last technical duty in my role as Ron’s trophy wife. After today, this part of my history stays in the past where it, no doubt, belongs. “It’s my last party here.”

Lily puts an arm around me. “You won’t miss it, Lindsay. You threw
some great parties here, but you’re capable of that no matter where you are. This was a phase of life; it’s over now. Open up your heart to something better from God.” She moves a place card on the table.

“Excuse me, what are you doing?”

“You had me next to Bette. I don’t want to hear about how much I work. I’m not in the mood. I’ve got too much work to do.”

“You do realize the hypocrisy in that statement. Maybe you do work too much. Did you ever think of that?” I move the card back. I don’t want to hear about how I should have come home after the cruise instead of spending my last few days here with my first love—my bathtub.

As if reading my mind, Lily asks me the question I dread from Bette. “Lindsay, why haven’t you gone home?”

“I just haven’t wanted to face Jane and her son. All right? That’s all I want to say about it.”

“It’s your house, Lindsay. You have to go home at some point.” I hear Haley’s voice and turn on my heel to see her dressed in a frothy pink halter dress with a sequined neckline.

“Obviously. The house goes on the market this week, so you needn’t worry about me staying.” I look at the house and specifically my bathroom window. It’s funny how an entire mansion could be scrunched into one fiberglass tub, and I’d be content. “You’re not supposed to be here, Haley. This is your shower. Bette was supposed to pick you up, and we were all going to greet you. You ruined the moment.”

Haley peers at every detail on the table, brushing her fingers over the place cards, and her eyes water against the sunlight. Haley turns and wraps me in a bear hug. “Oh my gosh, this is so perfect! I can’t believe you did all this by yourself! You really should do this for a living.”

“That’s what I told her,” Lily says.

“Come in the house with me before people get here. Bette wanted me to tell you something before the shower. Jane offered to tell you, but you never went home.” She puts her arm around me and peers back at Lily. “We’ll talk at work tomorrow.”

Lily shrugs and pops a pink candied almond in her mouth. “Sure. Whatever.”

The breeze is starting to kick up, and I’m worried about the place cards. But the look on Haley’s face tells me I’d better follow. It’s not often my beloved, sequined friend gets so serious. We walk into the family room, and sit in front of the fireplace. My stomach twists as I think about the last time I sat on this sofa, but I’m not sharing that. Definitely don’t want to hear the flirting sermon again.

Haley sits down, kicks off her practical heels and curls her feet underneath her. “So…are you going to tell me why you didn’t go home after the cruise?”

“I came home to Jane still living in the house, so I brought my suitcase here instead and decided to stay until today.” I shrug. “It’s my last chance in this house. I fell in love here, and now that I know why mothers dislike me, I figured why put Jane through the turmoil of being around me?”

“With the house or the man?”

“Both, I suppose. Tomorrow, the house will go on the market and I’ll return home like nothing happened.”

“The reason Jane is still at the condo.” Haley inhales. “The reason she stayed is because Cherry died while we were on our cruise, and she thought she should be the one to tell you.”

My smile fades. “No! People like Cherry don’t die.” I’m incredulous. Within me, I honestly thought that Cherry would outlive us all. The news is like a blow to my gut.

“I’m afraid so.”

“She was only eighty,” I say. “That’s not that old, and she had so much fight in her, I just assumed she’d live past me.”

“She was actually ninety-three.”

I can’t help it—in the midst of my grief this makes me giggle right out loud. “I hope that doesn’t get put in her obituary. She would have had a cow!”

“The neighbors wrote it. I brought a copy with me.” She opens her clutch pocketbook and brings out the newspaper.

I nod as I wipe the tears from my cheek. In a way, I’ve become numb to death. “The older I get, the more I feel like it’s frightening to get close to someone, for fear they’ll die on me.”

She puts her hand on my shoulder. “There’s no getting around death, but you’ve experienced so much of it lately. I knew this would be hard for you before the shower, but I didn’t think we should keep it from you any longer.”

“I should have gone home. Jane is someone I’m going to have to face. I’ve got to stop running from my problems.”

Haley nods.

“I can’t believe Cherry’s gone.”

We both giggle, and then I sniffle. “I’m really going to miss her.” The idea of Cherry, a mainstay at my complex, not being there when I get home makes me feel ever more lonely. It makes my desire to redo her condominium seem petty and heartless. “I wanted to fix up her condo. Why didn’t I just go over there and buy her a new screen door, Haley?”

“She wouldn’t have let you put it on.”

“I’m a terrible person.”

“You’re not. You were focused on the business aspect of the complex, and the fact is, she did make that place an eyesore. Gosh,
those funky plants she had out front were enough to send anyone back to 1957.”

“Cherry made me laugh. She challenged me. Why didn’t I tell her that?”

“We just don’t know these things, but there’s no sense in regrets.”

“That’s the point, isn’t it? We don’t know, so we can’t take for granted. I talked to her right before I left. She was fine.”

“You may not miss her quite as much as you think.”

“What do you mean by that?” Cruelty is not in Haley’s repertoire.

“According to all the neighbors, Cherry left her condominium to you.”

“To me? Why would she do that?” I groan and drop my face in my hands. “That makes me feel even worse! Why didn’t I take more time? Half the time, all I thought about was how I wanted to kick her cat off my porch and feel the satisfaction. I’m hateful!”

“She said she knew you wanted to bring the complex to its former glory and why not start with hers.”

“Stop, you’re going to ruin my makeup.” I pat my eye with the back of my wrist.

“Before you get too choked up. It was Cherry. Let’s not forget that.”

“What does that mean?” Truly, I’m afraid to ask.

“It means she also left you three cats. They’re all seventeen years old, so she didn’t expect them to live long, but—”

“Three cats? I hate cats!”

“She said they liked you. The neighbors were disappointed. They’re good cats, apparently, and they all volunteered to take them.”

“How does a good cat differ from a bad cat?”

“I suppose you’ll find out.”

“See, this is my luck. Ronnie inherits this house. I inherit Cherry’s.” But it’s an honor. I know it is. It makes me miserable that Cherry had no one to leave the condo to except for me. “I don’t want to be lonely like her, Haley.”

“You won’t be, but that doesn’t mean you have to flirt with everyone that crosses your path as potential, either.”

“So I guess I’m going to be designing after all, huh?”

Lily walks in. I wipe my tears again, sniffle, and sit up on the couch.

“Are the guests arriving?” I ask her.

“No, there’s someone here to see you, Lindsay.”

I stand up and look out the window. My heart jumps at the sight of Ronnie, but as the girls catch my enthusiasm, I tone it down immediately. “It’s Ronnie,” I say casually. “He’s probably here to ensure I don’t ruin the house before it goes on the market Tuesday. The realtor tour is tomorrow, so he’s probably nervous. Excuse me, won’t you?”

Nervous? No one could possibly be more nervous than me at the moment. With calculated thought, I take slow, deliberate steps out onto the patio, and I measure my words in a formal tone. “Is everything all right?”

He smiles, and it’s as though it’s in slow motion. His green eyes glisten under the late morning sun, and my heart feels as if it’s glowing. I’m E.T. and I want to go home. Stay home, and break into a Neil Diamond tune.

I feel myself pulled back by a firm hand, and Haley spins me around to give me her mother look. “With the way he’s looking at you, you need to be careful. This is all fresh, and you’re very sensitive right now.”

“All right, Mother.”

As I get closer to Ronnie, all caution is thrown into the Santa Ana winds, and I can’t keep any part of my face from participating in my smile. “I missed you.”

“I missed you.”

“Are you still mad at me?”

“No.” He’s wearing a pair of worn-out jeans with the sexiest hole in the knee.

“Is there a reason you’re not looking at me?” he asks.

Deep breath.
“Yes.”

“Is there anything I can do to change that? I was looking forward to seeing those blue eyes.”

I can’t help it. I stare up at him, and every moment of his kiss on the beach comes streaming through my brain. “I went on a cruise,” I say with Helena-like conviction.

“I heard. Any particular reason for the sudden vacation?”

“I needed to get away. It seems I made everyone in my house angry.”

“She loves you, Lindsay. My mom’s all bark.”

“She doesn’t love me where her son is involved, that’s for certain.”

“She will. She’ll warm up to the idea.”

“Do you mean it?” I look at him imploringly, wondering if he means we do, indeed, have a future, or that his mother will get used to the fact that we had an attraction once.

“You’re wrong, you know. You said I didn’t have an emotional attachment to the house like you did, but I had one of the best days of my life in this house, and if I had a few million on my teacher’s salary, those kids at my Mexican school would be in for more trouble, so I guess God knows my heart after all.”

“Don’t.” I shake my head. “Don’t tease me, Ron. Haley says I’m a flirt, so you can’t trust me. I might have ended up snuggling with
anyone that night, according to my friends. It seems I might be a tad bit desperate.”

“You’re going to tell me that in front of the fireplace, that was just flirting? If that’s flirting, I don’t think I could handle the hard stuff. We’d better stick with that and…” He walks toward me, placing his palm on my cheek. “If you think I’m foolish enough to believe that night could have happened with anyone, you don’t know yourself very well. Self-awareness is key in Greek wisdom. Know thyself.”

“Now you’re sounding like Helena. What are you saying?”

“Come to Mexico with my mission team for the summer. Find out if this is real, or if we’re victims of what God has for us.”

“Victims?” I laugh.

“Maybe that wasn’t the best word to use.”

“I have three cats to take care of now.”

He raises his brow. “You’re a smart girl, you’ll figure it out. Think about my offer. I feel I need to prove this relationship to you, as well as my mother. The trip is chaperoned with plenty of people who know me and what I stand for. Give me a chance to prove our meeting was more than happenstance. That’s all I ask. Just a chance for you to see your true self, engaging in the world.”

I nod, as I gaze dreamily into his eyes. “I’ll come. I don’t know how, but I’ll come.”

“Have you ever been on a mission?”

I shake my head. “Other than for the perfect pair of shoes? Never.”

Everything happens for a reason. I just hope this hasn’t happened to prove how incredibly ill-prepared I am for the mission field. Looking into Ronnie’s eyes, though, I have to say, the chance to be with him is enough. I am officially back to life.