Page 23 of Guarding Glenda

Linny worried her lip. “Maybe private, then?”

I glared up at her.

“Look. I’m sorry. But Sam seems to know more about all of this stuff and he said it would be good for you.”

“Why don’t you go to therapy?”

“Maybe I should,” she said. “What if we went together? Hell, you know all the shit I went through before that night and that alone was enough to send a normal person over the edge. I probably need to get Sofie a therapist but her teacher says she’s the best kid in her class.”

“Kids are resilient. She’s a special girl.”

“She loves you to pieces.”

I started to tell her something else that happened, but decided against it. I already was fighting to push too many demons away. “I love her. Did they close the pool already?”

“Yeah. The temps dipped and the water was too cold. Bama tried to let her swim while I was stuck in bed a couple of days after and he scooped her out because her lips were blue.”

“Well dang. That was our fun time.” Sofie was my little buddy. And for as much shit as she’d been through and seen, she really was well adjusted. But who knows, maybe later in life she’d have to unpack all this shit on someone.

After I finished washing and the water started to turn cold, Linny helped me out.

Once I got dried off and wrapped a towel around me, I sighed. “Man, that was great. I love being in water.”

“I will say, I enjoyed the pool immensely. And the beach when we went. Why can’t every day be like that?”

We’d gone to Thunder Beach just a couple weeks back. Sofie and I made sand castles, swam in the ocean with Linny, and we even talked Ollie into burying him in the sand. Now, he was gone.

“It was a good trip,” I said. But the silence that fell in the bathroom after that was thick. I wondered if she thought the same thing but didn’t want to keep dwelling on sad stuff.

Once I brushed my teeth, hair, and got dressed, Linny asked, “What do you wanna do now?”

“Sorry you’re stuck here with me, girl,” I said. “We can sit outside. The fresh air was nice. I watched so many cooking shows the last few days. I'm good on TV for now.”

We headed out back and I was able to walk unassisted, still slow, though. Leigh pulled the table over so we had a spot for our drinks he made.

“Found a deck of cards,” he said. “Should you be out here with wet hair?”

I giggled. “Oh my God. You can’t get sick from wet hair outside. Plus it’s not even that cold.”

Linny grabbed the deck of cards, fighting a grin.

“Well, my bad. That’s what my Mawmaw always said.”

Linny crooned. “Aww. Your Mawmaw? Is she still alive?”

He shook his head. “Naw. Been gone a while. Sweet woman, though.”

Leigh went inside briefly, then came back out with a trash bag. “C’mon, Bruce.” He walked down the steps on the back porch and Bruce followed.

We watched as he walked across the yard and took a full trash bag out of the fence.

“His Mawmaw. How cute.”

Whipping my head to her, she put her hands up.

“But eww, bad Leigh. Fuck that guy and his serving us drinks and bringing us cards,” she joked as she shuffled the cards.

“You a card shark?”