AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Vanessa cocks her head. “It’s amazing the ways in which one can change.”
This feels really deep. Like Beth said. Too much, too soon.
“I saw you’re on Instalook now…” she tells me. “That’s how I knew you’d be here.”
“And you? You live in Austin?”
“No. Not yet.” She shakes her head. “Well, not permanently. But we’ll see.”
I don’t know what to say to that, so I say nothing.
“Sean is positioning himself for leadership,” she continues. “We’re in a rental now.” She crosses her fingers and holds them up. “But hopefully soon, we’ll find something a little more permanent.”
I take a step back and take her in. She’s just so completely different. Everything about her. She seems to read my mind.
“About what happened. I figure you must hate me.” Please say yes. Please let this be the case. Vanessa seems like the type to cling. She has nothing to offer me, and for the entire forty-five seconds we’ve been standing here she’s only talked about herself. Newsflash, I want to tell her. No one wants to stand around and listen to your life story. These days people go online for that.
But she surprises me when she says, “No. Exactly the opposite. I know you just wanted better for me. I should have wanted it for myself.”
“Oh,” I say. I never felt more disappointed in my life.
Her face lights up. “These days I spend most of my time caring for Daniel. It’s nice to want a little something for myself.”
I assume Daniel is her son. I have no idea what she’s talking about. But then I remember Beth said I’m due for a coffee post tomorrow, and I don’t have a partner. I think I’m supposed to have a partner.
Vanessa drones on. “Especially with everything else…you know…the cooking and cleaning…it’s never-ending…the things us women manage.”
She’s wrong. I don’t know. I don’t say this. I offer a smile instead. This is like permission for her to never shut up. “I have to get back.”
She practically blocks me in. “But I also spend a lot of time up at the church. Cleaning and straightening things. Making sure everything is in order.”
“I remember you hated cleaning.”
“Yeah, well…” She glances away. “All that’s changed. I realize I’m meant to serve. It brings me joy.”
When she says she spends a lot of time at the church, something in me stirs. I could use eyes there. And Vanessa is very open. A great combination. “Maybe we can meet for spin class. Or coffee…”
“Gee, I wish I could,” she tells me. “But I have so much to do at home.”
God, shoot me now. “Yoga? Brunch?” I purposely list things on Beth’s agenda. I have not yet determined that Vanessa is the kind of person I actually want to spend my free time with. But if she has information I need, then I guess I can maybe suck it up.
“I really wish I could.” She sighs heavily. “But there’s vacuuming and waxing, and I really need to take down the drapes this week.”
I give my best what the fuck face. I have to recover quickly when a man who I assume is her husband walks up.
“I’ve been looking all over for you,” he says, planting a kiss on her cheek.
Vanessa smiles and leans into him.
My mouth hangs open, and I have to force myself to shut it. This guy could legitimately be her grandpa.
“I’m Sean.” He extends his hand.
“I’m sorry,” Vanessa says. “How rude of me.”
“Mel,” I say, sizing him up. It makes sense why he wants her barefoot and in the kitchen. He hails from the Ice Age.
“I know who you are,” he tells me, and the way he says it, and the way his eyes look right through me, set off alarm bells. “Tom’s wife.”
