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Gretta lifted her chin proudly. “I am, and everyone knows it. How do you think I know all that stuff about everyone? I make it my duty to stick my nose in where it doesn’t belong.”
Vivian belted out a laugh, the first genuine one in ages. “Ms. Gretta, you are something else!”
“I know I’m a handful, and I ain’t ever tried to pretend to be anything less. People still love me, though.”
Vivian was still shaking her head as she reached for the broom hanging on the wall inside the pantry. “What’s not to love?”
“Oh, please, I know I can be a royal pain in the ass. You don’t have to kiss it just ‘cause you’re afraid of offending me.”
“I’m not!” Vivian was shocked she’d say such a thing, but she understood why she’d think that. “All I meant was that you’re a good person, and it’s plain even to me, an outsider, that you’re as honest as they come. Honesty is such a rare thing these days, so when you come across it, it stands out. I think people can appreciate that.”
“Well, I might could agree with you there. But, in the interest of being honest, I want you to tell me something.”
Leaning against the broom handle, Vivian said, “Sure, what would you like to know?”
“Why are you here? I already know how you came in. Nash told me all about the flat tire, and I know pretty much every step from there to my door since, but what brings a city girl like you all the way out to the boonies? And don’t give me that goin’ wherever the wind takes ya business. Are ya hiding from something? Is the mafia after ya? Tax evasion?”
“You’ve been reading too many books.” Vivian couldn’t help but laugh again, but this time it was much more subdued. The topic of her sad life wasn’t something she wanted to discuss, but she recognized that she had an obligation, showing up on her doorstep out of the blue needing a place to stay, to offer some kind of explanation.
“I just got over a nasty divorce and needed a change,” she summed up.
“Ah, men.” She nodded as if she knew the struggle. Judging from her fondness over her late husband, Vivian doubted she fully understood, but empathy was nice all the same. “Did he step out on ya?”
Snorting, Vivian said, “Boy, did he ever.”
“Let me guess. Tall, skinny blonde with fake tits.” Those cloudy eyes rolled over Vivian. “No offense, of course.”
Vivian’s eyes widened briefly at the unexpected colorful language, and of course, because she was a skinny blonde, but then she quickly got over it. “Actually, tall, dark, and with a small penis. I’m guessing on that last one. I had neither the mind nor desire to inspect his package.”
Greta gasped, scandalized by the admission. “Queer?”
“Apparently.” The reminder that her husband had cheated on her with another man put a sneer on her face, but Vivian was determined to let it go. She couldn’t spend her future living in the past.
“Oh, my. For once, I don’t know what to say.”
“There’s nothing to say. We divorced. I left. Now I just have to find a place to start fresh.”
That sparkle returned to Gretta’s eyes. “Well, why not right here? I have the space until you find a place of your own. People like ya. Especially the men.” She winked a couple of times. “It’s a good place to raise kids, too.”
“Oh, I don’t know if I want kids,” Vivian told her. “Even if I did, I think the boat is about to leave the harbor.”
“Girl, if that was your way of calling yourself old, I might just have half a mind to slap ya.”
While Vivian stood stunned, Gretta walked away from her task and approached her. Placing her hands on both of Vivian’s shoulders, the short, stout woman peered up into her eyes. “You are not old. You are not past your prime in any way. It sounds to me like you’ve had a rough go of it, and you’re feeling down. But don’t let that sway you from your path. Everyone needs a fresh start at least once in their life, and it means you get to reshape your whole world to look how you want it to. Just remember, words have power. Make sure you’re giving voice to the right ones.” She gave her a couple of pats and returned to cleaning. “Don’t stand in your own damn way, dear.”
Gretta’s words struck Vivian right in the chest. She hadn’t realized until that very moment that she had, in fact, been standing in her own way. Or at least attempting to. It was so easy to adopt a defeatist attitude and make it your mantra, but in the end, she would only hurt herself more than Andrew had, wouldn’t she?
With misty eyes, Vivian helped finish the kitchen before retreating to her room on the second floor for a much-needed timeout.
TEN
Dinner was just as challenging as breakfast, especially since Vivian hadn’t counted on making it. When Gretta called her down at five p.m., she’d just assumed the woman wanted a hand. Instead, Gretta had plopped her little rump down on a chair and told her what to do, step by step, for over an hour.
Surprisingly enough, dinner was even more involved and exhausting than breakfast. Of course, since it was all a crash course for Vivian, and since Miss Gretta had the idea that everything had to be made from scratch, she’d gone the long way about it all. The pie had been the worst. Never again would Vivian take one for granted. The sheer amount of time and skill it took to handle the dough alone was mindboggling. The lesson she took from today: cooking from scratch was hard work!
But boy was it ever rewarding.
Thankfully, the mess she’d made hadn’t stained her clothes, thanks to the cute apron Gretta lent her. Faded from years of use, it had a picture of a drawing printed on the chest of a penguin standing in snow—something Nash had drawn for her when he was a kid.
