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Irritated at the childishness of my own irritation, I clank down the metal ramp, in need of some fresh air. It’s a mostly empty parking lot and it’s April in Colorado, which means cloudy skies. But the air is crisp and clean.
“Sophie, I’m glad to see you, dear.” It’s Oliver’s Aunt Stella. I find myself glancing around to see if he’s here, too.
That would be a big, fat “no.”
She pulls me into a hug that feels like a combo of my mom and my junior high body pillow.
“What are you doing in Tollark today?” I ask.
She unzips her purse. “I like grocery shopping here,” she says, pointing to the Food Mart. “They have a much better bulk foods section than our store has.” She pulls out a shopping list.
She’s not wrong and I guess since she’s retired from teaching school, she has more time to drive a few miles for some bulk flaxseed.
“How’s the mobile library today?” But from her tone of voice and the way she sizes me up, I can tell she already knows I’m feeling ragey.
“You know, it’s been really slow.” I wave my hand over the bus. I swallow down the sadness. “But hopefully we can get some patrons to come out today.”
Stella eyes the sky. “It’s the perfect day for reading, with these clouds.” She gazes at me, “I hope you get more people in. How about I come and see what you’ve got today?”
We head inside the bus and suddenly, maybe for the first time ever, I don’t feel like talking about books at all. I feel like talking about Oliver.
She beats me to it. “I was happy to hear you’re helping the boys with their resort library. They need your expertise.”
I slump down into my seat at the desk up front. “I’m excited to choose a good collection for them.”
The impossibly tight quarters of the bus allow for one marginally comfortable reading chair. It’s near mine and I motion for her to sit.
She shakes her head. “I’ll look at the books first.” She puts her purse down on the chair and steps over to the stacks. “You know, the boys have really changed over the years.” She’s not looking at me, just at the books, running an index finger over the spines. “I wonder who’s going to be the first to settle down. Once one does, it will give the others permission to, as well.”
“I don’t think the Tates will ever settle down. At least not all of them.”
She clicks her tongue. “They are ambitious and stubborn. And they don’t know what’s best for them. The whole lot of them.” She turns to me, her blue eyes soft. “But they’re good people. Their hearts are gold. When’s Oliver going to take you out on another date?”
I know I thought I wanted to talk about him, but now that she’s brought him up, I’m not sure I can. “Another date? We’ve never even been on one date before, Stella.”
She stares me down. “What do you call the third Saturday in August? Sophie, that boy has been dating you longer than anyone.”
Whoa. That’s…unexpected. “First of all, he’s not a boy. He’s thirty-three years old.” I smile.
“You’re right. He’s a grown man, yes. But compared to my age, he’s still very young.”
“And second of all, those weren’t dates,” I say. “He dates actresses and CEOs of companies and, who knows who else.”
“There’s a difference between them and you, Sophie.”
I harrumph a very unladylike sound. “Yeah, I know.” Instead of blurting out all the ways those women are better than me, I think it silently.
She cocks her head to one side. “Sophie. I’ve seen him around other women, those women he’s taken out on dates. Not that he’s ever brought anyone here, or to Denver. But I do travel with my brother and his wife sometimes to visit their kids. So I’ve met some of his women friends.”
“I don’t need to hear about them.” I roll my eyes. I hate feeling like I’m sixteen again, when jealousies were so hard to drop.
“I don’t want to talk about them, either. The truth is, though, they seemed to be wonderful women. But the spark wasn’t there.” She draws back, her gaze daring me to make the inference she won’t boldly state.
Can people just say what they mean? Can’t people just be direct? I know I’m not. And I want to be. I think breaking up with Troy and telling his father I won’t chair Longdale Days was a good start.
But I know that Stella isn’t the type to interfere in the love lives of “the boys.” She prides herself on that, on letting them justbe. It’s one of her best characteristics. Where their parents push and pull them to success, Stella is the non-judgmental relative to fall back on.
I’m in a salty mood, so I don’t want to run with what she’s saying. I don’t want to give her a wink and a “I know what you mean” and then be happy that I just might have a chance with him.
