Chapter 4-2
1349 Words
Edie shuffled her papers and tried to think of what to do next. Her whole morning had been set aside to review the McConnell project, but now it looked as if she would have those hours free. She could drive out to the landscape project, check up on her workers earlier than she had intended, but she really wanted to get this job underway as soon as possible.
“Shelly went into labor late last night,” Joanne explained as she sipped her coffee. “Well, early this morning, I guess. Michael must’ve forgotten you were coming by. Is this about the work he’s having done to spruce up the place?”
“I’m with Davis Contractors,” Edie said again. She’d mentioned it when she came in, but she didn’t think Joanne remembered, despite the woman’s distracted nod. “We’re supposed to repair the porch and replace the gutters and roof.”
With a laugh, Joanne snorted into her coffee. “Yeah, it sure needs it. I bet he forgot. Let me give him a call.”
Edie started, “No, don’t bother…”
But Joanne smiled as she brushed by on her way into the living room. From where she stood, Edie could hear Joanne tell the kids, “Turn off the TV and get dressed already, will you? I’m taking you to school shortly—”
“Aww, Jo!” Ava cried. “Can’t we stay home until the babies get here?”
Mikey piped up. “We want to see the babies!”
“You’ll see them when you get home,” Joanne snapped. “I have to get to work and you two have to get to school. Stop whining.”
When she returned to the dining room, she had a frazzled grin on her face and an iPhone in her hands. “Thank goodness they aren’t mine,” she murmured. “Let me send Michael a quick note.”
“It’s okay, really,” Edie assured her. “I can come back another time—”
Joanne’s thumbs flew over the face of her phone. “Too late, already sent.” Her smile widened, and she gave Edie a quick wink. “Sure I can’t interest you in a cup of coffee while we wait?”
“I’m fine.” Edie gave her an appraising look. At first, she’d thought Joanne was being friendly, but that wink…that stopped her short. Was that supposed to be flirty? Because it came off as such. Suddenly Edie raised a hand to the sloppy ponytail at the nape of her neck, and she straightened the scrunchy before smoothing down a few stray strands over her ear.
Watching Edie openly, Joanne slipped into one of the dining room chairs and nursed her coffee. “Have a seat,” she suggested. When her phone went dark, she tapped a button to light up the screen again, but her brother hadn’t yet replied.
“I really shouldn’t hold you up,” Edie said.
But Joanne insisted, “Sit. Michael will probably call in a few minutes—he doesn’t text, I don’t think he knows how. Your boss won’t mind, will he?”
Edie laughed. “Yeah, no. I’m the boss.”
Joanne’s eyes crinkled into half-moons as she grinned. “Then hey, even better. No one will get bent out of shape if you stay a while.”
Just then the phone on the table rang. It was a tinny jingle, not some popular song masquerading as a ringtone but one of the standard sounds built into the iPhone. Edie saw the name Michael across the screen. “Told you,” Joanne said, before she answered. “Hey, bro. Are the babies here yet?”
She looked up at Edie and nodded. “Hmm, okay. Well, your contractor’s here with some paperwork for you to go over. Did you forget? I thought so. Do you want to talk to her?”
Pulling out the chair at the head of the table, Edie sat down as Joanne handed her the phone. “Hello? Mr. McConnell?”
“Ms. Davis, hi.” The man on the other end of the line sounded weary, as if he’d been up all night. “I’m so, so sorry about all this. I completely forgot you were coming over today—”
“No, it’s fine,” Edie assured him. “Your sister said your wife went into labor? How’s she doing?”
Mr. McConnell sighed heavily. “She’s still hanging in there. It’s been five hours since her water broke and the doctor’s talking about doing a C-section if something doesn’t start happening soon. I don’t really think I’m going to be able to go over the paperwork for the project with you today.”
“No, I realize that.” Edie heard a faint ding in her ear and frowned at Joanne. “Look, how about we table it for the weekend, and you can give me a call Monday once everything settles down some so we can reschedule? Will that work for you?”
Another sigh, this one relieved. “Yes, thanks. That’d be great. Can you ask Jo to pick the kids up from school?”
The phone dinged again. Edie moved it away to tell Joanne, “He wants to know if you’ll pick the kids up from school.”
“Sure,” Joanne agreed. From the living room came moans of disappointment.
Into the phone, Edie said, “She said she will. I’ll leave my card on the counter so you’ll have my number. Just give me a call early next week—”
“Will do,” he assured her. “Thanks again. I’m so sorry—”
“Don’t be,” she told him. “Good luck.”
With a weary laugh, he said, “Thanks. Tell Jo thanks, too. I have to get back to Shelly.”
He hung up, and Edie handed the phone back to Joanne. “It kept dinging…”
“It was a text.” Joanne swiped her finger across the screen to read the message, then scowled. Under her breath, she muttered, “Goddamn it. You have a stack of junk mail, nothing important. Get over it already.”
She didn’t reply to the text. When she looked up and saw Edie watching her, she gave a disarming grin. “Sorry, my ex. Never bothered to get her mail forwarded, and now she’s pissed she can’t stop by and pick it up whenever she wants. If I had known she was a crazy b***h before we started dating, I could’ve saved myself all the headaches she gives me now.”
Joanne’s explanation was straightforward and unapologetic—only the pronoun hinted that the relationship was non-traditional. In that moment, something in the way Edie saw her shifted; she’d been attractive and cute before, but no one Edie was particularly interested in. But at the thought that Joanne might reciprocate Edie’s feelings, suddenly she took on added depth and dimensions, no longer merely female but a woman, with kissable lips and plump breasts, and a lingering scent like fading perfume. Edie found herself wondering what Joanne’s short hair would feel like against the palms of her hands—coarse and cottony, as it looked, or soft and silky? What might her eyes look like first thing in the morning, so dark and depthless, like pools of ink in her pale face? How might her voice sound, throaty and low, whispered between the sheets while they stayed in bed?
Stop it, Edie told herself. She knew all about crazy ex-girlfriends, didn’t she? And she didn’t need to get involved with anyone else again, not so soon. Besides, just because Joanne had an ex didn’t mean she wasn’t currently dating anyone.
What happened to keeping busy with work? Not needing a girlfriend at the moment? Being happy being alone?
To distract herself, Edie stacked her paperwork into a neat pile. “Well, I should probably get going…”
“Question,” Joanne said.
Edie stopped shuffling papers and looked at her. “Yes?”
From over the top of her coffee mug, Joanne asked, “What’s Davis Contractors do actually?”
With a shrug, Edie said, “Well, general contracting work, of course. Repairs, remodeling, stuff like that, for commercial or personal properties. I don’t know really what you’d like to know—”
“I’m in real estate,” Joanne admitted. “Just getting started, but so far, I like it a lot. And sometimes my clients ask me if I know anyone who might be handy around the house, or maybe can give them a quote on fixing up a few things. If I can give them your name—”
“That’d be great.” Edie dug out a business card from her pocket and handed it over. “We have a website that details pretty much all our services, but if there’s anything specific you’re looking for, you can always give me a call.”
Joanne palmed the card. A slow smile spread across her face, and she gave Edie a coy look. “What if I only wanted to call to chat? Or, I don’t know, see if you wanted to meet up for a bite to eat? Same number?”
Absently, Edie’s hand strayed to her ponytail again. “Well, it is my cell…”
It wasn’t exactly encouraging, but Joanne didn’t seem dissuaded. “How about lunch, then? Today? If you don’t already have plans—”
“I don’t,” Edie assured her.
Joanne’s smile brightened. “Great. Let me get these kids off to school and run back home to freshen up, and I’ll give you a call sometime before noon. Just let me know where you want to meet.”
Suddenly Edie’s palms felt sweaty and her pulse quickened. Wait, was this turning into a date? “I…I don’t know. What do you like?”
“Oh, I’m easy to please,” Joanne said with a wink.
* * * *
- Writer
