Marriage Seasons 01 - It Happens Every Spring (22 page)

"He won't. After he bellyached over the petitions for a while, I
asked permission to put in the flower boxes and build the soundproof wall, and he said okay."

"Then I guess I can keep on putting up with you." Patsy shook
her head and started for the door. "You know, you'd be a lot less
sweaty if you shaved off that beard and got a haircut."

"I think I look sort of handsome, myself," Pete replied.

"If you can call a sheepdog handsome."

Leaving him chuckling, Patsy set out for Just As I Am once
again. It seemed like she never made much headway with Pete, but
maybe this new wall would help. In the meantime, she was going to
have to listen to him screwing in the studs, stapling down the insulation, and then hanging more Sheetrock. The whole situation was
enough to make her wonder: Why me, Lord?

Brenda Hansen had just sat down at a table with Ashley Hanes,
Kim Finley, and Esther Moore when the pounding started up again
next door. Discouraged by persistent cold spring rain that had put
her gardening on hold, Brenda had decided to drive to Tranquility
this Friday afternoon and have a cup of tea at Just As I Am. She
hadn't bargained on Pete Roberts causing another ruckus.

"I swear that man is going to drive poor Patsy clean out of her
wits," Esther predicted, leaning across the table toward the other
three women. "The minute Pete starts tinkering with an engine,
Patsy works up a head of steam, marches over to Rods-n-Ends, and
reads him the riot act. I never knew such animosity since the
Hatfields and McCoys."

"Maybe it's not what you think, Mrs. Moore." Ashley laid her
hands on the table, displaying her new French manicure and diamond engagement ring. "One of my girlfriends is a waitress at
Aunt Mamie's Good Food, and she said she saw Patsy Pringle having Easter lunch there with a man."

"A man!" Esther sat up straight.

"It could have been anyone," Kim Finley said. "Patsy has lots of
male clients. She's got plenty of friends who might go out to lunch
with her."

Kim had told the group of women she was waiting for the school
bus to drop kids off in front of the Tranquility strip mall. That
morning she had promised to buy her twins ice-cream sandwiches
at Pete's and then walk by the lake with them. The weather had put
an end to that plan. Now, she told the ladies, she would have to
drive Luke and Lydia home in the pouring rain and find something
to keep them busy while she fixed supper.

"My friend said the man with Patsy was a big burly guy with a
beard," Ashley spoke up. "I think it was Pete Roberts who took her
to Easter lunch. I'll bet they have something going on, and they just
don't want people to know."

"Well, if they're lovebirds, how come she went running out of
here the minute he started pounding just now?" Esther asked.

"Maybe it's just a good excuse to see him," Brenda offered.
"Could be his ruckuses have become kind of like a signal between
them."

Kim chuckled. "I remember Derek used to come over to the
dentist's office in Osage Beach to get his teeth cleaned or check up
on a possible cavity about every three or four days," she said. "I thought the poor man must have the worst teeth of anyone in the
entire Water Patrol. It turned out he had a bad case of lovesickness.
I never would have figured it out if the dentist hadn't told me
point-blank that Derek's teeth were perfect."

"That sounds like Brad stopping by my parents' restaurant to
get an ice-cream cone every day after school," Ashley said. "I was
working there, of course. I always served him, and we would talk a
little bit, but Brad was so popular and three grades ahead of me
that I never gave it much thought. I couldn't believe he was still
wanting his regular chocolate cone even in December. Finally he
got up the guts to ask me out, and that was the end of his ice-cream
habit."

"People will do about anything if they're in love," Esther agreed.
"I tried out for the cheerleading squad just so I could meet Charlie
Moore, the best-looking boy in school. He was on the football
team, you know. Well, I was the smallest of all the cheerleaders, so
of course I got thrown around the most-picked up, twirled,
flipped through the air. I'm telling you, no gal ever went through as
much as I did trying to get the attention of a boy. But it worked. I
got my Charlie, bless his pea-pickin' heart. I could just about choke
that man sometimes, but I wouldn't trade him for a million dollars."

As the women chatted, Brenda pursed her lips, recalling how
often during the past week she had fought herself to keep from
picking up the phone and dialing A-1 Remodeling. With Justin in
Texas, Jessica at Table Rock Lake, and Steve selling real estate as
usual, Brenda knew she had a good excuse to call Nick back to
work. Every day she felt exactly as she had before Nick and his
paint-splattered blue jeans stepped into her life. Alone. With a dial
of his number, she could have him in the basement again-installing the potting sink and laying the vinyl.

But then what? Soon he would go off to work on his next
project, and she would be stuck sewing sofa pillows for a husband
who would never even notice them. Lately, every time Brenda thought of Steve, she recalled Ashley Hanes's casual statement
about his country club dinners. Sometimes with women. Single
women. La-di-da women with matching shoes and purses ... and
French perfume.

How could it possibly be fair for a man to expect his wife to sit at
home waiting for him while he entertained other women at expensive dinners? What if Steve was having an affair? Even an emotional attraction to someone would mean a deep betrayal of their
marriage vows.

But wasn't that what Brenda was feeling for Nick LeClair?
Didn't she think about the man day and night, wondering what he
was doing, remembering funny things he had said? All the details
Ashley had given about Nick's wife and their separation had added
more kindling to the fire inside Brenda's heart. She could hardly
wait until Monday morning, when Nick's pickup would pull into
the driveway and he would knock on her front door.

"Shh, here she comes," Esther said, elbowing Brenda. She
winked at Ashley. "Maybe we can get something out of her."

"Well, I just want you ladies to know that our troubles are
almost over," Patsy announced as she approached their table in the
tearoom. "That awful pounding you hear is Pete Roberts building
us a soundproof wall. It'll take him a few days, but he's got all the
supplies and the directions. He's putting up the framework right
now. Before long, we'll have peace and quiet again."

"You won't know what to do with yourself," Esther quipped.
"You've been getting so much exercise running over there all the
time."

A slight pink stain crept across Patsy's cheeks. "Don't worry
about that. I'll be glad to have things back to normal. The salon was
going along so smoothly until Pete moved in."

"Sometimes change can be good for a woman," Kim spoke up.
"We get so used to our routines. I think it's been kind of interesting
around here lately with Rods-n-Ends next door. Derek is thrilled to have the gas station open again. He says he won't buy his minnows anywhere else. I noticed Pete has built you a nice flower box."

Kim rarely offered her opinion, and Brenda had to smile at the
slight teasing note to her voice.

"He's built one for every store in the mall," Patsy clarified.
"Planning to paint them bright yellow to draw attention, so we can
get more business. But if you ladies are looking for some change
around Tranquility, I'm afraid we're about to get it. The bad kind.
Pete tells me the mall's landlord threw our petitions in the trash."

"He did not!" Esther exclaimed. "Why, that just burns me up!"

"Oh no." Kim's shoulders sank. "I can't let Lydia and Luke get
off the bus in front of a store like that. What if they see something
in the window?"

"You can bet they will," Ashley said. "Those video people are
going to be advertising their stuff just like everyone else here at the
lake. The swimming-suit people, the tattoo people, the T-shirt
people-folks would put their products right out on the street if
the county would let them. My dad bought a great big plastic
ice-cream cone and a hot dog that looked so real you could almost
eat it. He put them in the window of the restaurant so they could
get attention from all the people walking up and down the strip in
Lake Ozark."

"But there ought to be something decent people can do about a
trashy video shop," Esther said. "We shouldn't have to put up with
indecency."

"And what about getting places we do want?" Ashley asked. "We
need another restaurant. That way Brad could meet me for an early
supper, and he wouldn't spend so much time at the Lake Lounge."

"You need to get that husband of yours out of the bar," Esther
said firmly. "You keep moaning about it, honey, but that's not getting you anywhere."

"Well, what am I supposed to do? How do you get a man to
spend more time at home?"

"Give him a project! That's what I used to do with Charlie. I told him I wanted a porch swing to rock my babies on, and we were too
poor to buy one. So he came home every day after driving his mail
route and worked on that swing."

"You can't give your husband a project if he can afford to buy
everything you could want," Brenda said in a low voice. "Especially
if most of his work is done in the afternoons and evenings."

The women stared at her in silence for a moment, and Brenda
felt sure she had said too much. She gave her tea a stir and tried to
figure out how to leave without making it look like she was running away. What if these ladies knew what Ashley had said so
openly the other day? What if everyone thought Steve was staying
out every night because he was involved with another woman?
Brenda felt foolish and vulnerable suddenly, and she couldn't
think of any way to rectify what she had let slip.

And then sweet, quiet Kim spoke. "We should help each other
with things like Brenda is talking about," she said firmly. "We all
live close together in Deepwater Cove, and we see each other nearly
every day. We don't want our children exposed to this video store.
We do want our husbands to come home to us in the evenings. We
want good marriages and happy homes and strong friendships. So
... why don't we just ... just help each other?"

"How?" Ashley asked. "I'm not even twentyyears old yet. I don't
know how to do anything but wait on tables and bead necklaces. I
sure don't have any advice for you guys."

"Could you invite Brenda and Steve to your house for dinner
some night when you and Brad are both off work?"

"I guess so. Brad says I make really awesome fried chicken."

"And maybe you and Brad could help Brenda with one of her
garden projects," Kim went on. "If we met here at Patsy's shop now
and then, we could put our heads together and work out our problems."

"Like a ladies' society!" Esther crowed. "That's the best idea I've
heard in ages. We'll call it The Ladies' Club, and we'll get together
on ... Tuesdays."

"The dentist's office closes early on Wednesdays and Fridays,"
Kim said. "I try to meet the school bus at four when it stops at the
mall."

"Wednesdays, then." Esther looked around at the others. "What
do you say, Patsy? May we have our club meetings here on
Wednesdays?"

"Be my guests," Patsy said. "Only I want to be a member too."

"That's okay with me, but let's call it something besides The
Ladies' Club," Ashley said. "It sounds... old. Like we're a bunch of
old folks."

"I am old," Esther said. "Suits me just fine."

"How about the Tea Ladies' Club?" Kim offered. "We'll call
ourselves the TLC, because that's what we're here for-lots of tender loving care."

"Well, now, isn't that just about the cleverest thing you ever
heard?" Esther announced to the group. "We are the founding
members of the TLC-Patsy Pringle, Ashley Hanes, Kim Finley,
Brenda Hansen, and me, Esther Moore. Five of us. We'll meet right
here next Wednesday afternoon at three o'clock to discuss our
progress and help each other figure out how to handle problems.
In the meantime, Ashley, you invite the Hansens over for fried
chicken. Brenda, you give Brad a job in your yard building a wishing well or some such thing so he'll stay out of the bar. And Kim
and I will put our heads together on what to do about that blasted
video store."

Brenda felt silly and excited all at the same time. She hadn't been
in a club since elementary school when she and a group of girlfriends had formed a secret We Hate Boys club. That had lasted
about a week until one of the members decided she liked Timmy,
who lived down at the end of the cul-de-sac. The group disbanded.
In high school, Brenda had belonged to the school choir and the
Spanish club, but those weren't social organizations. The whole
idea of the TLC seemed childish-and at the same time fun.