Relative Happiness (9 page)

Yes, she thought, even dear old Lester has a love life. She picked up her paper, three tins of cat food, a lotto ticket and her Cadbury bar. She gave Lester his money, and he patted her hand when he passed her the change.

“Cheer up girlie.”

Did she look that bad? What was the matter with everyone?

Sophie greeted her at the door. She meowed and meowed. There was something wrong. She looked at Lexie with her sweet furry face.

“What's the matter, my love?” Oh, please don't let anything happen to Sophie. She picked her up and gave her a cuddle, but she kept at it. Gosh, that wasn't like her. Lexie walked down the hall and into the living room.

She stopped dead.

Adrian lay by the fire while Gabby straddled him. Her beautiful body glowed in the fireplace light as they moved as one, her gorgeous copper hair cascading down her back. They had eyes only for each other.

She must have cried out because they turned around, saw her and immediately scrambled to cover up.

“Oh my God, Lex!” Gabby cried as she reached for her camisole. “I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen…”

She couldn't think of anything to say, except, “In front of Sophie?”

Adrian jumped into his jeans and started to button them up. “Lexie, wait!”

She walked out of the house with her cat in her arms.

Chapter Four

She spent the night with Beth. She didn't tell her sister why she needed to sleep on her sofa bed or why she had her cat with her and Beth was too worn out to ask or care. She was busy wading through toys and trying to settle an argument between the girls about who would get to sleep with the giant Pooh Bear their father brought home.

“I'm going to kill you,” she muttered to Rory.

Rory shrugged. “Sorry. I didn't think.”

Lexie solved the immediate problem by offering to give the girls a bath. She kept them in the tub for about an hour and her nieces couldn't believe their good fortune. Lexie didn't have to talk. She just nodded and smiled every now and again. They were so busy chatting, they didn't notice she never said anything.

She gathered them up in Michaela's bed with Pooh Bear in the thick of things, and read them the longest fairy tale she could find. She didn't know what it was about but it must have made sense because they were content.

When Beth got the baby settled, she came to rescue her. The girls were fast asleep. Lexie waved her away. She wanted to have them entwined in her arms. As a matter of fact, she hugged them for dear life.

Rory took the three oldest with him in the morning. When Lexie asked him where they were going so early, he mumbled something. She realized her sister arranged for them to go out, on account of her.

Knowing Rory, he'd go to every drive thru in town to keep them in their car seats. The girls hugged her goodbye. He kissed Beth before he disappeared out the back door. She gave him a gentle push. “See you later.”

He shouted over his shoulder, “See ya, Lexie.”

“Bye.”

Beth poured two cups of coffee. She put them on the table and spooned sugar in both.

“I don't take sugar.”

“Today you do.” Beth was the bossiest one in the family. It usually annoyed Lexie but not today.

Her sister sat at the table. “Well?” She waited.

Lexie opened her mouth and closed it again. Nothing came out.

“You remind me of the kids. Out with it.”

“Adrian and Gabby were making love on my living room rug last night…in front of Sophie.”

“Holy Hannah.”

“I couldn't believe it,” Lexie sobbed as she wiped her watery eyes.

Beth looked at her feet as she digested the news. “What does she see in him?” was her first question. The next thing out of her mouth was “Good lord, I have to mop this floor.”

Even though Lexie hated Adrian's guts at that moment, she was really annoyed by the remark.

“What do you mean? He's a nice guy. Or I thought he was.”

“If he was such a nice guy, he wouldn't have bonked your sister in front of your furry child.”

“That's right,” Lexie agreed wholeheartedly before she snuck her thumbnail in her mouth and filed it down with her teeth.

Beth suddenly looked at her. “Lexie, I think Gabby's out of her mind, but aren't you being a little silly to get this upset about your roommate's love life? He is an adult. He does live there after all, with your blessing I might add.”

Lexie opened her mouth to say something and then closed it again.

Beth took a big swill of coffee. “You look like a guppy. Stop that.”

My God, she was right. She told everyone Adrian wasn't her anything. He was a guy who shared the bathroom. He wasn't her boyfriend. And he'd never given any indication he wanted to be. He never tried to kiss her again after that night by the sink.

Not only was she upset, she felt stupid. She held her head in her hands. “I'm a moron.”

Beth patted her arm. “Ordinarily I'd agree with you, but I happen to be on your side for once.”

Lexie couldn't believe it. “Why?”

“Because that little beast cannot keep her paws off anyone's boyfriend, husband or roommate.”

“God. She hasn't gone after Rory?”

Beth backed up a little. “No. But you know Gabby. All she has to do is look in their direction and they fall at her feet. I'm not sure she always does it on purpose.” She took another sip of coffee and banged her mug on the table. “It ticks me off though. I could never bring a boyfriend home. Sometimes they'd go out with me, just to get invited over. She even made out with Johnny Ferguson in the broom closet once when he was supposedly dating me.” She frowned at the memory. “And why is Gabby with Adrian if she's supposed to be in love with Prince Eric?”

Poor Dick would never be known as anything else.

“She's nuts! Why would she want Adrian when she has a guy who's apparently a millionaire? That's what I'd like to know.”

Lexie stayed at Beth's one more night. She couldn't face Adrian yet. She was too embarrassed. Besides, her sister looked tired. No wonder she was cranky. Lexie never knew how much work four small children could be. After the second night, she dragged her rear end around until she finally plunked down on the sofa bed. “How do you do it, Beth?”

Beth yawned as she picked up toys and threw them in the direction of the toy box their dad built for Michaela. “When they're your own, it's not so bad. Besides, I can't send them back.”

“I never thought of it before, but how did Mom do it? She not only looked after us but taught as well.”

“She's perfect?”

Just then Rory yelled from upstairs. “I need help here! I have one in the tub, one on the john, one missing, and one under the sink.”

Beth hollered, “I'm on my way.”

“Listen Beth, thanks for everything. You're right. I'm a grown woman and I acted like a kid when I ran out like that. I better go face the music.”

Her sister looked back at her and gave her a kind smile. “Good luck, kiddo.”

Lexie put Sophie in the van once she wiped the snow off. It was a very stormy winter. As soon as she started the motor she felt better. Good old Betsy, filled with rug-hooking supplies, old library books, theatre props and clothes she gathered to take to goodwill. That and lots of chocolate bar wrappers.

Her mother always grimaced whenever Lexie took her anywhere in it.

“Really dearest, why don't you trade in this heap of rusty metal?”

“This heap, as you call it, starts in minus 30 degree weather, unlike your precious Seville.”

Her mother had no answer to that, but of course always had the last word. “Well, you should shovel it out now and then.”

Lexie drove home as slowly as she could. She inevitably arrived but was still hesitant to go in, so she sat behind the wheel and willed her heart to stop racing. She needed to focus on something, so she looked at the house. It had belonged to her Aunt Sally, her father's eccentric older sister, a card-carrying spinster. She and her dad grew up there and when their parents died, Sally insisted on taking care of it herself, despite Dad's numerous offers of help. She was a stubborn old bird.

Of course, now it looked bare and bleak, but in the summer, wild roses bloomed everywhere. And like her parents' home, the sides of this house disappeared under a leafy mass of green when spring arrived. Ivy for an Ivy house.

The backyard was a jumble of wild flowers in summer, thanks to another of Aunt Sally's peculiar ways. She hated grass, refused to have anything to do with it. So she filled her property with lupines, Indian paintbrush, Queen Anne's lace, buttercups and daisies. Like her aunt, Lexie loved it that way.

She loved everything about her house. The main floor consisted of a hallway, with stairs on the left, and a living room that could be closed with old glass-paned doors. This room took up most of the right side. Despite being small, the shallow fireplace on the far wall threw a great heat. Aunt Sally's favourite white mirror hung above the intricate carved mantle.

The old-fashioned kitchen took up the back of the house, and an ancient harvest table, with a hodgepodge of old chairs around it, took up most of the room. Nothing matched but that was fine.

The shelves underneath had checkered cloth hiding them. There was a pantry, where she baked, as her Aunt Sally did when Lexie was a child. Jars, glass bottles and preserves took up all the shelves.

Her bedroom upstairs was crowded with old bureaus and Aunt Sally's sleigh bed. The wallpaper was so ancient, its pattern of roses was back in style. Her wooden floors were painted and covered with worn hooked mats that had been there since she could remember.

Adrian's room was across the hall, a smaller version of her own. Beside it was the bathroom, which was large enough for a rocking chair and an old chest of drawers that held towels and books. The best feature was the deep, claw-footed tub, heavenly for soaking in.

Everyone was shocked when Aunt Sally left the house to Lexie. She asked Dad why she would do such a thing. He said his sister recognized a kindred spirit when she saw one.

Running out of rooms to ponder, Lexie shook off her reverie and took a deep breath. She noticed the snow drifted along the front porch stairs. Oh, well done Adrian. He didn't shovel it for her. Here was something else she could brood about. She turned off the engine, grabbed Sophie and readied herself to face her roommate.

“Adrian!” she shouted as she closed the front door. She waited to hear his feet thump down the stairs.

Nothing.

“Ade!”

The place felt empty. He wasn't home. She went into the kitchen and put the kettle on. She took off her gloves and threw them on the table. That's when she noticed the note propped up against the salt and pepper shakers.

As Sophie rubbed her legs in a figure eight and purred loudly to express her pleasure at being home, Lexie stumbled to the table and picked up the note.

“I'm sorry Lexie,” was all it said.

She stood and looked at the empty hangers in his closet. The phone rang. She walked downstairs and sat on the chair next to it. She didn't pick up.

“Lexie, it's Mom. Call me please, it's urgent.”

She wanted to. She couldn't do it.

The phone rang again.

Mom sounded hysterical. “Lexie. Pick up.”

She did. “What's wrong Mom?”

“It's your sister.” She heard her mother blow her nose.

“Which one?”

“Gabby.”

She got a chill. “What about Gabby?”

“I just received the strangest call from Richard. He's very upset. He called Gabby from Chicago and her roommates were under the impression she was with him. Gabby told them she'd be staying there for awhile. She packed her clothes and left. They didn't think any more of it, just assumed she flew to O'Hare yesterday. But she never arrived. He's beside himself. Oh my God, Lexie. You don't think something horrible has happened, do you?”

Lexie took a deep breath. “Gabby's run away with Adrian, Mom.”

“Who's Adrian?”

“My weird friend.”

“
No.
”

“Yes.”

“Is she out of her mind?”

“Is he out of his mind?”

There was silence on the end of the phone. “What do you mean?”

“I mean Mother, she'll break his heart.”

Her mother started to cry. “Who cares about his heart? What about mine?”

She didn't say, “What about yours?”

Susan left messages. Lexie didn't call her back. Donalda did too. She ignored them. Finally Susan knocked on her door one night after work. She pushed past her and the frigid air came in with her.