Mr. Good Enough, page 16
“Stop.” She held up a hand. “Just stop. I’m not mooning, and even if I was, it wouldn’t be any of your stinking business. Also, to quote my father’s favorite book, ‘Judge not lest ye be judged.’ Chew on that next time you want to whine about all the good your father did you, ignoring you while you grew up just to leave you that ‘no-good, worthless piece of shit bar.’”
“At least I stayed here,” he said.
“Maybe you should ask him why he didn’t.” She spun away from him. “Good night, Joe. Have fun with your buddies.”
“Maddie,” he called after her again.
She waved him off without turning around. But even after blaring Jimmy Buffet all the way home to drown out Cupid and her clock, she still had to break into her not-so-secret stash of frozen Twix bars before hitting the paint to erase the pain of the evening.
Chapter Thirteen
Life sometimes throws you curveballs. How do you handle it?
I throw the damn balls back.
Reflection and prayer.
Wine.
Together, my man and I can tackle anything.
MADDIE WOKE up Thursday morning to an e-mail from Gina detailing a date she’d accepted through the Web site for that night on Maddie’s behalf, and a text message from Trent sent late Wednesday night telling her Ruby’s bathroom was ready for painting, and she could please call if she needed him for anything.
Neither message struck her as particularly good news. Nor did Gina’s latest blog post on Maddie’s love life, which indirectly told the entire world she’d been stood up by encouraging women to not settle for losers who couldn’t tell time. But Gina had left Joe’s name out of it, and Simon had dropped a note that Hunter had backed off the mayor thing after realizing city council meetings conflicted with rehearsals for both the fall and spring plays. And she’d gotten a request from a new client to expand a project, so some things were looking up.
She forwarded the project details to Gina since the expansion was more technical than design, changed her password on MisterGoodEnough.com to something so random it would take Gina all day on a password generator to figure out, and started an e-mail cancelling the date.
But then she thought about Tuesday night’s disaster, and she thunked her head onto her desk. She couldn’t put anybody else through that, even with warning. She’d set her expectations low and show up. And hope he did too.
With the servers running fine all week, Maddie decided a morning off would do her more good than hunting up new projects. Thursdays were rarely good for finding work anyway. She called Billy and had him start a couple of gallons of spring leaves paint. Then she shut her home office down for the morning and headed downtown.
Half an hour later, she crossed the street from the hardware store to Ruby’s shop with two gallons of paint and a bag of fresh brushes and rollers. She pushed through the door and called out a greeting to Josie Watkins, Ruby’s normal daytime help, who waved back from the kitchen. Ruby wasn’t in sight, but she’d obviously been in. The menu had changed.
And not for the better.
Maddie dropped the paint. Ruby’s ham and swiss was now The Sawyer Special. Her club was the Trent for Mayor. And she now stocked Swish Saves! milkshakes in strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, and mint flavors, with bonus Slam Dunk for Wendell Springs! add-ins of Oreos, pecans, fruit, or toffee bars.
“Josie?” Maddie croaked. “Where’s Ruby?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Josie amble out of the kitchen, glance up at the menu, and shrug her broad shoulders. “At home.”
Maddie dropped the bag of paint supplies too. She had to stop staring at the carnage, but she couldn’t help herself. It was horrific. Terrifying. She gestured helplessly at the sign. “Why?”
“Said she got some inspiration last night.” Josie made a derisive sound. “She was just finishin’ up when I got in this morning. Good luck talkin’ her out of it, but you got my full support if you wanna try. I’ll be prayin’ for you.”
For any other candidate, like a real one, it would’ve been brilliant. Maddie licked her lips and tried to swallow.
“Run on now and give her what for,” Josie said. “More of us who protest, sooner this’ll be over. Lord only knows what that Sawyer boy’s gonna think.”
Right. Like he was innocent. “You think he doesn’t know?”
“He ain’t seen it yet, that much is for sure.” Josie gave her big shoulders a shrug. “Boy’s got enough on his plate without adding this to it, you ask me. I’ll put all that paint in the bathroom for you. We got it closed off till the job’s done. Go on, git over there and tell her. Gawkin’ ain’t gonna fix it.”
“Thanks.” Maddie backed out the door. It would take way too long to erase the thought of Prodigal Muffins and Fixer-Upper Omelets.
As the surprise wore off, irritation set in. It morphed to anger, and before she knew it, she’d strapped herself into her car and was halfway to Ruby’s house. “Obnoxious man,” she fumed to herself. “Meddling old woman.”
She rounded the corner onto Ruby’s street and slammed on the brakes. The house on the corner had a handmade Save Wendell Springs, Trent for Mayor sign in the front yard, right next to an old What if God Only Gave Good Enough? poster.
Yeah, Hunter was gonna love that. Not that Maddie cared, as long as it didn’t inspire him to launch a campaign.
She eased her foot off the brake, gave the car some gas, and a minute later she charged from her car and up Ruby’s front walk to bang on the door. She was about to bang again when the door swung open.
“Maddie-girl, you are exactly what the universe ordered this morning,” Ruby announced.
She reached for Maddie’s arm, but Maddie skittered out of her reach. “We need to talk.”
“’Bout what?”
“Your menu,” Maddie ground out.
Ruby waved a hand. “Never you mind that. I got something bigger for you.”
“Never mind?” Maddie tried to keep her voice down in case Linda was sleeping, or listening, but it wasn’t easy. “I can’t believe you’re encouraging him! Ruby, this town needs help, not a three-ring circus campaign.”
“Psh,” Ruby chided. “Boy’s doing this town a service, sacrificing himself up to get everyone warmed up to the idea of a new mayor. You get on in here. Got a problem you’re gonna fix.”
The only thing she was fixing was the menu, and she had just the paint to do it. “A service? Is that what he told you?”
Ruby tugged harder on Maddie’s arm. A plaintive yowl erupted somewhere behind her. “He told me he said he’d do it to make the rest of you stop your bickering. Now are you gonna help me or not?”
“I refuse to take part in anything this ridiculous,” Maddie said.
“What I got for you ain’t ridiculous.”
The cat yowled again. “Not ridiculous like your menu? Or not ridiculous to normal people with common sense? And since when do you have a cat?”
“That’s what I been trying to tell you.” Ruby threw up her hands. “Get in here and meet Horatio.”
Maddie reluctantly followed Ruby into the foyer. “Is he the campaign mascot? What’s your grand plan, to throw him at the mayor during the debate?”
“Hush your mouth. He’s a good cat, but the shelter was gonna put him down ’cause nobody wanted him.”
“So you adopted him?” Maddie peered past Ruby into the rest of the house. Linda wasn’t in sight, but she lowered her voice anyway. “I thought you had your hands full before you changed your menu. Now you’re doing that and saving wayward animals?”
Ruby lifted a blanket off a cat carrier beneath her entryway table. A pair of yellow eyes surrounded by fluffy tan fur peered up through the bars across the top.
“That’s the problem,” Ruby said. “A friend of mine liberated him last night, but I can’t keep him. Linda’s allergic.”
“So you want me to help you find a home for a hot cat.” Maddie crossed her arms over her chest. Something smelled fishy, and it wasn’t the cat’s breakfast.
“He’s hardly hot. They were going to put the poor thing to sleep. I think you should keep him.”
“Me?” Maddie squeaked. “I don’t know anything about cats.”
She peered doubtfully at the furry old thing. Horatio yawned and flipped onto his back. He swatted at the carrier wall, then licked his paw.
Ruby brushed off her objection. “Cats are easy. Feed ’em, give ’em something to scratch, love ’em, and they’ll love you right back.”
“That’s not what my dad says.”
“Psh. He reads that Bible too literal sometimes.” Ruby stuck a finger into the cage. Horatio licked it. “I saw this poor thing last night, and you were the first person I thought of. Seems to me the universe is offering you a gift. You want a man to love you, but an animal’s gonna do more for you than any man you’ve ever picked. You soak up some Horatio love and see if your whole outlook don’t change.”
Oh, for pity’s sake. “Is that really the best you can do?”
The cat whimpered out a meow and head-butted the cage door.
“See?” Ruby said. “He likes you. People don’t pick the cat. The cat picks the human.” She cocked her head to one side and listened. “Hurry up now. I need to be getting Linda some tea. Got cat food and a litter box all ready for you.”
“Ruby, I can’t—” Wait. Why couldn’t she? Because her Mr. Good Enough might not like cats? He’d deal. Because her dad didn’t like them? She didn’t live with her parents. Because she was afraid Ruby was spot on in her assessment of Maddie’s ability to pick something to love? She studied the animal again.
He stared back with big, innocent eyes. “Mrrowl?”
“Oh, alright,” she sighed. If it didn’t work, she’d find somebody to take him.
“Keep him inside while I get everything straightened out with the shelter,” Ruby said.
“I thought you said it wasn’t a problem.”
“Doing the right thing is never a problem.”
“That your justification for your new menu too?” Maddie grumbled.
Ruby ignored her. She shuffled into the kitchen and came back laden down with cat litter, a litter box, and a bag of cat food. “Let’s get you loaded up. Hear that, Horatio? You’re gettin’ a new mama.”
He tilted his head and stared up at them like he knew “new mama” was code for “crazy chick who can’t afford to feed you right now.” Great. Now the cat was criticizing her life.
Once they had Horatio and his supplies tucked into Maddie’s Bug, she eyed the older woman. “Ruby, the universe is telling me you need to switch your menu back.”
Ruby smiled serenely. “You just wait. Some good’s gonna come of this.”
“Or you’ll go out of business after Trent makes too many enemies.”
Ruby chuckled. “Oh, no. You’re the only one. Universe has plans for you two, mark my words.”
“If those plans include my hurling at the mention of his name, you don’t have to tell me twice.” But she didn’t like the gleam in Ruby’s eyes. The secrets hidden in their depths. She knew something she wasn’t telling.
It made Maddie’s skin crawl and an old sense of excitement flare to life at the same time. He did kiss nice. She retreated into her car before Ruby decided to make any other predictions about her life. “You better be as good as she says you are,” she grumbled to the cat.
The hair on the back of her neck stood up. She shifted around to glance at him. He lay there peacefully, one eye half-closed, but she could’ve sworn he chuckled. “Nice kitty,” she said uneasily.
He yawned and closed the other eye all the way.
She turned back around, then started the car up. Ruby had played her good.
Unfortunately, she had a sneaking suspicion it wouldn’t be the last time.
Maddie smiled anyway. She might not be as wily as the old sandwich lady, but she’d take her shots where she could.
She still had a bathroom to decorate.
LINDA STARED at the butterflies on the rough texture of the wall, soaking in the noises of the house. The hum of the refrigerator. The uneven thumping of the ceiling fan. The visitors.
They whispered, but she heard them. She’d even started to listen.
The doctor thought she was doing well. Linda sniffed to herself. Showed what she knew. Linda stayed only because she didn’t feel like leaving. Not because she was doing well.
The neighbors were nosy. They came by to offer to help. More like they wanted to see firsthand how bad off she was. She knew how this town worked. She’d always known.
But Ruby kept on being Ruby. Kept on acting as though nothing were wrong. Kept on pushing Linda to eat, to drink, to take her medicine, to get out of bed. To live. And all the while she kept butting into everybody else’s business.
She was in the kitchen now, clanking a spoon here, setting down a plate or something there, softly humming to herself. Time for tea, she’d told the doctor’s daughter. More like she got tired of the girl’s attitude and used Linda as an excuse to make her go away with that awful animal she’d called the pound for yesterday afternoon.
The floor creaked out in the hallway. A shadow passed across the wall and stopped. “Aren’t you getting old to be playing God with the people here?” Linda said.
“Giving ’em choices ain’t playing God.”
Ruby’s skirt swished. Linda didn’t look. She didn’t want to. She knew what she’d see. Ruby set on making her better. On feeding her more crap toast and lukewarm herbal tea that tasted like dirt. Watching her, seeing through her, but not once giving a hint that she remembered how they’d been. Pretending it never happened.
If Linda cared enough to get angry, she would’ve.
“Sit on up,” Ruby said. “If you don’t eat, the doc’ll send you to the hospital.”
Linda knew what Ruby was doing, but she couldn’t quite keep the shiver in. “You wouldn’t let her.”
“Not me, hon. Trent wouldn’t let her. Eat.”
A plate slid onto her lap, and Ruby tucked a fork into her hands. Utensils. This was new. “You’re wasting your time.”
The bed sagged. Linda squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t want to see Ruby. Didn’t want to touch her. Didn’t want to feel.
“You’ve never been a waste of my time,” Ruby said.
Linda shivered again. This wasn’t supposed to happen. She wasn’t supposed to be here. “I meant him. He’s gonna disappoint you. Fail you. Fail your family. It’s what he does.”
The bed creaked, and Ruby’s presence drifted away. “Then why’s he still here?”
To hurt me.
Ruby wouldn’t believe it. She’d never believed it. Always said there was more to a story than what people on the outside saw. Look at Andi, that’s what she always said.
“Go on and eat now,” Ruby said.
Linda didn’t want to eat. She wanted to fling the plate across the room. She wanted a cigarette. She wanted her baby back.
But Ruby could never understand, and Linda couldn’t leave until she was strong enough to walk out the door on her own, so she gripped the fork in her trembling fingers and looked down at her plate.
A giant cupcake topped with purple frosting and a My Little Pony sat in place of the toast.
Linda’s gaze darted to the door, but Ruby was gone. No more sounds came from any part of the house. It may as well have been empty.
In her mind, she saw Andi. Saw her eyes sparkling, heard her shrieking with laughter, sticking her finger in the frosting, licking it off, sticking her tongue out. “Is it purple?” she’d ask.
Linda’s hand shook. The fork clattered to the plate. She glanced at the vacant door again. Cautiously, she poked at the cold frosting, then took a swipe with uncertain fingers. The frosting glittered on her fingertip. She stuck her finger in her mouth and licked it clean, startled at how sickeningly sweet it was.
She sat up straighter, twisted until she faced the mirror over the dresser. She watched her reflection as she stuck her tongue out.
Her cheeks were wet, but it didn’t matter. She could still hear her baby girl. “It’s purple, baby,” she whispered.
She leaned back into the bed and reclaimed the fork. Forty minutes later, when Ruby came to check on her, the little pony was tucked under her pillow and her plate was clean.
For the first time in a long time, she felt like a small corner of her soul was too.
TRENT SPENT Thursday hauling the last of the junk out of his parents’ old house until he got word the supplies for the church roof had arrived. It was late in the afternoon when he strolled into the hardware store. “Hey, Billy,” he greeted the old bald guy behind the counter. “Heard my shingles are in.”
“Sure are.” Billy grinned, proudly displaying the gap where his right incisor used to be. The guy hadn’t been happy to see Trent back in town not so long ago, but a few big orders had changed that quick. “Me and Mayor Cooper here, we’s just talking ’bout you.”
“All good, I hope.” Trent leaned on the counter and nodded to the other man. “Mayor, good to see you.”
“Even better seeing you, my boy.” The mayor’s back stooped and his hair was a shade beyond white. His cheeks split into a maze of wrinkles as he beamed, his dark eyes sharp as ever. “I just heard the news. Couldn’t be happier, son, couldn’t be happier.”
Trent smiled back. “Which news is that?” Probably a new grandbaby on the way or something. The fun thing about this town, he was discovering, was that you never knew what would make them happy.
The mayor laughed. Billy guffawed and slapped the other man on the back. “What news is that,” Billy hooted. “Yeah, Mayor, he’s gonna be a good one.”
An uneasy sensation crept up Trent’s spine. He smiled as if he was in on the joke. As the other two men’s laughter faded to the occasional chuckle, the mayor shook his head. “Can’t tell you how much I appreciate this. The missus has been after me for years to take her on one of them fancy cruises to some tropical island. With you takin’ over for me, looks like I might have the time this year.”
