Up to Snow Good - Kelly Collins Page 0,6
I would.”
They exchanged a few more awkward pleasantries before he saw her out of the office and to the street.
She walked down the sidewalk, and a familiar face grabbed her attention. The elderly matron Lucille walked toward her.
“Good afternoon Mrs. Dubois,” Lauren said. “Are you taking a walk?”
“I’m having lunch at Lily’s Cafe. What about you?”
“Just running a few errands.”
Lucille nodded, her graying hair styled in an updo more suited to Victorian times, but she wore a pantsuit worthy of Jackie O. “I saw you at your father’s funeral. How are you faring?”
Lauren was loath to lie, but she couldn’t go on burdening her neighbors with her mourning and misery. She had to get on with her life, though at that moment, she didn’t know how or why she could or should do such a thing.
“I’m doing okay.” The small squeak to her voice was the best she could muster.
“I hope so.” She glanced around, then leaned closer. “I noticed you chatting with Sally the other day, she had her kind side on display for everyone to see.”
“Kindness is abundant at the moment.”
“I’m glad, but you really must be careful now.”
Lauren nodded, already knowing what the well-intentioned older woman was getting at. “She was being nice.”
“She was nice today, but they’re all nice when they want something, and people will be extra nice when they’re getting ready to betray you. I know you’re a good person, we all know that, but others will use it against you. Be careful.”
“Well, it’s sweet of you to concern yourself, but I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do to me.” She was already drowning in debt and despair. How much worse could it get?
“That’s just what we should worry about. You’re young and naive, and that’s how they will get you.”
Lauren walked away, wondering who they were?
Chapter Five
Max
Max tried to ignore the smell of his grandmother’s perfume, which was always too strong for his taste. It had been a regular part of her wardrobe, and the doctor recommended having her wear it. Maybe it could give her fading brain the message she was still alive and living her normal life. Jog a memory that might bring her back.
He understood how it worked. There were triggers he regularly experienced that brought him back to more pleasant times. Songs played, and he remembered how Lauren felt dancing in his arms. The smell of a lavender candle brought him back to their first kiss.
Looking at his grandmother in that wheelchair, staring off into the distance, he couldn’t imagine she was thinking anything at all. Still, the doctors said she could hear voices, and be encouraged and loved, even if she couldn’t show any evidence of those things herself.
They sat on the porch in the back of their family home, an expansive yard stretching out before them, and watched a bald eagle circle overhead.
There were none of the iconic decorations of the season, no colorfully trimmed tree in the living room. His father had no time nor interest in such foolishness. They made one nod to the season, and that was classic Christmas tunes playing softly on the sound system, leaking out of hidden speakers on the exterior of the house. Mario Lanza and Mahalia Jackson gave the music a stately sophistication, an easy elegance that reflected the Hunter family’s image and privileged lifestyle.
The Bible rested on Max’s lap, opened to the Book of Matthew. He could only assume it brought her some comfort, some sense of peace. His options were to read, or talk about his father, and he couldn’t do the latter with his grandmother’s nurse in close proximity.
“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
Jane Carlisle, his grandmother’s nurse, smiled a sweet expression of her admiration for the words, or his grandmother, he didn’t know. With one brow raised, there was a subtext to her slight smirk that was not lost on him.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
“Such beautiful words,” Jane said, “and how you read them makes them so moving.”
Max smiled and shrugged, but he said nothing.
Jane went on, “She’s lucky to have such a dutiful grandson, and one so handsome.”
She finally excused herself to the bathroom, and Max leaned closer to his grandmother.
“What are we going to do about her, Grandma? You know she’s carrying on with my father. That’s fine, he’s allowed to find love, but he’s making bad choices. He’ll listen to you, though, you know that. You’re the only person