Chapter 38 Lorna Is Forty-Three
It is bean’s ninth birthday, and he and lorna have made a German chocolate cake. Bean has his baking badge now, the result of the chocolate cake he finally decided on.
There is to be a party at Seth’s condo, which, how convenient, is just next door.
When she bought her condo, she was a little nervous about the only unit left being next to his—familiarity breeds contempt and all.
But Seth thought it was fantastic. “Are you kidding? We’ve been neighbors all this time.
It’s perfect.” He’s even put a gate in the fence between their small backyards so Aggie can come and go as she pleases.
Lorna is in a much better place. She’s been to see Kristen twice since the first time.
She has won the position of senior vice president at long last and received a substantial raise and signing bonus, which she donated to Kristen’s care.
When Deb told her the good news, Lorna shrugged a little. “It was a team effort,” she said.
She has a much better working relationship with her staff, although she can still be a bit hard on them.
But ever since she returned to work and adjusted the sales quotas and apologized to everyone, things have steadily improved.
They are selling more than they ever did when she was mad at them all the time.
When she bought her condo, she had a housewarming party and invited them all, much to their collective surprise.
But they all came—Suzanne, looking gorgeous.
Lance and his wife. Sheldon and his boyfriend, who opened her drawers to look inside as if it were a perfectly natural thing to do.
Lorna even invited Beverly Rich from HR, who, after seeing the boxes of Precious Moments figurines in the garage, offered to sell them on eBay for a cut.
The arrangement worked out well for them both.
The only one Lorna kept was of the lady, the boy, and the dog.
The one Bean had handed her the first time she went in to see Kristen.
The most surprising thing of all is that, even though she now wears her hair naturally curly and wild, as Montreal called it, Lorna has not heard anyone call her King Kong behind her back. Suzanne has even complimented the dresses Lorna has been wearing to work.
Callie and her family have come for Bean’s birthday party. Lorna and Callie are slowly making their way back to friendship. “Isn’t it awesome,” Callie said once, “that the friends you make as children can be the friends you want as adults?”
“Yes!” Lorna replied, beaming. “Does that mean you want me?”
“Sort of, but not if you make it weird,” Callie warned her.
“I can’t make any promises!” Lorna cried, still beaming.
Four of Bean’s fellow Ranger Explorers have come for the party, and they can hardly wait to cram with Callie’s kids into the bouncy castle that barely fits in Seth’s backyard. “We should really take down the fence between us,” Seth muses as he watches them set it up.
“We should,” Lorna says. “It would make things easier.”
Seth looks at her and winks. “Make what things easier?”
Lorna smiles back. “You know.”
“I do. I just wondered if you did. You know, we could eventually knock out the wall between our dining rooms too.”
Lorna smiles. There is something true between her and Seth, but it’s a slow burn.
There was a bit of a trust issue after they came back from Florida because she had not been forthcoming about the house.
And she suspects he is still getting over the death of Jill.
Those traumas don’t clear out as quickly as one would like.
She should know—she’s still cleaning out her brain.
But there have been a few dates, lots of hand-holding, and in the garage last week, he kissed her.
Not just a peck, either, but a full-blown, he’s so hot kiss.
They are working their way up from friends to more than friends, and then they will be taking down fences and knocking down walls, and Lorna could not be happier.
Martin has come to the party. When he moved out, Lorna saw the enormous speakers that explained the noise she always heard coming from his apartment.
Not a marching band after all, but the thump of heavy bass.
He moved to San Antonio into another property Mr. Contreras owns and says it is in the same state of repair as the old place.
“It’s good to see everyone—even you, Lolo,” he says with a grin, giving her a playful chuck on the shoulder.
They started calling her Lolo after the Florida trip.
It made them all laugh then, and still does, apparently.
Liz also bought a condo in this complex, a smaller unit on the other side of the property.
But she comes to drink wine on Lorna’s back deck from time to time, and Seth relies on her to babysit Bean when he and Lorna go out to dinner.
She joins Lorna and Seth and Bean at least once a month when they volunteer at the soup kitchen.
Peggy comes too. Lorna invited Candy to the party, but Candy told her she was crazy and she still hadn’t forgiven her.
Besides, she was busy that day, but maybe next time.
Liz’s frequent visits have reminded Lorna of her mother and Peggy, and then before she knew what was happening, Liz and Peggy became friends too.
Peggy has come to the party with vanilla cupcakes decorated with little explorer hats she made from felt.
“What are they?” Bean whispers, his brow furrowed as he examines them.
“Explorer hats, I think?” Lorna whispers back.
“ Awesome ,” Bean says. “She could get a badge for that.”
When it comes time to cut the cake, Lorna lights the candles and Bean almost takes too long thinking of the perfect wish before he blows them out. One of the boys asks what he wished for.
“I can’t tell you,” Bean says.
“Or he’d have to kill you,” Lorna adds. There is a pause... Everyone looks at her. And then everyone laughs.
That’s the other new thing about her life. Sometimes people laugh at her jokes.
As Seth hands around cake, Lorna asks Bean if he’s finally decided what his favorite dessert is. “Yep,” Bean says nonchalantly. “I decided a long time ago.”
“What? You never told me!” Lorna says.
“It’s birthday cake,” he says. “It doesn’t matter what kind, as long as it’s birthday cake.”
“Cake wins? Because I remember you really liked that gelato.”
“I know, but my favorite is still birthday cake, because every time you eat it, your whole family is there.”
Lorna wraps him in a hug. “You are really something, kid.”
“I know,” he says, and hands her his empty plate before dashing outside.
She is still holding the plate when Seth appears to take it from her. She smiles at him. “This is a great day.”
“It’s pretty great,” he agrees, and their eyes lock in that way that makes her certain Seth will be around for a long time to come.
Her life may not have turned out like she thought, and it took her a while to get here, but she has no regrets after all.
Regrets and fears have been banished. She’s made her amends to herself and her loved ones, and now she only looks forward.
There is no point in dwelling in the past. As Micah once said, it’s in the past for a reason.
She is filled with immense gratitude at having found her family.
Her chosen family. The people she wants to be near all the time.
She is amazed at how happy she is, how free of guilt and anger she’s become.
She’s amazed that all these people seem to actually like being with her, and no one has left the party yet.
She’s found the best way to live, and she wakes up with hope every single morning. Hope for a good life. Hope for laughter and friendship and love.
She often thinks of her mother, who insisted Lorna look forward, not backward. She watches the kids running around in the yard, Aggie chasing after them. She sighs and looks heavenward. “You were right, Mom,” she says softly. “But you knew that.”