Epilogue
The chime of the front doorbell rang out through the house. Kerrie glanced at her watch. "A little early. Of course she is," she muttered to herself. Only one person would use the front door.
Quickly crossing the living room, she unlocked the door, opening it to reveal Clara Cooper and her pinched face. Her forced smile looked almost painful. "Hello, Kerrie. Thank you for inviting me."
It sounded rehearsed. Like she had to make a game plan prior to arriving on how to be polite.
Kerrie smiled with a curt nod. "Thank you for coming. I'm sure Bette will be thrilled."
That was a stretch, but Kerrie knew even though they didn't get along well, Bette would appreciate Clara being there. Their relationship was still strained, but Clara seemed to finally be coming around to the idea that Bette being happy was actually important. She wasn't happy about it, but she kept more of her judgment to herself.
Clara stepped inside the house, her eyes taking in the modest house with eyes as sharp as a hawk’s. The home still had a lot of her aunt's decorations up, as neither Kerrie nor Kenny were much into decorating. She had let go of some stuff over the years that didn't age well or collected more dust than she cared to clean.
"This is a quaint little house," declared Clara, nodding more to herself than to Kerrie.
"Thank you. We inherited it from our aunt and uncle when they passed away. As you can tell, it still holds some of my aunt's tastes. Can I get you something to drink?"
"Water would be fine. "
Kerrie walked by her, allowing herself to roll her eyes once her back was safely to the older woman. She wondered if the woman had ever let loose in her life. She opened the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle. She didn't normally stock bottles of water, finding the kitchen sink tap worked just fine and didn't make plastic waste, but she had a feeling that Clara would ask for it, so she had gotten a small pack when she bought the items for tonight.
"So, um, do you need any help?" asked Clara, following her into the kitchen.
Surprised at the offer, Kerrie handed the bottle over. "Sure, I need to pat out the hamburger patties. You could cut up the tomatoes and onions if you want."
She motioned at the counter, where she already had the items out along with a knife and cutting board.
A silence fell over them while they worked, the chopping of a knife against wood and the smacking wet sound of Kerrie patting out the meat ringing out into the kitchen. It was awkward having the Cooper matriarch in her home. She was relieved when Remington's vehicle pulled into the driveway.
Clara noticed the car as well, stretching her neck to look out the window near her. She cleared her throat. "Before they get in here, I just want to make sure we're on the same page."
Kerrie raised an eyebrow. "And that is?"
"We're supporting Bette in this ludicrous idea, correct?"
Resisting the urge to snap at Clara, she sucked in a breath and nodded. "Yes, we're being supportive. Nothing negative is to be said to her.”
Clara looked like she wanted to counter her, but then the noise of people coming up the back porch stopped her.
"We're back," chimed Zoe as she walked through the door with Kenny in tow.
Kerrie looked up to see the pair enter the kitchen, with Remington soon following behind. She had just finished patting out the last of the burgers and started washing up the dishes.
Zoe had insisted on taking Kenny with them to an apple orchard in the next county. Apple picking in the mid-October heat gave Kerrie pause at first, but Zoe had promised she would make sure Kenny took breaks and that he didn't get overheated.
Zoe and Kenny were growing closer, like siblings. Kerrie loved seeing them interact and could tell that Zoe was good for Kenny. He felt like he was something when they would ride around together, getting ice cream or running errands. They would even make Remington sit in the back so Kenny could have the prime real estate of the passenger seat. Remington was also warming up to her and Bette. It had taken a moment, but the kid seemed like a good guy despite coming from an uppity family.
"Well, how did the apple picking go?" she asked, washing the last dish in the sink. She rinsed it off and put it in the dish drainer.
Kenny walked over to her and handed her a bag. "We got you and Bette a fried apple pie."
"Oh, that sounds delicious. Thank you!"
"We also got a lot of apples," groaned Remington as he deposited two large bags of apples onto the table. "And I've got more in the car."
Her mouth dropped open at the sight of the enormous bags of apples. It was an assortment of red, green, and yellow. By the time he was done bringing them in, the entire table was full. "Why did you pick so many apples?"
"And fried pies," added Kenny.
Zoe blushed, looking down and then back up, batting her mother's blue eyes at Kerrie. "We didn't know how big a bushel was, so we got two just in case."
"And in case you're wondering how much a bushel weighs, it's about 45 lb per. We didn't think to Google first," quipped Remington with a roll of his eyes.
Kerrie blinked a few times. "So, what you're telling me is you picked almost 100 lb of apples?"
"And fried pies," added Kenny.
The back door opened, and Bette stepped in. She looked at the table and then around the room. "Why are there so many apples?
"And fried pies," chimed Kerrie, Kenny, Zoe, and Remington simultaneously. Clara stayed stoically silent but appeared to be repressing a smile.
They burst out laughing, except for a confused Bette and Clara.
Kerrie answered her. "Your daughter didn't know what a bushel was, so she bought two, and now we have almost 100 lb of apples."
"I wanted to make sure we had plenty," shrugged Zoe.
"Well, you definitely did that," said Clara.
Bette cocked her head. "Mother, I didn't realize you were coming over."
Kerrie quickly changed the topic back to apples. "How about we take some to the guys? We can see if Elaine has anything to dip them in, like honey or peanut butter. "
Bette nodded, dropping her purse on the counter. "I think that sounds like a good idea. Don't worry, honey. We'll figure out something. How long did it take y'all to pick all these?"
Zoe looked sheepishly at Remington. "Well, Kenny and I helped with the first 15 minutes before I took him back to Remington's car to sit in the air conditioning. Then I helped Remington for ten more minutes, but I got tired. So, he finished picking the rest while Kenny and I listened to music and drank apple cider slushies."
"To answer your question, it takes an hour and 10 minutes after everyone ditches you," interjected Remington.
"I'm so sorry we ditched you, baby," Zoe said in a sickly sweet voice. She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, prompting Kenny to walk over and do the same to the other cheek.
Remington smiled sheepishly, his cheeks reddening. "Okay, okay, apology accepted. I know when I'm beaten with you two."
It had been about four months since the kickball game. There were a few rocky moments at the start. Kerrie had a difficult time not slipping into old patterns concerning emotions and saying no. The idea of telling others she didn't have time to do extra things like take men to evening meetings was foreign. She hadn't realized how deep she had gotten. It took a lot of courage and putting her pride to the side, but she admitted she needed help from someone outside of her immediate circle. She reached out to a colleague at the women's section of Turtle Grove, a woman named Jade Williams, and asked if she could help. She and Jade spent a few evenings after work going over Kerrie's control issue and helped her see things with more clarity.
She also started going to AA again. It had been rough when she stood up for the first time in months and said that she had come to realize that she had thought maybe she had kicked the whole addiction thing but that she had realized that she was still an addict. She was just doing it in different ways. She had thrown herself headfirst into caring for everything and everyone around her, because it was a lot easier to focus on other people than looking inward where it hurt the most, where it was more raw. Those first couple of months were difficult, but she was happier and better for it now.
When Mabel noticed Kerrie's progress, she approached her again about allowing Kenny more freedom, and after some thinking, she accepted that she had been selfish, keeping him tied to the house and tied to her. Just because he had had some health issues didn't mean he had to stop living, and sitting in front of the television to watch SpongeBob wasn't living. So for two days a week, Kenny went to the day program. She also had been more lenient about him leaving the house without her, like going with Zoe. She still made sure he was with someone responsible, but his little outings seemed to transform him. New life had been breathed into him. He had more energy, and a brightness had entered his eyes that Kerrie didn't realize had dimmed.
"Hey, Remington, do you want to help me start the grill?"
"Grill? I thought it was meatloaf night," said Bette, as Missy walked through the back door. "Missy? What are you doing here? What's going on?"
Kerrie glanced over to Zoe and nodded.
The young blonde yelled, motioning her arms wildly, which Kenny tried to mimic, "Surprise!"
Clara jumped at the loud response.
Bette frowned, looking over at Kerrie. "Surprise for what?"
Kerrie walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a pink cake with sprinkles on top. Zoe and Kenny had picked it out, and 'congratulations' was written on the top. She held it so that Bette could see it. "We're celebrating tonight."
"We're so proud of you. We wanted to celebrate you going back to school." Zoe crossed the kitchen and threw her arms around her mom's neck.
Bette blushed deeply, looking a little embarrassed but thrilled nonetheless. "I wouldn't really call it school; it's just—"
"No, we're not going to start doing that," said Kerrie. "We're all really proud of you for deciding that you wanted to make a career change. And just because you're not learning quantum physics doesn't mean you're still not attending school."
"Exactly, you're going to be the best damn nail artist there ever was!" cheered Missy.
Kerrie smiled with pride as Bette looked around the room and ducked her head, trying not to let anyone see the tears Kerrie knew were starting to form. "You guys didn't have to do this," she said.
"You deserve it."
Kerrie had been a little surprised when Bette first came to her, bouncing the idea of going back to school to be a nail artist. Kerrie knew absolutely nothing about nails, manicures, pedicures, or whatever they were. But that night, under the cover of darkness in bed, Bette confessed that she had been thinking a lot about it. There was a night school that she could go to so she wouldn't have to quit Turtle Grove, which she couldn't afford to quit. And she really wanted to try a new venture. Kerrie had been supportive, and she insisted on giving Bette the deposit for school. With the deposit, they would allow her to make payments for the schooling. Tomorrow night would be Bette's first night, and Kerrie could tell she was excited but riddled with anxiety.
Tonight, they were going to celebrate her love's new path.
"So, Bette, are you nervous about tomorrow?" asked Missy. They were all sitting around the fire pit roasting s'mores. Clara had stayed a respectable hour before departing from them with the excuse that she couldn't drive well at night and needed to get home before it was too dark.
"Absolutely terrified," laughed Bette, but Kerrie, whose lap she was sitting on, could feel her tense, prompting Kerrie to caress her thigh. "I haven't been to school in decades."
"You'll do great," praised Zoe as she helped Kenny make his s'more. He didn't like holding the stick with the marshmallow on the end over the fire. It made him nervous and feel like the stick would catch fire.
"I really hope so. I think I'll enjoy it if I can just make it to the end of the program. If you had asked me years ago if this was something I'd end up doing, I would have just laughed at you. Like you'd grown three heads, but now it just feels right. I never expected to make a career move at going on 50, but here I am, and I'm really excited about it."
"Can we get a discount on nails?" asked Missy with a serious face and then breaking into a laugh.
"Okay, but you better tip well." They all laughed.
Later that night, when it was just the two of them in bed, Kerrie pulled Bette's body against hers and kissed the back of her neck. Much like she had done the first night they had lain in bed together. "I'm really proud of you, you know that?"
"Even though that means leaving Turtle Grove when I graduate?"
Kerrie chuckled into her hair. "Yeah, even if that means you're abandoning me. I think Wilson will take it harder than I will, though. You've really thawed the old man."
"He just needed some gentle pushing. Much like somebody else I know," quipped Bette.
Kerrie rolled her eyes into the darkness. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, you managed to tame the whole damn building."
"I really did. Tyler should give me a raise," laughed Bette. She rolled over and pressed her face close to Kerrie's. "You know I love you, don't you? Even if I leave Turtle Grove?"
"Of course I do. I don't see you leaving as an end. We're still very much together. We're growing closer all the time. I see it more like growing with each other. Just because we don't work together doesn't mean we aren't facing the world together. I want you to be happy, and if making nails pretty makes you happy, then I'm all on board."
"Even if I use you as my guinea pig?" Kerrie could hear Bette's smile in the darkness. She gently dragged her nails up and down the arm around her, sending chills up her spine.
"Can Kenny take some of that, too?" She whined halfheartedly.
Bette burst out laughing, followed by Kerrie, and they continued until both started wheezing. Kerrie was the first to recover. "I mean it, though. We grow together. We stand together. Just us and our little family."
"I think that sounds perfect. Who knew we'd end up here? Like, who finds love in rehab?"
"We do," laughed Kerrie, and she leaned in to give Bette a long, heated kiss before pulling back. "This is twice now a rehab has made my life better. I love you, Bette."
"I love you, Kerrie."