26. Chapter 26
Chapter twenty-six
Brandy
The shower was hot, the water pressure was excellent, and I had approximately eleven minutes of completely uninterrupted time to lose my mind.
The moment the water hit me, my mind went.
I had sex. Good sex. With a fireman.
I stood smiling under the water and replayed the evening over in my head.
So, what does this make us now? Are we dating? Friends with benefits? Was this just a one-time thing?
“He asked me to dinner,” I told myself.
Dating?
I stood very still under the water for a moment, considering that word.
Dating. Are we dating?
At fifty, after nineteen years of meh, I never thought about dating. Seriously never gave it a second thought. I figured batteries would be my new dating partner.
“Dating?”
Would that make Nick my boyfriend? Boyfriend? At my age that just sounds wrong.
“Sounds illegal."
Man friend?
“That sounds worse.”
I turned my face up into the spray and let the water run over it for a long moment.
Friends with benefits?
Maybe? I mean, of all the choices, I guess that one seems to work the best. Good grief, I can’t imagine the gossip mongers when they hear friends with benefits.
Here is what I knew. Nick Carson was complicated and guarded and had a proven track record of putting both feet in his mouth simultaneously. He also cared about people and he seemed like a genuinely good guy.
And last night—
Well.
I shampooed my hair.
Do I want to date someone? My last relationship didn’t exactly end the best.
I rinsed off the shampoo and put conditioner in, noticing my razor resting in its place.
“We’re going to dinner, I probably better use you.”
When I was finished, I stepped out, catching my reflection in the steamed-up mirror.
Look at me, I thought, getting a sexy firefighter at my age.
I pointed at my reflection.
“You go, girl!”
Two hours later, I had a meeting with the community center director.
I arrived with a box of Ruthie's cookies and a stack of new flyers.
The community center on a Thursday morning was like it was every other morning.
Seniors coming and going from the various morning programs. A group of toddlers walking in a line to story time.
The sound of a pickup basketball game going on in the gym.
And as if they would be somewhere else, Helen, Edith, and Fern were at their posts behind the front desk. Standing there scrutinizing everything and everyone that entered and exited the community center.
Helen had on a bright yellow shirt with a white cardigan. Edith was in head-to-toe turquoise. Fern was wearing a lavender blouse with what appeared to be embroidered butterflies on it. All three of them looked up when I walked in. The look lasted approximately three seconds longer than normal.
Helen's eyes narrowed.
Edith's head tilted.
Fern sat up two inches.
Damn, we’re going to have a sex-against-the-fire-truck conversation. I needed to find Stephanie Kowalski immediately.
"Good morning, ladies," I said cheerfully, placing the cookie box on the desk. "I have a meeting with Stephanie. Is she here yet?" I asked. “Here, I brought treats.”
"She has someone with her," Helen said. "You can wait."
I don’t wanna.
"Thank you, dear," Fern said, already opening the box of cookies. Then she stopped. "Something's different about you," she said.
Oh, for the love of all things.
"I know, I know," Fern said, putting her hand in the air while setting down her cookie with the other one. She looked at me "You've had sex!"
The word landed in the community center lobby at approximately the volume of a blaring foghorn.
An older man in a tracksuit walking past us actually stopped and looked at us.
“Move on, Herold,” Fern shooed him.
"FERN." Helen and Edith said it together.
"What?" Fern looked at her sisters then back at me. "Look at her."
"I —" I put both hands up. "No. Absolutely not. I'm using a new conditioner. That's all. A very good conditioner."
Helen squinted and leaned forward. “You know Fern, you might be right. It looks like sex.”
IT? “I swear, it’s a new hair conditioner.” I fluffed my hair to help make my point.
"Is that so," she said.
"It is," I said. ‘Yes.”
"What's it called?" Edith asked.
Shit. I opened my mouth. “And now that you asked I can’t remember.”
Another look between the sisters.
Fern patted my hand. "Dear," she said kindly, "if your conditioner is giving you that glow, buy me a bottle."
"Buy me two," Edith said.
"Three," Helen added. "And the name of a single man under the age of seventy five."
I took a cookie from the box and sat in the stool across from the desk and waited.
“I still say it’s sex,” Fern announced. “We heard about the firetruck.”
Mercifully, Stephanie Kowalski's office door and a man in a hard hat came out followed by Stephanie herself.
Stephanie Kowalski was exactly what Hank and Carrie had described.
Dark hair cut in a sharp practical bob, reading glasses pushed up on her head, a label maker clipped to her belt like a sidearm and the particular energy of a woman who had seventeen things happening simultaneously and had organized all of them.
She saw me and immediately extended her hand.
"You must be Brandy Wilson," she said. "I’m so glad to meet you, come in."
"It was lovely chatting ladies," I said to the desk crew.
“Was it?” Stephanie eyed me then the ladies. “Were you nice?”
“Of course we were,” Helen reported.
“Yeah, we asked about the sex.” Fern said, smiling as she took a large bite of her cookie.
I closed Stephanie's office door behind me.
“I’m sorry about them. They mean well, just a little bit of arterial flow problems above the shoulders.” Stephanie laughed.
“It’s nice you hired them.”
“Oh dear, I didn’t hire them. They just show up.” Stephanie took her seat behind the desk. “I’ll give them this, they are more dependable than a golden retriever. I even gave them a key so they could open up if I had an appointment.”
“That’s hilarious.”
“Well, they have to be where the action is, otherwise what would they talk about at the senior center.”
"I'm sorry it’s taken me a bit to get here, I’ve been meaning to introduce myself," I said, taking the chair across from her. "I wanted to talk about Christmas in July and see if I could help in any way."
Stephanie's face opened into a genuine smile.
"Oh thank you. I was excited when Mayor Stephens said he was hiring you.
" She set the label maker down. “I’m probably one of the only people in town that understood what your job was.” She laughed her charming laugh.
“I could use help, please tell me you do graphics. "
"Not super complicated graphics, no but I do flyers, social media graphics, promotional materials, you name it." I handed her one of my Summerween flyers.. "I designed this."
Stephanie picked it up and studied it.
"This is excellent," she said. "Wow you can read this." She looked up. "I made our last flyer in Word. It had seven fonts and I had no idea how to fix it. I ended up sending it to my sister to see if she could help. She’s a retired teacher.”
"Good for her," I said. “Teachers are amazing.”
We spent the next forty minutes talking about Denture, possible events I might do and how the community center could be used. I really liked Stephanie. She was someone who could laugh at herself and that was always enduring.
"Can I ask you something?" I said as we were wrapping up.
"Of course."
“Does Hank really play Santa?”
Stephanie chuckled, “Met Hank have you?” She smiled, “he’s a lot, but he has a heart of gold. Yes, he loves playing Santa and he’s really good at it. The kids love him.” She blinked and momentarily looked at her desk. “It means something to Hank to be Santa.”
“He told me about his wife.” I shared.
“I have no doubt he asked you out. He’s a bit of a player. But if you ask me it’s just because he’s lonely.”
“Can I ask you something?” Stephanie asked.
“Please do.”
“How did you get Nick to go along with Summerween?”
I rolled my eyes. “I haven’t, not completely.”
“Sounds like Nick.”
“But I will. He’ll come around.” I stood and pushed my chair in. “Now, let’s see if I can escape the sister's interrogation.”
"Welcome to Denture," she said. "If it makes you feel better, they said the same thing to me when I came back from my honeymoon." She shook her head. "Like I said, I’m going with arterial flow problems.” She stood, “I’ll walk you out, they know better than challenge me.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I’ll take back their key.”
We were laughing as we walked by the Harris sisters who were still on guard duty.
We were almost to the door when Scott emerged from the fire station door.
“Hey, Scott.” I said as Stephanie greeted him as well.
Scott stopped in his tracks and looked like he’d been caught either with his hand in the cookie jar or watching porn. One of the two.
“Ah,” he looked around. “Brandy,” he nodded. “Hi Steph.” He raised his hand in a half wave then stepped to he side and went back in the door he’d just come out of.
Stephanie and I looked at each other then broke out laughing.
“I have a son about his age,” Stephanie said. “They're so weird.”
I thanked her for everything and told her I’d have a working copy of the Christmas in July event for her next week.
I spent the rest of the afternoon in my office doing exactly what needed doing. Emailing vendors about Summerween logistics. Confirming the bounce house delivery. Responding to three more businesses who wanted to participate in the trunk or treat.
The promotional social media page I'd started for Summerween already had a thousand followers. Rich Stevens had commented on every single post with some variation of smiling face emoji and the words community pride.
I checked my email and was thrilled to see another business had returned their trunk-n-treat confirmation.
That made fourteen so far. I sat back in my chair at four o'clock and looked at what I'd built.
This was turning out to be a great event.
I made a note in my notebook to talk to Ruthie about ordering thank you cookies for the business that participated.
I looked at the nearest arrangement. The star gazer lilies, still perfect, filling the room with the smell of summer. I smiled at the lilies for a moment.
Tonight I had dinner and maybe something after dinner.
There was a smile on my face while I shut my laptop, picked up my bag, and went home to figure out what to wear.