Chapter 45
FORTY-FIVE
“Sweating is for construction workers and lovers.”
—excerpt from the unpublished memoir,
Darling, I Must Say by Gloria Hayes
That afternoon, I checked my phone every fifteen minutes in case Abe tried to contact me but all I found was a junk email for Sexxy Senior Match-Up, a text from Aidan to say he and Missy were back from their honeymoon, and a text message from Missy who wanted to “talk soon” so she could tell me all about said honeymoon.
Look, I was perfectly fine with her and Aidan, but I did not want to hear about those details. Nope. No way.
I headed over to Shady Cove to see Gloria, feeling lighter than I had in weeks, months, maybe my whole life. Mom was on my side; maybe Mae would be, too.
Gloria was sitting outside in the garden with Mary and Elizabeth, the three of them huddled around a small wrought iron table. I pulled up a chair and sat. Mary dabbed her eyes with a tissue and Elizabeth looked ready to punch something. Gloria, on the other hand, appeared her usual diva self.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Nothing, darling,” Gloria said, adjusting the neon-green sweatband on her forehead. It matched the neon-green tracksuit that looked like it had stepped right out the 1980s.
“Did you just get out of your Jazzercise class?”
“You know I did buy this with the intentions of working out,” she said thoughtfully. “Then I realized working out meant I might sweat and that was a dealbreaker. Sweating is for construction workers and lovers. Ooo, write that down, Iris. That’s a good one.”
Dutifully, I got my phone out and started typing.
“This is ridiculous,” Elizabeth said in a gruff, angry voice. “I think you should tell—”
Gloria cut her off. “There is nothing to tell.” She shot Elizabeth a long, scathing look that made the other woman back down. Not an easy feat. Elizabeth was scary in her own right.
“Okay,” I said slowly. Something was most definitely going on, but I’d wait until later. Maybe Gloria would tell me when we were alone.
“If you’ll excuse me, ladies.” Gloria stood, managing to look like royalty while dressed like a traffic cone. “Come walk me to my room. There’s something I want to give you.”
Gloria’s room was in disarray when we got there. All the boxes had been pulled out of their hiding places, the closet, the cabinet, from under the bed.
“What’s going on in here?”
“Just a little spring cleaning,” Gloria sank into her throne and pulled a small basket toward her. “Maggie’s helping me.”
I sat on the edge of the bed and looked in some of the boxes. Something red and sequined peeked out of the tissue paper. I carefully unfolded it and found a cap. The inside was cream-colored satin which was fading into yellow with age. “What is this?”
“That’s about all I have left from when I was a Rockette. We all had matching ones.”
“It’s a little piece of history, isn’t it?”
Gloria’s smile was small as she took the cap and placed it carefully on her head. “I suppose so. Those days were fun.”
“I wish I could have seen you perform. I bet you were amazing.”
“Of course I was.” She set the hat gently into the box. “I have a favor to ask of you.” She handed me a sheet of paper with a name and a date.
“Warren Marshall,” I read. “Who’s that?”
“This is the boy I told you about, the one who lived next door to me? That’s his name and his birthday.
I was hoping you might be able to track him down.
I realize it’s very likely he’s no longer alive, but I’d like to find out what happened to him.
I’d like to tell him I’m sorry. I was very careless with his heart.
I see that now. I want to… make amends.”
I looked around the room again. I was missing something. “Does this have something to do with all the spring cleaning?”
“No, no. I may not look a day over thirty-five, but I am eighty-seven. It’s now or never. Will you look for him?”
My eyes slid from her to the paper and back. “Yeah. I’ll see what I can find out.”
“Wonderful.” She yawned. “Would you hand me that blanket on the bed?”
I grabbed it and helped spread it over her legs. “Gloria, you’d tell me if something was wrong, wouldn’t you?”
“Of course I would if I thought it would make a difference.” Her eyes were soft, almost tender.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Good. Okay.”
“We really need to find you friends your own age.” She patted me on the cheek. “You know, you and Abe would make beautiful children. And we know he’s good for bail money, too.” She waved a hand weakly. “Go on. I need to take a nap, and you need to get a life.”
“I love you, too.”
“I know, darling. I know.”
I stayed there longer, waiting for her to fall asleep.
Not in a creepy way, but in a concerned way.
In a way a friend who was worried about another friend would.
I didn’t like the feeling I had in the pit of my stomach, the one that said something was very wrong and there was nothing I could do about it.
When the deep, even breaths came, I stood and adjusted her blanket.
“I really do love you,” I whispered.
As I opened the door to leave, Bruce the Death Cat darted in. He stared at me with those yellow-green eyes as he hopped onto Gloria’s lap.