Chapter Fifteen Glory
“Hey Glory, I know you’re about to teach a class, but I really have to pee. Could you cover the front for me for a minute?”
I put down the paintbrushes I was cleaning and looked over at Yvonne, my friend and manager. Her face looked pained and she was hopping from foot to foot.
“I don’t know,” I said lazily. “I think maybe I’ll just let you suffer.”
“Girl, you’re cruel!” Yvonne exclaimed. “Come on! I’ll be really quick! I won’t even wash my hands!”
I raised my eyebrows. “That is against the cafe’s policy. And it’s gross.”
“Glory, you’re killing me! My bladder is about to implode! And then I’ll die, and it’ll be on your hands.”
“Not if I wash them.”
“Glory!”
“Go already!” I laughed. “You know I’m just messing with you.”
Yvonne took off toward the restroom, doing an awkward gallop as she tried to keep her legs together. “You’re the worst!” She yelled.
“Love you too!” I called back. I walked over to the front counter just as a customer came in.
“Welcome to Monet Cafe. What can I get for you?”
The man studied the menu for a second. “Could I get a Picasso Paradise?”
I nodded and went on autopilot, making a smoothie I’d made hundreds of times. I poured it into a cup and set it on the counter. “Anything else?”
The man smiled. “Yes, actually. I’d love your number.”
Without missing a beat, I faked a smile and said, “I don’t think my boyfriend would appreciate me giving out my number to other men.”
The customer inclined his head. “Well, let me know if your situation changes.” He paid for his smoothie and then slid a card with his number on it across the counter. I waited for him to walk out the door before I flicked his card in the trash.
“When am I going to meet this imaginary boyfriend of yours?”
I turned around to see Yvonne walk out of the kitchen. “How long were you watching?”
“Long enough to see you pass on a very attractive man.”
“Was he attractive? I didn’t notice.”
“That’s because your lady parts are all shriveled up.”
I gasped in mock horror. “Don’t you dare insult my biology!”
“It’s true, Glory! If I had half as many guys hitting on me I’d be enjoying a constant buffet of love and action,” Yvonne said, folding her arms across her chest. “You don’t even give any of these guys a chance!”
“I don’t think that work is an appropriate place to pick up men.”
“Well, where else are you going to find them? At the museum? You’re an attractive young woman, Glory. You should be living it up, not drooling over new space exhibits.”
I sniffed. “I happen to think rockets and asteroids are sexy.”
Yvonne rolled her eyes. “At least you didn’t tell that guy you were a lesbian or that you were terminally ill.”
“Yeah, I guess I need to make up some better excuses.”
“Or you need to let yourself live a little. If you don’t start taking some chances you’re going to stagnate.”
“Okay, thanks for the life advice,” I retorted, turning away.
I would never admit it to her, but her words stung.
Here I was, making the same lame excuses, working at the same place, still living with my roommate from college.
I should have been dating someone. But no one I met excited me.
None of the men I met could quite convince me that they wouldn’t turn out to be a disappointment or a mistake.
I sighed. Yes, I was in a rut. But I tried not to think about it. I wiped down the counter and headed back to the art studio. I had a class to teach.
*****
“Hello? Mom? I brought you a sandwich!” I called, stepping into my mom’s apartment and shaking the sandwich bag as if I were trying to coax out a reluctant cat. I set the bag on the kitchen table just as my mother emerged from her room, looking disheveled and groggy.
“Oh no, did I wake you up?” I asked.
“Yeah, but it’s okay,” she replied, waving her hand. “I needed to get up. It’s just that this new shift they have me on at the hospital is brutal.” She collapsed in a chair at the kitchen table and looked up at me, smiling weakly.
I sat down next to her. “Mom, you need all the rest you can get. I’m sorry I woke you up.”
She shook her head. “When I get to the end of my life, I’m not going to look back and wish I had gotten a little more sleep. I’m going to be glad I savored every moment I got to spend with my beautiful, successful daughter.”
I snorted, a little uncomfortable with her sentimentality. “Successful? I’ve been working at the same dumb place for almost ten years.”
“Well, you must like it,” she replied. “And it’s clear that you have a talent for teaching, and for making delicious sandwiches,” she added, peeking into the bag and eagerly pulling out the sandwich I had brought.
“I just follow the recipes, mom.”
She took a bite, closed her eyes, and smiled contentedly. “Nope. The sandwiches always taste better when you make them,” she asserted. “I should know. I eat at Monet Cafe a lot.”
I shrugged. “Well, I added extra cheese and some Thai chili mayo.”
My mom pointed her finger at me. “See, you’re a genius.”
I rolled my eyes while she took another bite.
“By the way, your father is getting a divorce.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Really? From Sandra? Serves him right.”
My mom frowned. “Why would you say that?”
“Well, he was such a jerk to leave you and run off with her. So now he’s getting what he deserves.”
She put down her sandwich and leaned forward. “Glory, your dad made some poor decisions toward the end of our marriage, but I certainly wasn’t giving him many reasons to stay.”
I pursed my lips but didn’t say anything, so she continued.
“We had been having issues for a while, and we both kind of gave up. By the time he started seeing Sandra, I really didn’t care. After that, divorce was the obvious route to take. I have regrets, but I’m not bitter about what happened to us.”
I threw up my hands in exasperation. “But how could that happen?” I demanded, sounding more accusatory than I should. “How could you two love each other so much when you got married and then just stop caring a few years later?”
“Because relationships take work. Getting married isn’t a guarantee that you’re going to keep having those fluttery feelings for the rest of your life. We loved each other, Glory, but we didn’t put in the work. We didn’t keep trying. We let other things become more important than our relationship.”
I exhaled. “I guess I never looked at it from that perspective,” I admitted. “I always thought everything was dad’s fault.”
“We were both to blame, and I’m sorry that it hurt you and that it’s still hurting you.”
I shrugged. “Me? I’m fine.”
My mom raised an eyebrow. “You don’t have to put on that armor for me, Glory. I know you too well.”
I stood up. My mom was really good at making me feel uncomfortable. “Well, I should probably get going.”
My mom snapped her fingers. “I almost forgot! I was cleaning some things out of my storage unit and I found something that belongs to you.”
She disappeared into her room and came out a moment later with an old shoebox. I stiffened at the sight of it. I knew exactly what was inside.
“Oh, you can throw that away,” I said, trying to speak through the lump in my throat. “I don’t need those.”
“You don’t want these letters?” My mom said incredulously, opening the box and rifling through its contents. “You used to read these over and over. I thought it was so cute.”
“Nope,” I said quickly. “You can just throw them away.”
She eyed me suspiciously. “Okay then,” she said, walking toward her trash can,” if you really don’t want them...”
I took a few steps forward and intercepted her. “You know what? I’ll put these in the dumpster on my way out. You don’t want this box taking up all the room in your trash.”
I hugged her goodbye, then carried the traitorous box out to the parking lot. I stood in front of the dumpster, but for some reason I couldn’t make myself throw those letters away.
“What is wrong with you?” I muttered to myself. “Why can’t you just forget about this stupid boy and move on?”
I stood there for a few more minutes, recalling a slew of memories and emotions, then I finally turned and walked to my car. I threw the shoebox in the backseat and drove home.