My eyes dampened as I realized that the lots were starting to look exactly like Tamara’s drawing.
We’d done it.
I hugged Tamara tightly, overcome again by everyone’s generosity.
“I want to move back,” I said.
She swayed me from side to side, her arms clamped around me. “I knew you could do it!”
“Did not.”
“Didn’t I tell you you’re a small-town girl at heart?”
“I still don’t see that.”
She released me, pointing to my chest. “The smalltown spirit is right here. Caring, kindness, community and,” she paused dramatically, her tone turning triumphantly teasing, “a big ol’ squishy heart!”
* * *
On Wednesday morning,the sod had arrived an hour early. I was alone. And I had about a million rolls of heavy grass to lay out over a half-acre, and tomorrow was my repayment deadline over at Your Fairy Godmother. I needed to get a move on, and trust that volunteers had heard my online call-out and would appear. If not, at least the GAL PALs would be coming by later on.
Next week, my life was going to look totally different. And not just because I’d have the park off my hands. Sally and Otto had returned home. I had a lead on an apartment. Joan was miffed at me for taking another day off to work on the park, and we both knew it was time for me to find something else. James was starting his new job today, and the training was taking him to Edmonton, meaning he was gone from summer’s early dawn to summer’s late dusk.
By next week, would I be penniless, jobless and homeless?
Or would I somehow have it all?
Sighing, I pushed my work gloves deeper onto my hands and inhaled the city and the scent of rolled up grass on the pallets beside me. I heaved a piece of turf off the top of a nearby pallet. It was heavier than I’d expected, and I hugged it to my body, not caring if the front of my t-shirt was a wall of dirt by the end of the day. I dropped the sod at the corner and walked back for more. Then, when I had a small pile, I got down on my hands and knees and began rolling out the pieces, staggering the rows, my mind blissfully blank as I got into the physical routine.
No thinking about James and how we were indeed better when we were together. No thinking about how hard these past two months had been with my whole being poured into the park.
I was almost there. Almost done.
Next week, it was all me. All James.
I could barely wait.
* * *
I worked steadily all day,volunteers coming and going to help me lay out the sod, the sounds of happy kids on the playground filling the air with happiness. Bliss. I loved it. There was something so wonderful about hearing children play, laugh, and shriek.
Behind me, the expanse of bright green grass grew, eating up the massive empty stretch of dirt.
By six, I was utterly exhausted, the grass almost finished. Someone had shown up with two pizzas and a case of cold water. As we ate, more people appeared. Then a few more. As people got off work, they put on their grubbies and came to help. Several of them helped while their kids played in the playground and I felt pride for creating a green space in the middle of the city for people to gather. But most of all, this was Everstone’s park, and always would be. And creating something like this, I felt like I could do anything.
I sat in the shade, sucking back water, my limbs heavy with exhaustion, watching the community of Everstone interact with each other. Gabby and Josie had come to sit beside me, having come straight from work to lay sod with me, Samantha, and Tamara.
Two men introduced themselves, then gestured toward the playground where young women were sitting on a bench, watching their kids play. I smiled and caught Tamara’s look. For a moment, a current of understanding passed between us. This was it, right here. Community. People getting to know their neighbours. If you knew them, you cared. And if you cared, the entire world opened up to kindness.
Tamara leaned against me, resting her head on my shoulder. “You’ve done a good thing.”
“We all have.”
I felt a stab of sorrow just under my ribcage that James wasn’t here to see it all come together. He’d worked so hard on the park, and he deserved the satisfaction of seeing it completed. All day I’d expected to see him and his strong shoulders in that tight tee of his coming to help out.
All day I’d been disappointed.
Even though I knew today was the first day at his new job, and he had a ten-hour safety training session up in Edmonton, which was a three-hour drive, each way.