Page 18 of July Skies
KAREN
“Dang, Mom,” Christina said, as Karen prepared to leave for city hall early Friday morning. “Who you gotta impress today? Is the governor dropping by before Pride?”
Karen stopped before the hallway mirror, one earring dangling from her fingers.Damn thing won’t stay in!She didn’t often wear the nice, dangly earrings she favored before the kids were born. When it became apparent that toddlersloveddangly earrings – particularly, they loved yanking on them when Mom was in line at the bank – Karen dumped them for practical studs. Yet every once in a while she unearthed her jewelry case and rediscovered the beads and wiring that had made a bulk of her wardrobe in the late ‘90s.You’d think I forgot how to put them on.She fiddled with the earring, determined to get it to stay.
“No, it’s not the governor, honey. Your mom has an important meeting this afternoon, and she needs to look her best.”
Christina followed her mother to the door. “All I’m saying is that you don’t dress like this unless you’re trying to impress someone. Or, I dunno, seduce someone.”
Karen almost fell into the door. “Excuse me?”
Her daughter laughed at her. So did half of Florida Street as the door opened and spilled Karen into her front walkway. Karen had to do the two-step to regain her balance.Starting this day off with grace and poise, as usual.She only had herself to blame. After tossing and turning for half the night, she had to drink two full cops of coffee to function around her dresser.
At least nobody at city hall gave her the same flack Christina had. Karen needed to be on her A-game. Her interview with Hibiscus Films wasn’t until the afternoon, but Karen didn’t have time to run home and change during lunch.That would only be more conspicuous, anyway.She couldn’t let anyone know that she had two reasons for dressing like a political diva that day. Everyone would soon gauge it had to do with going on camera. While thatwasa factor, there was another, more personal reason for Karen’s primping and preening.
Well, I want to look good for Ms. Granger, don’t I?
Karen wasn’t the vainest woman in town, but she knew her physical self-worth. She looked nice in a pantsuit, but she lookednicerin a tasteful yet stylish dress that expressed her feminine personality while also fitting the part of mayor. Her makeup was understated. Her hair, which she usually wore back in a ponytail or up high in a bun, was left loose around her shoulders. The coloring could go more strawberry blond or chestnut brown depending on her diet and the time of year. During summer, it was a tad lighter, the golden hues that lurked beneath the browns shining in ways no salon could ever reproduce. Oh, yes, Karen knew that she could step up her beauty if she put in the right effort. That day? She made the effort, knowing well enough that Dahlia Granger would show up in her usual cargo pants, T-shirt, and boots.
That’s what she liked about the imagery, wasn’t it? Dahlia wasn’t going on camera. She was the headless voice coming from off screen, prompting Karen with questions that went beyond“What do you think about this town,”or,“What’s the one thing Paradise Valley struggles with the most?”Now, Karen realized that such questions were meant to tease out some dark underbelly that may or may not exist. People had issues with one another, sometimes for the dumbest or surprisingly bigoted reasons, but that wasnotsequestered to a town “ran by lesbians.” Karen would very much appreciate a little more humanization than what some of the townspeople had been telling her.
When Hibiscus Films arrived, they were down one man. Tom, who escorted them from the atrium to the mayor’s office, inquired about it in time for Karen to overhear. Apparently, one of their crew had an auto-immune flareup that hospitalized him two days before. “…Very unfortunate,” Dahlia grumbled, before she appeared in the doorway. “We’ll probably have to replace him, since it’s taking us twice as long to do anything without his assistance. Aaron really was invaluable to this…”
Dahlia stopped as soon as she reached the doorway and saw Karen standing before her desk.Standing? Is that what I’m doing?Or did she have her rear bumped up against her desk, ankles and arms crossed as she leveled a steady gaze on the crew coming to pry into her personal life.To think, I invited them…
What was that look in Dahlia’s eyes? Was that acknowledgment of how different Karen looked that day? Howgoodshe looked? While Karen didn’t expect to see those eyes grow wider in size the moment they encountered one another, she did, in fact, expect the little rounding of Dahlia’s mouth and the lowering of two clenched arms.
Naturally, she didn’t look so bad herself. Dahlia always wore the same outfit, swapping out the T-shirt on occasion, but her no-nonsense attitude today was more appealing than ever.I wouldn’t mind getting a glass of wine with her after this.If only to pick her brain and figure out what her problem was. Because Karen couldn’t risk being seen “romantically” linked with Dahlia after she had done a bangup job pissing off half the town. There were already accusations that they were possibly in bed together. Did Karen really want to stoke those fires?
Maybe. A little. At the very least, she wanted to remind Dahlia who was in charge here. Someone else may lead the conversation, but Karen commanded the room.
“Let’s get right down to it,” she said, after the camera and lighting were to Dahlia’s liking. “You want to ask me personal questions about my sexuality and what I’m doing in a town like this. Go ahead. Ask me whatever you want. I reserve the right to turn down questions, but I’ll do my best to indulge you.” That’s right. This was anindulgence.Karen was a busy mayor with many things to plan and oversee that bustling, touristy summer. She may not have a city like Portland to run, but she always gave Paradise Valley her undivided attention. To the point she barely had time for her grown children, never mind a relationship.
Dahlia continued to look askance at her as they decided the best place to sit. Behind the desk was ideal for talking about the town from a mayor’s perspective, but for this heart-to-heart, they both agreed that Karen should sit comfortably on the couch she usually reserved for her guests. Or her children come to do homework in her office. Either one was likely during the school year.
The tension in the room mounted when the camera started rolling and the two women gazed into each other’s eyes. The cameraman – Wayne, was it? – peered above the camera, soaking in the energy these two women exuded. Did he mistake it for passion? Sexual attraction? Or was that wishful thinking on his part?No. He knows what’s going on here.The other guy sat in the background, checking his phone, taking notes, and doing whatever Dahlia or Wayne asked him to do. This moment, though? Before the first question was asked? That moment belonged to Dahlia and Karen, two women who both had ulterior motives for being in that room.
“Why don’t we start with a brief re-introduction?” Dahlia asked. “We can use the sound bites elsewhere in the film. Or we might truncate your mayoral interview from last week and use this as your formal introduction.”
“All right.” Karen was aware of every line on her face. Every purse of her lips. The way her legs crossed, and how much skin was shown on the camera. The millions of people who might watch this documentary would look at her and think,“Damn, that’s the mayor? Who does she think she is?”Or they might think she looked awfully progressive for a woman in charge of a thousand people. “My name is Karen Marie Rath. I’m forty-four years old, which means I was one of the youngest mayors in this town’s history when I was first elected seven years ago.”
Dahlia did the quick math in her head. “Thirty-seven? How much political experience did you have before that?”
“Oh, let’s see. I moved to Paradise Valley a little over ten years ago. Was only here about a year when I decided to run for my first council position. Quickly moved up to mayor after the last one decided to not run for reelection. She actually suggested it. Shelley Jenkins. That was her name. Was mayor for two terms before retiring to Arizona with her wife.”
“Are you married, Mayor Rath?”
She should have anticipated this question so soon. Yet when she saw the calculating visage before her, she knew this wasn’t a mere formality.This woman isn’t flirting with me, either.Oh, but wasn’t she? Maybe Dahlia didn’t realize it, but every word dripping from her lips was laced in a dare. A dare to flirt back. A dare to challenge her. Dares upon dares that would choke the men in this room should they look up from their work for too long. Tom had hung around the door before the film crew shooed him out. He was probably in his office on the other side of the far wall, ear pressed against it and biting his nails from the sheer amount of sexual tension about to descend upon this room.
The fact that Dahlia probably didn’t notice it only made the moment more delicious.
“No. I’m divorced.” Karen had already rehearsed an answer like this. Not that it was her first time answering it. Whenever she was interviewed by state-wide or national media, they always asked about her marital status. It was salacious, wasn’t it? A lesbian mayor! That’s what they always called her, regardless of the vocabulary she submitted with her profile.Everyone wants to know who I would like to sleep with.Such was politics. “I was actually divorced before I moved here with my two children. The papers had been freshly filed when I packed up everything we could carry and drove up here.”
“Was your ex a…”
“My ex-husband was someone I met when I was young and foolish,” Karen interrupted. “The only reason we got married was because, well, you can probably guess. Our son was born about four months after we said ‘I do’. We had a daughter a few years after that. What do they call those children that come right before the end of a marriage? The band-aid baby? Not sure that’s what I was thinking when my daughter was born, but I can’t say I regret either one. They’re a pain in my side, of course, but that’s the mother in me honestly speaking. I love them more than anything else.” Or anyone else, for that matter. Even when Xander took apart her old Jeep and Christina ran off to hang out with friends Karen begged her to stay away from. For two seconds, anyway. “I think you’ll find that my story isn’t that uncommon around here.”
That made Dahlia’s eyes light up in ways that Karen should have found concerning. Instead, she admired the sweet flecks of green and brown that illuminated one stern woman’s entire face. “I’ve often heard the tale of the late-in-life-lesbian,” Dahlia said. “The woman who has repressed her sexuality for so long that she wakes up one day and realizes that everything she’s living is a lie.”
