Page 27 of Finally Mine
“Let me tell you a story, Gloria. I was married before. Twenty-two. An idiot. Married the first guy who made eyes at me. That guy turned out to be an ass. Took me two years to get out with a black eye, a broken arm, and a baby on my hip. I drove all night, heading east, and I landed in this Podunk town in Indiana. I dug out change from the floormats of my third-hand car just to get a cup of coffee at a diner.”
Della paused, staring down at her mug fondly.
“Mabel, the blue-haired, pack-a-day smoking owner, took one look at me and gave me a job on the spot and a room to rent. She changed my life. And I promised myself that someday I’d be in the same position to do something for someone.”
Gloria looked down at the worn table top. Shame flushed her cheeks. “I don’t want charity,” she said quietly.
“Good. You shouldn’t.” She nodded briskly. “This is a chance to learn, to work really damn hard, to earn your way. So if you’re not up for that, then no hard feelings. But if you do say yes, you’ll start tomorrow, and I promise you we’ll teach you everything you need to know and someday you’ll be in the position to give someone else a chance.”
Gloria pursed her lips, feeling emotion tighten her throat.
“Are you ready to work your ass off? Be proud of yourself? Learn a daisy from a daylily?”
Gloria nodded. “Yes. Yes, I am.”
Della cracked a smile that lit up her whole face. “Good. I’ll see you at seven tomorrow morning.”
“Really? Are you sure? I mean I don’t know half of the things you want me to know.”
“You can learn them, can’t you? And I can be patient until you get your feet wet.”
Gloria was out of her chair and hugging Della in a show of spontaneous affection. “Thank you! Thank you! I’m going to try really hard to make sure you never regret this,” she promised.
Della chuckled. “Don’t be late. Oh, and wear comfortable shoes.”
Harper was sunning herself on a stack of mulch bags in the parking lot when Gloria skipped over to her.
Gloria nudged her friend’s foot, and Harper peered lazily over her sunglasses. “Well?”
“Let’s get lunch. My treat!”
She’d worry about how the hell she was going to learn it all and make sure Della never regretted her decision later. For now, she was going to drink a milkshake and figure out what to wear to work tomorrow.
14
Gloria: Who’s got two thumbs and a job at Blooms? This girl!
Aldo re-read the text for the 700thtime and clicked on the picture she sent with it. She was grinning and pointing at herself with both thumbs. He doubted Gloria saw anything special in the picture, but it was there. That joy radiating out of her, reached out and grabbed him by the throat every time he looked at it.
He’d wanted to get her a job, wanted to help her on her path, but the confidence she built by doing things on her own was even more gratifying.
“Get off your phone! You’re surrounded by loved ones, dumbass!” His mother’s shout, fortified by the better part of a bottle of wine, dragged Aldo back to the present. He was at his and Luke’s going-away dinner, a two-family tradition since their first deployment.
Aldo tucked his phone back into his pocket. “Sorry, Ma.”
“You’re a Candy Crush addict,” Ina complained, shifting into pot-and-kettle mode. His mother spent more time playing games on her phone than she did gardening, drinking, and sleeping combined.
He’d beaten her once at Words with Friends, and she’d thrown her phone out of the car window in a bad loser rage, earning a $200 fine for littering from Deputy Ty.
Claire, Luke’s mother, joined them at the table. Her eyes were red-rimmed.
It was due only in part to their deployment. Luke had just announced that Harper, the woman Claire hung all her hopes on, was leaving town for a new job. Their relationship was ending when Luke and Aldo got on that bus in the morning. Disappointed in his friend, Aldo had whispered “chickenshit” under his breath at the announcement, and his mother had kicked him in the shin.
He hated that Luke was too scared to make a commitment. Hell, Luke had already made a commitment. He was too much of a wuss to see it through. He and Harper were living together, were working together, and between the two of them had accidentally adopted two shelter dogs. They wereina damn relationship.
It was strange, thinking that as they boarded the bus tomorrow, Luke’s chance at happiness was ending while Aldo’s was just beginning.
“Well, I guess this is another goodbye,” Claire sighed. She reached for Aldo’s hand, squeezed. “You come home safe to us.” It was her traditional send-off. Claire and Ina had divided the mothering all through childhood and the teenage years and had never gotten out of the habit even though their boys were now men.
