Page 61 of Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening Society
‘A million dollars?’ Lorraine teases and is rewarded with a flash of a smile from Cynthia.
‘No. And I’m fine for money anyway because my attorney has wrung a substantial settlement out of Max.’
‘Sounds like that’s the least that could be wrung out of him.’ Lorraine frowns. ‘What an arsehole.’
Cynthia makes a face. ‘I chose to marry him.’
‘He wasn’t who you thought he was!’
‘No,’ Cynthia concedes.
‘Anyway, your dad gave you something?’
‘Yes.’ Cynthia clears her throat, which makes this announcement sound important, so Lorraine stops pulling dead leaves off the plant in front of her and pays attention.
‘My mother had a sketchbook,’ Cynthia goes on. ‘Of native plants. Flowers.’
She exhales and looks to the sky, and for a second Lorraine wonders if she’s praying or something, but that really isn’t Cynthia’s style.
‘I had no idea she could draw. Or that she was interested in art in any way. Just like I had no idea that she was in the Sunshine Gardening Society.’
Now her eyes look into Lorraine’s and there’s sadness there, which makes Lorraine feel sad. Cynthia can’t get to know her mother now. Lorraine doesn’t take it for granted that she can see Rose whenever she likes.
‘What kind of daughter does that make me? That I didn’t know or notice?’ Cynthia says. Her eyes are so wide that she looks startled.
‘The kind her mother kept secrets from,’ Lorraine says. ‘And that was her choice, Cyn. It wouldn’t have been anything to do with you. Who knows why we do what we do? I don’t know half the time!’
A kookaburra swoops from the pine tree in the corner of the garden and picks up some creature that Lorraine can’t see.
‘Terry’s been feeding that bird,’ she says. ‘That’s why it hangs around.’
‘Maybe it just likes it here,’ Cynthia says.
‘Here? With all the yelling and the complaining? Not likely.’
‘I like it here too,’ Cynthia says.
‘Great,’ Lorraine says. ‘Then I’ll book you in for some regular visits and you can help me keep this garden under control.’
Cynthia laughs. ‘It’s a deal.’
‘Don’t be too hard on yourself about your mum,’ Lorraine says. ‘She was kind of unknowable. Nice to me and all that, but there were walls up. I bet your dad would say the same.’
Lorraine hears the TV volume suddenly shoot up inside the house and the sound of an agitated boy. ‘Kids!’ she yells, then scrambles to her feet.
‘I’ll be back,’ she says to Cynthia, and hurries inside to take care of whatever skirmish has broken out in her living room.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Kathyis listening for the sound of a car being parked outside her house, which means that anytime a car approaches she hops off the couch, then has to sit down again once she hears it drive by. She has no idea why she’s so nervous about seeing her own child. Maybe because she doesn’t know how they’ll be with each other – if Michelle will be angry at her for leaving her father then leaving the state, even though she says she’s not. Maybe she was faking it when she said she wanted to visit to see Kathy? Maybe she only wants to come here to air grievances?
It’s a long way to drive if that is the case. Michelle called two days ago and said she was setting off, and Kathy told her not to take the coast road because it isn’t as safe as the New England Highway, although she knows Michelle will do whatever she wants. That’s what she’s been like from infancy: if she didn’t like a food Kathy would be unable to get her to eat it; if she didn’t like a relative she would refuse to be hugged. She didn’t like school, so that meant Kathy and Owen embarked on a major bribery campaign involving dolls and a bike. Bribery is Michelle’s weakness.
No bribe has been deployed in this visit. Michelle is, therefore, coming because she wants to. So Kathy can relax. Or not. Her choice. And she does realise it’s a choice, because she could switch off the thoughts running through her head and insteaddecide that it’s such a lovely thing that her daughter whom she hasn’t seen in months will be here shortly.
Another car drives by. No – this one is stopping. This one is Michelle’s.
Kathy flings open the front door, which tells her that she’s more excited to see Michelle than she’s been prepared to admit to herself.
