Page 40 of Leo
“Get back here, you coward!”I called.
“Can’t hear you!I’m already halfway down the sidewalk!Bye!”
Edward frowned.“He’s lying.”
“He’s being silly.”
“Lying isn’t silly,” he said, giving me a pointed look, daring me to try and lie about this.“Lying is wrong.You told me so.So, are you having sex with him?When you told me how babies are made, one of the things you told me was that sometimes grown-ups sleep together and if one of them has a uterus they can get pregnant.I don’t think Ambrose has one, but I didn’t ask him.Is it rude to ask him?Am I going to have a baby brother or sister?”
“I really regret being so frank with you when answering questions,” I muttered.“It’s private, Edward.But Ambrose and I are… We like each other a lot, and we want to see how that works out.Sometimes he might stay the night here.”
“Can we stay there sometimes?I want to see Bethany’s bug encyclopedias.”
“Why don’t we ask her if she can bring them over next time she comes to hang out with you after school?”
Edward nodded.“Okay then.Toast’ s burning.Can I get a pet stag beetle?There’s this one I saw online.His name is Snappy and he can draw.It’s really cool!”
“No stag beetles until you’re thirteen,” I said.“Minimum.”
Edward narrowed his eyes, and I just knew he was making a mental note on some internal calendar, and I’d hear about a pet stag beetle again in seven years.“Okay,” he agreed.“Thirteen.”
“You can research them in the meantime, though.I’ll tell Aunt Gnome you need to use their computer today while I’m at work if you’d like.”
Edward nodded again, and we talked about anything other than stag beetles and sex.
* * *
Naomi had givenme a knowing little smirk when I dropped Edward off but, thankfully, hadn’t asked any questions or made any pointed comments.How she always managed to know when I’d had sex, I’d never figured out and I was almost afraid to, really.So instead of lingering and possibly giving her the chance to make things weird, I booked it to the home and got everything arranged for the Lewis viewing at eleven.I’d just locked up the rear receiving area after the florist delivery people departed when the chime for the lobby rang.It was only nine, far too early for any of the Lewis mourners, but sometimes people just wanted to be alone with their dead for a bit and I did my best to accommodate them.I brushed my hands off over the trash and had a quick hit of sanitizer before hurrying up to the front.
An older lady I vaguely recognized was standing just inside the front door.Clad in a sunshine-yellow skirt suit and clutching a matching pocketbook against her chest for dear life, I pegged her as a nervous mourner or, possibly, someone determined to face their fears and make end of life arrangements.
I was super wrong.
“Mr.Morris,” she said before I could greet her.“My name’s Catherine Lund and… and I want to apologize.”
“I’m sorry?”
She smiled, a tiny and fleeting thing.“That’s my line.Um.May we step into your office?”
I nodded.“Certainly.I have a bit of time before my next appointment.”One of the part timers who helped me with general office stuff stuck his head out of the show room, raising his brows questioningly.“Matt, if anyone arrives for the viewing, show them to the Garden Room.Ms.Lund?”I gestured her ahead of me into my office.She scurried past, head lowered, and hands clasped tightly around the strap of her purse, taking the seat in front of my desk while I closed my office door for privacy, moving to my own chair to face her.“Am I safe in assuming this isn’t about funeral services?”
She nodded jerkily.“Well.Maybe, in a way.I, um.I work—maybe worked is the best tense of that one—for Nice Buns until today.I submitted my notice to Mr.Jennings because I think it’s for the best.I’ve done something a bit… well, not nice, and I’m afraid I caused more of a problem than I expected.”She took a deep breath and lifted her chin to look at me, her chin trembling.“I’m the one who sent those cupcakes to Delia Dennis’ funeral.When I heard she died, I thought finally, I can have the last word on that old cow.I used a prepaid card from the drugstore and ordered the cupcakes to be sent and…” She sighed, wilting into herself a little.“Afterward, I panicked a bit.I didn’t think…”
“You thought you’d feel better?”I asked gently.“I understand Ms.Dennis was not the easiest person to like and had many run-ins with people in town.”
Ms.Lund nodded.“That’s putting it simply.When we were girls, we were as close to friends as Delia could manage, I suppose.She and I were in the same grade and spent a lot of time at one another’s houses, but we never really gelled.That was fine, in its way.Not everyone is meant to like everyone else.But when we reached high school…” She bit her lip, turning her gaze down to her hands folded around her purse strap.“Delia’s meanness got out of hand, at least with a few of us.It went beyond snotty comments or the occasional prank.She went out of her way to make my life miserable.For a while, I tried to make her see how she was hurting me, and the others.I thought maybe if someone just loved her enough, treated her nice enough, she’d see what she was doing.”
In the silence that followed, Ms.Lund sniffed, and I pushed the box of tissues on my desk toward her.She murmured her thanks and pulled one free to dab at her eyes before continuing.“Well.Delia made it amply clear that she hated everyone and everything about this town.We were all at fault for how unhappy she was and our happiness—hell, our day-to-day boringness—was the center of her anger.She reveled in hating us.And it just got easier to avoid her, and those of us who’d known her better… It was easier for us to just hate her back.I know she must’ve needed some sort of help, some doctor maybe or someone to talk to who understood what was going on in her brain, but…”
“So, you sent the cupcakes and then panicked when I sent them back?”
She nodded.“It was childish of me.It was like I was fourteen all over again and all I could think of wasfinally, I can tell her to fuck off and she won’t do something terrible in return.” She nodded, sighing.“Well.That’s that.I wanted to apologize and tell you I heard about Willis Dempsey—my wife’s his secretary at his accounting firm—and I wrote everything down to send to the chamber of commerce, letting them know you weren’t, what was it?Starting a lewd and or adult oriented business out of your funeral home.”
I huffed a small laugh.“I appreciate it, Ms.Lund.But you said you quit the bakery?Did Ambrose know about this?About what you did?”
She nodded.“He does now.I left him a note explaining things, along with my resignation.The cupcakeswerepaid for—I just used a prepaid card so it couldn’t be traced back to me.When I found out he was trying to track down who ordered them, I got scared and knew I needed to tell you what I’d done.”She pulled out another tissue, her smile rueful.“That’s one of the things Delia hated most about me—I’m a scaredy cat.Everything makes me nervous and afraid.My wife says it’s because I have a tender heart, and it’s not fear but I just care too much.Maybe she’s right… I cared that I’d insulted a dead woman who made over a decade of my life a living hell,” she huffed.
“Ms.Lund, I’m sure Ambrose will understand.Would you like me to speak with him?”I offered, rising as she did.My heart hurt for her—she’d lashed out against her old bully, those wounds never having truly healed.She’d wanted some sort of closure and found it to be far more difficult than she imagined.
