Page 86 of Lovebug
“Oooookay, that sounds like my cue. Don’t mind me, I have some purple sea urchins to plop in the water anyway,” Louise says and slinks back to her stand.
We stand across from each other in silence for a moment.
Uh-oh. I’ll bet I know exactly what this is about.
“Hello, Mrs. Thornton,” I say. “It’s good to see you.”
“We already covered the hellos, didn’t we? And sweetheart, you know you can call me Naomi.”
“Thank you. I was just raised to call all adults by their last name only, so I don’t think I’d be comfortable with that.”
“Youare an adult too, aren’t you?”
“Uh. Yes. Yes, I am.”
“So should I be calling you Ms. McGonigle?”
“Oh, no.” I laugh. “I’m younger than you, so—”
“Oh, please. Barely.” She scoffs.
Barely? She’s at least twenty years older than me, isn’t she? Also, is this woman difficult for everyone to talk to? Or is it just me?
“True,” I backpedal. “I meant you’re a tiiiiiiiny bit older than me, but by no meansold. But even if youwereold… what’s wrong with that, ya know? Why are we all so conditioned to think that aging is bad? I hope when I’m old I can embrace my age, let my hair go gracefully gray, rock my wrinkles, celebrate all the things I’ve learned and—”
“Alright, that’s enough. Relax, Mabel.”
“I’M TOTALLY RELAXED!”
I’m not, though. I’m never relaxed around Naomi Thornton. She’s one of those people who seems to be everywhere. Involved in everything. On the board of the museum. On the board of the arboretum. She’s even on the board of the housing development where I live with my parents. Yup, she’s the gal who lets you know if your hedges need trimming or if you’ve painted your mailbox a shade that goes against community color regulations. She’s always up on the local gossip. Always in charge. And ever since I was a kid, I’ve always gotten the impression she doesn’t like me. Like she wants to see me fail.
“I hear congratulations are in order,” Naomi continues.
“Congratulations on…?” I seriously don’t have a clue what I should be celebrating right now.
“Your engagement?” She intones like it’s obvious. “I saw the announcement in theIntelligencer?”
“Oh,” I say, internally cursing that damn newspaper. ”Thank you. But it’s… Well, we’re actually… We’re not going to move forward with that. So.”
“Oh no, a broken engagement, how humiliating!”
“For whom?”
“For you, sweetie!”
“Nah. It’s okay, Mrs. Thornton—I mean, Naomi. I don’t feel humiliated.”
“Well, you should!”
“Wait. Aren’t you divorced?” I ask with full sincerity. “Several times, actually?”
“Excuseme?” Her head rears back.
“I’m sorry, that came out ruder than I intended. Not that I intended to be rude! April just mentioned that you and her stepdad were—” I pause when I take in the stoic look on her face. “Well, it’s none of my business.”
“That’s exactly right. It’s none of your business,” she says with a hint of that ferocity that’s always just below the surface.
Butmybusiness ishers? I’m not really sure how her logic works.
