Mavis spent most of the night crying and eventually cried herself to sleep. She got up and went to work with what felt like a hangover. By not taking any personal telephone calls and dodging Susan at lunch, she was able to pull herself together and get through the day. By mid-afternoon she felt better.
She picked up her stack of messages at the end of the day and glanced through them briefly — three from Susan, two from Trish, and three from Jolly. Obviously the phone lines were burning up with this
latest snag in her ongoing effort to get Laura back, but Mavis was in no mood to tel all.
She went home and got ready for her outing to McDonald's with Mrs. Davenport. Mavis hadn't considered canceling, but she almost wished she didn't have to go. Hopefully she could get over there before Laura got home from work. Seeing her again so soon wasn't something Mavis was looking forward to.
Laura's car was in the driveway when she got there. Maybe if you honk, the old girl can just hobble on out here with her walker, she thought wryly. Laura answered the door and
seemed relieved to see her, but Mavis felt ah undercurrent of tension and embarrassment between them.
"I was afraid you'd changed your mind," Laura said. "She's really been looking forward to this. I've never seen her so excited."
So she thought you wouldn't show up, huh? Mavis cleared her throat nervously. "Is she ready?"
Laura gave a weak smile. "She was ready when I got home. It's hard to believe you two are actually beginning to like each other."
"Poor thing's starved for attention."
"I... uh... I might have been a little hard on you last night. I didn't mean for things to get so emotional."
Mavis knew she would do just fine as long as they didn't talk about it. She tossed her hair out of her eyes and squared her shoulders. Was this an apology? Was Laura maybe having second thoughts? Not likely.
"I think I understand what's goin' on," Mavis said. "You've got no respect for me, Laura, therefore you've got no respect for yourself when we're together." Laura's eyes flashed in anger, so
Mavis knew there was truth in what she said.
Mrs. Davenport came around the corner clinging to the walker but making excellent time.
She had definitely mastered the thing already. "I heard you come in," she said. With purse on her arm and rouge and lipstick in place, she was ready. "Do you think we need to take the
walker?"
"I don't know," Mavis said warmly. "Do you think we do?"
"I can hold onto your arm. That should be fine." She took Mavis's arm and gave it a firm pat with her other hand. "Sure you won't go with us, Laura?"
"I've got other plans," Laura said stiffly. She opened the door for them, her eyes meeting Mavis's in a hard, unflinching glare.
"We're obviously not through discussing this."
"You made everything pretty clear last night," Mavis reminded her. She helped Mrs.
Davenport out the door and down the steps. "Don't wait up for us," she said over her shoulder.
They finished their McNugget feast. Mrs. Davenport declined Mavis's invitation to
accompany her on the Big Mac slide and french fry tunnel outdoors. Through the window they saw a handful of squealing children scampering up and down the maze of plastic. The two of them enjoyed free refills on their coffee and then decided on hot apple pies.
Before it started to get dark Mavis asked her if there
was anything else she wanted to do. "Other than bingo," she added quickly.
"I'd like to go home. See my house again. I haven't been there since my illness."
"You got the keys? Let's go."
It was nearly dark when they got to the house. The grass was high and the flower beds shabby and weed-infested. It was a sobering sight. The mailbox was stuffed full of mail, and the house smelled stale and musty. Mavis opened windows at Mrs. Davenport's request and felt the thin, frail hands gripping her arm as the two of them turned on lights and
looked around.
"Don't worry about the yard," Mavis said reassuringly. "I'll get some of Laura's lesbian friends to come over and take care of it."
"It's time I came back," Mrs. Davenport said with a tired sigh. "Let's sit over here. Be sure and tell me if those opened windows get too cool on you."
They sat side-by-side on the sofa. Mavis glanced around at the knickknacks on antique spindly-legged tables, where the layer of dust looked as out of place as Mavis felt. She couldn't remember a time she had been welcome in this house. Having always been referred to as "the woman who had ruined Laura's life," it was strange to be there. Mavis gave Mrs.
Davenport's hand another comforting squeeze and glanced at the pictures of Laura artfully placed around the room—baby pictures, high school pictures, college graduation pictures, and finally an eight-by-ten that had been taken recently. As a baby she was cute, but as a woman she was beautiful. Mavis felt that familiar heaviness in her chest.
"I've never seen that picture before. It's new."
"That's what I wanted for Christmas last year," Mrs. Davenport said. "You know how she hates having her picture taken."
"Oh, yes," Mavis acknowledged with a laugh. How many of their fights had started over the click of a shutter? Laura would stay absolutely furious for hours.
"I'll call the doctor tomorrow and see when I can come home."
"You need to get a little stronger first, I think. Maybe a few more of them trips to McDonald's."
"When can we go again?"
Mavis laughed. "When would you like to go again?"
"Tomorrow. I don't need to be cooped up in that house all day."
"Laura's got a yard you can piddle in. Maybe you should try that for a few days. Besides, I don't think Laura likes us playin' together so much. I ain't one of her favorite people right now."
"She's certainly been moody lately. It's always worse after she talks to that Robin woman."
Mavis definitely didn't want to hear anything about that Robin woman. They locked up the house, and Mavis helped her back to the car.
"I'm tired," Mrs. Davenport said with a sigh as they parked in front of Laura's house.
There was another car in the driveway that Mavis didn't recognize. Pangs of jealousy began taking their best shots.
"Did we overdo it?" Mavis asked.
"No, no. Not at all. I'l never be ready for bingo if you keep pampering me."
Mavis helped her out of the car and offered her arm for support. "So tell me, Mrs. D.," she said, giving that thin cool hand a firm pat. "This bein' our first date and all, do I get a
goodnight kiss at the door?" She was rewarded with a hard pinch on her forearm that was sure to leave a bruise. "Guess not." Mavis laughed.
The closer they got to the house, the louder the voices became inside. Laura was yelling, occasionally interrupted by someone else trying to yell even louder. Mavis rang the doorbell and heard Jo-Jo's frantic barking. She had this urge to make a hasty retreat to the car
but was curious to know who the guest was. The voices inside and the barking stopped.
Laura answered the door with Jo-Jo in her arms.
"What's going on here?" Mrs. Davenport snapped. "The neighbors can hear you!"
"I'm sorry," Laura said sheepishly, holding the door open for them. She looked exhausted.
Robin was sitting on the couch fuming and clutching her cane, and Mavis mentally kicked her own butt for not paying closer attention to what they had been yelling about.
"She's all yours," Mavis said. Anxious to get out of there, she disengaged herself from Mrs. Davenport's grasp.
"Did you have a good time, Mother?"
"Oh, yes. Mavis and I went back to the house for a few minutes. My flowers look pitiful, Laura. I need to speak to the doctor about going home."
"You're not ready for that yet." Laura took her mother's arm and then looked up at Mavis.
There was an apology in her eyes, and something else that Mavis couldn't quite decipher.
"Thanks," Laura mouthed as she guided her mother toward her room.
"Mavis," Robin said from the sofa. She struggled to get up and then steadied herself. "So we meet again." She limped around the coffee table, banging it with her cane. "You seem to be spending a lot of time around here lately."
"Yeah, well —"
"She doesn't love you. Can't you see that?"
"She don't love you either, but that's not keepin' you away." Mavis stepped a little closer and offered a slight smile. "By the way," she said in a quiet voice, "how's Diane? The woman you share your life with in Chicago. Does she know what you're doin' down here? And what
about Monica? The one you keep on the side in Miami? Last I heard she was stil part of the harem. Me and Monica had a nice little chat about you a few weeks ago. Not to mention BJ gettin' ready to dump your poor brother on his ass, hopin' you'll change your mind and move down here with her. You're such a sweetheart, Robin," she continued calmly. "You've got women all over the country checkin' your divin' team's road schedule. They're all just waitin' to spend some quality time with you. How do you keep your butt outta hot water with 'em? Ain't it a problem keepin' all them names straight? 'If this is San Francisco, then you must be Jennifer.' "
Robin glared at her with icy green eyes. "Shut the fuck up," she seethed.
"You always needed a lotta extra attention, the
best I remember. Everything's a challenge for you. And it looks like you're real good at
jugglin' this kinda stuff, too. You know," Mavis said easily, "Laura and Diane both deserve better'n this. They deserve somebody they can trust to send to work every mornin'."
Robin stood up a little straighter and erupted into a cynical laugh. "Like you, for instance?"
"Exactly, darlin'. Somebody exactly like me."
During her stroll to her car, Mavis felt better than she had in a long time. Laura's a smart girl, she thought happily. She'll figure that bitch out in no time.
The six months that Robin had been a patient of Mavis's, Mavis had gotten to know one of Robin's teammates pretty well. Robin and Monica had become lovers before the accident.
When Robin was in the hospital and refused to see anyone even remotely connected to the diving profession, Monica had spent many hours crying in Mavis's office or on the phone between exhibitions. Over the years Mavis and Monica had remained friends, while Robin and Mavis had become little more than the annual Christmas card acquaintance —
Christmas cards always signed "Robin and Diane."
Monica was a diving coach at the University of Miami now, and she and Robin saw each other several times a year during collegian diving competition. They were lovers whenever their schedules brought them together, and Monica confirmed during a phone call to Mavis several weeks ago, that Robin had the same arrangement with a string of other coaches and divers across the country. The list was impressive, but it made Mavis sad.
Monica had also told her that Robin's lover in Chicago had been the number one female diver at Stanford University five years ago, and now coached young Olympic hopefuls there in Chicago. Diane apparently didn't have a clue as to what Robin was doing.
Mavis parked her car and took the stairs to her apartment two at a time. She didn't care what Robin did or who she did it with as long as she stayed away from Laura. Mavis promised herself that no one would ever use her Laura as a San Antonio "lay over."
Mavis waited until her day off to work on Mrs. Davenport's yard. From Jolly and Wanda she borrowed everything she needed and even convinced them to help. Grass was cut, raked
and bagged, hedges trimmed, and sidewalk, driveway and curbs edged. The place looked good. Jolly wound up the heavy extension cord for the Weed Eater and wiped her forehead with a shirt sleeve.
"We finished up the back," she said. "Are you coming over later?"
Mavis smacked her work gloves against her jeans a few times to rid them of grass and dirt.
"I don't think so. I'm tired." She took her Texas Rangers baseball cap off and let her hair tumble down.
It was unusually hot for November. "I'll work on these flower beds as long as my knees hold up."
"If you change your mind, give us a call."
"Sure thing. Thanks." She tucked her hair back under the cap and returned to weeding the flower
bed. Her knees and hands were sore but she wanted to finish. Mrs. D. would like it. Mavis missed spending time with her. It had been a few days since their McDonald's date, and she didn't feel right about calling or dropping by anymore. Things with Laura were too strained. Maybe it was time to take the old lady on a trip to the bingo hall, she thought with a chuckle.
She worked her way down the sidewalk, pulling weeds and loosening dirt around the neglected plants. She heard a car in the driveway and looked up to find Laura and Mrs.
Davenport getting out. "Shit," she muttered. She had wanted this endeavor to be an anonymous gesture, like yard fairies had been there. Laura didn't look too happy either.
Mavis got up, her legs aching and her knees screaming. She took her gloves off and gave her jeans another good dusting. There was a dull ache in her lower back that she knew she would pay dearly for later. She rubbed it slowly and took off her cap.
Smiling, Mrs. Davenport came down the sidewalk. Mavis noticed right away that she was getting around very well without the walker.
"It looks wonderful, Mavis! I've been so worried. And my ivies! We could get a freeze any
time now, you know."
Mavis wiped her brow and glanced up at the sun beating down on them. A freeze couldn't have been further from her mind.
"Come inside," Mrs. Davenport said. "Rest a while. I think I've got some juice."
Mavis and Laura watched her take the porch steps carefully and then unlock the front door. Mavis could feel Laura's eyes on her, angry and piercing.
"Using my mother like this won't help your case," she said coolly.
At first Mavis had no idea what she was talking about, but once the whole wretched insinuation became clear, all she could do was stare at her.
"You've wormed your way in, but it won't work, Mavis. Getting my mother on your side just won't work!"
Mavis dropped her gloves among the weeds scattered along the walk. The burning in her chest threatened to choke her.
"I'm tired of these little games," Laura continued. "Some of this bullshit of yours is new, but it's bullshit just the same and it has to stop."
Mavis took off her cap and shook her hair out. She brushed past her on the way to her car, but Laura caught her by the arm and spun her around.
"You don't even have the decency to deny it!"
"I'd be wastin' my time." Mavis shrugged off Laura's grip. "You've got your mind made up already."
Laura glared at her. "God, you can still piss me off faster than anyone I've ever known."
"It's a gift." Mavis jutted her chin defiantly. She was tired and hurt. There was very little fight left in her.
Laura crossed her arms and tapped her foot while she fumed. "Robin's got a lover in Chicago. You've known about it all along, haven't you?"
Mavis's heart started beating faster.
"Goddamn you!" Laura screeched. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"It wasn't my place."
"Like hell it wasn't!"
"You wouldn't have believed me anyway." Their eyes met, and Mavis saw the confusion and
anger in Laura's expression. Laura shook her head in frustration. "I'll never understand you," she said finally.
"When was the last time you even tried?" Mavis took her exhausted, worn body and trudged through the pulled weeds cluttering the sidewalk. She got in her car and left.