Marie moved to the end of the bed, threw her used gloves in the trash, and picked up the bedding she’d left to be washed when she came home. “I’ll be in the laundry room for a little while, Mom. What do you want me to put on the television?”
“You’ll let me die here, alone. I know you will, you ungrateful bitch,” Ruby said to the wall
Marie rolled her eyes, pursed her lips, and stared at her mother’s figure in the bed. “Mom, what do you want to watch?”
“Piss off.”
Another roll of her eyes was accompanied by a deep sigh before Marie picked up the remote control and turned the television on. A program that Ruby normally liked was already on the channel so she left it and took the bedding out of the bedroom.
She walked into a room that had been added on sometime in the 1950s. It was decorated all in white and brightly lit from the windows at the end of the room. They spanned across the wall, halfway up. It was one of Marie’s favorite rooms, and she spent a lot of time there, especially in the winter. The dryer made the room especially warm then, and she’d spend as much time as she could in there. During the summer, it would become way too hot, but opening the windows usually helped a little.
Marie put the bedclothes in the washer, filled the dispensers, and sat down at the long table pushed up against one wall. The length of the table made folding laundry much easier but for now, it was a nice spot to sit and read.
Only, Marie couldn’t concentrate on the book just then. Her brain was too busy wondering about the man in the black car. Would his house have a laundry room? With the same kind of long table? A table strong enough to hold two, she wondered with a naughty smirk. The fantasy played out as the washer stopped filling with water and began to rotate. The smile didn’t leave her face.
4
“Thank you so much for staying a little longer, Jane. I don’t know how long it will take, but hopefully not long. You know how it can be with these things,” Marie said as she rushed around the kitchen, her head already on the frustrating lines that were always present at the motor vehicle registration place.
“I do, honey. Take your time. The patient I see after your mother is in the hospital, so I’m free for an extra hour or so.” Jane pulled at the hem of her pink uniform top and gave a shake of her head. “I’ll be here.”
“Thanks,” Marie said warmly and finally left the house.
She thought about what she needed to do as she drove to the parish seat, to get to the courthouse. The motor vehicle office was there, and she’d probably be there a while. There were always long lines when she went, and she didn’t have time to waste.
She groaned in frustration when she was caught by a train, and then trapped behind a huge cart headed for one of the sugarcane farms. The yellow cart drove along slowly, and every time Marie tried to pass the cart, there was oncoming traffic.
By the time she arrived at the courthouse and parked, her nerves were strung tight, and she was in an even bigger rush than she had been. She was going through her bag, looking for her wallet, when she bumped into someone. She apologized automatically and then gaped when she saw who it was.
“It’s you,” she whispered with surprise. She felt the corners of her lips twitch up and her cheeks started to burn. With a shake of her head, she continued. “I’m so sorry. It’s me that did the bumping this time. I’m really sorry. I was in such a rush to get to the registration office, well. I’m sorry.”
Her voice trailed off as she looked up at him, and noted he looked a little older than she’d thought he was. Not much older than her but he had her by a few years if the very faint lines around his eyes were any indication. Or maybe he’d spent more time outdoors than she had and his features were weathered?
“Don’t apologize, it’s nothing. I wasn’t paying attention either.” His smile revealed straight, gleaming white teeth. His teeth were perfect except for his right incisor, which had been chipped at some point, but obviously never repaired. Marie wondered why but didn’t dare ask.
Her head dropped down, and she pushed a lock of hair behind her right ear. “I guess you need to be on your way. Sorry about this, again.”
“I do, but it was nice to bump into you again.” He didn’t look to be in a hurry now, and for a moment, Marie forgot that she was too.
“I, well, it’s nice to see you again.” She noted the look of interest he gave her and was glad she’d put on a nice light-blue blouse and a white skirt that flowed down to her knees for this outing. She looked decent at least.
“Men only want one thing out of us females, Marie and you’d best believe me. They’re all pigs, after what’s in your pants so they can get their rocks off and then dump you like a piece of used up trash when they’re done.” Ruby’s drunken rant from all those years ago came back to haunt her as the man looked her up and down. His eyebrows lifted in appreciation, even as her mother’s voice carried on in her head.
“Don’t be a slut, Marie, I won’t abide a slut in my home. You go to school, you learn, then you come home. That’s the law, I have to send you. Otherwise, I’d keep you here, away from those boys that can ruin your life if you let them.”
Only, Ruby wasn’t here now, she didn’t feel the way Marie’s heartbeat skipped for an instant, or the way her lungs went tight as she looked directly into those dark brown eyes. They were amazing eyes that sucked her in until she actually began to lean towards him.
“I guess I’ll see you again, sometime,” he said after a long pause. “Take care.”
The shrill sound of his phone broke the silence in the long hallway and the interlude. Marie nodded, stupidly she thought, and walked away. She’d lost more time, but she didn’t mind, not when it meant she’d bumped into him again. The line wasn’t as long as she’d expected it to be when she got to the office and before she knew it, she was at the front counter. Not long after that, she was back in her car with brand new stickers on her license plate. Job done, and 15 minutes to spare before it was Jane’s normal time to leave.
And she’d met the mystery man again, she thought with a delighted smile. That was the best part of the whole outing. It meant he was still here, and if he was at the courthouse, maybe it meant he had moved to the small town. That made her smile even brighter, so bright that her face began to ache. She laughed at herself as she pulled into the driveway of her home and stopped the car.
Her mother might think all men were bad, and that they were only after one thing, but she wasn’t her mother. She hadn’t done all of the things her mother had done to get to the top, before her rather nasty fall from grace. She wasn’t that kind of woman either. Men could want all they wanted to; it didn’t mean she had to give it.
Her head tilted up in defiance as she walked up to the porch at the front of the house and opened the door. “I’m home, Jane.”
“Oh, I thought you’d be another 45 minutes at least!” Jane said as she quickly walked into the living room. “You should have stayed out a little longer, Marie, taken a little bit of a break for yourself.”
“I know you have a busy life too, Jane, but thank you. So, how much do I owe you for an hour and 15 minutes?” Marie pulled out her wallet, still with a smile on her face.