A Good Winter by Gigi Fenster

Author:Gigi Fenster
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
Published: 2021-07-25T00:00:00+00:00

18

Someone else in my position might have been upset when the warm weather started arriving. Someone really crazy might have associated the arrival of summer with Lara’s return to work and the end of intimate times. A complete lunatic like that greenhaired girl might have thought that the end of winter would bring the end of the friendship between Lara and me.

That green-haired girl might have read a whole lot into the reports that it was going to be a hot summer. She would have got herself all worked up when the swimming pool opened early. Someone like that green-haired girl might have got herself all worked up about the friendship with Lara being a winter fling. Something that would melt away in the summer.

I am not that green-haired girl. I am not a complete lunatic. I know that friendships are not seasonal. Not true friendships.

Summer or not, I had no reason to believe that our friendship was in jeopardy. Lara was working part-time only. I had my Tuesdays with Michael.

Lara used to come straight home from work then. She’d come straight home and park the car in the garage because it wasn’t going out again that day. I’d hear the garage door and know that she was home, and I’d have my door open when she came past so she could say hi and we could arrange to go past Sophie’s. Sometimes she wanted to shower first. Sometimes she said she was too tired to go. But that was okay. Sometimes she said she had other arrangements, and I didn’t mind. Why should I mind?

We still went to Sophie’s often enough. We’d walk there and Lara would tell me about her day at work. When we got to Sophie’s, she’d tell the stories again, but I didn’t mind. They were funny stories. About the people at the office and all the gossip and the nonsense they wanted to put in the newsletter. She was funny, and her colleagues sounded like a bunch of very stupid people.

Lara would describe some of the stupid things they did, and I’d think, Those people are really not up to Lara’s standard, and I’d marvel at how she managed to go there and do her work without wanting to smack someone. I don’t think she even felt the urge to smack them—that’s how separate from them she kept herself. She kept herself separate and she looked down on them and turned them into funny stories. She made me and Sophie laugh with those stories. She’d tell her stories and have a glass of wine.

I didn’t drink wine. I kept my hands free so I could hold Michael.

I suppose those early summer evenings were also nice. Not as nice as the winter by the fire, but still nice. Michael would sit on my lap or crawl about. Sometimes I’d bath him while they chatted. I didn’t mind bathing him while they chatted. I told Lara I didn’t mind.

Sometimes Lara would come into the bathroom.

Her arms, under the water, were soft and flowing, like a mermaid’s.

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