Friends and Lovers by Calhoun Jackie

Author:Calhoun, Jackie [Calhoun, Jackie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Lesbian, Romance
ISBN: 9781562800413
Google: RdLQAAAACAAJ
Amazon: 1562800418
Goodreads: 1661307
Publisher: Naiad Pr
Published: 1993-01-01T13:00:00+00:00

VIII

The house on Grove Street became a cause for Danny. She spent many nights there working during the long evening hours — removing wallpaper and washing walls, painting and repainting, sanding down woodwork and staining. She worked with Chris and Kara and sometimes Maureen. Michael and Tony and Kevin and Mark were usually in some other part of the house.

Kara put up wallpaper, meticulous in measuring and cutting, yet able to do a large room in a day. She sang to the tunes on the radio as she worked.

Maureen, when she showed up, usually trimmed with paint or stain. As she dabbed at walls or woodwork, she chewed on her tongue and scowled in concentration. Chris and Danny rolled paint onto ceilings and walls with long strokes, first one direction then the other. As they covered large areas quickly, they bantered with each other and whomever was nearby. Sometimes the conversation took a serious turn, but not for long.

Chris and Danny played tennis before work twice a week, then usually returned to the house on Grove Street in the evening to continue their renovation. It was during one of these evenings that Michael brought Tracy and Kim to Danny, who thought at first he was just coming to sit on the floor and talk, as he often did.

“Hola, ladies. You have visitors.”

Danny looked down from the board stretched between two ladders and nearly lost her balance. Paint dripped from the roller onto the two-by-eight on which she stood, and she dropped to a sitting position. “Tracy, is something wrong?”

“No. Kim and I were playing tennis and I wanted to see where you went nights.”

Danny introduced the two girls, and Michael took Tracy’s hand between his and held it a moment. “You’ve missed your mother, haven’t you? She’s been a godsend to me.”

Chris set down the roller to wipe her hands on her shorts, so that she could shake their hands.

“Want to see the house?” Michael asked. Danny knew he loved showing off the place. Each time, he said, he saw it through someone else’s eyes and gained some new perspective. He looked bizarre, she thought, rather like a Raggedy Andy scarecrow.

Tracy hesitated, then said quickly, “Sure. But Mom, I came to tell you I’m going to work at McDonald’s starting tomorrow, me and Kim.”

“What?” Danny frowned. “You should have talked to me first.”

“I’m seventeen, Mom. Everyone works. Even Grandma.”

“Since when does Grandma work?”

“She started at the IGA last week. You just haven’t been home long enough to find out.”

“Why didn’t she tell me?”

“I don’t know. That’s all she talks about, who did what where. She picks it up at the store.”

Danny felt like an unobservant lout, so wrapped up in her own doings that she failed to see what those closest to her were up to. She warned, “Once school starts you’ll have to quit.”

“Maybe.” Tracy sidled toward the door where Michael and Kim waited.

“Not maybe, kiddo.”

“All the kids at school work.”

“You’re not all the kids. School is work, your most important job.

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