Olivia Strauss Is Running Out of Time: A Novel by Angela Brown

Author:Angela Brown [Brown, Angela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little A
Published: 2024-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-EIGHT

Olivia, hi!”

I was half concealed behind our bush a few days later, in the hopes of tossing that white box and the lingering what-ifs that had arrived with it. I looked up, surprised to see Annie and her dog, Jack, moving up our driveway.

“Hi, Annie.” I kicked the box back beneath our hedges and looked skeptically at Jack, hoping he wouldn’t leave any surprises on our lawn. “Is something wrong?”

Annie reached into the straw bag that hung from her elbow, her linen shirt hem waving with the breeze. She handed me a bunch of cobalt hydrangeas. “I just wanted to bring you these.”

“Oh.” I accepted the flowers. I’d only spoken to Annie a handful of times. Exchanges about the weather and neighborhood potholes. The only intimate detail I knew about her life was that she lived alone and was probably lonely. “Why?”

She set down her bag. “I thought you might like them.” She peered over my shoulder at our minimal landscaping. “Plus, I get the sense that you don’t have much of a green thumb.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll try not to kill them.”

“You won’t.” A million wrinkles formed across her face. “Enjoy them. They don’t last.”

Back inside, I dropped the hydrangeas into an old vase Andrew had given me after we’d moved into our first apartment. Every few days, I’d stop at the bodega for flowers, which I arranged in an empty marinara jar. Finally, one night, Andrew had presented me with a shopping bag. “What can I say?” he’d said. “The combined fragrance of sunflowers and tomato sauce hasn’t grown on me.” For years, no matter how broke we were, I always kept that vase full.

I set the vase on our island now and looked around. Our house was a perpetual disaster. Piles of paperwork. Toys everywhere. I stepped back. Those flowers felt like a quiet burst of beauty among the chaos. They don’t last long. I didn’t want things to feel so chaotic anymore.

I moved through the room and recycled some old mail. I carried the plastic laundry baskets upstairs and put everything in its right place. I sat on the living room floor and organized a million plastic toys. I grabbed an old tote bag from a drawer and then dumped the contents of my curse jar into it, knowing that Tommy deserved better. I did, too. When I was done, I rinsed the jar out, set it on the counter, and dropped the tote bag onto the pantry floor. It was a start.

Outside, I began to jog up the street in the new sneakers I’d picked up a few days earlier. Before I reached the corner, I saw Suzanne, dressed in her walking clothes. She spotted me, wiped her eyes beneath her sunglasses.

“Hey,” I said as we drew closer. “Are you okay?”

“It’s nothing,” she sniffled. “I’m fine. It’s fine. It’s just . . .” She swatted the air. “I finally got through to them this morning.” She stopped herself, wiped her eyes again.

I looked at her, questioning.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.