Chapter 15 - The Life She Stayed For|
Three years after the wedding, rain began just before Second Page opened for the day.
Naomi stood inside the window holding a new sign while June tried to decide whether it was crooked.
“A little to the left,” her aunt said.
Naomi moved it.
“Your other left.”
They started laughing before the sign was finally straight.
Below the shop's familiar name, smaller letters announced its repair classes and expanded conservation work.
Naomi had become a partner that spring.
Part of the purchase came from her savings, and part came from the reduced value of her shares after Ward Freight's obligations were settled and its surviving business was sold.
She and June had hired separate advisers, read the agreement, and argued cheerfully about who would handle the bookkeeping.
Every signature on the document belonged to the person whose name appeared beneath it.
June now took Wednesdays off to paint badly by the river.
She insisted she was improving.
Naomi insisted the evidence remained inconclusive.
The old fear still visited occasionally, usually in dreams that placed her back in a beautiful room with no easy way out.
But it no longer organized her days.
She had work she was proud of, friends who knew when she was joking, and an apartment containing more plants than windows.
She was twenty-seven.
There was time to want things she had not yet learned to name.
The legal cases were finished.
The injured workers and Luis Mendoza's family had received the recoveries and restitution ordered from the available assets, though the people involved understood the difference between payment and restoration.
Rosa had accepted a payroll position with the new operator and sent the shop a holiday card every December.
Serena had served thirty months for her part in the fraud after cooperating with investigators.
Through their attorneys, she sent Naomi one final apology before beginning her supervised release.
Naomi acknowledged receiving it and left their relationship there.
Lyall was serving a five-year sentence that reflected both his crimes and his cooperation.
Duly remained in prison, and he had respected the absence of an invitation into Naomi's life.
Edmund sent letters at first, each one describing himself as the person who had lost the most.
Naomi eventually asked that they remain with her attorney.
She did not need to keep reopening them to prove she had survived their author.
Helen still lived nearby.
She worked part time at a community theater and had recently complained about a director who expected everyone to agree with him.
June had laughed so hard she needed to sit down.
Their family dinners were imperfect, smaller than before, and increasingly enjoyable.
At ten, Helen arrived carrying sandwiches for the first repair class.
She kissed Naomi's cheek and asked whether she needed help setting out the chairs.
Naomi said yes.
It had become easier to accept help when it arrived without instructions for the rest of her life.
Among the afternoon customers was Angela Mendoza, carrying a worn photo album.
Her son had graduated from high school, and she wanted to add the photographs without damaging the older pages.
Naomi showed her several options and wrote down the price.
Angela chose one, paid the deposit, and asked how the classes were going.
They talked for ten minutes about ordinary things.
Naomi treasured that more than she could have explained.
After closing, she and June counted the day's receipts beneath the yellow desk lamp.
The business had made enough to pay everyone, cover its bills, and put a little aside.
Naomi locked the shop and stepped into the rain.
She was carrying a bag of leftover sandwiches and a novel someone had insisted she read.
At home, she changed into dry clothes and called a friend about a movie they wanted to see that weekend.
Later, she became so absorbed in the book that she forgot to check the time.
When she finally looked up, the clock read almost two.
She marked her place, rinsed her cup, and turned out the lamp.
There was no ring beside it.
There was no packed bag waiting in the closet.
May you like
Her keys rested in a chipped blue bowl by the door, ready for wherever she chose to go in the morning.
At two in the morning, Naomi slept.
