Color of Forgiveness (22 page)

Myra laughs again. “All right… I’ll see you
soon.”

Dylan grins as he tucks his phone back into
his pocket, happy that he fixed that little problem. Ray won’t get
the opportunity to be an ass.

But when he pulls into Myra’s driveway, he
frowns when he sees her standing in the driveway, facing the garage
with her garage door opener in her hand. “What the hell?” he
mumbles. She turns around at the sound of his truck, a startled
look on her face.

Throwing his truck into park, he quickly
jumps out. “What’s wrong?” he asks as she walks towards him.

“I can’t get the garage door to open for
some reason,” she says, obviously frustrated as she hands him the
opener. “I can hear it turning on, and it’ll move about an inch,
but that’s it.”

“
Goddamn it
,” he mumbles as he hears
Ray slamming his truck door behind him. “Do you have the key to the
side door?”

“Yeah,” she says as she sticks her hand in
her pocket and pulls out her keys, handing them to him.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the beautiful
Miss Myra looking even more gorgeous than the last time I saw you,”
Ray says from behind him. “I didn’t think it was possible for you
to get any prettier, but you’ve somehow done it, Beautiful.” Dylan
can just envision Ray’s nasty eyes moving up and down Myra’s body;
the body that is his and his alone. His jaw clamps down, and his
hands curl into fists.

“Go into the house,” he says in a low voice
to Myra through clenched teeth.

Reaching up on her tiptoes, she kisses Dylan
softly on the lips before walking towards the house. “Hi, Ray,” she
says quietly with a nod.

Dylan turns around to face Ray with a smug
smile on his face.

“Well, damn,” Ray says, shaking his head.
“You are one lucky son of a bitch, you know that?”

“Damn right I am.”

Ray looks down at the garage door opener in
his hand. “So what’s going on?”

“Her garage door won’t open,” Dylan says as
turns and walks to the side of her garage. It doesn’t take them
long to determine that the spring on the garage door has broken.
They manually lift it, move Myra’s car and unload the trucks.

“So what was wrong with the disposal at that
old woman’s house?” Dylan asks as he pulls out his checkbook to
write Ray a check.

“The old hag blew it up with all the shit
she put down it. I think she was just missing you and wanted to
answer the door in her Victoria’s Secret thong this time around
instead of her towel,” Ray says before busting out laughing.

“You’re an asshole,” Dylan mumbles as he
shoves a check at him.

“Damn right I am,” Ray says with a grin as
he holds up the check and stares at it proudly.

* * *

“Are you ready to take a break for lunch?”
Dylan hears Myra ask as he lies inside a cabinet on his stomach,
attaching the cabinet to the wall with a drill.

“What time is it?” he grunts.

“It’s almost one.”

“Yeah… let me finish this,” he mumbles.

“Okay. I’ll start the sandwiches.”

After finishing bolting the cabinet to the
wall, he scoots himself out of it and stands. He stifles a groan as
a sharp pain shoots through his lower back. “Do I have time for a
smoke?”

“Sure,” Myra says with a nod.

As he walks towards his truck, he lights up
a cigarette. Dropping the tailgate, a grimace crosses his face when
he sits down. He pulls out his phone and stares at it for a long
time while he smokes.

After studying his phone for a few more
minutes, he sighs loudly and runs his hand through his hair. He
does an internet search for therapists in Boise and grabs his
clipboard off of the passenger seat and jots down a phone number.
Then he dials it.

“Boise Behavioral Health Associates… This is
Darcy. How may I help you?”

“Uh…” he mumbles before clearing his throat.
“I want to make an appointment.”

“I can certainly help you with that. Are you
re-scheduling? Or is this a first-time appointment?”

“First time…”

“Okay. Great. Is this appointment for
yourself or…?”

“Yeah, myself...”

She then proceeds to ask for his name and
personal information.

“We have four psychologists on staff here.
Did you have a preference for anyone in particular?”

“No.”

“What did you need to be seen for? That way
I can pair you up with the right doctor. Anxiety? Depression?
Grief?”

“Grief.”

“Okay. Let me look at the schedule… we did
have a cancellation so we have an opening on Wednesday at 1:00
o’clock. Would that work for you?”

He takes in a deep breath. “Yeah, I
guess.”

“Great. We’ll see you on Wednesday at
one.”

Dylan finishes his cigarette, wishing like
hell that he’d called somewhere with a six-month waiting list. He
heads back into the house and sits down at the table. Myra sets a
plate in front of him. “Is tea okay?” she asks.

“Yeah... I wanted to tell you that I… well,
I made an appointment, to talk to someone.”

She turns towards him, her mouth dropping
open slightly. “You did?”

“Yeah, on Wednesday… someone cancelled. It’s
in Boise.”

“That’s wonderful, Dylan,” she says as a
beautiful smile spreads across her face. She walks back over to him
and hugs him, and it makes him feel good, like he did something
right for a change.

* * *

“Myra, I cannot
wait
to tell you what
I did today,” Susie says before squealing giddily.

“You didn’t get fired, did you?”

“
No.
Today, I am no longer Susan. I
am She-ra,” she says in a Conan-the-Barbarian-type voice. “I
toppled Trent. I toasted Trent’s testicles. Me gots my revenge,”
she says with a maniacal laugh. “Oh my god, I have so much to tell
you that I don’t even know where to start. I taped the whole thing
so I’ll send you a copy of it later. You know how Trent always
walks into his office and takes off his shoes by the door like a
little pussy?”

“Yeah, I hated that he did that.”

“Well, I flipped over his chair mat so that
the pointy side was up. Have you ever felt the underside of one of
those things?”

“No.”

“It’s like a bed of razor sharp nails. So he
took off his shoes and stomped on that mat and screamed like a
little sissy girl.” Susie laughs so hard she starts wheezing. Myra
doesn’t want to laugh, but can’t help it and joins her. “Oh, god,”
Susie moans, still laughing like a hyena. “I’m killing myself. And
then he jumped about a foot in the air. It was the funniest thing
I’ve ever seen. Wait till you see the video. So he turned the mat
over and sat down. But I had put a thick layer of Vaseline all over
the arms of his chair so he put both arms right smack dab in it. Oh
my god, it was priceless. And you know how anal he is about having
everything in his desk drawers being perfect?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, Lori loaned me the master key so I
could open his desk. I took everything out and put it in different
drawers and mixed everything up so he wouldn’t be able to find
anything. Then for the finale… you know that stupidass tray of sand
he keeps on his desk with that little rake?”

Myra hums in acknowledgement.

“I buried two of Goony’s turds in it,” Susie
says before busting out laughing hysterically.

“That’s awful. You could get fired for
that.”

“Oh no, Lori’s got my back. It was so
freaking awesome. I actually feel vindicated. I’ll send you the
video later. You should’ve seen the list of evil I had to begin
with. Lori made me
majorly
tone it down. So how was your
day? Did your romantic tool man get started on your cabinets?”

“Yeah, but the spring on my garage door
broke so now he’s going to have to fix that too. I can’t believe
how much is going wrong with this house. It’s so frustrating. He
did get a couple of the cabinets put in today. He said it would
take him a couple more days to get all of them done.”

“Does he have someone helping him?”

“No.”

“Well, how in the world is he doing that,
especially the top cabinets? How can he hold it and drill it at the
same time? And yes, my mind went straight to the gutter when I said
that,” Susie says with a snort.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.
He said he could use 2 x 4’s to brace them and install them that
way.”

“Ah, so he’s hunky and has a brain as well.
I like that. Well, Jeff’s home so I have to go break out the Chef
Boyardee dude that’s hiding inside me and scrounge some supper
together. I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Okay.”

“And I’ll send you the video so you can
laugh your ass off. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Myra smiles and shakes her
head as she hangs up the phone.

* * *

Fuck,
Dylan mouths when Elaina hits a
particularly sore area on his back.

“Sorry,” she murmurs. “You’re back is not
good,
mi querido
. What have you been doing?”

Dylan grimaces and takes in a deep breath.
“I loaded and unloaded a bunch of kitchen cabinets today then
started installing them. It was a lot of lifting.”

Elaina makes a clucking sound. “That’s only
going to aggravate your condition. I know you don’t want to hear
this, but you should try to stay away from lifting as much as you
possibly can.”

Dylan just grunts and ignores her. This’s
just part of his job; he’ll have to deal with the pain.

“So how did your friend’s date go?” Elaina
asks.

“Good.”

“What did he end up doing?”

“Well, he’s kind of a slob so he cleaned up
his house, and he tried cooking for her even though he can’t. It
didn’t go so well, but she didn’t seem to care. And they talked. He
shared some shit with her that was hard for him to talk about.”

“Sounds like he did a lot of work for their
date; I’m sure she found his gestures to be quite lovely.”

“Well, my friend… he said that when he
talked to this girl that night, he found out they don’t want the
same things.”

“What do you mean?”

“They talked about marriage and kids. My
friend, well, he doesn’t want any of that because he had some bad
shit happen to him before… but this girl, she wants that and
deserves it.”

“Well, that certainly is a dilemma. Maybe
your friend just doesn’t know that he wants those things yet—”

Dylan interrupts her. “
No
. He knows
he doesn’t want those things,” he says before letting out a long
sigh. “He had them once… and lost them.”

Elaina’s hands freeze. The room is quiet for
a moment before she clears her throat.

“I’m so sorry that your friend had to go
through something as terrible as that. I lost my precious Luis so I
understand more than most. But I think your friend is forgetting
something very important. Just because he lost something precious
doesn’t mean that he can’t ever have that again. What if the second
time around is better than the first? What if it’s more than he
could have ever expected?”

Dylan doesn’t respond, but he knows Elaina
doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about. He could never be
happier than he was when Mel was alive. Nothing could ever compare
to experiencing his first child being born, his
son
. Nothing
could ever compete with that moment; the moment he became a father
for the first time. Nothing.

* * *

“I’ve got you down for six o’clock on
Wednesday,” Elaina says as she jots down the appointment in her
calendar. “Make sure to alternate between ice and heat tonight and
get some rest, okay… doc’s orders.”

Dylan grumbles under his breath as he leaves
her house. Just as he climbs into his truck, his phone rings. He
groans and rolls his eyes when he sees the caller ID.

“Yeah?” he answers gruffly.

“Dylan, how are you?” his mom asks
happily.

“I’m still mad at you.”

She snickers. “Well, you can pout all you
want, son, but I did what I thought was right.”

“How could you show up like that? You
could’ve scared Myra off for good.”

“Did it scare her off?”

“It
could
have.”

Sherri laughs lightly. “I’m sorry that I
didn’t consult with you before I showed up, but we both know you
would’ve said no and thrown a hissy fit if I had. Dylan, Myra seems
like such a sweet, wonderful girl. She’s absolutely lovely. I can’t
wait to get to know her better. When you said she didn’t have any
family, I just knew that I needed to come meet her. It breaks my
heart to think of someone not having any family especially since my
family is so special and important to me. I have such a great
feeling about her. She’s going to be so good for you. You need
this. You need her.”

“Yeah. Whatever…”

“I can’t wait until Easter; I’ve already
started planning the menu.”

“I’m sure you have.”

“Just so you know I’m going to redo the
spare bedroom. I’m going to repaint it, get new bedding, the whole
works that way you two can stay in there because I’m assuming you
wouldn’t want to stay in your old room since you and Sabrina…”

“I think we should just stay in a
hotel.”

“Nonsense... you’re staying with us. I
insist and I’m not budging on this one.”

He sighs heavily. “Fine…”

“Good. I’m glad we got that settled. Is
everything else going okay?”

“Yeah...”

“Great. Things are only going to get better
for you, sweetheart. Myra’s going to help you with that, I just
know it. Well, I’ll let you go. I love you.”

“Yeah,” he says, clearing his throat. “I
love you too.”

After hanging up, he tucks his phone back in
his pocket. He starts his truck and heads home with a lot of things
on his mind.

* * *

Myra pulls the covers up over her legs and
sets her laptop in her lap. It seems like forever since she did any
writing. Quickly re-reading the last few pages of what she last
wrote, she stares off to the side as she tries to gather her
thoughts. After a few minutes, she begins typing.