Anna
Anna was ecstatic that Rick Erlinger had agreed to give her spring break off. She knew his decision had more to do with Edmond than her, but she was thankful just the same. Okay, it offended her a little when Rick made his comments. He asked her to his office at the end of the workday after she’d put the official request form in his basket.
“I don’t normally approve of office romances,” he said, “but since Edmond is my favorite nephew, I guess I can make an exception.”
She’d been too stunned to respond with anything more than a quiet, “Thank you.”
“But I’ll warn you,” he’d added, “don’t bring it into the workplace, Anna. You’re a good editor and I’d like to keep you around, but if things between you and Edmond should go south, you’ll be the one looking for a new job. You understand that, don’t you?”
She just nodded.
“Okay, then. As long as we’re all on the same page here.”
But as she left the building without even saying good-bye to Edmond, she wondered if this was such a great idea. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Edmond, she did. And if things went south, as Rick had intimated, she knew Edmond would handle it like a gentleman. After all, hadn’t they been through this before? Still, it was a little unsettling to think she might be putting her job on the line. But maybe she was overreacting.
After she got into her car, she called Gil and told him the good news.
“I already know,” he admitted.
“Lelani told you?”
“Yeah, just a little bit ago actually.”
“Did she sound happy about it?” Anna put her key in the ignition. “I realize I wasn’t her first choice.”
“No, she sounded fine. She’s still pretty uneasy about the whole thing in general, but she seemed relieved that you’re going, Anna. And I’m sure you’ll be a comfort to her.”
Anna hoped she’d be comfort to Lelani, but, to be honest, she also hoped that she’d have some fun along the way. After all, it was supposed to be a vacation too. At least she had assumed that was the case when she accepted the invitation. It wasn’t like this was an expenses-paid trip. She’d have to cover her own airfare as well as buy a few things for the week. In fact, she decided to stop by the mall on her way home and do some quick shopping. Anna didn’t usually go overboard with things like clothes and fashion, but for some reason—maybe it was the enthusiastic sales girl in the petites department of Macy’s who kept telling Anna she looked fantastic in everything—Anna walked back to her little Cooper loaded down with bags.
By the time Anna got home, it was just getting dark, but she could still see the remnants of Kendall’s garage sale—the empty tables in the driveway, price lists and signs posted here and there, and garage-sale signs stuck in the yard. The lights to the house were all out, almost as if no one was home. Anna wondered if it was Kendall’s way of saying that the sale was closed for the day.
“What have you been up to?” demanded Kendall when Anna came into the house with all her purchases.
“Shopping,” Anna told her as she struggled to close the front door with her foot.
“For what?” Kendall’s eyes were wide with interest.
“For Maui.” Anna made her way to the stairs now.
“You’re going to Maui too?” demanded Kendall.
Just then Megan emerged from the kitchen with a confused expression. “What?”
“Anna is going to Maui!” cried Kendall. “You’re all going to Maui. Everyone is going to Maui except me!” She had real tears running down her cheeks now.
“You’re going to Maui?” Megan asked Anna.
“Lelani just asked me—”
“That’s right,” said Lelani as she came into the living room. “I was going to tell you, Megan, but the garage sale and—”
“I want to go to Maui too,” sobbed Kendall. “Everyone has a life but me. This is so unfair.” She sank down onto the sectional and continued to cry.
“So Anna is going too?” Megan asked Lelani.
Then Lelani quickly explained about her unexpected lunch with Anna. “And I just felt so sure that it wasn’t going to work for you, Megan, that I went ahead and asked Anna.”
Anna couldn’t read Megan’s expression. It was either hurt or anger, or maybe both.
“But if it works out for you to go,” Lelani said, “it’s okay. There’s room for three of us in my parents’ guesthouse.”
“There’s room for three of you,” cried Kendall. “But not four? You won’t even invite me to come with you too?”
“Don’t worry, Kendall,” said Megan. “I’m not going either. It’s just going to be Anna and Lelani. Don’t get all worked up for nothing.”
“But I want to go too,” protested Kendall.
“Cynthia said no?” Lelani asked Megan.
“Cynthia is still in Astoria. Something went wrong and she’ll be there until tomorrow. But Vera continues to assure me that I will not be getting spring break off.”
“I’m sorry,” said Lelani. “I really wish—”
“But if there’s room for three,” said Kendall hopefully, “why can’t I go with you and Anna?”
Lelani looked perplexed.
“Because you’re broke?” tried Megan.
“Not anymore,” proclaimed Kendall. “And this was just the first day of the sale.”
“Even so—”
“You’re not the boss of me,” snapped Kendall. “If Lelani wants me to go to Maui with her, I can go. Right, Lelani?”
Lelani’s dark eyes were wide. “I, uh, I don’t—”
“No, you can’t go,” Anna told Kendall.
“Why?” demanded Kendall.
“For one thing, Lelani hasn’t invited you to go. For another thing, like Megan said, you cannot afford to go, Kendall. You need to pay your bills with that garage sale money.”
“That’s right,” agreed Megan.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Anna puffed as she trudged upstairs, “I need to put these things away.”
The three of them continued to talk as Anna hauled her purchases to her room to unpack and hang up and admire. Then she went online and began to shop for an airline ticket. To her shock and dismay, they were really expensive, about twice what she had available in her bank account. Anna had a Visa card that her parents had gotten for her in college, but they had always warned her that it was strictly for emergencies. She had heeded that warning and only used it a couple of times. She pulled the card out of her wallet only to discover that it had actually expired just a few weeks ago. Since the card had been sent to her parents’ address, she suspected that replacement cards had probably been sent there too.
She called her mom, although Anna wasn’t eager to explain that she and Edmond would be in Maui with Gil and Lelani. So she simply inquired as to whether any mail for the credit card had come to them.
“As you know, your father takes care of those things,” her mom told her.
“Is Dad there?”
“No. But, tell me, Anna, why this sudden interest in that credit card? I know how you hate credit, mi’ja. Surely you’re not having an emergency, are you?”
“No, Mom, it’s not an emergency exactly.”
“Not exactly? But perhaps a little?”
So Anna told her mother about Maui.
“Oh, Anna.” Her mother’s voice was laced in disappointment. It was the same tone she had used when Anna was ten and came home with grass stains on her pale-blue party dress after a birthday gathering where all the other girls had been wearing pants—just like Anna had told her mother they would be.
“What?” demanded Anna. “What is wrong with that?”
“Gil told me.”
“Told you what?”
“That he and Edmond are going to Maui for spring break too. Certainly you’re not going to Maui with your boyfriend for a week, mi’ja. What would people say?”
“Of course, I’m not going with Edmond, Mom. I’m going with Lelani.”
“Lelani?”
“Yes. Didn’t Gil tell you she was going?” Even as Anna said this, she knew she was in trouble—again.
“No, Gil told me he was going with Edmond. Is that not true?”
“Yes, it’s true, Mom. Gil is going with Edmond.”
“And you are going with Lelani?”
Anna didn’t answer.
“My children must both think I am a fool.”
“No, we don’t.”
Anna’s mother started talking in Spanish. Rapid Spanish.
“It’s not like you think, Mama,” Anna said loudly. “Really. I am staying at Lelani’s parents’ house with Lelani. They are very old-fashioned—”
“Old-fashioned? Their daughter has a child out of wedlock and that’s old-fashioned?”
“Mama, what about Alicia?” Anna reminded her.
“Yes, yes. But that’s different.”
“How is that different?”
“Alicia and whatever his name is finally got married.”
“A year after the baby was born, Mama? How is that different?”
“It’s different because they were not my children.”
“Oh, Mama!”
Her mother launched into more Spanish, and Anna was tempted to shout a quick good-bye and hang up, but she knew she needed that credit card.
“Mama,” Anna pleaded loudly. “You need to understand that it’s not like you think. Lelani and I will be at her parents’ and Gil and Edmond will be at a hotel—probably on the other side of the island. It’s no different than how we’re living here. Can’t you see that?”
There was a short stint of silence now, and her mother finally sighed. “If I could only be sure.”
“Why can’t you just trust your own children, Mama?”
“I do, but I know boys will be boys, and girls will be girls, and I was young once.”
“Aha,” said Anna. “That explains everything. Maybe I should ask Abuela about your youth?”
“Speaking of Abuela, Anna, are you and Edmond coming to the farewell dinner Sunday night?”
“Maybe.” Anna thought this might be her ticket.
“Maybe?”
“Here’s the deal, Mama. I need that credit card to pay for my airfare to Maui. Can you ask Dad if he has it? If not, maybe you can loan me the money.”
“You’re asking me to loan you money for a trip to a tropical island with your boyfriend, mi’ja? Do you think I’m a fool?”
“No.” Anna’s voice grew hard now.
“We’ll talk Sunday, Anna. I have much to do.”
“But I need to book the flight now,” said Anna desperately. “The rates go up daily and there might not even be any flights left if—”
“Don’t talk to me about this anymore, Anna.”
“But, Mama—”
“Anna!”
“Fine. Good-bye, Mother.” Anna hung up and stormed downstairs, where Kendall, Megan, and Lelani were still talking about Maui and why Kendall needed to let it go. Not that they were having any luck.
“What’s wrong with little Anna?” Kendall asked her in a snide tone. “For someone who’s going to Maui, you sure don’t look very happy.”
“Maybe I’m not going to Maui,” Anna snapped at Kendall.
“But you got the time off,” Megan reminded her.
Anna looked at Megan, then shook her head. “Sure, I got the time off. But I just found out my Visa card expired and my mom refuses to help me with it.”
Kendall actually laughed now. “So Anna’s got the time off, but no money. And Megan’s got the money, but no time off.”
“And your point is?” asked Lelani.
Kendall reached for the tin box on the coffee table and opened it up to show a big pile of bills. “My point is that I’ve got the time off, and I will soon have the money.” She waved the wad of bills at Lelani. “Pick me! Please, please, pick me!”
Lelani looked like she was on the verge of tears or a nervous breakdown. She held up her hands. “I can’t even think right now.” Then she turned and went to her room as Kendall continued to beg her.
“Please, Lelani,” she called out. “You won’t be sorry. I’m great on vacations and I promise that I’ll be—”
“Don’t you see that you’re driving us all bonkers?” Megan told Kendall. “Can you please give it a rest?”
“Okay.” Kendall straightened up her money and put it back in the tin. “I’ll give it a rest for now. But when this garage sale is over, and when I’ve sold my things on eBay and at the consignment shop, and when I’ve paid down my bills, if I still have money left over, I think Lelani should take me to Maui.”
“How about you let Lelani decide,” said Megan quietly. “Now if you’ll excuse me.”
And then it was just Anna and Kendall in the living room, although Anna wanted to make a getaway too. But before she could, Kendall turned to her.
“I know how you can make some money, Anna.”
Anna knew she should know better, but she bit anyway. “How?”
“You can sell some of your things at my garage sale.”
Anna couldn’t believe she was actually considering this. “What kind of things?”
“Like anything you have that someone might want to buy.” Kendall pointed to her money box. “It’s easy.”
“Maybe for you. I don’t think—”
“Hey, how about if I make a deal with you.” Kendall got a sly look now.
“What kind of deal?”
“If you’ll work the garage sale for me, I’ll give you a piece of the action.”
“What action?”
“You know, I’ll give you a cut. Like, how about 10 percent?”
Anna frowned. “That probably won’t add up to much.”
“Okay.” Kendall’s mouth twisted like she was thinking. “The truth is I’m not really into the selling part of this garage sale. I mean it’s no fun bickering with people over my stuff. Everyone keeps wanting me to lower the prices and I think they’re getting some serious bargains. I mean when was the last time you saw a pair of barely worn Prada boots for ninety bucks?”
Anna shrugged. Really, why was she even having this conversation?
“Okay, I’ll give you 20 percent to work the sale for me, Anna. But that’s my final offer. And if you’d been doing it today, you’d have a nice fat wad of cash right now.”
Anna considered this. “Okay. 20 percent.”
“But you have to promise to work all day Saturday and Sunday. Okay?”
“Okay.” Anna was desperate.
“And you have to be ready to open at 7:30 a.m., like the ad in the paper says. Megan told me we’ll lose some of the best customers if we don’t open early. And she won’t come down to help out until around nine.”
Suddenly Anna wasn’t so sure. “Seven thirty on a Saturday feels pretty early.”
“Take it or leave it.”
Anna sighed, but she did agree. And then they shook on it.
“Really, Anna, you should go look through your things. You’d be surprised at the kinds of junk people will buy at a garage sale.”
Anna was pretty sure that was an insult, but the idea of possibly earning enough money for her airline ticket without having to go to her parents was good motivation. So she went through her drawers and closet, slowly making a pile that steadily grew, of anything she knew she didn’t need and wouldn’t miss. In a way it was fun getting rid of some things, kind of like a real spring cleaning. Now if only this stuff could transform itself into a ticket to Maui.