*
“Damn,” Faith muttered Saturday morning, breaking her own rule about cursing. But she had every reason to after looking out the kitchen window and seeing nothing but a cloudless blue sky and copious amounts of bright sunshine. The weathermen had been teasing all week about a possible low pressure system heading into the area and threatening outdoor plans for the weekend, but as usual, they got it all wrong. It was going to be a picture perfect summer day, well-suited to outdoor activities.
Double damn.
Her trepidation had only increased since talking to Kieran, a sense of unease that left her slightly anxious and tense. She really didn’t like these kinds of things to begin with, and generally avoided social gatherings as much as possible. It wasn’t a hard thing to do when you worked full time and were singularly responsible for a child. Down in Georgia folks had become so accustomed to her declining such invitations that they eventually stopped asking.
But this wasn’t Georgia. And maybe, just maybe, some very tiny part of her actually wanted to feel like she belonged somewhere.
It wasn’t like she was going to join the Ladies’ Auxiliary or the Holy Name Society or anything. But it might be nice to know the names and faces of her neighbors. Elsa Campbell had hinted that they tended to look out for one another up here, and that might not be such a bad thing.
Besides Kieran and some of his family, the only other people she’d met had been the mailman and Elsa, and that was because Elsa had tenaciously shown up on her doorstep several times. First as the self-proclaimed “Welcome Wagon” lady for the area, and afterwards to offer a few personal invitations to various events. The informal barbecue at Elsa’s seemed the most innocuous choice; Elsa had assured her that it was only for neighborhood residents and would be an understated, casual affair.
With a sigh, she slipped on her simple white cotton print sundress and a pair of Earth Spirits. Matt looked every bit as unhappy as she was to be going, but he had at least dressed in one of his nicer pairs of shorts and a clean short-sleeved shirt.
Elsa accepted Faith’s contributions graciously – a massive bowl of southern-style potato salad and a pan of Mississippi mud brownies (sans ipecac or Matt’s suggestion of chocolate Ex-lax) – and ushered them through her house and out on to the patio. Faith’s heart immediately dropped when she saw the crowd assembled around the in-ground pool. At least half of them were young to middle-aged men, and nearly all of them were looking her way with interest.
She squeezed Matt’s hand so hard he grunted. “Leave me and I’ll take you grocery shopping every day for a month,” she whispered in warning.
In the first hour alone, Faith had been introduced to several “available” men. One of them was a gym teacher at the high-school, though after checking out Matt’s height and build he was as interested in Matt’s athletic inclinations as he was in Faith.
There was the bagger who worked at the Weis’ market in town, nearing forty and still living with and caring for his mother (which, Elsa pointed out, proved that he was a good man).
The absolute worst had to be the divorced butcher, nearly as round as he was wide, whose breath reeked of garlic and dill spice.
There was the bookish-looking accountant that seemed nearly as embarrassed as she was. If worse came to worse, she decided, she would move towards him, especially since he confided quietly to her that he was, in fact, gay.
Somehow, Faith retained a pleasant smile and managed to nod in the appropriate places, but her head was already beginning to throb with what had the potential to become a migraine. She wondered exactly how long she’d have to stay before their departure would no longer seem rude.
Matt, at least, was fairing better than she was. He recognized a couple of boys who also took Mixed Martial Arts classes at BodyWorks, and gravitated toward them. Shortly thereafter, the boys were joined by several young girls, who were naturally drawn to the “new kid”. Faith watched in fascination as her son smiled shyly and nodded, hands in pockets, at something the pretty brunette said.
He was a good-looking kid, she thought with no small measure of pride, though she wasn’t quite sure she was ready for the boy-girl stage yet. On the plus side, he was meeting kids he’d be going to school with in another few weeks, and Faith knew how much of a difference even one friendly face could make. They seemed like good kids, too, which helped ease some of her worry.