On The Texas Border

Earl was the son of her mother’s sister and five years older than Abby. They weren’t close, but they were family. Earl was the proverbial mama’s boy. He had never married and still lived with his mother. People teased him that he got his law degree through correspondence school because his mother wouldn’t allow him to leave home. In actual fact, he’d commuted to college and now he was the only lawyer in this small town. She couldn’t imagine why he’d never broken free and gone to a bigger city, but then, understanding Earl wasn’t one of her top priorities.

Before Abby could enter Earl’s office, her friend Brenda came out of her beauty shop next door. They embraced.

“It was so good seeing everyone the other night, wasn’t it?” Brenda asked, referring to the school reunion. Abby had reluctantly attended. Brenda’s brown hair had blond highlights and hung in a soft style around her face, which enhanced her brown eyes.

“Yes, it was,” Abby admitted, glad she hadn’t lost touch with her friends from high school.

“I can’t believe we’re all still around here. You’re the only one who ventured to the big city chasing that dream of yours.”

Abby brushed her hair back. “Well, the dream blew up in my face.”

“You’re not the first one of us to get a divorce. Candy, Deb and Miles have one behind them, and Barry’s on wife number three. Luckily, Stuart and I are still together.” Brenda and Stuart had been sweethearts since eighth grade and they’d married right out of high school. Brenda had gone to beauty school, and Stuart had taken a job at Brewster Farms.

“Sometimes, just sometimes,” Brenda continued, “after a day in the shop and running kids here and there, then going home to cleaning and cooking, I wonder what it would be like to have a life like yours.”

Abby smiled. “Not nearly as fulfilling as yours. Being a wife and mother has to be very rewarding.”

“I tell myself that, but when Stuart’s out with the guys or working late for Jonas, I get a little put out.” Brenda glanced at her watch. “I’ve got to go. My youngest has an earache, and I have to get her to the doctor. You have to come and have dinner with us one night. You won’t believe how the kids have grown.”

“I will—just call me.”

“Okay,” Brenda shouted as she hurried to her van.

Abby stood for a moment lost in thought. There was something about coming home and seeing old friends that made one look back. No matter what choices she’d made in life, those friends and times would always be a part of her. Like Brenda, she wondered what her life would have been like if she’d made different decisions. She, too, had wanted to be a wife and mother, but only after she had established her career and was able to enjoy a family. Now, she wondered if it was too late.

ABBY WALKED SLOWLY into Earl’s office, which was two rooms in an old building on the main strip in downtown Hope. Not that Hope had much of a downtown—a bank, grocery store, a couple of gas stations, a school, several churches and the clinic and hospital that Mr. Brewster had built with his own money so there would be some medical services in the area. Hope was just a stop in the road before the international bridge, but it was home.

There wasn’t a secretary, so Abby went through to Earl’s office. He was in his chair reading a newspaper, his feet propped on the edge of his desk. The paper covered his face, but his bald head glistened under the fluorescent lights.

“Good morning, Earl,” she said brightly, and pulled a chair forward.

Earl swung his feet to the floor and laid the paper aside. Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, he replied, “Abby, I was thinking of dropping by to see you.”

“You were?” She was thrown for a second. Earl wasn’t much of a conversationalist.

“Yeah, I need a woman’s opinion.”

“On what?”

He fidgeted with a pencil on his desk. “Well…I met this woman and I’m…I’m crazy about her.” All the while he talked he looked at the pencil, not at Abby.

“That’s great, Earl.”

Shyly, he raised his green eyes. “You think so?”

“Earl.” She sighed. “Have you looked at your driver’s license lately?”

He frowned. “What?”

“Look at the date of birth. It will tell you that you’re way overdue for a serious relationship.”

“Aw, shucks, Abby, it’s not that simple.”

“Why not?”

“Because Mother doesn’t know I’ve been seeing Carol. She lives in McAllen and works for an attorney. I’ve been helping him with legal matters in the valley, and Carol and I…well, you know.” His face actually glowed a vivid pink.

“I don’t see a problem,” Abby said.

“Mother doesn’t know I’ve been seeing her,” he repeated.

“Still don’t see a problem.”

“Carol has a five-year-old daughter.”

Big problem. Aunt Sybil was going to have a fit.

“If you care for this woman and the child, tell Aunt Sybil and don’t give her a chance to talk you out of it. Just do it, like the saying goes.”

“You see things so realistically, but I’m all that Mother has and I—”

“Earl, you talk as if Aunt Sybil is in her eighties. She’s fifty-nine and teaches school. She drives and plays bridge on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It’s not like she’s housebound and depends on you for everything.”

“But—”

“And she’s not alone. She has a brother, a sister and other relatives that live in Hope.”

“Yes, yes, she does.” Earl was gaining confidence. “She might even like Carol and her daughter.”

“That’s it, Earl, go for the brass ring or the gold ring or whatever the hell it’s called. Go for it.”

He smiled weakly. “You’re good for my ego.”

She scooted forward. “Good, because I came in here for a favor.”

“Need a lawyer, huh?”

“Something like that,” she admitted, and told him what she wanted him to do. His eyes grew bigger and bigger, and any minute she thought they would pop out onto his desk. He finally pulled out a handkerchief and wiped sweat from his forehead.

“I don’t know, Abby, I don’t like going against Brewster.”

“You won’t be going against him,” she assured him. “You’ll just be helping me.”

“I don’t know.”

“I promise that Simon Brewster won’t annihilate you.”

“You can’t promise that.”