Where Azaleas Bloom

“I’ll do my best,” Noelle promised, then regarded Lynn apologetically. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help.”

“You helped enough,” Lynn assured her.

Back in her car, she found herself trembling for the second time that day. No matter how strongly she felt that she was owed much more than that two hundred dollars, she couldn’t help thinking that she’d turned into a thief. That’s what this divorce was doing to her.

Then she thought of her kids and squared her shoulders. She’d done what she had to do and if anyone should be ashamed of their behavior these days, it was Ed. And she’d tell him exactly that if he had the audacity to make an issue of this.

* * *

Even with the promise of another paycheck soon and the money she’d stolen from petty cash in her purse, Lynn couldn’t bring herself to go on a spending splurge at the grocery store. Who knew what other crises might arise before Ed finally paid up the way he was supposed to?

She left the store with two small sacks of groceries and a heavy heart. This would barely get them through the weekend, and then what? A couple of hundred dollars seemed like a fortune, but it wouldn’t last long. It would barely cover the electric bill, much less make any dent in the overdue mortgage.

After putting the few pitiful purchases into the refrigerator and pantry, she knew she had to do something more to address the situation. Not even another paycheck was going to solve things, not with interest and late fees adding up on their bills. Reluctantly, she picked up the phone and called Helen.

“The support check hasn’t come again,” she told the attorney. “I just spent practically the last dime I have on enough groceries to get us through the next couple of days.” She drew in a deep breath, then confessed, “I actually resorted to taking money from petty cash in Ed’s office. I know it’s theft, but what was I supposed to do, Helen? Let my kids starve?”

Helen uttered an epithet that would have blistered Ed’s ears had she said it in court. “Look, I can’t very well condone stealing, but let’s pretend you never told me about that. Believe me, I get how desperate you must have been to resort to that.”

“It’s not going to make a dent in the bills,” Lynn said in frustration. “But it will cover groceries for a couple of weeks and one or two other things, if I pinch every penny.”

“I’ll stop by with a check before the day’s out,” Helen promised her. “And before you say no, believe me, I will get it back from Ed, even if I have to take it out of his sorry hide!”

Lynn smiled. “I want to be there for that,” she said. “Just anticipating it will be the one huge bright spot in my life.”

“What about those bills you mentioned?” Helen asked. “Are you managing? Is Ed covering what he’s supposed to be covering—the mortgage payment, the utilities?”

Lynn drew in a deep breath, then told her, “I just got a notice from the bank. They haven’t received the last two house payments. They’re threatening to foreclose. The electric company has given me two weeks to pay or they’ll disconnect service.”

“That scum!” Helen said fiercely. “Does he really want to take the roof from over your heads?”

“I don’t think he cares about anything but himself these days,” Lynn said. “I’ve managed to find a part-time job at Raylene’s shop, but in this economy the pay’s terrible. And today, Mitch Franklin hired me part-time to handle his billing and payroll, but even with both jobs, there’s no way I can keep up. And the kids need clothes and supplies for school. I can’t bear the looks in their eyes when I tell them there’s no money for something they need, never mind for a few extras like seeing a movie with their friends. Forget putting gas in the car. Until today when I went looking for a second job, I hadn’t driven anywhere in weeks.”

Once she’d started, she couldn’t seem to stop herself from pouring out all the frustrations and fears she’d kept bottled up. Helen listened without comment, then said with quiet reassurance, “We’re going to fix this, Lynn. I promise you that.”

“Before I’m homeless?” Lynn asked wryly.

“Absolutely,” Helen said. “I’ll speak to the bank. If need be, I’ll get the court to intervene while we straighten this out.”

Lynn breathed a sigh of relief. She could bear just about anything, she thought, except the thought of being on the streets with no place to go. Her parents had died several years ago. Her sisters lived in other states. If they knew how bad things were, they’d try to help, but she simply couldn’t bring herself to endure the humiliation of asking them. She’d been saving that for a truly desperate last resort.

“I’ll be by in an hour or two with that check,” Helen promised her. “You’ll still have time to get to the bank to cash it. In the meantime, I’ll call Jimmy Bob West and put the fear of God into him about his client’s behavior. Once I get to your place, we’ll take a look at those bills and see what we can work out, okay?”

“Thank you, Helen. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you in my corner. If it were just me, I could walk away. Start over, even from the very bottom. But I owe the kids better than that.”

“You’re a strong woman, Lynn. Try to remember that. You’ll do whatever it takes to keep your family healthy and safe. I just wish you’d told me about this sooner. Maybe I could have done something before things deteriorated so badly.”

“I was taught that asking for help was a sign of weakness,” Lynn said. “I kept thinking I could figure things out or that Ed would shape up.”

“Turning to friends, and especially to your attorney, is not a weakness,” Helen replied emphatically. “Remember that. I’ll see you soon.”

“Thanks,” Lynn said, her spirits marginally improved.

But then, as if to mock her, when she went to wash her hands in the downstairs bathroom, the cold-water knob came off in her hand.

“This is just the bloody last straw,” she muttered, sitting down on the toilet and letting the tears come. She wasn’t sure which was flowing harder, her tears or the water leaking in the sink.

“This is not solving anything,” she muttered, making an attempt to find the shut-off valve, only to discover it was stuck. She thought of Mitch. She doubted he’d had any idea what he was letting himself in for by offering to help her out. These days it seemed the disasters in her life were way too plentiful. Still, he had offered and he was right next door.

She splashed water on her swollen eyes, ran a brush through her hair, then hurried to Raylene’s. At her knock, Raylene opened the door at once. She frowned when she saw Lynn.

“Are you okay? You’ve been crying. What can I do to help?”

“Just a frustrating day,” Lynn told her. “Is Mitch here? Do you suppose I could borrow him for a minute? I have an impending plumbing disaster and I’m at a loss. He offered to help out if I ever needed anything.”

“Of course he will,” Raylene said. “I’ll get him and send him right over.”

“Thanks.”

Raylene started away, then came back. “Lynn, if you ever need anything at all, you know Carter and I will be happy to pitch in. Mandy adores Lexie, and we love having her over here anytime she wants to come. You and Jeremy are always welcome, too. I imagine it’s been tough since Ed left. I put that much together when you came to me for a job.”

“We’re managing,” Lynn said tightly, wondering if Helen had filled Raylene in on how bad things were, if Raylene had only given her a job out of pity. She immediately stopped herself from even considering such a possibility. Helen’s ethical standards were too high for her to be blabbing about her clients’ woes.

And after all Raylene had been through—her first husband’s abuse, a bout with agoraphobia and a final confrontation with her ex after his release from jail—Raylene was quick to lend a hand to everyone these days. She said it thrilled her to finally be able to repay some of the kindness extended to her when she’d been psychologically trapped in her own home for so long.

Lynn forced a smile. “Thanks for offering, though. You’ve already done plenty for us.”

“We’re always happy to help. I mean that.”

Lynn nodded. “I know you do.” For the second time that day, she’d been reminded that she did have friends, people who would be there for her if only she asked.

“Okay, then,” Raylene said, then left to get Mitch as Lynn walked back home.

When Mitch appeared at her house and immediately set to work on repairing the knob, she couldn’t help noticing how quietly competent he was. He was also a man of few words. She liked that he didn’t ask a lot of questions about how she’d managed to break the stupid thing in the first place. Ed would have turned the whole incident into a flurry of accusations about her incompetence.

When the job was done, Mitch washed his hands, then smiled at her. “Good as new,” he declared. “Or as good as a twenty-year-old fixture is likely to be. You might think about replacing it one of these days.”

“I’ll put it on the list,” she said.

He gave her a chiding look. “Is this one of those long lists that no one ever gets to?”

“Pretty much.”

“I could get one for you at cost and replace it in no time,” he offered.

Lynn shook her head. “That’s okay. This one will have to hold up a while longer.”

“Okay, then,” he said, not pressing. When they got to the kitchen, he hesitated. “Other than that knob coming off in your hand, has something else happened since I saw you earlier? You look even more stressed.”