Following My Toes (15 page)

“Yeah, I think I got here a little early.” He put his arm around her waist and kissed her on the top of her head. Motionless, I stood there, unable to do anything but stare.

“Hi Faith, how are you this morning?” Ethan still had his arm around Glenn, but stood facing me.

“You know her?” Glenn asked.

Ethan’s cheeks were slightly flushed, and his words weren’t emitted with their usual confidence. “Yeah, I fixed her car a few weeks ago. Glenn, this is Faith. Faith, this is Glenn.”

“His girlfriend.” Glenn added. Then, maintaining her benevolent bearing, she extended her hand to me and said, “It’s so nice to meet you.”

I wanted to pour Glenn’s perfect latte all over her overly made-up face. I certainly didn’t want to shake her hand. But I was worried that any action, or non-action against Glenn, would be interpreted by Ethan as jealousy. So I shook her hand. “Likewise,” I said.

Ethan handed me his stainless steel mug. “Can you fill this up with the French Roast?” he asked. Then he spoke to Glenn. “Why don’t you go find us a table?” She complied, and Ethan stood alone at the counter while I filled his mug with coffee. The dispenser was nearly empty, and the coffee dripped out in a slow trickle. Ethan shifted his weight from foot to foot, but said nothing. After what seemed like hours his mug was finally full.

I handed it to him, and said, “So do I charge you, or is free coffee a perk of dating the owner’s daughter?”

He pulled out his wallet and handed me three one-dollar bills. “Here, put the rest in the tip jar.”

I took one of the dollar bills and put it in the cash register. The other two I held out to him. “That’s okay. I’m not that hard-up.”

His hand stayed by his side. “Look, I get that you’re upset with me, and I’m sorry I couldn’t call you like I said I was going to. But there are things about my situation you don’t understand. I’m going to be coming in here a lot, so it would be good if we could at least be friends.”

I placed the bills down in front of him, but he still did not pick them up. “Don’t worry. You’re a customer. It’s my job to be friendly to you and your girlfriend. Just don’t assume it’s anything more than professional courtesy.”

“She’s not my....” Ethan broke off, and with a burst of frustration, grabbed the bills and shoved them in his pocket. “You know what, never mind. I’d explain everything to you, but why waste my breath? You obviously don’t want to hear it.” He stomped away, and joined Glenn at the table where she sat.

“He’s cute, isn’t he?” Sally’s words from behind startled me. “I saw you talking to him yesterday. He’s charming, but a real heart-breaker.”

I picked the sponge back up to finish wiping the counter I had been working on before Glenn had come in. “What do you mean, isn’t he dating Glenn?” I tried to sound casual, even though I felt anything but.

“Yeah,” Sally sighed. “Be careful, okay?”

“Sure.” What did she mean? Careful how? Careful as in, don’t steal my daughter’s man? Careful as in, he’ll hurt you so stay away? I would have asked, but I didn’t want to upset Sally anymore than I already had. Besides, a new customer walked in, so I pushed Glenn and Ethan to the back of my mind.

But I puzzled over why I hadn’t seen any of this Glenn/Ethan stuff coming. Maybe it was like I was Superman and Ethan was kryptonite – he deleted any psychic ability I may have had. Then again, I couldn’t be sure it was Ethan. Maybe it was
Minneapolis
in general, or perhaps it was all the heartbreak I had recently been through.

 
I was reminded of this time at the dentist’s office when I glanced at Reader’s Digest, and read a true account of this guy who had been struck by lightening twice. After the first time he was struck he gained an ability to communicate with animals, sort of like the pet psychic. He made a lot of money from it. Then two years later, he was struck by lightening again, and he completely lost his ability to know what animals were thinking.

Perhaps Peter dumping me was my first bolt of lightening, only in reverse. The pain he inflicted caused me to lose my powers, and what I needed was to be shaken up again to get them back. Then again, in that same issue of Reader’s Digest I took this MENSA quiz, and found out I’m a genius, which I doubt is true. So I suppose I shouldn’t take that other article too seriously either. Besides, I was about to make an incredibly accurate prediction, whether I wanted it to happen or not.

Chapter 11

That night I dreamt that I was on an all female jury, and the other members were Missy, Carolyn, and my sister Margaret. The person who was on trial was Ethan. I don’t remember exactly what he was on trial for, but the judge was Judge Judy. And she kept yelling, telling us we can’t judge someone until we’ve walked a mile in their shoes.

I thought that was both a clichéd and hypocritical thing for her to say, because I’ve watched her show, and she judges people all the time. But none of us said anything except for Margaret, who stood up and replied, “Well, I’ve walked a long way in my own shoes to get here, and I’ll judge whomever I please, thank you very much.”

Judge Judy scowled at Margaret, and at first I was worried she’d get her head bitten off. But no.

“You are a brave young woman, Margaret,” Judge Judy said. “I hope you do better in
Minneapolis
than the rest of these young woman are.”

“Don’t worry,” said Margaret. “I plan to.”

Then I woke up. My skin and my toes itched simultaneously. My body didn’t know if this was going to be good or bad, but I knew without a doubt Margaret would be showing up at my door later that day.

“Surprise!” she exclaimed, at 6:38 that evening, when I opened the door to find her standing there, along with three suitcases. Margaret doesn’t own a lot of stuff, so it meant she was staying for a while.

“Did you bring everything you own?”

“What kind of welcome is that? Aren’t you even surprised?” Mar-garet grabbed two of her bags, and shoved past me into the apartment. “Can you grab the other one?” she said, over her shoulder.

The bag she had left for me was the largest and the heaviest. I picked it up and followed her in. “Of course I’m not surprised. I had a dream last night. I’ve known all day you were coming.”

“Faith, you need to give this psychic bit a rest.”

“It’s not a bit, Margaret. I dreamt we were on a jury, and you announced to Judge Judy that you walked to
Minneapolis
.”

“But I didn’t walk, I drove.”

I took a deep breath. “That’s not the point. I’m just saying I knew...” Why was I even bothering? “Look, never mind. What are you doing here?”

“Why? Was that not explained in your dream?”

“Margaret...”

Margaret strolled into the kitchen. “I got sick of my Green Peace job. All those college kids I supervised were such brats! I couldn’t take it anymore.” She opened the refrigerator and grabbed some leftover pasta, then sat down at the kitchen table, where she proceeded to eat it with her hands. “And the job market in
Duluth
is impossible! So I thought I’d find something down here. You don’t mind if I crash on your couch for a while, do you?”

Of course I minded. Margaret and I had never been close, and my life was complicated enough without throwing her into the mix. “You know Margaret, I wish you had called first before just coming down here, expecting to move in.”

“What difference does it make, if you already knew I was coming?”

“Last night I dreamt you were coming, that doesn’t mean I could communicate with you in time to tell you not to come.”

Margaret smiled in victory. “Well, then maybe you ought to work on your telepathic abilities, because here I am.”

I said nothing, instead I kicked the suitcase closest to my foot, wishing I could kick Margaret instead. Living with her was sure to drive me over the edge.

As if she could read my thoughts, she said, “Oh, come on Faith, what’s the big deal? It will only be for a few days, until I can find a place of my own. Don’t be selfish about it.”

The door opened, and in walked Missy, decked out in bright pink stretch pants and a leotard. Since she had gotten her new job she only ever dressed in workout gear, even if she was just going out to run errands. “Hey roomie! How are ya?” Missy looked to her left, and spotted Margaret. “Oh, you have a visitor, who is this?”

Margaret shot up, and rubbed her hand against her worn pant leg to remove the remains of pasta. She then walked across the room to Missy, her hand stretched out, ready to shake. “Hi, I’m Margaret, Faith’s little sister. It’s so nice to meet you.”

Missy shook Margaret’s hand. “Oh! You’re Faith’s sister. Well it’s nice to meet you too. I’m Missy.”

“Yes, I know. Faith has told me all sorts of wonderful things about you.” Margaret held out her arm, indicating the apartment Missy had recently cleaned. “And this is a lovely place you have here.”

“Well, thanks.” Missy eyed Margaret up and down, noticing her messy brown hair, self tie-dyed t-shirt and second hand, ill-fitting men’s Levi 501s. She looked down and saw Margaret’s bags. “Are you going to be staying here?”

Margaret smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “Actually, I don’t think so.” She threw an almost neutral glare in my direction. “Faith seems to have a problem with the idea. But it was so nice meeting you. I am going to be staying in the area, so maybe we can have coffee sometime.”

This was typical Margaret. On the surface she’s an organic-granola-love-all-living-things type, but underneath it all is the mind of a politician. I previously told her Missy was needy and that she was dying for friends, so Margaret came in here and flattered her and said she wanted to do stuff with her. And it worked. Missy’s gaze switched from Margaret to me.

“Faith! Why don’t you want Margaret to stay with us? There’s plenty of room! Margaret, you can stay on the couch for as long as you like!”

“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think that’s the best idea. I mean, if Faith doesn’t want me to...”

“Margaret,” I said, “It’s just that things are sort of hectic, that’s all.”

Missy laughed. “How are things hectic? You work at a coffee shop. You’re not dating anyone. If you ask me, you need more of a life. Maybe having your sister down here will help.”

I went into the kitchen, and poured myself the remains of a bottle of wine opened the other night. With my back to them, I answered. “Thanks, Missy, but I didn’t ask you. And by the way, I won’t pass judgment on your line of work, if you don’t pass judgment on mine.”

“What kind of work do you do, Missy?” Margaret and I hadn’t talked on the phone recently, so she honestly didn’t know.

“Oh, I’m a dancer.”

“Wow!” gushed Margaret, “how exciting!”

“And I do some telemarketing from home. It pays the bills.”

“How enterprising of you.”

Missy smiled brighter than our fluorescent ceiling lamp. “Thanks, I like to think so.” She spoke to me. “Faith, I don’t see why she can’t stay. Don’t you think you’re being a little selfish in saying no?”

I didn’t answer right away, because I had decided chocolate ice cream would go perfectly with the wine I was drinking. I retrieved some from the freezer, and ate it straight out of the carton. I knew that would annoy Missy.

“That’s exactly what I said!” exclaimed Margaret. “We must think alike.”

Missy giggled. “Then I don’t care what Faith says. It’s my apartment too. You’ll stay here as my guest.”

The battle was over and I had lost. So I backtracked. I had been accused of selfishness so much lately it was beginning not to faze me, plus, a house divided against itself cannot stand. I was relatively sure the same held true for apartments.

“Margaret,” I said while trying to unclench my teeth, “obviously you’re welcome to stay. However, with my new job I need to be up at 5:30 every morning. So no noise late at night, okay?”

“Sure.” Her look reminded me of my high school students, an expression they would wear when trying to convince me they hadn’t cheated on a paper, even when I had proof they had. Her widened eyes gazed directly into my own. “I won’t get in your way at all. You’ll hardly even notice I’m here.”

“And if you want to make noise at night, you can come out with me!” said Missy. “You can come watch me dance. It will be great!”

“Oh, I would love that!”

Carrying my wine and ice cream, I went into my bedroom and

opened a book. It had been another long day, and I had another early morning to wake up to. Better to leave them to each other, since my presence obviously wasn’t needed.

* * *

I woke up feeling sorry for myself. It would be my fourth morning at the coffee shop. The previous day had passed without incident. When Ethan and Glenn came in I treated them like I would any other customers. They didn’t say much of anything to me, which suited me just fine. But later that day I had the chance to ask Sally what she had meant about being careful around Ethan.

“Oh, you know. He’s one of those guys; he’ll break your heart without a second thought. I wish Glenn would have nothing to do with him, but unfortunately, that isn’t happening.”