That Man of Mine (12 page)

I
t was the second
Saturday in March and the wedding clock was ticking. Mimi could practically hear it in her ear, tick-tock, tick-tock… She didn't know who was more stressed out—her or Allie. Probably her. For the most part Allie seemed as cool as the proverbial cucumber, while Mimi, well, she was the exact opposite. Most days she felt like a lizard whose tail had just been cut off.

It wasn't just the wedding that was on her mind, the mayor gig was taking up more time than she'd originally thought it would. In some ways it was getting easier because after a month and a half on the job, she was actually getting the hang of it.

“What? We're missing a trashcan from the Beach Street entrance to the gulf? Let me bring that to the attention of the city maintenance department.”

Or, “I had no idea that the light on Columbus Street stayed red for so long. You're absolutely right, Mr. Pettingill, you don't have all day to just sit there waiting for it to turn green.” Actually, at eighty-nine, it was questionable exactly how much time Mr. Pettingill had left for anything, but Mimi still contacted the county engineer to see if he could coordinate the lights better.

But then of course, in some ways the mayor's job seemed harder than ever. Her contact person at the Leon County Civic Center had moved to Miami a couple of years ago, so that was a bust. But she had managed to establish a line of communication through email with Billy Brenton's assistant, Crystal, who seemed like a lovely person over the Internet (it was always so hard to tell what someone was really like online!). Mimi gave her all the details for the festival and Crystal had emailed back, “I'll see what I can do.” Which was a lot better response than
No Way
. But, Mimi wasn't getting her hopes up.

Doug had encouraged her to not give up and she wasn't. But it was probably past time that she got serious about looking into some backup entertainment.

Today, however, she wasn't going to think about the
Spring Into Summer
festival. Today she was devoting entirely to her sister-in-law's wedding. She was having lunch with Allie at The Harbor House. It was one of the places on her short list to hold the reception. She'd also invited someone else along—Lauren Miller, Tom's ex-wife.

The situation between the two women wasn't typical. Lauren and Allie had long since become friends. Tom and Lauren's son, Henry, had made that a necessity, but inviting the ex-wife along to plan a wedding might have caused Emily Post to choke on her own book of etiquette. Still, Mimi had her own ulterior motive for asking Lauren to join them. She was staring at that ulterior motive right now.

It was Allie's grandmother's wedding dress. A floor length off-white nineteen-fifties gown that looked like it could have been worn by Elizabeth Taylor in the original
Father of the Bride
movie. With its dropped shoulder satin bodice, cinched waist, and flared chiffon skirt, it was a dream come true no matter what decade you were married in.

Mimi remembered the day she'd first seen this dress. Buela had reverently brought it out of her closet, offering it to Mimi for her own wedding. The gesture had brought tears to Mimi's eyes. Partially because she'd been so touched by Buela's kindness. But mostly because there was no way at six months pregnant that Mimi could have fit into the gown.

It was the same day Zeke had confronted her about the pregnancy. She'd been at home packing for her summer trip to the North Carolina cabin when he'd come to her house, ringing the doorbell like a madman. Her parents had come home in the middle of it all and Zeke had basically asked her to choose between a life with him and a life without him and her baby. The choice had been ridiculously easy. She'd walked out the door holding Zeke's hand with nothing but the clothes on her back. She'd sat behind him on his motorcycle (the only time he'd allowed her to do that while pregnant) and driven straight to his grandmother's house.

Buela had been both surprised and happy to see her.

“
Mija
,” she said, giving Mimi a tight hug. “I thought I'd never see you again! I've missed you. I told Zeke, ‘You're never going to find another girl like that Mimi!'” She'd laughed, and immediately rushed off to the kitchen to make them Zeke's favorite meal,
arroz con pollo
.

“We're more than just dating, Buela,” Zeke had explained later, “Mimi and I are getting married.”

Allie had been thirteen then, already tall with large brown eyes and a pale creamy complexion with no hint of teenage acne on the horizon. She'd jumped up and down and squealed. “I'm going to have a sister!” And Mimi's heart had instantly been won over.

“I've always wanted a sister,” Mimi said, smiling at Zeke's little family.

“You can wear my dress!” Buela got up from the kitchen table and motioned for Mimi to follow her into her bedroom. That's when she'd taken out the dress and Mimi realized that Buela had no clue that they were also having a baby.

Thankfully, Zeke had been the one to break the news.

“Buela,” he said kindly, “That's a beautiful gesture, but, I don't think Mimi is going to fit into that dress.”

“What? Of course she will. She's so
delgada
,” she said, using the Spanish word for thin.

The loose T-shirt she wore hadn't allowed Buela a realistic view of her six month pregnancy.

“Buela,” Zeke tried again, “Mimi and I are having a baby.”

Mimi pressed her hands over the T-shirt, molding the fabric over her abdomen.

Buela's brown eyes flared. “I see.” She swallowed hard and looked into Mimi's eyes. “Do you love my grandson?”

“Yes,” Mimi said with no hesitation.

Buela smiled. “Then you'll get married as soon as possible. And you'll come live here with me and I'll take care of you both.”

Zeke leaned down and kissed his grandmother on the cheek. “I love you, Buela, but Mimi and I are living on our own. And I'll be the one to take care of her.”

Three days later they were married at the Santa Rosa County Courthouse. Much to Mimi's surprise, her parents showed up for the ceremony.

“That boy is insufferable,” Momma had said, minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to take place. “He came to the house last night and demanded that we be here. Who does he think he is, ordering us around?”

“Our daughter's future husband?” Daddy had said, earning a scowl from Momma.

Momma eyed the simple cream colored dress Mimi had bought at the mall last night for the wedding. “It's not too late, darling. You can walk out of here and we can go back to our plan. Just say the word and I'll take care of everything.”

Of course, Mimi had gone through with the ceremony. She wanted to go through with it. She loved Zeke, and yes, they were young and didn't have (as Momma said) a pot to piss in, but for her it was like the beginning of some grand adventure.

They moved into Zeke's little apartment and three months later, Claire Sylvia Grant was born. She was named Claire after Mimi's favorite fictional character—the smart but headstrong WWII nurse in the time travel romantic adventure,
Outlander
, and Sylvia for Zeke's mother. Zeke continued to work at Bert's Garage and even took on a second job on the weekends to help ends meet. He went to school at night and after a year, he applied and was accepted into the police academy.

Buela helped watch Claire so that Mimi could go to school. She enrolled in the community college and began a part time job working a few hours every morning at Colleen's Bakery in town. Those early years had been hard. Zeke would come home beat, but always found enough energy to play with his little daughter so that Mimi could catch up on her homework. At night, they'd collapse in bed, too tired to do much more than mumble goodnight to one another. But inevitably, sometime before morning he'd nudge her on the shoulder, or kiss her forehead, or better yet, she'd wake up to find his fingers or his mouth working between her legs. They'd make love, sometimes more than once, and end up exhausted and sweaty. But they were happy.

Zeke graduated from the police academy at the top of his class and went to work for the Panama City Beach police department. He worked night shifts and took all the overtime he could, even working private security on his off days. Mimi finished her two year degree and transferred to the University of West Florida in Pensacola, where she was able to commute a couple of days a week and finish a degree in English. About that time an opening came up in Whispering Bay's small police department and Zeke decided to take it. They bought a modest little house close to the beach that had been in foreclosure and Mimi had reveled in fixing it up.

They'd been married almost five years and accomplished what a lot of other young couples hadn't been able to. Momma and Daddy had eventually come around and offered to pay off the rest of their mortgage as a belated wedding gift. “It's about the same amount of money I'd have spent on a big fancy wedding,” Daddy had said. Zeke had refused to take the money, but Mimi persuaded him to accept it on the condition that they put it into a college fund for their children.

Then Buela died suddenly of a heart attack and it hit the Grant family hard. Allie was eighteen and on her way to college, and Mimi was a few weeks pregnant with a new baby. Buela left Allie and Zeke a life insurance policy that allowed Allie to pay for college and even travel around the world on her summers off. Zeke used the money to pay off their mortgage and invested what was left. They weren't rich, but they were comfortable enough that Mimi could stay home with the kids and Zeke didn't have to work a second job anymore.

The years went by and they settled into a comfortable routine. Mimi became PTA president and Zeke coached little league and soccer. They went on family camping trips and to Disney World and bought a minivan. When the old chief retired, Zeke was promoted to his current job. And because life is
so not fair
, over time Mimi's hair began to get those ugly grays around the temple, while Zeke…well, like most men, Zeke only seemed to get better with age.

At nineteen he'd been gorgeous the way young men could be. Tall and muscular with a strong chin and piercing dark eyes. As a man, though, he grew to be exceptional. With the years came a confidence only hinted at before. Men respected him and people liked him (maybe not Bruce and Larry and the other members of the city council, but that was because they couldn't bend Zeke to their will). And women…well, Mimi had long since grown used to the idea that women envied her.

And it wasn't just the Betty Jeans of Whispering Bay. That she could laugh off. Once, Mimi found a pair of black lace bikini underwear (certainly no laughing matter) in the pocket of Zeke's jeans. She'd never had reason to suspect that Zeke might be cheating on her and even the damning evidence of those panties (while making her see red) hadn't been enough to make her distrust her husband. Still. She needed to know exactly whose they were and how they ended up in Zeke's possession.

So she confronted him. “Somehow I just can't see you wearing these.” She held the panties up by the inside label with the tips of her fingers, like they were going to explode.

Zeke had glanced up from his morning paper. He chuckled and shook his head. “Those belong to some chick who works at the gas station over near the bridge.”

“
And
?” she prompted.

“And, I went to fill the car with gas and when I was paying, she slipped them to me along with my receipt.”

“So you put them in your pocket?”

“What the hell else was I supposed to do? There were people in line behind me. Should I have tossed them in the trashcan in front of an audience? I shoved ‘em in my pocket and forgot about them.”

“You
forgot
about them? Really? Zeke, she was propositioning you!”

“No shit. C'mon, Mimi, be real. You can't be jealous of a pair of skanky panties.”

No, she wasn't. But she had a right to be indignant about the whole thing. It was obvious by Zeke's attitude that this type of “encounter” wasn't a rare occurrence and that he'd learned to brush it off as inconsequential.

She was making something out of nothing. It shouldn't bother her, but it did. After all, she was only human. But it wasn't Zeke's fault that the girl at the gas station had no class. So Mimi went about her regular routine and everything seemed fine. But little by little something changed. She didn't suspect Zeke of being unfaithful to her, but he'd become moody, when he'd never been that before. She asked him if it was problems at work, but he denied it. And with the moodiness came the running every night. At first, she'd encouraged it. Not that Zeke wasn't already supremely fit, but everyone knew that running released endorphins and that was good for you. But the moodiness only seemed to get worse and with it came a new autocratic demeanor with their children.
That
, she found hard to swallow.