The Ladies' Room (32 page)

Drew talks to Crystal occasionally. He isn't involved with
the granddaughters and doesn't remember their birthdays or
even Christmas. I don't think he'll ever change, but that's his problem. I'm too happy to waste even one precious moment
thinking of him.

Momma had a couple of good days after Wil was born, and
I'll always have those memories. But a year ago the disease
progressed to the point that she didn't know any of us anymore. She died in July, a few days after my birthday, and I
miss her terribly. Lessie joined her three weeks later. It seemed
fitting in a way, since they'd become such good friends. But
losing them both so close together wasn't easy.

Marty and Betsy come to holiday dinners. Both of them are
recipients of the Gertrude Martin divorced-women "scholarship." Marty owns a doughnut shop and has stopped smoking.
Betsy has a flower shop on Main Street and buys her plants
from Crystal. She made a gorgeous piece for Momma's casket. I think Momma would have liked that.

At Crystal and Billy Lee's encouragement, I began to write
in earnest. First it was just a column for the local newspaper,
and then it became syndicated. It's just about everyday occurrences that everyone has lived or will live through. It had all
started that Christmas night I stepped on that slug in the
kitchen.

One day I was writing a column about Thanksgiving, when
I remembered Aunt Gert's fussing at me for buying a turkey
from the store, already plucked and frozen. A lightbulb flickered a few times, then shined brightly inside my head.

Until then I thought she'd left her fortune to me, but in that
moment I realized she had done no such thing. In her own
way she'd left everything to Billy Lee. If she had left him the
house and all the money outright, I never would have moved
in next door to him and figured out that I loved him. She'd
known I would find out about Drew eventually. I wondered if
she'd put it into Marty and Betsy's minds to follow me into the
ladies' room that day of her own funeral. I'd put nothing past
her when it came to giving Billy Lee Tucker what he wanted.

Billy Lee had once asked Crystal what her passion was, and
she'd said she'd always liked digging in the dirt and growing
things. She had then made her passion her success. We've all
had our successes: Billy Lee's gorgeous furniture; Crystal and Joshua's greenhouse; my writing; Marty's doughnut shop;
and Betsy's florist business.

But none of that is really my passion. My and Billy Lee's
passion is our love for each other. I will always be grateful to
Aunt Gert for giving us that. And, much as I hate to admit it,
I'm also grateful for that day in the ladies' room. It changed
my life forever-and for the best.