comfortable.” On her way to the kitchen, Lydia shut the laptop so that her mother couldn’t peek at the screen. “Would you like something to drink?”
“No. I can only stay a minute. My shift has changed at the nursing home. I go in at seven in the morning now, so I don’t like to be up late.”
For years, Rhoda had worked odd, mostly menial jobs as a cook or waitress, until finally she’d managed to study and become a practical nurse. Although the nursing home in Kalispell where she worked required a twenty-five-minute drive one way from Rust Creek Falls, the pay was much better and her mother seemed to like it. Which was saying a lot, since Rhoda was the type of person who didn’t find much happiness in anything.
“Surely you can sit down for a minute or two,” Lydia called over her shoulder as she shoved the container on the top shelf of the refrigerator.
“How’s work going?” she asked as she returned to the living room to see her mother had made herself comfortable in the only armchair in the room.
“Same as usual,” Rhoda said. “Snow Valley has gotten a new entertainment director and she’s been brightening the place up with music and movies and games.”
Careful to set the laptop aside, Lydia sank down on the end cushion of the couch. “That’s good. The residents need something enjoyable to do.”
Rhoda let out a weary sigh. “One of these days I’ll be just like the residents of Snow Valley. Too helpless to take care of myself and nothing left in life but a few faded dreams.”
“Mother! Would you stop it! You make it sound like the end of your days is almost here. You’re being ridiculous.”
Rhoda sighed again. “You don’t understand, Lydia. You won’t until you lose something that’s precious to you.”
Rhoda was never guilty of being a positive person. And most of the time she was full of self-pity, but she usually wasn’t this morbid and Lydia had little patience for the unwarranted attitude.
“Look, Mom, you’re still relatively young and you’re healthy. If you truly wanted it, you could have a very full life. You just need to make changes. The first one being to put a smile on your face.”
Rhoda scowled. “Smile? When I think of what your father—”
“Yes, Mom, I’ve heard a thousand times how he just up and walked out on you and me. Well, you know what? I’m not going to waste my energy or my life wondering about what he did then or what he’s doing now. You’ve got to forget it and move on.”
“Well, you’d best not forget what a man can do to a woman’s life,” she retorted. “Otherwise, you’ll be in the same boat as your mother.”
If Lydia tried her hardest she could never be like Rhoda Grant. “You mean miserable and old before your time?”
Rhoda gasped with outrage. “Lydia! That’s an awful thing to say!”
Jumping from the couch, Lydia sat on the arm of her mother’s chair and gave her a tight hug. “It is awful, Mom,” Lydia agreed. “Because it’s the truth. And I’m saying it to open your eyes. Because I love you. And I want you to be happy. Truly happy.”
Shaking her head with surrender, Rhoda pushed a hand through her short, curly hair. “I know that’s what you want for me, honey. But I—well, after Leonard walked out, my heart turned to stone. I don’t know how to change it. Or make it different.”
Lydia stared at her mother, amazed that for the first time she could ever remember, Rhoda was admitting she had a problem.
Reaching for her mother’s hand, Lydia rubbed her fingers over the back of it. “I think you just made a big start in that direction, Mom.”
Rhoda pressed Lydia’s hand to her cheek. “You are my one bright spot, Lydia.” Looking up at her daughter, she smiled wanly. “It’s getting late. I need to get on home.”
Lydia rose from the arm of the chair and Rhoda started to stand, then paused.
“Oh, before I go, someone at work happened to bring in a copy of The Rust Creek Falls Gazette and I heard a few of the women on staff talking about an ad they saw in the classifieds. Something about one of those new Dalton boys advertising for a wife. Is the ad supposed to be a joke or what?”
Lydia shook her head. “The man is completely serious, Mom. He wants a wife and thinks that’s the best way to go about getting one. Frankly, I think the whole thing is ridiculous, but it’s not my business to stick my nose in a customer’s personal life.”
Shaking her head with dismay, Rhoda stood and started toward the door. “I don’t know what’s come over this town. It’s like some of them are still drunk on Homer’s punch. Especially the Daltons. All of a sudden Travis gets himself engaged and gets on a ridiculous reality TV show. Now another one advertises for a wife. Makes you wonder what’s going on with that family.”
Even though Lydia agreed that Zach’s search for a wife was not taking the normal route, she wasn’t willing to call him either strange or wrong.
“Some folks just have different ideas, Mom. And Zach seems like a very nice guy. Not the weird sort.”
With her hand on the doorknob, she looked at Lydia. “Don’t tell me you’re going to sigh over the guy. All day at work, the young nurses were going on and on about how dreamy he looked in the photo and all the sacrifices they’d make just to have one date with the man. It was all so silly and sickening. I hope you’re smart enough not to make a fool of yourself over the man.”
A strange little pang of regret touched a spot inside Lydia, but she carefully hid it with a casual laugh. “Oh, Mom, that’s the last thing you need to worry about. Zach Dalton would never take a look at me. And even if he did, I wouldn’t want a man who plans to choose a wife on how well she can cook.”
Seemingly satisfied that she had no reason to worry about her daughter, Rhoda opened the door. “That’s my girl.”
Lydia walked over and kissed her mother’s cheek. “Bye, Mom.”
“Good night, honey.”
Her mother stepped outside and Lydia quickly locked the door behind her, then turned back to the empty living room.
I hope you’re smart enough not to make a fool of yourself over the man.
Her mother had spoken the words in all sincerity and that had made them all the more painful. Maybe it was true that no matter the reality, mothers viewed their children as beautiful. But even Rhoda should be able to see that her daughter wasn’t the sort that men were attracted to. When a man looked at Lydia, he wasn’t inspired with thoughts of babies and matrimony. No, she was the sort a man wanted on his softball team. She was the buddy he wanted to share a beer with and share his troubles about his real girlfriend.
Hating herself for having such self-pitying thoughts, Lydia walked over to an oval mirror hanging on the wall and stared at her pale image.
Was she just as guilty as her mother about giving up and giving in? What would happen if she tried to doll up her tomboyish image? Everyone in Rust Creek Falls would probably laugh and point and say she was trying to be something she could never be.
Turning
