Late morning sunshine was filtering through the guestroom door into Brenna's doorway when she finally awoke hours later. Only a trace of the headache lingered, thanks to the aspirin. She found herself wanting to stay in bed, but was well acquainted enough with depression to know it when it came to call. She allowed herself a few more minutes of burrowing and then forced herself out of bed.
After breakfast, Brenna looked outside to see the weather had greatly improved. Unfortunately, that meant she'd better do her usual beach run, one of the few real depression-kickers she had and something she really didn't want to do today. She made herself get dressed, whistled for Zoe who was bouncily not depressed in the least, and took off for the beach.
The sand was damp and solid from the night of rain, but the sky was nearly clear with just a few fluffy clouds floating here and there. Brenna took a deep breath of the salt air, more healing than any anti-depressant she'd ever tried. They ran down to the surf's edge and then south, Zoe dashing in and out of the cold water. Brenna ran farther than usual, pushing herself a little more to clear her mind, thinking of only one foot after the other. Turning to run north, she decided to call Molly about the coming weekend and then maybe go see Julie about her baby shower.
On returning home, before she could lose her momentum, she flopped down in the parlor chair and called Molly. The answering machine came on with its usual sarcastic message and when Brenna spoke into the phone, Molly didn't pick up. She must have gone somewhere before work, oh well. Brenna left the message about dinner with Tony, knowing full well Molly would return the call as soon as she checked the machine.
After a hot shower, Brenna popped a bagel in the toaster. Zoe kept an eye on it for her while she threw some laundry in the wash, woofing gently when it popped up.
"I guess you think you deserve some of this for being a watchdog, huh?"
Zoe eyed the bagel hopefully as Brenna ate it all down to the very last bite...which she then tossed to Zoe who caught it neatly.
"Now why can't you catch a frisbee like that?"
Brenna went out to the shed to get her rose shears and cut some roses for Julie, which she wrapped in wax paper. Watch, she'll have a whole rose garden of her own. Oh well, then I'll leave them outside. She grabbed a leash to hitch Zoe up at Julie's house and after whistling for her, set off down the gravel road.
The weather had turned warm enough that Brenna soon wished she had worn shorts. The breeze had a true hint of summer for the first time, the scent of woods and undergrowth warmed by the sun. Zoe was soon panting and occasionally sidetracked to drink puddle water left over from the night's rainstorm.
A mile of walking found them at Gary and Julie's home. It was a small Tudor cottage with a split-rail fence and no roses in sight. Brenna put the handle of Zoe's lead over a fence post, thankful for a large bush to cast shade over her.
Hoping Julie wasn't sleeping, she knocked quietly on the door. She glanced back at Zoe to see the big dog panting.
"Can I help you?"
Brenna swung around to find herself greeted by one of the loveliest women she'd ever seen.
"Hi, I just stopped by to see how Julie is doing." She held out her hand. "I'm Brenna, from down the road."
The woman shook her hand, looking her up and down as she did so. "Come on in. I'm Adena Jenkins. I'm here to help Julie out for awhile."
Brenna's mind registered nothing after the name 'Adena'. That was the name of Adam's fiancee. Ex-fiancee. They were all from Eugene. How many Adenas could there be? Brenna followed her into the living room. Adena was fine-boned with the pale skin of one who's wise enough to stay out of the sun, straight dark hair cut to swing just above her shoulders, and dark eyes. Exotic appearance, French maybe? Italian? What the hell did it matter? She was beautiful. Brenna liked to think she had a healthy sense of self-esteem, but that had more to do with what she was capable of than because of her appearance. Of course appearance was not the most important...but gimme a break...
All this flashed through Brenna's mind as she sat down on the flowered loveseat across from Julie, who lay on a matching couch on her left side, her growing stomach supported by cushions. She was a little too puffy for Brenna's liking.
"I just came to see how you're doing."
"I'm bored to death!" Julie exclaimed.
Adena laughed. "Oh, that's the thanks I get. Who runs and gets you movies and books at the drop of a hat?"
"I appreciate you, you know that." Julie smiled easily at her friend. It was obvious from their banter they were good friends...like her and Molly.
Adena held out her hand. "Shall I put those in water?"
Brenna looked down at the roses clutched in her hand, the wax paper now wrinkled and limp. She handed them over with a faintly embarrassed smile, but felt a little better when Julie thanked her effusively for thinking of her. Felt better that is until Adena placed them in a simple vase next to a professional arrangement of lilies and tulips. Brenna swallowed a sigh.
She turned to Julie and cleared her throat. "Well, Wendy and I wanted to throw you a baby shower and weren't sure if you wanted it before or after the baby comes. I was going to have it at my house, but it doesn't sound like you're up for that."
Julie made a wry face. "This punkin keeps trying to come early so now I'm on bedrest and I have to take this drug that makes me feel funny, Ter...Terbu..."
"Terbutaline." Adena and Brenna finished her sentence at the same time.
Julie looked curiously at Brenna.
"I had a friend in early labor," Brenna said by way of explanation. "Anyway, I didn't know if you wanted to have the shower here since you can't get up much or if you wanted to wait."
Julie's face lit up. "I'd love to have it here. We haven't been able to get ready for the baby. That's been one of the biggest disappointments, not being able to go pick out blankets and gowns, a car seat, bath towels, almost everything,"
"Why don't you make up a list of what you need and have Gary drop it off with the mail? I'll get together with Wendy and we'll see what we can do. Oh, and a list of people to invite. I'd better get going. It's hotter for my dog than I thought it would be."
Adena looked out of the lead-paned window to where Zoe lay in the shade. "Is that the dog you ran over and adopted?"
She knows who I am, Brenna realized. She looked over at Adena, standing with her arms crossed, a cool look on her face. She's pretending to be civil, but she knows. I'm no threat to her; why does she look pissed?
"Yes, as a matter of fact, she is." Brenna wasn't inclined to offer any more explanation and rose from her seat. She needed to get out and now.
"Thanks for coming. I'll give the list to Gary," Julie said.
"Oh, you're welcome. I'll see you later."
Brenna made her way out to the fence post, a tight feeling in her chest, feeling as if she were in shock...the way she'd felt ever since the woman had introduced herself.
She released Zoe from her leash and they set off down the gravel road. Brenna glanced back once to see Adena standing on the porch, looking after her.
She was able to make it around the bend in the road before tears started to fall. What a fool. Why was she so taken with Adam? How had she let that happen? And now Adena was here and by the look on her face, Brenna had a feeling she was going to try to get Adam back. Zoe nosed her hand anxiously as she cried the rest of the way home, alternately grieving the threat to her relationship with Adam and kicking herself for letting her feelings get out of hand.
Brenna unlocked the back door and Zoe ran straight for her water dish. The light on the answering machine was blinking, two calls.
"Hi, got your message. I've got to leave for work right now, but yes, I want to go to dinner with Tony; did you have to ask? See, I told you there were more eligible firemen in that town. Love ya, bye." Oh, great, she'd forgotten all about the dinner. How was she supposed to pull that off now? Or would Adam even want to take her if he found out Adena was in town?
"Hi, I guess I missed you. I
ended up getting today off so call me if you want to go running or anything. I'll talk to you later." Was it her imagination or did he sound slightly disappointed? Would he be so disappointed if she let it slip in conversation that Adena was here? Or if she out and out called him and asked him if it mattered?
She pulled her feet up under her on the old velvet chair and wiped her eyes, done crying for now anyway. The phone rang suddenly, startling her. She let it ring until the answering machine picked up. There was no one in the world she wanted to talk to except Molly and she had gone to work.
"Guess you're still out. Max and I are going out to Jake and Ruth's tonight and were wondering if you and Zoe wanted to go. If you get this before 5:00, give me a call. Bye." Yes, he sounded a little disappointed. But the way he talked, he made it sound as if their dogs were their main thing in common. Well, she guessed that was being too sensitive. She didn't know what she thought anymore.
Getting to her feet, her shirt damp with sweat from the long walk, she ran another bath and tossed in several bath beads. While the steaming water filled the tub, she swallowed some aspirin and broke open a box of doughnuts, filling a china plate with them. After setting the plate and a book in the brass rack across her tub, she sat in the silky scented water and stared at the wall until perspiration mingled with the tears on her cheeks.
By the time the water cooled, Brenna had come to the conclusion that this situation needed to be resolved. Her life was too important to be sitting here weeping over 'what ifs'.
After putting away her untouched doughnuts, she sat down beside the phone.
"Hello?"
She found it hard to open her mouth now that she'd called him.
"Anyone there?" Adam sounded exasperated.
Brenna cleared her throat. "It's just me."
"Oh, hi you." The relief in his voice was evident. "Did you get my messages?"
"Yes, I did."
"Do you want to go with me tonight? Don't feel you have too; I know it's short notice."
Brenna sighed. "Well, I just think there's something we should talk about first." She paused while Adam waited in silence. "Did you know Adena's in town?"
More silence.
"I met her at Julie's."
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I guess I didn't think it would really matter. I've been trying to ignore her." He managed to sound embarrassed and grim at the same time.
"Adam, you know I have feelings for you. How can you think it wouldn't matter?"
"I don't know. She's not a threat to you or anything..."
"Adam, she's beautiful!" To her chagrin, Brenna's voice cracked.
"Brenna, she’s like a Barbie doll. She doesn't have any substance to her. She's gotten by on her looks all of her life and well, basically, she's a possessive bitch."
Brenna finally had to laugh. "Remind me not to get on your bad side."
"Hey, I call it as I see it. And I know I'm happy when I'm with you. Okay?"
She smiled with relief. "Okay."
"Now, back to the matter at hand. Dinner?"
"We'll be waiting with bells on."
Chapter 39