SEAL the Deal(93)
***
Her puffy eyes hidden behind sunglasses, Lacey trudged up to the door of Edith’s house picturing the sweet, unassuming woman inside who had no idea she had befriended a vulture in Lacey.
Isn’t that what Mick had called her? A vulture.
Hand outstretched, she paused a moment, her courage waning, before finally ringing the doorbell.
“Lacey! So nice to see you, dear.” Edith’s warmth resonated so naturally as she opened the door, making Lacey feel even worse.
She obviously didn’t know. At least Mick had done the courtesy of letting Lacey be the one to tell her.
“Hi, Edith.”
Cocking her head to one side, Edith took a long look at Lacey pulling off her sunglasses. “You don’t look well at all.”
“Edith, can we sit down and talk, please?”
“Of course.” The older woman had already begun guiding Lacey to the sofa.
Lacey could remember sitting here the first time. Seeing Mick walk through the doorway with his confident stride. She remembered his surprise at seeing her. And that touch. That moment when he shook her hand and she knew she never wanted to let go.
The tears poured from her eyes.
“My dear, what on earth has happened?” Edith took Lacey’s hand in both of hers.
“I have to tell you something. Something awful. When I met you, it was completely under false pretenses.”
“At Don’s funeral?”
“I didn’t know your husband. Not till I read his obituary. I—I used to look in the obituaries for potential clients.”
Edith looked confused. “You wanted work from Don?”
“No. From you.” Lacey withered slowly into the couch, spending the next painful minutes trying to explain why she was at Donald Baker’s funeral all those months ago. And why if funeral homes offered frequent flyer miles, she’d never pay for airfare again.
By the time Edith understood, Lacey was slouched over the arm of the sofa from humiliation and exhaustion. Whoever said confession was good for the soul had obviously never confessed. “I just thought it might be a good way of getting my business cards out there to some people who might actually sell.”
Edith raised her eyebrows. “But you practically turned down my listing when I called.”
“That was because I didn’t think you should sell. I’d never pressure someone into doing something like that.”
Edith patted Lacey’s hand, still in her gentle grip. “A good choice. So why are you crying?”
Lacey’s face curled up. “Because it’s a horrible thing to do—to try to benefit from someone’s death like that.”
Laughing, Edith’s eyes sparkled. “I should show you the bill from the funeral home. That might make you feel better.”
“It doesn’t bother you?”
The old woman’s smile was serene. “Lacey, I didn’t know half of the people at that funeral and I’m betting if Don had sat up in his casket he’d have said the same thing.”
“Mick thinks it was unethical.”
“It might be,” Edith admitted noncommittally.
“He called me a vulture.”
Edith rolled her eyes. “That boy always did have a flare for the dramatic. So he found out by accident?”
Lacey nodded.
“I can see why that might have caused him to be upset. No one likes learning things by accident. But he’ll get over it. Now about your—um—career direction, dear. We must be able to come up with a better way of finding clients for you than attending funerals.”
Lacey sighed. “I’m not even sure if I want to be in real estate anymore. I don’t know. I’m thirty years old and I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.”
A knowing look swept over Edith’s face. “Do you know who has the answer to that? Little children. Ask children what they want to be when they grow up, they don’t even think about it. They just tell you.”
“Not me. When I was a kid, I kept changing my mind.”
“Yes, but that’s just it. You ask them one week, and they say a ballerina or a fireman. The next week it’s an astronaut or a teacher.”
“I don’t get it.”
Edith tilted her head, her eyes shaded with years of wisdom. “You don’t have to be one thing. Just be what feels right now. You don’t have to commit to a career the way you do a husband or a child. Just follow your interests. Follow your heart.”
A heron outside the window caught Lacey’s eye as it gracefully landed along the shoreline. She pressed her lips together thoughtfully. “My sister Vi was never like that. She always had direction. She always had her eye on the finish line. My parents, too, I think.”