Carla usually slept until eight-thirty or nine. Her managerial shift at The Eden Cafe started at eleven am. She worked until two or three pm and again from five until ten.
It surprised Brian how seriously she took the job. Either you loved restaurant work or not—and she did.
Meanwhile, Brian was treading to stay afloat. He had taught the same WesternCiv class for five years. His advisor at UNC didn’t dislike him, but was hardly a rapt fan. So although Brian found Bed Bath and Beyond tedious, he was grateful for the job.
He hadn’t slept well, worrying all night. But he hated to leave for the day without giving Carla reciprocal love. An idea she balked at—him keeping score. But anxious, tired, whatever, when Brian acted as the lover and Carla the beloved, Brian could move her past all concerns. So he quickly showered and brushed his teeth and returned to her, lifting the sheet. Turned out, however, that Carla was deep inside some dream totally unrelated to him making love to her. She slid away from him, groaning in protest. But then she called out, “Wait till tonight, angel.”
[Click here to read the first episode, or here to read the previous one.]
He liked her calling him, “angel.” Not “darling.” Reassured, he tied his running shoes, drove a ways to his favorite trail loop, and sped through the vanishing dew and brightening air. With half an hour to shower again, change, and eat before driving to Asheville, Brian pulled into the lodge.
Trevor was passing a spliff to the lodge’s white-haired owner Nancy, who Carla had once described as “shaped like a boxy car.” After which, Brian couldn’t view her otherwise. Dressed like a lumberjack, she was certainly relishing a long, hard toke. Why was he surprised? Nancy had probably started smoking marijuana before Brian was born.
“Hey Brian,” Nancy waved the spliff. “Over here.”
He sauntered toward the shed where they were smoking for anyone to see. Anyone being the two families staying in the big cabins, with four full bedrooms. Trust Trevor to make her forget that.
“Your brother has great plans for us.” She coughed and passed the burning cone to Brian, but unlike last night after dinner when he had acquiesced rather than seem unyielding, Brian couldn’t risk getting high before teaching.
Trevor shook his head at Brian and sucked on the spliff while Nancy rippled with pleasure and approval.
“If that little cabin gets too cramped, I told Trevor he can move into the one next door. You know, the one that’s Polly’s angry place. Especially since you’re building wrap-around decks and installing sliding glass panels everywhere.”
“Ringin’ de outside in, mon.” Trevor said. “So it’s eco. True Light. True green.”
“More time,” Nancy said, meaning they’d talk later.
“Honor. We’ll mash it up.”
If Trevor hadn’t draped his arm around Brian as they headed toward their cabin, Brian might have pulled him there by his neck. Inside, he indicated that Trevor must extinguish his half-smoked spliff, which Brian suspected of causing his own dizziness and dry mouth.
“Wrap-around decks? You know carpentry, Trev? Can you even draw a design on paper?”
“I-and-I gonna learn, bredda.”
“You promised no more patois. It’s stupid here, no matter how used to it you are.”
“No worries, mon. I’ll be good. And Nancy likes me.”
Trevor was blending bananas, mango sorbet, and berries in the blender—breakfast for both of them.
“Naturally, Nancy likes you. Everybody likes you, Trevor. But you’ve got to take your life past that.”
“Carla said there was guava but I don’t see it.” He handed Brian a smoothie. “Deliberred waking her but let her sleep.”
Brian finished his breakfast in three gulps, causing a head freeze. “And the marijuana. If you can’t stop outright, at least hide it from me. I’m serious. And I’m begging you, whatever you do—do not get caught.”
“Ya seen Nancy’s crop? She grows imported seeds behind her garden mixed with bigger weeds. More’s mingled in the edges of the woods. X amount.”
“I don’t want to hear this,” Brian said. “Whether you’re lying or not.”
“She dries it in that little building by her private residence. I vow it’s true, mon. She showed me, wanting me to make improvements. Solar inserts, roof and walls. Better ventilation and racks on two levels.”
Brian’s headache swelled; his neck hurt. “Then tell her you don’t remember. You can’t remember anything illegal.”
“Forward, mon. You gonna be late.”
Trevor was right about that.
(Click here to read the next episode.)
