Love Is Where You Find It

Part 18

After that one time, Loretta doesn't take the kids to work anymore. It's too stressful and she's afraid that the park and the french fries would get old in less than a week. So they stay at home with her daddy while both she and her mommy are at work.

Henry actually does get her the raise he promised. It's still not ideal, but she is saving a little bit every week, to make sure there is enough when fall and winter come and school supplies and new clothes and shoes will be needed.

She never thought it would happen, but she sings at the diner every day now. After the first time, after she sang to her little ones that day, it's stopped being so hard.

She sings for Howard and every time he gives her another dollar. Loretta is starting to feel just a little guilty. No regular person can have that much money to give to a waitress just because he likes her singing.

Henry always talks about going out again and though she wants to, it doesn't happen until the very end of summer.

They take the kids out in Norman's old truck again, same as last time, right down to the ice cream afterwards. But this time the children are dropped off at home following the day trip and Henry takes Loretta out to dinner and a picture show.

They talk through most of the movie. It's such a grand old time, her heart feels heavy on the way home. All good things come to an end eventually, but the future is looking brighter than ever for once.

The kids return to school, thankfully, because it's getting more and more cramped at her parents place with every passing day. They have been there for just about eight months now and Loretta doesn't want to make it a year. The bathroom is occupied whenever she needs it, someone is always fighting and there isn't even enough space for everyone to eat at the table together. Cissie and Brenda have been sitting on someone's lap to eat their meals for so long she vaguely wonders if they remember a time before that still. Ernest peed in the front yard, and not just once, because Peggy Sue locked herself in the bathroom.

So she cautiously looks around for a place every day, either before or after work. A three bedroom would be ideal but Loretta would settle for one bedroom at this point.

The middle of September passed and it's going toward the end of the month when she finally does find a prospective home. It's a little wooden house- old and in dire need of a good paint job. Two bedrooms, both with cracked paint that is threatening to come off.

The kitchen is probably from the 40's and the bathrooms aren't much better. There's a bathroom with an old tub and sink and a toilet in its own room alongside it with another sink. The toilet looks old-fashioned but it's a step up from the outhouses she grew up with. They left behind a big wooden kitchen table, but the house is devoid of movable furniture otherwise.

Loretta loves the place at once.

Her excitement is so overwhelming, she rushes to work with a big smile on her face. She's working the afternoon shift this week. It's her least favorite because it means that she doesn't get to see the kids after school. When working the early shift, she leaves with them and when working the late shift she gets them settled before it's time to go.

Henry is waiting for her in front of the diner, as he does every day.

"You're real happy," he comments. "What happened?"

"The kids and me got us a place," she bursts out, her smile growing even wider.

"You don't say." Henry is smiling as well.

"Oh yes. We'll have our own home by Christmas, probably even before Halloween."

"Are you gonna let the kids dress up?"