"Come on in. I'm setting up." The screen squeaked as Zoe opened it, and the inner door stuck a bit as she turned the knob. She gave it a little shove, and let the screen slap closed behind her as she went inside.
Her mother was in the kitchen, where she made her living. The short counter by the stove was crowded with bottles, bowls, a plastic box full of colorful rods for setting a perm, a stack of hair towels, frayed at the ends from countless washings.
The coffeepot was on, and a cigarette smoked in an ashtray of green glass.
She looked too thin, was Zoe's first thought, as if life had carved her down to the bare essentials. She wore snug jeans and a skinny black top that only emphasized the sharp angles. Her hair was cut short, and she was wearing it in a hot red these days.
Her bedroom slippers scuffed the floor as she poured coffee with her back to the door. And were worn, Zoe knew, for comfort.
She was setting up to do a perm, and would be on her feet for a while.
The television across in the living area was tuned to one of the morning talk shows that seemed to thrive on anger and grief.
"You're running early or I'm running late," Crystal said. "I haven't had my second cup of coffee yet."
"Mama."
Mug in hand, Crystal turned.
She'd made up her face already, Zoe noted. Her lips were red, her lashes thick with mascara. Despite the cosmetics, her skin looked tired and old.
"Well, hell, look what the wind blew in." Crystal lifted the mug and drank as her gaze slid past her daughter. "You bring the boy?"
"No. Simon's in school."
"Nothing wrong with him?"
"No, he's doing fine."
"With you?"
"No, Mama." She stepped over, kissed Crystal's cheek. "I had something I had to do out this way, and I thought I'd come see you. You've got an appointment coming?" " 'Bout twenty minutes."
"Can I have some coffee?"
"Help yourself." Crystal scratched her cheek as she watched Zoe reach overhead for another mug. "You just happened to have business out here? I thought you were starting your big fancy place over there in Pennsylvania."
"I am, though I don't know if I'd call it big and fancy." She kept her voice upbeat and struggled to overlook the suspicion, and the criticism, in her mother's. "Maybe you could drive over sometime and take a look. We should be open in just a few more weeks."
Crystal said nothing. Zoe hadn't expected her to. She just picked up the cigarette and took a long drag.
"How's everybody?"
"Getting on." Crystal shrugged a shoulder. "Junior's still working for the phone company, doing right well. He knocked up that woman he lives with."
Zoe's cup clattered against the counter. "Junior's going to be a daddy?"
"Seems like he is. Says he's gonna marry her. I expect she'll make his life a misery."
"Donna's all right, Mama. They've been together more than a year now. They're going to have a baby," Zoe said softly, and smiled at the idea of her baby brother being a father. "Junior was always good with babies. He's got a gentle way with them."
"Like a baby's just gonna make everything all peaches and cream. 'Least Joleen's not looking to start popping them out right off."
Determined, Zoe kept the smile on her face. "Are she and Denny settling in all right?"
"They both got work and a roof over their heads, so they got nothing to complain about."
"That's good. And Mazie?"