Mary Ann dried her hands on a paper towel when the doorbell rang.
“Hector! It’s good to see you.” Mary Ann liked Hector. He came by regularly to help her with the heavy yard work. Two or three times a year now for many years.
“Hello. It is fall. I’m here about the palms. To trim the dead parts? And cut down that tree?” Hector grinned, his teeth white against his sun-darkened skin.
“Oh, Hector. I can’t. I can’t do it this year. I don’t have any money.”
Hector looked confused. Money had never been an issue before. He made several thousand dollars a year at this address.
“Jack moved out. He’s divorcing me.” Mary Ann watched his eyes stop shining, and his grin melt away. He looked different without his grin. Hector smiled all the time.
“What?” His English wasn’t so good in the easiest conversation, but with his shock he was nearly wordless. “When this happen?”
“It’s been a few weeks. I’ve gotten used to the idea now, but I can’t afford to do anything else in the yard. I’m really sorry.”
He said, “No, no worries. I just...sorry.” He patted his hand on his heart. “I not understand. You...you two...” He crossed his fingers. “You like that, I think.”
She smiled at him.
“I thought so, too.” His confusion made her want to reach out to him to pat his arm in comfort, but she didn’t.
“You always work in yard two, like one. You work hard and make it pretty.” He swallowed hard. “I, we...I think friends, right?” He gestured between himself and Mary Ann, his eyes teary. “I see you two, I think that what I want when married. Now...not right.” He wiped his forehead with his hand. He stood with his hands on his hips, looking directly into her eyes. “No talking? Even after, you know--I sorry; sorry for word—“ he dropped his eyes “--sex? You know, first sex, then holding, then talking.” He looked into her eyes again, searching for an answer.
Mary Ann smiled, touched by his sweet sadness, not embarrassed at all. If only Jack thought of sex like that.
“No. No talking. No sex for a long time.”
Hector kept talking, working through his own shock with words.
“No divorce! Another bed, mattress next to bed, sleep in the same room. Not together,” he spread his hands apart to show separation, “but no divorce!” He stopped as though remembering something. “Children! They okay?”
“Yes, they’re okay. Jackson’s at college. Oliver and Michael are inside.”
“Good. Big house. Too many empty rooms. Too lonely. Why he not sleep downstairs? Not this. No divorce. Ay. Shocked.”
He patted his chest again as though in pain.
“I’m shocked, too, Hector.” Mary Ann felt like she should comfort him. “You have been a good friend to me. Look what we accomplished together. It’s like a park.”
“You not moving?”
“No, I have to move. He sold the house.”
“No! Idiota! You tell me where you go. I will come help you.” Hector’s jaw set. He bobbed his head defiantly.
“If I can, Hector.”
“Not even charge for anything. Take my card. You call me for anything. You... my friend.” He wiped his eyes with the butt of his palm.
She put her hand out. Her heart wanted to hug him, but that would not have been right for him. Instead she held his callused hand in both of hers. “Thank you, friend. I will call you.”