Page 35 of Between the Shady Groves
“These are warm, fresh from the oven. You can help yourself right here,” Lauren said, pointing to the cinnamon rolls she had taken from the oven just five minutes prior.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Grace said, coming over and grabbing a cinnamon roll as Lauren put a plate in front of her. “Oh boy, these smell so good. And they’re so warm and gooey. You are a danger to my figure.” But that didn’t stop her from picking up the fork that Lauren had set on the plate and digging into her cinnamon roll.
“Coffee?” Lauren asked.
“Please. And answer my question. What in the world?”
“My husband is putting in a security system.” She still couldn’t quite believe it. He had had his foreman, the man whom she assumed he had left in charge whenever he left, drive the whole way out here, and now he, the one who usually ran the business, and his foreman George, the one who ran it anytime he absolutely had to be away, like for her mother’s funeral, were both out here.
Whatever job they were working on, he hadpulled George off it, ordered a security system, and gotten it here in less than twenty-four hours. She had worked in the business enough to know that he was basically pushing off his other jobs and making this job a priority. This job, that didn’t pay anything, that wasn’t nearly as important as some of the six- and seven-figure jobs he had, and yet…he was acting like it was urgent.
“So… I think he might care about you just a little bit,” Grace said slowly.
“I know. I feel so guilty. I—” She came over and stood in front of Grace, lowering her voice and leaning forward just a bit. “I almost made him sleep in his truck last night. I did give him supper, but it was just spaghetti. He doesn’t like spaghetti. And if I do have to serve spaghetti, he prefers meat with it. So it was just spaghetti and a piece of garlic bread made out of the cheese bread I made yesterday. Not his favorite. And then, he went to sleep in his truck. And I did all of that, without knowing that he had already ordered the security system and was planning on getting it and putting it in today.”
“Oh my goodness. You made your husband sleep in his truck last night?” Grace looked aghast, although she was obviously trying to hide it.
“No. I went out at midnight, because I just felt so stinking guilty. I told him he could come in and sleep on the couch.”
“Okay. So you left him out there until midnight, and then you told him he could come in and sleep on the couch?”
“Yes. I am a terrible person, aren’t I?” She felt terrible. She had felt justified in what she thought were her perfectly normal grievances, legitimate grievances. And yet, her husband was being so nice, so…protective, and, at the same time, not angry at her, but seeming to try to figure out what he could do to make things better. He wasn’t blaming her, and he wasn’t railing at her for not just talking to him instead of leaving. Because she kind of felt like that was probably all she needed to do. Just tell him that she wanted to sit down and talk to him, and he would have. He would listen to her. They would have worked it out, and she wouldn’t have needed to leave.
“I don’t think you’re a terrible person. You are hurting. You’re hurting because of the miscarriages. You are hurting because of losingyour mom. And I don’t know that you can necessarily use it as an excuse. But maybe your pain and grief just precluded your ability to think rationally for a little bit.”
“It’s funny, because I thought I was thinking very rationally. In fact, I would have said that I absolutely had thought it through, looked at all the different angles, and made the best decision. But the more time I spend here, and the more time I spend with him, I think I was wrong. I think I was very, very wrong.”
She looked at her husband, who was pointing at something and talking to George. She thought they would have it done by noon at the rate they were going.
“Everybody’s entitled to be wrong.”
“But I left him! I mean that’s not just wrong, that’s exceptionally, horribly, stupidly wrong.”
“He doesn’t look like he’s going to hold it against you. In fact, far from holding it against you, it looks to me like he’s helping you. Would he be putting in a security system if he was expecting you to move back to Cincinnati?”
That was a rational question she hadn’t considered.
“Do you think that he’s given up on getting me back?” She hadn’t expected him to come after her at all, and now she was surprised at how quickly she had gone from not expecting him to come after her, to expecting him to fight for her, to now being scared to death that he was just going to let her go.
“I highly doubt it. But he’s obviously showing how much he cares about you.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“I hate to eat and run, but I have to go to Bible study. I actually was dropping by to see if you wanted to come.”
“I was planning on coming, but I’m not going to leave with my husband here.”
“Totally understandable, and I think that’s the best decision. I’ll stop by later, if I get a little free time.”
“All right. Thanks. Good to see you,” she said, feeling bad that they’d spent their whole time together talking about her and herproblems. She should have been more considerate and asked her friend about herself.
But she supposed when someone was going through something, friends made allowances for them to be extra preoccupied with themselves.
She hoped she did that anyway.
It looked like it was going to be a little while, she thought as she gathered up Grace’s dirty plate and fork and her empty coffee cup and washed them.
She dried them and put them away, and then she grabbed the scraps she’d set aside the day before and went to the back door.
