Page 23 of Dear Henry, Love Edith
“You too, Liddell. Maybe we’ll see each other again.”
She waved and took off down the path.Not if I can help it, Paul Hubba-Hubba Can’t-Sing-Worth-a-Lick Blast-Your-Blue-Eyes Wish-I-Could-Get-You-out-of-My-Head Newman.
CHAPTER NINE
Later that week, Edith attempted to smother a jaw-cracking yawn. Maybe she wasn’t as accustomed to working night shifts as she thought. Or rather, accustomed to staying awake all night to water and feed a house full of plants as she thought.
“We’re not working you too hard, I hope.” Sharon winked and held up the coffeepot. Early sunlight filtered through the window curtain above the kitchen sink, brightening up the already-cheery yellow walls and white cabinets. “Need a cup?”
“No thanks. I think today I’ll go straight home and crash.” Edith got up from the kitchen table and grabbed her bag.
“Sounds good. Anything happen overnight I should know?” Sharon leaned back against the counter and sipped her coffee.
“Gladys dropped off two more ferns. Pretty sure they’re both artificial.”
“Sounds about right,” Sharon said. “Try to get some rest. One of these days or nights, somebody’s going to need us. I feel it in my bones.”
All Edith felt was bone-tired. She waved goodbye on her way out the door. She’d made a habit of stopping by the coffee shop on her walk home. Every morning she was met by the black kitty cat. Every morning she heard Opal berate Julie over the unsanitary conditions caused by the black kitty cat. And every morning Edith left the shop full of caffeine, full of scones, and full of disappointment the man she wasn’t supposed to be hoping to see again never showed.
Edith paused at the corner of Main Street and Prospect. Green- and white-striped awnings shaded the sidewalk down Main Street, where shop owners swept away dirt with Amish brooms and adjusted their Open signs. If that wasn’t quaint enough, the curved streetlamps bearing colorful flower baskets tipped the scales.
For such a weird little town, it sure was awful cute.
Even the stretch of boulevard leading to Henry’s house, lined with oak trees and maples, made her feel like she ought to be wearing a polka-dot dress and riding a bicycle with a flower basket in front.
She sighed. Oh, but she was tired. Too tired for coffee. Certainly too tired for disappointment. And most definitely too tired to wonder why she couldn’t stop thinking about a man she didn’t know, who wasn’t available, and one she would be leaving at the end of summer anyway.
The boulevard was the smart way to go—even without the dress and bicycle.
A minute later, the soft ding of a bell announced her entrance into Julie’s coffee shop. What could she say? She was a creature of habit. Plus, she needed to see Chester the cat. Make sure he was alive. It had nothing to do with anything else. Or anybody else.
But shoot, since she was here, she might as well sit for a quick spell and read Henry’s letter. Besides a few short notes between them, mostly about whose turn it was to buy ice cream, they hadn’t shared a lengthy correspondence since the letter about her husband. Edith might have worried she shared too much and made Henry uncomfortable, except he said in one of his notes he needed a little time to mull over his answer to her question.
The formality of placing his latest message to her in an envelope made her think he’d finished mulling.
“The usual?” Julie asked from behind the counter, face flushed as always.
Edith looked up from where she’d been absently scratching Chester’s ears. She gave Julie a tired smile and said, “Yep. Hit me with the usual.”
Seated a few minutes later at the round table in the back, Edith opened the envelope and began to read.
Dear Edith,
First of all, let me say how honored I was that you would share a bit of your story with me. I understand how painful some of those memories mustbe for you. Thank you for not telling me to blow it out my ear like I was afraid you might.
Now I suppose fair is fair. My turn. You want to know why I never married? I’ll be honest. I’ve tried answering this question at least a dozen times over the past week. Each time I thought I had the answer, I ended up crumpling the paper and throwing it against the wall.
You’re right. A girl did catch my eye and my heart. I could tell you all the details, but in the end, I guess the answer is actually pretty simple.
The girl didn’t want me.
Henry
CHAPTER TEN
“Let me get this straight,” Lance said, raising his voice to be heard above Frank Sinatra’s croons. “You’re baring your soul to an old lady who’s living in your house but you’ve never actually met. You’ve got the hots for a lady you’ve met but don’t know anything about. And you’re still going out with a lady who drives you crazy every time she talks, which is all the time.”
Henry grunted through another set of leg lifts. “Yep, that about sums it up.”
