Page 34 of Dear Henry, Love Edith
Afternoon sunlight snuck past the window blinds. Henry—old Henry—was never home at this time. Steve wouldn’t be so bold as to enter a stranger’s house uninvited.
Would he?
Edith crept down the stairs and peeked around the banister. She heard a man humming to himself in the kitchen.Steve wasn’t the humming type, so she inched farther, eventually tiptoeing to the edge of the kitchen.
“Hey, Edith.”
She flinched and jumped around the refrigerator, aiming an accusatory finger at Henry. “You shouldn’t scare people like that. What are you even doing here?” Edith asked, trying to sound stern even though she couldn’t keep the delight entirely out of her voice. Henry—hubba-hubba boyfriend Henry—was here. In the house. Scrambling eggs on the stovetop and rummaging through the refrigerator like he owned the place.
He tossed a spatula into the sink and clicked off the burner. “Hope you’re hungry. And I hope you like eggs.”
“I am hungry. And I do like eggs. But what are you doing here?” she repeated.
He used his chin to point to a letter on the kitchen island. “That’s for you. Henry said it should explain everything.”
Edith grabbed the letter, aware of the way this Henry watched her from the corner of his eye.
Dear Edith,
I hope you don’t mind a little meddling in your life. Please forgive me if you do. It’s just that I’ve grown to really care about you in the short time we’ve been living together and corresponding. And the way that man Steve spoke about you had me very worried.
When I realized that you had led him to believe you were involved with a man named Henry, I decidedto play along and get the young man you see standing before you involved. You can trust him, Edith. He’ll take good care of you. I’ll come back when the time is right.
Your friend, Henry
This didn’t make sense. Edith folded the note and set it back on the table. “He left? I don’t understand. Does he really expect you to stay here and keep pretending to be him?”
Henry slid the scrambled eggs onto a plate. With his back to her, he asked, “Are you okay with that?”
“Am I okay with that? Areyouokay with that?”
“Why wouldn’t I be okay with that?” Henry handed her the plate and a fork.
“Because you’re having to uproot your life to babysit some lady you don’t know all because her dead husband’s brother has some weird fixation on her and doesn’t know when to move on with his life already.” She shoved a forkful of eggs into her mouth. “Mmm. That’s good.”
“Thanks. And, Edith...” Henry handed her a glass of orange juice, his gorgeous blue eyes locked on hers. “I don’t mind. Not one bit.”
Blast those eyes.She dropped her focus back to the eggs on her plate before she did something silly—like blush. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him wipe his hands on a dish towel. “I need to head back to work.”
“Of course.” She waved him away with her fork. “Don’t feel like you have to watch over me. Really. Do your thing. This whole Steve thing is going to blow over in a few days—ifhe even sticks around that long.” She hoped, anyway. Edith shoveled in more eggs. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was.
“Lock up behind me. I should be back later this evening. Do you work tonight?”
“No.” Edith washed her bite down with a swig of orange juice. “Sharon insisted I take the next few days off even though I told her that’s crazy since the whole reason I’m here is to help out. But she wouldn’t budge on it.”
Henry nodded, then hesitated next to the doorway of the kitchen. He scratched behind his ear and squinted toward the window. “There’s a lot of windows in this house.”
“Is that a bad thing?” The look on his face suggested it was.
“I’m just thinking, based on what I’ve seen so far, I wouldn’t put it past Steve to try spying on us.” He cocked his head toward the window above the sink. “He could be watching us right now.”
“I doubt it.” Edith took another sip of her orange juice.
Henry scratched behind his ear again, appearing to mull over a decision. “But better to be safe than sorry, don’t you think?”
“Sure.” She could close all the blinds if it made him feel better. That’s what that devilish look in his eye was about, right? The blinds?
Henry pushed off the doorframe and strode toward her. She paused with her orange juice halfway to her mouth. He took it from her hand and set it back on the table before swooping in for a quick kiss. Much too quick.
