The touch made my skin feel hot and electrified. All I had to do was move my arm down, and it would be around her shoulders. The urge to do so was almost overpowering. “So why did you say no?”
She lifted her shoulders, bringing them closer to my arm. “There’s no point in getting anything started when I’m just going to leave.”
That’s what Jillian had told my girls. I felt a fresh round of annoyance. “It doesn’t have to be a ‘thing.’ Not a thing with a capitalTanyway,” I found myself saying. “And the fact it’s temporary makes it perfect. I can be your rebound, and you can be mine. The girls already know you’re leaving, so they wouldn’t start turning it into a big deal. And you’d be helping me out with Jillian.”
“Wow, you are one romantic dude.”
I grinned. “Yeah, well, once you’ve seen each other covered in garbage slime, the magic’s gone.”
She smiled back.
I used the moment to press my case. “Seriously. There’s a fund-raiser for the local food pantry on Friday. It’s sort of a dress-up dinner with a silent auction called Fete du Printemps at the community center, and I’ve bought a table. I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“What about your girls?”
“Peggy and Griff are babysitting.”
“That’s not what I mean. Zoey thinks that Jillian is going to be their new mother.”
I blew out a sigh. “I’ve already told her that’s not going to happen. Maybe this will help convince her.” I stood up, figuring I oughtto leave before Hope had a chance to turn me down. “See you Friday, if not before.”
I strode across the lawn, turned sideways, and edged through the shrubbery. As I climbed the steps to my porch, I found myself whistling. I realized later that it was the first time I’d whistled since Christine died.
28
adelaide
Time has a way of getting away from me. I can’t always remember if the last meal was lunch or supper, or if it’s seven at night or seven in the morning. Even worse, whole days blend together. Sometimes I can’t recall if something happened yesterday or a few days ago. I might even be missing a whole week.
I woke up and heard Hope talking with an aide in the kitchen, then a few moments later, the soft pad of her bare feet sounded in the hall. The door to my room slowly opened. “Come on in, child,” I called. “I’m awake.”
“It’s time for your medicine,” Hope said.
I sat up in bed and propped my back up with pillows. She handed me two pills and a glass of water. I downed them, then glanced at the clock as I set the glass beside it on the bedside table. Four o’clock. I’m assuming that’s afternoon, because Hope was up and dressed. I looked down and saw that I was dressed, as well.
Time was flitting by so quickly. I’d better get about my business. “Want to go through my closet some more?”
Hope nodded. “Absolutely.”
“Where did we leave off?”
“Joe had visited,” she said. “Did you ever hear from him again?”
“Yes. Oh yes.” I smoothed the edge of the sheet. “He wrote to me afterward.”
“Did you write back?”
“I’m afraid so.” I drew a deep breath. “Look in the closet at the back on the right side. There’s a red shirtwaist with a patent belt.”
Hope rummaged around, then held it up by the hanger. “Is this it?”
I nodded. “Bring it here.”
She crossed the room and placed it on the bed, then sank onto the mattress beside me. I fingered the hem. “I wasn’t going to write him, but...” I closed my eyes, remembering.
1946
Charlie wasn’t the same after Joe’s visit. He took to drinking more, and when he drank, he’d accuse me of writing to Joe, of harboring feelings for him. Jealousy ate at him like rotgut. I was so tired as my pregnancy progressed—housework and cooking and childcare were so difficult in those days!—and then my grandmother took ill, and my mother was down in her back, and I had to care for both of them as well as Becky. Then the holidays came and went, with all the extra shopping, baking, and wrapping. Life was just so darned hard!
