The arch rose higher. “Is that a quip about my age, young man?”
Levi felt emotions that he could only describe as ‘good old Southern boy panic’.
“I—no, ma’am—that is—I didn’t mean anything negative?—”
Miriam cut him off with a cackle. “I’m teasing you, my friend. Sorry. Couldn’t resist.”
Levi’s shoulders slumped in relief.
“Not to bring up my mama again,” he said wryly, “but she would give me an earful for insulting a lady, so I’m relieved to hear that you aren’t offended.”
Miriam playfully fanned herself with the photograph. “Oh, the manners on you, young fellow. They don’t make’em like that anymore.” She paused, then looked down at the picture. “My Harold was like that.”
“Your husband?” Levi guessed with a nod at the item in her hand.
With a melancholy smile that told him as clearly as words that the man was no longer among them, and that he was both beloved and sorely missed, Miriam nodded.
“Yes, this strapping young fellow was once my beloved husband. I found this photograph while cleaning recently, and it still feels rather surreal to remember that we were once this young. I was the one who took the photo, you see,” she added by way of explanation.
“It’s a wonderful shot,” he complimented. “And you can tell that the subject was enamored of the photographer just from the way he’s looking at you.”
“Flatterer!” she crowed, visibly delighted. “Well, I won’t keep you any longer, no matter how delightful I find this conversation. Between this and book club, the highlights of my week are secure.” She scrunched her nose. “What an exciting life I live, huh?”
She sounded as though she did not consider this a terribly impressive social life, but Levi had spent every night out on the town while in Nashville and had spent every night since he’d come to Magnolia Shore sitting alone in his quiet house. A book club sounded like a really nice medium.
He told Miriam as much. “I’ve never been in a book club, but it sounds like it’s a lot of fun. Why else would they be so popular?”
“You make a good point,” she admitted. “And I don’t think I flatter myself when I say that our book club is one of the best. We’ve got a good group of women, all close friends, and we all support one another through thick and thin.” She smiled a saucy smile. “Sorry, though. No boys allowed.”
He chuckled at this childish phrase being deployed by a woman who was old enough to have grandchildren.
“That’s entirely reasonable,” he said. “In any case, I also thank you for the conversation. It was one of the highlights of my week, as well.”
Shetsked at him. “I’m old, sonny. What’s your excuse?”
She gave him a parting wink and waved as she headed toward a spot at the front of the diner with a confidence that suggested that this was her usual spot. Levi returned to his own table, where he found that his French fries were no less delicious just because they were getting a little bit cold.
He answered a few more emails, then looked around, seeking some distraction. The pretty waitress had been missing for a while, he realized.
Just as soon as the thought occurred to him, the door to the back of the diner opened and the waitress came out, now wearing a different outfit. It looked like she was wearing scrubs, and he might have thought that she was going off to some kind of healthcare job, except for the logo for a house cleaning company that was emblazoned across the back. She was hand in hand with a little boy who looked like he was in elementary school. Levi liked kids, even though he hadn’t spent much time with them, so he couldn’t judge the boy’s age more accurately than that.
“—going to drop you off before I head out to clean a little,” he heard the woman say to her son, catching just a snatch of the sentence before the noise of the diner overtook her voice.
Levi felt a pang of sympathy for this woman who was clearly working hard to provide for her family. The world could be really tough sometimes, and it hardly seemed fair.
He tried to go back to his work, but his mind kept drifting to the hardworking woman and her little boy. He sent a little wish out into the universe that things would get better for her soon, even if only in some small way.
CHAPTER SIX
Sometimes, June thought, Wednesday rolled around and it felt like a miracle that it came every week… and that open mic night at Anchor Bistro came with it. It was wild to think that she hadn’t been doing these performances for that long in the bigger scheme of things, since recently it had become a highly important source of catharsis for her.
And she needed that catharsis. The stress of this past week hadn’t been less than the stress of the week before, and she felt like if she didn’t blow off some steam, her head was going to explode.
There was her book club to provide some support too, of course. She valued that enormously. But it didn’t provide the same release as singing her heart out in front of a crowd.
They were different tools for different parts of her life, and this was the tool that she needed for tonight.
She hooked her favorite pair of earrings through her lobes, a set of small dangling loops that had been a gift from Keith for their first wedding anniversary.
