Page 56 of Landing Love

Junior began to fuss, and she dragged herself out of bed to begin the day. After feeding and changing Junior, she made herself a simple breakfast of eggs and toast and sat looking around the apartment, making a mental list. She needed to do laundry, sweeping, shopping for several necessities she hadn’t remembered until now. But all that could wait. The first thing she wanted to do was call up Mary.

She needed to know more about what Bill told her about his history with women and his false bragging. It was a sour note in his sweetness and made her twist herself into knots of concern. It seemed inconsistent with everything else she knew about him. She didn’t expect him to be perfect, but she needed to understand better. She wanted to trust him, but it was difficult with something like this clouding her certainty.

Not wanting to disturb Mary too early, she busied herself around the house until nine o’clock then made her call.

“Good morning, this is the Operator. How may I direct your call?”

“Operator, can you connect me to Mineola 893501?”

“One moment please.”

A moment later, she heard Mary’s voice.

“Hello? Who’s calling?”

“It’s Ann. I was wondering if I could see you today. There’s something I want to ask you about Bill.” She hoped Mary wouldn’t ask too many questions over the phone. This was a conversation better had in person.

“Of course. I’d love to see you. Ben’s dropping off tomatoes at the greengrocer’s this afternoon. He could pick you up. Does one o’clock work for you?”

“That sounds perfect. I’ll see you this afternoon.”

“Wonderful. See you then. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

She whiled away the morning washing clothes and diapers and cleaning the apartment top to bottom. It was a small space, and it didn’t require much time. It was a relief when one o’clock rolled around, and it was time to go over to Mary’s. The walls of the tiny space were starting to close in on her. She needed to get outside.

Floyd picked her up right on time and chatted with her about the weather on the brief trip out to their farm.

Mary came out to meet them when they arrived and led her straight to the kitchen.

What a relief to be somewhere spacious, Ann thought as she sat in the airy room, bouncing Junior on her knee.

“Thanks for having me over, Mary. I really appreciate it.”

“Not at all,” said Mary, setting down a pot of tea, two cups, and a plate of shortbread cookies. “You said you had something to ask me?”

Blood rushed to Ann’s cheeks at the mere thought of what she wanted to ask. “It’s about Bill. The other day, we ran into a woman he went out with. She must have thought Junior was Bill’s because she slapped him for ‘fooling around’ with her when he was married and had a child.”

“Oh no,” Mary said, pouring tea for them both.

“I remembered his friend said he had a roving eye, and I confess I got a bit upset with him. He claimed all he’d done was fix her leaky faucet. When I said I didn’t believe him, he said I should talk to you.”

“Cookie?” Mary pushed the plate toward Ann. “If you’re worried he’ll stray, you can set your mind at ease. He is utterly devoted to you.”

Ann took a bite of cookie and sat pensively for a moment. “But what if I’m not enough? What if he thinks I’m a burden? He flies all over the eastern seaboard for work. What’s to stop him from seeking solace in someone else’s arms? And even if he stays true, I am worried about his honesty.”

Mary sighed. “My brother is as full of blarney as they come, but he’s a good man.”

“What do you mean?”

She desperately wanted to believe that she hadn’t been horribly mistaken about his character.

“He’s always inflated his accounts of his conquests to his friends, but I know the truth.”

“And what’s the truth? How do you know the accounts were inflated?” she asked, wishing she could hide her whole face behind her teacup.

“He had his heart broken a few years back. A woman he was seeing had a pregnancy scare. Bill was all set to marry her, but when she lost the baby, she broke things off. He was devastated—not so much over her as over the baby. Trust me. My brother wants to settle down and have a family more than any other man I’ve met.”