Unexpected Reunion

by Carolyn Greene

  “She’s the same,” he said, moving his hands as if to erase whatever worry she might have. “It’s not about her.”

  Relief flooded through her. But the troubled expression on Gray’s face killed the momentary reprieve. Were they finally going to confront the awkward elephant that had stood between them for the past four years? Worse, was he going to tell her he’d moved on and found someone else?

  “It’s about Pop.”

  Ruthie touched a hand to her mouth. “Oh, no.”

  “No, not Pop, but his stuff. You haven’t already sold the things he brought in yesterday, have you?”

  His dark brow furrowed together, and he jammed his hands into his jeans pockets in a sign that Ruthie had come to know meant something was bothering him. Apparently, this was about more than just a few collectible doodads.

  “I don’t think so.” She looked inside the half dozen open boxes sitting on and beside the counter. “These haven’t been inventoried yet, but it looks like everything’s still here.”

  She paused, remembering what Paisley had said about selling the kissing dolls. Had he come back for them? Did they hold the same meaning for him that they did for her?

  “Oh, wait. There was one thing, a pair of knickknacks that used to sit on the piano.”

  She watched him, but his intense gaze never flickered. He didn’t remember? Her heart sank a little.

  He shook his head. “One of the boxes was full of military stuff from Pop’s service in Korea. Awards and medals, pictures, journals. Some keepsakes. He had set that box aside to put away but brought it to you by mistake.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s here somewhere.”

  They started with the stack beside the counter. Few of the contents matched the kinds of things Ruthie sold at Gleanings. She usually focused on antique or unusual one-of-a-kind items bought from estate sales and moving sales, but these would be sold on consignment for the Bristows. The idea had been to spare Pop the trouble of organizing a yard sale when he needed to take care of Sobo. He’d initially pushed aside the stored items in the spare bedroom to make room for Sobo’s rented hospital bed. But his wife’s Japanese decorating taste won out, and soon the room looked as sparse and clean as the rest of the house.

  They went through the three stacked boxes of odds and ends first, then moved a fourth from the small pedestal table Pop had brought and set it on the counter. The tabletop’s inlaid design of golden-colored grain beckoned her to trace her fingers around the bent heads of barley.

  She clearly remembered sitting at this table on the Bristows’ screened porch, playing Jenga with Gray and his younger sister while a warm summer breeze blew over the trio. Gray had stared intently at the stacked wooden blocks, determined to remove a piece without collapsing the precarious tower. Ruthie had laughed at his seriousness over the silly game, but he’d just refocused his concentration. With a hint of mischief guiding her actions, she’d touched her bare toes to the twisted barley pedestal and given it a nudge so slight the crashing of the tower could have easily been blamed on the breeze.

  When his foot came down on hers, she’d suspected she’d been caught. Instead, he’d conceded defeat and promptly invited her to the Byrd Theatre for a 99-cent second-run movie. It was their first date, and he’d held her hand during the entire time the Wurlitzer organ played before the movie started. Ruthie had no memory of the movie, but she could still remember the exact feel of her hand in his, the calluses on his palm scratching her skin. Remembered wishing they hadn’t bought popcorn each time he let go to reach into the carton for a handful of the buttery stuff.

  It had been part of the best time of her life. The laughter. The fun. Sharing new experiences together. The discovery that, no matter what activity they engaged in, it was always better when they did it together. And most of all, there was the easy camaraderie. The feeling that they could say or do anything without self-consciousness or censoring.

  The rest of the family seemed to approve of their nearly constant togetherness. Since Gray’s parents lived only a few blocks away, it had been easy for him to slip away frequently and come to visit her under the guise of checking on his grandparents. And on occasion, Ruthie would walk over to visit his younger sister, but spend as much or more time with Gray.

  But now...well, she measured every word she spoke and guarded every glance she sent his way. It was an uncomfortable balancing act between keeping a circumspect distance and wanting to slip back into that easy way of relating they used to have.

  “I knew you shook the table,” he said, breaking into her moment of reverie. He gave her a nostalgic grin edged with regret.

  Or maybe she was just hoping for a twinge of regret.

  “Then why didn’t you say something?”

  He gave a soft chuckle. “I liked your determination to win.”

  “Even if my methods were a little hinky?”

  He put his hand on hers, bridging the present with the past. “I’m sorry for hurting you. For telling you something so intense in a letter instead of...”

  “Instead of by Skype?” she finished for him. The comment had been intended to refer to the thousands of miles separating them at the time, but it came out sounding bitter.

  Something between an apology and a grimace crossed his face. “Yeah, I guess even that would have been more personal. More face-to-face.”

  He looked away and removed his hand from hers, taking the warmth with it.

  “And I guess it was pretty cowardly of me to keep dodging you after I came back home, but I convinced myself it was to protect you from an awkward meeting at my grandparents’.” He returned his attention to her, meeting her gaze directly. “What I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry for the way I handled things.”

  Sure, it had been unpleasant, but what breakup wasn’t? Even if they’d been in the same room, it wouldn’t have hurt any less. Despite her own pain, she knew whatever had caused him to change his mind about God and a future with her must have been hurting him much, much more.

  She shook her head. “No apology necessary,” she said. “That’s all in the past now.”

  We’re in the past, she almost added.

  “You may not be a Bristow by marriage,” he continued, “but according to my grandparents, you’re still family. We’re going to see each other at family events, so we need to be able to put the awkwardness aside. For Pop and Sobo’s sake, if not our own.”

  Ruthie nodded and offered him a wistful smile. “Yeah, it’s been hard juggling holidays and drop-by visits for the times you’re not there.”

  “So I’m not the only coward,” he teased. He pulled a cardboard box closer to him and lifted a flap. “Maybe we should meet for lunch sometime. Clear the air about the past and set up ground rules for the future.”

  “Rules of engagement, you mean.”

  He flinched as if she’d hit him.

  She’d intended it in the military sense, of course, but it was only after seeing his reaction that she realized her words could be taken a different way.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

  “It’s okay,” he said with a forced smile. “Maybe we could call them rules of disengagement.”

  The joke wasn’t funny, so she didn’t laugh.

  The door opened, and a stylish young mother with a baby in a stroller entered the building. The woman spotted the Gleanings sign over the counter and headed toward the shop to browse.

  “Feel free to look around,” Ruthie told her. “And let me know if you have any questions.”

  Gray’s expression quickly changed to one of relief. “Here it is. Pop’s Korean War stuff.”

  “That’s great.” Ruthie bent to look at the assortment of papers, medals, photos and sentimental trinkets. “We get history hunters in here all the time. Pop would be heartbroken if we’d sold al
l those memories.”

  He closed the box flaps. “Thanks. For this,” he said, gesturing toward the mementos. “For everything.”

  At her questioning glance, he added, “For being there for Pop and Sobo while I was away.”

  “Your parents were there for them,” she said, deflecting his praise. “They looked after them.”

  “Yes, but you gave Sobo and Pop someone other than me to focus on. You made a difficult time in their lives a little more tolerable.”

  She shook off his thanks. “They’ve been there for me more than I was for them. I don’t know what I would have done—where I would have gone—if they hadn’t stepped in when I needed help most.”

  Gray’s expression took on a faraway look. Was he thinking of God—who he’d said wasn’t there when he’d needed help most?

  He tucked the box of Pop’s treasures under one arm and laid some bills on the counter. Then he moved the small, round table closer to the door. “I’ll take the table, too. Is this enough to cover it?”

  “Way too much. You could buy a new one for less.” She wondered if the table had stirred memories for him as it had for her.

  He must have read her mind. “There’s a bare spot in the corner of my kitchen. This should fit just about right.” With the box still tucked under his arm, he picked up the table with the other hand and moved toward the door. He stopped and turned back to her. “Don’t tell Pop and Sobo I bought it, or they’ll try to pay me back.”

  “Let me give you a hand.”

  Either the box or the table alone would have been manageable, but the weight of both was clearly an effort for him. She came from around the counter, but he hefted the table closer.

  “Thanks, but I’ve got it.”

  With a resigned sigh, Ruthie stood back and watched him struggle through the door, determined to carry his burden alone.

  * * *

  The fire at Milk & Honey was nearly forgotten when the lunch crowd poured in. By that afternoon, Savannah had sold a vintage dress to a teen for her upcoming prom, and Nikki, who helped run the shop next door and who they hoped would be a future partner at Abundance someday, had taken apart an antique typewriter to repair and restore.

  Whenever Ruthie thought about how Abundance and the individual shops within it came to be, she thanked God for bringing together the original three talented friends who, each in her own way, loved to find interesting articles and offer them for sale, and then adding a fourth to the mix. She sometimes laughingly called Savannah and Paisley her “Craigslist friends,” since it had been an online ad seeking roommates that had brought them together in the first place. Then, after moving into their Abundance shops, they’d been blessed to meet Nikki, who worked next door.

  The college years had been lean for the three friends, so they’d sought to decorate the rented house with flea market and thrift-store finds. Ruthie started them off with unusual pieces of antique furniture hidden under ugly coats of paint or dulled varnish, which she refinished and made to look like new. Savannah found lovely old tablecloths, bedspreads and dresses that showed small signs of wear and fashioned them into beautiful curtains fit for a showroom. And Paisley, with her penchant for food and hospitality, supplied fancy plates and introduced the group to the likes of tea infusers, egg-poaching cups and soup tureens.

  Visitors were always astonished to see how stylish they’d made the place look with little or no money. Soon friends, family and acquaintances were asking the threesome to find specific items, and before long their individual hobbies had grown into businesses that helped pay for their college expenses. This was a blessing, especially since Ruthie wanted to pay her own way and avoid drawing further on the Bristows’ kindness after all they’d done for her over the years.

  After graduation, the three friends decided to combine their businesses under a single roof they called Abundance. The exception was Nikki, who worked next door at the Carytown shoe repair shop, called Restore My Sole. When the ancient owner, Jericho Jones, discovered her talent for fixing things, he began accepting repair jobs for small items and gave the tasks to her to complete. And when the space next door became available for rent just before the others’ college graduation, Nikki became an unofficial fourth member of the Abundance friendship. Nikki’s loyalty to Jericho kept her working for him, but they used the connecting door between the stores whenever the Abundance shop owners needed their friend’s skills to restore acquired treasures prior to sale.

  Between waiting on customers, Ruthie tackled the remaining boxes from the Bristows and kept an eye open for any other war memorabilia that might have made their way into the wrong place. To her delight, and especially Savannah’s, one of the boxes contained several ladies’ hats that appeared to be from the early sixties.

  “I need your help pricing them,” Ruthie said after she’d taken the find over to Connecting Threads.

  Her friend turned them over and checked for a label. She gasped. “These were made by the Hat Factory down in Shockoe Slip. Back in their heyday, before the factory went out of business, it was the local place for ladies to buy hats. You shouldn’t have any trouble finding buyers for these.”

  Judging by the way Savannah practically drooled over them, Ruthie wouldn’t be surprised if her friend bought one herself.

  Savannah’s fingers followed the loose band of a particularly pretty go-to-church hat, and she twisted her lips into a slight frown. “The puggaree is loose. I’ll fix it for you so no one will have any reason to turn this beauty down.” Savannah perched the hat on her head and peered into the floor mirror. With a hand on her hip and a point of the toe, she struck a saucy pose. “Mrs. Bristow sure had good taste.”

  Ruthie agreed. “Pop said that shortly after he brought her here from Tokyo, she studied fashion magazines and bought American clothes to try to fit in.” Naoko had even adopted her husband’s faith as her own and now hated to miss a single Sunday at church. “She still looks stylin’, even when she’s just puttering around the house.”

  “You’d never guess she’s pushing eighty.”

  Savannah set the hat with the loose band on top of her sewing pile, then helped Ruthie tag the remaining hats with prices that should be high enough to reflect their value but not high enough to scare off potential customers.

  Ruthie thanked her and took the hats back to Gleanings, where she displayed them on the Peg-Board wall behind her counter. Then she pulled out the box she’d been sorting just before Gray’s unexpected arrival yesterday. Tucked between an early transistor radio and a pair of binoculars was the pair of kissing dolls...right where she’d left them.

  She frowned, remembering the conversation she’d had with Paisley this morning. How could Paisley have sold the dolls if they were still here?

  * * *

  Three times in two days. This was more than Gray had seen Ruthie over the past four years. And it was taking a toll on him.

  Sleep had eluded him last night while he worried about Naoko. When he did sleep, his dreams had been filled with images of Ruthie. The way her hands fluttered like a butterfly without a road map whenever she talked. That soft reddish-brown hair that begged him to touch it. And the hazel eyes that telegraphed every emotion that crossed her heart.

  He found her at the rear of the shop, her back turned to him while she focused her attention on straightening a three-foot-wide metal disc on the wall, and he took advantage of her distraction to study her.

  She wore slim khaki pants topped by a pale green shirt that made her hair seem more red than brown. Her movements were more confident now than four years ago, possibly the result of proving herself to be an accomplished businesswoman. Ruthie had always been a hard worker. And her devotion had obviously paid off, judging by the shoppers milling around him who exclaimed to their friends over the items they discovered.

  It must have been hard for her, losing
her mother in the middle of her teen years. Though Ruthie had never said anything against her stepfather, Gray had picked up from his grandparents’ conversations that when the new widower spent a Saturday packing the house to move him and his biological daughter back to New Jersey, the man had turned to Ruthie and asked, “Where are you going to live?”

  At church the following day, Naoko had noticed Ruthie’s tears after silent prayer time. Until that day, their relationship had consisted mostly of friendly hellos. His grandmother couldn’t stand to see anyone hurting, so she’d pulled Ruthie aside and learned that the girl’s only blood relatives—a chronically ill aunt and a cousin with a drug problem—could not take her in. With nowhere else to turn, her only other option was foster care.

  In less than twenty-four hours, his grandparents had moved her into their house and applied to become Ruthie’s legal guardians. How could someone hurt her like that? And then it hit him. He had hurt her like that. He had rejected her, just like her family. The thought threatened to rip him apart. Of course, he’d done it to protect her. Somehow he doubted she saw it that way.

  Ruthie stepped away from hanging the oversize replica of an antique coin and appeared to notice him out of the corner of her eye. She smiled and turned to greet him. Gray smiled back, hoping his guilt didn’t bleed through his expression. When her gaze fully met his, the smile dissipated. Or maybe she caught some hint of what he’d been feeling.

  “I just spoke with Sobo,” she said, as if clearing off that reason for his sudden reappearance. “She’s not crazy about the hospital food.”

  “Maybe it needs soy sauce,” he joked. “It’s good she feels well enough to want to eat.”

  Ruthie nodded agreement and waited. He sensed her unspoken question. Why have you come back?

  “There was a doll,” he said, getting to the point. “It had been in the box with Pop’s military stuff.” He drew a deep breath, hoping they might find it in one of the cartons they hadn’t searched earlier today. “Sobo needs it. Pop said it has special meaning for her.”