“Hello again, Maggie,” he greeted me. “Now maybe you can tell me more about your community service. I’m afraid the only service I’ve ever done in this community was court ordered and a long time ago.” I studied his face for a second to determine if he suspected CeCe had lied and was now making fun of me. His only amusement appeared to come from the jab he took at his past, and I believed I was seeing genuine interest in his expression. Although my plan had been to avoid my ‘volunteer work’ all together, I couldn’t look him in the eyes and do anything except come clean. Well, sort of.
“I’m afraid I have to apologize for CeCe,” I began. “I must have mentioned running into you, literally, at the Build-N-Fix-It. She’s a little protective and couldn’t stand the idea of someone having a less-than-flattering impression of me, so she exaggerated the glowing description of my efforts.” I couldn’t very well tell him that CeCe, unlike me, believes in love at first sight and was convinced he was my soul mate, just because I had this stupid little crush on him.
“Oh, okay. So which part wasn’t an exaggeration?” Luke asked without any judgment in his voice.
I suspected this was about to go south fairly quickly. He was probably going to feel foolish for falling for the lies CeCe told, and that would make him angry. That would make him want to get as far away from me as possible.
There was no turning back now, so I blurted out, “Maybe fabricated would have been a better word than exaggerated. I’m really sorry about that, Luke. She didn’t . . . .”
I expected anger or disgust to be evident on his face, but I was caught off guard when he began to chuckle. “Fry never told me you two were so funny,” he laughed softly.
I wasted only a couple of seconds trying to decide if he meant funny as in “ha-ha” or funny as in “weird.” Oh well, I might as well ask. It’s not like the question could make him think less of me than he already did.
“Do you mean funny like strange or . . . ,” I tried to inquire.
“I mean, I didn’t know you had such a sense of humor,” Luke explained, smiling warmly. “That sounds like something Fry would have done. No wonder he loves working with you and CeCe.”
It’s a miracle! A man who doesn’t take himself too seriously? Who knew they really existed, because I have to say, this would be my first time encountering such a creature.
As I tried to think of something charming and witty to say, Barney came back and began to usher Luke toward Eliza’s relatives. “Excuse me. Can I borrow Luke for a minute? I want Eliza’s brother to meet my family,” Barney explained.
Bless you, Uncle Barney, I thought. While I was enjoying the conversation with Luke, I was happy to have it end on a high note. Especially when I noticed the chocolate pools sparkle as Barney called him family. I guess when you don’t have much, you cherish what you have.
As I headed toward CeCe and Aunt Shirley, I was intercepted by my mother. “Maggie, did you offer condolences to Miss Eliza’s family? They’re very nice folks, even if they are from Ohio,” Mother allowed. She grew up being taught to be suspicious of Yankees based on stories handed down about the War of Northern Aggression. In spite of her upbringing, I don’t think Mother ever met a Yankee she didn’t like.
“Not yet, Mother. How are you doing?” Although she looked better than Aunt Shirley, she didn’t look good.
“Oh, I’m fine,” she said, with a wave of her hand for emphasis. “I just feel bad for Eliza’s brother and his wife. They are so disillusioned. They’re in their eighties and their health is failing, which is enough to cause concern. Then their home was broken into about a week ago. Fortunately, they weren’t home. Now Eliza’s been murdered, so they’re feeling very upset and vulnerable. Crimes, especially those against the elderly in this country, are out of control.”
“Poor things,” I commiserated.
“I know,” Mother agreed. “Do you know they called Eliza just after their break-in last week to remind her to be careful since she lived alone? They told me she assured them this town is very safe, and she always kept her doors and windows locked, so she said not to worry about her. We will definitely be discussing how to make things safer for the elderly at the next council meeting.”
“Don’t upset yourself, Mother,” I encouraged. “Think of your blood pressure.” I was trying to be comforting, and that might have worked with Aunt Shirley. Unfortunately, I was addressing my mother.
“Young lady, there is nothing wrong with my blood pressure. Your blood pressure could probably take a lesson from my blood pressure, that’s how good it is.” I could see Mother was working herself up now. “If I really wanted to make you jealous, we could talk cholesterol. My levels . . . . ”
“Sorry, mother. I forgot to whom I was speaking,” I justified until I decided to diffuse the situation with a little honestly. “You do realize it’s your fault I suck at comforting others. You never let me get any practice, because you have always been determined to handle things in your own way. How do you think that makes me feel – knowing I can’t comfort my own mother?”
“Don’t say ‘suck,’ dear,” Mother couldn’t help correcting. “And what do you mean you can’t comfort people? You have always been successful at everything you’ve done, and that includes bringing comfort to others in their time of need. I just don’t happen to need comfort at the moment.”
See, that is why I can’t stay mad at her. Even when she doesn’t need me, she still likes me. I gave my mother a hug and said, “I love you too, Mother. Now I better go speak to the family, because I think the service is about to begin.”
I walked over to Eliza’s brother and his wife and introduced myself, “Hello, I’m Maggie Eastman, and I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for your loss.”
“That’s very kind of you. I’m Cheryl Parker, and this is my husband Joseph,” Eliza’s sister-in-law responded. “We’re still in shock. This was so sudden, you know. It’s comforting to see others who cared about Eliza. It breaks my heart every time I look at Barney over there,” she nodded in the direction where Luke and his Uncle Barney were standing. “Eliza wrote of him often, and it’s clear he will miss her tremendously. He is such a sweet man. He was always there for Eliza, helping her take care of some family business and things like that. He was chatting with us for a while, but he seemed to become confused and excused himself. Your mother explained that it’s beginning to happen more frequently with him. I guess being on the city council, she keeps up with most things on most people.”
I must have looked surprised and confused as I was trying to figure out how she knew I was Pearl’s daughter.
Reading my expression, Mrs. Parker responded, “Oh, your mother pointed you out when we were talking earlier. She’s so proud of you, and with good reason. You are a lovely young woman. Apparently, Barney’s nephew agrees since he hasn’t taken his eyes off you since you came over.”
“What?” I felt my face go red and my throat close up, which left me speechless. And I hadn’t even turned around to look at him yet.
“Please take your seats,” the priest instructed, so I quietly slid over to sit by CeCe and the sisters.
CHAPTER 5
After the funeral CeCe and I went to the Big & Blessed Maternity Shop to relieve Fry. We were filling Fry in on the details of the funeral, omitting the ‘Luke makes me weak in the knees’ part of course, when CeCe’s phone started playing, “Pour some sugar on me.”
“Hey, Mother, I – what?” CeCe asked. “Okay, okay. Calm down and start at the beginning.”
CeCe’s intense tone brought our conversation to an immediate halt, allowing Fry and I to eavesdrop more effectively.
CeCe was saying, “Uh-huh, uh-huh, poor Mr. Trudeaux, right, well, that shouldn’t be a problem since you’re a great cook.” CeCe paused to listen for a minute, and I could hear little squeaks coming through the phone.
“Oh, I see,” CeCe said, nodding her head. “Hmm, yeah, that’s a problem. Um, oh, wait. I know!” She turned to Fry so fast we both
jumped. “Fry, are you free this afternoon if we don’t need you here?”
“Madame,” Fry corrected, “I may be cheap, but I am never free.”
CeCe’s eyes rolled heavenward. I really do worry that they’re going to stick that way one of these times, and she’ll spend the rest of her life looking at the inside of her skull, which would be awkward.
“Fry, are you available this afternoon to help my mother?” she said through clenched teeth, nodding her head up and down vehemently. Fry’s head and mine involuntarily began to nod up and down with her.
“Why, yes I am,” he agreed.
“Did you hear that, Mother?” CeCe announced gleefully into the phone with her hands making calm, soothing motions. “Fry’s available to help, so just relax. Everything’s going to be fine. Yes, he’ll be there soon. Yes. Okay. Bye.” She hung up the phone and leaned weakly against the counter.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“My mother’s in a state because Mr. Trudeaux broke his leg,” CeCe said in exasperation and threw her hands up in the air as if that explained everything.
“Are they close?” I asked, trying to make sense of what I’d heard so far.
“No.” CeCe responded. “He was supposed to cook a huge pot of jambalaya for the Senior and Single meeting tonight.”
“Are we talking about the bonbon meal?” I asked.
“Exactly,” CeCe replied.
“He fell off a ladder getting the big pot out of the attic and broke his leg. Now he has asked my mother to cook it in his place. He even sent over the pot, the ingredients, and his recipe.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. She’s a great cook.” I said smiling, now that the problem was solved.
“That’s what I said, but there is a problem. His recipe is not doable for my mother. His instructions are along the lines of – add the bell peppers, onions, and pork, then sauté for about two beers. Then add the sausage and sauté for about one beer and on like that. You see the problem?” CeCe inquired.
“Your mother doesn’t drink except for a glass of wine now and again,” I said as I began to grasp the situation.
“Bingo,” CeCe exhaled, relieved that I finally understood. “That’s where Fry comes in. She needs him to, uh, assist her while she’s cooking so she can follow the instructions to the letter. She’s never attempted a big batch of jambalaya like this one, so she feels she better stick to the recipe. Mr. Trudeaux is known for his awesome jambalaya, and everyone is looking forward to it.”
She turned to Fry, “No pressure.”
“None felt,” confirmed Fry, with his this-will-be-fun grin.
A few minutes after Fry left, a pack of five teenage girls all dressed in cheerleader outfits breezed into the shop. CeCe and I have learned not to try to figure out the customers but rather just wait and see. They waved and smiled at us, so we waved and smiled at them. They walked in and out of the clothes’ racks, talking a mile a minute to each other and giggling.
After a few minutes of this I looked at CeCe, “Time?”
“Sure,” she nodded.
I walked over to them smiling, “May I help you ladies?”
“Oh, yes,” said one girl.
“We’ve got so much to shop for,” said another girl.
“She’s so lucky,” said yet another. “She married the captain of the football team, and she’s going to have a baby!”
Then there was another chorus of “she’s soooo lucky!” It became obvious that it was the pretty blonde in the middle that was the sooo lucky one.
“Would you like me to show you around the shop?” I asked her. “Obviously you’re not showing yet, but then when the time comes you’ll know what we have.”
“That would be super awesome,” the mom-to-be bubbled.
“Okay then,” I said cheerfully. “Follow me.”
First I took them to the undergarments section. “These may be some of the first things you’ll need to buy. Sometimes you can still fit in some of your clothes, but your normal underwear just can’t hang in there anymore. Even before your stomach starts to grow your breasts will get bigger.”
The girls got very excited.
“You’re soooo lucky,” one of her posse repeated. “You even get bigger boobs! That’s so unfair.”
Another girl picked up a bra and said, “Look how plain this bra is though. Don’t you have lace or colors? Oh my God! It’s got a trap door and your boob falls out! Oh my God!”
This was followed by many “Oh my Gods” and “eewwwws.”
“Those are our nursing bras. You won’t need that until just before the baby arrives,” I said gently.
The mother-to-be looked shell shocked and said, “Oh, my God! I’ll have to wear that to feed the baby?”
“If you decide to breast feed, yes,” I said wishing this girl’s mother was here instead of her posse.
The young newlywed just stood there and tried to process the information. It must have been hard to think with all those “Oh, my Gods!” flying around. I could see this was a lot for her to digest, so I tried to move the gang to the t-shirt section. I wasn’t fast enough. One of the girls spied the maternity panties.
“Oh MY God! Look at the size of these things. Oh, my God! Are you going to get this big?” she said holding up one of our most humongous pair of panties. They looked at the mother-to-be who looked helplessly at me.
I wish Fry was here. He’d have this young mom-to-be wrapped around his little finger and welcoming the joys of motherhood.
“A lot of women don’t get quite that large, so I don’t think you have to worry about that right now. There are some cute tops over here that you should see.” They were all very quiet now, but they followed me.
I took a sassy little red and black shirt off the rack. “You would look so spectacular in this,” I said cheerfully.
She actually smiled. Thank you, Jesus.
“CeCe,” I called over my shoulder looking for support. “Come help me find a few more things to show this adorable little mother. I just can’t decide, because she’s so pretty. Everything would look great on her.”
Her posse did a chorus of, “Oh my God, it’s so true.”
Then one of the girls said in a terrible voice, “What is this?”
I turned to see her holding up a large, full-bodied dress meant to cover your belly to the very end of your pregnancy no matter how large you grew.
“It’s a dress,” I said, but that’s all I had time to say. The expectant mother fled the shop in a trail of “Oh my God’s.”
The other girls rushed after her while asserting, “Honey, it’ll be okay,” and “that could never happen to you.”
I yelled after them, “Don’t worry. It snaps back after the baby comes.”
The bells jangled as the last one exited the shop.
She just needed some time.
The rest of the day was blissfully uneventful. We took a few hours to work on inventory after the shop closed before calling it a day. Since the sisters had promised us some jambalaya leftovers, we headed over to their house after we left the shop.
“How do you think Fry made out?” CeCe asked as we pulled up in the driveway.
“I guess we’ll find out,” I said. “There are still some cars here. How long can these people party?”
We walked into the house, through the great hall that goes down the middle of the house, and straight to the back door. As we stepped outside, we saw Fry standing in the middle of eight single seniors very animatedly telling a story. Suddenly, they all burst out laughing. I guess he was making out okay. We found the sisters by the food tables beginning to pick up plates and decorations.
We walked over and I asked, “Did the jambalaya turn out all right?”
“Perfect,” my mother exclaimed happily. “Fry was such a help. And boy did he hit it off with all the single seniors. He’s been invited to our next shindig. He’s a hoot.”
Ah, Fry. He is such a renaissance man. The last few strag
glers to leave the party were patting Fry on the back as they told everyone goodbye. I turned and saw Fry walking up the steps of the house.
“Fry, where’re ‘ya going?” I wanted to know. I’d been thinking on the drive over that this might be a good opportunity to pump him for some details on Luke. Casually, of course, I was hoping. I can be very casual. I’ve been known to be deceptively casual at times.
“I’ll be right back,” Fry answered. “Ms. Eleanor needs my advice on something before she goes.”
“Please call me Ellie,” insisted Ms. Eleanor to Fry. “All my friends do.”
I smiled and shook my head. Good ol’ Fry.
CeCe walked over and helped me cut the balloons from the table legs. “Did Fry say he’s staying for a while?” CeCe asked, going for nonchalant but not quite sticking it.
“Yeah, I think so. Why?” I asked not at all nonchalant.
“I was just thinking,” she said. “Maybe we can find out something else about Luke. I mean, if it happens to come up in conversation.” She added a wink on the end, just in case I didn’t get her meaning.
I got it.
“I was thinking the same thing, but please let me do the digging. Okay?” I pleaded.
“You think I can’t be subtle. Well, missy, let me tell you, I can subtle like nothing you’ve ever seen before,” CeCe said obviously offended.
I sighed deeply. That’s sort of what worried me. “Okay. Just don’t try to dig too deep, or he’ll never let me hear the end of it,” I suggested.
She smiled, satisfied now. “Don’t worry. We’ll both just ask a few harmless questions. He won’t even notice,” CeCe assured me.
Uh-huh.
We made a few more trips into the house to finish cleaning up and then sat in the lawn chairs that had a tray of lemonade on the table next to them. The sisters were relaxing in front of their flat screen with their feet up, since we told them we’d handle the inside clean up in a few minutes. First things first. We had to pick Fry’s brain.
Fry walked up and asked, “How are my favorite ladies?”
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