by Jennie Marts
Sunny grinned like the Cheshire Cat. “Oh yeah, of course. I’ll bring over some cookies for you all to have later tonight.”
John rounded up the little dog and tucked him under his arm. “I appreciate the gesture, but really, don’t go to any trouble for me. I’ve slept just about everywhere. All I really need is a blanket and a patch of floor.”
Where? Where had he slept? What floors? The questions whirled in Edna’s head. Where had he been all these years? She wanted to bombard him with questions, to make some sense out of what he was doing here. How he was here—and alive? As much as she dreaded the idea of him staying at her house, she hoped that having him under the same roof would at least give her a chance to get some answers to those questions.
She watched Sunny walk John to the door and close it behind him. Her friend whirled on her with a questioning look.
“What the heck is wrong with you?” Sunny asked. “I’ve never seen you like this. Sure, I’ve seen you be snarky, but you were practically rude to him. What’s going on? I thought you would be excited to have your old friend stay with you.”
Excited. Thrilled. Terrified. “Well, I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to stay here.” Edna looked out the window. She watched John walk to his car then turned back to Sunny. “He was my first true love, but the last time I saw him, he was being accused of robbery and murder.”
Chapter Two
John Collins opened the door of his car and set the little dog onto the seat before sliding in next to it. The heat of the summer day had him starting the engine and flicking on the a/c, but he didn’t put the car in gear.
Instead, John sat still, lost in the memories of the past and the girl that had been the love of his life.
He hadn’t seen Edna in so many years and while his mind knew that she was an old woman, his heart only saw the young girl he had fallen in love with. Her eyes still sparkled when she laughed, and she still had the spunky spirit that had drawn him to her in the first place.
He couldn’t believe that he was here. He had done it. He had actually rung the doorbell and seen her face. Spoken with her.
He had considered rushing back to his car before she opened the door, but he was a little old for ding-dong-ditch. He’d probably break a hip if he tried.
It had been a pretty big leap from ringing her doorbell to actually staying at her house, and he wondered if he’d made the best decision there. He scratched the dog behind its brown and white ears. “Too late now. In for a penny, in for a pound. I guess we’re in this thing now, so we might as well ride it out and see what happens.”
Putting the car into gear, he pulled out into the street. It wasn’t like he was getting any younger.
Twenty minutes later, he approached the counter of the County Clerk’s office in the Pleasant Valley Court House. An older woman sat at the counter, a pinched expression on her face as if she had just tasted something sour.
“Good morning. I’m Irma Jean. May I help you?” she asked in a clipped tone.
This woman was all business. John studied her for a moment. In his lifetime, he had learned how to size up people. Taking in their expressions, their clothing, and their body language, he could quickly determine if they were someone he could trust or how best to approach them.
Irma Jean wore a light beige cardigan over a pale pink button-up blouse. Her blouse was crisply ironed, and a short string of pearls lay along her neck. Gray hair, pulled tightly into a bun, gave John the impression that Irma Jean was no-nonsense and liked things manageable and in order. The pale colors and simple jewelry told him that she preferred to fade into the crowd rather than stand out.
A tiny set of pink glasses perched on her nose. She looked at him above the rims, obviously waiting for his request.
He lowered his voice, just a little. “Hello, Irma Jean. I’m John Adams, and I’m wondering if you could help me out with something?” He maintained eye contact just a fraction too long then went in for the kill. “I like those pink glasses. They really set off your blue eyes. Has anyone ever told you that you have beautiful eyes?”
Irma Jean’s beautiful blue eyes widened and the corner of her mouth turned up just a bit. “Not in a very long time. But the fact that you’re telling me leads me to believe that you are about to have an interesting request, Mister…”—she paused for effect, and John’s respect for her ratcheted up a notch—“Adams, is it? Like the president? What exactly can I do for you, Mr. Adams?”
John smiled and passed a sheet of paper to her. “I’d like to see these two documents. I don’t necessarily need a copy of them. I just want to read what they say. Can you help me out?”
She read the page and peered at John over her glasses. “Marriage licenses are a matter of public record, so that should be easy. But this other one, I’m not sure about it.”
“It would really help me, Irma Jean. Is that a family name? It sure has a pretty ring to it.”
“All right, Mr. Adams. Here’s the deal.” She leaned forward, lowering her voice a bit. “You can lose the false compliments. They’re not working with me. Complimenting my eyes doesn’t pay my mortgage, if you know what I mean.”
John’s eyebrows rose and he grinned. Evidently the pressed blouse and granny glasses hid a woman with a killer instinct. He’d prepared for several different tactics depending on who was at the counter so he withdrew a twenty from his pocket and slid it discreetly toward her.
Irma Jean looked at it as if the currency were a piece of garbage soiling her counter. “You must think I live in a very small house, Mr. Adams.”
A laugh escaped John’s lips as he set two more twenties alongside the first.
“That’ll do.” Irma Jean glanced around the empty hallway, then her hand snaked out and the twenties disappeared below the counter. “But only because I like you, and you tried to charm me first instead of going directly for a bribe.”
She pulled her computer keyboard closer and tapped away at the keys. “I can print out that marriage certificate for you. There is a fee for the county, of course.”
“Of course.”
“But the other one, I’ll need to work on that to see what I can find out. It may take me a day or two.”
“That’s fine. I just got to town and plan on being here a few days.”
A few days or a few weeks. Whatever it took to get the answers he was looking for.
Chapter Three
Edna stood before the full-length mirror on the back of her bedroom door. Behind her on the bed lay a haphazard pile of clothes. She looked at the dozen outfits strewn about and thought it looked like a tornado had hit her room.
Hmm. That’s a pretty fitting thought, all things considered. Thoughts of Johnny and the events of that summer had played in her head all afternoon. The memories felt as strong and sharp as if they had happened yesterday.
Songs playing on the radio, smells of hay and lake water, snippets of conversation, the feeling of freedom riding on the back of Johnny’s motorcycle, the anticipation of his lips on hers.
Snap out of it, woman. That was a long time ago.
She looked at the blue dress she’d just put on. Johnny always told her she looked good in blue. She surveyed the clothes on the bed, taking note of the various shades of blue present in each one. Feeling ridiculous for getting so worked up over an outfit, she yanked the dress back over her head and threw it on the growing pile.
She didn’t want to look like she’d gone to too much effort, yet she didn’t want to look like a frumpy old woman either. He’d already caught her in pajamas that morning. She thanked the Lord she’d been wearing her pink satin shirt and pants set rather than the too-snug purple pair with the hole in the seat and the picture of Garfield stuffing a piece of lasagna in his mouth that she’d had on the night before.
Grabbing a pair of jeans from the mess, she pulled them on, then slipped her feet into her favorite white Keds. She chose the turquoise tunic with the sparkling beaded front she’d pulled out of the closet first. It
was one of her favorite ‘go-to’ shirts, one she always got compliments on, and it lay nicely on her petite frame. She didn’t have a lot of cleavage to boast of, but the small amount she did have was encased in a leopard print bra, making her smile at the secret of her wild side. Oh hell, it isn’t really that much of a secret.
The doorbell rang and she fluffed her hair one last time. She squirted a spritz of perfume into the air and walked through it as she headed for the living room, closing her bedroom door on the mess behind her.
She stopped midway down the hall. What was she doing? She hadn’t seen this man in sixty years and she’d invited him to stay at her house. Correction: Sunny had invited him to stay at her house. She knew a boy many years ago, but she had no idea what kind of man he’d become.
She shook her head. Yes, she did. She still knew him. Because he wasn’t just some boy to her. She knew his heart and soul. It may have been six decades ago, but he had pledged his love to her and she still saw that boy in the eyes of the man who had stood in her kitchen a few hours before.
The doorbell rang again, and she wondered if John was as anxious as she about seeing each other again. Opening the front door and seeing him standing there took her breath away.
And at her age, she needed all the breath she had. At this rate, she was going to have to find an oxygen tank just to be in the same room with him.
He’d changed from the suit to a pair of jeans and a simple yellow golf shirt. Still so handsome, Edna wondered if he actually played golf. Or tennis. Or badminton. Did he still drink his coffee black? Did he still like his burgers rare? Did he still prefer his ice cream floats with strawberry soda? She realized that although she felt she knew everything about the boy, she really knew nothing about this man.
“Should I come in?” he asked with a smile, still standing on the doorstep.
Edna laughed. “Of course. Sorry, I just got caught up in the past for a moment.” She pointed at the little dog. “Has he already done his business or is he waiting to christen another one of my table legs?”
John set Havoc on the floor and motioned for him to sit. “We had a little talk on the way over, and he’s promised to be on his best behavior. Can I leave him here a minute while I grab my suitcase?”
Edna eyed the dog with suspicion. He wagged his tail as she questioned him. “Do you really think you can manage? There’s not a lot of good behavior that goes on in this house.”
John laughed as he headed out the front door. “You’re just the same, Ed. You still make me laugh.” He gestured at her outfit. “And you always did look beautiful in blue.”
Edna’s cheeks warmed as she watched him slip out the door. He could still destroy her with one sentence. She wondered again what she was doing. How was she going to spend the whole night with him? She really didn’t even know him anymore. Or did she? Would she always know him? When you love someone so deeply, are they always embedded in your heart?
Her heartbeat quickened as he walked back into the house, pulling a wheeled suitcase behind him. The well-worn luggage was black, and the piping was frayed. Edna wished she could ask it where it had been. What kind of things had John packed inside of it, and where had it traveled in his company?
She pointed down the hallway. “First room on your right. The sheets are fresh, and we set out some towels. There’s a bottle of water on the nightstand in case you get thirsty later.” Geez. She sounded like the bellhop at a hotel. She willed her mouth to stop talking.
“Thank you. That’s very thoughtful. I really don’t want you to go to any trouble.” He dragged the suitcase into the room, and Havoc ran after him, nipping at the wheels of the luggage.
What was wrong with her? She was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. She typically prided herself on marching to her own drumbeat. She normally didn’t give two hoots about what others thought of her. Suddenly this man from her past shows up, and she’s jabbering like a teenage girl, worrying about her outfits and if she used enough fabric softener on the towels.
John closed the guest room door and walked back into the room. She hadn’t budged an inch. She still stood in the middle of the floor, halfway between the kitchen and living room. It was as if she were frozen in time and feared that if she moved, he might vanish in a puff of smoke. Disappear before she had a chance to ask him what he was doing here. Why was he back? And where the hell had he been for the past sixty years?
“Have you eaten?” John asked, breaking her free of her musing.
Before she could answer, the doorbell rang. Who in the world was at her door now? The way her day had been going, it could be anyone from the UPS guy to Ed McMahon.
She opened the door. Not a delivery guy and no balloons or a giant check from Publishers Clearing House.
Instead, Sunny and Maggie stood on her stoop, laden with sleeping bags, pillows, and three pizza boxes.
“We brought pizza,” Sunny said with a grin.
Not waiting for Edna’s response, the two friends pushed through the front door and dropped their sleeping bags onto the sofa.
“Hope he likes pepperoni,” Maggie said, dumping the pizza boxes onto the coffee table.
Carrying a plastic container filled with cookies under her arm, Sunny crossed the room to set them on the kitchen counter. She wore loose cotton capris and a pink t-shirt that read “Don’t Make Me Use My Teacher Voice.” Her shoulder-length blonde hair was pulled up into a curly ponytail.
She pulled open the lid of the cookies and offered one to John. “They’re chocolate chip.”
John took a cookie, saying nothing, just watching the scene unfold with an amused look on his face.
Maggie did not share Sunny’s easy disposition, and she looked skeptically at this new man standing in Edna’s living room.
Tall and slender, Maggie cut an imposing figure in her slim cotton t-shirt and figure-hugging yoga pants. She wore her long, dark hair loose and it fell in easy waves down her back. She had on cute black flip-flops, showing toes that were perfectly manicured and shiny with a cranberry nail polish.
Used to facing powerful men in the courtroom, she held her hand out to John and spoke in her lawyer voice. “I’m Maggie Hayes, a good friend of Edna’s and I’m also an attorney.”
John took her hand and smiled broadly. “I’m pleased to meet you, and I’m happy to see Edna has such good friends.”
Edna was still standing by the open front door, her hands on her hips. “Yes, but what are her good friends doing here and why do they have sleeping bags and pizza?”
“Because we’re having a slumber party here tonight.” Piper Denton, the youngest of the Page Turners book club, walked through the open door. She carried a large blue Rubbermaid tub, the words CAMPING GEAR marked on the side in magic marker.
“Hey everybody.” Her aunt, Cassie Bennett, followed close behind, her blonde curly hair bouncing as she walked directly to the kitchen counter and set down a large cake container. A box of microwave popcorn and a small stack of DVDs teetered precariously on top of the cake box.
Always perky and fun, Cassie practically skipped back to the front door, her face full of excitement as she threw her arms around Edna.
At five foot four, Cassie wasn’t much taller than Edna and she constantly complained about her plus-size curves. But Cassie had a welcoming personality and was always ready with a shoulder to cry on, a warm hug, and a slice of chocolate cake.
Squeezing Edna to her, Cassie whispered in her ear. “Surely you didn’t think we were going to let you spend the night alone with a murderer?”
Edna narrowed her eyes at Sunny, who was the only person she had mentioned John’s checkered past to.
Sunny shrugged and smiled, and Edna couldn’t help but grin back. There weren’t many secrets between the Page Turners, so Edna supposed it hadn’t taken long for the news of her house guest to travel among the women.
Edna looked out the front door. “Are we expecting anyone else? Did you perhaps invite any
of the neighbors?”
Cassie pushed the door shut. “Nope. Just us.” She looked around the room. “Who’s hungry?”
Who’s hungry? What was going on here? How had her evening gone from a quiet night with John to a slumber party? She knew her friends meant well, but she hadn’t had a sleepover since…well, come to think of it, she’d never had a sleepover.
She looked around at her friends, laughing as they passed out paper plates and slices of pizza. They loved her and wanted to protect her. And maybe they were right. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have them here while she figured out what was going on with John.
She wasn’t afraid of him and didn’t think he’d hurt her. But in the movies, even the best cops called for backup. And her backup had just arrived bearing food, pillows, and a stack of romantic comedies.
The smell of pepperoni and cheese wafted through the air, and her stomach growled. Maybe she was hungry. She reached for a plate. “Somebody pass me a piece. I hope you brought parmesan.”
An hour later, Edna’s living room looked like a slumber-party war zone. Pillows and comforters were piled over every surface. In the middle of the coffee table, a half-empty pizza box sat next to a giant bowl of popcorn, errant kernels scattered across the surface. Havoc was running between Piper and Cassie as they each snuck him bites of popcorn and pizza crust.
Cassie held up the stack of DVDs. “Who’s up for a movie? I have an action flick, two romantic comedies, a romantic drama, and a romantic suspense.”
Sunny laughed. “I vote for a romance.”
“I vote to hear a romance,” Piper said, looking from Edna to John. “I want to hear about how you two met and what your story is.” As tough as Piper acted, the girls knew she was a romantic at heart by the choices she recommended for book club reads.
Sitting in the recliner, John watched the women talk and laugh. The dog finally settled down and lay curled against his side, his nose resting precariously close to the empty paper plate sitting on the arm of the chair.