Marriage Seasons 03 - Falling for You Again (24 page)

Her cheeks flushed a pretty pink. “I’ll be back, Mr. Moore. Cody is taking this way too seriously. He’s acting like he’ll never see me again.”

“We never know when the Lord may call us home, and I’m sure you’re aware of Cody’s feelings for you.”

Jennifer’s expression grew serious. “Mr. Moore … can I …?”

Before he could respond, she leaned against him, cupped her hand at his ear, and began to whisper. “Mr. Moore, please pray for me. I know what God wants me to do with my life … but … but I’m really confused about a few things … about Cody.”

Charlie held his breath as she gripped his arm.

“Will you pray for me?” Her eyes filling with sudden tears, she backed away from him.

Charlie nodded. “Sure I will. You have my word on it.”

Dazed, he watched her hurry out the door. He hadn’t quite processed Jennifer’s request when Bitty called him to the counter. He ordered the fajita wrap, and it wasn’t but a moment before he was holding a lunch sack in his hand.

“Where’s Esther?” Bitty asked. “I hope she’s feeling all right.”

“She’s at home,” Charlie mumbled. “I was working. The Haneses’ addition. You know.”

“Oh, sure. I drove by there the other day. It’s looking so much better. I was beginning to wonder if Brad had given up on it. He was just in here for lunch, as usual, and he looked positively cheerful. I’m sure that’s your doing, Charlie.”

She smiled, and for the first time, Charlie noticed the freckles scattered across her cheeks.

“Do you suppose Esther would mind if you and I sat outside together?” she asked. “Looks like the lunch crowd is thinning out, and I could use a break. Pedro can take over for a few minutes.”

“That’ll be fine. Please join me.”

“Hey, Pedro,” Bitty called over her shoulder. “Cover the front for me, would you?”

Charlie noted Bitty’s new employee moving from the kitchen area toward the counter. Pedro Baca didn’t speak English too well yet, but he and his family were settling comfortably into the lake community.

“It’s a perfect autumn day, isn’t it?” Charlie tugged his cap onto his head again as he and Bitty left the Pop-In and sat in the bistro chairs outside. He excused himself, bowed his head, and offered up a silent prayer of gratitude for the meal. Then he spoke aloud again. “Blue sky, the last few leaves on the trees, and a breeze blowing in from the lake. My kind of weather.”

Bitty chuckled as she stirred a cup of steaming coffee. “This will be my first winter ever. Southern California doesn’t have much to offer when it comes to seasonal changes. I’m enjoying the lake, and even the cooler weather is nice. Winter will be a big adventure, though. I guess you’re used to it. Esther told me you’ve lived in Missouri all your life.”

Charlie studied the woman across from him as he chewed his first bite of lunch. He had never given Bitty Sondheim much heed except to marvel at the crazy outfits she wore. Today, her straw-colored hair was pulled back into its usual braid. As they left the warmth of the restaurant, she had tugged on a bright turquoise sweater with big black buttons. Underneath, she wore some sort of loose, wrinkled red dress that Esther wouldn’t be caught dead in. Charlie thought he had noted black-and-white checkered socks and a pair of leather sandals on her feet, but they were tucked under the table now.

Despite her clownish getup, Bitty was pretty. It had taken Charlie a while to see it. Now that he did, he was almost astonished. Not only did the woman have the cutest sprinkling of freckles he’d ever seen, but her green eyes twinkled with happiness and her full lips parted over perfect white teeth.

“Bitty, have you ever been married?” Charlie asked.

Realizing immediately that he’d been as blunt as Cody, he cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. That’s your personal business. It’s just that the topic has been on my mind lately. Not you. Marriage. Marriage in general is what I mean.”

He was digging a deeper hole the more he talked, so he decided the best option was to take another bite of his wrap. “Very tasty,” he mouthed as he chewed.

Bitty tipped back her head and laughed. She had a big, hearty chuckle that couldn’t help but lift a person’s spirits. Pulling up the hem of her long skirt, she stretched out her legs and set her feet on the chair across from Charlie. Then she tucked a loose sprig of blonde hair behind one ear.

“Not legally,” she said. “Married.”

“Oh.” Charlie took another quick bite.

“Back in California, I lived with one guy for about four years. He turned out to have a mental illness, but he wouldn’t take his medicine. So that didn’t work out too great. Then another guy and I were together for … let’s see … oh, I guess ten years off and on. That one didn’t work out either. After that, I decided I wasn’t any good at being with men. About that time, an old friend of mine announced he wanted to marry me, but I told him no and ran away. So now I’m here—happy as a lark and determined never to set one toe into a relationship again.”

At this, she lifted her foot and waggled it around, checkered stocking and all. Charlie joined in her laughter in spite of himself. Bitty was a little crazy, but then who wasn’t these days? Esther sure had her moments. Cody did too. And what on earth was going on in Jennifer Hansen’s pretty head? It felt to Charlie like he was riding on a Tilt-A-Whirl.

Seated on the porch, Esther was studying a case of Ashley Hanes’s homemade beads when Charlie pulled up to the house in his golf cart. Boofer bounded across the yard to greet him, but Esther couldn’t muster the energy to stand. She was so tired, and it felt as if she’d been looking at beads for hours. The way Ashley had organized them made no sense at all. No matter how hard Esther tried, she couldn’t figure out how to straighten the mess.

“Insulation’s done,” Charlie announced as he strode up the steps and onto the porch. “Brad and I will start hanging drywall next week.”

He paused and cocked his head. “Esther? Are you feeling okay?”

She shook her head. “I’ve been dizzy all day.”

“Dizzy?” He sat down beside her and turned the bead box in his direction. “That’s odd. I’m feeling a little off-kilter myself.”

“Maybe it was something we ate.”

“I think I’ve got too much on my mind. What have you done to the beads, honey? You’ve mixed them all up.”

“Really? Did I do that?” She took a sip of lemonade and studied the bead box with her husband. The ice in her glass had melted long ago, but the drink was still cool.

“No, I think the problem is Ashley’s directions,” Esther told as she pointed to the array of objects on the table. “This afternoon, she brought over all these bags of beads and asked me to sort them, but I can’t follow this nonsense she wrote. Can you make heads or tails of it?”

Charlie took the note card with its scribbled instructions. “Honey, this is the grocery shopping list I took to the store last Monday. Look here—eggs, milk, bacon, oatmeal. This is your handwriting, Esther.”

She focused on the words, and all at once they made sense. “Oh, for pete’s sake. If that isn’t the silliest thing. I must have picked up the grocery list when I went inside for lemonade.”

Charlie bent down and tugged at a piece of paper wedged against the leg of the wicker table. “Here’s what Ashley wrote. Same as always. ‘Please organize beads by colors and shapes.’ She’s drawn a little diagram for you.”

“Let me see that.” Esther scanned the instructions. “All right, but look at the container. Why are there red beads in with the blues? And see this gold one in here? Why would Ashley set up the box this way if she expected me to follow what she wrote on that note? That girl can be so loosey-goosey. I have to say, Charlie, sometimes I wonder if she’s taking drugs. You know what a bad influence Brad is with all his drinking.”

Charlie silently rearranged the beads. Then he opened one of the plastic zip bags and began filling the compartments.

Esther didn’t like the look on his face, so she decided it was time to make her big announcement.

“By the way, I’ve decided to get my artery cleaned out.” She tried to make her voice light, but for some reason the words came out in a gush of tears. “I love you so much, Charlie, and I know I’ve been a terrible pain in the neck about this whole thing. Letting that doctor put all those balloons and tubes and mesh pipes in my artery scares me to death, but I’m going to do it anyway because I want you to be happy again. You’ve been such an irritating old goat these past couple of months, and I know it’s mostly my fault.”

“Now, Esther.” He reached out a hand to her.

“No, let me finish.” She took the grocery list and began dabbing her cheeks with it. “Cody said I’ve been mean to you lately. People think I’ve changed since my accident. While I was getting my set-and-style last week, Patsy told me she felt I ought to have the balloon thing done. She said she was worried because at the last TLC meeting I didn’t remember Halloween, and I don’t. Then Brenda paid me a visit this morning, and she said that she and Kim had been talking about me. Imagine that! Gossiping about a person behind her back.”

At this, Esther couldn’t do a thing to stop the tears. Charlie kept saying, “Now, Esther,” but it didn’t do any good at all. The very idea of people discussing their neighbor and her arteries in secret was so mortifying that she hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything else all day.

“Brenda and Kim want me to have the balloon put in too,” Esther sobbed. “Kim’s husband—oh, I can’t remember his name right now—anyway, he knows all about arteries and CPR and heart attacks and strokes because of his job. He told Brenda that I might be demented. Can you believe it? Demented! And all because of my silly artery.”

“Now, Esther, you’re not demented.” Charlie patted her hand. “Derek talked to me about his concerns too. I told you about that, remember? He said there’s a condition called vascular dementia. All it means is that the plaque in your artery is blocking the blood flow to part of your brain. So maybe that’s why you forgot about Halloween—not that there was much to remember. We only had three kids at the door, and you had gone to bed by the time they came around.”

“I had? Did you give them anything?”

“Uh-huh. Bubble gum.”

“Bubble gum! Oh, that’s not a treat, Charlie. You know I always make little sacks of goodies. Miniature candy bars, lollipops, red hots, peppermints, chocolate drops—all the treats in a little black net bag tied up with orange ribbon.”

Her frustration again shifted into a flood of tears. “Never mind about that, Charlie. What I’m trying to tell you is that I love you so much, and I want you to be happy, and I know you won’t be happy if you have to live with a demented woman for the rest of your life. So Brenda called the vein doctor while she was here because—wouldn’t you know it—I had misplaced his phone number. She found him in the book, and she set up the appointment. So the day after Thanksgiving, you and I will have to drive to Springfield again. Brenda says the surgery is an in-and-out kind of thing, and they probably won’t even put me to sleep—though the truth is, I wouldn’t mind it so much. All that cutting and pushing things through my veins … well, never mind. I’m going to do it, so that’s that.”

Charlie heaved a long sigh. “I’m glad, Esther. I’d dance a jig if I hadn’t worn myself out hanging insulation all day. Have you told the kids?”

“Not yet,” she said. “I think Cody must have done something with our address book the last time he was here. I can’t find it anywhere.”

“We’ll let modern technology take care of that little problem.” Charlie tugged his cell phone from his pocket and pressed a few buttons. Esther knew he would call their son first. Charles Jr. had always been calmer and more practical than Ellie. Even though their daughter had settled down and held a good job for several years, neither Charlie nor Esther could predict how she would react to issues that arose in the family.

“May I speak to Charles Moore Jr. please?” Charlie asked. “You can tell him that his father is on the line … with good news.”

Esther pictured the receptionist outside their son’s office. What a lovely young woman. And how wonderful that Charles Jr. had risen to such a prestigious position in his job. Some people might sniff at the fact that his place of employment was only an onion factory, but Esther regularly reminded herself how important that particular vegetable was in the greater scheme of life. Food simply tasted better with onions, and good food made the world a happier, healthier place.

Charlie’s voice brightened. “Hey there, Son. This is your ol’ dad. How are Natalie and the kids?”

Esther sat patiently awaiting her turn to talk while Charlie made small talk and then discussed the upcoming medical procedure and its importance for her health. Hearing the scenario explained all over again in such detail worried Esther. Maybe she shouldn’t have agreed to it, after all. She certainly loved Charlie and hoped to live many more long, happy years with her husband. But the thought of lying on one of those hard hospital beds with lights all around and doctors peering down—

“He wants to talk to you,” Charlie said, handing Esther the cell phone.

“Hello?” Esther cradled the device, uncertain exactly where her ear was supposed to go and how loudly she ought to speak. One slip of the hand and the phone could fold up on itself or even dial some random unknown number.