Same Old Truths (The Reluctant Avenger)

by Delora Dennis

  Delbert’ eyes opened wide. “Oh. Right. I thought you looked familiar. You took care of the funeral services for my ex-wife’s uncle.”

  Ed smiled and nodded as if he remembered exactly who Delbert was referring to.

  Delbert leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. “Tell me something, Ed. I’ve always wondered what that bronze casket set the family back. Seems like such a waste of money just to bury it in the ground.”

  Ed had heard questions like these a thousand times and it never bothered him. But right now, Kay was the one who was bothered. She didn’t want Ed to dignify Delbert’s boorish question with a response and she didn’t want to explain her association with Delbert. So she punted.

  “I’m sorry I don’t have a box for the churn. Is a plastic bag ok?” she said.

  There’s that smile again.

  “Sure, no problem. But you might want to double bag it since it is kind of heavy.”

  Kay was all thumbs as she fumbled with the balled-up nest of plastic grocery bags she’d pulled out from under the table.

  “Why don’t you let me help you with that.” Ed said. He walked around the table.

  I think he enjoys making me nervous.

  Delbert wasn’t hiding his annoyance at the chummy scene between Ed and Kay. “Kay, shouldn’t you take the money before bagging up the merchandise? I mean, after all, that’s why we’re here.”

  Kay turned to Delbert with her own version of menace. “Delbert, shouldn’t you…”

  Ed knew she was about to say something hateful, and ever the diplomat, interjected,“You’re absolutely right, Delbert. That was totally my fault. Here, Kay.” He reached in his pants pocket, pulled out a thin, folded wad of bills, peeled off a couple of ones and handed them to Kay.

  “That’s what I love about participating in these events. We have such dedicated volunteers helping us out. I’m going to be sure to mention your name at our follow up board meeting. It’s Schumacher, right?”

  That’s why Ed’s here. Duh.

  Delbert’s chest puffed out and all traces of disagreeableness disappeared.

  “D - e - l - b - e - r - t,” Virginia called and waved from several tables away. ”If you’re not busy, I could use your help over here.”

  Eager to confirm Ed’s opinion of him as a dedicated volunteer, Delbert turned to Ed and Kay. “You’ll have to excuse me. But as you can see, I’m needed elsewhere.” He made a crisp, 180 degree turn and sped off to answer the call of duty.

  Kay chuckled. “For a minute there, I thought he was going to salute.”

  “He seems like an O.K. guy to me,” Ed said. “A little goofy, but ok.”

  Kay didn’t want to talk about Delbert Schumacher any more. She wanted to know why Ed was being friendly to her again. She was about to pose a question to open up the topic when Mariah walked up, accompanied by a chubby little girl Kay didn’t recognize.

  “Hey, Mr. Salinger. I didn’t know you were going to be here.” Mariah said.

  “Mariah! How nice to see you.” Ed nodded in the direction of Mariah’s companion. “Who’s your little friend?”

  Mariah’s friend rolled her eyes at the “little” reference.

  Kay was annoyed Mariah had been gone so long. “Mariah, where have you been? You said you’d be right back.”

  “I’m sorry. Mom. I saw Alicia over by the popcorn stand and I wanted to say hi.” Then true to her mother’s training she said, “Mom. Mr. Salinger. This is Alicia Resnick. Alisha, this is my mom and her boss, Mr. Salinger.”

  It was hard for Kay to stay mad at Mariah when she demonstrated such beautiful manners.

  “Hu’lo,” Alisha muttered, eyes on the ground, completely uninterested.

  Mariah wasn’t finished with her introduction. “Mr. Salinger owns a mortuary. He and my mom work with dead people all the time.”

  Kay immediately picked up on Mariah’s attempt to impress the implacable Alisha. She winked at Ed and said, “Ah, yes. Alisha Resnick. Mariah tells me you know a lot about zombies. We’ve been trying to tap into that market for awhile, but there just doesn’t seem to be any interest. Maybe you could give us some suggestions?”

  Alisha gave Mariah a look of fury, then turned back to Kay and Ed.

  “Uh…uh…I gottago.” The little girl sped away and disappeared into the crowd.

  “Wait, Alisha!” Mariah called after her friend. “My mom was kidding.”

  Mariah turned back to her mom with a look of dismay. “That wasn’t funny.”

  “Neither was trying to get you to watch Dead Zombies Society,” Kay said.

  Ed turned his head and pretended to be busy with his newly-purchased package. He didn’t want Mariah to detect his amusement. Kay wondered why he was hanging around. As one of the people in charge of the event, Kay assumed he’d be running around like Virginia and would have little, if any, time for socializing. Kay was getting the feeling he wanted to talk too.

  Kay grabbed a handful of ones from her purse and handed them to Mariah. “Here. Go find Alisha. Tell her your mother has a weird sense of humor and then buy her a funnel cake.”

  Mariah was only too happy to comply. With a friendly wave to Ed the little girl went in search of her embarrassed friend.

  “Heh, heh. Kids,” Ed said. He was peering into the bag with the ice cream churn as if it might spontaneously produce ready-made cones.

  “Yeah…they can be pretty funny,” Kay said.

  A chasm of awkward silence opened between them. After a few uncomfortable moments, Kay decided to dive across and close the gap by being the first to speak.

  “Ed, can I ask you a question?” she began.

  He responded in the affirmative but Kay could hear the apprehension in his voice.

  “For a quite a while now, I’ve had the feeling I’ve done something to displease you. Up until this morning, you’ve barely even acknowledged my presence - unless you were absolutely forced to.”

  “That’s not a question,” Ed replied, his mood turning serious.

  “I know.” She cleared her throat and regrouped. “It just seems that ever since that morning when we saw each other at the coffee shop you’ve done everything in your power to avoid me.”

  Ed mumbled something Kay couldn’t hear. “Sorry?” she said,

  He finally turned and looked at her directly in the eye. “Look, Kay. When I hired you I saw the potential for an exceptional funeral director and I was excited about having you as my apprentice.”

  Kay could feel her heart hit the top of her feet. She was sure he was trying to find a way to tell her she was no longer measuring up.

  “I love my job, Ed. I know I still have a lot to learn, but I’ve tried to apply everything you’ve taught me to the best of my ability.”

  Please, oh, please, don’t let me cry.

  “Excuse me.” An elderly woman was holding up a vase with ugly red parrots hand painted on the side. “I don’t see a price on this vase.”

  The timing of the interruption was perfect. Now Kay would have a chance to stave off the tears threatening to stream down her cheeks.

  “Here. Let me see,” Kay said, gently taking the vase from the woman’s gnarled hands. She turned the item upside down, revealing a price tag adhered to the bottom. “It’s 75 cents.”

  With the way the woman reacted you’d have thought Kay had said 75 dollars. “Oh my. That’s much too expensive.” She peered at Kay and said, “I’ll give you 25 cents.”

  Kay pretended to mull over the offer.

  “50 cents and it’s yours,” Kay countered.

  Kay enjoyed haggling, even if it was only for pennies.

  For a moment the woman continued to stare sternly at Kay. Then a big grin broke over her face. “You drive a hard bargain. I’ll take it.”

  Kay stood patiently by as the old lady searched for the little coin purse hiding at the bottom of an over-stuffed purse. Then it took a few more minutes to fish out two quarters from within her small ocean of loose change. The two quarters
clinked as Kay dropped them into the small metal tackle box substituting for a cash drawer. Kay unfurled a large piece of newspaper, carefully wrapped the vase, placed it into a grocery bag and handed it to the woman with a smile. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

  Kay turned back to Ed who’d been watching the entire transaction with a bemused grin. “See, Kay. You’re a natural people person. I’ve seen it when you interact with families and I’ve seen it with everyone at the mortuary. I know for a fact that Ruth and Leo really value you as a co-worker.”

  Kay looked away. She was embarrassed by the compliment and still confused about where Ed was going with this conversation.

  “And what about you, Ed? Do you still feel I’m a valued employee?”

  But before he could answer, Mariah walked up looking defeated and forlorn. She slapped the wad of money back in Kay’s hand. “Here. Alisha had to go home.” Mariah plopped into a plastic folding chair and pouted. “I’m bored. When do you think dad’s gonna get here?”

  Ed’s posture stiffened. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and checked the screen. “Wow, look at the time. I should have been at the registration table 20 minutes ago.” He picked up the bag with the churn and started to take his leave but Kay couldn’t let him go without knowing where she stood with him.

  “Wait!” Kay said, pulling Ed’s arm, causing him to drop the plastic bag. It hit the ground with a dull thud. Kay and Ed dove to recover the churn, clunking their foreheads together with a force that knocked Kay back on her butt.

  Ed held his throbbing head and scooted over to make sure Kay was alright, then offered his hand. “I’m so sorry. Are you hurt?” he said, as he pulled her up.

  Kay was a little dazed - but not so much that she wasn’t still concerned about Ed leaving.

  “I’m fine,” she said rubbing her forehead. “You?”

  Ed checked across his forehead with a light touch of his finger tips. “It’s probably just a concussion with a minor subdural hematoma. Nothing really to worry about.”

  In her semi-dazed condition, it took Kay a few beats before she realized Ed was teasing her. But she couldn’t laugh. She was too worried about him getting away before she got her answer.

  “Too soon?” Ed asked with chuckle.

  “How much for this chess set?”

  “Do you know where I can find any more of these plates?”

  “Hey, Herb. Look at this clock. Wouldn’t it go great with my lemon tea pot?”

  Kay looked over and saw things were getting busy at the table. She looked back at Ed with pleading eyes. “Please. Can you hang back for just a minute?” she asked.

  Kay was able to quickly dispense with all but one indecisive customer. The woman was trying to pick out a pair of earrings for her god-daughter’s birthday. As the woman took turns holding up the earrings to her lobe while looking in the mirror Virginia had provided, Kay would look over at Ed, smile sheepishly and shrug. She could tell his patience was beginning to wane.

  “How old is your god-daughter?” Mariah, tired of watching the never-ending earring rotation, jumped up to help.

  The woman cocked her head and looked at Mariah. Kay thought she was going to admonish her for interrupting. “She’s about your age.”

  “I don’t think she’d like any of those earrings you’re looking at. They’re more for grown-ups, like you.” Mariah said.

  “So what do you think I should get her?”

  “Does she play video games?” Mariah asked.

  “I think so,” the woman said.

  Mariah gave the woman a big smile and directed her to a box filled with donated, used video games.

  “They’re real expensive if you buy them new. It takes me a long time to save up just to buy one. But when I buy used ones, I can get more.”

  The woman was impressed with Mariah’s salesmanship and asked her to help her pick out the best games. While the two sifted through the box, Kay edged back over to finish up with Ed.

  “I need an answer to my question, Ed. Do you still feel I’m a valued employee?”

  Now it was Ed’s turn to be embarrassed. It took him several uncomfortable moments to respond. “That’s just it, Kay. I think I was beginning to value you a little too much. It hit me that morning I saw you through the window at the coffee shop. You looked so beautiful and you had the sweetest, most inviting expression on your face.”

  Once again, she felt those little sparkles of delight bursting from her heart.

  “But I don’t understand, Ed. When you came to talk to me you were so warm and friendly. I got to work on Monday and you’d turned cold and stony. And you’ve been that way ever since.”

  Ed sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. That’s what happens when I go into self-protection mode. I was already in over my head when I realized you were getting back with your husband. I didn’t think it was right for me to get in the way of your reconciliation. I had to find a way to put a rein on my feelings. I was keeping my distance, waiting for them to go away until I could resume a normal working relationship with you.”

  Kay was stunned. “Getting back with my hus…? What in the world gave you the idea I was getting back with my EX-husband?”

  Ed looked down. “You should have seen yourself that morning. I’d never seen you so strong, so self-assured. You were positively glowing. Then when your hus…ex-husband came to the table acting so annoyed and proprietary, I knew I had walked into the middle of something important. I guess you could call it a “guy thing.”

  Kay shook her head and laughed. “Yeah…a guy thing. That’s exactly what Dave called it when he said he could tell you were interested in me. But I just sloughed it off as Dave being his usual a-hole self.”

  “Well, Dave read the situation correctly.” Ed said.

  “You didn’t,” Kay snapped.

  Ed was taken aback by Kay’s sharp tone.

  “I’m not reconciling with Dave. I was just there to work out a few left-over legal details. To tell you the truth I was mortified when I saw you.”

  Ed winced at Kay’s comment.

  “That didn’t come out right. What I mean is I was embarrassed for you to see me with Dave. And I certainly didn’t want to introduce him to you.”

  “For god sake, why not? Were you worried I might embarrass you or something? Ed said.

  “Absolutely not! It was quite the other way around. I was afraid you’d judge me on my foolish choice of a husband.” Kay replied.

  As if he already knew Kay’s answer to his next question, a self-satisfied smile crossed Ed lips. “Why in the world would you care what I thought? After all, I’m just the guy you work for.”

  Kay’s heart sped up. She felt completely exposed. But since Ed had made his confession, she thought she might as well come clean too.

  “Well, if you must know, you’re not the only person here who’s been having certain feelings.”

  Ed’s smile grew wider.

  “I just didn’t think it was a good idea to do anything about them. I mean, we’ve got the whole work situation, and I’ve been trying to work through these things with Dave.”

  Ed turned to Kay and gently grasped her upper arm. The strong but gentle feel of Ed’s fingers wrapped around Kay’s arm made her want to offer him the other one. She met his penetrating gaze and she felt her knees turn to liquid.

  “As Rhett said to Scarlett when she, at long-last, declared her love, “It seems we’ve been at cross-purposes, doesn’t it?” he said.

  “Ed Salinger, please report to the registration desk. Ed Salinger, please report to the registration desk,” the PA system blared across the garden grounds.

  Ed dropped Kay’s arm and he gave her an apologetic shrug. He reached down for the bag with the churn still on the ground. “I’m in for it now. Should have been there ages ago.” He rushed off to answer the summons.

  In her exhilarated mood, Kay felt compelled to finish the climactic scene, so she called after him, “Ed…if you leave, where shall I go,
what shall I do?”

  Ed threw his head back and laughed, not missing a hurried step. In typical Ed-fashion, he called over his shoulder, “Frankly, my dear, we’ll have to talk about it some other time.”

  Kay stood there watching him go, thrilled, but not completely sure what had just happened between them. All she knew was the wait for “some other time” was going to be a long one. And she would relish every agonizing moment.

  20

  Opa!

  Kay strained to see out her car windshield, cursing herself for not replacing the corroded wiper blades when she’d had the chance. The relentless, Monday morning downpour didn’t help her dispirited mood. Saturday’s exhilaration over her encounter with Ed had given way to worry and doubt. The more she thought about the prospect of starting something romantic with him the more she realized the complications involved would surely spell trouble. But then again, if she spurned him, things at work might become even more awkward than they’d already been.

  With any luck, they would compare notes and come to the agreement the whole thing is just entirely too foolhardy. Kay let out a sigh of relief, remembering Ed had a funeral service at 9:00 am. She wouldn’t have to face him for another couple of hours.

  But it wasn’t just the Ed situation that had Kay feeling downhearted. Taking Mariah back to Dave’s the previous evening had turned out to be harder than she’d anticipated. Not just because Mariah was so delightful to have around, and Kay missed her terribly when she was gone, but because there were things happening in Mariah’s summer world which were out of Kay’s control. Once Mariah was swallowed up behind Dave’s quickly opened and shut front door, she was out of Kay’s maternal protective sphere. The little girl would be left to cope with the likes of Sandy’s questionable behavior and Alicia Resnick’s potential bullying. But Kay had to remind herself Mariah was growing up and would, undoubtedly, be exposed to much worse.

  Fortunately, by the time Kay got to the mortuary, the clouds were clearing and in their place was a sunlit, sparkling fresh blue sky. Kay could feel her spirits lifting as well, and she decided to enter the mortuary through the front door so she could greet Ruth and maybe engage her in a friendly chat.