Belated Kiss

by Abby Tyler

  Roscoe tore himself away from Ruth with great reluctance, but he obeyed. Ginny seemed relieved. “You two have fun. It’s a lovely afternoon.”

  “Nice to meet you, Ginny,” Ruth said.

  Only when Ginny was gone did T-bone realize he’d never said a word. He’d reverted to his usual way around people.

  But Ruth made no comment, not about his silence or his other name. “Do I get to see your RV park?” she asked.

  They drove together in his truck, popping into the convenience store where a teen girl from town was working the register. He opened two bottles of Big Red, and Ruth laughed. “I haven’t drunk red soda in forty years.”

  “About time, then.” He clinked her bottle with his.

  Ginny wasn’t a gossip, so T-bone doubted news of their walk had hit the regulars quite yet. Might as well get it over with.

  They headed to Town Square, drinking their soda and looking in store windows. When they passed the flower shop, Danny dashed out and pressed a small bouquet of yellow roses in Ruth’s hand. “For the lovely lady.”

  “Oh!” Ruth said, lifting the flowers to her nose. “Thank you.”

  Danny winked at them. “It’s always good to curry favor with the mayor.” Then he dashed back inside.

  T-bone shook his head. “I drink coffee with all the shop owners every Tuesday. They’re a pack of cards, every last one.”

  “They seem to like you, though.”

  He nodded, still not sure why Danny had done such a thing. They didn’t pass flowers to random women on an ordinary day.

  As they approached the pie shop, he spotted Gertrude’s face peering out from behind the red-checkered curtain.

  “I haven’t seen a pie shop in forever!” Ruth exclaimed.

  T-bone hesitated. Gertrude would have a field day. “You want some pie?”

  “Is it good?” Ruth asked.

  “The best.”

  They headed inside. Luckily, Maude was by the register, her brown face brightening as they headed in. “Mayor T-bone. You’ve brought a lady friend!”

  “So that’s why he cleaned up,” Gertrude muttered from behind the case.

  Yeah, he should have seen that coming.

  But Ruth only said, “Your shop is so charming.”

  Maude’s face couldn’t have beamed any brighter if she was the sun itself. “Why, thank you. Sit down and have a slice on us.”

  Ruth glanced at him. “Dessert first again?”

  He nodded and they slid onto stools at the counter.

  “What’s good here?” she asked.

  “It’s all good,” Gertrude said, brushing a dusting of flour off the front of her apron.

  “Of course,” Ruth corrected. “Is there a house specialty?”

  Before Gertrude could snap another smart remark, Maude said, “All of our pies come from family recipes. Are you more of a fruit pie person, or chocolate, or something super sweet, like pecan?”

  “I love a good lemon pie, if you have it,” Ruth said.

  “If we have it…” Gertrude muttered as she slid open the rear window of the case. She produced a pie topped with meringue and held it on an uplifted palm like she was contemplating smashing it into someone’s face.

  “Pay her no mind,” Maude said. “T-bone, your usual chocolate icebox pie? We keep a fresh one in the back in case you stop in.”

  Ruth watched him, amusement in her eyes. “Is that your favorite?”

  He gave them both a nod, and Gertrude set down the lemon pie and headed out the rear door.

  Maude carved a generous slice of lemon and passed it to Ruth. “We love T-bone around here.”

  Ruth glanced his way. “So how did he get the name T-bone?”

  T-bone’s chest tightened. This story might do him in.

  “T-bone roared into Applebottom on a motorcycle wearing a leather jacket,” Maude said.

  Ruth swiveled on her stool. “Did he now?”

  “He sure did,” Maude said with a wink. “And our friend Betty’s granddaughter, who was something like ten at the time, said he must be a member of the T-bones from Grease.”

  “Did she mean T-Birds?” Ruth asked.

  Maude grinned. “She surely did, but got it confused. It was such a popular joke that it stuck.”

  Well, there it was. But rather than be shocked at how T-bone had arrived in Applebottom, Ruth looked terribly amused.

  “I love that story,” she said.

  Maude smiled. “Do you live nearby?”

  “Branson,” Ruth said.

  “That’s lovely. Would you like some coffee or tea?”

  “Coffee,” Ruth said.

  “Same,” T-bone said.

  “I’ll go start a fresh pot,” Maude said and disappeared to the back.

  T-bone let out a breath.

  “Let me guess,” Ruth said. “They know everybody in town, what they had for supper, and whether their children got a B on the history exam.”

  “Pretty much.”

  She smiled as she slid her fork through the corner of the pie. “Small towns are such a delight.”

  “I’m fairly attached to this one.” He leaned in close. “Even with Gertrude in it.”

  “I heard that!” Gertrude called from the back.

  T-bone and Ruth sunk down on their stools and shared a conspiratorial smile.

  Gertrude returned with a slice of chocolate pie and slid it across the counter. “Your pie.”

  She glanced at Ruth. “You, I like. Him, I could live without.”

  “Now, Gertrude,” T-bone said. “You could live without the whole town.”

  “True.” Gertrude walked to the kitchen door again. “I’ll get out of your cozy little date.”

  “So how did you end up becoming mayor?” Ruth asked. She slid a bite of pie in her mouth and her eyelashes fluttered. “Oh, wow.”

  “Told you it was good,” Gertrude called.

  T-bone shook his head. “Maude’s husband was mayor before he passed. He’d been in charge for a good ten years. The spot was vacant for a while. Then a couple of ladies from town asked if I would do it.”

  The kitchen door swung open, and Maude arrived with a coffee pot and two mugs. “He’s leaving out the important part. We had a group of miscreants coming down from the mountain and causing trouble. T-bone ran them off. That was before we had a proper chief of police.”

  “So you saved the town,” Ruth said. “You’re a hero.”

  T-bone harrumphed. “Hardly. Just tossed a couple of buffoons out of the diner.”

  Maude left them again, and they worked on their pie.

  “Well, this town is lovely,” Ruth said.

  Could she see herself living here? T-bone couldn’t think that far ahead. This was only their second date.

  They walked the square, and T-bone showed her the tiny mayor’s office in the modest courthouse. He rarely went there, so it was neat and tidy. A wedding picture of Luke and Savannah sat on the desk.

  The building was closed up and quiet. They wandered through it hand-in-hand, Ruth gazing at the statue of the town’s founder and reading the plaque.

  “Not a lot to do here once six o’clock hits,” he said. “But that suits me. Branson is close.”

  “I’m close,” she said.

  And she was. They stood in the open space that led to the courtroom. The only lights were the security ones shining on the walls and over the statue. Beyond the front windows, the Town Square sat empty and dark.

  He took both of her hands in his. He hadn’t kissed a woman in a long time, but the moment had arrived. Ruth looked up at him, head tilted.

  He leaned in.

  A flashlight crossed over them, and he quickly stepped away.

  “Oh, it’s you, T-bone,” a man said.

  T-bone peered past the beam of light. “Officer Jeremy. Just showing Ruth my office. She’s a nurse. In Branson.” He was babbling, and T-bone never babbled.

  “Sorry to interrupt. Nice to meet you, Ruth.” Jeremy looked
sheepish as he backed away.

  Ruth let out one of her girlish giggles. “Busted.”

  T-bone took her hand and led her out the front doors. The kiss would come.

  Ruth

  Only when Ruth got home, admittedly walking a bit on air, did she remember she’d forgotten to take a picture of Theodore for Christina. Shoot.

  She called her daughter promptly at ten but got her voicemail.

  “I had a lovely time with Theodore in Applebottom,” she said. “We stopped in a pie shop. They keep his favorite pie in stock in case he comes by.” She paused. Was she trying to impress her daughter? Maybe.

  “And the local florist gave me a bouquet. Everyone seemed quite pleased to meet me. So don’t worry. All is well.” She hung up.

  She got a text five minutes later.

  Just got out of a movie. Picture????

  Sorry. Forgot.

  Mom!

  Christina!

  Did he kiss you?

  Not yet.

  Okay.

  Ruth tucked the phone in her pocket and headed to the kitchen. Her white Persian cat Charlotte pattered alongside, hoping for a treat as Ruth placed a kettle on the stove in the dim light over the sink.

  “All right, Charlotte. Hold on.” She opened a cabinet and retrieved the treats, shaking one out to feed the kitty.

  Ruth liked this room at night. Big bay windows over the breakfast table looked out on a backyard filled with flowering bushes. The trees shading the porch had sprouted way before her time and would outlive her by generations.

  Harold had loved that yard, this kitchen, the house. She remembered when they first toured it, Christina on her hip, only two years old.

  Ruth had set her on the kitchen island and held her in place while they both looked around with big eyes. Harold’s student loans were finally paid off, and they could leave the tiny starter home they’d lived in since the wedding. This was a big step up.

  “What do you think, Ruth?” he’d asked, opening and closing cabinet doors and peering inside the empty chrome refrigerator.

  Ruth moved Christina to the floor, and the toddler immediately ran in wide-legged steps to the low windows in back.

  “Twee!” she said. “Big twee!”

  “Those are big trees,” Harold had said, swinging Christina up into his arms. “Shall we see where we should put your swing set?”

  Ruth had stayed in the window, watching the two of them wander outside. She’d meant to look more closely at the pantry, the storage, the layout. But she’d been taken by the image of her husband and daughter in the yard, walking among the trees, planning their dream space.

  The playset still stood out back with its weathered wood planks, the old swing shifting in the breeze. Ruth leaned against the window frame. So many years had passed since then.

  Could she leave this house? If Theodore was the mayor, he obviously couldn’t live outside his town.

  The kettle whistled, and Ruth chided herself for her thoughts. They’d been on two whole dates. It was silly to think too far ahead.

  She filled a tea ball with leaves and dropped it into the mug, steam curling the tendrils of hair around her face as she filled the cup.

  The thoughts intruded again regardless. This had been her home for over twenty years. If only Christina had stayed in Missouri, Ruth could have given the house to her. The mortgage was paid and the taxes weren’t terrible.

  Doubts began to creep in. What if she sold it and a new marriage didn’t work out? What would she do then? What if Theodore was different once they were married?

  These were concerns that hadn’t occupied her thoughts for decades. When years went by after Harold’s death and no man interested her, Ruth assumed she was like the penguin or the crane, animals who mated for life. It didn’t help that eligible men over fifty were a rare breed, between the ones who died too soon and the others who chose younger wives the second time around.

  Ruth had seen plenty of both.

  So she’d gotten a cat.

  Charlotte peered up at her as if ascertaining the likelihood of a second treat.

  “No more,” Ruth said, and the cat sauntered past her in a tiff.

  Ruth stared out the window again. Now there was Theodore, T-bone, mayor. Dating him had already upset her daughter. She still hadn’t told any of her friends.

  Theodore lived pretty simply in a small house on the grounds of his RV park. He could probably be convinced to buy something in town, something not quite so rustic, or maybe add on a bit to the one he had. She wasn’t sure she would fit into the one-bedroom he currently occupied. He might not like her cat.

  Oh, now she was looking for excuses.

  The tea had steeped, the chamomile calming her. She didn’t have to decide everything in one night. She was spontaneous now, living from one moment to the next. She tapped the tea ball on the edge of her mug, and just to prove she wasn’t a slave to convention, stuck it in the sink to be dealt with in the morning.

  “A dirty sink, Harold!” she said to the sky, as if that proved something. In truth, Harold would never have said a word to her about a dirty sink. He would have cleaned it himself.

  But it was true that they never went to bed with items remaining to be cleaned.

  “Today’s a new day,” she said to the empty air and was answered by a meow from Charlotte, who sat in the doorway, ever hopeful.

  “Let’s invite him over, shall we?” she asked the cat. Maybe she could judge how he reacted to seeing her house.

  And in the end, see if their two worlds were compatible after all.

  T-bone

  News of T-bone’s date spread through Applebottom in a flash.

  Every single owner of a shop on Town Square showed up for the weekly coffee Tuesday morning. Gertrude and Maude were there, of course, since they hosted at their pie shop. Danny and Topher were regulars as well, and seemed particularly interested in details since they’d given Ruth the flowers.

  You could usually count on Betty from the tea shop and Delilah from the pet store, since they had regular hours and opened right after coffee ended.

  But Janine was there when he arrived, even though her spa wouldn’t open until noon. And Arnold the barber also turned up. He generally only came on days when he approved of the pie being served at the meeting. He checked ahead and typically only showed his face for coconut cream pie or anything chocolate.

  In fact, everyone was early. T-bone was the last to sit in the ring of chairs around the line of tables pushed together.

  Maude poured him a cup of coffee. “So spill it,” she said.

  T-bone took his time responding, blowing on the surface of the hot liquid and taking a sip.

  Gertrude looked ready to pop, her face as red as a beet from the exertion of waiting. “No pie until we have details.” She guarded the cherry-orange pie like it was the last dessert at the picnic and the president was on his way.

  T-bone’s gaze cast around the faces. Normally he rarely spoke at these things, preferring to absorb the town talk and contribute little.

  “It’s just two dates,” he said, and this prompted the whole room to erupt in questions.

  “How did you meet?”

  “What does she do?”

  “Are you going to get married?”

  “Will you move to Branson?”

  T-bone thought he was going to have to break out the extreme whistle he used to quiet people at public events, but finally the hubbub died down.

  “Her name is Ruth. She’s a nurse. I met her on the maternity ward when she helped Luke and Savannah with the babe. It’s only been a week. I doubt marriage is on anybody’s mind. And I’m not leaving my RV Park.”

  That mouthful out, he sat back and stared down Gertrude, who started cutting the pie.

  “She seems lovely,” Maude said. “She asked all the right questions when she was here for pie.”

  “I heard Officer Jeremy caught them in the dark in the courthouse,” Janine said. She loved her goss
ip most of all.

  “I was showing her my office,” T-bone said.

  “I bet,” Janine said.

  T-bone startled them all by banging his fists on the table, rattling the dishes. “You will not speak ill of Ruth. She is a lady, and I won’t abide by any idle gossip.”

  Janine sipped her coffee, eyes wide over the rim of the cup.

  Maude nodded in agreement. “That’s a perfectly acceptable request, Mayor T-bone,” she said, an emphasis on the mayor as she shot Janine a stern look. “We’re just happy for you, that’s all.”

  T-bone sniffed as he accepted the pie plate Gertrude passed him. She’d served him first. “I appreciate it.”

  Maude turned the conversation to the pet parade and whether they’d do it again next summer, and T-bone relaxed. Small towns were a blessing, just like he’d told Ruth.

  But they were also no place for secrets.

  Ruth seemed to bear no concern about contacting T-bone whenever she liked, even after a bit of silence. She texted him at odd hours with a story about the hospital, the state of her fall flowers, or the description of a tasty something she’d picked up at a market.

  He wrote her back carefully with small details of his own. A couple had arrived with six dogs, all cute little buggers. He was getting more sand hauled in to expand the beach on his property before next summer. He told her silly things he never would have thought were important enough to say, but she seemed to like it.

  It came time to take Maybelle back to Branson for her first baby checkup. The clinic was on the same block as the hospital, so Ruth proposed that they all get together for a quick lunch afterward.

  Savannah decided that having a nurse present the first time she tried to go in public with her new baby was a fine idea, and they all agreed they could pack up and leave if it ended up being too difficult after the appointment.

  As T-bone drove them all into town in his truck, he had the urge to hum a little tune. He caught himself actually doing it only when Luke looked at him, one eyebrow lifted.

  “A man can hum,” T-bone said with a grunt.

  Savannah leaned forward from her position in the second row, where she looked after Maybelle. “Of course you can.” She and Luke shared another of those knowing looks T-bone was getting accustomed to.