Hand-Me-Down Love

by Ransom, Jennifer

  She drove through the dark night and Sean didn’t say anything. When Marla glanced over at him periodically, his eyes were closed. When they got to the shop, Marla parked in her usual place along the side of the building.

  “Sean,” she said, half expecting him not to answer her.

  “Yeah,” he said, not opening his eyes.

  “We’re here.” He opened his eyes and looked around. He knew where he was. “Okay,” he said unbuckling his seat belt. He opened his door and Marla went to his side of the car. She took his arm and led him to the side door, which she unlocked. They walked through the shop and to the staircase. Marla let Sean go up ahead of her so she could try to catch him if he stumbled.

  When they opened the door to her apartment at the top of the stairs, Marla flipped the light switch, flooding the kitchen with light that seemed too bright. Sean shielded his eyes when the light came on.

  “Sorry,” Marla said. She took his hand and led him to the spare bedroom. He stood by the bed as she folded back the sheets and covers. She guided him to the bed and pulled the covers over him. He was fully clothed, but Marla wasn’t about to help him undress. Sean lay his head back on the pillow and went out like a light. Marla left the room and went to her own room, where she undressed and put on a gown. She crawled into her bed. It had been a strange night. Lucy jumped up and settled herself at Marla’s side.

  The alarm clock buzzed insistently the next morning and it took a moment for Marla to know what it was and turn it off. She lay back on the bed, knowing she had to get up, forestalling it for just a moment. Then she remembered that Sean was there. Sean! She got up and went to the spare room. Sean was still asleep. She went into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. Sean would probably need a strong cup after the night he’d had.

  She was sitting at the table a few minutes later with a cup of coffee when Sean walked in. His clothes were wrinkled. He did not look like someone who was going to work in a bank that day.

  “There’s coffee,” Marla said motioning to the coffee maker. “Let me get you a cup.”

  “I can get it,” Sean said walking to the counter where the coffee pot sat. He opened a cabinet door and pulled out a cup. It was one Meredith had brought her from her trip to the botanical gardens in Orlando. Sean didn’t notice. He poured coffee into the cup and sat down at the table.

  “I guess I sorta lost it last night,” he said. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

  “No reason to be sorry,” Marla said.

  They sat drinking their coffee for a few minutes. Marla didn’t know what to say, and neither did Sean, apparently.

  “I realize that I can’t keep doing that job,” Sean said. “It doesn’t seem important to me. Not important at all. At the end of the day, I’m exhausted from the gladhanding I have to do. I can’t keep it up anymore.”

  “I understand,” Marla said.

  Sean looked around the kitchen. “I’ve always liked how you did this place,” he said. “I like all this old stuff.”

  “Thanks,” Marla said. Then she said, “Sean, what do you think you want to do? Where do you think you want to go?”

  “I don’t really know,” he said. “No matter where I go, I can’t escape what’s happened. I’ve learned that in the last few months. I can’t escape it.”

  And then Marla said something that sounded crazy, but it seemed the right thing to say anyway. “That condo seems lonely and I don’t think it’s good for you. Would you like to stay here for a while?”

  Sean looked at her with surprise. “I couldn’t ask you to do that,” he said.

  “Why not?” she said. “It seems like the best place for you to be right now. Unless you want to go to Atlanta and stay with your parents. Or go to Florida and stay with your sister. Do you want to do that?”

  He didn’t answer right away and Marla sipped her coffee.

  He turned to look at her. “No, I don’t really want to go to either of those places,” he said. “It would just worry them.”

  “Then stay here,” Marla said, setting her coffee cup on the table. “Stay here.”

  “Maybe for just a few days,” he said. “Until I can figure things out.”

  “That’s fine,” Marla said. She got up from the table.

  “I’ve got to get down to the shop. Jada will be here in a few minutes.”

  Sean stood and took Marla’s hands in his. He looked into her eyes. “Thank you,” he said.

  Marla dressed and went down the stairs. Jada opened the front door right when Marla sat down at her desk. They spent the rest of the day going over the receipts from the sale the day before and tending to the few customers that came in. At six, Jada left and Marla locked the door. She went to the courtyard and called Lucy, who got up stretching, then followed her up the stairs.

  When she walked in, the apartment seemed empty. “Sean?” she called tentatively. “Sean?”

  He walked into the kitchen. “Hey,” he said. “I’ve been lazy today.”

  “That’s okay,” she said. “You deserve it.”

  “I called your father. I asked him for a leave of absence. He agreed, of course.”

  “Of course,” Marla said. She put food in Lucy’s bowl.

  “That was a relief, getting the leave. I don’t really know if I can ever go back to that, but at least it’s an option.”

  “Just take your time,” Marla said.

  “I’d like to take you to dinner tonight. I was thinking at Steamboat Joe’s.”

  Marla hadn’t been to Steamboat Joe’s for months, though it was right down the street from her shop. The restaurant specialized in boiled shrimp and raw oysters and a specialty drink, Steamboat Steamer.

  “That sounds nice,” she said.

  Sean and Marla sat in the living room for a while watching the news. Marla made Sean a whisky sour and poured herself a glass of white wine. Around seven, they left the apartment and walked two blocks down the street to Steamboat Joe’s. It was crowded as always, and they sat on benches outside until their number was called.

  Once seated at a booth, they ordered boiled shrimp, which was put on the newspaper that covered the table. Hushpuppies and slaw were placed to the side of their plates, but it was the shrimp they were after. Sean and Marla peeled shrimp after shrimp, dropping the shells on the newspaper. The dipped the shrimp in cocktail sauce over and over again until they were gone. They finished the pitcher of beer that Sean had ordered when they first sat down.

  As they walked back to Marla’s apartment, stuffed with shrimp, Sean took Marla’s arm. They walked in companionable silence. It had been a good night. They both had needed it.

  Back in the apartment, Marla said she needed to get to bed. She was exhausted from the shop, from everything.

  “Thank you for dinner,” she said as she hugged Sean goodnight. “It was great. I needed that shrimp more than I knew.”

  “Good night,” Sean said as he headed to the spare bedroom.

  The next morning, Sean was already up when Marla went into the kitchen. He had made the coffee and had a skillet of scrambled eggs on the stove.

  “Sit down,” Sean said. “I’m making breakfast.”

  He brought her a cup of coffee and she poured cream into it. A few minutes later, Sean put a plate in front of her with scrambled eggs and toast with butter and jam.

  “This is great,” Marla said as she chewed on a bite of toast. “I just might have to keep you around.”

  Sean laughed. “I was thinking about my car. I left it at Jackson’s and need to get it. If it hasn’t already been stripped for parts,” he said. Marla offered to take him to get his car, and after breakfast, they set out for Mobile. The BMW was still parked near the front door of the bar.

  “I’m surprised they haven’t towed it,” Sean said as he got out of Marla’s car.

  He unlocked the door as he walked to his car. “I was thinking,” he said. “That maybe I could go to the condo and get my stuff. I know I’m not going to be able to stay ther
e ever again. I just need to clear out and take care of things with the realtor.”

  Marla followed Sean to the condo. Everything he had fit easily into his trunk and back seat of his car. He said he wanted to leave the dishes and kitchen stuff, but he took the towels and linens and the TV.

  “I’ll follow you back to Bay Point,” Sean said. “I guess I need to call Catherine and let her know I’m leaving.”

  Chapter Ten

  Marla and Sean fell into a regular routine. She went to the shop every day and when she walked back upstairs, Sean was usually sitting on the couch watching the news with Lucy in his lap. After a cocktail, he took her out to eat. They ate at Steamboat Joe’s or Victoria’s, another seafood restaurant in town. Sometimes they drove to Mobile and ate along the bay or in town. Once, they drove to Gulf Shores and ate at a restaurant on the pier. Some days, Sean came down to the shop and worked with Derrick on the furniture or went with him to estate sales. Jada and Derrick never questioned Sean’s presence, they just accepted it. Marla was grateful for that.

  Her parents were another matter. She did not tell them that Sean was staying with her. She didn’t think they would understand. They asked her every now and then if she had talked to him and how he was doing. She told them that they were in touch.

  As Thanksgiving got closer, Cynthia called Sean and invited him to Thanksgiving dinner. He accepted. That day, he and Marla drove separately to her parents. Marla helped her mother with the dinner while Sean and Bob watched football games. Marla wasn’t worried that her father would ask Sean where he was living or anything like that. But Cynthia did ask Marla. It made her very uncomfortable to lie to her mother. “He’s got that condo in Mobile,” she said.

          

  “I think I’ll go to Atlanta for Christmas,” Sean said to Marla one night as they were watching television. “My parents want to see me, and I want to see them.”

  This was coming out of the blue to Marla. But of course she realized that Sean would want to see his family. She was surprised that she felt upset that Sean would be gone. He had become part of her everyday life. She wanted him to be there at Christmas.

  “That’s a good idea,” she said. “I know they’ll be happy to see you.”

  Sean left three days before Christmas, early in the morning. Marla got up as he was packing his suitcase. She got him a cup of coffee, which he drank while he got ready. And then he was out the door, gone for a week. Marla couldn’t believe how much she was going to miss him.

  Marla kept the shop open for one more day after Sean left, then she closed it until after New Year’s. It was the only time of the year that she closed the shop. Normally, she relished the time off. This year she felt sad because of Meredith and lonely because Sean was gone. Sean had texted her as soon as he made it to Atlanta. “I’m here,” he texted. It was the first of many texts he sent her while he was gone. He texted her several times a day, and on Christmas Day, a big Merry Christmas! Marla went to her parents on Christmas and spent the whole day with them. She kept her phone in her jacket pocket listening for the sound that let her know a text had come in.

  “Is that your phone?” Cynthia asked her once when Marla’s phone made the text signal.

  “Yes,” Marla said. “I forgot to turn it off.” She didn’t want to turn it off, but she did so her mother wouldn’t ask questions.

  It was a sad day. Her mother had managed to put up a tree but she only strung the lights and left it undecorated. “When I opened the box with the ornaments in it, I just couldn’t put them up,” she told Marla. “There were all these ornaments you and Merrie made when you were little. I just couldn’t put them up this year.”

  “It’s okay, Mom,” Marla said, touching her mother’s arm. “This is a hard year.”

  Marla stayed at her parents until almost nine that evening, before going back home to her apartment. Sean had texted her several times during the day, but she hadn’t checked her phone. After she fed Lucy and put on her gown for bed, she read through the texts. Mostly, they said “Are you there?” and “Hope you’re having a good day,“ and finally, Catch you later.” She texted Sean back. “I’m here, back home. Been at my parents all day and turned phone off.”

  A few minutes later, Sean texted back. “I was wondering where you went,” he wrote. And then before she could respond, he wrote, “I’m coming back tomorrow. I’ve been gone long enough.” Marla was elated when she read that text. Elated. “I look forward to seeing you,” she texted back. Was that too much? To say she looked forward to seeing him? She didn’t understand the feelings she was having about Sean. Sean didn’t text back right away and she thought her text was too much after all. But a few minutes later—an eternity—he texted, “Me too.” Relief flooded through her. “Be careful on the drive,” she texted. “K,” he texted back. Marla put her phone on the bedside table and pulled the covers up to her neck. She turned out the light and a few minutes later, she was asleep.

  The next morning, Marla woke up early. After a cup of coffee, she started to clean the apartment from top to bottom. She washed all the dishes, scrubbed the counters, and mopped the floors. She straightened the living room and stripped the beds in her room and Sean’s and took all of the towels out of the bathroom. While they were washing and drying, she swept the floors and dusted. Sean texted around eleven saying he was about to get on the road. Marla estimated it would take him about six hours.

  She dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt and drove to the grocery store. Tables of Christmas decorations and candy were set up in front of the store, everything seventy-five percent off. She bypassed the tables and went to the vegetable section where she bought leaf lettuce, Bartlett pears, three lemons, and fresh broccoli. She pushed her shopping cart along the refrigerated part and got a package of goat cheese. Turkeys were half off in the meat section, but she was there for the chicken. She chose a five-pound roaster. On the way back through the store, she got a package of basmati rice and two bottles of chardonnay. Marla was going to cook for the first time in a long time. Sean was coming home and she wanted to celebrate.

  After she put the groceries up, Marla got a glass of wine and put it in the bathroom on a blue wooden stool beside the tub. She took a shower and washed her blond hair, then filled the tub with water and bath salts. She lay in the tub for a while. Sean texted her once while she was there, saying he was about two hours away. The tub was so relaxing that Marla had a hard time getting out of it. But she finally did, drying herself with the freshly laundered towels. She put on her terry cloth robe and dried her shoulder length hair. It was the same color as Meredith’s hair. In fact, she and Meredith had looked a lot alike, enough so that people definitely knew they were sisters. But Meredith’s eyes had been blue and Marla’s eyes were hazel, almost golden colored.

  Marla was not unaware that she was preparing as if she were going on a date. She tried to push her feelings away, but they kept coming back. She reasoned with herself. Sean was her brother-in-law and she was looking after him like Meredith asked. Right? She just missed him, that was all. She had gotten used to him being around. It was a habit thing. Marla was confused, but she was so excited at the thought of seeing Sean again that she allowed her excitement to take over. And hadn’t he texted that he was looking forward to seeing her, too?

  Marla dressed in a long brown skirt and fitted pink cashmere sweater with pearl buttons down the front. She would have to be careful not to get any food on her clothes as she cooked their dinner. Come to think of it, she did have a vintage apron in the large kitchen drawer. She had never used it, but today she would. She walked into the kitchen and pulled the green apron from the drawer. She put the loop over her head and tied the sash behind her. She was ready to go, like any good housewife from the fifties.

  Sean would probably be back any minute. Marla got the chicken out of the refrigerator and washed it, then dried it thoroughly with paper towels, inside and out. She placed it in the chicken roaster she had inheri
ted from her grandmother. Well, inherited was too strong a word. When her grandmother died a few years back, Marla and Meredith and her mother cleaned out her house. No one else wanted the blue speckled chicken roaster, so Marla took it. Turned out, she used it frequently for chicken and roast and anything else she wanted to bake.

  She cut a lemon in half and squeezed the juice on the chicken before shaking salt and pepper all over it, even the bottom. She placed the domed top on the roaster. As she was washing her hands, she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She grabbed a kitchen towel. Sean opened the door and said, “Honey, I’m home.” He laughed and so did she. She felt like Mary Tyler Moore and he was Dick Van Dyke.

  Marla noticed that Sean’s hair had grown longer. She knew it must have been getting longer every day he had been living there, but now that he had been gone, she really saw it. He hadn’t shaved since he left and he had a four-day stubble that was not unattractive. Marla wanted to give him a hug, but instead she said, “I’m making supper for us tonight.”

  “Really?” Sean said with a note of surprise.

  “I do know how to cook, believe it or not,” she said.

  “Oh, I believe it. Anybody wearing an apron like that better know how to cook.”

  “I know, right?” she said laughing.

  She took a sip of wine and suddenly felt shy. “Would you like a drink after your long drive?” she asked.

  “I most certainly would,” he said. “But I’d like to take a shower first. Get the road grime off.” He picked up his dark blue duffel bag and walked out of the kitchen. A few minutes later, Marla heard the shower.