Looking for Love

by Linda Mayes

  ***

  On Tuesday morning, Grace woke up and promised herself that she was not going to agonize all week about the pending confrontation with her mother. It was easier said than done, but luckily she had the kids and work to keep her busy. As she was making breakfast that day, Macy came into the kitchen. She was dressed in her good clothes, and not the jeans and t-shirts she usually wore to the Harwell’s.

  “Well, don’t you look nice. Do you have a date I don’t know about?” Grace asked her.

  Macy grinned mischievously. “Maybe.”

  “What?” Grace asked in that too-high pitched voice that mothers use when they’re shocked or upset.

  “Chill Mama,” Macy said with another smile. “It’s with Grandmother. She said I could go work with her today at the shop.”

  “Really? That’s wonderful. You’re getting pretty good at this quilting thing, aren’t you?”

  “Yep,” Macy said, obviously proud of herself. “Grandma is teaching a class today and I get to help her.”

  “Well, no wonder you’re wearing your new clothes. Teachers have to dress nice.”

  “Oh, Mother,” Macy said with an eye-roll, but Grace could tell she was pleased.

  Grace thanked Maggie before they left, but Maggie shrugged it off, as usual. Grace got the little ones ready and Louise picked them up soon after. Charlie was picking up Grace today. He had told her he had to be out in the area anyway so he would give her a ride to work. He got there about half an hour after the kids had left.

  “You didn’t get into anymore journals while you were alone, did you?” he asked when he arrived and saw the house was empty.

  Grace teasingly punched him in the arm. “Knock it off, Charlie. I’ve changed my ways.”

  “Are you ready? We have one stop to make on our way to town.”

  “Let’s go,” she said, heading to the door.

  On the way to the main road, Charlie and Grace passed John. He and Luke were fixing a piece of broken fence out by the road. Luke saw them first and waved. John looked up, and Grace could swear she saw the contempt in his aqua blue eyes as he lifted his hand and waved, too. Charlie, on the other hand, offered a big, toothy smile and hearty wave as if saying hello to his best friend. She got the feeling that he had fun goading John.

  At the main road, they turned to the right and headed away from town. Grace was sure that John had noticed that as well, but told herself it was silly to worry about it. She and John weren’t an item, and she and Charlie were only friends as well. It was all innocent, and she had bigger things to worry about. They turned off the road after a few miles and took a long, dirt driveway up to a mobile home that looked like it had definitely seen better days. It was leaning to one side and the porch was missing a step and several boards. It also had ‘No Trespassing’ signs posted all over. Grace counted three at least.

  “What are we doing here?” she asked.

  “Making a delivery. You can stay in the truck, I’ll be right back,” he told her.

  She watched as he got out of the truck and took a bag out of the bed. He carried it up the broken steps, skipping the missing one like he was used to it. He knocked on the door, but didn’t wait for an answer before setting the bag down in front of the door and coming back down the steps.

  “Okay, now to work,” he said as he got back in and started the truck.

  “What did you leave? Who lives here?” Grace asked.

  As Charlie backed up and turned the truck around he answered her questions. “His name is Buford Lange. He’s an old man, really old, I suppose. He was old when I was a kid. I heard stories that he fought in World War II, but you know how this town is, it could only be stories. Anyways, he used to come in the store all the time. He stopped a few years ago. I asked about him and no one had seen him. I came out here one day and found him sitting on the porch, naked. He seemed really disoriented. I called an ambulance and he was gone for a few weeks. He has a social worker now, but she told me if he doesn’t have food and drinking water, things like that, he wouldn’t be able to keep living on his own. I just got the feeling that might kill him. I bring him out some groceries a few times a week. He won’t answer the door for me, but I watched a few times, and when he sees me backing out to leave, he picks them up.”

  Grace looked at him with awe. “You have an amazing heart, Charlie.”

  He was as good as her mother at taking a compliment. He shrugged and said, “Just doing what anyone else would do. Are you doing okay? Not obsessing over talking to your mother on Friday are you?”

  “No, not obsessing. Anxious, stressed, you know, but not obsessing.” She laughed. “Okay, obsessing.”

  “I thought so,” he said with a grin. “You seem like the obsessive type.”

  “Oh do I?”

  “Yep, I saw the way you looked when we passed that fence John was fixing just now. You’re obsessing about what he’s thinking of us being together right now, aren’t you?”

  “I am not, that never even crossed my mind,” she fibbed.

  “Okay,” Charlie said with another laugh. It was a little scary Grace, thought, how well he knew her already.

  The store was slow and she and Sarah were both working, so when John came in and surprised her, asking her out for lunch, Sarah suggested she go and take a long lunch.

  Grace wasn’t sure. “Shouldn’t I make sure it’s okay with Charlie?”

  “You can if you want, but he won’t mind. It’s crazy slow today.”

  “It’s settled then,” John said. Grace wasn’t sure it was, but she got her purse and went anyway. They walked to the diner together.

  “So what brings you to town today?” Grace asked when they’d been seated.

  “You.” His honesty was a little unsettling sometimes. She could see by the way he looked at her that he was definitely hoping for more than just friends.

  “Really? You came all the way into town in the middle of a day that you could be working to see me?”

  “Really,” he said with a smile. “I saw you go by this morning, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you all day.”

  “Aw, that’s nice, John. I thought maybe you just wanted to make sure I was at work, since you saw me with Charlie this morning.”

  “I will admit that I can’t stand that guy. But I don’t own you, Grace. You can see whomever you want to see. I really just missed you.”

  Their food came, and they made small talk throughout their meal. After they had eaten and John had paid, they walked back to the store. Before they reached the windows in front, John asked, “Can I kiss you, Grace?”

  “John, I really need to figure some things out before you and I get any more involved than we are now. I’m sorry. I know I told you I’d think about it. I’ve just got some family things on my mind lately and I need to work through them before I move forward with you, or anyone.”

  “Fair enough. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “No,” she said. “But thank you for asking, and for being so understanding.” Grace hugged him. “Thank you for lunch too, it was good to see you.”

  “Thank you for going with me. I won’t pressure you Grace, but I hope you’ll give me a chance.” With that, he walked away.

  Grace turned toward the store and saw Charlie watching them through the window. When she went inside she said, “I hope you don’t mind that I left early for lunch. Sarah said it would be okay.”

  “Not at all.” He was still watching out the window as John drove away.