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RUBY
“There ain’t a pot too crooked that a lid won’t fit.” ~ Miss Dottie
“Have fun! Don’t forget your backpack,” I reminded Harper as she unbuckled herself from her booster seat, and Miss Patti held the door open for her.
On an already warm Tuesday morning there was a line of cars waiting behind me for the drop-off to her day camp on an already warm Tuesday morning. Thankfully, I only had to sit in it twice a week since I taught on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The schedule worked out well because I was able to take Otto to his PT at the senior home on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Harper grabbed the bag, but before she hopped out of the truck, she leaned between the two front seats and wrapped her arms around my neck before quickly hugging her great-grandpa. Once her feet hit the pavement, she skipped into the community center.
“She’s got some pep in her step, that one,” Otto observed as I pulled away from the curb.
“She sure does.”
“She’s going to miss you somethin’ fierce when you leave.” Otto patted the console. “And she’s not the only one.”
“I’m going to miss you guys, too.” I didn’t want to admit just how true that statement was.
“I don’t think Kane’s gonna know what to do with himself.”
“Oh, no, I don’t think.” I waved my hand dismissively. It had been two weeks since we’d slept together. Again. I’d thought that maybe, just maybe, things would be different between us, but they weren’t. He was keeping his distance, including not being alone in rooms with me. Part of me was disappointed. But another part of me knew he was doing the right thing.
We didn’t have a future. At the end of the summer, I was leaving. And even if I wasn’t, he wanted a wife and a family. I knew he’d never look at me like that. He’d made it clear that nothing would have ever happened between us in the first place if I’d been staying in town.
“He’ll be fine,” I assured Otto.
Otto’s brows lifted. “I don’t know about that, young lady.”
“Harper will be back in school, and Taylor will be home, so I’m sure he’ll have plenty of help.”
“I wasn’t talkin’ about childcare,” Otto clarified before changing the subject. “Have I ever told you about how I met my Margie?”
I shook my head. “No.”
I didn’t know Kane’s grandma that well. I’d see her around town, but I hadn’t really conversed much with her. The only thing I really remembered about her was that she made the best chocolate chip cookies in Clover County. Literally. To this day, she held the record for the most blue ribbons from the county fair. She had fourteen.
“I was nineteen years young, stationed in Georgia, and was about to ship out. I went to a dance they held every Saturday night in the hall. I remember walking in and seeing the prettiest thing on two legs. She was wearing a black and white polka-dot dress and a red ribbon in her long brown hair that matched her red lipstick and high heels.”
I glanced over at him and could see that, in that moment, he was transported back in time. He was grinning from ear to ear as he stared out the window. He wasn’t seated beside me in Kane’s truck. He was in that dance hall, seeing Margie for the first time.
“Did you ask her to dance?” I asked.
“Oh, no.” Otto shook his head. “I was too shy back then. Plus, she had the attention of every suiter in the place. They were lining up just to talk to her. I didn’t think she’d want to waste her time chattin’ with me.”
“So, what happened?”
“Well, I stayed at that dance and watched as fellas took their turn spinnin’ her around the floor. I stood in the corner, nursin’ a beer I was too young to be drinkin’, and then I left.”
“You left? You didn’t talk to her?”
“That’s right. I didn’t have the nerve to say anything. Before I left, I took one last look at her. I did my best to take a mental photograph so that when I got lonely, I could remember her. Then I walked out the back door. I was standin’ in the parkin’ lot and lookin’ up at the stars when I saw a flash of light burnin’ across the dark sky. That’s when I heard a voice behind me say, ‘Did you see that?’ I turned, and low and behold, it was the angel I’d been pinin’ over all night.”
I waited for him to continue, but when he didn’t, I prompted. “What happened then?”
“Well, she was still lookin’ up at the sky where the shooting star had just zipped across the darkness, and she said, ‘Isn’t that the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?’ And I said, yes, but I wasn’t talkin’ about a star in the sky. She looked down and saw I was starin’ straight at her, and she smiled. When her lips turned up, my heart jumped out of my chest and landed right in her hands.”
As we pulled up to the senior center, he got quiet once again. I wasn’t sure if he had any plans to finish his story, but I had to know what happened.
“Then what happened?” I prompted again.
