Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Emma
I knew it was a mistake to call Sandy and tell her about my kiss with Case. I’ve sat here for ten minutes while she’s listed every reason why she believes I should throw caution to the wind and sleep with him. Unsurprisingly, she hasn’t mentioned one reason why I shouldn’t.
Clearing my throat, I cut her off mid-sentence. “He’s my brother’s best friend, Sandy. It was just a kiss. It doesn’t have to turn into anything more.”
“Is this seat empty?”
I look up to find a beautiful gray-haired woman smiling down at me. Glancing around the crowded coffee shop, I pull the phone away from my ear. “It is. Please join me.”
As she settles, I turn my attention back to my best friend. “I need to go. Love you,” I say before I end the call.
“Thank you, dear.” The gray-haired woman sets a small coffee in front of her on the table. “Palla on Fifth makes the best cup of coffee in the five boroughs. I stop in once a week to treat myself.”
It’s a treat for me too. I never pay this much for a cup of coffee, but it’s worth the splurge. After I finished the cup that Lester brought me this morning, I promised myself that I’d indulge again before I left Manhattan.
I had no idea I’d end up here hours later.
“I’m Ruth.”
She offers me a pat on the forearm instead of her hand, so I offer her a smile. “I’m Emma.”
Tugging on the collar of the pink cardigan she’s wearing, she nods. “Are you visiting New York City?”
It’s a common question in Manhattan. I’ve been asked it before when I’ve visited my brother. I don’t know if life long New Yorkers have a sixth sense that tells them when someone is a tourist, but there must be something about me that gives it away.
“I live in Seattle.” I sigh. “I came to visit my brother, but he’s in Ireland. He got married today.”
“Well, congratulations to your brother.” She lifts her coffee cup in the air as if she’s toasting to Drake’s marriage. “Did he neglect to include the location on the invitation? You’re here and the festivities are in Ireland.”
I stare at her weathered hands and the three rings she’s wearing. Each is unique. One is a pearl on a band made of rose gold. Another is a small black onyx stone nestled in a circle of diamonds. The third is the most interesting. It’s misplaced considering her shoes and handbag screams of wealth.
A tarnished silver double heart ring is on the index finger of her left hand.
I glance up at her face. “He eloped.”
Her blue eyes are warm in a way that reminds me of my grandma.
I may have forgotten the sound of her voice or the smell of her perfume, but her eyes always stood out to me.
They were a beacon of sunshine when I was a kid.
I’d spend one weekend a month at her home with its breathtaking views of Puget Sound.
We’d eat ice cream for breakfast and cereal for dinner and talk about anything I wanted.
I’ve missed her every day since her death.
“That stings, doesn’t it?” She runs a finger over the ring with the intertwined hearts. “My oldest daughter pulled that trick on me. I nursed a broken heart until she gave me a granddaughter.”
I smile because the grin on her face tells me that she forgave everything when she looked into the face of her daughter’s newborn.
“Are you navigating New York alone?” Her hand pats my forearm. “If you are, you’re a brave soul.”
“I’m not brave.” I chuckle. “I’ve made a couple of friends and I’m staying with my brother’s best friend until the honeymoon is over.”
“Your brother’s best friend?” She leans forward on her chair. “I overheard some of what you said on the phone. That would be the young man you kissed? Is there a spark between you two?”
I draw a finger over my bottom lip remembering how it felt when Case kissed me earlier. It was more like a blazing inferno than sparks. “There was something. I felt it.”
She drops her gaze to the table. “I have a heck of a tale to tell about my brother’s best friend.”
I sit silently, waiting for her to continue because I’m up for any story about a brother’s best friend. My fingers are crossed that she’ll tell me it all worked out in the end and didn’t leave her with a heart that was so broken it never recovered.
Instead of launching into a love-filled journey about a sweet memory, she looks at me. I see tears glisten in her eyes.
“You loved him,” I whisper.
“I waited much too long to do that.” She swipes one fallen tear away with her fingers. “I liked that boy when we were kids. I loved that boy when I was too old to care what anyone thought.”
I already know how this story ends. I see it in the way she touches the ring and the heaviness of her breathing.
“He asked me to take a chance on him when I was about your age.” A small smile blooms on her lips. “I told him I couldn’t. Family loyalty and all, and it was a different time back then.”
I nod.
“I married someone else. Tommy married another girl. I was widowed a decade ago. His wife died two years later.” She closes her eyes for the briefest of moments. “We found each other three years ago on Facebook of all places.”
That lures a smile to my face.
“We had a glorious two years together before he left this earth.” She blows out a quick breath. “If given another chance at this life, I would have taken the risk back when he asked me to.”
“Even if it meant you’d get hurt back then?” I ask.
“He was about to be deployed.” She straightens in her chair. “I tell you, Emma, in his uniform, you’d never find a more handsome man.”
I curl my hand around my coffee cup.
“Don’t get me wrong.” She shakes her head. “I’m grateful for the life I’ve had, but I do wonder about what might have been.”
I lean back on my chair. “Is your brother still…did he know about you two?”
“You’re asking if he knew about Tommy and me back in the day, or did he find out when we moved in together?” Her brows dart up behind her silver eyeglass frames.
“Yes.” I take a sip of coffee.
“The day of Tommy’s wake, my brother told me that he always knew.” A soft sigh escapes her. “He could tell there was something brewing between us before Tommy was deployed.”
“So when you moved in together, he was happy for you?”
“He was with Tommy the day he bought this ring when I was twenty-one.” She circles one heart and then the other with her fingertip. “My brother had no idea who the ring was for. Tommy kept it all those years hoping one day he’d get the chance to give it to me.”
I stare at the ring. “It’s beautiful.”
Holding her hand up, she admires it in the late afternoon sunlight streaming into the café. “To me, it is. It was to my Tommy too.”
I take a breath to ward off the emotions I feel.
“I have no idea what your situation is with the young man you’re staying with.” She pauses. “What’s his name, dear?”
“Case,” I whisper.
“Case may be your brother’s best friend, but he could be your Tommy.” She reaches to cover my hand with hers. “From my experience, what a brother wants most for his sister is for her to find a good man to love.”
“I can’t love Case.” I laugh and shake my head. “We’re very different. He lives in California. I live in Seattle. It can’t work.”
“Love can always work.”
I bite my lip. “My grandma used to tell me that.”
“We grandmas are smart like that.” She taps her chin. “Wise words from wise women will never steer you wrong.”