13. Mira
Mira
“I’m Emma May,” a woman with a silver braid, bifocals, and a big smile introduces herself. She’s standing in front of a small mom-and-pop grocery store and looking peaceful despite the fact that the building bears her name and has clearly taken some damage from the storm.
“I’m Mira. Just put me to work,” I tell her as she falls into step beside me. We enter the store, stepping around broken glass that’s been swept into a neat pile. There’s plenty of sunlight coming in through the skylights, so despite the lack of electricity, it’s not dim.
“I know who you are, dear,” she says. “I was so excited when Lizzy mentioned you.”
I blink. “Who is Lizzy?”
“Oh, she’s friends with Lauren. They’re in book club together, which you’ll be joining shortly.”
“But I just got into town yesterday, and wait, what’s this about book club?” I ask, trying to keep up. I don’t think I’ve met with Lizzy yet.
She sends me an amused smile as she leads me to the back of the store where the frozen food section is. “I know, dear. Don’t worry. The only thing to know today is that everyone is happy you’re here, and you’re going to make amazing new friends.”
Several women are in various coolers, already working. Like the lights, the coolers aren’t on. One bald woman gives me a wave of her fingers despite her pink rubber gloves that stretch to her elbows before she goes back to filling her trash bag with wasted items.
“The backup generator failed after we lost power in the storm,” Emma May explains, “And the food has to go before it becomes a biohazard and attracts pests. Lizzy here will help you get started.”
The bald lady comes over me and gives me a bright smile, introducing herself as Lizzy.
“I run the bookstore, One More Chapter, with my grandpa, and my bossy husband, but don’t mind him.
He’s a sweetheart under all that gruffness.
What about you? I heard you married Cord.
Congratulations,” she says everything in one breath, and I get the idea she might be feeling just as nervous as I am.
“Thanks. Cord is an amazing man. I couldn’t have asked for a sweeter guy,” I tell her, meaning every word. “Now how can I help here?”
Lizzy shows me where the gloves are kept then walks me through the process of cleaning out the freezers. The entire time, she keeps up a steady conversation, going into detail about the alien romance she’s reading now. By the time she’s finished summarizing the book, I want to read it too.
“You could show up at book club tomorrow night,” Lizzy says. “You don’t have to read the book. Just show up and have some wine with the girls. It’s the best part of my week. Well, other than coming home afterwards. You’ll find the husbands here are very supportive of their wives reading smut.”
“I was planning to stick around for a couple more days,” I tell her. As soon as I saw the mess the storm left behind, I knew I’d want to call into work and take some time off. I suspect Cord is going to do the same. He loves this town.
After we’ve worked for several hours, Lizzy tugs off her gloves. “Come on. It’s time to grab some lunch. You can sit by me.”
I eat a simple lunch of a cold sandwich with sweet tea, provided from a place called Ernie’s Diner.
“You’ll have to try his burgers when we get electricity going to the place again, and everything has been restocked.
Best burgers in the state. That’s not just local pride talking either,” Lizzy explains.
“That’s fact. Printed right there in The State Daily, North Carolina’s most popular newspaper. ”
I find myself smiling and thinking how kind the people are here. If I had Cord’s life, I’d never want to leave. It’s more than just a town that makes good food or has down-to-earth people. It’s the community he’s part of.
When I’m done with lunch, Emma May waves me over to the white tent. She’s talking to an older man with silver hair.
“Can you help Mr. Cartwright with his office cleanup? A lot of glass blew into his place. He’s worried about cleanup since some of his information is sensitive in nature.”
“Sure,” I take the broom from her and give the older man a bright smile. “Point me in the right direction.”
He has a sweet, grandfatherly vibe that instantly puts me at ease. “You can call me Henry. I’m the town lawyer. Try not to hold it against me.”
“I’m in corporate,” I answer, chuckling.
As soon as I step into the waiting room of his office, my shoes crunch on glass. I immediately start gathering what I can with the broom, trying to make a walkway. His office was clearly one of the harder hit buildings.
“Always wanted to go that route. Never did,” he says, righting a turned over filing cabinet with dozens of manila folders leaking from it.
“Me and the wife ended up settling in Courage County, and she couldn’t bear the thought of leaving.
I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her, so we stayed. She was my home.”
“She’s been gone a while?” I ask softly.
He nods, eyes moist behind his round glasses. “Over a decade now. Feels like yesterday. Every single morning, I still wake up and reach for her side of the bed. That’s the cruelest part of the grief. For six hours every night, I forget. Then I wake up, and I have to remember all over again.”
I can’t imagine living with that kind of pain and if something happened to Cord, no, I can’t even contemplate a future where we’re not together. We have to be. I need to tell him that. I need to let him know he’s my whole world. “I can’t...that’s so sad. I’d just feel so sad all the time.”
He shakes his head. “I’ll see her again. Death is only a brief intermission in our love story.”
I nod, holding onto his words. I wonder if that’s why my dad has never remarried. He never even dated after my mom’s death. I’ve asked him several times if he’d ever considered it, and he always tells me that there’s only one woman he’s ever loved.
It takes us almost two hours, but we manage to get the glass swept up, and furniture upright. There are still hundreds and hundreds of folders scattered everywhere. Evidence this man has been working in the town for decades.
I gather them, pausing when I see Cord’s name. I know I probably shouldn’t look, but Henry is in the bathroom, and I’m dying to know what’s inside of this folder. I pause when I see the words post nuptial and quickly scan the document. This doesn’t make sense. Why didn’t he talk to me about this?
Before I can think more about it, Cord is on the sidewalk.
I see the smile that lights up his whole face when he spots me, and it makes my gut tighten.
I quickly hide away the file. I don’t have time to pocket the papers even though I want to.
I make a mental note to help out at Henry’s office tomorrow, so I can get a good look at this paperwork.
He’s inside a moment later. He greets me with a kiss and calls me beautiful despite the fact that I have to look like a hot mess right now. He surveys the office that’s still nowhere near clean. “You did good work today.”
Henry comes from the bathroom and nods to my husband. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to take my wife home,” Cord says, and the look in his eyes makes me shiver. I know that look. It means a long night with lots of orgasms for me. Whatever is in the filing cabinet, it can’t be too bad...can it?