6
After I took the kids to school, I returned home to pick up Ruth to go to the store.
I saw her looking at me from the corner of my eye as I drove toward the grocery store near my house. “You don’t need to pretend you like me,” Ruth said. “I know what it’s like to live with a mother-in-law. We lived with Abe’s parents when we got married.”
“I like you just fine, Ruth,” I said, desperate to ask why she was here if any of what she had just said was true.
“You’ll see I’m right eventually. About needing help. Though I’m an absolute pleasure unlike my mother-in-law. Dreadful woman.”
If she was a pleasure, Abe’s mother must have been an actual demon. As for help, so far she had only been more work. But I was confident in my ability to do it all myself. And she would soon see that she hadn’t been right after all.
“You’re welcome to come visit us anytime,” I said.
Ruth flipped on the radio, and we were spared the need to speak for the rest of the drive, by the Exciters singing “Tell Him.”
“Morning, Barbara,” Eddie said pleasantly as Ruth poked and prodded every single melon in the produce department.
Eddie was my best friend Janet’s brother, and he owned and ran Greene Grocers, which his parents had opened twenty years earlier, making the transition from a produce cart down in the Northern Market on O Street in DC to an actual storefront in Silver Spring, before eventually moving to the current location in Rockville.
The name was a clever play on their last name and the original cart’s selection.
Most people I knew preferred the bigger and newer Giant grocery store up at Congressional Plaza, but I was loyal to Janet and her family.
And I had known Eddie for fourteen years now.
I still remembered him carrying Janet’s trunk into our shared dorm room, and the smile that lit up his whole face as I introduced myself to him.
He was three years older than us and lived off campus by then, but he popped by frequently to see his little sister—even if the two of them squabbled like cats and dogs.
Truth be told, I’d had a bit of a crush on him that first year.
Not that I could act on it—nothing would have soured my new friendship with Janet faster than admitting to liking her (in her words) annoying older brother.
And then I met Harry, pushing Eddie firmly into the category of things that weren’t meant to be.
Eddie knew a lot about things that weren’t meant to be.
After college, he served in Korea, planning to use the GI Bill to go to medical school.
But a mishap in a plane left him with severely impaired vision in one eye, crushing his dream of being a surgeon.
When he returned, he went to work for his father, taking over entirely when his mother died.
“Eddie,” I said. “How are you?”
“Doing well,” he said. Then he looked down and noticed the apron he had on and quickly removed it, shaking his head slightly.
He always dropped what he was doing when I came into the store, making me feel like part of the family—maybe even more so, since Janet usually just got a nod if her kids weren’t with her.
Then again, I didn’t criticize changes he made in the store, like she did.
I actually preferred Eddie’s little touches to their father’s way of doing things. “And yourself?”
It was one of the great mysteries why no one had snapped Eddie up, though I did sometimes wonder if he was self-conscious about his eye.
You couldn’t tell anything was wrong by looking at him, but he did need to close that eye to see more clearly.
He wasn’t tall like Harry, but he was handsome, with dark, wavy hair and eyes that twinkled when he smiled.
Moreover, he was funny and above all, kind-hearted.
He provided platters for Harry’s shivah free of charge and came over to shovel the snowfalls we’d had in the last two years among other minor household chores that were beyond my skill level. The definition of a mensch .
“I’m ...” I didn’t know how to finish that sentence, honestly. “Well, my mother went back to Philadelphia.”
Eddie raised his eyebrows. “Permanently or for a visit?”
“I sent her home,” I said. “I’m ready to do this myself.” Then I glanced over at Ruth, who stood, a melon in hand, watching us intently. “Well—somewhat. Eddie, I’d like you to meet my mother-in-law, Mrs. Feldman. Ruth, this is Eddie Greene.”
“ Greene as in why there’s an e at the end of Greene Grocers ?” she asked.
Eddie grinned a little bashfully. “My father loves a good pun. But yes.”
“It’s clever,” she said. “There used to be a man down at the O Street Market with the same name for his cart.”
“That would be my father,” Eddie said.
Ruth smiled broadly, then it faded. “Is he ...?”
“Still with us,” Eddie said, and Ruth exhaled in relief. “He retired, and I took over when my mother passed.”
Ruth’s face was all sympathy. “I’m sorry. Your father had the best produce in the market during the Depression.”
“He did.” Eddie nodded. “It’s how he was able to expand to a store.” He glanced down at Ruth’s hands. “Listen, if those melons aren’t to your liking, you just let me know, and I’ll grab you some from the back.”
“Do you do that for all your customers or just the pretty widows?” Ruth asked, nodding in my direction. I felt a flush creeping into my cheeks at the implication.
“Everyone,” Eddie assured her, then leaned in closer. “But if I didn’t take special care of Barbara, I’d never hear the end of it from my sister.”
“Your sister?”
“Janet,” I said. “My best friend.” Ruth didn’t look like it rang a bell. “Matron of honor in my wedding?”
“Ah, yes. Well, the melons are perfect,” she said, though she had been complaining otherwise before she knew whose market it was. Then she turned to me. “I’m going to go get some eggs. I noticed you were low this morning.”
“I can come with you.”
She was already walking away with the cart but winked at me over her shoulder. “You two talk, it’s fine.”
“She seems nice,” Eddie said.
“You think everyone is nice.”
He chuckled. “It’s the store. Everyone is nice to me because no one wants to be rude to the person who could lick all the strawberries before selling them.”
“Eddie! You wouldn’t. Would you?”
He winked. “Let me know if I have any customers you don’t like, and then you can lick them yourself.”
I laughed despite myself. “Eddie Greene, I don’t believe you for a second.”
“No,” he said. “You shouldn’t.” His gaze turned slightly concerned. “You said you were ready to do this yourself though. Does that mean you didn’t invite your mother-in-law to stay?”
“That’s one way to put it.”
“What’s another way?”
I sighed. “She showed up unannounced with five giant suitcases.”
Eddie’s eyes widened. “So I should have licked the melons?”
“Quite possibly,” I said. “I’m hoping that when she sees how capable I am, she’ll cut it to a two-week visit instead of the indefinite one she’s implying it is.”
He reached out like he was going to touch my arm, then thought better of it and shifted his apron to the other hand. “She won’t be able to help but see that,” he reassured me. “She’s probably just jealous that your mother got so much time with the kids.”
“And it’s good for the kids to be around Harry’s mom. I know that. But, Eddie, this morning she made eggs and put leftover lasagna in them.”
“Leftover lasagna?” I nodded, and he laughed again. “Well, I’m sure your cooking will put her mind at ease, then.”
I exhaled audibly. “She’s still complaining about the chicken I cooked last night. It’s going to be a long two weeks. What’s good today that I can impress her with?”
“I’ll have Gary wrap up some of the veal,” he said.
“Not veal. The kids won’t eat it. I need something they’ll eat to prove that they’re not overly picky.”
“Brisket?” I nodded. “I’ll make sure it’s the best we have.”
“You’re an angel, Eddie. Truly.”
He smiled at me. “It’s the least I can do.” Then he quickly added, “You know I don’t want to make Janet mad.”
“Well, I appreciate it, even if it’s not strictly from the goodness of your heart.”
“Let me know if you need me to take care of anything around the house so she knows you do have help,” Eddie said. “I don’t mind.”
“That means a lot. Thank you. Besides, she was complaining about the guest room mattress—maybe a few rough nights of sleep will chase her out.”
Eddie strode across the produce aisle and plucked a single green pea, which he tucked into my palm. “Might want this to put under that mattress.”
I laughed as Ruth rounded the corner with eggs and a box of cream of wheat in the shopping cart. She looked from me to Eddie and back to me, her eyes narrowing as she studied us.
“I’ll have Gary pack up that brisket,” Eddie said quietly, then turned to Ruth. “Did you find everything you needed, Mrs. Feldman?”
“I did,” she said. “I do hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Not at all,” I said. “Eddie was just telling me that they have a great cut of brisket that he’s going to have them wrap for us.”
“Why are you holding a pea?” Ruth asked me.
Eddie excused himself and walked toward the butcher counter, his shoulders shaking in laughter.