26 #2
Joanie tried to cut the line to get another pony ride amid the chaos of Janet’s wrath, and Evelyn rushed over as the girl pulled another child out of the line by her hair.
I checked the food trays and made sure nothing needed a refill, then realized I hadn’t seen Ruth in—I checked my watch—the hour since the party started.
I scanned the yard, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Knowing Ruth, she was probably reorganizing Janet’s closet and donating half of her favorite clothes.
I went into the house to make sure she wasn’t causing too much trouble, only to find her and Mr. Greene sitting at the kitchen table, deep in conversation. Neither of them saw me, so I stayed in the doorway for a minute.
“—wasn’t easy,” Ruth said. “But it never is, is it?”
Mr. Greene shook his head. “No. It never is. I still remember wondering how you did it when your husband passed.”
“I’ve never forgotten how kind you were to send food for his shivah.”
“I came to the funeral, you know.”
She looked at him in surprise. “You did?”
He nodded. “I didn’t want to impose by coming to the shivah—”
“You wouldn’t have been imposing.”
Mr. Greene shifted uncomfortably. “I didn’t really know you. I just ...” He shook his head again. “I wanted to make sure you had people there.”
Ruth smiled. “You didn’t need to worry about that, did you?”
“No,” he said, returning her smile. “I’ve never seen such a full house.”
“Abe was ... Abe was something special. Everyone who knew him felt it.”
Mr. Greene nodded. “That much was clear from the eulogy, even ignoring the size of the crowd.”
“I wish you’d told me you were there.”
“It felt ... too intimate. I don’t know. I didn’t want you to think—”
Ruth put a hand on top of his. “I wouldn’t attribute an ill motive to you in a hundred years,” she said. “And that son of yours is a mensch, just like his father.”
“He certainly is,” Mr. Greene agreed. “I just wish he’d settle down already.”
“Do you think he—?”
I cleared my throat to announce my presence.
“Barbara,” Ruth said, removing her hand from his quickly. Too quickly. “Joseph and I were just catching up.”
Joseph, I thought, struggling to keep from raising my eyebrows. Now that was an interesting development. I looked from her to him, and his eyes were fixed on Ruth in a way that I recognized. A very interesting development indeed.
“You two keep catching up,” I said, waving a hand at them. “I was just going to start setting up the cake.” It was a little early for that, but it was on the counter and provided the perfect excuse.
“Oh, we should go out for that,” Ruth said, beginning to rise from her seat.
“No, no, you stay,” I said. “I’ll come get you when we’re actually ready.”
I picked up the box containing the cake and made my way to the back door. Eddie was on his way in and opened the door, then offered to take the cake from me. “I’ve got it,” I said. “But, Eddie!”
He turned to look at me and brushed back a stray lock of my hair that had fallen over one eye while I held the cake. I felt an unfamiliar jolt of electricity at the intimacy of the gesture. “What?” he asked.
“I—” What was that flutter in my stomach? Had the sandwiches turned? “I think your father and Ruth are flirting with each other!”
“My—what?”
I nodded. “She was patting his hand. And did you know that he went to Abe’s funeral?”
“Who’s Abe? I’m lost.”
“Ruth’s husband. They seem like they were a lot closer at the O Street Market than Ruth let on.”
Eddie’s eyebrows went up, and his jaw went slack in horror. “You don’t think that they—?”
“No, no, no,” I said quickly. There was no chance there had been anyone else for Ruth. Before or since Abe. And Mr. Greene had been crazy about Eddie’s mother. I knew that much. “But now ...”
Eddie shook his head. “You need to stop this yenta business. I don’t want to risk my father’s heart in your plans.”
“What plans? Go see for yourself. This wasn’t me!”
“Barbara—”
“Eddie Greene,” I said, removing one hand from the cake box to put it on my hip. “I swear—”
A child went barreling past us, shrieking, “Potty!” and I almost dropped the cake, but Eddie caught my arm and the cake, steadying us both.
“If you drop that, Janet is going to be furious at me,” he said.
“Won’t she be mad at me?”
“No,” he said. “She needs you too much.”
“She needs you too,” I said, moving toward the table and setting the cake safely down. “Who else is going to bring prepared food for birthday parties?”
Eddie straightened the cake, then turned toward me, his back to the table. “She could always hire someone for that. She can’t hire a best—”
The little girl who had run past us, now identifiable as Evelyn’s daughter Joanie, came scrambling back out, screaming, “My turn on the pony!” Her eyes were fixed on the poor creature, and she never even saw Eddie as she rammed him full force into the table behind him.
The table broke his fall, but the seat of his pants landed squarely on top of the cake box, which was now crushed beneath him.
“Ooh, cake,” Joanie said, grabbing a fistful of smushed cake that had oozed out the side, before running back to the pony.
Eddie and I looked at each other, eyes round as Janet stormed toward us.
“Save me,” Eddie whispered.
I grinned. “I’ll throw Joanie under the bus. But you may have to run to the store for another cake.”
“Deal,” he said as I held Janet off by explaining about Evelyn’s daughter.