32
Ruth said she should get straight home for Pepper after the hospital, so I dropped her off, then went back to the grocery store for milk, ice cream, and Passover supplies.
Mr. Greene was stacking a display of canned goods in a pyramid near the front of the store when I walked in. Eddie was behind the counter by the registers, leaning on his elbows, watching him with resigned irritation.
I observed Mr. Greene for a few seconds before turning my cart to where Eddie was.
“He’s back?”
“You have to bring Ruth in,” Eddie said. “I can’t take much more of this.”
“Funny. That’s how I feel having her in my house.”
We both watched as Mr. Greene started a new row.
“That thing is going to be taller than him before he’s finished,” Eddie said, shaking his head. “No one is going to be able to take a can without bringing it all down.”
“Must be in our blood,” I said. Eddie looked at me confused. “Jews building pyramids.”
At first, his expression didn’t change, then he barked out a ha! before peering into my empty cart. “What did you forget yesterday? You know you can call me when that happens, and I’ll drop it off.”
“I appreciate that,” I said, patting his arm. “But I didn’t forget anything. Ruth faked being at death’s door to try to get me to promise I would go out with an absolute louse of a doctor.”
He squinted his left eye at me. “She didn’t.”
“Oh, but she did.”
“Is she all right?”
“Perfectly so. But when the hospital called me, I dropped everything to rush over there, so the milk spoiled.”
Eddie shook his head. “She is something else.”
“That’s one way to put it.”
“Meanwhile, that one is smitten and driving me insane.” He pointed to his father just as a child came careening down the aisle that he was at the end of, pushing a half-full cart while his frantic mother chased after him in her heels.
“David, no!” she yelled as he headed straight for the pyramid of cans.
Eddie jumped over the counter with ease, and before any of us knew what was happening, he had a hand on the child’s cart, slowing him to a stop inches from the cans, which would have likely toppled onto his father.
“Whoa there, buddy,” Eddie said. The child grinned up at him and Eddie returned the look. “No running in the store, okay?”
“Sorry, Mr. Greene,” he said, his face falling.
“No harm done,” Eddie said as his mother caught up to him and took his arm forcefully. He nodded to the mother. “It’s okay, Mrs. Jacobson.” He knelt down to the boy. “When you get to the bakery counter, you go tell them that I said to give you a cookie, okay?”
David looked to his mother, who pursed her lips at him, then relented, ruffling his hair. “You’re too easy on kids,” she told Eddie.
He shrugged with a smile. “I was one.”
“And a troublesome one at that,” Mr. Greene added, but he too was smiling. Then he noticed me. “Back so soon?” he asked in absolute delight, looking around, I presumed for Ruth.
“She’s not with me, I’m afraid,” I said, and his shoulders sagged in defeat.
If he hadn’t been there, I would have let it play out on its own. But Ruth deserved a little payback after yesterday’s stunt.
“Why don’t you come to dinner this week? Say, tomorrow night? I’m sure Ruth would love to have you,” I said.
Eddie shook his head and mouthed no behind his father’s back. I shrugged slightly, but Mr. Greene was already saying that he would love to.
“I should go get flowers,” he said, starting toward the door.
Then he stopped himself. “No. I should get them tomorrow so they’ll be fresher,” he said.
Then he ran a hand over his head. “I’ll go for a haircut though.
And back for a shave tomorrow.” And, talking to himself about how to prepare for dinner, he left the store.
“Barbara,” Eddie said warningly.
“What’s the harm?” I asked. “Worst case scenario, she’s not interested, and he stops haunting the store waiting for her.”
“I don’t think that’s how he works,” Eddie said ominously. “Did you ever hear the story of how he and my mother met?”
“No?”
Eddie sighed. “She wasn’t interested either. He spent two years wearing her down.”
My eyes widened. He’d better not take two years to wear Ruth down. I needed her out of my house now .
No, that wasn’t worth contemplating. They were such a good fit for each other. “There was a spark there on Sunday,” I said. “I know it when I see it.”
“I just don’t think this ends well.”
“Eddie, look. They like each other. They’re both lonely.
” Eddie started to interrupt, but I didn’t let him.
“Janet says he is. And I think you know she’s right.
And I don’t think for a second that Ruth would be living in my guest room if she wasn’t also.
It’s ... it’s hard having someone and then suddenly not. ”
He looked at me carefully. “Are you lonely?”
I twisted a lock of my hair around a finger and pulled lightly. Why is everyone asking me that lately?
“Yes,” I said, feeling vulnerable as soon as it came out of my mouth.
I didn’t want Eddie to feel bad for me or see me as some pathetic charity case who needed companionship.
“And no. I have the kids. And a mother-in-law who won’t let me be alone.
Ever. Literally, her first day with me, she came barging into my shower.
Opened the curtain and everything. Just to ask where the spatulas were. ”
Eddie chuckled. “And that’s what you want to inflict on my poor father. Hasn’t the man suffered enough?”
I pointed a thumb over my shoulder toward the door. “That guy? The one who practically ran out of here to get a haircut before coming to dinner tomorrow night?”
“Some people are just gluttons for punishment, I suppose.”
“That’s the only explanation I have,” I agreed. “Say, why don’t you come too? You’ll see what I mean about them. And it makes it less like a date, more like a friendly family dinner.”
He huffed good-naturedly. “Just what I wanted to do. Chaperone my father and your mother-in-law on a date.”
“Well, Eddie,” I said with mock seriousness, “if we don’t chaperone them, the neighborhood will all be abuzz that they ate a meal together. In front of the children no less! The scandal! Oh, the scandal of it all!”
Eddie nudged me playfully with his shoulder. “I’ll do it to keep gossip down.”
“You’re a good man, Eddie Greene,” I said. “I won’t even make you bring platters.” Then I thought about it. “Actually, if Ruth insists on cooking, I may change my mind on that one.”
“Oh no you don’t,” Eddie said. “I want to experience this cooking for myself. What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”
“Ruth’s cooking may very well kill you.”
He shrugged but was back to smiling. “You can put Death by Knish on my tombstone.”
I laughed.