Chapter 52
CHAPTER
FIFTY-TWO
APRIL
Every television in town is turned to the sports channel. Lucky Falls is buzzing about Chance’s press conference.
No official announcements have been made, but it’s obvious to everyone—both inside and outside of the hockey world—what Chance is going to say when he gets behind that mike.
Since I’ve known this ‘secret’ for a while, all the excited chatter in The Tipsy Tuna just makes me feel sick.
“Honey, you don’t look so well,” Mauve comments, looking me over.
I force an unconvincing smile. “I’m probably still weak from the poisoning.”
“Did you drink the soup I dropped off for you?”
“I did. It was delicious, thank you.”
She sets a warm cup of tea in front of me. “Is something else going on?”
I duck my head sheepishly. “Nope. Everything is great. Really great.”
“Mm-hm.” She purses her lips and studies me.
Bobby’s wife has always treated us like a second grandmother. I can’t hide anything from her.
“Are you nervous for Chance?” She points to the television. “Today’s a big day for him. A big day for both of ya’ll.”
“I guess so,” I respond in a lackluster fashion.
“The moment he makes that announcement, his career goes turbo. It’s gonna be a wild ride. You better strap in.”
My smile wobbles and then putters out.
Mauve picks up on it right away and her brows knit together. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”
I inhale shakily as my eyes dart from side to side. “I, uh, have a headache.”
The lie burns my tongue. I revealed a few things to May, but I never told her that I had an actual ‘we might need to break up’ talk with Chance. I haven’t told Rebel either. It’s a secret I’ve kept close to my chest.
“Mm.” Mauve makes another one of her noncommittal sounds. “You got some time, April?”
“I’ve got…” I glance at the running banner on the television screen, counting down to Chance’s big press conference. “About an hour.”
I plan to be far away from all televisions, radios and cell phones streaming his announcement. If I see Chance in front of me, I might start crying. Ridiculous. I turned into a cry-baby after meeting him and that’s a habit I want to shake.
“Let me tell you a little story about when me and Bobby were dating.”
I bring the tea to my lips, listening closely.
“My friends were the ones who told me that the boy down the street was sweet on me. Now, mind you, I wasn’t paying no mind to him and had my sights set on Phineas Booker, a boy from church and my first love.”
Mauve laughs and shakes her head, as if reliving a memory. “Bobby started coming to my church and hanging around me and my friends. I thought he was nice enough, but he wasn’t Phineas, you know? I had my mind set on being Phineas’s wife. I did everything I could. Practically threw myself at the man.” She rolls her eyes. “Finally, Phineas asked me to be his girl.”
A customer walks up to the bar and Mauve moves away from me to tend to him. I nurse my tea, while trying not to look at the television countdown.
Mauve returns a few minutes later and continues, “The Phineas I thought I knew was a total fantasy. The real Phineas treated me horridly. Just wretchedly. When he cheated on me, that was the final straw and I broke up with him.”
“Good for you, Mauve.”
She checks my cup, sees that it’s empty and pours me another. “I was crying non-stop and hurting so bad in my heart. One day, Bobby found me like that. He wiped my tears and told me that someday I’d find a good man. Someone who treasured me and treated me right.”
“Did he ask you out right then?”
“Nope.” Mauve laughs. “Took eight months before he asked me. Later on, Bobby said he didn’t want to take advantage of my broken heart.”
I nod, impressed.
“When he did ask me, I was smart enough to say yes.” She grins. “I started dating Bobby and it was a total one-eighty from Phineas. I didn’t realize men like Bobby, a love like Bobby’s, existed. I kicked myself every day for taking so long to give that man my heart. I’d found the one and I knew he was fixin’ to ask me to marry him any day now.”
“Mauve!” A table waves.
I groan.
“I’ll be right back, sweetheart.” She winks.
I wait for what feels like an eternity. Why does everyone in The Tipsy Tuna suddenly need Mauve’s attention?
When, at last, she rounds the bar again, I lunge forward. “Did he ask you to marry him?”
“Huh? Oh…” Mauve picks up a dirty glass and washes it in the sink. “No, he didn’t. Right at that point, Bobby joined the army.”
I sink slowly into my seat. “I didn’t know Bobby was a solider.”
“Mm-hm.” She bobs her head. “It hit me like a ton of bricks. One day, he was here. The next, he was gone and I didn’t know if he’d come back alive or in a body bag.”
Her comment resonates with me and I glance at the television screen.
Thirty minutes until the press conference.
“Funny enough, Bobby was more worried about me than about himself. So I put on a brave face and told him we’d get through it. We decided to keep dating through the war. I wrote him letters and I’d run to the mailbox every day to check if he’d written back. Most times, he had. But one day, the letters stopped coming.”
I place my hand on Mauve’s. “I’m sorry, Mauve. That must have been tough.”
She pastes on a brave smile, but I can see her bottom lip trembling. “I thought he was dead. My heart was absolutely crushed and I couldn’t even get out of bed.”
“Mauve!” A customer bellows from a table.
I swerve around. “Could you give us a?—”
Mauve yells over me. “Right there!” She slants me a scolding look and tuts, “April Elizabeth Brooks…”
Despite her scolding, I wait on pins and needles for Mauve to finish waiting on the table. At last, she comes back and I pounce on her.
“What happened next?”
“Why are you so excited? Bobby’s with me today. You know what happens.” She wipes a beer mug dry.
“Yes, but how ,” I stress.
She laughs, deepening the wrinkles around her eyes. “One day, I came home and saw a letter in my mailbox.”
I heave a giant sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.”
Mauve releases a belly-laugh. “Yes, I was very grateful.”
“So did he come home right after that?”
“Nope. Took a lot more months until I saw him again.” She gazes softly at the glass. “But this waiting period was different. This time, I wrote those letters with joy in my heart.”
“Are you saying… you weren’t happy before that scare?”
Mauve sets the glass on the shelf. “I never told Bobby outright, but I’d resented the fact that he joined the army. He’d always talked about doing it, but I just… I felt blindsided. How dare he make me love him so much, make him such a part of my daily life, and then just disappear?”
“Exactly.” I sit up a little straighter. “It’s so selfish.”
“Very much so.” Mauve’s strong voice trembles with laughter.
I realize she’s making fun of me and glance down at my tea.
“But,” Mauve taps a dark finger on the bar counter, “after I stopped getting those letters, my entire perspective changed. I was the girlfriend of a soldier. There wasn’t no changing that. Bobby wasn’t with me, but he still made all that effort to write as much as he could. Those letters meant he was pulling through. Those letters meant he was thinking of me. Those letters meant he was coming back to me. And in the end, I’d rather have those letters and know he’s alive than to not have Bobby at all.”
Her words tangle in my mind. “It just… doesn’t seem fair.”
“Life isn’t fair. We can’t always get what we want when we want it. Now this isn’t saying to put up with nonsense. At times, we do have to let people go if they aren’t good for us. But when we find the people who…”
“Write love letters in war?” I supply.
“Yeah.” Mauve laughs. Then she glances at the television and back at me with a knowing grin. “When you find your person, sometimes, you gotta let them love you from afar until they can come home.”
At her words, the clouds in my heart start to clear. I look back over everything I’ve been through with Chance and determination wells within me.
We’ve fought to be together.
We’ve come this far.
Like Mauve said, I’d rather have his texts, calls and video chats until he can come home. And that might come with some adjustments, I’m sure… but I want this to work.
“Can you excuse me? I need to make a call,” I say, slipping out of the bar stool.
Mauve just smiles knowingly.
As I’m about to dial Chance, my phone lights up with an incoming call instead.
It’s the nursing home.
I put the phone to my ear, still looking at Mauve. “Hello, how can I help?—”
“Miss Brooks, I’m sorry to inform you but your father…”
I explode out of my seat. “What happened to my dad?”
“He’s… missing.”