Chapter 7
Ann sat on her piano bench amongst a sea of boxes and tried not to cry.
There was nothing quite as lonely as waiting in an apartment filled with boxes of all one’s earthly possessions.
It was like a funeral of sorts. All the memories were packed away.
The walls were bare. The Gilbert and Sullivan no longer sat on her piano.
Every last embroidered pillow and crocheted doily was boxed away.
This was the home where she’d lived with Roger, and she was saying goodbye forever.
She remembered when Roger first brought her here.
They were newly married, just returned from their honeymoon.
Instead of going to Roger’s place, he brought her to this apartment and carried her over the threshold.
It stood empty, just as it would be in a few hours, but the emptiness was full of possibility.
She was elated. It was perfect for them, exactly what she’d dreamed of.
After carefully examining every room, they retired to the bedroom and made use of the only piece of furniture in the place—a bed.
She would be saying goodbye to that bed today. A buyer was coming by to pick it up around the same time Bill and his friends were supposed to arrive. She didn’t need a queen-sized bed in Merrick, nor was there room. Her mother’s twin bed would do just fine.
The doorbell rang, and she hurried downstairs. As she opened the door, Bill was standing there with Mary by his side, that devastating grin of his making something flutter in Ann’s belly. “Come in. Everything is all packed up and ready. Mary, it’s so good to see you! I wasn’t expecting you.”
Walking up the stairs, Mary said, “Bill thought you might need help with Junior, since you’ll need to direct where things go when we get to your house.”
Ann opened the door to her apartment and beckoned them inside. “That’s very thoughtful.”
Holding the door open, she glanced at Bill whose admiring gaze made her heart beat faster. It’s just because he reminds you of Roger, especially here.
He took her hand and raised it to his lips. “My lady,” he said with a playful twinkle in his eye, making her cheeks heat.
She smoothed her skirts to hide her discomfiture. “Shall I show you around?”
“Lead the way.”
Bill’s smile did things to her, but she did her best to ignore them, focusing instead on providing a brief tour of the apartment. There wasn’t much to show, so before long, they sat down in the sitting room, waiting for the other movers to arrive.
Bill claimed Junior quickly upon arrival, making silly faces and cradling him close. His eyes were filled with utter adoration. A lump formed in her throat watching them. This is what it would have been like if Roger was still with us. He would have done the exact same thing. I know it.
But the man in front of her was not Roger, and she had to remember the business of the day, not get lost in imaginings of a life she couldn’t have.
“As you can see, I’ve packed everything up.
I’ve gotten rid of a lot of things, so hopefully we can fit it all in the truck.
I can’t tell you how grateful I am for everything you’ve done, Bill. ”
“You’re very welcome, Ann.” Bill grinned and tickled Junior’s tummy. “And thank you for all the sandwiches and lemonade. I worry I’m going to eat you out of house and home. My mother says I must have a hollow leg.”
Ann laughed. She’d learned quickly that keeping Bill fed required more than she’d initially anticipated. His appetite knew no bounds. But it was a pleasure to feed him and bask in his gratitude for the small gesture.
“There must be some way I can thank you properly for all you’ve done.” She half hoped and half feared that he would ask her on a date.
“What would you say to a celebration lunch in Mineola on Friday? I can show you around town, take you by my parents’ florist shop, and we can enjoy a pleasant repast prepared by someone else.”
It was a date, but a very prim and proper one. Lunch and parents. It was hard to get tamer than that, though she had some trepidation about the parents. Would they think there was more between them than there was? Still, she couldn’t find anything in the plan to object to.
“Yes, that would be lovely.”
“You can even bring Junior. My mother would be happy to take care of him while we go to lunch.”
“That’s very generous,” she said getting lost in his eyes.
“I’ve told her all about you. She’s excited to meet you.”
She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. There was nothing wrong with having a completely innocent lunch with a man who had done her an enormous favor, was there?
At that moment, the doorbell rang again, and she hurried downstairs to let in two gentlemen that looked slightly familiar.
“Mrs. Prince?”
“Yes?”
“I’m Jack Thompson, and this is Ernie Pritchard.” He pointed to his friend. “We’re here to help you move.”
Now she remembered where she’d seen them—the PBA fundraiser.
These must be Bill’s colleagues. They both looked exceedingly strong and fit.
Ernie’s blond hair was slightly too long, a lock of it hanging in his warm brown eyes.
Jack was the opposite, every jet-black hair in place, with deep gray-blue eyes like a storm at sea.
“Come right on up to the second floor. Bill and his sister Mary are already up there.” She opened the door for them, and they immediately greeted Bill and Mary as old friends.
“Are you ready to get started?” Bill handed Junior reluctantly to his sister. “I’ve got the truck right downstairs.”
“No time like the present.” Ernie picked up a box.
They started with the furniture, carrying down her chest of drawers, the crib, her wingback chairs, the carpets, and lastly the piano. She and Mary quickly found themselves sitting on boxes.
The man buying the bed came and went under Bill’s watchful eye, taking away the last vestige of her life with Roger. The emptying apartment felt foreign. Everything familiar was gone, and the space echoed like a cave.
Before long, even the boxes they were sitting on had to go, and it was time to leave. She dropped off her keys with her landlord on the ground floor and said her goodbyes.
She and Mary squeezed into the front seat of the truck with Junior. Ann found herself pressed tight against Bill’s side as he slid into the driver’s seat.
He smiled mischievously at her. “Are you comfortable?”
“Quite.” That wasn’t entirely true, but what else could she say?
She was flushed, highly aware of his every movement, smelling his aftershave and the light hint of sweat from his exertions.
She was anything but comfortable, and she wouldn’t move for the world.
Pinned between two O’Donnells, she set out on the hour-long drive to her new life in Merrick.
She realized with a start that these two had quickly become a sort of surrogate family for her.
If she had siblings, she imagined they would have done exactly the same for her.
It was a special thing to be part of the O’Donnell family.
She couldn’t help envying the mutual support and camaraderie they seemed to enjoy.
“That was a darling apartment. How long did you live there?” Mary asked as they bumped along Broadway in traffic.
“About a year and a half. We moved in when we got married. We’d only been there six months when the war started. Roger signed up right away, so it’s mostly been just me in that apartment.”
“Sounds lonely.” Bill glanced at her with a sympathetic smile that made her heart lurch.
Did she dare admit how lonesome it had been while Roger was away? “It was at times, but my mother visited me a lot. And I had friends.”
Bill frowned. “Had? What happened?”
An excellent question. The people she’d thought were her friends had all abandoned her in her hour of need. “At first, they were very sympathetic, but when I began to run out of money, they all somehow disappeared.”
His grip on the steering wheel tightened. “It makes me so angry that they left you all alone to fend for yourself.”
“Well, you have better friends now.” Mary patted her hand. “Can I come visit you when you’re settled into your new home? I don’t want today to be goodbye.”
Ann hadn’t even thought of that. After this move, neither of them had any reason to visit. “Of course! I consider you a very dear friend after all you’ve done. I hope to see you often.”
“And what about me?” Bill nudged her shoulder with his own. “Am I a dear friend too?”
Ann hardly knew how to respond to that. She swallowed hard and stared at the produce truck in front of them, willing the sudden heat in her flushed cheeks to abate.
“Bill,” Mary warned. Ann suspected that if Mary was sitting next to him, she would have elbowed him.
“Yes, you are a dear friend too, Bill,” Ann said at last, her voice coming out oddly breathy. She kissed Junior on his head, needing to hide her burning cheeks.
He glanced at her and beamed, which only flustered her more. How much longer was this ride?
They sat in silence for several minutes, then Bill began to hum as they approached the Queensboro Bridge. He had a rich and mellow baritone that made her heart thump faster.
Wait a moment. She recognized that song. “Is that ‘I’m Always Chasing Rainbows’?”
“Hmm? Oh, yes. I suppose it is. Songs get stuck in my head sometimes.”
“I love that song.” It was one of her favorites, truth be told. “Whenever I hear it on the radio, I can’t help humming along. I’d love to hear you sing it.”
He laughed. “Only if you sing with me.”
She laughed out loud at his suggestion. Was she really contemplating singing a duet with Bill? She hesitated for a moment, unable to come up with an excuse to refuse.
“All right,” she said at last. It had been a long time since she’d sung anywhere but at church. She hadn’t been in the mood. But somehow, the fresh morning air and the excellent company were tempting her to foolishness.
“You too, Mary.” Bill glanced across at his sister.
“What, me?” Mary pressed her hand to her chest, eyebrows raised. “No, you don’t want me to sing. It’ll upset the baby. Much better if it’s just the two of you.”
“Don’t believe her.” Bill leaned toward Ann, conspiratorially. “She sings like an angel when she thinks no one’s listening.”
“A tone-deaf angel,” Mary grumbled.
“All right, all right. If you don’t want to sing, then don’t. Ann and I can have all the fun. Ready?”
No, but she’d agreed to this nonsense, and she wasn’t about to back out.
When he started to croon, “I’m always chasing rainbows, watching the clouds go drifting by,” she summoned her courage and joined him.
As they sang, their voice blended and resonated together. They breathed together at each pause. There was a unique intimacy to singing together, and she felt a new connection form between them, note by note. When they finished, she sighed happily. The baby giggled against her.
He sat silent for a long moment, a rapturous look on his face. “Your voice is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Thank you. I quite enjoyed your voice as well.” She more than enjoyed it. She reveled in it, feeling its reverberations down to her toes. Reminding herself that this was merely another echo of Roger, she took deep breaths to slow the furious beating of her heart.
Before she could recover, he piped up with another song and then another. They sang all the way through Queens, only stopping when Junior began to fuss.
“Oh dear, I think he’s hungry.” This was awkward. She’d tried so hard to avoid this very thing, but there was nothing to be done. “I fed him extra this morning so that this wouldn’t happen. Do you mind terribly if I feed him? He’ll go right to sleep after.”
“Not at all.” Mary was a mother. Of course, she understood.
Bill cleared his throat and took a deep breath. “Not at all,” he echoed, but in a slightly strangled voice.
He looked uncomfortable, but what was she supposed to do? There was at least half an hour left in their journey. The factories of Queens had only just started to give way to suburbs and farmland, and none of them would be happy if Junior spent the whole rest of the drive screaming.
Reaching down to her bag, she pulled out a blanket and draped it over her front. Then she unfastened her dress to give Junior access to her breast and helped him latch on. Bill studiously looked straight ahead, his hands tightening on the steering wheel once again.
Mary caught her eye, nodded at Bill, and rolled her eyes. Ann broke into a smile. Men were so ridiculous about these things.
In no time, Junior finished and dozed off, and she fastened herself back up. “I’m done. He’s asleep,” she whispered to Bill.
His shoulders dropped several inches, and the three of them settled into a comfortable silence.
They stayed quiet for the rest of the trip to avoid waking the baby.
She was still agonizingly aware of every tiny movement Bill made.
It was almost more than she could take. Her heart and mind might be loyal to Roger, but her body certainly wasn’t.
She was reacting to the man beside her, not some echo of her lost husband, no matter how guilty it made her feel.
When the truck stopped and Bill got out, she breathed a sigh of relief. The torture was over. She was home at last.