Chapter 43
Grace follows me through the door between the stores and to the counter where Mrs. Packer smiles up at me.
“I think this event is the greatest thing to ever happen to this sleepy town,” she says reaching for my hand and holding it between hers in a sign of love and compassion.
“I think you’re right,” I say and then realize that I’m standing there with Grace. Introductions need to be made, but how awkward is this? “Mrs. Packer, this is Grace.” I take a beat. “Noah’s sister-in-law,” I say, deciding that part is true.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you,” Mrs. Packer shoots her hand out toward Grace. “He’s been a delight to have around the past few weeks. And he’s been good for this one,” she says, nodding in my direction and I’m sure I’m going to burn and turn into a pile of ash right where I stand.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Grace returns the gesture. “What do you suggest for someone who’s feeling the effects of altitude sickness.” Grace smiles at Mrs. Packer.
I eye her coolly so that she answers without offering something from the back.
“I’ll whip you up something special. On the house.” Then she turns her attention to me. “Usual?”
“Please,” I say and she gives me a wink.
“Have a seat. Bobby here will bring it out in a moment,” she nods toward her grandson who smiles weakly.
Grace and I find a small table in the corner and sit.
She begins to pull off her winter layers and I study her.
Her hair might have been strawberry blonde in her youth, but is much lighter now as it’s speckled with strands of dull gray.
But I can’t help but wonder if she looks anything like her sister.
For someone who is so important in my life, I don’t even know what Abby looked like.
“Thanks for having coffee with me,” Grace says. “I hope it’s not awkward for you.”
I puff out my cheeks. “Can I be honest? It is, but it shouldn’t be,” I admit and she smiles.
“It shouldn’t be. Noah's always been an odd bird when it comes to social graces. It took us a bit to warm up to him, but once you get to see what’s under that crusty exterior, he’s just a marshmallow.”
Her depiction of him has me laughing aloud. “I don’t think I could have said it better. He seems like a grumpy old man when you meet him.”
Now Grace snorts out a laugh. “Yes, and I met him when he was a young man, and he was the same.”
I ease back in my chair. I don’t feel any reason to fear this woman now.
Bobby delivers our drinks and hurries away. His grandmother makes him work in the store because she’s afraid he’d never interact with humans outside of his video games. He tries, but I’ll bet he’s much more personable behind a computer screen.
“Why did the other woman warn me about ordering from the back?” Grace asks as she lifts her mug, sniffs, and then takes a tiny sip of her coffee.
“Mrs. Packer is an old hippie who incorporates her love of cannabis into some of her baked goods.”
Grace’s eyes go wide. “She sells that here? I thought you had to have a special store to do that.”
“You do. So she only gives them to people she’s friends with. She never sells them, though she’ll accept donations.”
Grace makes an O with her mouth and then sips her coffee again. “This is really good.”
“She has her own blend. I don’t know what she gave you, but if it’s a Ski Bum, you’ll be awake for days,” I say and Grace snorts out another laugh and sets her cup down, then wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.
“No wonder Noah is taken by this town,” she says. “He’s miserable in the city. I think he’s alive here.”
I realize I have nothing to base this on. But in the past three weeks, I’ve seen him warm into someone I want to spend forever with.
Grace clasps her hands together as if to pull herself back to the conversation she meant to have with me.
“I’m sorry Noah made it so awkward when we arrived the other day. We did surprise him.”
“He said he was confused as to how he should have done things,” I admit.
Grace nods then wraps her hands around her cup. “Abby’s death hit him hard. There were times I didn’t think Noah would survive it either. But, he threw himself into his work and that seemed to be his salvation. And now he’s met you.”
“Well, we’ve only known each other a few weeks,” I say as if I have to verify facts for her.
“When you find someone you love, you know immediately. Time just gets in the way.” Grace lifts her mug to her lips and sips.
“Our parents knew each other three days before they married. They were together until my father passed a few years after Abby. My mother always said that when you know, you just know.”
I don’t know what to say to that. In my twenties, I might have argued that. In my fifties, I understand it, but then again, I might just be too afraid that time is fleeting and maybe we don’t have it.
Grace reaches across the table and rests her hand over mine. “I guess what I really want you to know is that none of us expect Noah to be alone for the rest of his life, just because he loved my sister and she’s gone. He deserves better than what he got.”
I pull in my lips and bite down to keep them from trembling.
“So, Emma,” she says, smiling as she eases back in her seat and picks her cup back up. “Tell me about yourself, your store, and your new book deal. We might not expect Noah to be lonely, but we have no intentions of not being in his life either. So I’m going to need to know everything about you.”
She’s still smiling as she sips her coffee, and I have decided that I’m as taken by this woman as I am by her brother-in-law. If she’s anything like her sister, I can see why Noah fell in love with Abby.