Continued, Life A Love Story
Flo is doing a slow walk around her house to see if there is anything else she should tell Ruthie about.
It’s raining, the kind of heavy, messy rain that coats the windows with sheets of water and turns the view outside into an indistinct watercolor.
She hopes it quits soon; she has arranged for Mildred and Teresa to meet at Mildred’s house.
It’s not far, of course, but Flo has never been one of those love-to-walk-in-the-rain types.
No. It’s a big fat nuisance to walk in the rain.
She stands before the living room bookcase and bends down to scan the titles.
Well, for heaven’s sake, there is Mrs. Mike.
She remembers now she read it just before she and Terrence were married.
Flo was in such a romantic state in those days, and this book just added to it.
It is about a sixteen-year-old girl from Boston who marries a handsome Canadian Mountie and it nigh onto made Flo swoon.
She still remembers lying in bed waiting for Terrence on their wedding night, thinking that both the girl in the book and she had had a lucky break, finding the men they did.
She pulls the book off the shelf and sees a little paper bag hidden behind it.
She opens it to find three twenty-dollar bills and a photograph of a particular locket Flo had seen in the paper years ago and had cut out just to look at.
It was so pretty, fourteen-karat gold filigree and a few little diamonds here and there.
She stuck it in the napkin holder to keep for a while, but it disappeared after a few days.
She figured Terrence had tossed it and that was okay with Flo, she was done drooling over it.
But now she realizes Terrence had been saving to buy it for her, and he’d kept that picture so that he’d get the right thing.
What to do with this? She doesn’t want to use the money to buy anything because it seems that would somehow be wrong. It would dishonor Terrence’s intentions. He wanted it to be a lovely surprise.
She goes to the kitchen and writes a note: To whoever finds this: Use this money to buy something nice for someone who is not suspecting it.
Then she puts the little sack back and pulls the book out just slightly from where it had been.
A clue. Isn’t it fun to think about who might find it, and what they might buy?
It’s time to go to Mildred’s, and luckily the rain has stopped.
Flo makes her way carefully down the steps and avoids the puddles to get to Mildred’s house.
While she doesn’t like walking in the rain, she sure does like the smell after a rain, and the way the birds come back out and fluff up their feathers like they’re miffed.
When Flo arrives at Mildred’s house, Teresa is already there, sitting in the living room, where Mildred has set out a silver tea service.
And someone else is there, too: Mimi the librarian.
All of the women are a little dressed up.
Mildred is wearing a white blouse and a long flowered skirt.
Mimi has on a red dress with white polka dots, and she has a red scarf tied artfully around her neck.
Flo has never seen Teresa in a dress, but she’s wearing a navy blue one today, and she’s wearing a yellow scarf tied the same way; Flo thinks Mimi might have taught her how to do it.
“Well, isn’t this nice?” Flo says, sitting down in one of the comfortable armchairs.
“Have a cookie,” Mildred says. “I didn’t make them, so they’re good.”
“I will,” Flo says, and she hopes Mildred won’t notice if she doesn’t eat.
“We’re talking about whether love at first sight is real,” Mimi says. “So far, it’s a divided opinion. Guess who doesn’t believe in it and who does?”
“Teresa doesn’t,” Flo says.
“Neither does Mimi,” says Mildred. “But I do. How about you, Flo?”
“Course I believe in it. I experienced it.”
“Me, too,” says Mildred. Then, laughing, “Lots of times.”
“How are things going with Jim?” Flo asks Teresa, and then covers her mouth.
“It’s fine,” Teresa says. “I told them all about him. They’ve been giving me some good advice.”
“Oh, they have, have they?” Flo asks, a mite jealous.
“Sure,” Mildred says. “I was telling Miss Cynic here that there are ways to keep love alive.”
“I’ve read that you should introduce yourself to each other every day,” Mimi says. “Meaning don’t assume that a man who has come to know you keeps on knowing you. Or you him. Because you both change, over time. You need to keep on checking in with each other.”
This reminds Flo that she must write to Ruthie about that one last thing. She’ll excuse herself soon to go home and tend to that.
In the meantime, look how animated and comfortable Teresa is with Mildred and Mimi. When Flo is gone, all of them will each have a lovely new friend. Flo feels a kind of soft landing inside, a kind of laying down of satisfaction mixed with just a little sorrow.