5
Sophie
I had dozed off in my rocking chair for much longer than I had anticipated. I woke with a start as I heard a car honk its horn as it went by the house, and I was already sorry I had woken up. I was still clutching the backpack in my arms and had been roused from a sweet dream, one I have every now and again. The two of us were there, back in college like we were years ago, but this time things didn’t end as badly as they did. We stayed together, the outside world wasn’t real, and there we were sitting on the front porch of our own place, watching the sun go down, holding hands. He leaned over and kissed me deeply, the way he always used to, still holding my hand. He then rose up from our front porch swing, pulled me by the hand and led me inside to the bedroom. Within moments the passion overtook both of us, and we were lying there together, blankets rumpled around us, clothing tossed aside, as we made love as the sun went down outside the window. It was intense and magical all at once, feeling him like that… feeling him in a way that I never had the chance to before.
And then that stupid horn went off and woke me up before anything else happened. Something always seemed to startle me up at just the wrong moment, and I never get to see how this dream plays out. I sat in the rocking chair for a moment, feeling flush all over, my body tingling from head to toe. I took a quick glance down at my watch and saw it was already six o’clock. Mary would think I was standing her up again and it would be moments before my cell phone was ringing or she was sending me a text to ask where I was.
I stood up from the rocker, tossing the backpack on the floor next to the chair as it creaked back and forth. I took a quick glance at myself in the mirror just inside my front door and fixed my hair a bit and pulled it back into a ponytail. As I was tightening my ponytail and tying it back with a piece of blue ribbon I had plucked from the top of the bureau, I took a closer look at myself. My face was still a bit flush, and even the top of my chest that was visible above the light blue dress I was wearing was a bit rosy as well.
That was some dream, I told myself as I picked up my purse and headed out the door.
I decided it was too nice of a night to drive over to The Homestead. Besides, it was only a few blocks away from here, like most things were in this small town, and there was rarely any parking on the street or in the small lot next to the restaurant anyway. I thought the walk would be good to help me clear my head a bit and help me build up my appetite for a night out. As I reached the corner of Collins Drive, I began to walk slowly passed the house. The house was dark, as it had been ever since his father passed away. I stood just outside the cyclone fence gate surrounding the front yard there and peered at the house. The porch paint was a bit worn, the gutter on the front of the house was hanging loose, and the front lawn was clearly in need of a mow. I could only imagine what the inside looked like if the outside had been let to go like this. I tried to get a glance through one of the front windows, the one where the shade was near all the way up, wondering if I could see anything inside. The only thing visible was an old chair positioned by the window. I couldn’t make out much of the detail of it, but I remember it was where his father sat every day, reading with the window open while he played music on his record player or watched the ballgame so loud you could hear it from the street. I craned my neck to get a better look, peering closely, wanting to see something, and then received a jolt when I felt my phone buzz in my hand, making me jump back and drop my phone over the fence, onto the grass.
“Damn,” I said lightly, as I now had to open the gate to get my phone.
At least Mary would be proud of me for swearing out loud, “ I thought, making myself chuckle lightly. I opened the gate slowly, feeling some resistance from the rust on the hinges and as the gate tried to move through the overgrown grass. With the sun going down, it was a little darker on the lawn than I thought it would be and with the grass so high, finding my phone was not as easy as I thought it would be. I was finally able to locate it, and I glanced down, seeing the message from Mary –
“Where the hell are you? Don’t stand me up again Sophie!”
I typed a quick message to her:
“On my way. Walking there right now.”
I got up from my crouch and saw I was closer to the window now, but now that I was this close something inside me made me feel like the house didn’t look so friendly now. It looked older, worn, almost sad. I found myself wanting to get out of there faster, and as I was looking at the house, I thought I could see a shadow inside by the window. I gasped audibly and stumbled, bumping into the gate as I turned, fumbled with the gate, and got it open so I could get out of there.
I raced down the street, not sure if I really saw something or if my imagination was just getting the better of me at this point with all my daydreaming today. I wasn’t taking any chances and found myself moving quickly across the few blocks until I was outside the door to The Homestead in no time at all.
I opened the glass door to the entrance and went right inside. There was no one stationed at the hostess podium, where Maggie could almost always be found, and I was kind of glad about that today. I was feeling a bit out of breath as I scanned the room quickly, hoping to spot Mary. I saw her seated at a table near the center of the room, a drink in her hand as she smirked and waved at me.
The dining room was a decent size since this was the only restaurant of note in town, with about fifteen or twenty tables of various sizes, but every table was already filled, and all the seats at the large mahogany bar along the far end of the room were all taken as well. There were TVs on by the bar, but Maggie always made them keep the sound muted because she didn’t want to disturb the dining patrons. I plopped myself down in the wooden chair opposite where Mary was sitting and watched her take another sip of her drink, finishing it off.
“Where were you? You’re late,” she chided me as she set her glass down. “Are you okay? You look flushed.”
I took a deep breath to further compose myself. Now I wasn’t sure if I was flush from the experience at the house, my dream or what.
“I’m fine,” I told her as I brushed the hair out of my face. It was just then that I noticed that I had lost my ribbon somewhere along the way. “ I ran over here so I could meet you without being too late. You don’t happen to have a hair tie, do you? I seem to have lost mine.”
Mary looked at me and then pointed at her recently cut short auburn hair. “Remember, my haircut two weeks ago? I’ve been complaining about it ever since I got it cut at Gail’s place. I never should have let that blonde butcher my hair.” She ran her right hand over the short length as she spoke to emphasize her anger over it.
“Sorry, I forgot about that,” I told her sincerely, brushing the hair from my eyes again.
“I have a hair tie you can use Ms. Ingram,” a voice said to my side. I looked up and saw our server, Patty Watkins, a former student of mine who was now a senior in the high school and worked at the restaurant. She was looking more grown-up than ever, making me feel old again as I saw her in her crisp white blouse and black slacks, with her own blonde hair pulled back. She reached into her apron and pulled out a small black hair tie and handed it to me.
“Oh thank you, Patty, that’s very sweet of you,” I said to her as I tied my hair back into its ponytail.
“No problem, Ms. Ingram,” she said to me with a smile. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“I’ll just have a lemonade Patty, please,” I told her as I watched her scribble it down on her pad.
“Another cosmo for you Ms. Connors?” Patty asked with a smile.
“You bet Patty, thanks for asking,” Mary said as she handed Patty her empty glass. Patty walked away, laughing lightly to herself as she headed towards the bar to place the drink order.
“Lemonade? Really, Sophie? We’re supposed to be out having fun tonight, and you order lemonade to drink. No wonder everyone thinks you’re a spinster.”
Mary sat back and smiled at me.
“Who says I’m a spinster?” I said indignantly.
“More than one person, Sophie. It’s a small town, remember? Word gets around pretty quickly. When is the last time you actually went out on a date? And I mean with someone besides me?”
I had to think hard how to answer that question. It had been long enough where I couldn’t really remember when it was.
“There was that substitute English teacher I went to the poetry reading with,” I said to her proudly.
“Sophie, that guy hasn’t been around here for three years, and you only went out with him that one time. Face it, it has been a long time. It has been too long. I don’t know how you do it. I couldn’t go this long without ever being with a man.”
My face blushed deep red when Mary said it. “Mary! Could you say it a little louder? I don’t think the guys in the kitchen heard you.” I was suddenly feeling very warm, and of course, Patty, who was in earshot, arrived with our drinks, making me blush even more. She handed me my lemonade and Mary her cosmo.
“If you’re looking for a date Ms. Ingram, my dad is single again. I’m sure I could fix you up,” Patty said with a smile.
I groaned audibly and wished the chair I was in would swallow me whole. Seventeen-year-olds were now going to be clued in on my virgin status and looking to set me up with their eligible fathers by lunchtime tomorrow.
“Thanks but no, Patty,” I said to her quietly. “Can we just order dinner, Mary?” I said to Mary through my gritted teeth.
We both quickly ordered The Homestead hamburgers and their fresh-cut french fries, hoping to get Patty to move along quickly. Patty took the order and left, feeling a bit sheepish.
“I’m sorry about that Sophie,” Mary said to me sincerely. “You know I didn’t mean to embarrass you like that. I just worry about you, that’s all.” She held her glass towards me across the table. I reached for my lemonade, smiled at her, and we clinked our glasses together.
We chatted idly for a while, covering all the local gossip as we watched most of the town gather and come and go out of the restaurant. Everyone pretty much dined here, drank here, or got takeout from here, so it was pretty common to see everyone and anyone here, whether you wanted to or not.
Our burgers came out, cooked perfectly, and Mary and I both attacked ours with fervor. We laughed and giggled like high school girls, and for the first time in a long time I was glad she had dragged me out of my shell a bit and out into public.
As we finished our meals, I saw Maggie for the first time tonight as she came out of the kitchen. She had her back to us as she walked backward towards us, and she was clearly talking to someone in front of her, but I couldn’t see who. It was then that I saw it was a girl, not quite as tall as Maggie but close, with long red hair. She looked a lot like many of the girls I see in my eighth-grade class, but I had never seen her around here before. The girl was laughing and smiling at Maggie and talking very animatedly, waving her hands around as she spoke. I saw the girl hand her phone to one of the other servers in the restaurant, and she then placed her arm around Maggie’s waist as the two of them posed for a picture together. The flash from the camera on the phone blinded me briefly, and I blinked hard several times to regain focus. It was then that I got a better look at the girl and saw that she had marvelous emerald green eyes. They were eyes that I had seen once before; eyes that you don’t forget easily.
There was no doubt in my mind – they were his eyes.