“Well, let’s have it Ellie. Tell me what’s been bothering you.”
I took another sip of tea and sighed. “OK.
I’m not sure where to even begin.”
“The beginning is a good place to start,” Beverly
said. “God, I love these pastries!” she
said taking a bite. “Sorry, please go
ahead.”
“All right.
So I guess I was feeling a little lonely. I mean, Jim’s death devastated me, but I
thought I had dealt with it pretty well.
Then recently the loneliness hit me.
Jim Junior is a doctor living in Cleveland, the rest of my family is
still in Pittsburgh and here I am living thousands of miles from anyone.”
“And I love you, too, neighbor,” Beverly snarked.
“Oh, Beverly, you know what I mean, and I’d
absolutely die if I didn’t have you here.
But anyway, I decided to call Marnie, my sister in Pittsburgh, and cry
on her shoulder a bit. When I complained
of being lonely, she immediately invited me to fly out for a visit. I thanked her but told her the thought of
Pittsburgh in January is not exactly making me run out to buy a plane
ticket. Then she tells me she heard that
George Leskovic just went through a messy divorce, so maybe I ought to hurry
out there before he gets taken by someone else.”
Beverly sat back in her chair and gave me a
quizzical look. “Who is George Leskovitz
and why haven’t you told me about him before?”
“Leskovic,”
I corrected. Oh this is really
ridiculous. Back in high school he was
in one of my classes, and I thought he was dreamy. I used to write his name and I would try my
name with his last name. Eleanor
Leskovic, I’d write. Over and over. He was kind of shy, but so was I. We never talked to each other beyond
something like, ‘You dropped your pencil.’
Crazy, huh?” I said with a laugh.
“No, I remember doing that sort of thing in high
school. So did you ever go out with
him?”
“No, any romance existed strictly in my mixed-up
teenage mind. But of course, Marnie
heard me mooning over him back then and when she recently heard about his
divorce from a friend, she thought of me.”
“So that got you thinking about taking that trip to
Pittsburgh?”
“Actually, it did make me wonder about him. Then Marnie started telling me about what a
star basketball player my nephew Jeff has become and that now is the time to
come watch him play. This is his senior
year and the season will be over in another month or so. So it’s now or never, so I tell Marnie,
‘Clean out the guest room, I’m coming.’”
“So when do you go?”
“Ha! That’s the part that gets really weird. I was supposed to fly there last Thursday,
and Jeff had a game on Friday. So about
a week before I’m scheduled to fly there, I start thinking about this guy.”
“Boy George?”
“Stop it,” I said smiling. “Yes George from high school. So I write a letter to him and invite him to
come to the game and coffee afterwards.”
“Very nice. I
approve.”
“But then I started to get cold feet. I mean, this guy is going to think I’m some
kind of nut. He probably doesn’t even
remember who I am.”
“Highly unlikely, Eleanor. You are an unforgettable woman. This George probably started checking out
diamonds online after he read your letter.”
“You’re such a loyal friend, Beverly. Anyway, I had second thoughts about sending
it, so I left it sitting on my desk for a day or two. Then I woke up one morning just feeling
confident and great and said to myself, ‘I am just going to send that letter
and if he doesn’t like it, he doesn’t deserve someone as wonderful as me.’ So I
stuffed it into the envelope, put a stamp on it and immediately walked to the mailbox
on the street corner and dropped it in.”
“Good for you, girl. This is really sounding sweet.”
“Not really.
On my way back from the mailbox a thought hit me. In my haste to mail the letter, I forgot to
sign it. I don’t think I even put a return address on the envelope.”
“God. What a
disaster,” said Beverly drinking the last of her tea. “But on the other hand, it could still work out – maybe even
better. He’ll be intrigued and come to
that game for sure to see who shows up, right?
Oh, but wait a minute. Did you just say you were supposed to fly there last Thursday? Does that mean you didn’t
go?”
“You remember that big snowstorm that hit the
Midwest last week. My flight was
cancelled because O’Hare was shut down and remained shut down until Saturday. I
couldn’t go.”
“Ooo, Ellie. I
see now why you’re so upset. If he
showed up to see who came, nobody was there.
He either thought he was stood up or it was some sort of vicious prank.”
“Yes, and I’m not sure what to do about it.”
“Well, Ellie dear.
That’s what friends are for. Put
on another kettle of tea and let’s put our heads together and figure this
out. And you haven’t touched your lady
lock. Are you saving it for me?”
“Not a chance, Beverly. Not a chance,” I said, taking a bite of the
flaky, cream-filled pastry.
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