Betty, our waitress walked up to our table right then. She put our drinks in front of us. She said something about our order being out in just a minute.
We thanked her, and I smiled, but I was lost in thought, remembering how it had all gone down with me telling Daniel we couldn't correspond anymore. I got a flash of a memory of a phone conversation I had with him. He had called when he got the letter I wrote him. He had asked me to reconsider.
I sat in the diner and felt pain in my heart as I recalled that conversation. It flashed in my mind. Daniel had been sad about it, and I felt a wave of nausea as I remembered how insensitive I must have been.
I was in my own world, trying to be the free spirit Albert wanted. He was my Jim Morrison—the crazy, bad boy who I couldn't quite tame.
When I first met Albert, he had a squirrel for a pet, and I couldn't help but notice the similarities in Albert and that squirrel—attractive but unpredictable.
He was a hippie, plain and simple—free love and lots of drugs. I had been caught up in something that seemed attractive and worldly at the time, but now seemed regrettable.
I should have been a better friend to Daniel.
I should have been there for him.
I should have asked him how he felt and how he was doing, and instead I just told him about my life and my boyfriends.
I experienced a rush of emotion, regret mostly. I was embarrassed of myself. I felt my cheeks flame hot when I thought about some of the things we said in those letters.
I tried to remember if Daniel was in love with me. I didn’t think he was at the time, but I would need to look at the letters again to be sure.
Maybe he had been.
My heart raced as I tried to recall.
"Ms. Nancy's coming," Tess said. She spoke discreetly and smiled as she glanced behind me. I could tell by her tone and expression that she was making eye contact with Nancy King. I could also tell by the way her line of vision changed that Nancy was getting closer to our table.
I turned to face her just as she walked up. Tess half-stood so she could give Nancy a one-armed hug. I did the same thing after my sister took a turn.
"Hey, Ms. Nancy," I said.
"Hey y'all. I'll sit for a second, just to get out of Betty's way." Nancy pulled back a chair and sat down in it. "I won't stay and interrupt your lunch, I just wanted to apologize for not making it to the shower last Saturday."
"Oh, goodness, that's okay," Tess said. "Billy said you were in Georgia with Daniel. We opened the gift you sent. Thank you so much! It's gorgeous. Right now, it's hard to imagine the baby being old enough to need a high chair, but that will be here before we know it."
"Honey, you have no idea. You'll be putting a baby in that chair before you can count to ten. When you do, remember this conversation. It'll amaze you how fast it gets here."
"I know, I'm kind of already seeing that," Tess said. She touched her belly. "It seems like yesterday I was telling Billy we were expecting, and now this."
"Yeah, and the next thing you know, he'll be a grown man, doing all sorts of things you never dreamed he would do."
"Yes, wow, Ms. Nancy. I meant to tell you congratulations," Tess said. "Abigail and I were just talking about Daniel. Please tell him congratulations for us."
Nancy smiled at my sister and then she glanced at me, holding the smile. "I'll tell him," she said with a nod. "It was amazing, seeing him there. It's the highest honor the military gives, and they made a big deal of it. They told his story, and had a whole presentation and everything."
"Oh, that's wonderful," Tess said.
Nancy nodded. "Nathaniel and I were so happy."
(They were talking quickly, talking over each other almost.)
"You must be so proud."
"We are."
"I bet. Wow."
"So thankful he's safe, too. Back at home."
"In Galveston?" Tess asked, looking surprised. "Billy said he thought he'd be another year or two."
"He will," Nancy said. "But he's back from overseas. That's what I meant. He's done serving, and he came back to the States, but the Army loves him. They begged him to stay on, over there at Fort Benning. He's training new recruits. His daddy wants him to take over the store eventually, but he's still young. He signed on for another year with the Army—but at least he'll be closer now. He loves it over in Georgia. I told his dad, I don't know if we'll ever get him home once he starts teaching."
"Oh, I'm surprised to hear that," Tess said. "Billy said he was planning on just doing a year or two and then for sure coming home."
"We'll see," Nancy said with a shrug. "I know he misses us and everything. But they treat him real well over there. They were already talking about trying to keep him on longer."
She stopped talking when Betty came to the table with our orders.
Chapter 2
"Sit with us!" Tess insisted. "I hardly ever get to catch up with you and Mister Nathaniel anymore. I miss you guys."
Nancy shifted and peered toward the kitchen. "I'm picking up a few hamburgers for the delivery crew," she said. "I suppose I can sit for just a minute, until my order's ready." Nancy sighed as she turned to look at me. "So, what are you doing, Miss Abigail? Did you move back to town?" She was being friendly, but with the way I was overanalyzing my shortcomings with Daniel, I automatically felt defensive and started over-thinking everything she did and said.
"No ma'am, I'm still back home in Louisiana. I was just here for the shower. I thought I would be here for the baby being born, too, but…" I hesitated comically, and Nancy chuckled accordingly.
"Are you past your due date now?" she asked, inspecting Tess, who nodded.
"Four days."
"Oh, how exciting! Any minute now. I wondered. I thought I would have heard something if you had it."
"No ma'am. Still waiting."
"You'll have to let us know when it arrives so we can come by and meet the baby."
"I will," Tess said.
"Do you have a feeling about what it'll be?"
"Billy thinks it's gonna be a girl, but I don't know. I don't have a feeling either way."
"Billy wants a girl, huh? That's sweet. And you don't even have a guess?"
"No ma'am. And he'd be happy either way. I think he and Coach Marvin were taking bets up there at the gym—whether it's a girl or boy and how much it'll weigh."
"How funny," she said. "I think Nathaniel mentioned that. He might have gotten-in on it." Her eyes traveled toward the kitchen and she smiled and nodded at someone who was over there. "Well, look, ladies, I see our boxes at the bar. I'll let you go so you can eat your lunch. It was good seeing you both. Abigail, have a safe trip back home, sweetheart."
"Thank you," I said even though I couldn’t shake the feeling that she didn't like me.
"And thank you and Mister Nathaniel for the high chair," Tess said. "We really do love it. Billy and I talked about what a handsome piece of furniture it is."