On Thursday, Lauren is early getting into Grandon and decides to make a stop at Betty’s Bakery for a quick cup of coffee before heading to Glory’s Place. The smells of homemade bread and soup and fresh-brewed coffee welcome her as she opens the door. “My section’s over there,” Holly says, pointing.
“I’m only getting coffee,” Lauren says. “I don’t want to take up a whole table.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Holly delivers two meals to a man and woman in front of her as Lauren picks the table closest to the back.
Holly places a cup on the table and fills it with coffee. “I’m sorry I never saw the women you were supposed to meet the other day.”
Lauren reaches for the creamer on the table. “I heard from both of them. We got the date and time all mixed up. We’re going to try again later today.”
Holly turns to look over her shoulder, checking on her tables. “Do you want to go see a movie tonight? Do you have time?”
“Uh, sure! I’m in no hurry to get back to Whitall.”
“I get off at seven-thirty.”
“That’s perfect. I’m supposed to meet Mary here at six-thirty and then Laura at seven-fifteen.
Holly takes a step back, to check on her customers. “Why are you meeting them again?”
Lauren hesitates, wondering if she should tell her about the Craigslist ad but then says, “They’re supposed to help me with some family stuff.”
Although it doesn’t make any sense to her, Holly says okay and returns to work as Lauren rips open a sugar packet and pours it into her coffee.
“Is it okay if I join you for a second?”
She is surprised to look up and see Travis Mabrey from the parks department, but finds herself pleased that he’s here. He has a face that often looks as if it’s about to open a present and she likes that. There’s something sincere about him. “Sure.”
He pulls out the chair opposite her and sits, holding a to-go coffee cup. “Everything pulling together for the fund-raiser?”
She shrugs. “It’s pulling together but little things keep going wrong.”
He nods. “Like the use of the gazebo.”
“And a box that was supposed to be auctioned off ended up going to the dump.” She looks at him over the coffee cup. “Any chance of actually finding that at the dump?”
He laughs, shaking his head. “No.”
“I didn’t think so but it was worth a shot.” He can tell by the way she scrunches the napkin beneath her hand and squirms in her seat that she feels clumsy talking to him and he finds her self-consciousness attractive. She crumples the napkin in her lap and clears her throat, looking into the cup. “When I ran away … you know … the other day…”
“Right! I’m still in counseling.”
Lauren laughs out loud and relaxes her hand, giving the napkin a break. She looks at him and notices that if he didn’t shave for a couple of days, he’d have a full beard and imagines what he’d look like. “Victor Gabriel is my dad. He left when I was four and I had no idea he lived here.”
“So it really wasn’t because of me that you ran away?”
She laughs again and he smiles. “I had no idea that I would react like that.” She’s quiet, drinking from the cup. “I think that deep down I hoped that one day he would show up again, but knowing that he has left again proves that he is probably not the showing-up kind of guy.” She glances at him. “Did you know his wife? Did they have children?”
Travis straightens in the chair, folding his arms on the table. “I met his wife a couple of times. She seemed nice but I don’t really know her. As far as I know they didn’t have children together but she had a couple of children from another marriage.” She nods, listening. “I don’t know where he went when he left here but I could ask around and maybe find something out.”
“No, thanks.” The answer came from a place of strength and it surprises Lauren. “He’s a stranger. If I’m going to meet a stranger I think I’d want to meet his ex-wife. I think we would have a whole lot more in common than I would with him.” She taps the sugar packets on the table. “Where did he live?”
“I can drive you by there if you want. His ex-wife still lives there.”
Although she can’t explain it Lauren wants to see that house more than anything she’s wanted in a long time.
The cab of Travis’s truck is neat with the exception of two empty coffee cups in the cup holders and a stack of papers on the dash. He throws the empty cups in a nearby garbage can before placing the cup he has been holding in one of the empty holders. “You’re sure you have time for this?” she asks.
He pulls out of the parking space, looking over at her. “I’m sure. My workday is done. All I had on my schedule for tonight was coffee at Betty’s and then a drive over to a former coworker’s house.”
“How long have you been with the parks department?”
“Seven years. Right out of high school.”
“You grew up here?”
He makes a turn onto Poplar Avenue, nodding. “I did.”
She watches the passing scenery: snow wrapped around tree trunks and homes and covering the streets and lawns like a fluffy white carpet, one-foot deep. “You never wanted to leave?”
“Absolutely! When I was in high school I couldn’t wait to leave. I was going to work for a year and then either go to college or find another place to live.”
“And?”
He turns onto Belden Road and grins. “I got an associate’s degree in arboriculture and stayed right here. I like working with trees and grass and ball fields. And I like this town. As far as places to live go—I think it has everything I need.” He slows down and parks the truck in front of a modest, two-story gray home set close to the road. Yew shrubs line the front of the house and three grown trees fill the front yard. “This is it.” Lauren stares at the house and he wonders what she’s looking at or, rather, what she’s looking for.
The gutters are in need of repair and paint hangs loose from the window trim. Hope left the house years ago, making it look defeated and small. Lauren sits in the silence, looking at it. This house, she thinks, is just like her: waiting for attention from someone who is long gone. The voices of her mother and father in their bedroom in the apartment had the popping, murmuring sound of something frying or hissing. She wonders if this home has heard any soft sounds and if this is the place her father came to after he left her and why it wasn’t good enough, either. He doesn’t live anywhere, she thinks. He just exists. Just like her. Some people settle and live and grow while others wander, never really living, just existing here in this space for a while before moving along. The realization chokes her and the sound of the heat blowing inside the cab seems deafening. She realizes Travis has been waiting in the quiet. She looks at him and smiles. “I’m sorry. This is weird.”
“No. Don’t be. Are you ready?”
She nods and keeps her eyes on the road ahead as he pulls away.
He parks in front of Betty’s and she lifts her bag onto her lap before opening the door. “Thanks so much.”
He watches as she steps out onto the sidewalk. “I hope it helped in some way.”
She looks over the hood of his truck and then back at him. “It did. I can’t explain it but it did.”
His hands are clasped on top of the steering wheel. “Great. Maybe next time I can actually drive you someplace fun. I mean, if there is a next time, and I hope … I mean … well, glad it helped.”
She smiles. He flounders as much as she does. “Thanks again.” She closes the door and watches as he pulls away, fully believing that she’ll notice every black truck just like his from now on.