Chapter 11
But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
—Hebrews 3:13
Ethan called me at the flower shop the following day.
“Listen, I wanted to let you know how much you blessed me yesterday,” he said immediately after I finished my professional answering spiel.
I picked up a cut yellow gladiolus by its stem. “I didn’t do anything special.”
“Oh, trust me: you did a lot more than you’ll ever know.”
“If you say so. I’m just glad I was able to be of some help.” I paused to give him an opportunity to be more specific on what was better now since the last time we spoke. Had he gone home and things were better with his wife? Had he decided what he was doing in ministry was indeed too important to turn his back on? Was he deep-sixing that whole idea of leaving here to live somewhere all the way across country?
“I can’t talk long,” he said. “I’m on my break and wanted to call you and say hello. And to let you know how much you blessed me yesterday. Hopefully, we can do that again soon.” He said the word “soon” as though it were more of a question than a statement.
“Sure. I suppose,” I said. “I like to walk.”
“Great. Admittedly though, it will be almost impossible for me to get off of work and walk in the morning time the way I was able to yesterday.”
“Me, too. I can only go like that when things are slow here at the shop. I’m expecting business to pick up any time now. And when that happens, I definitely won’t be taking off during the morning hours to go walking. Not like I’ve been able to do lately.”
“Maybe you and I can go in the afternoon? I normally get off work at two when we’re not working overtime, which occasionally we do.”
“If you get off work at two, what time do you have to be there?” I said, then quickly realizing the invasiveness of the question, I added, “Just out of curiosity.”
He laughed. “It’s fine. I don’t mind you asking things like that. In fact, you can ask me anything you want. When it comes to you, I have nothing to hide. I have to be at work bright and early at five in the morning, and I generally get off at two in the afternoon; one-thirty if I only take a thirty-minute lunch break.”
“Five to two, that’s an odd shift.”
“Sort of. But it works for the company. We have lots of eighteen-wheelers that come in during the morning hours that must be loaded early. Personally, I like getting off work that early in the afternoon. It gives me time to get things done before everyone else gets off. And I can do things like pick up my daughters from after-school activities or take them to their doctor’s and dentist’s appointments, stuff like that.”
“Yeah, but you have to get up so early in order to get to work on time.”
“I do. But I’m used to it. I’ve been doing it for years now.”
“Well . . . maybe we can walk sometimes. It will be fine. We’ll see how our schedules go, and if it works, it works.”
“Great,” he said. “Then I’ll just check in with you on occasion to see if you’re interested. And if you are, we’ll go. If you’re busy or can’t go, then we’ll just try for another time.”
He definitely had me thinking now. It would be nice having someone to walk with. But agreeing to go with Ethan would now leave me wondering whether I should go when I can or wait and see if he’s going to call. I guess it wouldn’t hurt if I ended up walking twice in a day. On the other hand, if I didn’t walk because I was waiting on his call, then that would be a day of missed walking. More than likely, I wouldn’t be doing much walking during the early part of the day, opting for the afternoon. If he was going to walk, I’m sure he’d call and let me know—
“Excuse me, what did you say?” I asked, suddenly aware that while I was working this out in my head, he was talking.
“My fifteen-minute break is almost up so I was saying that I need to get off the phone. But I had to call and let you know how much you helped me yesterday, and how much I enjoyed spending that time with you, short as it was. Believe me: I needed that more than you’ll ever know.”
“So does this mean that you’re going to fight the good fight of faith yet another day?” I said with a smile in my voice.
“Yes, I’m going to fight the good fight of faith yet another day. Oh, and I did talk to my wife last night after she came home.”
“That’s good. So how did it go? That’s if you don’t mind my asking.”
“It went . . . pretty well; I must say that it did. We both expressed things we needed to say to each other. She assured me that she was going to try and do more with our girls. We both agreed to try and do better by each other.”
“That’s great! I told you the two of you just needed to talk.”
“Yes, you did. But it’s not like she and I haven’t had this talk before. And it’s not like she hasn’t said she was going to try and do better before. The word try is what bothers me the most. I don’t believe in try. I believe either you do or you don’t. But that’s another discussion for another time. As for me and my wife, we’ll just have to see how things go. Time has a way of telling that which is untold.”
“Ooh, I like that. ‘Time has a way of telling that which is untold.’ I’ll have to remember that and use it sometime. Seriously though: I’m glad to hear that things may be heading in a better direction for you. I really am.”
Ethan chuckled. “I’ve got to get off this phone, but I have to tell you this real quick. She even said something about the flowers I gave her.”
“You mean the ones you bought her back in August? The ones you got from my shop?”
“Yep. Those,” he said. “Last night, she finally thanked me for them.”
“Hold up,” I said. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No. I’m as serious as a heart attack.”
“You mean to tell me that she didn’t say anything about the flowers when you gave them to her a month ago?”
“She didn’t say one word. Didn’t mumble, didn’t grunt, didn’t open her mouth,” Ethan said. “When I gave them to her, she shrugged, then set the vase down on the table in the den where we stood.”
“Wow,” I said, trying to contain my true astonishment in hearing this. “So you didn’t know whether she liked them or not.”
“Well, from her reaction when I gave them to her, I would have said she couldn’t have cared less. But”—he said with a lift in his voice—“last night, my darling wife told me, ‘Thanks for the flowers.’ At first I was thinking she’d received some flowers yesterday at work and thought I’d sent them. So I asked, ‘What flowers?’ To which she proceeded to say, ‘The ones you brought home to me. You know: the ones you bought me a few weeks ago. They were real nice.’ Almost floored me. I couldn’t believe it.”
“You can’t believe it? I can’t believe that. Those flowers were gorgeous, if I may say so myself. And for you to have bought them for no special reason or occasion, that’s something in itself. At least, you didn’t indicate it was for a special day.”
“No, it wasn’t for a special day. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe she thought I’d done something I was trying to make up for or something like that. But I wasn’t. She’s the one who goes out every night.”
“I’m just glad you seem to be in a better place today than you were yesterday. So no more talk about leaving the state or anything else. Not your marriage. Not your home. And definitely not your girls or ministry. Okay?”
“No more talk about anything, especially now, because I really have to get off this phone before I end up late from my break,” he said.
“Okay. Well, thanks for the update. I’m glad things may be turning around for you. I really am,” I said.
He laughed. “As I indicated earlier: time will tell. But in the meantime, I wanted to thank you for your ear and your encouragement. And thanks so much for being there when I needed someone to vent to. You have no idea how much that means to someone like me. I’ll talk to you later,” he said. “All right?”
“All right,” I said. “Bye.”
He hung up as I stood there holding the phone in one hand and that same gladiolus in the other—happy that he and his wife were on the right track. My only wish was that I could say something to my own husband and get through to him. Because no matter how many times Zeke and I have talked, he has yet to once acknowledge that there’s a problem. He definitely has never said he was going to try to do better.
I’ve told him how I feel about him leaving me at home every night. But the most I’ve ever gotten from him? Instead of him leaving the way he used to without saying that he was going, he now will say “I’ll be back” as he’s going out the door.
Ethan, thinking enough to call me and let me know I had been a blessing to him just by listening, absolutely made my day.
It made my day!