and she smiles, shrugging. “I think two seventy-five is fair,” she says.
“Two hundred,” Larry says, sticking his hand out in front of her.
“Really?!” Lauren says, laughing. “What just happened?”
“Skilled negotiations just happened,” Miriam says, rapping her knuckles on the table.
SEVEN
May 2012
Travis is home from work when Lauren and Miriam arrive with the table in the back of Dalton’s pickup truck. Travis refuses Miriam’s or his pregnant wife’s help in unloading the table. Setting the table down onto the driveway, he says, “This is awesome!”
“Do you really like it?” Lauren asks, rubbing her hand over the top of the table.
“I love it! It’s the perfect size. Did Larry make it?”
Miriam scoffs. “If he had, no one in Grandon could have paid for it. Do you need help getting it inside?”
“I think I got it,” Travis says, stretching his arms over the top and lifting it.
“Would you like me to take the card table that you’ve been using to the dump?” Miriam asks, following them into the house.
Lauren and Travis chuckle. “No, thanks!” Lauren says. “We will hold on to it and use it somewhere else.”
“Where would you possibly use that thing? At an interrogation? All it needs is some torture tools lying on top of it and you’re all set.” Lauren giggles as Travis angles the table to get it through the kitchen doorway. Miriam watches as he maneuvers it and says, “We will tackle other parts of the house on another day.”
Lauren hugs her good-bye. “I don’t know what I would do without you and Gloria, Heddy, Stacy, Amy, Dalton, and…”
“Oh my! This is beginning to sound like all the ‘begats’ in the Bible,” Miriam says, cutting her off. “Good-bye, my love!”
Lauren closes the front door and notices Travis bent over, looking beneath the table inside the kitchen. “It’s cute, isn’t it?”
He stands up straight, looking at her. “Yeah. You didn’t tell me about this. That’s a cool feature.”
“What’s a cool feature?” she says, walking into the kitchen.
“This little drawer underneath the table.”
Lauren bends over to take a closer look. “I didn’t even look underneath it at Larry’s, and he loaded it for us so I never noticed. Does it open?”
Travis pulls open the drawer and they both look inside. To their surprise, they see something at the back of the drawer and pull it out farther to see what it is. Lauren reaches for several small stacks of what look to be index cards held tight with rubber bands. She removes a rubber band from one stack of cards and flips through them. “They’re recipes.” Travis looks over her shoulder. “Whoever sold the table to Larry must have forgotten that they were in there.” She pulls her phone from her purse and dials Larry’s number.
“Maybe someone wanted the recipes to go with the table,” Travis says.
Lauren shakes her head. “I think someone forgot all about them. Look at these. They are all handwritten.” She puts her hand in the air to indicate that Larry has picked up his phone. “Hi, Larry! It’s Lauren. We just found a stack of recipes in the drawer of the table I bought. Do you remember who you bought it from? I’m sure they’ll want them back.”
“I don’t remember. It’s been too many years. I found the recipes when I started refinishing the table two weeks ago. I just kept them in there. I didn’t feel right separating them from the table. Felt like they went together. They’re yours now. Do you know how to cook?”
Lauren laughs. “Not exactly.”
“Well, maybe these will get you on your way. You can do it,” Larry says, sounding more like a father than just some guy who builds furniture in a too-dusty workshop on the other side of town.
“Thanks, Larry,” Lauren says, hanging up. “He bought the table a few years ago and doesn’t remember.”
Travis looks at the recipes. “Here’s one for meat loaf. I love meat loaf! Have you ever had a meat loaf sandwich?”
“No! Gross!”
Travis looks aghast. “You do not know what you’re talking about! A meat loaf sandwich with mustard on it is transcendent.”
Lauren grins, looking at him. “Do you even know what ‘transcendent’ means?”
“Yeah. It means meat loaf sandwich with mustard on it. Look it up.” Lauren smiles as Travis flips through the recipes. “Here’s one for peanut butter fudge. Peanut butter fudge! We could make meat loaf and peanut butter fudge tonight for dinner.”
“Meat loaf and peanut butter fudge? For dinner?”
“There are worse things we could eat,” Travis says, his face straight and