and stood next to her—her daughter had been crying. “How about a nice cup of hot tea? Tea always makes things better. At least that’s what my mother always said.” She wrapped her arm around her daughter’s shoulder and led her into the kitchen.
“I don’t want to talk about this, Mom.”
As Eva bustled about the kitchen, she said, “Well, I for one can certainly understand that. Men are so callow. They don’t have the same feelings women have. I guess that might be a good thing. I think I would be remiss as a mother if I didn’t point out to you that there are two sides to everything. You should ask yourself how that young woman got into the store. If she came uninvited, then you can’t blame Josh for that. Ask yourself if Josh acted like he was enjoying the meeting. He looked kind of stiff to me, like he didn’t want her there, but that’s just this old lady’s opinion. I didn’t see him return her kiss. He just stood there. That’s the way I saw it. You only heard the young woman say they had a date for the Harvest Ball. You didn’t hear Josh agree, now, did you?”
“Whose side are you on, Mom?” Angie sniffed.
“The right side. I happen to think Josh is a stand-up kind of guy. He didn’t beat around the bush the day he eavesdropped on you. He fessed right up, didn’t he? It’s when things fester that the problem gets out of hand. In short, my dear, I think you saw something you never should have seen. Having said that, it probably meant nothing. That’s why you shouldn’t have seen it—because you reacted without giving Josh a chance to explain or defend his actions. Now, drink your tea.”
Angie picked at the fringe on the green-checkered placemat. “So what you’re saying is I should go back to the store and wait for Josh to come to me and…explain what I saw.”
“See! Now you’re getting it! Yes, in my opinion, that’s what you should do. If you don’t, you’ll always wonder what he would have said. You did tell me you really liked Josh. You told me you dream about him. He might be the one, Angie.”
“She kissed him. You saw her. Kissing is…Kissing is…”
“Quite wonderful, depending on who is doing the kissing. I did not see Josh returning the kiss in question. There was no passion there that I could see. No reciprocity. That’s about all I have to say, Angie. Think this all through, and don’t throw away something on a jealous whim that could otherwise turn out to be wonderful.”
The doorbell rang, cutting off whatever Angie’s response was going to be.
“I’ll get it, and then I’m going back to the store,” Eva said. “Finish your tea. By the way, I won’t be home for dinner this evening. Angus and I are going out for Japanese. He loves the knife show the chefs provide.”
Outside, after Josh Eagle had run up to the Bradfords’ front porch and rung the bell, he ran down the steps and out to the walkway, where he dropped to his knees. He sucked in his breath and proceeded to knee-walk his way to the Bradford front porch the moment the front door opened.
“Angie! Angie! Come quick! Hurry, dear!”
Thinking her mother fell or banged her knee, Angie barreled to the foyer. She almost screamed in relief when she saw that Eva was all right. She turned and looked where her mother was pointing. Her jaw dropped at what she was seeing. Josh waved. Angie, more or less, wiggled her index finger as she watched the man’s progress. She could tell it was slow going for the tall man on his knees.
Eva tactfully withdrew and left by the kitchen door. She peeked around the corner of the house. He was still crawling. She laughed all the way to her car.
Angie walked out to the porch, her arms across her chest to ward off the October chill. By the time Josh reached the steps, Angie took pity on him and motioned for him to get up. “Do you mind telling me what you’re doing?” There was a bit of frost in her tone that did not go unnoticed by Josh.
Josh struggled to his feet. “Angie, look, what you saw…It wasn’t…It isn’t what you think. Vickie is someone I used to know. And I didn’t know her that well. I haven’t seen or spoken to her since way back in April.