There was a knock on the door of Editon’s shop. When he opened it, he was surprised to see Kady standing on the porch.
“Hey.” He brushed off his hands and moved to the side to let her in. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to thank you and your brother for bringing back my car.” She looked down at her feet when she spoke. “I had no plans to drink last night. I never do…but I guess I did.”
“No problem. I didn’t want your car sitting in the lot.”
“How did you get it back without the keys?”
“When I stopped by this morning to buy juice at Ray’s, I peeked in your car’s window and the keys were still in the ignition.” He grinned. “I’m not a very good carjacker.”
Her eyes widened for a second and then she blushed. “I guess that shows you what kind of state of mind I was in last night.”
“That good, huh?”
“How did you know where I lived?”
“You said you’d moved in with your parents. I remembered their house when we rode the school bus together.”
She looked around. “Is this where you live?”
“No.” He was surprised she would think that. “It’s my shop. I use it for the projects I’m working on.” Editon looked at the way the light came through the window and caught the gold in her blonde hair. It tumbled out the sides of her furry winter hat. In high-school, Kady was pretty, but now, she was definitely a beautiful woman. He’d had such a crush on her, but thirty-year-olds didn’t have crushes.
“Can I take you out for a late breakfast to thank you for driving me home?” she asked.
“You don’t need to…”
She smiled. “I’d like to. That is, if you aren’t too busy.”
“Sure.” He didn’t want to sound too anxious. “Let me put a few things away and get my keys.” He hurried into his office and spotted the clean shirt he’d hung on a hook. Thank goodness. The one he was wearing smelled like a sweaty oil can. He’d just taken a shower so hopefully, he still smelled better than the shirt. He quickly stuck his arms through the sleeves and buttoned the fresh garment.
Editon locked the front door on the way out, and then said, “Let’s go.”
He picked Bean and Dreams café guessing that at this time of the morning they might not be too busy. His hunch paid off. There were only a few tables filled in the café. They each ordered coffee and then biscuits and gravy.
Editon slid an arm along the wood booth and leaned back. “Even though it’s been so many years, it felt like it was yesterday when I saw you walk into the bar last night.”
Kady looked out the window. A distant smile curved her lips. “Only yesterday plus a dozen and a million years.”
“You disappeared from school like a puff of smoke. Did you decide not to graduate?”
“I had every intention and then on to college, but life intervened. I guess you hadn’t heard. I became pregnant with Noah.” As the waitress poured coffee into her cup, Kady added a splash of creamer.
“I never knew. One day you were there and the next day you were gone. Why didn’t you stay in school? It wasn’t the 1950s.”
“My dad’s a great dad. The best in the world. But he’s old-fashioned. When Tad Walton offered to take me away—?
“Tad Walton was the father?”
“Yeah…I’ve never had great luck picking men. Anyway, Tad offered to take me to California and move in with his aunt. After we settled in I was eight-months pregnant and he hooked up with an older woman. She told him that she could help his acting career.”
“Did she?”
“No. He was in a few ads in the local newspaper for a burger joint, but he always thought it would lead to the big screen. That was when he left, and I had to move out of the aunt’s house. I haven’t seen or heard from his since.” Kady took a drink of her coffee and then stirred it again with her spoon.
“He left you and his baby? When you were eight months pregnant?” Even though there was nothing he could do about the past now, anger churned through Editon, “I never liked that guy. How could he do that to you?”
“We were eighteen. I thought he loved me.”
“You could have come back.”
“No, I couldn’t really. I got a job and my GED. When Noah was born, he became my life. I wanted to prove to myself and to Noah that we could make it on our own.”
“And you did?”
“Noah and I did. It wasn’t easy, but we did.”
Editon thanked the waiter and cut into his biscuits and gravy. “How is it?” he asked.
“I forgot about Meg’s biscuits and gravy.” She sighed and closed her eyes. “They really are the best in the world.”