Here’s a brief never-before-published scene I imagined somewhere between Love in Andauk and More Love in Andauk. (Minor spoilers if you haven’t read the former.) Notice that the guy’s name is not mentioned. Have you read enough to guess his identity?
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“I need a present for my mom because she’s being stupid.”
Mrs. Johnson didn’t even blink. She walked around one of the glass shelves and returned a minute later holding something in each hand.
Heather barely registered either item before she heard the door open behind her. When she saw who was coming in, she lost all ability to focus and, for some unknown reason, the feeling in both her legs.
He tried to hang back near the door, but Mrs. Johnson smiled and urged him forward with a question about how she could help.
“I don’t want to interrupt,” he said. His eyes searched Heather for how upset she was by the interruption.
She wasn’t upset. She was delighted to see him, despite the shock and mortification, despite being unable to tell him that, despite still just trying not to fall over.
“We’re going to be awhile picking the perfect gift,” Mrs. Johnson said. “If you have a quick need, we can do that first.”
He took another step forward, still trying to gauge Heather’s reaction.
She managed to nod a little, which she meant to give him permission to continue. Heather was having trouble remembering why she was there so Mrs. Johnson was likely right about her not being quick.
“I was just at St. Jude’s,” he said. “Mrs. Donnelly caught me leaving and sent me here to pick up… She said you had a box of… um… trinkets for the festival next week.”
“Oh, it’s sweet of you to save me a trip. I’ll just run upstairs to get those.” Mrs. Johnson pressed the items in her hands into Heather’s hands. Then she pulled a key from her pocket to unlock a door on the side of the shop. Her footsteps tapped lightly on wooden stairs after she disappeared.
Heather looked down at her hands. There was a snow globe in one and an awkwardly tall vase in the other. Both were glass and dangerously slippery in her sweaty hands. She’d seen him at church and around town in the year and a half since Kayla made the idiotic decision to dump him – since Kayla had cited Heather being in love with him as the reason for her idiotic decision – but this was the first time she’d been in a position to have an actual conversation with him.
“Who’s the gift for?” he asked.
“My mom.” Heather’s eyes slipped over a pretty cross on one of the shelves as they lifted to meet his. It filled her with courage and a bit of clarity, though her legs were still jelly. “I’ve had some car trouble, and she’s been giving me rides everywhere. I was going to get a friend to take me to pick it up this afternoon, but she insisted she could do that, too. I wanted a small thank you… something.”
“Doesn’t your mom collect butterflies?”
She tried not to gasp audibly that he remembered. It was a tiny fact not worth gasping over. “Yes,” she said.
“Got to be a butterfly in here somewhere.” He turned towards the shelves.
He was going to help her find a silly present for her mom? Heather quickly stashed the items she was holding on the closest shelf. She knew that wasn’t where Mrs. Johnson had found them, but there wasn’t much organization in the second-hand shop. And the fragile things were safer there.
“What about this one?” He pointed.
Heather moved closer to see what it was. It was a plaque with a lame platitude engraved. A butterfly graced one corner amid a blur of flowers, but it wasn’t the focal point.
He laughed at the expression that apparently gave away more of her opinion than she intended. “Not even close, huh?”
“Well, it’s… uh… it’s not… butteriflied enough.” Heather cringed. What in the world had she just said?
“I’ll… I think I’ll try again.” He focused on the knickknacks spread out before them, but there was an earnestness in his voice that somehow reached beyond the trivial present to a hope Heather had never dared to have before.
She prayed that hope wasn’t as obvious on her face as her previous thought.
To be continued...
