Benjamin, eagle-eyed little thing that he was, spotted the earrings immediately.
“Those earrings came from my daddy,” he told Miriam. “They’re Mommy’s favorite.”
June felt the same twist of happy-sadness as she always did when Benjamin talked about Keith, the father that he couldn’t clearly remember, given how young he’d lost his dad. But June knew it was important to let her son process grief in his own way and to remember Keith in his own way too.
“Well, they look beautiful,” Miriam said. She was back on babysitting duty tonight, something that she had, once again, repeatedly assured June that she did not mind in the least. The open mic had a fun atmosphere, but Miriam insisted that it was a little too loud for her. “Your daddy had good taste.”
“Yeah, duh,” Benjamin said with the self-assurance of a child who possessed an unshakeable confidence in his parents. “That’s why he married my mommy. She’s the best.”
“Aw, thanks baby,” June said. “But please don’t say ‘duh’ to grownups. It isn’t good manners.”
“Whoops, sorry!”
“I forgive you,” Miriam said, chuckling as she kissed Benjamin’s head. “Let me just go chat with your mom before we settle into our evening of fun, huh.”
“Okay!” Benjamin agreed immediately, diving for the latest installment in a book series he was obsessed with, which portrayed the adventures of kids who could turn into dragons, a skill they used to protect the environment. June smiled fondly at the sight of his little mouth sounding the words out silently as he read.
She followed Miriam to the front hall, where they could speak without Benjamin’s keen ears hearing them.
“Thanks again for watching Ben,” June said as she bundled herself into her coat.
“June Caldwell, if you thank me one more time for hanging out with that kid, whom I love, I am going to kick your butt,” Miriam said sternly.
“Okay, okay,” June said with a chuckle. “What did you want to talk about?”
Miriam tucked a tendril of hair behind June’s ear in a gesture that was so sweetly maternal that it made June’s heart clench with fondness.
“I’m just checking to see that you’re doing okay, sweetheart,” the older woman said kindly. “I know you’ve been under a lot of stress lately.” She dropped her hand to June’s shoulders. “And I feel like these shoulders are hunched up so tightly that they’re practically touching your ears. Take it from an old lady; keep this up, and you’re going to throw out your back.”
June grimaced. “I might be experiencing a twinge or two,” she admitted.
“You need to find some way to let out that tension,” Miriam said kindly. “I know it’s hard, but… have you ever considered opening your heart to love again?”
June felt her shoulders tense right back up again, and she tried to force herself to relax.
“It’s not that the thought has never occurred to me,” she said. “But sometimes it feels like maybe I got my only chance with Keith. Maybe I don’t get another one.”
“Oh, honey.” Miriam’s expression was sympathetic. “You and Keith had a wonderful relationship, it’s true. But you have so much life still ahead of you. Don’t count love out. And,” she added before June could say anything, “I am talking about romantic love, so don’t go telling me about how you have plenty of love in your life with Benjamin and us book club ladies.”
June pressed her lips together, because she had been about to say precisely that.
“You know me too well,” she accused.
“Maybe just well enough,” Miriam corrected. “Seriously, though. Think about it, okay? Just… don’t make any promises. Just think about it.”
“I think that your long and happy marriage makes you think that everyone else needs to have one too,” June hedged.
“Need?” Miriam asked. “No, not necessarily. I’ve known lots of people in my time, and some of them are black cats, best on their own. But that’s not you, my sweet girl. You love love. You just got unlucky losing yours too soon.”
“I sure did,” June said.
Miriam wrapped her in a tight hug, the effect only slightly diminished by the puff of June’s winter coat.
“It’s just some advice from me to you,” Miriam said. “You know yourself best, in the end. I’ve just had young love on my mind recently, I suppose, since I found those pictures of Harold when we were about your age. It just makes me hope that you’ll meet someone who makes you feel the way that he made me feel.”
June returned the embrace.
“I don’t know,” she said, pressing her cheek to Miriam’s papery skin. “The key word there might be ‘meet.’ I’m pretty sure that, at this point, I know everybody in Magnolia Shore. If I was going to hit it off with someone, we probably would have done so by now.”
