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Frozen leaves crunched under the soles of his boots, sounding like a death knell, even though they were only the sounds of fall. He’d been reading too many of Mina’s overly dramatic Russian stories. Though his thoughts leaned toward the death of their relationship, because if she didn’t trust in them, how did they survive?
At least now he had more sympathy for Brook and her worries about Dennis.
His front door squeaked when he opened it, like it did every November. At least he could fix this. He went for his WD-40 rather than going directly to bed.
* * *
MINA WAS NAPPING when he arrived at her house the next day at the appointed time, which probably meant her anemia was still affecting her; but she had texted him in the morning to say that she’d gone out for iron pills and was grateful to the poor drugstore staff who were working on a holiday for people like her. It was a step.
Peg accepted the basket of rolls, with a smile, saying, “These smell delicious.”
“Pillsbury hasn’t failed me yet,” he said.
“Well, they smell homemade,” she responded. “And it’s nice of you to take over the responsibility of them.” Peg Clements had welcomed Levi wearing a nice sweater, skirt and heels, quite a contrast from his jeans and T-shirt. After their trip to the store yesterday, she’d spent the afternoon going through her “plan of attack” for the holiday, cooking and preparing dinner according to a schedule she’d drawn up before leaving Virginia.
But, for all that, he doubted she cooked Pillsbury crescent rolls for herself—based solely on watching her prepare for Thanksgiving. The fact that she didn’t turn up her nose made Peg Clements good with him.
“How long has Mina been asleep?”
“A half an hour.” Peg shook her head. “She’s seemed so tired this entire trip. Her father and I worry about her.”
Levi glanced over to Mina’s living room, where the top of Jimmy’s head was barely visible. If he heard them, he didn’t show it. Though, with the football commentary coming out of the television, he probably hadn’t heard them.
“She’s been working a lot,” he acknowledged. Mina hadn’t wanted to share her anemia with him, and it was a fair bet that she didn’t want him to share the information with her parents. Peg Clements was a nice woman, but she was also a champion worrier. Brook could learn to worry from Peg.
Mina’s mother pulled a kitchen towel out from one of the drawers and placed it over the rolls. “She was never good at taking care of herself, even as a little girl. Never stopping when she needed to stop. She was on the track team in high school, and she would run until she barfed, and then she would run again. Even though she didn’t have a chance of winning. She just wouldn’t quit.”
He leaned against the counter and watched Peg move about the kitchen, blissfully unaware of what she’d just implied. “You wish she would quit at more things?”
“What?” To her credit, Peg pulled her head out of the fridge and looked at him, her eyes big with horror. “No. No. My baby’s no quitter.”
“But you just said...”
She closed the fridge with a sigh. “I wish she didn’t push herself so hard. I wish she took better care of herself. That’s all.”
“Does she not regularly take care of herself?” he asked. He’d assumed that Mina ignoring her anemia was an aberration, not a pattern.
“She must not be.” Peg shook her head as she stuck it back in the fridge and rummaged around, her voice muffled. “She’s so far from home, and she’s working too much, and she’s trying to fix up this house, and it all must be wearing her down. If she lived closer to home, Jimmy could help her with the house. And she could come over for dinner on nights when she was too tired to cook.”
No wonder Mina had wanted to move farther away from home. And if this was what she expected every time she showed any physical vulnerability, then no wonder she hadn’t wanted to tell him about her anemia.
Having all this worry directed at you all the time would be as bad as... Well, he knew what it would be as bad as because Brook was doing it to Dennis.
He pulled back from his own worries, both about Mina’s health and about their relationship. “She seems to be doing okay to me. I’ve never seen her miss taking her pills, and I’d be tired, too, if I were under her deadlines.”
