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Sarah gave a small smile. At least he was in good spirits, and the man was in his nineties…and alone. In a sad way, she could appreciate his acceptance of the end of his days.
“You were in the military?” She knew he was, but she wasn’t ready to admit just how much she knew. Yet. Not in a rush to leave, and thinking he might like the company, she pulled up a stool at the counter and sat.
“Enlisted at eighteen. I’d always been fascinated by planes and bombers, so I went into the air force. I loved flying a jet. I flew my P-51 Mustang over Japanese airfields near Tokyo for ten months before I was captured, held as a prisoner of war in a Japanese war camp for eighteen months.”
“Oh my God—that’s horrible.”
“I learned a lot about the people we were fighting in that time. I learned the language and the culture, got to understand their world. Had me questioning a lot of things. Good and evil. Right and wrong. Made me realize there’s two sides to every story.”
She nodded. Two sides. She’d only read one. She was desperate to hear his, to know why he did what he did. Why he broke her grandmother’s heart. She refused to come to her own conclusions. Life and love were complicated. She understood that right now better than anyone.
“So what happened after you returned?” She cleared her throat. “Did you marry? Have a family?” He was all alone here now, but that didn’t mean he didn’t possibly have family somewhere.
His eyes smiled as he shook his head. “I’d only ever loved one woman, and she deserved everything I couldn’t give her. I was a different man when I came back. The things I saw, the things I did changed me. It took a long time to come to peace with my part in the war. I was better alone.”
Sarah’s throat tightened. “But if you loved her…”
“I loved her enough to let her be happy. She married soon after and had children. I saw her almost every day…until the day she died, and seeing her smile and knowing she was living a wonderful life, that was enough for me.”
Tears burned the backs of Sarah’s eyes. But her grandma hadn’t been completely happy. Not without him. How could she tell him that? Would it matter? Or would it only make him sad to know that Dove’s heart had broken with his rejection? That she’d never fully gotten over him?
He snapped his fingers, making her jump. “You came for the bulbs,” he said, pointing to his head. “Nothing wrong with the old brain, in case you were afraid I’d forgotten.”
Sarah laughed, feeling the tension from the moment dissipate slightly. “Guilty.”She’dpractically forgotten the reason she was there.
“Wait right there,” he said, going into the back room, where another terrible-sounding coughing fit took over.
“Do you need help?” she called. Not waiting for an answer, she pushed past the curtain to his work area. Several wooden benches were set up with various paint cans and sections of glass on top. In the corner was a furnace where the clear glass was melted, and on the other side of the room was an annealing oven, used for cooling finished pieces.
The shop extended farther than she’d realized. Behind the work area was a small living quarters. She could see the bachelor-style suite with the kitchenette, small living room, and a cot in the corner. Dated but comfortable-looking furniture and a small television and not much else.
He lived here, too.
I was better alone.
He’d spent his entire life alone. Her heart ached for him and for her grandma and for what never had the chance to be.
Seeing a row of pictures along the wall, she stopped to look at them. Jack in his air force uniform with two other men. One she didn’t recognize…but the other was definitely her grandfather. In the next picture, there were the three of them—her grandmother in the middle with her arm around each man, her smile lighting up the black-and-white picture. The photos had to have been taken before the men had left for war. They all still looked young and hopeful.
“Recognize that beauty?” Jack asked, coming up behind her with a large box in his arms.
She took it from him quickly, and her arms sagged under the unexpected weight. “My grandma. She was…?” She couldn’t finish the sentence, turmoil and a desperation to keep her grandma’s confidence making her say instead, “Thank you for getting these made so quickly. I really appreciate it.”
“You’re more than welcome.” He led the way back into the front of the shop, holding the curtain for her. “Looks like the storm is blowing over.”
A solitary beam of sunlight pierced through the dark sky and streamed in through the open blinds at the window. Sarah shivered, an eerie chill washing over her she couldn’t explain.
She set the box on the counter and reached for her wallet.
Jack shook his head. “No charge.”
“I have to pay you.”
“Sarah, chances are I won’t live long enough to spend the money I already have. Take them. A gift to Dove’s granddaughter.”
She released a deep breath, knowing there was no point in arguing with him. “Thank you, Mr. Harrison. This is very kind of you.”
The beam of sunlight moved across the floor and retreated into the clouds as new rain—big, heavy-sounding drops—started pelting against the window.
