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“I had gone into town to go shopping,” Eloise explained. “When I turned the corner on our country road, I smelled smoke and just knew, in my gut, that the fire had to be at the farm. When I got a bit further down the road, I saw it up in flames.”
Herb shook his head sadly. “I’m so sorry.” He then said, “You said, ‘our country road.’ Who iswein that scenario?”
Eloise hadn’t realized she’d said “our.” Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. “I’m sorry. My husband died three years ago, but I still catch myself saying ‘our’ and ‘we.’”
“It’s a difficult habit to break,” Herb affirmed.
Eloise sat in the chair in the corner, too frightened of Herb to be closer to him. “Were you a ‘we’?”
Herb nodded. “My ex-wife left about twenty years ago.”
Eloise had to stifle a shriek.How on earth could anyone leave Herb— the perfect man!
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said instead.
Herb lifted his shoulders. “We were only married for about ten years.”
“Still, that’s enough time to become a ‘we,’” Eloise said.
“I suppose so,” Herb said.
After that, Herb and Eloise stared at one another for a terribly silent minute, neither sure of what to say. The tension in the room mounted to such a degree that Eloise thought she might choke on the air.
“Do you want to go for a walk?” Herb asked suddenly.
Eloise breathed a sigh of relief. “That sounds nice.” Clearly, he sensed how difficult the air was to breathe, as well, but because he was Herb, he knew how to solve the problem at hand. Eloise had missed this about him.
In the parking lot of the hotel, Eloise pointed at the enormous truck. “That’s mine,” she explained.
Herb laughed with delight. “It’s not. Is it?”
“Sure is. My husband died, and I kept the thing. I feel very powerful behind the wheel.”
“I’ve never driven anything half as large,” Herb said.
Eloise gave him a sneaky smile. “Do you want to try it now?”
Herb’s lips parted with surprise. “Are you sure?”
Eloise jangled her keys from her pocket and tossed them over. Herb reacted quickly and caught them. “What if I wreck it?”
Eloise laughed. “You won’t.”
“But what if I do? You won’t forgive me.”
“I just lost almost everything I own in the fire,” Eloise reminded him. “If you wreck it, I’ll just get something new. Everything is replaceable.”
Eloise hadn’t sat in the passenger seat of the truck since before Liam’s death. There, she stretched the seatbelt over her chest and smiled at Herb as he adjusted the seat to his liking. He puffed out his cheeks, then started the engine. “Here we go,” he said.
Herb had always been an excellent driver, even long back before he’d gotten his license. “Remember when we used to steal your father’s car and take it for long drives?” Eloise said with a laugh. “We couldn’t have been more than fourteen at the time.”
“I think Dad always knew,” Herb said. “I don’t know why he let us get away with it.”
“Because you were always so responsible,” Eloise answered. “Everyone trusted you, even when you were that young.”
“They didn’t trust me later on,” Herb reminded her.
To this, Eloise remained silent, unsure of what to say.
