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Chapter 19
Thursday turnedout to be another sunny, warm day. Landstad was buzzing outside the window to the office. Ruth was watching people walking up and down the sidewalk with open jackets and no hats, and sometimes someone went by without a jacket altogether. North Dakota was having a heatwave, Ruth decided, as another non-jacket-wearer scurried by, pretending not to be cold in the breeze.
Howard's funeral was in ten minutes, just down the road. It was taking place in the same church she attended every week. Part of her wanted to go, to see who came, and to see if anyone noticed that she was there. But she stayed away, not wanting to intrude on his death. He’d never wanted her there.
Anderson had left fifteen minutes before, but before he left, he’d asked if she was sure she didn’t want to go. Again, she said no, just like every other time he asked. After taking two days off, she had returned to work and had been okay. How long can you mourn someone who had spent years watching you die and never tried to help? After lying in bed all day Monday, she had spent Tuesday writing, being in her happy place.
Though she loved her relationship with Anderson and loved spending every moment she could with him, she was missing writing. Gone were the weekends where she could just write and forget about everything else. Evenings where she would be up until the wee hours of the morning were also gone. Now she let those ideas float away as she lay in his arms, content.
At this point, she was nearly done editing everything she’d written. Even some of the stories that she’d written only a few thousand words then stopped working on have been edited. But she hadn’t come up with anything new until the Tuesday after Valentine’s Day. She didn’t want to write at the office; she liked music and no distractions when she was working on her stories.
As she wondered how she was going to spend the next few hours at the office, not thinking about the funeral, Mia walked in. Grabbing a chair from the waiting area, she pulled it to the desk and sat down across from Ruth.
“Sorry about Howard. Rafferty told me. I hope you don’t mind. I won’t tell anyone,” Mia said and leaned back in her chair.
“Thank you, Mia. I don’t think about it much,” Ruth lied.
“I am really surprised. I had no idea. I pride myself in being the pulse of this town.” Mia smiled.
“You are, but we all have secrets.”
“And I spend my days finding those out. Why do you think I am a waitress? Do you have any more?” Mia picked up a pen and started to click it over and over again.
“What all do you know about me?” Ruth leaned back in her chair and raised an eyebrow.
“Let’s see, Mary Ruth Johnson Kennedy owns a number of buildings in this town and still wastes her time as a personal assistant for Anderson. But then again, she is sleeping with him.” Mia smirked. “She has a brother from another mother and has his kidney, but he secretly hopes to get part of her liver one day when he destroys his.”
Ruth laughed at Mia’s description of Rafferty. She was starting to think Mia had it as bad for Rafferty as Rafferty had it for Mia, but both were too stubborn to admit it. She hoped that Mia would find someone else—Rafferty wasn’t what her friend needed in her life.
“I think you have me all figured out, Mia,” She replied, hoping to keep the rest of her secrets to herself.
“I am not going to lie, the Rafferty one floored me. You two are the same age, like the same age.” Mia leaned towards her as if it were a secret.
“Yes, our birthdays are a week apart,” Ruth confirmed.
Mia was silent as she thought about the news, though it was something she probably already knew. She scrunched up her nose. “That’s gross.”
“It is. Let’s talk about something else,” Ruth suggested.
Mia nodded. “Do you think Anderson would agree to be in the auction this year? I am in charge this time.”
Every year the town had an auction to raise money for flood repairs. The town was close enough to the Red River that it flooded when spring hit, and there would inevitably be some damage. Over the years, it had become a tradition to have the auction before the flood happened so that they had the money ready for who needed it, right when it was needed.
“I can ask what he wants to donate,” Ruth said. Usually they just gave money, not an auction item.
“This year is going to be different. I am going to try to get businesses to donate time as well as stuff. Like I want Tess to donate her time as a financial planner, so her item would be a day of free financial advice.”
“It’s not really free if they had to buy the person at the auction. Besides, she is the bank’s president, not a financial advisor,” Ruth said.
“But she was a financial advisor before becoming a bank president. She can spend a day at it again. I think she still remembers how to do it.” Mia leaned back in her chair again.
“Do you want Anderson to give a day of insurance advice? He does that all the time for free, so he won’t draw in a lot of money.”
“I was thinking Anderson could probably just donate this year. I can’t even auction him off for a date,” Mia grinned.
“No, you can’t,” Ruth agreed and laughed with Mia, loving that he was hers this year, at least for a time.
“I’ll put you down for cash.” Mia pulled out her phone and typed the information on it.
