It Happened on Maple Street

“I need a funny card for Kirby,” Rebecca said as we walked together into our favorite card and gift shop. I was huddled in my jean jacket and still freezing.

“Has he called you?”

“No, but he and Kelly have been working out, getting ready for baseball.”

Baseball was in the spring. This was the fall. And Kirby’s twin brother, Kelly, didn’t like Kirby hanging out with Rebecca.

They were rich boys.

Rebecca lived in a house with holes in the floors. And the walls. Not that Kirby or anyone else we associated with knew that.

“Maybe you should wait until he calls you,” I said, looking at the racks of cards as we made our way down the aisle.

Romance.

I glanced. For the Guy in My Life. Did Tim see himself that way? Or would the possessive cramp him?

To My Lover. No. We needed no further encouragement in that area.

To the One I Love. There was a couple on the cover that reminded me of Tim and me. He had luscious dark hair and she was little and blonde. But what I liked most was the way the man was cradling the woman in his arms and looking at her as if she were all he’d need for the rest of his life. I opened the card.

You and me. Together forever. I wanted to buy the card. It was perfect. And I hoped Tim thought so, too. But he hadn’t said so. He hadn’t said anything about the future.

For the One and Only. I opened that one, too.

When I found you, I found the other half of myself. Exactly. But what if Tim only wanted sex?

“There you are.” Rebecca came around the corner, and I turned red. I had no business looking at these cards. Tim and I weren’t even going together.

“I’ve been looking all over for you,” Rebecca said, glancing at the cards in front of me. Thankfully I didn’t have one in my hand. I could, ostensibly, have been daydreaming. Or just walking by.

My pretty friend handed me a card. Charlie Brown and Snoopy were on the front. The message was about friends who belonged together. “What do you think?”

“It’s good,” I said, feeling sorry for her. Rebecca had had more boyfriends during high school than I’d had hamburgers in an entire year. But Kirby was the one. I’d never seen her so tied up in knots over a guy.

And I’d never seen one less interested in spending time with her, either.

“I was thinking I’d drive it over to his house and leave it in the mailbox.”

Kirby lived forty-five minutes away—in the opposite direction from Tim. “What if he sees you?”

She shrugged, glanced at the card again. “I’m not sure about this one. Give me a sec to take one more look.”

She could have all the time she wanted. I had my own dilemma: my own inner demon driving me to buy a card for a man I was desperately in love with who hadn’t said a word about loving me back.

I moved on. Friendship.

Was that what Tim and I were? Friends? The first couple of cards I looked at I put back. They were clearly intended for friends like Rebecca and me.

Hey Dummy. The card caught my attention. Ziggy was on the front. I liked and respected him for his pithy insights.

The message was lighthearted, casual—nothing like the avowal of undying love I needed to impart. Hey Dummy. Like I didn’t think he was perfect. Like I wasn’t besotted. Irreverent, when I was bone-deep certain that Tim was the most intelligent man I’d ever known.

Glancing behind me to make certain that Rebecca wasn’t anywhere close, I opened the card.

I think you’re Great! The words were written in a large scrawl, on a slant.

And I knew I had to buy the card. Tim might think me forward, pushy. He might get cramped. Run in the opposite direction. But if he was going to do that because I was crazy about him, because I needed to tell him so, then it was best that I find out sooner rather than later.