Rush

I’ve missed her every day since her death.

“That stings, doesn’t it?” She runs a finger over the ring with the intertwined hearts. “My oldest daughter pulled that trick on me. I nursed a broken heart until she gave me a granddaughter.”

I smile because the grin on her face tells me that she forgave everything when she looked into the face of her daughter’s newborn.

“Are you navigating New York alone?” Her hand pats my forearm. “If you are, you’re a brave soul.”

“I’m not brave.” I chuckle. “I’ve made a couple of friends and I’m staying with my brother’s best friend until the honeymoon is over.”

“Your brother’s best friend?” She leans forward on her chair. “I overheard some of what you said on the phone. That would be the young man you kissed? Is there a spark between you two?”

I draw a finger over my bottom lip remembering how it felt when Case kissed me earlier. It was more like a blazing inferno than sparks. “There was something. I felt it.”

She drops her gaze to the table. “I have a heck of a tale to tell about my brother’s best friend.”

I sit silently, waiting for her to continue because I’m up for any story about a brother’s best friend. My fingers are crossed that she’ll tell me it all worked out in the end and didn’t leave her with a heart that was so broken it never recovered.

Instead of launching into a love-filled journey about a sweet memory, she looks at me. I see tears glisten in her eyes.

“You loved him,” I whisper.

“I waited much too long to do that.” She swipes one fallen tear away with her fingers. “I liked that boy when we were kids. I loved that boy when I was too old to care what anyone thought.”

I already know how this story ends. I see it in the way she touches the ring and the heaviness of her breathing.

“He asked me to take a chance on him when I was about your age.” A small smile blooms on her lips. “I told him I couldn’t. Family loyalty and all, and it was a different time back then.”

I nod.

“I married someone else. Tommy married another girl. I was widowed a decade ago. His wife died two years later.” She closes her eyes for the briefest of moments. “We found each other three years ago on Facebook of all places.”

That lures a smile to my face.

“We had a glorious two years together before he left this earth.” She blows out a quick breath. “If given another chance at this life, I would have taken the risk back when he asked me to.”

“Even if it meant you’d get hurt back then?” I ask.

“He was about to be deployed.” She straightens in her chair. “I tell you, Emma, in his uniform, you’d never find a more handsome man.”

I curl my hand around my coffee cup.

“Don’t get me wrong.” She shakes her head. “I’m grateful for the life I’ve had, but I do wonder about what might have been.”

I lean back on my chair. “Is your brother still…did he know about you two?”

“You’re asking if he knew about Tommy and me back in the day, or did he find out when we moved in together?” Her brows dart up behind her silver eyeglass frames.

“Yes.” I take a sip of coffee.

“The day of Tommy’s wake, my brother told me that he always knew.” A soft sigh escapes her. “He could tell there was something brewing between us before Tommy was deployed.”

“So when you moved in together, he was happy for you?”

“He was with Tommy the day he bought this ring when I was twenty-one.” She circles one heart and then the other with her fingertip. “My brother had no idea who the ring was for. Tommy kept it all those years hoping one day he’d get the chance to give it to me.”

I stare at the ring. “It’s beautiful.”

Holding her hand up, she admires it in the late afternoon sunlight streaming into the café. “To me, it is. It was to my Tommy too.”

I take a breath to ward off the emotions I feel.

“I have no idea what your situation is with the young man you’re staying with.” She pauses. “What’s his name, dear?”

“Case,” I whisper.

“Case may be your brother’s best friend, but he could be your Tommy.” She reaches to cover my hand with hers. “From my experience, what a brother wants most for his sister is for her to find a good man to love.”

“I can’t love Case.” I laugh and shake my head. “We’re very different. He lives in California. I live in Seattle. It can’t work.”

“Love can always work.”

I bite my lip. “My grandma used to tell me that.”

“Us grandmas are smart like that.” She taps her chin. “Wise words from wise women will never steer you wrong.”