Chapter 15
Evie stood in the full-length mirror and stared at herself. The white button-down shirt she had on looked too dressy. She stripped it off and grabbed the plain, cotton jersey t-shirt off of her bed and slipped it on. That was much better. On second thought maybe not; maybe it was too plain. She groaned. Why was she so nervous? She was somewhat comfortable with Stacy now. She shouldn’t be a nervous wreck over him coming to the house for dinner, but she was.
This would be the first time he would be in her home, getting an intimate view of her life. According to him, this would be their sixth date. Their fifth had been earlier this week when he’d surprised her at the hospital during her break and brought her lunch. Their meetings were becoming more frequent and while Evie considered Stacy to be nice and was starting to become fond of him, she didn’t know where this thing between them was headed.
She was unsure whether she was ready for a relationship and if she were, how it would survive with their beliefs and faith being so different. Nevertheless she enjoyed spending time with him. As she stood there smoothing out her t-shirt, she chuckled at the thought of the art exhibit debacle. During their tour of the last exhibit hall, she’d decided to have a little fun with him. She pointed to one of the more risqué paintings and declared that as her favorite. The look on Stacy’s face was priceless. Evie hadn’t had fun like that in a very long time. She almost felt guilty for allowing herself such pleasure.
The doorbell rang jolting Evie out of her thoughts. Before she could make it out of the room, she heard voices. It was that of Stacy, her mother and Jamie’s shouts. She clenched her teeth. “Evie, Stacy’s here!” called her mother from the living room. She looked herself over in the mirror one more time. Well, the cotton t-shirt would just have to do for tonight. She shut her bedroom door behind her and made her way to the front of the house. The scenario made her feel like she was nineteen again and getting ready for her first date with James.
Entering the room, she spotted Stacy on his knees. He was handing Jamie a package. But when he saw Evie, he straightened up.
“Hey,” he finally said.
“Hey yourself,” she said from the frame of the doorway.
He was handsome today in a button-down blue shirt, jeans and Converse shoes.
Just as she was admiring his attire, she was shaken from her trance by Jamie. “Mommy!” He screamed. “Mr. Stacy got me hand cuffs. My own handcuffs, can you believe it?”
“What?” Evie said, going to her son. He held up a pair of plastic toy handcuffs.
“Oh, that was nice. What do you say, Jamie?” Madeline asked her grandson.
“Thank you, Mr. Stacy.”
“You’re welcome, kiddo.”
As Evie scanned the roomed, she noticed flowers on the counter.
“Aren’t my flowers beautiful?” Her mother asked, pointing in their direction.
“They are.” Evie agreed, thinking Stacy too kind.
But he wasn’t finished with his flattery yet. He reached over and handed Evie a large envelope. She took the package and pulled out a thick paper inside. Her eyes grew big when she saw what it was and she immediately stuffed it back in the envelope. It was a reprint of the painting she said she liked yesterday. It was the one she claimed to adore for the sole purpose of teasing him and making him uncomfortable. And clearly by his laughter, he knew this and had decided to pay her back in kind.
“You said you liked that painting, right?” he asked.
“I did, didn’t I? Wow, I’ll have to find a special place for this one,” she barely managed to get out.
“Was that something you saw at the art gallery last weekend?” her mother asked.
“Um, yes. I’ll just go put this in my room.”
Evie hurried off, hoping her mother wouldn’t ask to see it. After depositing the envelope underneath her pillow, she walked backed into the living room. Her mother was bent over the stove peering into a pot and Jamie was on the sofa attempting to put the handcuffs on Stacy.
“Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes,” Madeleine called from the kitchen. “I hope you like jambalaya, Stacy.”
“I’ve never had it before, but if it tastes as good as it smells then I think I will. Besides, I’m not a picky eater; I’ll pretty much eat whatever is put in front of me.”
“My kind of man,” her mother said, replacing the lid on the pot.
“Look Mommy, you put the key in the handcuffs and they open,” Jamie exclaimed.
“I see that.” Evie responded taking a seat on the sofa next to her son and Stacy. She watched quietly as Stacy patiently taught Jamie how to maneuver the handcuffs around his wrist and lock them. Watching how gentle he was with her son made her wonder if he had any nieces or nephews because he seemed to be very good with kids. This revelation sobered her up quickly because it only served to remind her just how quickly she could fall for this man if she was not careful.
They sat down for dinner fifteen minutes later, with Jamie insisting on sitting next to Stacy. Throughout the meal Evie watched her son talk excitedly through a mouth full of food to Stacy. He listened good-naturedly and responded to her son’s antics with appropriate enthusiasm. Besides the male relatives who visited periodically, he was the first man Jamie really had any contact with. It was amazing to see how quickly her son had taken to him, and even more remarkable that Stacy didn’t seem to be annoyed or bothered with Jamie’s level of intense energy.
Though the sight brought her immense joy, for a split second Evie was filled with sadness. James should be here sitting with them at this table right now, playing with their son. With his calm demeanor, James would have no doubt been able to handle Jamie’s vivaciousness. As her emotions began to mount and feel as though they were rising up her throat, Evie’s eyes swelled with tears. To keep them from falling down her warm cheeks, she had to find a distraction, which oddly was her plate of food. She poked at the jambalaya until she was able to stuff her feelings way back down where they always were. When she finally looked up a few minutes later, Stacy was watching her intently. Her mother, on the other hand, was scolding Jamie for talking with a mouth full of food. Evie tried to don a smile, but couldn’t be sure that she wore it well enough to give it some authenticity.
After dinner, to Evie’s horror, Jamie threw a tantrum in front of Stacy. He became upset when Madeleine crushed his plans of staying up late and spending more time with Stacy and informed him he was going to take a bath.
Strangely, this outburst didn’t seem to bother Stacy at all. He simply promised Jamie that if he did as he was told he would come back and visit him again. This seemed to placate her son enough to let her mother lead him to the bathroom.
So, as Evie walked Stacy outside to his car she couldn’t help but blurt out, “You’re very good with kids. I’m so sorry for Jamie’s behavior. My mother is able to deal with him better than I am. I get too overwhelmed sometimes.”
Stacy was quiet until they reached his car, which was parked across the street. Once there he made no effort to get inside. Rather, he leaned against the driver’s side door and folded his arms over his chest. They stood in the street under the now lit street lights.
“My mom was an amazing woman and you remind me so much of her,” he finally said after a while.
Evie smiled to herself, quietly accepting the comment. She felt more comfortable after hearing this and too leaned up against the car but rather stuffed her hands in the pockets of her pull over.
All of a sudden Stacy said, “Sports.”
Evie was confused. “What?”
“Have you ever thought of getting Jamie into sports? He’s too young for football, but they have soccer and t-ball for kids his age.”
Understanding dawned on her. “I never thought of that.”
“He’s a great kid, with a lot of energy. Sports might be good for him to burn some of that off.”
“Did your mother have you and your brother in sports?”
She saw him smile to himself, “yup.”
“Are you close to your brother?” Evie asked.
Stacy talked about his mother often, but not that much about his brother.
“No,” he said abruptly.
By the sharpness of his voice, Evie could tell that there was something else going on there and that he was not ready to elaborate, so she left it alone.
He then said, “If you don’t mind me asking, you seemed to go into your own world there for a minute during dinner.”
Evie sucked in a breath and replied, “It was nothing. Just thinking about….nothing really.”
“Were you thinking about your husband when you saw me with Jamie?” Stacy asked softly.
Evie’s stared at him in shock, her mouth dropped open.
“How did you know that?”
Stacy shrugged. “Sixth sense, I guess.”
Then with a whisper, he continued: “You know it’s okay to be sad, to miss him. There’s nothing wrong with it.”
“My mother thinks I need to move on.”
“Easier said than done, right?”
Evie only nodded.
“Can I ask you something about what your pastor said last Sunday at church?”
“Sure.” Evie looked up at Stacy, her interest piqued.
“Do you think God forgives all sins, no matter how bad or how terrible they are?”
Evie’s eyebrows shot up; she thought he didn’t believe in God. Taking a quick swallow, she fired off an answer. “Yes.”
Stacy nodded in understanding and Evie watched as he ran his hands through his hair. He was obviously trying to work out something in his mind at the moment and probably didn’t realize his hair was even more disheveled than normal. Without even thinking, Evie reached up and ran her hands through it. He turned to look at her and she snatched her hand back as if she had just stuck it in a fire.
She laughed nervously and said, “Sorry, it was sticking up everywhere. I couldn’t help myself; I’m such a mom.”
But her apologies were unnecessary. Stacy wasn’t bothered by the contact. He said as much causing Evie’s chest to suddenly tighten. She was frightened and excited at the same time. The two feelings were in conflict with one another, and unsure which was stronger, she had to remove herself from Stacy before one took over the other.
“I’d better go inside so I can tuck Jamie in,” she said quickly, pushing herself up off of his car. “Thank you for the gifts. Well, at least for my mother’s flowers and Jamie’s handcuffs.”
Stacy smiled, but it did not reach his eyes.
“I’ll call you tomorrow. Oh yeah, tell your mother thank you again for the meal; it was delicious.”
Evie waved good bye to him as she jogged back across the street, and with her back now turned to Stacy, she could release the huge grin she had been trying to hold in.
Walking into the house, Evie heard the water running in the bathroom and her mother scolding Jamie for something he had done. Curious about what was taking place, she made her way down the hallway and peeked her head around the door.
“Mommy!” Jamie cried, suddenly standing up in the tub and splashing her mother with soapy bath water.
“Good Lord, Jamie!” Madeline exclaimed.
“I’ll take over Mama.”
Her mother scooted back tiredly and picked herself up just enough to plop down on the closed lid of the toilet seat. She grabbed a hand towel and began to rub excess water off of her face.
“You’re going to be the death of me,” she said, looking at Jamie.
“No, I’m not.” He retorted.
The little boy laughed, giving his mother a sopping wet hug. Evie hugged him back.
“Alright, sit down babe. Let me rinse you off.” Jamie plopped back down into the water, effectively splashing her.
“Is Stacy gone?” her mother asked.
Evie nodded her head up and down.
“He’s a nice man. I think I like him. It was sweet of him to bring us gifts.”
Evie agreed.
“So…” her mother began.
“What is it Mama? What do you want to know?” Evie sighed.
She should have known her mother was going to have some sort of opinion on the evening, considering this was the first man she’d brought home aside from James.
“Stacy said his mother died a few months ago, didn’t he?”
“Yes, from breast cancer.”
“So sad. Just like your Aunt Sandra.”
Her mother’s oldest sister—and her favorite aunt—died from breast cancer five years ago.
“How long has he been a police officer?”
“He said about four years.”
“Mmm.”
Evie could tell there was much more in the ‘mmm’ than her mother was letting on.
“Which police station does he work at?”
“The one over on Broadway, Mama. Can you please stop with the third-degree? Why in the world didn’t you just ask him all of this while he was over here?”
“Oh, I didn’t want to be rude,” her mother said.
Evie narrowed her eyes and flicked a few drops of water at her.
“Evelyn Karen Tyrell! You keep that up and I swear I’m going to put you over my knee and spank you like I used too,” Madeline exclaimed, tossing the hand towel at her daughter.
Evie caught it and laughed.
After Jamie was put to bed Evie made her way to her room and plopped onto her bed. She took out the Georgia O’keefe reprint Stacy bought her and couldn’t help but smile to herself as she stared at it. He definitely had a humorous side to him. Tucking the reprint into the drawer of her night stand, she then pulled out her Bible and flipped it open to Psalms as was her custom every night and took out the letter and begin reading it.
“Evie?”
Startled, she looked up to see her mother’s frame in the doorway. She didn’t hear or see her come in. She quickly folded up the letter and stuck it back in her Bible.
“Are you reading that letter again?”
Evie exhaled and rolled onto her back.
“Yes.”
Madeline shook her head slightly.
“Why honey? Why do you keep doing that to yourself?”
“I don’t know, Mama, I just do. I just have to. Maybe one day I’ll be able to rip it up and throw it in the garbage and forget all about it. But not right now.”
“Does Stacy know about that letter?”
“I haven’t told him.”
“You’ve told him about how James died, didn’t you?”
Evie nodded.
“He needed to know, especially since he’s a police officer.”
“What was his reaction when you told him?”
To this Evie shrugged her shoulders.
“It was nice. He said something about making it up to me if I gave him a chance.”
All of a sudden her mother became rigid and a strange look came over her face that she couldn’t place.
Finally she said, “Well now, that was an interesting reaction.”
“I thought it was nice. He could have gone running for the hills when I told him everything. For God’s sake, he could have gone running for the hills tonight when he saw Jamie raise hell. But he didn’t, and that means a lot to me.”
“Well, you got him into church and that’s always a good thing.”
Madeline hesitated for a moment after this then said, “So where do you see this thing going? It’s been about two months now since you all have met.”
“I don’t know,” Evie said truthfully. “There are a lot of factors to consider. But as of right now we’re just friends.”
“Good. I think I’d like to see more of him.”
Evie beamed at her mother’s approval then closed her Bible and hopped off of her bed.
“I’ll take care of the dishes. Go to bed,” she said, kissing her mother’s cheek and starting down the hallway to the kitchen.
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