“Don’t open the door to your apartment.”
“Besides that, goofy.”
“Never venture out alone.”
“I give up with you” groaned Allison good-naturedly. “You told me on the night I arrived that I was somebody and I was the somebody that you needed to help you distribute love to whomever needed it. That’s what you do, Cori and Teddybearville is perfect.”
“Thanks, Allison.” Cori said clasping her arm gently. “I’m going to visit a sick friend but if you need me, call.”
“Got it” answered Allison as she returned to the counter to inventory buttons. She watched Cori leave through the backdoor and saw her drive away.
At Millie Reynolds’ house, Joycelyn welcomed Cori inside.
“How is she?”
“She’s anxious for Seth to get here but I’m trying to keep her resting.”
“I’ll just stay a minute.”
“Stay as long as you want, she likes your company.”
Cori found Millie resting on the sofa in the living room. “Hi Millie”
“Cori! You look beautiful.”
“Beautiful?” Cori scoffed “Are you trying to get on my good side?”
Millie frowned and shook her finger at Cori for putting herself down. “I may be old but I can still turn you over my knee for sassing me, Miss Cori.”
“You’ll need all your strength for dealing with Seth and Mindy this weekend. So, just let me off with a short lecture.”
“I’ll call your mama instead and then you’ll have to deal with her.”
“Mama is busy today.”
“New arrival?” Millie suddenly sobered.
“Yeah, two kids and a mama, all in bad shape. Doctor Jane wanted to hospitalize them but they were too scared. Mama is watching over them.”
“I could go help her.” Millie volunteered. “I feel better today.”
“Your company is coming today. Enjoy them.”
“I do. Pearl stopped by a little while ago with some food stuff from Warm Comforts, been experimenting again have we?”
Cori laughed “I have no idea what you are talking about but the peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies were a big hit at the high school this morning.”
“No doubt. The soup smelled delicious too.”
“It isn’t bad.” Cori remarked. Before she could say anything else, the doorbell rang and she instantly froze then relaxed but Millie caught it anyway. For some reason the doorbell was a trigger for Cori and she had a rush of memories. “Oh, that’s your company, I’ll scoot out the back door.”
“You will not.” Millie said clamping onto Cori’s arm. Cori tried to break away gently but Mindy managed to do it for her as she burst into the room.
“Grandma” she cried flinging herself into Millie’s arms for a hug. “Look at my bear” Mindy continued. Cori backed away from the sofa and headed slowly at the back door. She didn’t look anywhere but at Millie but knew that the room occupants were watching her.
Millie greeted her son when Mindy stepped away “Hi Seth.”
“Hi Mom.”
“Hi Isaac” greeted Millie when he came to hug and kiss her cheek.
“Hi Mom”
“Hello Daphne, it is nice to see you again.”
“Thank you, Millie.”
“Isaac, Daphne, please meet my friend Cori.” Millie said automatically stopping Cori’s retreat to the back door.
“Hello” Cori greeted
“Hi Cori” Daphne greeted.
“Hi Cori” Isaac said walking over to shake her hand. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure is mine.” Cori said politely. “I need to be going. I’ll see you next week, Millie.”
“Did you see my bear?” Mindy said to Cori
“I did. He’s really cute. What’s his name?”
“My daddy sent him to me so I named him Micah.”
“Good choice. You take good care of him, okay?”
“I will.” Mindy answered going back to playing with her bear. Still never having made eye contact with Seth, Cori waved goodbye to Millie and Joycelyn walked her to the door.
“Call me if she needs me, okay?” Cori whispered to Joycelyn. The housekeeper nodded and Cori slipped out the door as quickly and quietly as possible. Cori realized as she walked next door to her brother’s house that her heart was pounding and she was having trouble breathing. She knocked and slipped into the kitchen door and rested at the table for a minute before Pearl came to see who was in her house.
“Hey you, what’s wrong?”
“What makes you think something is wrong?” Cori asked quietly.
“Don’t lie to me Cori Alyssa Lewis.”
“It will pass.” Cori admitted.
“Get in the car, I’m taking you to the doctor.”
“I’m fine, really. Just a bad memory caught me off guard.”
“Oh alright. Why don’t you go upstairs and lay down?”
“I’m actually going to head home. The rest of my day is clear but tomorrow is busy. And I have a few sketches to work on. I have a new idea.”
“Of course you do.” chuckled Pearl. “Do you ever relax?”
“That is my relaxing, Pearl.” Cori explained. “Are you and John going to the fair tomorrow?”
“Absolutely. We want to see you win your third blue ribbon.”
“We’ll see.” Cori said quietly. Pearl shook her head in exasperation. Cori gave Pearl a hug and headed out the door to her car. As she backed out of the driveway, she saw Seth retrieving luggage from his car but he didn’t see her for which she was very grateful. Too bad Roger’s abuse hadn’t blocked out Seth’s taunts of her for all of their high school years. It was really unfair, if she had to have memory problems why could she pick and choose the memories.
Seth’s mind was occupied as he walked down the hall of his boyhood home to see his mother again before going to sleep. Mindy had kept them occupied during the evening but now he wanted to time with his mom. His mind though couldn’t stop replaying the afternoon’s meeting with Cori Lewis. They hadn’t even been civil enough to one another to say Hello. He thought he had matured past that but he guessed that neither one of them had matured that much in twelve years. He wondered why she even still lived in Catesville. His mom never talked about her over the last few years and he, of course, never mentioned or asked about her.
“Hi Mom” greeted Seth as he opened the door after knocking and hearing her Come in.
“Hi Sweetheart.”
“Let’s talk, you and me…” he said sitting in a chair he pulled up next to her bed. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine.”
“Mom, you don’t look so fine. What does the doctor say? Have you been to a doctor?”
“What for? I’m just a little tired. I am old, you know.”
“Schedule an appointment with the doctor next week or I’ll take you to a doctor in Houston with or without your consent.”
“You are nagging just like Cori does. I don’t need a doctor.”
“What was she doing here anyway?” he asked with a slight sneer.
“Don’t.” his mother said angrily “You may hate that girl but she’s my very good friend. She calls or comes by every day to see me. She’s wonderful to me and I love her very much. In my house, she is forever welcome.”
“Okay, okay, calm down” Seth said retreating “I didn’t know all that. You haven’t mentioned her still living here.”
“To you? Never. I know you hate her and she knows you think of her as worthless as used gum stuck to your shoe but I like her and I’ll do anything in this world for that girl.”
“I don’t hate her. I haven’t thought about her in years. Has she lived here all this time?”
“She came back about four years ago.”
“I’m surprised. She high-tailed it out of here so soon after graduation that I figured she w
ould never return.”
“Life happens, Seth.”
“Yeah, I guess it does. We better get some sleep; Mindy saw the fairgrounds and wants to go to the fair tomorrow. Will you be okay without us for a few hours?”
“Of course. Good night Seth, I love you.”
“I love you too, Mom.”
Cori smiled and accepted the congratulations and the blue ribbon from the judge at the fair on Saturday morning. She had believed that her project was the cutest but she didn’t know if the judges would agree. As she walked along the fair back to Warm Comforts and Hannah’s Craft booths, people stopped and cooed over the bear and how cute he was. She graciously thanked them and told them where to look if they wanted to see more.
As Cori’s approach to Hannah’s Craft’s booth, Faith looked up and smiled at her. “I knew it.” Faith said confidently as Cori slipped in behind the counter of the booth. “First place again.”
Cori shrugged and handed the bear to Faith to display on the front counter. “Is it wrong for me to have mine judged since this my job?”
“If they had a problem with it they should put it in the rules.”
“True. Anyway, how’s business?”
“Brisk. We will need to restock inventory after this weekend.”
“Good. I like to hear that.”
Faith and Cori went to assist some customers who had walked up to the booth so they couldn’t continue their conversation but Faith knew Cori was pleased with her win.
“Uh, Seth” Isaac said stopping Seth’s forward momentum through the fair. “What does that say over there?”
“Good grief, Isaac, you are a Harvard graduate and a lawyer, can’t you read a simple….?” Seth stopped his question when he finally read the words on the sign across the aisle from where they were standing.
“Look, it’s my bear” Mindy exclaimed and started pulling on Isaac’s hand that she was holding. “Please can we go look?”
“Definitely, Mindy. Most definitely.” Seth answered. Daphne had been looking at a booth when Seth pulled her hand in the direction of the Hannah Craft’s booth.
“Geez, Seth, slow down.”
“Oh, sorry. Look…” he pointed to the Teddybearville sign and booth.
“Oh, that’s hysterical. You’ve been after that bear for a week and here it is.”
“Grrr” he growled playfully at her.
“Now you even sound like it.” laughed Daphne. Seth was not as amused as she was as they approached the booth. “Isn’t that Cori from yesterday?”
“Yes” Seth answered succinctly.
“Hello” Faith greeted as they approached the booth. “Well, Seth Reynolds, what are you doing here?”
“Faith Harris. What are you doing here?”
“My job.” Faith answered hoping that Cori would stay occupied for a while. “Can I help you with something?”
“I have one of these bears.” Mindy stated happily. “My daddy gave it to me.”
“You are the luckiest girl in the world then. Our bears are the best. Which book did you get?”
“Ummm” she began “Snowflake….”
“Finds a Friend” finished Seth for his niece when she stalled on the title. “Is this your company?” he asked Faith.
“I have a big part but no, it isn’t my company.”
“Who is the owner?”
“Warm Comforts is the parent company.”
“That warehouse out on the highway?” asked Isaac.
“That’s us. I guess you saw it on your drive in.”
“We did. It’s huge.”
“Good business” Faith answered. She saw Cori glance over out of the corner of her eye. Cori surprised her by coming to talk to Isaac.
“How’s Millie today?”
“She said she was okay but tired this morning.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” Cori answered thankfully then turned to the little girl “Hi Mindy.”
“Hi Cori. Look, it’s my bear” she said pointing to the bear with the blue ribbon. “Only bigger.”
“You are very right. Do you want to come with me and I’ll show you some of the other bears and animals we have? Ask your Uncle Seth if it is okay.”
“Uncle Seth, please?” she pleaded.
“Sure” he answered. “Go ahead.”
“Come on, Isaac, you come too.”
“Okay, little miss.” Isaac laughed and followed Mindy and Cory. Cory picked up Mindy to see the bears at the top of the display at the Teddybearville in the back of the booth. They were dressed as baseball players and were having a baseball game. The field was perfectly proportioned and designed. It was adorable.
“That’s fantastic” exclaimed Isaac. “Somebody did a wonderful job” he said inspecting it very close. “I want the whole setup.”
“Umm” began Cory “that’s the display model but you can order it.”
“Perfect” he said.
“Do you have children, Isaac?” Cory asked.
“Just help with this one” he said tickling Mindy as she reached for him. “Seth keeps her while her parents are deployed.”
“I know. Micah and I are old friends. As kids, we lived next door to each other.”
“And Seth?”
Cori nodded “Someday, ask him about the girl he thought was more worthless than used gum stuck to the bottom of his shoe. It’s quite a story.”
“It doesn’t sound like a good one though.”
“It is from his perspective.” added Cory. “Let me write up an order for you.” Cory got a piece of paper and wrote out his order. He noticed that her hand gripped the pencil in a strange way but didn’t comment on it. “Do you want a book with each bear, in other words, nine of them or just one about baseball?”
“Nine separate books?”
“Yes, each has a different story.”
“I want all nine then. Who writes the stories?”
“Various people” she answered vaguely. “Faith will ring this up. She takes a deposit then charges the account again when the bears are shipped. Is that okay?”
“Of course.” He answered as they walked back to the counter. “Seth, go see that baseball display.” Isaac pointed to the Teddybearville. “I’m ordering it.” Seth walked away with Daphne and Cori talked to Faith about what he had ordered. Faith finished the order form and wrote down his shipping information then took his payment information. After handing him his receipt and copy of the order form, Cori shook his hand.
“Thank you, Isaac.”
“Thank you, Cori.” Seth and Daphne returned about that time and Mindy reached for her Uncle Seth.
“I want all of them, Uncle Seth.” She said pointing to the whole display. Seth frowned at Cori who smiled and shrugged at him.
“Of course you do, little miss. But it won’t be today. Are you ready to move on?”
“Do we have too?” she whined.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Yes” she remembered.
“Do you see any food here?”
“Right there” she pointed to the booth next door. “I smell cookies”
“After you eat your lunch.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good afternoon, ladies.” Seth said as the four of them moved on.
Cori took a deep breath as they moved on. Seth didn’t seem like the same guy from high school. She had tried to forget how handsome he was and seeing him again reminded her.
“He doesn’t seem like the same jerk as high school.” Faith commented “And Isaac? That guy is spectacular.”
“I hope we all have changed from high school, Faith.”
“Me too. And speaking of high school, the reunion is in a few weeks. We are going.”
“Have fun.”
“No, you misunderstood. We, you and me and Nia, are going. I already sent the RSVP and bought the tickets.”
“I’m sure I’m on call t
hat night.”
“I’m sure you are not. I arranged it with your mother.”
Cori’s eyes were wide with shock “it is my schedule, you can’t rearrange it.”
“I already did. So you have no excuse.”
“Faith, I can’t go to that reunion. I won’t.”
“Yes, you will.” Faith returned. A customer joined them so their argument would have to continue another time.
Seth was enjoying a relaxing spring evening on his mother’s back porch when Isaac exited out the kitchen door and joined him. Mindy and his mother were watching a movie and Daphne was talking to her mother on the phone.
“Hey” Isaac greeted.
“Hey” answered Seth.
“So, now you know…what’s your next step?”
Not even pretending to not understand Seth replied “Don’t you mean, what is your next step?”
“I figured you’d head that way. Okay, I did a small bit of research. Warm Comforts is the parent company and the link to Teddybearville is on their website.”
“Whose is the owner of Warm Comforts?”
“That is going to take some digging. There was no message from a CEO or anything and so I’ll have to investigate next week.”
“Quickly. I have deadlines.”
“I know. So, tell me about Cori? She told me she was friends with Micah but not you. She told me to ask you the story on the girl who you thought was more worthless than used gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe. And I’m not making that up.”
Seth rubbed his hands over his face in frustration. “That’s her house next door.” Seth started pointing to the house on the right “her brother lives there now. Cori, John, Micah and I went to the same schools all the way through high school. Cori and I are in the same class and we did get along in grade school but in junior high she started to bug me.”
“How?”
“Just by breathing it seemed like.”
“Were you a jerk about it?”
“You’ve never seen worse, and I’m not proud of that.”
“Did she tease you, torment you, what?”
“She was smarter than me. She was talented and I needed to feel important.”
“So you teased her?”
“Worse. I taunted and laughed at her and had the popular kids join in with me. She took it all and never said a word to me about it until just before high school graduation. One afternoon, she came over and handed me a manila envelope and told me that she had written down all the insults over the last four years and they totaled four hundred and eight-five. If I got to five hundred before she left in two weeks, she would give me the revised list. Two weeks later she sent me the revised list and a note that said she was disappointed in me that I had only reached four hundred and ninety. Then she signed it Love, Cori. I never saw her again until yesterday.”