Lib Novel Page 12
I hope you don’t mind me replacing your mailbox, as a gesture toward making things right. The old one was too broken to be fixed.
I hope our friendship has a better chance of being repaired.
Sincerely,
Your neighbor, Jared Webb
Cora read it twice, smiling to herself the second time at the sweet, simple message of apology. He had managed to address every bad note he’d hit with her yesterday, and he made no excuses.
It was honest and straightforward, just like him, and she could practically hear him reading it out in his deep voice.
She folded the note back up carefully, and before she put it away, she found herself lifting it to her face. No one was there to see it, so she went ahead and touched it to her nose, inhaling deeply.
It smelled like he had, faintly woodsy and somehow familiar, even though they had barely met. It was a crazy notion, but something about it made her feel at home.
5
CORA
Cora sat in the teacher’s lounge at lunchtime the next day, eating leftovers and listening to the two other teachers at her table talking about upcoming school events.
Sabrina Wilson and Viola Reese had taken Cora under their wing from the moment she walked in the school doors yesterday. The two of them had started at the school together, and were both just a few years younger than Cora. Sabrina taught History and Viola was the Music and Band teacher.
“If they let the kids vote again, the prom theme is just going to be whatever’s buzzing on BeeBop,” Viola said, frowning.
“I don’t know,” Sabrina said thoughtfully. “There’s some cool stuff on there.”
“Please tell me you aren’t addicted to that silly app, too,” Viola said.
“Hashtag no comment,” Sabrina said, which made Viola howl.
Cora laughed too and shook her head. The two women had clearly been friends for a long time. She loved their silly banter.
The door opened, and another teacher came in. She was older, with beautifully coiffed silver hair, wearing a bright blue pantsuit that set off her eyes.
“You’re Ms. Davies, aren’t you?” the lady said, walking right over. “I’m Mrs. Brandt. I was so sorry to hear about your sweet Arthur. I taught him Pre-Algebra and Geometry. He was such a lovely young man, always so attentive in class.”
“Thank you,” Cora said, feeling like her heart would burst out of her chest at the new information about her husband, and not caring that Viola and Sabrina were sharing an awkward look. “He loved math, and I know he mentioned your name more than once.”
“Oh, my word,” Mrs. Brandt said, patting her shoulder. “That makes my day, sweetheart.”
She headed to a little table next to theirs and opened her bag, pulling out a romance novel and a sandwich.
“So, you’re coming out with us tonight, right?” Sabrina asked Cora, pulling her attention back to her own table. “They have discount wings at The Barrel on Wednesdays.”
“And karaoke,” Viola added.
“Oh, I can’t,” Cora said.
“You can bring Sylvester,” Sabrina said sympathetically. “It’s not a bad place. They’ll make him a grilled cheese with French fries, and he’ll have fun with the singing.”
“It’s not that,” Cora said, though she certainly had no intention of bringing her son to a bar. “This guy yelled at me the other day and now he’s trying to make up for it by fixing my windows. He said he might stop by again tonight.”
She didn’t realize how strange it sounded until she had said it out loud.
“Who’s coming to your house?” Sabrina asked, wrinkling her nose at the idea.
Cora could hardly blame her. She really couldn’t believe it herself that she’d let him in, whether he had yelled at her the day before or not.