Page 7 of When We Were More (Aron Falls #1)

T illie

I stare at the few pieces of kitchen cabinetry hardware in my hand and run a fingertip over the etched floral pattern on the antique copper. It’s a beautiful piece.

“Try not to get your hopes up, Tillie. Cleaning them up will help, but I’m pretty sure you’ll have to buy new handles for those cabinets. Aren’t you still five short?”

I set the cleaning supplies I’m buying on the counter and inspect the antique handle more closely. I bite at my lower lip.

“Yeah, unfortunately. I’ve been going to flea markets and those antique malls for months, seeing if I could find any, but no luck so far.”

The bell on the front door of Lester’s hardware store rings, and Lester and I both glance in the direction of the sound. Jimmy Slockum, the lanky teenage boy who works a few hours every afternoon for Lester, smiles at me, his cheeks turning rosy red.

“Good afternoon, Miss Evans.” He looks over at Lester. “Hi, Mr. Lewis.”

Lester grunts at him. Apparently, he’s put his grumpy pants back on.

“Jimmy, I’ve told you that you can call me Tillie,” I correct him. His face turns even redder.

“No, he can’t. Kids nowadays need to respect their elders,” Lester says. Poor Jimmy grabs his apron from the hook behind the counter and scurries off to start work without another word.

“Hey. I’m hardly an elder—” I playfully tap Lester on the shoulder “—and you’re scaring the poor boy.” I can’t hold back a chuckle at Lester’s less-than-warm greeting to his employee.

“Well, he shouldn’t be flirting with the customers.” Lester wears a scowl on his time-weathered face. I roll my eyes at him. “You always have the boys losing their good sense, Tillie. Just like when you were a teenager.” I chuckle at my old friend’s assessment of things.

“Lester, if you think that Jimmy saying hello to me is flirting, we seriously need to work on your game.”

I reach into my purse and pull out my wallet, placing it on the counter to pay for my items. Lester waves me off.

“Your money is no good here, Tillie.”

I sigh deeply. “You’re gonna go out of business if you keep giving me stuff for free.”

“You’re family, young lady. You won’t take money for your help with my bookkeeping, and I’m not taking money for this.”

I smile at Lester, loving how he’s always trying to take care of me in little ways—even though I don’t need it.

If anyone else tries that, I push back. I don’t need anyone rescuing me.

Gram rescued me from the bad situation I was in with Joe, and I swore I would never need someone to do that again.

I can take care of myself. Well, usually, anyway.

More precisely, I don’t need anyone trying to be my hero, especially not a man.

Heroes always want praise, and that can lead to hero worship, which gives someone else power over you. I won’t do that again. Ever.

I force my thoughts back to here and now.

“Come on, Lester. You know I’m making big bucks over at that firm.” He laughs at my sarcasm.

“Still not letting you pay me, Tillie girl.”

Lester has owned this hardware store for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, Gram would bring me in here when she needed to pick up steel wool or some other small product Lester stocked. While Gram looked around the store, I used to talk Lester’s ear off.

Back then, I didn’t realize how little Lester talked to most people. In fairness, he probably didn’t get a word in edgewise with me. Regardless, I chatted him up every time we came in, which I swear was at least once a week.

Now that I think back on it, I sometimes wonder if Lester and Gram had a thing for each other.

He was always nicer to Gram than to anybody else—except me.

I looked forward to our weekly trips to Lester’s store, both because I loved the little things he would teach me, and he gave me suckers every time I was here.

Now, each time I come to this hardware store, nostalgia washes over me.

Holt Hardware, located in downtown Aron Falls, is the quintessential small-town store.

Lester himself is the classic handyman. He’s had the answer for everything I’ve ever asked him, and rumor has it he regularly makes house calls to fix things for older folks in our community or for people who don’t have the means to pay someone much, if anything.

There’s also the fact that Lester has taken many a young husband into what he calls the “man room” in the back of his shop and taught them how to fix something.

He believes no one has caught on to him, but it’s common knowledge.

He doesn’t realize it, but his gruff exterior with most people does almost nothing to hide his kind and charitable heart.

“How about I come to your house tonight and cook us some burgers on that charcoal grill of yours for dinner?”

Lester releases a slight growl and narrows his eyes at me. “You know I can feed myself, right? There’s no need to worry about this old man.”

I smile at him and reach over to squeeze the hand resting on the worn Formica countertop near his register. “Yeah, but I want to spend time with you. Plus, I need you to show me how to use this metal cleaner.”

Lester raises an overgrown brow at me, and I can see he’s trying to hold back a grin. “Fine. Let’s say five o’clock.” I nod and smile. “Now get out of here so you don’t distract my worker anymore.”

I turn around and see nobody in my line of vision, then I lift up onto my tiptoes and give Lester a quick kiss on the cheek.

“I’ll see you at your house.” I grab my things and leave, not missing that Lester’s cheeks are now pink with embarrassment.

I make a quick stop at the small grocery store on the way to Lester’s house, picking up the things I need for dinner and some supplies for Gram’s house.

When Gram died, to say I was devastated is putting it mildly.

She was my anchor and the last person I willingly let myself need.

She was the only one who really saw all of me and loved me for who I am, not in spite of it.

Gram was my person. While being in her home is comforting now, when she first died, I couldn’t function living there. Everything with her illness progressed rapidly, and I didn’t get enough time with her. Everywhere I turned in the house, there was a memory that broke my heart more.

One day, Ruthie came to check on me after Gram died, since I had taken more bereavement leave than was typical.

Let’s be honest, three to five days off when you’ve lost someone that integral to your heart isn’t enough.

Ruthie found me broken, lying in my bed, my eyes swollen from crying, and in desperate need of a shower.

I hadn’t eaten in several days, and my face was gaunt, my mouth dry from lack of hydration.

It didn’t take long for her to rally the troops.

Faster than I could comprehend what was happening, Ruthie and Sally packed up a week or two’s worth of clothes, toiletries, and anything I might need, and Lester had temporarily moved me into the studio apartment attached to his duplex.

I suspect their intent was to get me out of the house to keep an eye on me, so that I wouldn’t be alone out on that old county road. The nearest neighbor to Gram’s farmhouse is well over half a mile away.

What their actions did was help me reset without the constant flood of memories overwhelming me.

Don’t get me wrong, those memories are dear to my heart, and I don’t want to forget a single one, but at the time, I couldn’t handle them.

I had lost the only person who loved me.

The only person I believed it was truly safe to love back.

Them moving me into Lester’s apartment showed me I wasn’t alone.

I might not have regular contact with most of my blood family—except for my dad, but that isn’t a relationship as it’s completely one-sided—I sure as hell have people here in Aron Falls who care about me.

What’s the big deal if the large majority of my friends are in their late sixties and seventies?

They’re collectively my people, even more so now that Gram is gone.

As much as Ruthie makes me crazy, and we bicker back and forth, I love her.

I rarely tell her that—and I definitely don’t show it at our mutual workplace—but behind that velour sweatsuit-wearing, blue-haired old gossip is a woman Gram valued enough to count among her best friends.

And she stepped in when Gram could no longer be here.

I stayed with Lester for almost a month, and his place was my safe haven during a time I desperately needed it.

I’ll never forget what those three did for me.

Even after being back in the farmhouse for the last couple of months, I left some stuff at Lester’s.

It was a good excuse to come back once every week or two.

An hour later, I’m at Lester’s, and I have dinner ready.

I carry the food over to the picnic table on Lester’s back deck, covering it to keep the bugs away and the heat in.

As if the aroma of cheeseburgers and corn on the cob summons him, Lester steps onto the back porch with a tray of lemonade and three cookies from Ella’s Bakery in town.

“Smells delicious, young lady. I swear I’ve put on ten pounds since the day you started staying here.”

While his expression is neutral, there’s a smile in his eyes. We spend the next half hour leisurely eating and sipping our lemonade.

“Tillie girl, isn’t it that Aron Falls Builders company who is doing your remodel?”

“Yes. We had a rough start, but it’s going pretty well now. Why?”

“Nothing major. After you left today, one of the kids who owns it came in. Said he was downtown to get some treats from Ella’s and thought he’d stop by and check out the store. Tried to talk to me, too. But I ain’t one for small talk.”

“You’ve not met them before now?” That surprises me. For a man who doesn’t talk much, Lester knows everyone.

“Nah, they don’t show their faces too much around town.

Their place is right on the border of Aron Falls and Meadow Creek.

The family has owned lots of acreage over there for generations.

Ruthie told me that one of them bought it all, maybe twenty-plus years ago, from an uncle living out of state.

When the company moved production into town from Meadow Creek last year, they built a huge shop and offices there. ”

I’m surprised I didn’t realize Aron Family Builders and Restoration were new to the area.

Though I never had a need for a construction company until Gram and I started imagining what the remodel would look like.

We were in the dreaming stages when Gram first got diagnosed with heart failure.

Everything went on hold until her health was better controlled.

Then, right when it seemed things were improving for her medically, and she had chosen a contractor, she was gone.

It was sudden, and she never got to see the renovation to completion.

But I’ll see this through for her. I’ll make sure the house is exactly like she envisioned.

“Weird that I’ve never met them.”

“Not weird, Tillie girl. It’s as close as you can get to the edge of Meadow Creek.

In fact, I believe some of that acreage extends into Meadow Creek.

It’s way out there—you’ve had no reason to go that way.

But now they’ll be building a new log home for the Andersons, and we’ll start seeing them around more.

Doesn’t really seem like they’re part of the town yet. ”

We chat for a little longer, then move to his rocking chairs when done eating to finish our drinks.

After a few minutes, I clear my throat. “Lester?” He turns and smiles sadly at me. His eyes tell me he knows what I’m going to say. “I picked up the last of my things tonight.”

His smile is sad. “I figured, Tillie girl. I’m gonna miss having you around here.

” He adjusts his head to take in his property, and I suspect he’s as choked up as I am.

I reach over and take his hand while my eyes burn as they fill with tears.

Tears of gratitude for all he’s done for me and some of sadness because I’ll miss seeing him as often as well.

“I’m aware you’re not one for big emotional talks, but I want to thank you for taking me in and looking out for me after…

after Gram was gone. I might never have gotten out of bed if it wasn’t for you, Sally, and Ruthie.

I… I never realized I could experience the kind of pain I did when Gram died and, without you?—”

“You woulda been fine, in time, Tillie girl.” Lester’s voice is thick, and he stares straight ahead.

“You know, Mari always used to say how you were so much stronger than you gave yourself credit for, and she was right. You just needed a safe place to draw on some of that strength to deal with the loss. Your Gram, she was one helluva woman, and you don’t heal from a loss like that overnight. ”

I squeeze Lester’s hand, and something tells me he’s not only talking about me…