Death of a Suitor

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

MILES ENDED UP GOING back home sometime around dawn. Myrtle dozed just a bit in her chair after he left, with Pasha curled up in her lap. Then she woke up, got ready for her day, and had a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, and fruit.

Elaine, her daughter-in-law, came by briefly before taking her son Jack to preschool.

“Good morning!” beamed Myrtle when she opened the door.

“Looks like you’ve been up for a while,” said Elaine wryly. “As opposed to me.”

Elaine was wearing a track suit that looked like it might have been slept in. She’d made an attempt to brush her bobbed hair, but looked like she’d missed a spot in the back, which was currently sticking straight up on the top of her head.

“Just be thankful that you can sleep. You don’t realize what a blessing that is. Come in and have some coffee, if you have time.”

Elaine looked at her watch. “I can spare about fifteen minutes before I need to show up in the carpool line with Jack.”

Elaine fixed her coffee while Myrtle visited with Jack. “Look at you!” she said to him. “You’re such a big boy with your dinosaur backpack.”

Jack gave her a toothy grin and then sat on her floor and carefully unpacked his backpack, showing her his show-and-tell toy, the “letter bag” full of things representing the letter s, and his dinosaur lunchbox.

He started playing with the box of toys that Myrtle had reserved for him as Elaine plopped down on the sofa with her coffee. “Maybe this will help me wake up a little,” she mumbled. “How are things going over here?”

“Oh, they’re all right, I suppose.”

Elaine quirked an eyebrow. “Trouble with Miles’s ladylove?”

Myrtle winced at the reference. “Eloise? Ugh, yes. Miles and I were having a completely lovely time doing puzzles last night when Eloise burst in, turned on the television, and then started loudly snoring.”

Elaine hid a smile. “Really? That sounds very dramatic.”

“Well, I suppose it happened in stages, but it certainly felt very sudden. Right now, I’d rather have Erma Sherman knocking on my door than Eloise.”

“That really is bad.” Elaine took another sip of coffee. “Is Miles really smitten with her, then? It seems like he’s putting up with a lot.”

Myrtle, who was smiling at Jack playing with toy trucks, said, “Heavens, no. No, he doesn’t want to be seeing her at all. But you know how Miles doesn’t like making waves. He’s trying to find a way to cushion the blow when he breaks up with her. At the rate he’s going, it might be next year.”

Elaine leaned in as if she might somehow be overhead by someone other than a preschooler. “Okay. If that’s the case, I need to share something I saw yesterday. I wasn’t going to say anything if Miles was totally happy in the relationship. But I saw Eloise out yesterday with another man.”

Myrtle frowned. “Out, like maybe she was stretching her legs and he was joining her? Out, like perhaps she was having a coffee and there wasn’t another place to sit so this man shared her table?”

“No. Out, like they were definitely together.”

“And you’re sure it wasn’t Miles?”

“Yes. Eloise reached out and put her hand on his and squeezed it. And then he gave her a kiss.”

Myrtle said flatly, “Well, that definitely wasn’t Miles. Miles doesn’t believe in public displays of affection. Who was this man? Did you recognize him?”

Elaine nodded. “It was Jax Jackson.”

Myrtle gave a low whistle. Jax was an attractive older man with a full beard and a rakish smile. He was tall and full of life.

“I think that’s very shabby of Eloise! Imagine cheating on a kind, sweet man like Miles.” Myrtle fumed.

Elaine said, “I know. Maybe break it to him gently.”

“I’ll do no such thing! I’m planning on giving him as much ammunition as possible so he’ll actually break up with her. I’m not going to hold back,” said Myrtle grimly.

Elaine glanced at her watch and took a last big gulp of coffee. “Okay, that’s it for me. Hope you have a good rest of your day, Myrtle.”

Myrtle gave them both hugs although she was a little absentminded while she did so. She couldn’t resist immediately letting Miles know so she gave him a call.

He must have fallen asleep because his voice was groggy when he answered. “Hmm?” he asked blearily.

“Elaine was just over here and you’ll never believe what she said.”

Miles said, “Jack did something cute? Or smart?”

“Of course not, Miles. That wouldn’t be extraordinary at all. Jack is always doing something cute and smart. No, she told me that when she was out yesterday, she saw Jax Jackson and Eloise having an intimate lunch together. Kissing and handholding and whatnot.”

Miles was quiet for a few moments. “Was she sure about that? Jax goes out with plenty of people. In fact, I thought he was seeing Marigold Pratt right now.”

“Marigold Pratt is married.”

“Yes, but that hasn’t seemed to stop Jax,” said Miles.

“Maybe he’s seeing both of them. The point is that Elaine was absolutely certain of what and who she saw. She was planning on not saying anything because she was afraid your feelings would be hurt.”

Miles said wryly, “Which is entirely the problem. My feelings aren’t hurt.”

“Precisely. And they would be if you cared about Eloise.”

“My pride might be hurt a little, though,” muttered Miles.

“Your pride should know better than to take its cues from Eloise. You have plenty of other things to be proud of.”

Miles said, “It might be helpful if you were to name a few. Just to help me bounce back from this a little.”

“Well, you’ve become much better at chess.”

“That’s true,” said Miles. His voice brightened.

“You’re very tidy. I bet most single men don’t have floors that sparkle.”

“I’m not sure I really feel pride in that, though,” said Miles.

“And you’re a very good friend,” said Myrtle as if it had just occurred to her. “You’re always very thoughtful.”

“Thank you, Myrtle.”

“You’re welcome. Now go break up with Eloise. I know how you like to procrastinate things that you don’t want to do.”

Miles groaned.

“Just phone her up. She always has her phone with her. I know this because it’s always going off with that annoying ringtone.”

Miles said, “I don’t think breaking up with someone on the phone is a very nice thing to do. And you just said that I was a good friend and very thoughtful.”

“For heaven’s sake! Just phone her and ask her to meet you somewhere. She’s the one who’s not valuing your relationship enough, after all. It shouldn’t be that much of a hardship to cut the cord.”

Miles sighed. “All right. I’ll call and see if we can have breakfast together. I’ll get back to you later.” And he rang off.

Satisfied, Myrtle started humming to herself in a very off-key fashion while she tidied up her house. Then she finished her crossword puzzle and headed off to the grocery store for more orange juice. Red had seen to it that she didn’t have a car some time ago, so when she went to the store on solo trips, she made sure that she was just getting one or two things so she could easily carry them back.

Near the grocery store, she spotted Miles and Eloise having breakfast at a table next to the window inside Bo’s Diner. They appeared to be having a fabulous time together. Miles, in the middle of laughing, glanced out the window and saw Myrtle’s scowling face. He quickly sobered up.

Myrtle stalked into the grocery store and found the orange juice. She also remembered she was a little low on peanut butter, so she got that as well. The bag was already going to be a bit heavy, so she stopped there and headed to the cash register.

When she passed by the diner again, Eloise was no longer there and Miles was standing glumly outside. He reached out a hand and Myrtle gave him the grocery bag.

“Did you drive here?” she asked.

“No, I walked. I wanted to clear my head.”

“Did that work?” asked Myrtle.

“Not particularly.”

They walked in silence for a few moments before Myrtle asked, “So what happened at the diner?”

Miles sighed. “It became very melodramatic.”

“Things must have deteriorated quickly. When I was going by on my way to the store, you both looked quite jolly.”

“Yes, but your expression reminded me what I was supposed to be doing. I managed an awkward segue to the subject of Jax.” Miles switched the heavy grocery bag from one arm to the other. “I told her that I thought she and I needed to stop seeing each other but to continue being friends.”

“Although hopefully not the type of friend that bursts into the house in the middle of the night and breaks up puzzle solving.”

Miles nodded. “I think I made it clear that we weren’t going to be spending a lot of time together. I didn’t want to have a halfway relationship. Actually, I don’t think I want to have a relationship at all right now. It certainly makes life a lot more complicated and I’m at the time of my life where I like things to be simple.”

“What did she say about Jax?” asked Myrtle curiously.

“Oh, she admitted it right away. Blushed, as a matter of fact.”

Myrtle said, “She couldn’t have been too surprised that you found out. After all, this is a small town . . . you can’t just be canoodling with someone in the middle of downtown and not have people know about it.”

“Apparently, they’ve had an on-again, off-again relationship for a long time. Anyway, she did act rather defensive at first.” Miles looked uncomfortable. “She decided to throw some of my own faults back at me. Eloise was being rather loud and I have the feeling she was overheard. It was quite crowded in the diner at the time.”

Myrtle quirked her eyebrows. “What were your faults?”

“Do I really have to catalog them?”

“Well, we just listed your attributes a little while ago. It seems fair to consider your faults now, too.”

Miles said, “I’m not sure they were really even faults. They were just things she didn’t like—aspects of me that didn’t work for her.”

“Such as?”

Miles said, “Well, she thinks I’m very quiet.”

“That’s definitely not a fault and rather rude of her to say it was.” Myrtle’s eyes flashed.

Miles said, “Again, it was just something that she didn’t care for. Eloise was always trying to get me to go out with her to a friend’s get-together or a movie or to get ice cream. She didn’t seem to understand my interest in puttering around the house, or doing puzzles, or reading my books.”

“Non-readers are always trouble,” said Myrtle darkly. “What else did she think was wrong with you?”

Miles gave her a sideways look. “That I kept odd company.”

“Was she talking about me?” Myrtle was now quite indignant.

“I guess so. She could also have meant Wanda and Crazy Dan. Although I wouldn’t say I keep company with them very often. But according to her, I have a real menagerie of friends.”

“Hmm.” Myrtle narrowed her eyes. “I believe you’ve had a lucky escape, Miles. A very lucky one. Shall we watch Tomorrow’s Promise when we get back to my house? I can rewind it to the beginning of the show.”

And so, to Myrtle’s delight, the rest of the day progressed precisely as planned. They watched their show with no interruptions. They had sandwiches in the early afternoon with tomatoes that Miles had picked from his backyard garden. They sat out on Myrtle’s dock for a while and listened to a mockingbird and tried to count the number of songs he was singing. It was a thoroughly delightful, unextraordinary, very quiet day. The kind of day that Eloise wouldn’t have liked—which made Myrtle enjoy the day even more.

Miles left for home in the late-afternoon and Myrtle went inside to feed and visit with Pasha. She picked up her book to read when there was a knock at her door. She frowned—it was ten o’clock at night. Opening the door, she saw Miles there, a worried look on his face.

“Goodness, Miles. Has something happened?”

Miles said grimly, “Eloise just called me.”

“Does she not understand how breakups work?”

“Oh, she does. But she said that Jax Jackson was dead. She found him a few minutes ago.”