Waiting on Love

Chapter 1-2

Valerie couldn’t help but giggle. “I actually met him at a concert where he was playing. By the time the set was over, there were only a handful of people left.” The bell behind her sounded, letting her know she had an order up.

“I got it,” Wanda said, swooping in behind her, and Valerie was thankful for her help. She turned back to Joe.

“You deserve a lot better than that.” His eyes looked so sincere, Valerie felt a little flutter inside, and questioned if she was just responding to his politeness or if it was something else.

Before she had a chance to think about it, she forced herself back to concentrating on the job in front of her. “Thank you, Joe. Did you decide what you’ll be having?”

“Give me the special. Medium well,” he said, handing her the menu he’d been staring at for the last several minutes.

“You got it,” Valerie replied, scribbling that down on her notepad so she could give it to the cooks. She wished they were fancy and had a computer to enter their orders on, but the Bishop brothers were nothing if not old fashioned. “Sweet tea?” she asked as she turned to stick the order in the queue.

“Yes, please,” Joe replied, and Valerie turned to get his drink.

Once she’d slid it across the counter to him, she went to check on the rest of her tables and was glad to see Mr. Nelson hadn’t finished yet. She brought extra napkins to a family needing them, refilled a few more drinks, and then made her way to the back of the diner where the gentleman had his book open in front of him, but he was staring out the window at a sky painted orange by the setting sun.

“How are you doing, hon?” she asked, standing next to his table.

He must not have heard her approach because he startled a bit at the sound of her voice. “Oh, I’m just fine,” he replied. His plate wasn’t even half cleared, and Valerie thought it would be cold by now anyway.

“Would you like a to-go box?” Most nights, she offered one. He’d never taken one that she could remember.

“No, sweetie. I’m fine,” he repeated.

“Mr. Nelson, would you mind if I sat down for a bit? You come in every evening, and I just don’t feel like I know you as well as I should.”

He looked at her cautiously for a moment before he set his book aside and said, “Sure, Valerie.”

“Thank you,” she said as she slid into the booth across from him. The Bishops were good about allowing their waitresses to get to know their customers, so long as they weren’t too busy, and Valerie enjoyed sitting with her regulars whenever she had a minute or two. Getting to know the people who frequented the restaurant made her job seem less like work and more like a calling—if it was possible that being a waitress could ever be a calling. She liked to think it could be, though, especially in moments like this.

He smiled at her through thin-rimmed reading glasses, which he then took off and dropped into his shirt pocket. Valerie noted that he looked older than he was, and tired. “You’re reading Gulliver’s Travels?” she asked.

“Yes, re-reading it,” he nodded. “I like this one. I read it every few years. I remember reading it with my grandma when I was a boy.”

Valerie smiled, imagining what that must have been like. “That’s got to be a fond memory.”

“It is. We’d sit under the shade on her front porch and take turns a-readin’. She had the nicest reading voice. I’d forget to follow along, and she’d have to remind me every time it was my turn where I was supposed to pick up.”

She laughed along with him as he reminisced. “Grandmas are the best,” she said, thinking of her own grandmother for a few moments, who had passed a couple of years ago.

“They certainly are. Lilly, that’s my wife, she and I read this story with our son when he was younger as well.” A shadow of sadness passed through his eyes when he mentioned Lilly, and it lingered there even after he finished the sentence.

“That also sounds like a great memory. How old is your son?” She had heard he lived in another town, but thought her dad might know him.

“Gary is forty-two,” he replied. “He lives with his family near Baltimore. I don’t see them as much as I’d like. He’s a busy fellow.”

Valerie couldn’t help but feel a little sad for Mr. Nelson. “Do you have any family here, Mr. Nelson?”

“Not anymore,” he replied, solemn. “Since Lilly passed, there really isn’t anyone else. I moved here from West Virginia to take a job with the electric company when I was fresh outta high school. We’ve been away from family for a quite a spell.”

“I see,” Valerie nodded, her heart hurting for the kind old man.

“I retired two years ago last October.”

“It must be nice to have some free time,” Valerie said, hoping to see if he had any friends or hobbies.

Mr. Nelson nodded. “I like to garden, but that’s hard in the winter. Most days, I sit at home and read or watch whatever’s on the TV.”

Valerie couldn’t help but feel sad for him. He really did seem like such a nice person. It was too bad he didn’t have anyone. “Do you have friends or neighbors you visit with?” she asked, hoping maybe there was something she was missing.

Mr. Nelson shrugged. “I have some friends from work, but most of them are married and have families. I don’t know my neighbors as well as I should, I suppose, since I’ve lived in the same house for over thirty years. But a lot of new people seem to be buying up these older houses ‘round here. New people moving in, old people moving out.”

That was true, Valerie could attest to that. “Do you attend church?” She hoped she sounded like she was making conversation, rather than trying to figure out why he was all alone, but she was starting to doubt that. She likely sounded like she was meddling.

“No, not anymore,” Mr. Nelson replied, shaking his head. “We used to go some when Gary was younger. Wanted him to be raised up right. But it was just too… political for my taste. So we stopped going. Doubt any of ‘em would welcome me back at my age.”

“Well, that’s not true,” Valerie jumped in without even considering how she should answer. “My church has a great program for seniors. So do a lot of the other churches in town. Mr. Nelson, if you’d like to go with me on Sunday, I’d be more than happy to introduce you to Mrs. Gregory and some of the other people at church. Mrs. Gregory runs a lot of the programs there, and I’m sure she would love to introduce you to some of the other nice folks.”

Mr. Nelson was shaking his head before she even finished. “Thank you, Valerie. I do appreciate it. And I know of Patricia Gregory from around town. She’s nice enough, I hear. But I don’t want to be a bother.”

“It wouldn’t be a bother at all,” she continued, but he was still shaking his head, and she decided not to push any harder just yet. “Okay, well, if you should ever change your mind, Mr. Nelson, we would love to have you.”

“Thank you, kindly, Valerie,” he said with a smile, but Valerie thought it was forced. Realizing Joe’s order would likely be up, she smiled in return and then slid out of the

booth. “I’ll be back to see if you need anything else in a few moments.”

“Just the check,” he replied, still smiling, but Valerie hoped she hadn’t made him feel as if he needed to run away from her. She really was just trying to help.

Valerie returned to the counter just about the time Sam was about to hit the bell to let her know Joe’s order was ready. His hand froze midair, and she couldn’t help but share a chuckle with him. “Thank you, Sam,” she said, and taking Joe’s plate, she turned to see him looking at something on his phone. “Here you go, hon.”

“Thanks, Val,” he said, putting his phone in his pocket and smiling at her.

“So, you said you’re from Harpers Ferry?” she asked, and he nodded in response, a french fry in his mouth. “What brought you here?”

As soon as he was done chewing, he replied, “I was going to school in Baltimore to be a vet, but when funding dried up, I started looking around for a tech job, hoping I could do that while I saved up to go back to school. Met my ex-wife here, and decided to settle down, even though, as you know, that didn’t last too long.”

“Oh,” Valerie nodded, hoping she wasn’t being too nosey again. She decided not to comment on what she did or did not know about his short-lived marriage. “Vet school. That does sound expensive.”

“You have no idea,” he replied, squirting some ketchup on his plate. “I didn’t either until I was halfway through.”

“What about student loans?”

“I got the ones I could, but my parents make too much for me to get enough to cover everything. But—just because you make a lot of money doesn’t mean you don’t have a lot of debt.”

The way he said it, Valerie thought it must be a sore subject. “That’s certainly true.”

“What about you, Val? Did you always want to be a waitress?”

She couldn’t help but laugh out loud, probably louder than she should have. “Heavens, no,” she said. And then, turning momentarily to make sure Frank wasn’t eavesdropping, she continued. “I thought I’d just work here a few years in high school. I love it—don’t get me wrong. But I really wanted to go to school to get my cosmetology degree.”

“So why didn’t you?” he asked before biting into his burger.

Valerie sighed. She didn’t really like talking about that part of her life, but since he’d asked, she decided to go ahead and mention it. “My senior year of high school, my mom got really sick. I was the youngest—my brother was in college and both of my older sisters had already graduated and started their careers, one with a family. So, it was up to me to help my dad take care of my mom. When she finally passed away a few years later, I felt like it was too late. I’d been here for four years, and my dreams of cosmetology school seemed like just that… dreams.”

Joe was looking at her now with sympathy in his eyes and nothing in his mouth. “I’m really sorry to hear that, Val.”

“Thank you.” She managed the same small smile she always pulled out whenever she talked about her mother. Julie Thomas had been the strongest woman Valerie had ever known, but no matter how hard she fought, she just couldn’t beat the cancer that ate away at her insides one organ at a time. Pushing those thoughts aside, she began to straighten the counter again.

Apparently, Joe wasn’t through. “You could still go to school, though, Val. There’s gotta be a school in one of the towns nearby.”

She grabbed a wet cloth and began to wash down the counter. “There’s one in Martinsburg,” she shrugged, “and another one in Berryville. But I’m so busy here….”

“You should look into it,” he continued. “I’m sure Frank would work around your schedule.”

Valerie glanced over her shoulder at the familiar face of the man who’d almost become like a father to her since her own dad had moved to Washington, DC, a few years ago to be nearer her sister Kathy and her family. Frank looked just like the stereotypical cook at a diner. His dark hair was graying around the temples, visible beneath his hat. His nose was slightly too large for his face, and his bushy eyebrows were almost the steel color of his spatula. He said something to Sam, and they both laughed. She knew Joe was right, but she hadn’t even considered going back to school for so long, the thought made her stomach tie up in knots. What if she couldn’t do it? She knew how to be a waitress—and she was really good at it, although her tips didn’t always say so. Still, she knew that was because most folks around here were on a limited budget. She was well acquainted with her customers and enjoyed seeing them regularly. If she became a hairdresser, she’d have to start all over again.