The look of absolute shock on her face was something to behold. "Eddie?" she managed in a strangled voice.
"Hiya, Zippy," I grinned.
"Ohmygod EDDIE!" she yelled, and then ran down the hallway, and launched herself into my arms so hard she almost tackled me. "Oh God Eddie, you came you finally came!" she babbled. "I didn’t think you’d ever!"
"You know me, Zippy. Stubborn as all get-out."
"Oh, that doesn’t matter. You finally came," she said, hugging me so hard I thought my ribs would break. "And nobody’s called me Zippy in years," she laughed. "I missed it. I missed you."
"I missed you, too."
"Oh, man," she said, at a loss for words. "Come in. Sit down." She led me into the living room, and to a couch.
"Why now? Not that I’m complaining, mind you," she asked.
"Natalie," I smiled.
"Did you finally read my latest letter?" She asked. I nodded. "Is Natalie the girl Amanda told me about?"
"Yeah," I said. "We’re going out."
"You have no idea how happy that makes me," she said. "I just hope she’s worthy of you."
"She is," I said. "You’ll figure that out in a minute. Anyhow, Natalie slept over last night. That was-you know-our first time."
"How sweet," she giggled.
"Anyhow, Mom was making breakfast this morning, and Nat volunteered to go get the mail. She saw your letter-she knows all about you-and talked me into reading it. Then talked me into coming here."
"I’m glad you did."
"So am I," I admitted.
"Natalie sounds like something else. She knows everything?" I nodded. "And she still pushed for you to come here?" I nodded again. "She must really trust you."
"She does," I agreed.
Annie sighed. "I still have all the letters you sent back. The first six months or so-well, I’m now glad you never read them. They were a combination of pitiful wailing that you had abandoned me and me throwing my sexual exploits in your face." She took a deep breath. "It is easier for me to see, from two years’ distance, just how completely fucked up I was back then."
"Understandable, you know," I said.
"Maybe. But I’ve had a hard time forgiving myself for how badly I hurt you. The only person, at that time, who’d ever truly cared about me, and I hurt you, badly. How long did it take you to get over it?"
"That’s not important," I said.
"How long, Ed?"
I took a deep breath. "It’s not going to make you feel any better."
"I don’t care."
"Natalie and I have been going out for a whole two days," I said. She giggled. "So it just happened, OK? And I almost walked away from it."
"Because of me," she said. I nodded. "Oh, God, Ed, I’m so sorry."
"It wasn’t really you. We were both young. And I should’ve realized that you were in no condition to have any kind of a relationship. But it was easier, in some ways, for me to hide behind it for two years."
"How did you finally get past it?" she asked.
I laughed. "Natalie kicked my ass."
She laughed herself. "Oh, I really wanna meet this girl!"
"You can. She’s here. She came with me. She decided to go for a walk, because she said we should have the Grand Reunion by ourselves, but she’ll be back.’
"Good."
"And you have a boyfriend?"
"Yeah, Gary. Six months now. I didn’t get over it all that easily, either, it just took me a bit shorter than you. Gary’s great, you’d like him."
"Good," I said.
She sighed. "Ed, we were only ‘together’ like that for three months. And I don’t want to say it didn’t matter, because that’s not true. But that’s not really it. Look, Aunt Kris and Uncle Jack have shown me that I can be cared for by people that don’t violate me. And Gary taught me how to love again." Then she started sniffling. "But you can’t replace a best friend. Dammit, Ed, you were my best friend forever! You’ll always be my best friend!" Now she was crying full-bore. "And that’s what I couldn’t stand! Oh, God, Ed, I lost-my-best-friend-and-I-couldn’t-," and then she was just crying. I took her in my arms and let her.
"It’s OK. We both made mistakes. I should’ve done this a year ago."
"Oh, God, Eddie!" she howled, and just kept crying.
Then I heard, "Annie?" from the doorway. Annie looked up, and said, "G-gary," and tried to control herself. Ah, this was the boyfriend.
"Who is this?" he said, looking none too happy. Hey, I didn’t blame him. If I saw Natalie crying in the arms of a guy I didn't know, I’d be suspicious myself. I just tried to look like a nice, non-threatening puppy.
Annie just held her hand out to him, vehemently, while she tried to get herself under control. "Gary," she finally sniffled, "this is Eddie."
"Eddie Bauer?" he said. Annie nodded. "Man," he said, coming over to me and shaking my hand, "I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time."
"I guess I talk about you," Annie admitted, as she hugged Gary.
"Incessantly," Gary laughed. "Hey, I didn’t know her back then. I’m glad someone was looking out for her when all hell broke loose. Though I know it cost you some."
"Yeah, but it was worth it." I finally admitted it-to myself. Especially here, seeing her happy, healthy, safe-it was worth it. Totally.
You know the expression, peace of mind? I had just gotten it.
"Ed?" Annie’s aunt said, peeking into the room. "Is that your red car out front?" I nodded. "There’s someone in it."
"A cute blonde?" I chuckled. She nodded. "That’d be Natalie."
"His girlfriend," Annie told Gary. "Let’s go!" she enthused. "I want to meet this girl!" She ran out of the house ahead of me, and beat me to the car. Nat looked up in surprise as Annie appeared at the open window.
"Are you Natalie?" Annie asked. "I’m Annie. Thank you. It means a lot."
"Means a lot to him, too. He just needed to be reminded." They both giggled.
Natalie had gotten out of the car, and she and Annie were standing next to one another, grinning at me. What did I see when I looked at them? The girl that I loved-and my best friend. It felt like the world’s biggest weight lifting off my shoulders.
"Can you guys stay a while?" Annie asked.
"A bit, as long as we’re not messing with any of your plans," I said.
"No, we were just going to hang out," Gary said from behind me.
"That’s settled, then. Come on. Aunt Kris will make lunch," Annie giggled.
We ended up on the patio, eating sandwiches and drinking cokes. It might have been awkward for Natalie-and Gary, for that matter. But it wasn’t.
"I hear you play ball," Gary said.
"Starting third baseman," I said-OK, with a bit of a brag. "I love baseball."
"Scuttlebutt has it you guys have a heck of a team this year. I know you shut our guys down opening day. With a girl pitcher, even," he chuckled.
"Girl pitcher?" Annie asked.
"Lily Woodard. Moved down here this past winter from Boston. She’s unbelievable. Throws ninety, and her breaking stuff is lethal. She’s also a great kid."
"She’s almost as funny as Ed is," Natalie said. "And, I’m sure you know, Annie, that is saying something."
"It sure is," Annie agreed. She turned to Gary. "Ed is the funniest person I’ve ever met."
"Moi?" I said. "Funny? Looking, maybe. Anyhow, back to Lily-she’s great. I’ve gotten to know her really well."
"I’m wondering about a girl pitcher, though. Do all the guys hit on her?" Annie asked.
"Not unless they want Mike to beat them up," I chuckled.
"Mikey Kirkland?" Annie asked. "You mean he and Lily…"
"Are so madly in love you wouldn’t believe it," I laughed. I turned to Gary. "Ever been to a baseball game, and, on the mound, before the game, seen the catcher give the pitcher a good-luck kiss? We sure do have an interesting team."