Pennies

"So how'd you guys finally end up getting together?"

"About two hours later I got a call from the dispatcher that the bookstore had notified them I had left some tools behind."

"Maybe you did that subconsciously, as a way to go back and see her."

"Except that I didn't leave any tools behind. I checked and I had everything. But just in case I went back to the bookstore to find out if maybe there was something I left there."

"I assume Liz was still there."

"She was. I found her and told her I had been called and told I left some tools here. She smiled at me and said, 'That's not what I told them. I told them you forgot something.' So I asked what it was that I forgot. Liz gave me the most beautiful smile I've ever seen and said 'You forgot to get my phone number'."

"That's so sweet and romantic," I gushed. And I meant it. "Obviously she felt the same about you as you felt about her."

He smiled at the memory.

"Yeah, she did. So she gave me her number. Now, I'm not the most assertive guy when it comes to women, but I got the hint here. I tried to ask her out but she just said no, I'd have to call her. So I took my phone right then, standing not 4 feet from her, and called her. I knew it was right when she went right along with me. She answered the phone with 'Hello?'. I said, "Liz, this is Henry. You may not remember me but I was at the store fixing those racks'. She said, 'Oh yes, I think I remember you. What can I do for you?'. I asked, "I wanted to see if you'd have dinner with me tonight'. She agreed and we had an amazing time. We were practically inseparable from then on."

"God, I can't stand how sweet that was. That's so beautiful!"

"We got married the summer between her junior and senior years. That pissed her parents off because they wanted her to wait until she graduated, but neither of us wanted to wait."

"Do you have any relationship with them?"

"Not really. Since Liz and I were only married a little over 3 years before...before her accident, and they live in Ohio, I didn't really get a chance to build a relationship with them. We exchange Christmas cards but that's about it."

"That's too bad. I'll bet you could be a source of strength and memories for each other."

"Yeah, probably. Anyway, it was a perfect 3 years. I don't think we fought about anything. Obviously that wouldn't have lasted but it was nice while it did. After she graduated she got a job with social services as a case worker, just like she always wanted. She loved helping people."

I watched carefully as his eyes started to water thinking about her, and he started to talk about the night he lost her.

"She was on call that night but was at home for dinner and we were just getting ready to watch a movie. The call came in, just like it had plenty of times before. She leaned over and gave me a kiss, then went to change into her work clothes. I walked her out to her car just like I always did. We kissed, she told me she loved me and she'd be back, and she left."

I watched him carefully as he told the story. It was like he was reliving it all over again.

"Henry, you don't have to talk about this."

"I know, but each time I tell someone about her, about how much I loved her and what a wonderful person she was, it takes a little more of the pain away."

"Okay, if you're sure."

"She had been gone for about 90 minutes, and I knew the minute it happened. I was watching CNN and listening to them drone on about whatever when I felt the sharpest pain I've ever felt, right in my gut. For some reason I glanced at the clock: 8:26pm. When she didn't come home by 10:00pm I started to get worried, and by 11:00 I was getting frantic. She had never been out this late. And then came the knock on the door."

His eyes were distant and quiet. He was seemingly staring off into space but I soon realized he was focused on a picture of Liz.

"It was a police officer and a police chaplain. Liz wore a cross around her neck so they knew she was a Christian, and that was why the chaplain had been called in. I was escorted down to identify her and do all that horrible stuff. I was handed a copy of the police report, and the time of the accident was 8:26pm, the exact time I had felt that pain in my side."

My hand reflexively went to cover my mouth as I gasped at that piece of information. I had heard of twins having a connection like that but had never heard of it happening to 2 people that were unrelated. I was amazed.

"She had died instantly; I was thankful for that at least, that she didn't suffer. She was broad-sided by a semi whose driver not only had been driving for nearly 20 hours straight but who was trying to send a text at the same time. He blew right through a red light and she was gone, just like that."

He broke down at this moment after riding on the edge the entire time he was telling the story. I took him into my arms and let him cry into my shoulder for a couple minutes until he got it together. I'm ashamed to say that feeling his warmth against me gave me feelings I probably shouldn't have been having at that moment.

"I'm sorry about that. I lose it there every single time."

"It's okay Henry. You have nothing to apologize for."

"The driver went to prison for vehicular manslaughter and a variety of other things. He died in a prison fight about 6 months into his sentence. Liz would have insisted I forgive him and I tried. God damn it, I tried. But I never did, and I actually smiled when I heard he was killed. I feel like I let Liz down as far as that goes, but I believe she has forgiven me."

"I'm sure she has, Henry. She'd understand that you tried."

"I hope so. Anyway, I got a huge settlement from the trucking company, and I use that as best I can to continue working for things that were important to Liz, like buying homeless people something to eat."

He looked at me and smiled a bittersweet smile.

"I can't tell you how many of our date nights ended up including a homeless person or two. If we saw someone while we were out, she always, without fail, invited them to join us. It got frustrating sometimes, because I wanted her to myself. But it was important to her so it was important to me."

"You were very understanding. I'm sure she appreciated that."

"It was what she dedicated her life to; helping other people. That's why there's a closet full of her clothes. I thought about just donating them but she wouldn't have wanted that. If I gave them to Goodwill or someone like that, the women would have to pay something to get them, even if it was just a couple of dollars. So I give them away for free when the opportunity presents itself. I've cleared about half of them out of there, though some are in the trunk of my car. It's what I think she would have wanted."

"It's wonderful how you work so hard to keep her memory alive that way. I would have liked to have met her. It's too bad you guys didn't stumble upon me on one of your dates."

"Wouldn't that have been something? Speaking of that, how did you end up on the street?"

I got really quiet. I suspected this might come up, but I wasn't really comfortable revealing the circumstances around my situation yet. And that's what I told Henry.

"Henry, I'm really sorry. You've laid your heart bare for me and I know that was hard for you. As for me, I can tell you I'm where I am because my family wanted me to do something I wasn't willing to do, but I can't tell you much more than that right now. Maybe one day."

"That's okay Rochelle. I didn't tell you my story with any expectations of a trade-off. As hard as it is to tell, it lets me relive my time with Liz a little bit each time I talk about it, and that makes me happy...and sad, but mostly happy, at least now. If you're not comfortable talking about it, we won't talk about it. How about we get some sleep?"

We settled into bed, a comfortable couple of feet between us as we drifted off the sleep.

"Good night Rochelle."

"Good night Henry."

<><><><><>

HENRY

It had been an emotional night last night, exhausting me so that I slept very well; perhaps too well, in fact, because I woke up firmly spooned up against Rochelle. We were right in the middle of the bed, like we had gravitated toward each other as we slept.

And not only that: my right arm was firmly wrapped around her and I had her right breast in my hand, and I was most definitely poking her in the butt, if you catch my drift. Liz and I almost always woke up like this.

Fortunately she seemed to still be sleeping, so I tried to remove myself without waking her, but I wasn't successful. She grabbed my arm and held it against her body.

"Still tired."

"I need to get ready for work, Rochelle. You can keep sleeping."

"M'kay."

I jumped into the shower and got dressed in the bathroom, since Rochelle was still in the bedroom where I usually put my clothes on. I peeked in on her and she was resting comfortably. She really was very beautiful. She had light curly red hair that she kept tied up but would be very long otherwise. She had the very pale skin that you might expect and freckles that you usually associate with redheads. She was naturally very slim, possibly accentuated due to a lack of food due to her being on the streets, and was about 5'3" I would guess and she had sparkling green eyes.

I left my spare house key with her clothes so that she could lock the front door when she went to the market, then left her a note telling her so and to thank her for listening to me last night.

<><><><><>

ROCHELLE

I woke up very well rested. I was actually fairly awake when Henry climbed out of bed but I didn't want him to know it. He had fallen asleep quickly last night and I had moved closer to the middle of the bed, actually kind of hoping it might serve to draw him closer, and it did. I wasn't looking for anything more than a warm body to sleep against, something I hadn't done in years. Even if we had been back-to-back I would have been happy. That he wrapped his arms around me was a bonus, and that his hand ended up on my breast was icing on the proverbial cake.

I wanted to get the trip to the store over with quickly so I pulled on some of the clothes I took out of the closet last night and put them on. Liz was definitely a bigger girl than me, but again that's not saying much, as tiny as I am.

I found his note and the key he left for me, and headed out the door, being very careful to make sure his door was locked. It was a nice complex, but that didn't make it immune to crime.

I got to the bottom of the stairs when another couple came running over to me. The woman seemed more interested than the guy was.

"Excuse me. Did you just come out of Henry's apartment?"

She was tall and slim with should-length brown hair. She was very pretty and she didn't seem upset; just curious.

"I did, yes."

"Well, hi. I'm Connie and this is my husband, Steven. Henry's a good friend of ours. In fact, Liz was my best friend. I assume he mentioned her."

"Of course he did. He misses her a lot."

"They were very much in love. We've just now started to get him out and about, but I didn't know he was seeing anyone."

"Oh, we're not dating. He's...helping me out."

She looked at me like she wasn't entirely sure what I meant by that and I felt like it was important that she understand.

"He let me crash here last night, clean up a bit, and wash my clothes..."

She smiled with what appeared to be a sudden realization of what exactly it was that I meant.

"Oh, you're one of Liz's pennies. That's wonderful."

She glanced at her watch.

"Oh crud, we need to get going. It was nice to meet you."

And just like that they were gone. Liz's pennies? What on earth did that mean? I'd have to ask Henry about that tonight. I walked over to the store, and bought what I would need for dinner and breakfast, plus a couple discretionary items as well.

I got back to the apartment and put the groceries away. Rather than buying something else for lunch I ate the 2nd meal he had bought for me yesterday. Henry had a full supply of kitchen utensils and cookware, but almost no food. The refrigerator was empty, as I mentioned before, and there was very little in the cabinets. I could only assume he ate all his meals out. Taking that deduction a step further, I imagined he probably didn't like to spend much time here alone. It likely felt very empty without Liz here.

That was probably why he asked me to stay. I imagine having somebody, anybody, in the house probably made it easier to be here at night, or at all.

<><><><><>

I had the beef stroganoff simmering; it would be ready in about 15 minutes. Henry walked in the door from work and told me how good it smelled while giving me a hug. It had startled me but it was welcome, and I returned it. Suddenly he pulled back, and it became clear he had misconstrued my surprise as taking some offense.

"I'm sorry, Rochelle. I invaded your space. That was inappropriate. It just seemed like such a natural thing to do. I forgot myself. I apologize."

"Don't be sorry, Henry. I liked it. It felt nice. Feel free to do it again if the mood strikes you, okay?"

He seemed embarrassed but he nodded.

"Good. Dinner will be about 15 more minutes so why don't you go get cleaned up and change into something more comfortable and you can tell me about your day."

I finished making our salads and then Henry came out of the bedroom. He had actually showered quickly then came out in a clean t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants. He looked nice.

He sat at the table as I served the stroganoff, the French bread, and the salad. He inhaled the smell of the stroganoff deeply then gave a big smile. I poured us each a glass of wine then sat and joined him. I watched his eyes droop just slightly.

"Is something wrong, Henry?"

"No, nothing; just a memory of Liz, but I'll be okay."

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

"When Liz and I met I rarely drank anything but soda, juice, or water, and I had never had wine. She had grown up on wine at dinner and insisted I try it. I didn't really care for it at first but I pretended to so she'd be happy. It took about a year but I finally learned to enjoy it, but that was a rough year."

"Wine's not for everyone, that's for sure. I can get you something else if you'd rather."

"No, I'd like to drink this. You put a lot of thought and effort into this and I appreciate it."

He was like no one I had met before. For so many people the end result was all that mattered. It didn't matter if you spent all day cooking; if it tasted bad to them they'd let you know it and not very kindly. But Henry endured a year of drinking something he disliked without saying a word, just to make his girl happy.

Had our relationship been different, this would have been a very romantic meal, and the truth was I found myself having feelings for Henry, and that made me nervous. He was still in love with his late wife and was probably not ready to move on, but I wanted to find out for sure before something happened, like me leaving to go back to the streets.

"Can I ask you a question, Henry?"

"Of course."

"What exactly is one of Liz's pennies?"

"You must have run into Connie today."

"I did, on my way to the store. She thought you and I were dating and when I said that you were just helping me out she said I was one of Liz's pennies, but she had to go before I could ask what that meant."

"That was one of Liz's philosophies I guess you would call them. She equated the homeless to pennies, because society treated both of them as throwaways that had no value."

"That's a good analogy."

"Liz was homeless for a little while as a kid, along with her mom, and she never forgot what it felt like to have people just ignore them when all they wanted was a little help. Even when things got better for them she never forgot. That's why she did what she did."

The conversation waned for a bit while we focused on our dinner. I was watching him eat and wondering what was going through his mind. I found myself really wanting to know everything I could about him.

"Did anything interesting happen at work today?"

"No, it was pretty routine today. I prefer the unusual problems but they're few and far between. Did you find everything at the store okay?"

"I did. I got some eggs and bacon for breakfast tomorrow, and some microwave popcorn. I thought we'd watch a movie tonight or something."

"That sounds good. Why don't you find something while I clean up the kitchen?"

"Oh, I can clean it up hon...Henry. You were at work all day."

If he noticed my almost calling him 'honey' he didn't let on.

"No, I can take care of it. You cooked a great meal. You deserve to relax a bit."

He gave me a big smile and I just melted. Who does things like that? I mean, I know we're not in a relationship or anything but I know how it's supposed to work, and I was playing the role of housewife, even if just for a couple of days. My man went to work and I took care of the home he provided. I made him a good dinner, and then cleaned up while he relaxed after a hard day. Sure, if we were both working I'd expect the man to help around the house. But he had worked a full day while I spent about an hour going to the store, and then sat around for about 5 hours before starting dinner.

But none of that meant anything to Henry. He was home and he was going to help. What either of us had done in the hours leading up to that moment was irrelevant to him. I know how lucky and blessed Henry felt to have met and married Liz, but I was coming to realize that she was pretty damn lucky herself.

<><><><><>

HENRY

I cleaned up the kitchen, something I hadn't done in a while since I rarely used it. While I did that, Rochelle just kind of flitted around the apartment doing whatever: she took a quick shower and changed into her pajamas; she scrolled through the cable menu and picked a movie for us to watch; she ran the vacuum in the living room; she pulled a blanket out of the linen closet and put it on the couch, presumably to be put to use during the movie; and who knows what else.

I loved having her here. The whole apartment seemed brighter with her in it. I continued to wonder about her life and how she had ended up on the streets, but I didn't pry. I trusted that she'd tell me when she was ready and the time was right. I hoped that time came before she left, of course.

Once everything was done I joined her on the couch and we started the movie. I sat all the way to the left, remote firmly clenched in my hands per the Man Rules. She initially sat all the way on the other side of the couch, wrapped in the blanket. I figured she wanted to keep her distance from me so for about 15 minutes I just watched the movie. But the more it went on, the more I realized it bothered me. I didn't want her over there; I wanted her next to me.

I turned to look at her face. She was so serene just watching the screen. She was smiling ever so slightly; the word that came to mind in that moment was 'peace'. She was at peace just sitting here watching a movie with me.

As I stared she glimpsed in my direction and caught me staring at her. Her lips curled into an even bigger smile.

"You're staring at me. Having your pervert homeless girl fantasies again?

She laughed brightly and I even gave a mild laugh.

"No, just wondering why you're sitting all the way over there. I thought we were watching this together."

She smiled again and got up off the couch and sat down again next to me; right next to me. We tried a couple positions to get comfortable and ended up with my left arm around her and her head resting on my left shoulder. As the movie went on she ended up with her head resting on my lap and I found myself stroking her hair.