Old Love

A lonely widow and a lonely widower. Sounds like a match made in heaven, right?

Well, in Mrs. Julia Elizabeth King's and Mr. Matthew James Turstin's cases, more like a match made in hell.

The two were lovers in their younger days, but their love soon turned to hatred when Matthew left Julia in their thirties for another woman. Their rivalry is very deep in years, fifty in fact.

Now here they were, 50 years later, both widowed, cleaning up at a party together. In hell. Well, that last part was a lie: the party actually took place in the town of Gravenhurst's community centre. Definitely not hell. But it felt like it to Mr. Turstin and Mrs. King.

And this hell was born of awkwardness and resentment for them both.

Scrape. Scrape. Julia King putting all of the leftover food from supper in the trash can next to the kitchen door.

Rustle. Rustle. Matthew Turstin taking down all of the extremely colourful banners and pennants.

Crunch. Crunch. Julia walking on the streamers that fell to the floor.

"Mrs. King?" Matthew asked tentatively. The people of the town made fun of her and called her the Widow King, but not Matthew. He still respected Julia, even after everything they'd gone through, apart and together.

"Yes," Julia answered him sharply. "What is it, Mr. Turstin?"

There was once a time when the two of them would call each other by their first names, but that time was long past. Now, they just used simple formalities that were expected as civilised residents of Gravenhurst, Ontario.

"I was simply wondering where they want us to stow the banners to use for next time," Matthew told her. "I'm rather new to this and thought you might know, since you've done this sort of thing before." Julia relaxed a little.

She had thought it would be something to do with her husband's recent passing, something that the whole town made fun of until she was ready to cry. In public, no less, which was not a regular occurrence for her.

"Oh. They go in the big box over there." Julia pointed to a cardboard box in the corner of the room that was labelled 'decorations'.

Matthew nodded his thanks and walked over to put the banners away. Julia took a deep breath. It was difficult to be in the same room as her ex-lover, especially now that they were both widowed. Did I mention that they were in the same room as well?

The mood that night was very subdued and awkward. Matthew attempted to make a bit of small talk, just because it was the polite thing to do, but Mrs. King shot him down every time he tried. A couple of their extremely short conversations went like this:

Matthew trying to be polite and kind: So...how are your grandchildren doing in school? Are any of them graduating anything soon?

Julia stomping down all conversation: No.

Matthew again, starting on a new speech topic: Did your daughter get a new job yet? I heard she was applying for a real estate agent's position.

Julia: *silence*

Matthew: Um, alright then. I am dreadfully sorry for the loss of your feline friend, your Siamese cat, Persia. Would you happen to be receiving a new pet any time soon?

The less said about those extraordinarily awkward moments, the better.

When Julia got home that night, she couldn't stop thinking about the events of the evening. Why had she been so rude to Mr. Turstin? He didn't deserve to be ignored. No one did. Then why had she done it?

Stop it, she told herself sternly. You're acting like you're twenty-five again, not a grown woman of 83. These muddled thoughts are not going to do you any good, and you know it.

Julia got ready for bed, brushing her teeth and combing her thin white hair gently so as not to break any strands.

But I can't stop mooning about him, her heart told her head. Her head replied with, He's your sworn enemy, ever since that fiasco fifty years ago! You can't trust him!

She shook her head vehemently, trying to clear her thoughts, and crawled under her quilted covers.

Little did she know, that all the way across town, Matthew Turstin was having arguments with his heart as well.

Matthew paced around his room, tapping his cane on the ground and stroking his snowy-white beard. Why was Mrs. King so withdrawn?

Well, that's an obvious answer, he told himself. Everyone in Gravenhurst makes fun of her! But why they make fun is the question...I must find out. Of course, only to protect her honour. That's the only reason.

Then he thought of something that dampened his enthusiasm.

What if Mrs. King didn't like this idea? Maybe she didn't want her honour protected. Maybe she wanted to take care of herself, without help from anyone, much less her ex-lover.

Matthew sat down in a chair next to his bed. Why does this have to be so hard? he asked himself.

If only Mrs. Julia King still loved him...but that was impossible. Surely.

A note from the author:

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to say two things quickly. The first thing is that I want to thank you for liking and commenting on my previous stories. It is so nice of you and I really appreciate it. I want to confide in everyone to say that I didn't even think anyone would see my stories, let alone like and comment on them. It means so much to me to see that, and it makes me really happy. Thank you all so much for the support, and I want to say that I love you guys a ton for this! I hope you enjoy more of my stories!

The next quick thing I want to say is a heads-up. If you follow me, I will follow you back if I'm not following you already. Just wanted to let you know that! Okay, hope you like it!