What The Heart Wants

Sitting on the edge of his bed, a tear slowly makes it’s way down Margaret’s cheek. His hand had grown cold and she knew she had to say good-bye. Death and taxes are the only two guarantees in life and they both sucked the life right out of you. Closing her eyes and willing herself to get up, she is startled by familiar voice behind her. Hearing it, she is immediately transported to the summer her mother had insisted she take up a cooking class.

It was 1967 and all the graduation festivities were over. Girls were getting ready for college. Guys were getting ready to ship off to boot camp. Margaret had no plans to join her friends at college. Her parents needed her, whether they wanted to admit it or not. The family’s General Store was not doing well and they had recently let go of their stock boy. Having her home to help, her parents were secretly relieved. She had decided to stick around for at least a year to help her folks and maybe find a hobby. School had been full of classes and socials with no real time to explore any interests.

On her first day of the cooking class, she was surprised to find a boy there among all the girls. She noticed he was being ignored and decided to sit next to him. She hated when anyone was disregarded, even if it made her the odd one out. Walking right up to him, she stuck out her hand and introduced herself.

“Hi. I’m Margaret. My friends call me Maggie.”

Startled, he turned to look at her. Attempting to reply, he eventually got his words out. Sitting down next to him, she patiently waited for him to finish. When he had finally gotten his words out she said, “Well it is very nice to meet you Dan.”

Throughout the entire summer she had sat by Dan and together they learned to cook everything from pasta to filet mignon, Baked Alaska to Creme Brulee. By the time the class was over, he no longer stuttered or she no longer noticed. Either way, she and Dan were an item. Frequenting each other’s homes for Sunday afternoon lunch and Wednesday night dinners, for two years they were inseparable.

After that first summer, Margaret got a second job at the local JC Penney to help pay the bills at home. Between JC Penney’s, the General Store and Dan, she decided she needed a break and stopped by The Stout Pig for a beer one night on her way home. Not normally a beer drinker, without looking at the bartender she asked for whatever his favorite beer on tap was.

Placing a cold mug in front of her, he simply said, “This’ll do ya.”

His voice made Margaret’s heart drop to her stomach. Too nervous to look up, she drained the mug, put a $10 on the bar and left.

The following week Margaret found herself at the same bar asking the same bartender the same question. As weeks turned into months their exchange stay the same – the question, that voice, chug a beer, pay the tab, leave. For six months this was their Waltz until one week, he decided it was time to Tango.

Sitting her beer down in front of her, he leaned across the bar and stuck is hand under her chin. Slowly lifting her head up so he could see her eyes, he whistled, “While I’ll be a skinned pig if aren’t you the prettiest thing that has sat at this bar. Billy’s the name.” With that he turned around and continued cleaning the dishes.

Even after Margaret married Dan, she still thought of that voice. Her body may have been with Dan but her thoughts were at that bar. Her heart was always with Billy.

In the fifteen years that had passed, she had quietly kept up with Billy. Margaret knew that he had never gotten married and that he had only purchased The Stout Pig the week before she first sat at the bar. She would see him at the grocery store or he would stop by the General Store that she and Dan now owned. Fearing her feelings would surface, she always made sure to wait in her car until he had left or need something in the storage room at the General Store.

What she didn’t know, was that he had also been keeping up with her. He would stop in at her store when her car was out front. When leaving the grocery store, he would be sure to drive past her car when he saw it in the parking lot. Anything he could do to just catch a glimpse of her. He also knew Dan had a stroke that had caused him numerous physical problems. That morning he had gone by the General Store and saw the sign from the street saying they were closed. Knowing it could only mean one thing, he had headed straight for the hospital.

Today, all of Dan’s health problems had joined forces and Margaret was saying her final good-bye. Hearing Billy’s voice at the door, she found herself with a renewed hope. Her heart and thoughts had always been with Billy. Had his always been with her? Turning on the edge of the hospital bed, she finally looked up.

Billy had been patient, knowing she would be worth the wait.

“You are still the prettiest girl that ever did sit at my bar.”, Billy said with his deep Southern drawl.

In that moment Margaret knew her love for him would not be wasted. She had cared for Dan, but Dan had always been a Two Step. Closing her eyes, she is instantly taken back to the bar and the first time she heard his voice. Never one to believe in coincidence, she had always wandered what her life would have been if she had followed her heart back then. Taking a deep breath, Margaret opened her eyes and decided she was done with the Tango. She was ready for a Salsa.

Striding over to the doorway, she stuck out her hand and said, “I never did tell you my name. It’s Margaret. My friend’s call me Maggie.”