A Moment in St. Arden | Original Fiction by Jenny Wendel

Mr. Vito had a keen eye for decorating the shop, but nothing he displayed was there simply to fill a space. Kate had spent enough quiet afternoons talking with him to know that nearly everything had a story.

Kate remembered a winter afternoon when she had complimented the cute ceramic tea cup on top of a shelf behind the counter. Vito had smiled and Kate could tell that for a moment he was somewhere else. Mr. Vito’s voice broke a little. “That was her favorite cup. My cara mia…

She never cared about fancy things, and one day we were in town together. Her eyes landed on this teacup. I could tell she wanted it. She looked a little longer than usual, and she even walked back by it one last time before we left. I whispered to the store manager to pull it from the shelf and wrap it up for me. It stayed on the top of the shelf of my closet behind my old work hats until one day I knew the perfect moment had presented itself. Right after a doctor’s appointment when we found out how sick she was, I pulled the wrapped teacup from the shelf.”

Vito’s eyes filled and his voice became quiet.

“She used it every day for the rest of her life.”

He looked up at the cup.

“Funny, isn’t it? I almost missed it. All she did was look at it a little longer than usual.”

Kate took a deep breath and looked away, out the window.

Quietly she thought: Will doesn’t even know my favorite color.