What the Hummingbird Knew

By Robynne Rand

Losing her husband twenty-years earlier, Naomi Jenson had shut herself off to the possibility of love--especially at her age. In her mid-fifties, who would want her anyway? However, a hummingbird recently appeared at the feeder in her backyard and Naomi knew it was a sign. Of what, she wasn't sure, but hummingbirds meant joy in certain Native cultures and she was willing to open her heart for whatever the tiny winged creature would bring.

Harrison Westmoreland had never found the right woman to settle down with and so, never married. His friends had stopped long ago to try to fix him up. The woman he was currently dating was getting on his nerves and he wanted to break up, but then he would be alone again. Perhaps a bad relationship was better than no relationship at all.

When Naomi and Harrison met quite by chance at a fish market, and then at a Chinese restaurant, and then again at a grocery store, both knew it was more than coincidence that brought them together. But would Naomi's emotional scars from the past and Harrison's reticence to find someone new make them balk at the possibility of joy with each other.

This is a romantic "boomer" short story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robynne Rand
• Release date: Feb 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463052051

Robynne Rand

Robynne Rand grew up on the shores of Rhode Island. Now living in the Foothills of the Piedmont in North Carolina with her daughter, two dogs, and a cat named Henry David Thoreau, she writes about home and the people she misses.Rand also writes Regency romance under the pen name Anne Gallagher.

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What the Hummingbird Knew

Robynne Rand

Shore Road Publishing

Bethania, NC 27010

U.S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2018 Shore Road Publishing

All rights reserved

The reproduction or utilization of this work in whole in part, in any form by any print, electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of any copyrighted materials in any form. To do so is a violation of the author’s rights.

Cover Design by Logan Hendricks © 2018

Cover Photograph by JB Marketer www.morguefile.com

FF 112818

Table of Contents

The Honor of Your Company is Requested

Frank’s Fish Market

Chinese Food

Soul Friends

The Break-in

Telephone Tag

Stop & Shop

The Fundraiser

Lies

What the Hummingbird Knew

What the Hummingbird Knew

The Honor of Your Company is Requested

C’mon, Auntie Nay, Joey said. Just come. We really need you there. Besides, it’s for a great cause.

Naomi Jenson sighed. She didn’t want to go, but how could she say no when the fundraiser was for fallen firefighter’s family scholarships? She wiped an imaginary crumb from the wooden countertop. Fine. When and where and what do I need to bring? Naomi didn’t like it but would force herself to do it because it was the right thing to do. Anything for Brett’s memory.

Joey pitched her his million dollar smile. July third, nine o’clock at Memorial Park. You won’t regret it. It’s going to be a great time.

Maybe for you, she wanted to say, but kept it to herself. What do I need to bring?

I don’t know, Joey said. I’ll have Kelsey call you. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Anybody ever tell you, you’re the best aunt in the whole world?

Naomi smiled. Just you, and that’s all I need. He was such a good boy.

I’ve gotta’ get back to the fire barn. Joey took two steps toward the kitchen door then turned back. Hey, you never know, he said with a conspiratorial eye. You might meet someone.

Please, Joseph, Naomi said. Put that thought to rest. I have no intention of meeting anyone. I’m just going to help out my favorite nephew. And skedaddle as soon as she thought she could.

You’re the best, Auntie Nay, Joey said and walked out the door. I love you, he called from the porch.

Love you more, she called back. Naomi rested her hands on the countertop and sighed again. What had she gotten herself into? It wasn’t that she didn’t want to help, but her assistance had always consisted of writing hundred dollar checks. It was easier that way—no people, no explaining, no sad looks. For nearly twenty years, she had had to endure the pitying glances, the whispered conversations about what had happened to her, which was why over the decades she had become reclusive and closed off.

And meeting a man was simply laughable. Naomi had no desire for love, much less like with another man. Brett had been everything to her and with his death she had closed herself up like a moonflower at dawn. She had no longing for the light, for with it came heartbreak. Her life centered on Joey and his family, and a small group of trusted friends.

Naomi ran her palm over the spotless counter as she drifted to the kitchen window. Peering into the garden, she noticed a hummingbird at the feeder and her heart literally skipped a beat. The first one all year even though the feeder had been full since May. Naomi smiled at the tiny bird’s miraculous meditation in front of the yellow plastic flowers that adorned the large bottle of red nectar. And then he was gone, flit away through the lower branches of the maple in the neighbor’s yard.

Naomi had learned that in some Native American traditions, Hummingbirds represented the symbol of joy. And with that joy came hope. Hope lingered about the edges of her small universe anyway—that each new book would be a success, that Joey and Kelsey and the girls would stay happy and healthy, that she could get through each day without thinking of Brett. Her memories locked in storage for a reason.

But circling underneath the hope, thoughts she never dared mention, not even to herself, a soft whisper that perhaps one day, if the circumstances extraordinarily aligned, she might meet another man like Brett. Whatever his faults, whatever his failings, Brett Jenson had been a good man and he had loved Naomi the way a husband should. Naomi wanted for nothing in their marriage, except children.

Brett didn’t deserve to die the way he did. And she didn’t deserve to mourn the way she had.

She didn’t date because she didn’t want to. The plain truth was Naomi had never met another man who compared to Brett. Unfair as it was, she had a scale and used it judiciously. If the Universe wanted her to meet someone, that person would have to jump through hoops to do it. A sign to her that the Universe cared enough to listen even when being specific.

However, she had also learned a long time ago that the Universe wouldn’t send her a sign unless she needed it. Perhaps the hummingbird’s appearance was about Joey’s request to help with the fundraiser. Maybe Joey was right. Maybe that was where she was supposed to meet her new man. Nah.

Turning