It started with a phone call. “Are you busy?” She recognized her friend’s voice immediately. “That depends. What have you gotten yourself into?”
“I have a date.” She giggled a little. “Well, that’s not necessarily a problem.” “It is if I have nothing to wear.” She laughed. I told her she had an entire closet full of clothes to which she replied…”And apparently not one appropriate thing in it.”
“Give me twenty minutes.”
By the time she arrived, there were three dresses on the bed, two pairs of shoes in the hallway, and her friend standing in front of the mirror wearing one earring.
“I think I’m too old for this,” her friend announced. “For earrings?”
“For dating.” “Well, you’ve already put on one earring. Seems a shame to stop now.”
Her friend laughed. They’d known each other long enough to skip the polite reassurances. She knew her friend was nervous, although she’d never admit it. It had been a while since she’d gone on a date, and she’d spent most of the afternoon convincing herself it was a terrible idea.
They settled on the blue dress. The shoes took longer. “Those hurt my feet,” her friend said, pointing to a pair of heels. “Then why do you still have them?” “Because they’re beautiful.” “Well, you can admire them from here.”
They chose the comfortable ones. Her friend stood in front of the mirror, smoothing her dress. “Something’s missing.” “Your other earring?” “Very funny.”
She opened her jewelry box and took out a strand of pearls. “These. I haven’t worn them in ages.” She fastened the necklace around her neck and turned toward the mirror.
And then it happened. A small snap. A moment of silence. And pearls went everywhere. Across the dresser. Under the chair. Onto the bathroom floor. One bounced against the baseboard and disappeared beneath the cabinet. They stared at each other. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Then they both started laughing.
Within seconds, they were on their hands and knees, chasing pearls across the floor. “There’s one under the sink.” “I see it.” “No, the other one.” “How many pearls were on this thing?” “I have absolutely no idea!”
Her friend crawled toward the bathroom door. “I think one went into the hallway.” “Of course it did. Apparently they’re trying to escape.” They laughed so hard that at one point neither of them could remember what they were looking for.
Eventually, they gathered the pearls into a little pile on the counter. Her friend looked at the clock. “He’s going to be here in twenty minutes.” “Then we’d better get busy.”
She found a small jewelry repair kit tucked into a drawer and began working on the necklace. Her friend watched. “You don’t have to do that.” “I know.” “Really. I can wear something else.” “I know that, too.”
She threaded another pearl. “Would you please stop talking? I’m trying to concentrate.” Her friend laughed and went to finish her makeup. A few minutes later, the necklace was back together. It wasn’t a professional repair, but it would get her through dinner.
She fastened it around her friend’s neck. “There. Now turn around.” Her friend faced the mirror. For a moment, she was quiet. Then she smiled. “Perfect.”
The doorbell rang. “Go,” she said. “Have fun.” Her friend hesitated. “What if he’s awful?” “Then you’ll have a wonderful story to tell me.”
As it turned out, he was awful. Not dangerous awful. Not even particularly rude awful. Just the kind of awful that makes you wonder how one person can talk about himself for two solid hours without stopping to take a breath. He discussed his golf game, his former business partner, his cholesterol, and a dispute with his neighbor over a fence.
He did not ask her a single question.
When she called the next morning, she opened with four words. “You owe me dinner.” She laughed.
“I owe you dinner?” “For making me go.” “I didn’t make you go.” “You encouraged me.” “There’s a difference.” “Not in this case.” They laughed about that date for years. It became one of those stories that grew funnier with time, especially the part about the fence.
And then, one evening, they were having dinner together when her friend mentioned that she’d recently run into someone who reminded her of him. “Please tell me it wasn’t the fence man.” “The very one.” “Oh, no.” “He still talks about golf.”
They laughed so hard that the waiter stopped by to make sure everything was all right. When they finally caught their breath, her friend shook her head.
“Do you remember that night?” “How could I forget? You called me the next morning and blamed me for the whole thing.”
“No, I mean before the date. When my pearls broke.” “Oh, those pearls.” She started laughing again. “I think we found half of them under the bathroom cabinet.” “And one in my shoe.” “I forgot about that!”
Her friend smiled. “I haven’t.”
There was something in the way she said it that made her look up. “Do you know what I remember most about that night?” “The fact that you almost canceled?” “No.” “The pearls?” “Not exactly.”
Here friend put down her fork. “I remember how nervous I was. I hadn’t been on a date in so long, and I felt ridiculous for making such a fuss over it. I was ready to call the whole thing off.” She smiled at the memory.
“And then you came over. You helped me find something to wear. You made me laugh. And you when those pearls when flying, you got right down on the floor with me.” “Well, I couldn’t just leave you there.” “I know…that’s the thing.” Her friend paused.
“You didn’t make me feel foolish. You just stayed and helped me get ready.” She looked down for a moment, then back at her. “I remember looking in the mirror after you fixed the necklace and feeling like myself again. I don’t think you ever knew how much that meant to me.
Our woman was quiet. She remembered the broken necklace, of course. She remembered crawling across the floor, laughing until her knees hurt. But she’d never thought much about what she’d done.
Her friend needed help. So she’d helped. That was all.
“I didn’t know you remembered that.” Her friend looked surprised. “Of course I remember.” She reached across the table and touched her hand. “I don’t remember much about what I wore that night. And I certainly wish I could forget the man.” They both laughed. “But I remember you being there.”
For a moment, neither of them said anything. Then her friend picked up her fork. “By the way, I still have those pearls.” “You do?” “Of course.” “Have you had them properly restrung?” Her friend gave her a look.
“Well, I was going to ask if you were free next Tuesday.” “Oh absolutely not!”
They started laughing again. And as the conversation moved on to other things, she found herself thinking about that evening so long ago.
To her, it had been a few hours helping a friend get ready for a date. To her friend, it had been something she carried with her all these years. She wondered how many other moments were like that. Little things she’d done without giving them another thought.
She looked across the table at her friend, who was now telling her about something ridiculous that had happened at the grocery store.
And she smiled.