Free Seen It All and Done the Rest by Pearl Cleage Page A

like that.”
    “Shoot, that woman know she ain’t got to worry about me,” Charlie said. “I got sense enough to know I’m a lucky man.”
    “You got that right.”
    “Peachy’s still looking for you all to come down and see the restaurant,” Abbie said. “There are two seats at the bar just waiting.”
    “You tell Nolan we’ll be down there as soon as it warms up a little,” Mr. Eddie said. “We too old to be messing around at the beach in the middle of the winter.”
    “It’s almost spring!” Abbie laughed and adjusted her shawl around her shoulders. “Have a good one, y’all.”
    “You, too,” they said together as if they had rehearsed it.
    Mr. Charles tipped his hat as she headed for the door. I stood up quickly.
    “Excuse me,” I said. “Are you Abbie Browning?”
    Standing that close to her, there was no doubt that she was. Like all of us, she was a little heavier and, of course, a few years older, but she had that same bright, curious, wide-open face and that same beautiful skin.
    “Yes,” she said, turning in my direction. I wondered suddenly if she’d remember me. Paris was a lifetime ago. “Josephine? Josephine Evans?”
    The recognition was immediate and the enthusiasm genuine. “Oh, my God! Is it really you?”
    “It’s me,” I said, laughing. “I thought that was you!”
    “Oh, my God!” she said again, reaching out to hug me with her free arm. I hugged her back as the three men at the counter watched us like we were a reality TV show being performed for their amusement.
    “You haven’t changed a bit,” I said. “You look great.”
    “So do you! How long has it been? Twenty years?”
    “Close enough.” It was probably more like thirty.
    “What are you doing here?”
    “I just got in last night. I’m spending some time with my granddaughter.”
    “Who’s your granddaughter?”
    The three at the counter leaned forward to hear my answer. “Zora Evans.”
    “Zora’s your granddaughter?”
    The counter contingent nodded their approval.
    “Do you know her?”
    “Everybody around here knows Zora.”
    More nodding.
    “Well, she’s house-sitting a beautiful place right around the corner with an amazing pool and I—”
    “Amelia and Louis’s place?” Abbie interrupted me.
    I nodded.
    “That’s right. They’re still in Lebanon.”
    The town was getting smaller by the minute. “Do you know all your neighbors?”
    “All I can stand,” she said, turning toward the counter. “Have you met the crew?”
    “I met Henry,” I said, and he nodded, “but not these other two gentlemen.”
    “Well, I’d better go on and introduce you since they’ll have a fit if I don’t.”
    “We ain’t studying you, Miss Abbie,” Mr. Eddie said, standing up to be properly presented.
    “Mr. Charles and Mr. Eddie, meet my friend Josephine Evans.”
    “Pleased to meet you,” they said in unison, and Mr. Charles took off his hat.
    “Where you from?” he said, smiling like a man who enjoys talking to women.
    “I was born here, but I’ve been living in Amsterdam for about thirty years.”
    “I met her in Paris,” Abbie said.
    “I like Paris,” Henry said, leaning on the counter and folding his surprisingly muscular arms as if settling in for a nice long talk.
    “What were you doing way over there?” Mr. Eddie said, wrinkling his brow like there could be no more unlikely place for me to hang my hat.
    “Hold on now,” Abbie said, laughing and holding up her hand. “Me and Jo have a lot of catching up to do! You’ll have to wait your turn.”
    Their disappointment was almost comical. Maybe I was invisible to the youngsters on the street, but these guys seemed to see me just fine.
    “Well, let us know if you need anything,” Henry said. “You know where to find us.”
    Mr. Charles and Mr. Eddie nodded and turned back to the fresh cups of coffee Henry was pouring for them.
    Abbie smiled at me and her long silver earrings caught the sunlight pouring in through the