Free A Seal Upon Your Heart by Pepper Pace Page A

brown face and big brown eyes. Her coifed hair was neat and her dress nice but more on the casual side then the way Jen dressed.
     
    “I’m happy I saw you. I was planning to pay you a visit today.”
     
    “Oh?” Jane was surprised.
     
    Claudette’s brow gathered. “Do you have a minute to talk?”
     
    “Yeah,” she was curious. “I was just getting Tim something but I see that they don’t have donuts-”
     
    “Oh, there’s a coffee shop down in the lobby and they sale donuts and pastries there. It’s usually crowded but they do have good ones. I’ll show you, and then we’ll have time to talk.” Jane gave her an appreciative smile.
     
    “Thanks Claudette.”
     
    Claudette gave her a sideways look as they walked. “What do you think of Tim?”
     
    Jane thought about that before answering. “He seems sad, but now I understand about his wife’s death. Still you can tell that he’s a good person.”
     
    Claudette smiled. “I’m happy to hear you say that. The other girl doesn’t get it. But I’ve been here for over 15 years and I knew Tim’s wife—we all did. She worked with him even though she could have sat at home on her butt like so many do. And I’ll tell you now, Tim is good people.”
     
    Jane listened closely as they walked. “He loved her a lot, didn’t he?”
     
    Claudette looked sad. “Yes he did. He would say, ‘I need-’ and she’d say, ‘Honey, I put it on your desk.’ And it would be there. He really did depend on her a lot. And if sometimes he seems difficult, that’s the reason.”
     
    “Thank you for that, Claudette.” But she had already figured that out. They entered the coffee shop and it was indeed crowded but the line moved fast. She scanned the display for pastries and saw that the pickings were slim for donuts.
     
    “Ugh…they only have chocolate ones and…I don’t know what that is.”
     
    “Get him a slice of the lemon loaf.” Claudette said with a smile.
     
    “Yes?”
     
    “Corrine got it for him when they were out of donuts.”
     
    Corrine. Jane tried to imagine Corrine standing in this very line ordering a pastry for Tim and it sent a jolt down to her bones when she realized that she was now the ‘keeper of the torch’.
     
    “Jane, the reason I wanted to talk to you is because I…realized what you were saying the other day, when you mentioned living near Kigali. I know the others didn’t put it together, but my church took up a collection to send to Rwanda and the charity had set up a base in Kigali.” Jane glanced at the woman who had been nice enough to give her information about Tim but she really didn’t want to talk about living in a refugee camp and what it was like to survive genocide. She understood the curiosity at the same time that she resented it. Would people ask these questions of a person that had survived any other tragedy? What was it like? Sometimes she would want to scream, what do you think it’s like to have everyone around you die—and not even be able to remember how?
     
    Jane’s eyes darted away and around the room until Claudette touched her hand. “Jane, I didn’t want to stir up unpleasant memories. I wanted to tell you to watch Jen because she has been telling your business to everyone; well those that listen to her.” Claudette’s lip twisted. “I don’t like that one, but that’s neither here nor there. I would have told you this anyways, but the fact that you are doing good by Tim makes me even more inclined.”
     
    As Jane’s emotions began to settle she offered Claudette a shaky smile. They got to the head of the line then and Jane ordered 2 slices of the lemon loaf to be placed in separate bags. Jen didn’t really know any of her business, though. So she had gossiped about her life in a catholic girl’s school. Jane didn’t care about that.
     
    “Listen,” Claudette said after Jane had paid and they were leaving the shop. “I know you overheard some people saying things about