Work Text:
“That was once in a lifetime love,” Julia had said.
That, though, was before Donny had come over for dinner that Thursday. He’d said, “Boy, you look very nice,” and Julia’s heart fluttered in a way that it hadn’t since high school. He’d made that joke about lugging Frigidaires around, and it reminded her so much of Michael that she’d forgotten to laugh. He’d lent her his pictures of Michael, and that trust that he placed in her without even knowing her was touching.
She supposed he actually did know her, though, from all that Michael had told him. Michael had probably talked about her twice as much as he’d written about Donny, and he’d written about Donny a lot. She didn’t know Donny, though. He was a different man than the excitable, always-humming-some-tune-or-another man that Michael had written about.
She wanted to know Donny, though. She wanted to know all he knew about Michael, yes, but she wanted to know Donny, too.
“That was once in a lifetime love,” Julia had said.
That, though, was before Donny had come to her church just to hear her sing. He’d come just for her, and no one had done anything just for Julia in a long time. He’d complimented her again, and boy, he was consistent, but it seemed that so was her reaction. He’d invited her to come watch his band play at the Blue Wisp, and she found herself wanting to go, if only to see Donny for a half hour more.
Donny had put her on the spot in front of all those people. At the time, it had been mortifying, but looking back on it, it had been the best thing to happen to her since Michael went off to war. She’d felt free again. For the length of a song, she’d allowed herself to think of something other than Michael.
And then she kept thinking of something other than Michael. She kept thinking of Donny.
“Love will come and find me again,” Julia sang.