Sour and Sweet

“Darling, I love you.”

“Please, not while I’m eating.”

His wife knew that this would be a very special day in the shop, but her Marvin needed a bit of a poke in order to care about it. Her husband, staring down at his scrambled eggs and bacon, knew that his Michelle wanted him to care more about the day than he ever could. The way things were going, they would both care too much.

It was a few days before Valentine’s Day and they were the only local candy store that took special orders and made things right to order. Michelle would offer free toffees, chocolates, licorice, taffy, gumballs, gobstoppers, jawbreakers to any customer who idled for too long in front of the counter (she even once came out of the store and offered treats to people on the street; Marvin still could not forget the look on the family’s face, or his own shock at this). Her husband did wonder if it was worth it, but the business remained open after twenty five long years of operation. And they were still going to keep things as usual.

“Darling, you did make sure that all the orders are ready, right?”

“My dear Michelle, did I not share all of this with you last night when we checked the books?” He sipped his now cool coffee. “We are going to be just fine.”

“Of course, darling. I just thought that since this is going to be a busy week, we should make sure that everything is ready…and goes without a hitch.” She picked up their dishes and placed them gently in the hot dishwater.

“Without a hitch…” He loved the way his wife kept using the same terms year by year. “We will be fine. I am just going to get dressed and see if there are any faces staring through the glass.”

“They may be. It is a busy time of the year.”

“Quite.” He went into the bedroom to get dressed. She had already laid out some clothes for him and he could see no reason to pick his own look. It would be quite a day.

*

“Always a quiet moment before a storm…”

Marvin was looking out one of the hallway windows when he spoke. Michelle knew that he would do this, and loved him for it. They now owned the building and had a very wide view of the street leading up to the train station in the north and city hall to the south. This was the main thoroughfare for the town and anyone with a sweet tooth would have to stop by here and see what tempted them the most (not even the supermarket that opened five years ago could compete; she still wondered about that sort of luck). Whose idea was it to open up shop here? Michelle’s memory faded out on that history as her husband took the stairs.

“You coming? Sweetheart…”

“Yes, coming, my darling.”

The first thing would be the lights. She had dusted down the shop, being careful around the glass jars and cylinders holding humbugs, candy corn and those awful multi-coloured licorice pieces that all tasted the same (why did Ms. McMillan and all those ladies from the offices still buy them?); there were also boxes that were offered if you needed to wrap things up (now, that would be popular this week); and, her favourite – and something that she really had to beg Marvin to include – the stuffed animals (a half-wall of rabbits, pandas, bears, parrots were staring down at them). At least they were selling well with the other goodies; that had been a good choice, as well as the location.

“Okay, let’s see what’s what.” Marvin started to open up the blinds.

“Okay.” Michelle turned on the “Open? Why, Of Course!” neon sign she had made (another clever expense).

It was very quiet…for just a moment.

*

And then the moment passed. Michelle dealt with most of the customers who spoke about wives, children and girlfriends; Marvin took his place behind the counter to process all the orders and to make sure that the reservations were confirmed and picked up. They both recognized many of the usual faces from over the years. Ms. Shappelle always wanted some of those caramels at this time of year (her late husband had been quite a fan of their homemade work); the Dobbles were picking up orders made in the previous week (all chocolate-coated treats that Marvin was baffled by: macadamia nuts? pretzels?); Officers Stevens and Watt, a strangely perfect married couple, made the old pretense of stopping by to see if everything was okay when they saw the lineup in front of the shop (they, of course, went right for the licorice); teenagers wanted to try all the jellied candies they made (fruit and soda-flavoured sweets that would not rot their teeth yet); adults had plans to surprise significant others with boxes of assorted chocolates and hard candy (Michelle always pushed him to make extras for the front displays). So, it was a successful day before that other day. Everyone would get what they wanted.

*

Or would they?

“Marvin…?”

“Yes?” He did seem annoyed as he looked at the receipts for the day. They had done well for the holiday week, with most of the customers showing up on time to grab what they had either ordered or forgotten before the shop closed (always a little bit later during this week). Michelle did not want to disturb her husband as he did what he had to do to keep the store running.

“Did we do well?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes, I think so. As well as we could during this week. And I think we will be okay for the rest of the month. Just okay, like usual.” He closed the register and put some of the money into an envelope for a deposit. “Could you get the lights?” He walked up the stairs as he said this.

Well, thought Michelle, I am really going to give him a talking to about this. She quickly checked the front door, turned off the neon sign, and closed the curtains. All these years of work and he just stomps off without a response. She did not bother to dust anything down, not even the stuffed animals that were now out of order after being handled and sold off.

What is bothering him so much? Michelle made her way up the stairs, saw the light on and the door ajar and then heard some music.

It was jazz. That was an old Bill Evans album he had not played in years.

Odd, she thought.

Almost tiptoeing to the door, she saw that the kitchen table was set up with wine glasses, plates, and a large blue box tied up with a darker shade of ribbon. But what was quite startling to her was the animal on top.

It was a rabbit.

It was a rabbit with a card in its arms. And was that…? Yup, salt water taffy (her favourite).

The card had her name on it.

“You really think I forgot?”

Her Marvin, her marvelous Marvin, had not forgotten what the day meant.

“25 years…”

“Right to the day. And right before Valentines.”

“You bought me a rabbit when I said that I hated to go through that day on my own.”

“And I offered to be more than just a rabbit vendor.”

He had somehow found the time to dress in one of his best suits as she swayed to the music and the memories in her head.

“Michelle?”

“Marvin?”

“Will you be my…?”

She stopped him with a kiss and took him in her arms. He was not going to get away tonight. She whispered in his ear as they danced in their own private space.

“Too sweet.”

*

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