He looked at the shoes.
“Those finally found their owner?”
I turned toward Adrian.
“You knew the package went missing?”
The man nodded.
“Years ago.”
Adrian introduced us.
“This is Elias Mercer.”
Elias shook my hand.
“Your husband talked about you constantly.”
I looked at Adrian.
“Apparently not enough.”
Elias sensed the temperature immediately.
“Ah.”
Then he pointed toward two chairs.
“Sit.”
Fifteen years earlier, Adrian had come into Mercer Shoe & Leather less than an hour before a job interview.
The sole of one shoe had split.
He had almost no money.
Elias remembered the resume folder.
The cheap tie.
The panic.
“You looked like somebody had informed you shoes were mandatory for adulthood five minutes earlier.”
Adrian smiled weakly.
“That sounds right.”
Elias had repaired the shoe.
Adrian told him he could not pay the full amount.
Elias said:
“Then pay me when you have work.”
Adrian returned two weeks later.
Still unemployed.
Another small repair.
Then again.
When Adrian finally found a permanent position, he came back and paid everything he owed.
Then asked Elias to completely restore both shoes.
“Why?” I asked.
Adrian looked embarrassed.
“I planned to tell you.”
“What?”
“Everything.”
“When?”
“Our first anniversary.”
I stared.
“You needed anniversary shoes to confess unemployment?”
“No.”
Elias laughed.
“He absolutely did.”
Adrian glared.
“Thank you.”
Elias smiled at me.
“He spent twenty minutes explaining his plan.”
“He said he would wear the shoes to dinner.”
“Then tell you what they meant.”
I looked at Adrian.
“What happened?”
“We moved.”
That was true.
Soon after Adrian started his new job, we left 27 Willowmere Lane for a better apartment across Briarhaven.
The shoes were still being restored.
Elias mailed them to the old address because Adrian had forgotten to update the shipping information.
The parcel came back marked undeliverable.
Then the shop tried contacting Adrian through an outdated number.
Nothing.
Eventually the package entered storage during a courier dispute.
Years passed.
The local distribution company was absorbed.
One warehouse closed.
Old unclaimed inventory was sold in bulk.
Somehow, fifteen years later, Adrian had ordered a box from the exact liquidation chain that inherited the abandoned parcel.
