A lonely elderly lady was left confused after she started receiving complimentary deliveries from a courier who refused to say where the packages came from. One day, she followed him to find out. Evelyn was a 72-year-old woman who lived alone. She didn’t have any relatives living nearby and was a widow who got by with a little shared love from her pension after paying off her late husband’s loans. One day, a delivery man knocked on her door and handed her a bag filled with food.
“You must have the wrong address, dear. I didn’t order any groceries,” Evelyn told him. She was about to close the door on him when the man shook his hand. “Evelyn James, right? I think this is the right address,” he said.
Curious, Evelyn opened the door once more and looked at the man. It was as if she’d seen him before, but she couldn’t pinpoint where. “Where’d the delivery come from? I can’t name anyone who’d likely send me a package,” she asked. The man shrugged.
“Another person paid for this order, but they wish not to be named. Don’t worry about it. Bon Appetit!” He handed her the bag. Evelyn reluctantly accepted the package and thanked the man.
She went back inside and excitedly opened the bag. She was surprised to see a complete meal inside it, with baked chicken, macaroni, a bottle of fruit juice, and an entire apple pie. “Who could have given this to me?” she asked herself. She was both touched and curious because she hadn’t received a package from other people in a while.
“He’s bothered to get in touch,” she added. The anonymous delivery put Evelyn in a good mood the entire day. She happily devoured the food and spent the whole afternoon outside watering her plants and reading a book while enjoying a cup of the fresh fruit juice she received. Little did Evelyn know, the delivery man would return every day and bring her free food. She would ask him again and again who sent this, but the delivery boy would shrug and tell her that the sender insisted on staying anonymous.
“Well, Evelyn,” she said one day, “please tell the person that I greatly appreciate these packages. This helps me a lot because I can barely make ends meet with all the loans I had to pay off and all the maintenance medicine I need to buy.” Her eyes filling with tears, the delivery boy smiled at her warmly. “I’m glad these deliveries help you get by. I don’t think the person plans to stop these orders anytime soon, so you can expect me to come every day,” he replied.
Evelyn waved the delivery boy goodbye until something in her told her to follow him. “Wait!” she called out as he was about to get on his bike. “Tell me what your name is at least.” Upon hearing the question, the delivery boy looked confused and started to panic.
“Oh, um, my name,” he said, pausing for a few seconds. “Simon. My name’s Simon,” he said, waving goodbye. Evelyn wondered why the boy paused as if thinking of a name to give. What she didn’t know was that her hunch was correct and that his name wasn’t Simon but Mike Greenwood.
Evelyn’s gut feeling told her the delivery boy wasn’t telling the truth. She got into her late husband’s old car and followed the boy to where he worked. After a couple of minutes, they arrived at a small neighborhood cafe. As soon as she walked into the store, she saw Mike enter the bathroom to prepare for his shift. She then heard the manager call out for him.
“Mike! Mike, can you hear me?” the boy’s boss asked. “Greenwood,” upon hearing his last name, Evelyn flung her hand over her mouth. “Crane one,” she said to herself.
When Mike exited the bathroom, he was stunned to see Evelyn there. She quickly walked towards him and hugged him. “Mike Greenwood, why didn’t you tell me earlier?” The delivery boy turned out to be the grandson of her former best friend, Elsa. They’d been friends since they were teenagers and stayed that way for decades until something ruined their friendship.
“I’m sorry, Grandma Evelyn,” Mike apologized. “I was afraid to tell you the truth because I thought you hated Grandma Elsa after what happened to the two of you years back,” he explained. Mike was raised by his grandmother Elsa after his parents abandoned him and cut ties with the entire family. Elsa used to ask Evelyn to look after him while she was at work. Mike would be in Evelyn’s house daily until the age of nine.
He considered her his second grandmother, and it made him sad when he started not to see her anymore while growing up. Evelyn and Elsa ended up having a huge fight when Elsa accused Evelyn of flirting with her husband. “Why would I do that to you? You’re my best friend,” Evelyn told her that day when they had the confrontation. “Exactly!
Why would you do that? I thought you were supposed to be my best friend,” Elsa young. No matter how hard Evelyn tried to tell Elsa that she wasn’t flirting with her husband and she was loyal to her own, Elsa wouldn’t listen. That day ended up being the last day of their friendship. Evelyn was heartbroken after their argument.
She couldn’t understand how Elsa thought she was flirting with her husband when she was married herself. Evelyn loved her husband, dear Leone, and would never do anything to ruin their relationship. Through the years, even though they never had children, she stuck by his side, and they were the best of friends, treating their marriage like an adventure. Over a decade passed, and Evelyn discovered through the neighborhood obituaries that Elsa had died of a terminal illness. Because she didn’t want any trouble, she paid her respect from afar, choosing to stand a couple of meters away from the funeral procession.
Ultimately, Evelyn’s only regret was not trying harder to fight for their friendship. She had to live the rest of her life knowing that Elsa never knew the truth, and they never got to rekindle their relationship. It was a blessing in disguise to come across Mike because she never thought she’d be able to see him again. The day she found out who he was, she stayed in the cafe and worked until the end of the shift so they could have dinner together and talk. Evelyn proudly watched Mike work, entertaining customers and serving orders.
She still couldn’t believe the little boy she once helped raise was a responsible, hard-working young man. While watching him, the manager approached Evelyn and sat in front of her, handing Evelyn a slice of cake and a hot cup of coffee. “You must be so proud of him,” she said. “He’s one of our best employees. We’re so lucky that he chose to work with us while completing his studies,” she revealed.
“I’m so proud of him,” Evelyn nodded. “He’s turned out to be such a lovely boy.” The manager asked Evelyn to stay until the end of Mike’s shift so they could have dinner together. “It’s on the house, don’t worry. It’s the least we can do for one of our favorite employees.
At the end of the night, the manager served them a hearty meal. They were served the cafe’s top dishes, which they enjoyed while they spoke. “How’d you find where I lived?” Evelyn asked Mike. “I never got to tell Elsa where I moved,” she said.
“One day, I was making a delivery for your neighbor, and I recognized you as you entered your home. I think you just finished watering your plants then. I hadn’t seen you in over a decade and realized how much I missed you,” he admitted. “I assumed you were still angry, so I decided to secretly take care of you by pretending to be a random delivery boy. I’m still shocked you found out who I really am,” Mike laughed.
“I was afraid you’d stop accepting my help if you found out.” Evelyn was in tears. “I could never be angry at you or your grandma Elsa. I missed her a lot, and there’s not a day I don’t wish that our friendship never ended.” Mike nodded and apologized on behalf of his late grandmother.
“Grandma Elsa always had a temper,” he smiled warmly. “I’m sorry that she let her pride get in the way of your friendship. It didn’t have to end that way, but now it’s too late for her to make things right.” Evelyn nodded. “It’s all right, sweetheart.
I’d forgiven Elsa a long time ago. I hope she’s smiling from heaven, seeing the two of us together again.” Since that day, Mike had openly cared for Evelyn. He brought her weekly grocery supplies and spent the weekends with her by sleeping over and helping her with errands. At the end of each day, they would catch up by exchanging stories and watching TV together.
Mike was an independent man who lived alone in an apartment near his school. Ever since both his grandparents died, he was forced to live alone and earn for himself, knowing that the fortune left behind by Elsa wouldn’t last forever. In the same way that Evelyn was relieved to have reconnected with a loved one, Mike was relieved to have found the warmth of family through Evelyn. When Mike graduated from college, Evelyn was his only companion, and she proudly watched him march on stage to receive his diploma. Right after graduating, Mike landed himself a good job at a top company, which made him earn a good salary.
Years later, he and Evelyn discovered that the cafe he once worked for was being sold. With his savings, Mike decided to buy it. He had the whole cafe renovated and renamed it Elsa and Evelyn’s Cafe. The restaurant ended up being in Mike’s care until he retired and passed it on to his children.
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