“Fine. Everyone at home is well. Mother and Father too. I decided on a whim I wanted to see you before the weather turns, so here I am.”
“I was thinking on the way home that it could snow soon.” Emma kissed the top of Harry’s head, his hair still little more than peach fuzz. “Where’s Mark Thomas?”
“With his grandmother for the day.”
“Oh. I’m sorry not to see him too. Come on inside.”
“Are those kittens I hear in that box?”
Emma nodded as she opened the door.
“I hope they won’t carry on like that for long.”
“They won’t. They’re just scared. First time away from their mother.”
Emma and Liza sat on chairs in the front parlor, and Emma put the hatbox on the floor, removing the lid as she straightened.
“Come on out, you two.” She tipped the box slightly to make their escape easier. “Aren’t they precious?” She ran her index finger over Jeremiah’s back as his front paws touched the floor.
“Adorable. Are you going to put them in the shed with your horse and cow?”
“Heavens no! They’ll stay in the house with me.” Emma
held out her arms toward her sister. “Now, let me hold this chubby angel.”
Liza passed the baby to her. “I brought you something. It’s still in the car. I’ll be right back.” She rose and went out the front door.
While she waited for her sister’s return, Emma kissed and nuzzled the baby in her arms until he giggled. Harry smelled good and his skin was soft. She ignored the small ache in her heart, that reminder of the babies she would never have, the memory of the one she’d lost. God had blessed her in many ways. What right did she have to complain about the things she didn’t have?
The door opened, admitting Liza a second time. “I could have kept this for a Christmas present, but I didn’t want to wait.” She sat on the chair again, took Harry from his aunt, then passed a wrapped box to Emma. “Go on. Open it.”
“Liza, you shouldn’t have. You’ve done too much for me already.”
“Hush. You don’t even know what it is yet. You might not like it.”
Emma removed the wrapping paper and opened the box. Inside was a camera.
“It’s a Leica. Made in Germany. I was told it is the very latest thing.”
“But, Liza, why—”
“You have never been particularly talented with a paintbrush, you don’t enjoy knitting or crochet or needlepoint, and although you love to scribble your thoughts in those diaries you keep, I don’t believe you have any desire to become a professional writer. But I know how much you love living in these mountains. Each time I see you I think how much you belong here.”
Emma smiled at her sister, loving that she understood her so well. “I
do
belong here.”
“Anyway, I thought you would enjoy taking photographs of the things and places you love.”
“I don’t know anything about photography.”
“Of course not. But you’ll have all winter to learn. And maybe, if you get good enough, you could sell your photographs.”
“Sell them?” She looked at the camera in her hand, wondering how hard it might be to master. More difficult than learning to drive? “Do you really think so?”
“Em, you were always trying new things when we were girls. You were eager to learn. You were courageous and adventurous.”
“I was, wasn’t I.”
“Yes, you were. Of course you’ve been a bit unsure of yourself in recent years, but I know the real you is still there, hiding underneath. You are the sort of woman who could make a name for herself in a man’s world. Just see if you aren’t.”
Allison
They ate and slept. They went fishing. They rode bikes and took long hikes. They ate and slept and ate some more. And then it was Saturday and time to return to Kings Meadow. Anticipating her daughter’s departure that same day made Allison sad. Two weeks had flown by, as she’d known they would.
Everyone in the SUV must have felt the same thing, for the two-hour drive home was much quieter than their drive to the Stanley Basin had been four days earlier. Even Gizmo rarely raised his head to look out the window. Once they arrived at the house, they removed the bikes from the carrier on the back of the Subaru. Tony’s bike went back in his truck bed, along with the tents, his sleeping bag, and the rest of the camping gear. Meredith decided to leave her bike in Allison’s garage, to be ready for the next time she visited.
Far too quickly, everything that was going down to Boise was loaded into Tony’s truck, and there was nothing left to do but say good-bye.
“I love you, Mom.” Tears strained Meredith’s voice as she hugged Allison.
Don’t cry, Meredith. If you cry, I don’t stand a chance of holding it together
.
“Make plans to come down to Texas for a visit this winter,” her daughter added when the embrace ended.
“I will. For sure. Could you stand to have me for a week or so over Christmas?”
“You know I could. I could stand you anytime and for as long as you want to stay.”
“Maybe I could meet Rod when I come.”
Meredith shrugged. “Maybe.” Then she smiled. “I hope so, anyway.”
Allison swallowed the lump in her throat and turned toward Tony. “It was good seeing you.”
“You too, Allie. Went by too fast.”
“Yes, it did.”
He walked up close and gave her a light hug. A tentative one, as if he was uncertain she would welcome it. “I like Chet Leonard, by the way. Seems like a good guy.” He took a step back.
“Chet? What do you m—” Except she knew what Tony meant.
“If it wasn’t for Chet, I wouldn’t have that cool trophy to show all my friends when I get home.” He winked before returning to the driver’s side of the cab.
Allison watched as the two of them got into Tony’s pickup. She waved as the truck headed down the driveway, not stopping until it disappeared from view. With her houseguests gone, the silence of the forest seemed absolute, and she couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. Gizmo seemed to understand his mistress’s distress. He pawed her leg and whimpered. She picked him up, burying her face in his coat.
“I hate the end of vacation.”
Gizmo twisted around and licked her temple.
She smiled sadly as she set him on the ground. “We’d better get started on the laundry.”
The dog ran ahead of her, up the steps to the deck, then looked back as he waited by the front door.
Stepping through the doorway, Allison stopped, letting her gaze travel around the living room and up the stairs. The silence
had followed her inside. She crossed to her stereo system and turned on her iPod. She selected a playlist of favorite movie soundtracks and turned the volume up higher than normal, hoping to sing the blues away.
In the bedroom, serenaded by Carly Simon, Allison unloaded her suitcase, piling dirty clothes on the floor at the foot of the bed. Then she carried a load’s worth to the laundry room and shoved the clothes into the front-loading washer. She filled the dispenser with soap, punched a few buttons, and turned a knob, each one beeping at her.
With the washer started, she walked into the kitchen—Ella Fitzgerald sang to her now—and began unloading the cooler Tony had left on the floor next to the refrigerator. Ketchup. Mustard. Miracle Whip. Two hotdogs left in a plastic baggie. Half an onion. One can of Diet Coke. Two mini-bottles of Diet Dr. Pepper, one of them half-empty. Some leftover baked beans.
Despite those items, the refrigerator remained in a depleted state. Amazing how much food three people could go through in two weeks’ time. She would need to go into Kings Meadow to do some grocery shopping if she wanted anything decent to eat in the days to come. But not today. After church tomorrow would be soon enough.
“She’s Like the Wind” came on the player, a song that pulled her back to the eighties. To memories of college and Tony. To the golden future that had stretched before them when they married. If Tony hadn’t—
She cut off the thought. It was understandable Meredith’s departure had left her sad and a bit lonely, but she didn’t want to fall back into wishing for what might have been. It wasn’t helpful or healthy.
“I need to take a shower.” She glanced down at her faithful companion. “And you, sir, need a bath too.”
The telephone rang, and Allison’s eyes went to the clock on the kitchen wall. Much too soon for Meredith to be calling from the airport. Her flight didn’t leave Boise until five thirty. She and her dad would stop to eat before he dropped her at the airport.
She picked up the handset from its cradle, not looking at the Caller ID. “Hello.”
“Hey there.” Susan. “How was the camping trip?”
“Good. Too short. We had a great time and couldn’t have asked for better weather. We were the only people in the campground the whole time we were there, but another family was checking in this morning while we were breaking camp.”
Susan said something, but Allison couldn’t understand her.
“Hold on a second. I’ve got the music on too loud.” She hurried into the living room and turned down the sound. “What did you ask?”
“Have Tony and Meredith left?”
“Yes. Maybe half an hour or forty-five minutes ago.”
“How’re you doing?”
There came that doggone lump in her throat. She swallowed it. “Okay.”
“Really?”
“No. I’m missing Meredith.”
Susan was silent for a few heartbeats before asking, “And Tony?”
“What about him?”
“Are you missing him too?”
“No . . . Maybe . . . I don’t know.”
Susan laughed. “Maybe you need to figure out which of those it is.”
“Susan, haven’t we been over this before? If you’re suggesting I might want to get back together with Tony, you are
way
off the mark. That ship sailed a long time ago. Sure, I care about
him. You and I’ve talked about that before too. He’s the father of my daughter. I’m glad we can be friends. But I wouldn’t want to go down that same road again. Not for anything. I let go, the way God told me to. Now I’m moving on.”
“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”
“Neither,” she answered, more sharply than she meant to. “Just speaking the truth.”
“Okay. Okay. I didn’t mean to make you mad.”
Allison drew a deep breath and let it out. “I’m not mad.” And she wasn’t. She just didn’t want her thoughts to go in that particular direction a second time today, with or without her friend’s queries.
“I’m glad you’re not mad. Now that that’s settled, want to come for dinner after church tomorrow?”
“I’d better not. I’ve a lot to do after having fun the last two weeks. I need to catch up so I can hit the ground running on Monday.”
With any luck, all that work she needed to do would get her over the hump of missing her daughter.
Allison
The Kings Meadow Community Theater performed
The Importance of Being Earnest
on the last weekend of September. Susan and Ned went with Chet and Allison to the Friday evening production. At the restaurant afterward, they unanimously declared the play wonderful and funny. Then each ordered a different kind of pie. When the dessert came, the plates were moved around the table clockwise, everybody getting a taste of each confection.
Music played softly through the truck’s speakers as Chet drove Allison home. They seemed to have run out of conversation, riding in silence along the ink-dark highway. Only when Chet turned his pickup into Allison’s driveway did he speak.
“I enjoyed tonight. Glad you weren’t so busy you couldn’t go.”
Allison had been too busy to do anything but work over the last three weeks. She’d begged off from several invitations—Chet’s and others—before tonight. “I’m glad I could go too. It was fun.”
Chet braked to a halt and killed the engine. The dash lights remained lit, bathing the interior of the cab in an eerie glow. Chet turned to face her. “There’s something I need to tell you, and I didn’t want to do it over the phone or in front of Susan and Ned. I’ll tell them later.”
A shiver of alarm passed through her. She wasn’t ready for more of a commitment. If he was about to ask—
“I’m going down to Reno. To see Marsha.”
Alarm was followed by relief.
“She’s finally agreed to meet with me,” he said.
Allison nodded, not sure what would be the right thing to say.
“She’s been seeing a counselor this summer, and she wants to talk about what went wrong.”
“I’m glad, Chet. It should be good for both of you. When are you going?”
“Next week.” He cleared his throat. “I thought I was ready to let go of her, Allison, but I’m not. Even after the divorce I’m not. I want the boys to have their mother with them, if at all possible. And I’d like my wife to come back too, if and when she’s ready.”
“Of course that’s what you want.”
“I didn’t mean to lead you on. I like you a lot, but I—”
“You didn’t lead me on, Chet. I’m glad to have you for a friend. I’m not ready for more than that either. Others might not understand, but I do.”
He was silent for a time, then said, “I’ll walk you to the door.” He got out of the cab.
Allison waited for him to come around and open her door. She also waited to feel at least a little disappointment. But she wasn’t disappointed. Not in the least. It truly was enough for them to be friends and nothing more. The door opened and Chet offered his hand to help her down from the cab. Then they walked side by side up the steps to the front door.
After unlocking the door, Allison looked at Chet again. “I’ll be praying for your meeting with Marsha.”
“Thanks. I’ll take all the prayer I can get.”
“Good night, Chet.”
“Night, Allison.” He turned on his heel and returned to his pickup.
Gizmo greeted Allison with his usual excitement when she
entered the house. She told him to wait as she listened for the sounds of Chet’s departure. Only after she knew he was gone did she take Gizmo outside.
The night was chilly, and she pulled her sweater more tightly about her as she waited for the dog. Overhead, the sky was clear and dotted with countless stars, some looking close enough for the treetops to touch. Her second winter in this house would soon be upon her.