The Second Half (20 page)

“I don't think you—”

“Grammy, what are we having for breakfast?” Dragging his blankie, Jake stopped in the doorway, as if sensing something was wrong.

Mona scooped him up, and after a big hug, she set him in Ken's lap. “I think we are about due for a celebration. This makes three days that Jake has gotten up dry. What did I say we would do when you reached three days?”

“Don't need diapers anymore.”

“Right!” She crossed to the calendar on the refrigerator door and put a star on today. “See, there.”

“Good boy, Jake.” Ken hugged him close. “Where's Mellie?”

“Reading.”

“Figures. Now, I am going to put you down, and you are going to go up the stairs and tell her she has five minutes before breakfast, okay?”

“Do I gotta get dressed first?”

He looked at Mona. “What time do you have to leave?”

“Starts at nine. Eat first, then dress.”

Jake slid to the floor and charged up the stairs.

Ken got up and fetched the cereal bowls from the cupboard to set on the table. “Should I make toast?”

“Please.”

The slight feeling of frost in the kitchen didn't melt until she left with the children at 8:40 a.m.

Ken poured himself another cup of coffee and sat down, dog and cat beside him. “Why is she being so stubborn?”

Ambrose cocked his head, tail sweeping the floor. Hyacinth wound around his ankles. Elbows on the table, Ken finished his coffee. He was glad for her work under normal circumstances. In fact, he encouraged it. It was a benefit to the community, pleased her and kept her occupied, and possibly it even kept depression at bay. But these circumstances were not normal. Like a huge storm cloud, the threat of her depression loomed over him.

He really had a bad feeling about this.

I
am going ahead with this because I believe this is what I am supposed to do. Take the next right step.” Mona said the words aloud and firmly, not sure whom she was trying to convince. What if God was talking through Ken? Now that was a new thought, although she knew right away she should probably have thought of it earlier. She parked the SUV in front of the garage.

A touch of self-pity made her pause. “I so want to do this project and do it well. I've dreamed of leading a campaign for something major, and this is right up my alley.” She slapped the palm of her hand on the steering wheel and grabbed her purse. Go ahead until she felt God stopping her. After greeting the animals, she headed upstairs to her office. She needed to edit the packets she had prepared for each of the committee members that included a proposed calendar from August until two months past the grand opening. She'd already circled January 5 on her calendar for the grand opening. November 4 was also circled as the beginning of registration.

She could hear a grinding or something down in Ken's workshop. Slowly but surely, he'd been collecting tools over the years so he could have his dream of woodworking. He'd been fixing and building simple things like shelves for the toy baskets through the years, but now he would start a carving class.

Ken's getting his retirement dream. Why can't I use these years to build this business? I'm not putting blocks in his way. This is my dream.

Whoa, girl, that sounds more like
“Woe is me.”

Well, it is woe is me. I want my dreams, too.

Ignoring her dueling inner conversation, she sat down at her computer to read through the materials again. Finally she printed them out and took the pages to her chair with a footstool, the place where she usually did her best thinking. Red pen in hand, she prayed first to find every mistake and after that to read aloud to hear how it sounded.

Ambrose barked as a car drove up to the door.
Already? Oh no!
She hadn't printed out the materials yet. Mona stared at the clock. The kids were home from VBS, and no lunch was ready. They would be famished. She'd have to finish later. All five kids burst through the door as she cleared the last stairstep and headed into the kitchen.

“Grammy, see what we did!” All five were giggling and shouting at once. Ambrose barked to help them out.

She raised her hands, eyes wide. “Help, I'm being attacked.”

“Better you than me.” Marit set her purse on the table. “Do you have something for lunch or…?”

Mona oohed and aahed over all their treasures. “Looks like you had a great time.”

“We did,” Brit answered for all of them. “Our class is making a play. You and Grampy will come, won't you?”

“Of course we will. Now how about all five of you go run around the outside of the house five times, and by then we should have lunch ready.”

The boys headed out, laughing and shouting. Mellie looked at her. “We're not having hot dogs, are we?”

“Nope, grilled tuna fish sandwiches. Why don't you two go down to the basement and tell Grampy we're making lunch; then you can run out the doors down there?”

“Okay.” She and Brit charged off.

Marit sank into a chair and blew out a cheek-rounding breath. “What a morning.”

“All went well?” As she talked, Mona poured her daughter a glass of iced tea, then hit the pantry for tuna and pickles, grabbing a bag of chips as she went by. She plunked the cans of tuna and the can opener in front of her daughter. “Here, surely you can handle that.”

“Jakey doesn't seem to like VBS much and needed a little redirection. A theme this year is ‘what pets can teach us,' and today was cats. Not the best topic for our cat hater.”

“I was hoping he would get used to cats by now.” Mona chopped sweet pickles and onions for the tuna salad. “Grilled or not?”

“Grilled sounds mighty good. We've not had that for a long time.”

Mona dug out the big circular electric grill that she used to make lefse and set it on the counter. “Faster than the stove for this many.” They could hear the kids shouting as they ran. “That should wear them down a bit.”

“Genius idea. How did you do on
the
project? I assume you're going ahead with it, Dad's approval or no?”

“I am. I feel so strongly this is a gift with a trail I need to follow. I'm praying that if I am off track, God will stop me.”

“I thought you and Dad had a deal that if one strongly disagreed…”

“We'd stop and rethink.”

She looked up and closed her eyes. “It just seems to be such a perfect opportunity, one I've dreamed of.” She heard Ken on the stairs and shrugged. “What do you want to drink, Ken?”

“Iced tea. You want to eat outside?” He smiled at his daughter. “So how did the morning go?”

“Well, one bump on the head that swelled up during recess, two little girls crying for their mommies, and one teacher with a migraine who had to go home, and, ahem, Jakey. Other than that?”

“That's all?” He shook his head as he snagged his now-full glass off the counter and grabbed the dishcloth to go out and wipe down the table. “Thanks for the drink, hon.”

He must have worked the stiffness out down in the woodshop. Breakfast that morning had been a rather silent affair, even though they'd apologized to each other later. But asking for forgiveness and totally letting go were two different things. Especially since she was going ahead with the project.

“Here, you butter one side; the grill is hot enough.” She could hear the kids outside telling Grampy about their morning. While she did sandwiches on the grill, Marit got out the paper plates and napkins, then poured the chips into a bowl. “Plastic glasses?”

“Please, raspberry drink is already made in the fridge. Call the kids to wash their hands.”

“Grampy is taking care of that at the faucet outside.” She pulled a tray from on top of the fridge and started setting supplies on it.

After lunch, the cousins left. Ken nodded to his grandchildren. “Once you get the lunch stuff hauled into the kitchen, you two can come help me in the garden for a while and let Grammy have some time off.”

She raised her eyebrows at him, then smiled a thank-you. From her upstairs window a while later, she heard him below.

“I cut the handles off these hoes so you can manage them more easily, so now we are going to learn how to use them.”

“In the garden?”

“Right. This is a faster way to kill the weeds.”

Mona went back to her project, and when she had it all finished and packed in her briefcase, she straightened up her office and headed downstairs, curious as to why it was so quiet. She found Ken and Jake asleep in his recliner and Mellie reading out on the deck, curled up in a chair in the shade with Hyacinth on her lap and Ambrose stretched out snoring in the sunshine.

“What a marvelous idea. I think I'll go get my book, too.”

“This is such a good story.”

“Glad to hear that. You want something to drink?”

“Raspberry ice.”

Mona was going to remind her, “please,” but for some reason didn't.
How can I take time to read when I have so much to do?
Mona banished the thought, sliced some cheese to go with crackers, and set them on the low table between the loungers out on the deck. Then fetching her book, she sank onto the lounger and took a sip. “Ah, bliss.”

“Thanks, Grammy.” Mellie grinned at her grandma. “I like just us.” And she tucked a piece of cheese between two crackers. She handed that one to Mona and fixed another, then the two bit in—and giggled.

That night when Ken had his tools all packed and ready to go out the door, Mona kissed him good-bye. “Have a good time.”

He nodded with a smile. “I will.” He hugged both kids, who grinned up at him. “And no popcorn, you hear?”

As he went out the door, Mellie shouted, “We're not having popcorn, we're having kettle corn. And a movie!”

Tuesday morning, Ken left the house at four thirty to go fishing.

“Catch lots,” Mona mumbled as she drifted back to sleep.

The alarm clock, her blessing and her curse, woke her at six thirty. She would be making her presentation today to the preschool board; better get up and get going. She heard the children downstairs already, so she dressed quickly, wearing black slacks and a cream tank, with her pink jacket ready to slip into just before she walked out the door.

Mellie was pouring milk as Mona entered the kitchen. “We were hungry.”

“Is this going to be enough for you?” She eyed the counter, cluttered with the milk carton, the chocolate syrup dispenser, the peanut butter jar and peanut butter smeared in odd places, the cracker box, lots of cracker crumbs, both the strawberry jam and the grape jelly, and half a loaf of bread.

“We get a snack at Bible school.” Mellie finished spreading strawberry jam and slapped her peanut butter and jelly sandwich together.

“Grampy told me to behave better, but I don't like cats. He said I should suck up and take one for the team. What does that mean?” Jakey took a bite of his cracker with peanut butter.

Mona had never really used that particular reference. So she made up something. “It means to behave even when you don't feel like it or even if you don't like cats.”

“Is Grampy taking us to Bible school today?” Jake licked his fingers off.

“He said he'd be back.” Her purse and briefcase waited right on the chair seat.
Come on, Ken, you said
…But she knew that at times if a wind came up or something, fishermen did not get back when they planned. She checked the clock. Five more minutes was all she could give him. She was just herding the kids to the SUV when he parked right beside her.

“Come on, kids, jump in. Sorry, we had to wait to load the boat.”

“Thanks for making it. See you later. My appointment is in half an hour.” She always liked to arrive at least ten minutes early and sit in the car to collect her thoughts.

“I've got fish to clean so we can have a fish fry for supper.”

“Sounds good.” She waved them off as he backed out. At least now she wouldn't be rushing to get there on time. Here she'd thought the years of juggling kids, jobs, and VBS were over. Little did she know. But it was only for a year, right? They could manage for a year. When school started, they'd get in a routine and she'd have more hours to work on her business.
Lord, You know that I really want to do this project. You said to ask for what I want, and You would answer. Please let me do well today.

She turned into the church parking lot to see that construction was well under way on a building on the back part of the property. One story, lots of windows, and a breezeway connection to the main church building. If that was for the preschool, this church had gotten behind the idea and supported it fully.

Getting out of her car in the visitor's parking slots, she followed the sign that said
OFFICE OFF TO THE RIGHT
. A receptionist looked up when she entered the room.

“If you are Mrs. Sorenson, the group is meeting right around the corner. I'll show you the way.”

“I am, and thank you. Is that building under construction for the preschool?”

“It is. The first block in what we hope will be a private school here on our campus.”

“That's a big dream.”

“God honors big dreams.”

Oh, I hope so!

She stopped in front of a door where laughter could be heard from the room inside. “Here you go. They're expecting you.” She opened the door and ushered Mona inside. The ladies were seated around an eight-foot table with coffee cups and crumb-decorated napkins in front of each.

“Oh, I'm so glad you're here.” Carole Bergstrund rose to meet her. “The coffee is ready, and there's still coffee cake if you'd like.”

Mona declined with a smile. Right now she didn't feel that feeding the butterflies would calm them down any.

Mrs. Bergstrund introduced the five women, and Mona smiled a greeting to each. “Please, we saved the head of the table for you. Can I get you anything? Water even?”

One woman smiled and said, “We're so glad you're here. Can't wait to hear what you have to offer.”

Mrs. Bergstrund nodded. “Since I already gave them your background, why don't we get right to it. We have another presenter coming in an hour and a half. Will that be enough time for you?”

Swallowing her surprise, Mona smiled and nodded. “I have packets for each of you so we can all be on the same page in our discussions.” She handed them to Carole to pass down and took her seat. “I need to start with a couple of questions. First of all, are you still on track for registrations starting November first and grand opening on January fifth?”

“Construction is a wee bit ahead of schedule, and all the interior furnishings are on order. One of our women”—Mrs. Bergstrund pointed down the table—“is an interior decorator, and she is handling all the interior furnishings. This is just as exciting as building a new home.”

Another woman added, “Meeting all the city codes is one of the major hurdles, but there, too, we are on track.”

“That's marvelous. If you'll open your packets to the first page, I have included an overview of all the stages of marketing and promotion. In all actuality, those are two separate fields but often combined. That includes a timeline. Now, all this is up for discussion, so if you have any questions, please ask.” When they all nodded, she launched into her well-planned introduction. Mona knew they were following her from all the head nodding and notes being written on the pages. She concluded in fifty minutes and asked again for questions, although they had felt free to ask during the hour.