The People We Meet Along The Way

by Beth Rinyu

  “Oh my God!” Kate threw her head back and let out an agitated breath.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Theo’s stalker is here.”

  “His stalker?” I asked in shock.

  Kate laughed over the panic in my voice. “Phoebe.” She rolled her eyes. My mind rewound to the car ride this morning and the phone call Theo was trying to avoid. Why the heck would she show up after he had told her Kate wasn’t up for visitors? Maybe she was borderline stalker. “Great!” Kate said in a loud whisper as their footsteps and voices drew nearer.

  “Kate, how are you doing?” the tall redhead dressed in black with killer curves asked when she appeared in the living room. Her tone sounding anything but genuine.

  “I’m well,” Kate replied as the woman turned her attention to me before Kate could hardly even get her reply out. It was like Barbie meeting Raggedy Ann. She was beyond gorgeous. Smelling of some delicious perfume I couldn’t quite make out, her long hair hung around her in loose waves, and I was certain that the designer shoes she was wearing weren’t a clearance find from Neiman Marcus. Then there was me, my hair still wet from the shower I had taken just a short time ago, wearing my cotton pajama short set. Not exactly the way I wanted to look when first being introduced to someone, especially as glamourous as her.

  “Phoebe, this is Jillian,” Theo introduced.

  “Jillian.” Her thin lips tried their hardest to curve into a smile or what she perceived to be as one, but it was as fake as the concern she had shown for Kate moments ago.

  “Hello, it’s nice to meet you.” I stood up and shook her hand. Her eyes scanned every inch of me, almost as if she was the one intimidated by me and not vice versa.

  “Oh”—she covered her mouth—“your accent. I wasn’t expecting that…are you American or Canadian?”

  My accent? Okay, I supposed since I was in England, I was the one with the accent. “I’m American,” I replied.

  “Oh.” She nodded, still assessing me as I sat back down. “And are you a friend of Kate’s or Theo’s?”

  “She’s friends with both of us,” Kate answered. “Do you and Theo have a date or something tonight because I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s after nine. I’m knackered, and I’m sure Jillian is too after her long flight. So if the two of you are headed out, then do you mind going now?” Kate was firm but cordial.

  “No. We didn’t have plans for this evening,” Theo said. “Phoebe, I’m sorry. Kate is tired, so let me walk you to your car.”

  Her mouth went agape over Theo’s blunt dismissal. She turned on her heels without a goodbye to neither Kate nor me and marched toward the front door with Theo following behind.

  “Honest to God.” Kate shook her head when the front door closed. “Some women just don’t get the hint. He makes zero time for her, and more than likely uses her for one thing. I know I wouldn’t stand for that.”

  I shrugged. “Maybe she has self-esteem issues. I don’t see how with a body and a face like that, but you never know what’s going on in someone else’s mind. Theo should come clean with where he stands…or should I say make it clearer to her. Honesty is always the best policy, no matter how much it hurts.” Did I really mean that? I was honest with Evan and look how that ended up.

  Kate’s scornful expression faded and was replaced with understanding. “I suppose you’re right,” she whispered.

  Theo was back in no time, and part of me wondered if he just walked her out the door or to her car. Kate shot him a disdainful glance and he held out his arms in innocence. “What? I told her not to show up here. Didn’t I, Jillian? You heard it.”

  Kate stared at him incredulously as I nodded, not wanting to get in the middle of the little tiff that was about to ensue. “And she’s going to continue to show up to places you are until you tell her otherwise or until you just break it off completely with her. You can’t have it both ways. Regardless what you think, she has feelings too,” Kate lectured.

  I mentally gave Kate a high five for telling her brother exactly what I was thinking, even though I wasn’t quite sure if it was registering, judging by his blank expression. Maybe men and women really were from two different planets. Kate may have been the little sister, but she certainly was much more mature and wiser where this was concerned.

  CHAPTER 15

  KATE WAS GOING for her treatments in the morning and was exhausted by lunchtime. Theo had taken a few days off, so Anna had made us a picnic lunch, and we took Thomas to the park while Kate rested.

  We arrived at the park and walked the trail, following the signposts to the meadow area. The main path was wide enough to push Thomas’ stroller as he took everything in, squealing with excitement and pointing when a bunny rabbit or squirrel would cross in front of us. We passed several sculptures along the way, and Theo pointed out an old elephant house all the way back from 1939 when there used to be a zoo on the property, which had remained open for two decades. I listened with great interest as he gave me a brief history of the park, fascinated by the wealth of information he was spewing.

  Thomas had finally given in to his exhaustion and fallen asleep in his stroller once we reached the serene haven we’d been trekking to. We chose a bench in a shaded area and sat down. It was as if Mother Nature had used all the colors in her paint box when she had created this place. Lush green grass as far as the eye could see with flowers in every shade imaginable, sprouting up all over the place. The fallen petals from the cherry blossom trees covered the ground like a beautiful pink carpet while the birds sang from every branch, in perfect tune with each other.

  “This place is so peaceful,” I said to Theo. “Do you come here a lot?”

  “I used to a long time ago when I was a lot younger…like teenager younger.”

  “Oh, so is this where you’d take the girls to try and get lucky?” I teased, nudging him on the shoulder.

  His grin answered my question. “Like I said, that was a very long time ago.” Theo reached into the picnic basket that Anna had prepared and pulled out an array of sandwiches along with some scones and homemade cookies.

  “Does she always make enough food to feed a stadium full of people?”

  “Always,” Theo said, pulling out a bottle of wine from the basket. “But this was all my idea.” He smiled triumphantly as he held up the bottle.

  “Are you allowed to drink alcohol here?”

  He shrugged. “As far as anyone knows”—he reached back into the basket and placed two paper cups on the bench—“it’s grape juice in these cups.”

  I shook my head and laughed. I was feeling so relaxed. I hadn’t thought of my job, or the lack thereof, since I had stepped off the plane, and it felt good. I knew I had to decide what I was going to do once I got home, but I’d deal with that when the time came. For now, I was going to enjoy the beautiful landscape around me, the warm spring sunshine on my face, and the great company sitting next to me.

  “So, have you thought about what you wanted to do for Kate’s birthday? I’m great at last-minute party planning. I literally had three days to plan Ev—” I stopped myself before the rest of his name spilled from my lips. Why was it still so hard to say his name or to remember how happy we once were?

  “Your husband?”

  “Yes. I’m sorry, it’s still so difficult for me to talk about him. I feel like I don’t deserve to remember the happy times because I caused him so much pain.”

  Theo shook his head. “You were part of those happy memories you made with him, so you absolutely do deserve to remember them. Everyone makes mistakes, Jillian. No one is perfect.”

  “Evan was.”

  Theo raised his eyebrow in doubt.

  “No, he truly was. He put me on a pedestal, and I smacked him right in the face. I didn’t deserve him. From the day we first met, I knew I wasn’t worthy of him. If I had just listened to my inner voice that day in the coffee shop when he introduced himself, then maybe he would be alive right now.”

  “
Stop!” Theo raised his voice. “Why are you doing this to yourself? You’re a beautiful, caring, loving person who made a mistake. That doesn’t make you less worthy of anyone.”

  I grabbed a napkin and dabbed my eyes, shaking off the emotion. Theo only knew the new me. The one who grief and guilt forced to grow up. Not the one who always wanted something that was so far out of her reach, blaming others, or shall I say Evan because of it. He would never understand that side of me, and if I was being honest, I didn’t either. I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. I didn’t want to have to prove to Theo my valid reasons for feeling so undeserving of Evan, so I decided to drop it totally.

  “Okay, so…let’s get back on topic before I veered off path. What did you want to do for Kate’s birthday?”

  “Jillian?” Theo clearly wanted to finish our prior conversation, but I didn’t.

  “It’s fine. Really…I’m fine. Come on, tell me what you want to do for her party.”

  “I don’t know. I was hoping you’d have some ideas.”

  “Well, does she even like parties?”

  “She does, but given the circumstances, I don’t think she’d be much in the mood for that.”

  “Okay, so let’s see.” I broke off a piece of my sandwich and popped it in my mouth. “How about a show? They have Broadway-type shows in London, don’t they?”

  He nodded.

  “Do you think she’d be up for that?”

  “She definitely would…if she was feeling better. I think that may be too long of a day for her, though.”

  “Well, why don’t we ask her what she wants to do and plan it from there?”

  “Sounds good to me,” Theo replied.

  Thomas began to stir, yawning and stretching in his stroller until his eyes peeled open. He was even cuter in his sleepy state. “Tee Tee,” he whimpered, his little voice low and gruff. I thought it was absolutely adorable how he referred to Theo as Tee Tee.

  “Wow, sleepyhead is awake. Are you hungry, buddy?”

  “Mamma?” he asked.

  “Mummy is home,” Theo said, handing him a sippy cup.

  Thomas pushed the sippy cup away and cried, “Mamma!” His face reddened, turning down into a frown with tears spilling from his eyes. Theo reached into the stroller to take him out, and he stiffened. “Mamma,” he called once again.

  “Thomas, look who came on our picnic.” I pulled his stuffed bunny rabbit from his diaper bag, momentarily halting his cries only to start up once again. “Mamma!” he wailed.

  “Shhh.” Theo tried once again to pick him up and his crying turned into sobs.

  “May I?” I asked Theo as Thomas flailed in his arms, continuing to weep for Kate. Theo eagerly handed him over to me. I held him and stood up, turning him around so he could see what was going on. “Thomas, do you want to go look for squirrels?” His cries stopped for a brief moment as his head turned from left to right. “Come on, let’s go for a little walk and find some.” I took a few steps to a big oak tree a few feet away and placed him down. “Are there any up there?” I asked, pointing up to the branches. Thomas’ mouth widened as he threw his head back, looking up at the tree, babbling something incoherent while he pointed. “Or are they hiding on the other side?” I asked, taking his hand and walking around the huge tree trunk. “Mr. Squirrel, where are you?” I called. Thomas mimicked me in jumbled words, totally immersed in his squirrel hunt and no longer crying for his mother.

  “That was brilliant!” Theo complimented as he walked over to where we were standing.

  “A little diversion works every time.” I laughed.

  After a while we were able to coax Thomas to the bench to have some lunch. In between bites of his sandwich, he’d crawl off the bench and reach for my hand to walk over to the tree with him to check for squirrels. His determination finally paid off after the fourth time checking when two little chipmunks ran around the base of the tree next to the one we were checking before running up it.

  Thomas squealed in delight, jumping up and down, calling, “Tee Tee!”

  “Did you find the squirrel?” Theo asked as he approached us.

  “Dis!” Thomas walked over to the tree the chipmunks had just run up, tapped on the trunk, and pointed up to the branches.

  “They were actually chipmunks.” I giggled. “Same difference. One has a fluffy tail, one doesn’t.”

  Theo chuckled, lifting Thomas on his shoulders so he could touch the bottom branches. Thomas’ smile melted my heart, it was so beautiful and innocent. It amazed me how resilient children were. Just a short time ago he was hysterical, now here he was grinning from ear to ear, laughing his deep belly laughs as he and Theo ran around the trees, playing a game of hide-and-seek. I loved seeing this side of Theo. He was allowing his inner child to come out, in turn temporarily relaxing and forgetting everything that had been plaguing him. The two of them were the perfect pair. It saddened me to think that if something happened to Kate, Thomas was all Theo would have left of his family. Even though I wasn’t particularly close with my mother or my half brothers, at least I knew they were only a phone call away. I wondered if that weighed heavily on his mind along with the million other things.

  “Give them to Jillian,” Theo directed Thomas as they came out from behind some trees. Thomas clumsily ran to me, clutching a bunch of dandelions. He peered up at me proudly with rosy red cheeks and a bright, beaming smile.

  “Oh my goodness, they are beautiful!” I exclaimed. I took them from him and held on to them like they were gold instead of weeds. Just seeing Thomas’ excitement over it made them more beautiful than any flower in the world.

  “Those are the expensive variety,” Theo joked.

  After Thomas and Theo had their fill of running around, we cleaned up our lunch and went for a walk. Thomas wasn’t having any part of his stroller, so we made a stop at Theo’s car to put it in the trunk or the boot as Theo referred to it before continuing. Thomas toddled a few steps ahead of us, stopping and bending over to pick up rocks or pieces of dirt every now and then.

  “He is just too cute for words,” I said as I watched him chasing a butterfly.

  “That he is,” Theo agreed.

  “Does Kate plan to tell his father about him?”

  “I don’t know.” Theo sighed. “I’m afraid to bring it up because I know what a sensitive subject that is for her. And if I’m being honest, maybe I’m avoiding it because I’m being a little selfish.”

  “What do you mean?” I looked up at him and creased my eyebrows.

  “If something happens to Kate, Thomas is all I’ve got left of her. What rights would an uncle have if the natural father wants to take him away to Scotland with him?”

  I nodded, never stopping to think of the impact Kate’s decision would have on Theo.

  “Thomas does deserve to know he’s got a father out there. I would never begrudge him of that, but I just don’t think I could bear losing him.”

  I stopped and took his hand. “They say everything works out the way it should, and I’m certain that this will too.” I hated that he had another thing on his plate to worry about. I was certain that it scared him half to death to become Thomas’ guardian all by himself, but the look in his eyes told me it scared him even more to be faced with the alternative. If Thomas’ father was the loser Theo made him out to be, then maybe he wouldn’t want to be part of Thomas’ life. Whatever was to be was a choice only Kate could make, and I hoped for everyone’s sake it would end up being the right one.

  “Well, hello there!” an older woman sitting on a bench up ahead with her little dog lying beside her exclaimed as Thomas approached her, sticking his hand out to the dog.

  Theo rushed to Thomas’ side and picked up him. “Sorry,” he apologized.

  “What are you sorry about, love? I love the wee ones. Did you want to pet my Angus? He won’t bite.” She looked up at Thomas in Theo’s arms.

  “Did you want to pet the dog?” Theo asked, placing Thomas back down.

&
nbsp; The little black dog sprang to his feet, wagging his tail, excited by the attention Thomas was showing him. Thomas’ smile broadened as he gently ran his hand through the dog’s long, thick coat. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He was such a beautiful child with a gentle spirit that most children his age didn’t yet possess. After Thomas got out all of his affections for the dog, Theo swooped him up once again.

  “Say thank you to this nice lady for letting you pet her dog.”

  Thomas opened his fingers and did his version of a wave goodbye instead. The woman smiled, and I got the feeling that Thomas had made her day just as much as her dog made his.

  “You dropped something!” she shouted as we started to walk away. I turned around to find her bending over and picking up Thomas’ stuffed bunny off the ground.

  “I got it,” I said to Theo. Striding over to where she was sitting, I reached for the stuffed bunny and was just about to thank her when she took my hand in hers.

  “You have a lovely family, dear. Cherish it forever.”

  “Oh, that’s not…” I started to explain, until she gave my hand a gentle squeeze and closed her eyes.

  “Cherish it,” she whispered.

  Cherish it. Perhaps, it wasn’t the concept of the family she thought she perceived to which she was referring, but the moment. Something in that old woman’s eyes told me she had seen a lot, and she was as wise as the years of her life. She understood the value of time gone by, that so many of us took for granted. It was something we wished away in anticipation and then wanted back once it was gone. I’d been living for so long, wanting to reclaim the happy times I had with Evan, even before he had died. Chasing a past that didn’t mesh with my present, never realizing how those actions would affect my future. But the moment I was in, that afternoon, watching Theo and Thomas playing hide-and-seek, seeing the joy on Thomas’ face when he pet that dog was a happy one. One I always wanted to remember on the days when life wasn’t going as planned. It was my present. My here and now. A time I’d be yearning for once it had passed. I understood her now perfectly…and I would cherish it forever.