by L. N. Cronk
When I called the real estate office to make a reservation for the next weekend, I was told that they couldn’t rent it to me.
“Why not?” I asked Mary Leah, the woman who had answered the phone this time.
“Well, sir,” she said, “that property is under contract and the buyers stipulated that the sellers would only honor previously booked rental agreements. We’re not allowed to make any new reservations.”
“It’s under contract?” I cried.
“Yes, sir.”
“But I just called yesterday!” I exclaimed. “The lady I talked with yesterday didn’t say anything about it being under contract!”
“You called about renting it?”
“No. I called about buying it! She offered to show it to me and everything. She didn’t say it had already been sold!”
“Well, sir,” Mary Leah said, “we’re still showing the property to prospective buyers because the sellers are willing to accept backup offers.”
“Backup offers?”
“Yes,” Mary Leah explained. “A backup offer is an offer that is made after another offer has already been accepted. That way, if the original offer falls through for any reason, the sellers will have another contract to fall back on.”
“Why would the other offer fall through?” I asked.
“Oh, lots of reasons,” Mary Leah explained. “The buyers have a forty-five day opt-out period during which time they can get out of their contract for any reason.”
“Does that happen a lot?”
“More than I wish.”
“So,” I clarified, “I can still make a backup offer and then if things don’t work out with the first offer then I could buy it.”
“Yes sir.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll be in touch.”
I called Tanner’s Realtor friend, Sierra, and made a backup offer on the cabin (much to Laci’s dismay).
“Hey,” I told her. “If God doesn’t want us to get it, we won’t get it, right?”
She looked at me uncertainly.
“Relax,” I told her. “I promised you that I’m going to listen to what God says. I’m sure if He wants us to go to Mexico then He’s going to make sure that I hear Him, loud and clear. Right?”
She nodded at me doubtfully, but didn’t mention it again.
Of course the fact that the cabin I was so sure I couldn’t live without was under contract was a clear sign from God that He wanted us to move back to Mexico . . . and naturally I ignored it. For some reason it seemed that whenever God had something in mind for me that wasn’t in line with what I wanted, He always had to show me the hard way.
Is it really any great surprise that things were not going to be any different this time around?
~ ~ ~
EASTER WAS LATE in April this year. We were at church on the Thursday evening before (for the Maundy Thursday service) when I felt my phone vibrate. I stole a peak at it and saw that it was my boss, Scott, so I snuck out into the narthex to see what he wanted since he didn’t usually call me in the evening unless it was important.
“What’s up?”
“San Francisco’s supposed to be particularly lovely this time of year,” he said.
Part of my job as a structural engineer was to examine minimally affected buildings after an earthquake to assess how badly the structures had been damaged and to determine whether or not they were immediately safe for occupancy. I knew right away that there must have been an earthquake and that he needed me to be on one of the teams that was going.
“Now?” I asked. “Really?” (The kids had off from school all the way from tomorrow through the whole week after Easter.)
“Really.”
“Do I get the pleasure of informing my wife about this,” I asked him, “or are you going to tell her for me?”
“Sorry,” he said.
I sighed.
“When?” I asked.
“You fly out tomorrow. Early afternoon. I sent you an email.”
“Okay,” I said. “Thanks.”
When I got back into the sanctuary Laci looked at me questioningly.
Earthquake, I mouthed to her.
Her shoulders dropped, her mouth fell open in dismay, and then she tilted her head at me with an unhappy look her face. In a few seconds, when we stood up for a hymn, she leaned over Dorito’s and Amber’s heads toward my ear.
“You have got to be kidding me!” she whispered.
“Sorry!” I whispered back, hiding behind my hymnal. I glanced down at Amber, who was peering up at us curiously. I smiled at her and pointed to the correct words in the hymnal so that she could follow along – quite literally lip-syncing.
“The kids have got the next ten days off from school,” Laci said as soon as the service was over, “and you’re telling me you’re not gonna be here?”
“Where are you going?” Dorito asked.
“There was an earthquake in California,” I told him, tousling his hair.
“Awwww,” he whined as we made it to the narthex. We shook hands with the minister and thanked him for the service and then Dorito and Amber and I stepped outside while Laci went to the nursery to get Lily. Amber, who had been holding my hand ever since we’d stood up to leave, tugged on my arm as we went through the door.
“I have to fly to California for a few days,” I told her, already knowing what she wanted.
Why? she signed.
“For work,” I said. “It’s part of my job.”
Amber looked worried and suddenly I felt it. She was unquestionably more attached to me than she was to Laci. She liked Laci fine – even told her every night that she loved her – but if she ever needed anything she always turned to me first. Amber and I – we had bonded. How well was she going to cope for one or two weeks without me?
She tugged my arm again I leaned down so that she could whisper in my ear. “I want to go with you.”
“I’d love to have you go with me,” I said, smiling at her as we walked toward the van, “but you can’t.”
Why?
“Because I have to work all day while I’m out there and there wouldn’t be anyone to watch you.”
Laci.
“No,” I said. “Laci’s staying here with you and Dorito and Lily.”
Tug, tug. “We could all go,” she whispered.
“No,” I said again, shaking my head. “Dorito’s got a tournament that starts Monday.”
“You’re gonna miss my tournament?” Dorito wailed.
“I’m really sorry, buddy,” I said, unlocking the van.
He crossed his arms at me.
“Get in,” I told him. I held Amber’s door open for her. She was still holding my hand and she whispered in my ear again.
“Ask Mrs. White if she can come and take care of me,” Amber begged before she climbed up into the van.
“No,” I said, giving her seatbelt some slack so she could fasten it. “She’s busy helping Jordan and Charlotte plan their wedding. Jordan’s flying in tomorrow for the long weekend.”
Tanner, she signed, ignoring her seatbelt.
“Yeah, right,” I said, reaching across her and clicking the buckle together. “That’s not gonna happen.”
Why?
“Well, for one thing, because I don’t think Tanner wants to spend his spring break babysitting you in San Francisco. For another thing, he probably wants to spend some time with Jordan.”
I closed her door and saw that Lily and Laci had caught up with us.
“She wants to go with me,” I told Laci, taking Lily from her. “Doesn’t see why I can’t just find someone who’s willing to go to San Francisco with us to babysit her.”
Laci laughed as I held her door open for her. Then I fastened Lily into her booster seat and went around to the driver’s side. When I climbed in, Amber popped her head between me and Laci and cupped her hands around my ear again.
“Grandma Holland?” She was not about to give up.
I opened my mouth to
argue with her, but couldn’t think of a reason why that might not actually work. I glanced at Laci.
“What about my mom?” I repeated to her. Laci gave me a little shrug. I looked back at Amber and she put her hands together in a pleading gesture.
“I’ll ask her,” I told Amber, “but no promises. Now do your seatbelt back up.”
I called Mom before I started the van.
“Hi, honey,” she said. “Good timing – we just landed a little bit ago.”
“Landed?”
“We’re visiting your Aunt Cindy, remember?”
“Oh, yeah,” I said. “I completely forgot you guys were going to New York. I guess that answers that question.”
“What question?”
“I was calling to see if you wanted to go to San Francisco with me.”
“When?”
“Like . . . tomorrow.”
“Earthquake?”
“Yeah.”
“Was it bad?”
“I don’t think it was too devastating,” I answered, “but I’m probably gonna be there for a while. Amber wanted to go with me but somebody’s gotta watch her during the day and Laci can’t go.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I said as I started the van.
“I’d better go,” she said, “Your father’s getting annoyed.”
“Because you keep bumping into people,” I heard him say.
“Good luck,” she said.
“Okay,” I said. “Have fun. Tell Aunt Cindy I said ‘Hi’.”
We said goodbye and I backed out of my parking spot.
“Maybe my mom could do it,” Laci suggested.
“Mmmm,” I nodded, reluctantly.
“What?” she laughed. “My mom would be fun to go to San Francisco with!”
“Mmmm,” I nodded again.
“You want me to call her?”
“I guess,” I said, but then suddenly I was struck with a thought. “Hey! See if we can leave Dorito with her and your dad and they can take him to the tournament and stuff and you and Lily can come out there with me!”
“Mommy’s not going to my tournament either?” Dorito cried.
“Dorito,” I said. “Be quiet.”
“You’re going to leave me here all by myself?”
“Not all by yourself. You’d be with Grandma and Grandpa.”
I could see him crossing his arms at me in the rearview mirror as Laci called her mother.
“Oh, wait,” Laci said, closing her phone. “I just remembered. Mom’s having that root thing done on her tooth Monday. They’re gonna have to put her under and I said I’d drive her home afterwards because Dad’s got some client flying in that day.”
“She can’t reschedule?”
“It’s really been bothering her,” Laci said. “I don’t want to have to ask her to do that.”
“I’m sorry,” I told Amber, glancing at her in the mirror. She looked down at her lap, dejectedly. I must have looked dejected too because Laci mouthed at me, She’ll be fine, and patted me on the arm.
“It wouldn’t be fair if you got to go, anyway,” I heard Dorito say to Amber, quietly.
“Dorito!” Laci admonished.
“Well, it wouldn’t be!” Dorito said. “If I don’t get to go, she shouldn’t get to go!”
“Dorito,” I said, “that is really rude. None of you are getting to go and it’s all because you have a baseball tournament and Mommy has to stay here to take you to that.”
“Sor-ry,” he said, just as disrespectfully as he possibly could. “I’m just saying that it wouldn’t be fair.”
“That’s it, young man,” I said. “When we get home you’re going straight to bed, and no TV or video games tomorrow.”
“WHAT?” he cried.
“You heard me!”
“That’s not fair!” he wailed. “I always get in trouble and she never does!”
“That’s because she isn’t rude!”
“Because she doesn’t even say anything!” he exclaimed. “It’s kinda hard to be rude when you don’t talk!”
“Maybe you should think about giving that a try sometime,” Laci suggested, looking back at him.
“I hope you’re happy,” I heard him say under his breath.
“This isn’t Amber’s fault,” I told him, glancing at him in the mirror.
“So quit looking at her like that,” Laci added.
In the mirror, I saw him turn his head defiantly toward the window, apparently making up his mind to quit before he got into more trouble. He didn’t say another word.
“Don’t forget you wanted to go by Tanner’s,” Laci reminded me. Tanner had wanted to borrow my dad’s power washer to make good use of all his free time over spring break and it had been riding around in the back of our van for over a week.
“What?” Laci asked, turning to face Amber who was sitting directly behind her. (Apparently Amber had leaned forward and gotten her attention by tugging on her sleeve or tapping her on the shoulder.)
“Tanner?” Laci laughed. “You want to see if Tanner will go with you to San Francisco?”
I glanced back and saw Amber nodding. I looked at Laci and we smiled at each other.
“I already told you,” I reminded her, “that there’s no way Tanner’s going to want to go to San Francisco with us.”
She reached for Laci again.
“She wants to know if she can ask him,” Laci translated after she had turned to see what Amber wanted.
“Sure,” I agreed. “You go right ahead and ask him, but I promise you that he’s going to tell you ‘No’.”
“San Francisco?!” Tanner cried after we’d pulled up to his house and all of us had piled out of the van. He had come out to greet us and was now squatted down next to Amber, listening as she whispered in his ear.
“Where do you want this?” I asked him, hoisting the power washer out of the back of the van.
“Can I really go with you guys to San Francisco?”
I set the power washer down and stared at him, dumbfounded.
“Are you serious?”
“A free trip to San Francisco?” he asked. “Of course I’m serious!”
“Who said anything about free?”
Amber started jumping up and down, clapping her hands. Dorito crossed his arms tighter and managed to somehow look even more disgusted with his life.
“I don’t know,” Laci suddenly said, shaking her head and screwing up her face. “Is that really going to look appropriate for two grown men to go out there with an eight-year-old little girl?”
“It’s San Francisco!” Tanner protested, standing up and putting his hand on Amber’s shoulder. “Who’s gonna care?”
“He’s got a point,” I told Laci. She still looked uncertain.
“David and I are gonna fit right in out there,” Tanner assured her. He pursed his lips and blew a kiss in my direction.
“You know what?” I said, holding up my hand. “Forget it. I’d rather stay here and have my teeth pulled with Laci’s mom.”
Laci laughed.
“Can we go over the Golden Gate Bridge?” Tanner asked, walking to the fence that surrounded his back yard.
“Whatever,” I said, picking up the power washer again.
“And I wanna ride the cable cars,” he said, opening up the gate.
“You and Amber can ride cable cars all day long while I’m working,” I promised as I set the power washer down inside the back yard.
“And then what?” he asked, winking at me knowingly. “What are we gonna do after that?”
I glared at him.
“I can’t imagine going to San Francisco with someone as homophobic as you are,” he laughed. “This is gonna be so fun.”
“I’m not homophobic!” I exclaimed as we walked back to the driveway.
“Uh-huh.”
“What’s homophobic?” Dorito asked Tanner. His silent streak had lasted for about twelve minutes – a new, personal record.
&
nbsp; “Thanks, Tanner,” I said sarcastically. “That’s really a conversation I wanted to have with him tonight.”
“Your father,” he told Dorito. “Your father is homophobic.”
“I am not!”
“Right,” he nodded. Then he raised his eyebrows at me seductively and said again, “This is gonna be so fun.”
“Are you sure you really want to do this?” I asked him, seriously.
“Why not?” he shrugged. “I’ve got the whole week off anyway. It’s perfect timing.”
“We’ve gotta be at the airport by like, noon tomorrow. You gonna be able to get ready by then?”
“All I’ve gotta do is a couple loads of laundry and find someone to take care of the dog.” We both turned and looked at Laci.
“Oh, lovely,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Somehow my next ten days just managed to get even better.”
~ ~ ~
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER our plane touched down at San Francisco International. On our way to get our luggage, Amber stopped me and motioned for me to lean down. She whispered in my ear, “I have to go to the bathroom.”
“Well,” I said, “you’re just gonna have to wait. We’ll be at the hotel in a little bit and you can go to the bathroom then.”
She shook her head at me adamantly. I looked at Tanner in dismay.
“What’s the problem?” he asked. “The kid can’t go to the bathroom?”
“Laci always goes in there with her!” I exclaimed. “She can’t go in there alone! What if something happens while she’s in there?”
“David,” he said, putting his hands on my shoulders and looking at me in mild disbelief. “She just has to go to the bathroom.” (He shook my shoulders dramatically, in rhythm to the word bath-room.) “It will be o-kay.” (Shake, shake.) “I’m confident that some-how, some-way,” (shake, shake, shake, shake), “we can handle this.”
“Do you know how many kids get abducted from public restrooms every year?” I asked quietly.
“How many?”
“Thousands.”
“Uh-huh.” He was done talking to me and he looked down at Amber. “Do you have to go to the bathroom, honey?”
She nodded at him.