Sarah slipped from his arm and out of the garage. “I know we did. If you’ll close the door, I’ll bring my car back into the drive. I don’t like leaving it on the street too long.”
She swung around. “Oh, you have my keys.”
“Tell you what.” Kevin took her hand and led her toward the front door of her house. “I’ll let you in, and then I’ll move your car while you get supper started.”
His words were commonplace, his actions no more than a friend. Still, a strange feeling of rightness settled over Sarah. Had she and Kevin become a couple again? Did buying a car together and fixing a meal at home mean anything? Maybe not to Kevin, but to Sarah, it meant everything.
Wednesday morning Harold stopped to see Sarah while she was interviewing a woman for the business office. He left a message for her to meet him in the cafeteria at lunch.
She paid for her salad and crossed the dining room with slow steps. She hadn’t seen him in several days and hadn’t thought of him in just as long. She’d been busy. Buying a car took time. She lifted her chin and increased her pace.
“Hi, Sarah.” Harold greeted her without his usual smile. “Sit down.”
Sarah set her tray on the table and slid into the chair across from him. “I got your message. Is anything wrong?”
“I don’t know.” His forehead creased. “Maybe you can tell me. I haven’t talked to you since Friday night. Where have you been?”
Sarah’s eyes widened. “Why, right here of course. What are you talking about? If you wanted to talk to me, all you had to do was stop by or call.”
“I couldn’t stop by, and I tried to call.”
“Why not?”
Harold blinked. “Why not what?”
“Why couldn’t you stop by? I’ve been at work every day this week. You found my office today.” Sarah tried to keep her voice calm, in spite of Harold’s unreasonable attitude.
He stared at her for several moments before saying, “I’ve been gone, Sarah. I got home only this morning, and I came straight to your office.”
The seminar. Her face burned while her heart sank. How could she have forgotten? Kevin. He’d so filled her time and thoughts there’d been room for little else and certainly not Harold.
“I see you remember now.” She cringed from the sarcasm in his voice. “I called your cell phone and your house phone several times Saturday night. I knew you were out with”—he paused as if the name was distasteful—“Kevin.”
“I must have left my cell at home.” She almost whispered the words.
“Sunday afternoon?”
She looked up. “I never take my phone into church.”
“I said afternoon.”
“Oh. I went out to eat right after church.”
“Sunday night?”
She thought back and remembered curling up in bed with her Bible. She’d heard the phone ring downstairs, but let the answering machine pick up. She’d been too busy Monday to check her messages. Tuesday after work, she’d found two messages from Harold, but hadn’t returned the calls. At the time, soaking in a bubble bath before Kevin arrived had seemed more important.
Now she focused on Harold. “I’m sorry, honest. I was reading my Bible Sunday night, then Monday and Tuesday I went gift shopping for Trey’s graduation.” Her eyes widened. “Oh Harold, you’ll never guess what we bought him. A car. A Mustang. It’s only two years old and it’s midnight blue. I know he’ll love it.”
Harold’s eyebrows shot up and his mouth dropped open. “You bought a new car for…for…”
He couldn’t seem to finish his sentence, so Sarah helped him. “Trey. For our son.”
When he still stared at her, she said, “Okay, he isn’t technically our son. I mean not legally, but in our hearts he always will be.”
His eyes narrowed. “So you spent the last two nights with your high school boyfriend.”
A short laugh escaped without mirth. “Hardly. Just a few hours shopping.”
She stood, her salad practically untouched, and tried to keep annoyance from her voice. “I’m sorry you couldn’t get through, Harold. It was one of those things. I’ve got to get back to work. As a father, you should understand how important Trey is to me. He always has been, but now we’ve met—” She hesitated. “I don’t know. Maybe this is something only understood by those who experience it.”
He stopped her with a hand on her arm. “I’m sorry, Sarah. I didn’t mean to come down on you. I’m jealous. I admit it. Just the thought of you with that guy turns me inside out. I expected an answer by now. Why don’t I come over tonight? We could watch a movie and have popcorn. Talk about our future.”
“I’m sorry, Harold.” Sarah shook her head. “I have a meeting tonight. But you don’t know our good news, do you?”
She sat back down and clasped his hands across the table. “Kevin found a house for us, and he gave it to us free and clear. It’s a big, old Victorian in an older, but very nice neighborhood. There are seven bedrooms, a large kitchen, and a living room. It’s perfect for the girls.”
“Well, isn’t that nice of him?”
“Yes, it truly is.” Before she started gushing about Kevin’s generosity, Sarah stood again. “I’m sorry you couldn’t get hold of me, Harold. My intention was not to slight such a good friend, but with Trey’s graduation and then the house for the girls, it’s been a hectic week. Now I’ve really got to get back to work. I’ll let you know more about the house later.”
Halfway back to her office, Sarah realized Harold had been talking about the ring still sitting on her coffee table. How could she have forgotten Harold’s ring? How could she have so completely forgotten him?
Thursday evening Kevin took Sarah out to eat. On Friday evening, they fixed supper at his apartment and watched a movie then made plans to drive to Trey’s graduation the following afternoon.
Sarah bought three rolls of wide red ribbon Saturday morning and cleaned her house from top to bottom. She warmed leftover casserole for lunch and then started a load of laundry.
She checked the time. Only one o’clock. She cleaned the refrigerator. The washer stopped, so she put clothes in the dryer and then ran upstairs to her bedroom. Kevin would arrive at three thirty. She pulled the bright blue sundress and matching yellow and blue jacket she planned to wear from the closet and laid them across her bed. She might as well take a shower and get ready while she had time.
Thirty minutes later, Sarah emerged from her bedroom, ready to go with an hour and a half to wait. She ran downstairs, grabbed up the phone, and punched in Kevin’s number.
When he answered, she said, “Would we get there too early if we left now?”
His laughter filled her ear. “Sarah, you sound like a child who doesn’t want to wait for Christmas.”
“All right, so I’m a little eager.”
“A little?” He chuckled. “You caught me pacing the floor.”
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah, and chompin’ at the bit.”
“Why don’t you come over here?” Sarah looked out the front window as if she would see Kevin driving down the street. “We could wait together.”
“Good idea. I’ll be right there.”
Sarah hung up the phone and paced from one end of her house to the other until Kevin pulled into the driveway. She flung the door open and met him outside on the walk. “What took you so long?”
Kevin smiled. “You don’t have much patience, do you?”
“Ha.” She planted her hands on her hips and walked backward in front of him. “I’ve waited eighteen years for this day. If that isn’t patience, I don’t know what is.”
His eyes held a message of love, but all he said was, “I understand. Let’s get your stuff together and get started. Did you get the ribbon?”
Sarah twirled around and ran to the door. “Yes.”
Kevin stood just inside Sarah’s door to wait while she gathered her purse, camera, cell phone, and the ribbon. She looked so feminine and beaut
iful in a blue and gold dress with her blond hair pulled back in a fancy braid. His gaze lingered on the neat hairdo that started on top of her head then looped around at the nape of her neck as if there were no end. Love for her filled his heart. Walking away from Sarah had been the biggest mistake of his life. Their past couldn’t be changed, but they were together now, and that was all that mattered. If he asked her to marry him, what would she say? His heart pounded as if she’d already turned him down.
“Ready to go?” She stood before him, with a smile, and handed him a bottle of cold water. “Here you go. I took a couple from the fridge, so we don’t have to stop on the way.”
“Beautiful and smart, too.” He grinned as a pink tinge sprang to her cheeks at his flattery. He glanced at his watch. “It’s almost three, so we won’t be more than an hour early.”
“We could drive slow.”
He laughed, took the bag of ribbons from her, slipped his arm around her shoulders, and opened the door. “Come on. Let’s go.”
Sarah led the way in her car. Kevin followed in the Mustang. He wanted to keep her in sight all the way, to know she was safe, but mostly to pretend she was his to protect and care for. When they finally reached the outskirts of Trey’s hometown, Kevin slipped his cell phone from his pocket and called Sarah.
“What’s wrong?”
He chuckled. “Is that the way you’re supposed to answer a phone?”
“It is when my son’s new car is at stake.”
“The car’s fine, but I’m hungry, and it’s only five. We might as well grab a hamburger while we have time.”
She groaned. “Time in abundance, you mean. We’ve got two hours. We should’ve waited at home. We can’t eat for two hours.”
At that moment, Kevin saw a sign that said CITY PARK with an arrow pointing to the left. “Maybe we can. I just got a craving for fried chicken and a picnic. Let’s go to a deli and get the works, and then check out the park.”
“I see a grocery store ahead. It looks big enough for a deli. Follow me.” Sarah’s left blinker flashed while she waited for traffic to clear.
They passed a sprinkling of fast-food places, and Kevin recognized a couple more ahead. He preferred the choices in a grocery store to any of them. He and Sarah had always agreed on the important things in life. He smiled. Like buying a car for Trey. Today they were privileged to be included in Trey’s life, in one of his greatest accomplishments by graduating from high school. Tonight he would pass from a boy to a man. Kevin was every bit as excited as Sarah to be allowed to watch, even from the sidelines.
In the store, they bought crispy fried chicken, coleslaw, potato salad, baked beans, a pan of brownies, paper plates, plastic forks, napkins, and a quart of milk. When they left the store, Kevin put the bags in Sarah’s car.
He took a deep breath before setting them on the floor. “Mmm. As good as this stuff smells, we don’t want Trey thinking we ate in his car.”
Sarah laughed. “Plus, we don’t want you snitching any before we get to the park.”
“Ha, and you aren’t tempted?” He closed the back door and opened the front for her.
She slid in and gave him a sweet smile. “Even if I was, I couldn’t reach anything. You put it behind me.”
He grinned. “With good reason, ma’am. Follow me to the park.”
Other than one young family playing on the swings, the park was deserted. Sarah chose a shelter with tables well away from the playground and began unloading their purchases on the table. Kevin sat down and watched her while they ate. “Do you miss small town life?”
She looked at him, her eyes wide. Finally she shrugged. “I don’t know. I like the city, the convenience, my job, my house. I visit Mom and Dad several times a year. That’s enough for me, but—”
She looked around the rolling hills of the park. Wide cement walks meandered through an expanse of closely cropped thick green grass. Trees, some flowering, the others standing tall and green against the light blue sky, provided shade as well as beauty. The children in the playground shouted out their joy.
“But?” Kevin prompted her.
Her gaze settled on him and she smiled. “There’s something special about small towns, isn’t there? The pace is slower, the air is cleaner, there isn’t as much noise.” She laughed. “Everyone knows everyone else’s business.”
Kevin grinned. “That’s true.”
They talked about nothing and ate almost everything until a honeybee stopped to investigate the new aroma. Kevin swatted at the bee.
“Oh, don’t hurt it.” Sarah waved her hand over her plate when another bee made an appearance. “They pollinate the flowers.”
“And fruit, but they also have stingers, and there’s no pollen on my plate.” He fanned two away. They were quickly replaced by another bee.
“Okay, that’s it.” Kevin swept their plates from the table and dumped them in the trash barrel in the corner of the shelter. “Maybe that will get rid of the attraction.”
Sarah giggled. The bees were a nuisance, but she figured they were more interested in leftovers than in stinging. She cleared the table of trash.
Kevin watched her.
She smiled at him. “Isn’t it time to go yet?”
He laughed and looked at his watch. “Yeah, it’s after six. Let’s see if we can find the football field.”
They drove across town to the school. Sarah was eager to see Trey, but Kevin filled her thoughts. They’d spent over an hour in the park talking more than eating. Nothing of importance had been said. In fact, she didn’t remember most of their conversation.
What she couldn’t get out of her mind was Kevin’s gray eyes crinkling at the corners, sparkling with amusement, or stealing her breath with their intensity. She loved watching his dimples deepen beside a smile that had always given her heart problems. In fact, she loved everything about Kevin.
All the past hurts had been healed. The hate she’d clutched so close for eighteen years fled before the love that now filled her heart. She no longer needed to hate. The love she’d hidden behind a facade of anger and resentment for much too long had been set free. She laughed with the sheer joy of loving Kevin and knowing he cared for her. He hadn’t used words of love, but she saw his heart in his expressive eyes every time he looked at her. Why would he speak of love when she held herself from him?
She followed him into the school parking lot and stopped her car close to the exit. Kevin drove to the far edge and parked to one side. Sarah locked her car then ran past several parked cars to the Mustang.
He watched her come and lifted the bag of ribbons. “Think we can wrap this up pretty?”
“Of course.” She took a roll of red ribbon from him and pulled the tape from the end. “All you have to do is crawl under the car with this, and then we’ll tie a pretty bow on top.”
“Ha, ha.” Kevin took the roll from her and opened the front door. He positioned the end of the ribbon under the door and pressed the tape in place then closed the door, effectively securing the ribbon.
“Hey smart man.” Sarah ran around to the other side with another roll and did the same thing. “Now we have to tie a bow on top.”
Kevin held the bag up. “You have another roll. Let’s see if we can get it to stick to the back and front bumpers.”
Sarah wasn’t sure how long the tape would hold to the bumpers, but by the time they finished, they had Trey’s Mustang tied in the wide red ribbon with a large bow on top. If no one bothered it during the ceremony and the wind didn’t blow it off, they should be in good shape.
Sarah turned from the car to a rapidly filling parking lot. Almost everyone who walked past smiled or pointed at their gift. They were attracting a considerable amount of attention. “Kevin, we’d better get away from the car before Trey sees us.”
“Yeah, I noticed.” He took her hand, and they blended into the steady stream of parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends of Trey’s classmates.
They found seats midway up on
the bleachers. A large, wooden platform with steps on either end made an outdoor stage. The school band took their places to the side and began playing the processional, while the graduates marched past to fill the folding chairs waiting for them. Sarah strained to see and recognize Trey among all the blue and gold. She ignored the girls dressed in gold, but the blue caps and gowns made all the young men look the same.
“There he is.” Kevin lifted his hand in a wave as so many others were doing.
Sarah wondered how the kids recognized their family in the closely crowded bleachers. She stood and waved in a wide arch.
Trey smiled at someone on the front row. Then he looked up and saw her, and his smile widened just as she snapped a picture. Sarah sat back down and clutched Kevin’s arm. “He saw us.”
Kevin chuckled. “How could he miss?”
Sarah ignored his teasing. They listened to the speeches and the special music. A girl sang a solo; then the entire class stood and sang their school song. Sarah laughed and squeezed Kevin’s hand when Trey received three scholarships to college. Finally, under a darkening sky, the graduates walked across the stage to receive their diplomas.
During the recessional, Sarah watched the young men and women file out with wide smiles on their faces. Trey lifted his diploma high in a sign of triumph as he marched past. He sent a wide smile toward her and Kevin before joining his classmates, who had gathered on one end of the football field. With a cheer that rang loud and long, their caps sailed high into the night sky, lit by the football field floodlights. That was the signal Sarah had been waiting for. She wanted to get to Trey.
“I hope we haven’t lost him.” Sarah held to Kevin’s hand as he led her down the bleachers.
“Not a chance. There’s his parents.” Kevin indicated the Millers talking to another couple as they made their way toward their son. “Let’s catch up with them.”
When the Millers welcomed them with open smiles and handshakes, Sarah realized she felt no competition with them for Trey’s love. So many times when he was little, she had visualized Mrs. Miller holding her baby and resented the woman he would think of as his mother. Later, when he was older, she wished she could be the one to help him through life’s problems. Even as recently as a few months ago when they first met, she’d fantasized him calling her Mom as some special bond between mother and son brought them together, as if all the years of separation had never occurred.
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