Cal reached over and patted Phyl's hand. "I miss her, too. I wish I'd had more time to say goodbye, but then I think about you and Harry."
"She was a good woman, Cal." They both sat in silence with their memories until they heard the girls clattering about in the kitchen.
Chapter Three - July
Cal pulled into the driveway at 4:45. He folded his stiff body out of the car and stretched before sauntering over to the Schuyler's house. Seeing a shadowy form moving in the kitchen, he called through the screen door. "Hi Phyl, where are the girls?"
Phyl gave a startled shriek. "Couldn't you knock like normal people, Cal?"
"You know I'm light on my feet." Cal opened the door and walked into the kitchen.
Phyl looked at her handsome older neighbour. "Yes, but everyone else in my life gives me some warning they're coming. Just knock next time."
Cal teased, "But maybe I like the way you shriek when you're surprised."
Phyl hit him with her tea towel. "Monster."
"That's Lydia. I'm a savage Scot. So where are the girls?"
"The Andersons invited all three of the kids to a barbeque at Mooney's Bay. I'm supposed to walk over to get them around seven-thirty."
"Well, I can use the time to get some laundry started." Cal turned to leave. "I was going to make a stir-fry for me and Felicity to use up some leftover chicken and sausages. You're welcome to share."
"Let's see, I could have a can of chicken noodle soup by myself or I could have a good looking man cook me a hot supper. I'll have to think about that for maybe half a second." Phyl smiled. "I'd love to, thanks." She paused. "Why the suit?"
"We had an all day meeting with a bunch of people from the Navy and the naval architects. The Navy wants to get some preliminary concept designs for some new coastal defence boats. Of course there were six of them and the five naval engineers and me from Public Works so there must have been at least twenty competing ideas on what would be needed." Cal stretched again.
"Poor you." Phyl noticed the wince when he stretched. "Sitting in a room all day right after the canoe trip. You must be sore."
"It was okay while the meeting was on. It was only when I was getting up that it was a problem. One of the managers from the naval architecture firm snickered at me. I'll try not to say 'I told you so' when he hits forty."
"He'll probably have a beer gut by then. Anyway, this isn't getting my kitchen clean."
"And it isn't getting supper on the table either."
"See you around six, then."
Cal walked back over to his house and changed into shorts and tee shirt. Gathering laundry in the too quiet house was an awful chore. There were too many reminders of Brenda, too many things he always relied on her to remember.
The week after the funeral he'd almost ruined Felicity's favourite white cotton blouse by washing it with colours. The rest of the evening was a set of weepy tirades that were really all about missing her mother. Cal had felt like a worm.
The blouse had been one of Brenda's peasant blouses that was left over from her high school days that really suited Felicity. Fortunately, he hadn't put it in the dryer and Phyl knew what to do to bleach it back to white. When Phyl returned it, Felicity had apologized to him and they both had a good cry while Phyl retreated rapidly to her house with tears forming in her eyes.
Now there was no acerbic banter, no hyper-organized wife with lists pinned to the fridge with magnets, no shopping lists with coupons stapled to them on the corkboard by the front door sorted by preferred store, no strange calming mood music, no odd aromatherapy scents, and no one to keep his spirits up after a day of dealing with idiots. He sighed and cleared the hamper in the upstairs hall.
Phyl caught herself as she reached for her makeup. She was only having supper with Cal. He'd understand if she showed up with her hair in a ponytail and dressed in her wash day sweats. But they were walking over to Mooney's Bay beach to get the kids after supper, so she decided that she needed to change and brush her hair properly.
"This is very good, Cal." Phyl's expression was equally appreciative.
"Brenda always preferred my cooking to hers, but I only had time to do it properly on the weekends. Mostly we'd have one of her freezer casseroles, but once a week or so I'd do something quick like this." Cal's eyes shuttered briefly.
Phyl sat back and contemplated. "So most of the fancy dinners..."
"Were my cooking, yes." Cal took a bite. "I let Brenda take credit because she was the hostess."
"I had no idea." Phyl took another bite of the fragrant rice and vegetables. "Maybe I should look pathetic on the weekends and you could cook for me."
Cal laughed. But this time he really looked at Phyl. He hadn't done that before out of respect for their friendship. She'd always been good looking but the addition of laugh lines and a few subtle soft curves as she approached thirty-five made her seem more beautiful than he'd acknowledged before.
Cal shook his head to clear his thoughts. Phyl was more than twenty years younger than he was.
Phyl saw Cal looking at her like a woman and not just a friend. She discovered that she was flattered and pleased by the attention. She ate another bite and asked about the canoe trip.
"Tim was mostly okay. I heard him talking with his friend Jesse from church about Harry and he seemed relaxed, mostly. There were some moments that gave him trouble, but he soldiered through."
"I'm glad to hear it. Our twins kept more to themselves than normal at the sleepover. But everyone had fun and I'll probably let Lydia do it again next year if she asks."
They finished up the meal talking about nothing in particular and just had time to put the dishes into the dishwasher before walking over to the park.
On the way, Phyl studied Cal as they walked. Despite his complaints about old bones, he was in terrific shape. His hair was still mostly light brown with some grey showing at his temples and scattered in silver threads everywhere else. He moved with the languid grace that made him such a good dancer and put the lie to the canoe trip giving him trouble. She noticed that his green eyes looked curiously in every direction like he was trying to spot a ship on the horizon.
As they were walking along the path next to the river, Cal stopped quickly and pointed. "Look, I think that's a mink."
Sure enough, hiding in the weeds next to the water with its beady eyes glued to a mother duck and her eight ducklings was small dark brown animal. It jumped into the water without a splash and Phyl could see the wake as it swam quickly toward the ducklings. Mama duck quacked loudly to move her little flock along and a pair of drakes came scuttling over to protect the babies. The mink gave up the hunt and returned to the weeds.
"I don't think I've ever seen a mink before."
"They're pretty sneaky creatures. The ducklings were lucky today, but I think that mama is going to lose some of her babies if she isn't more careful."
They edged closer together as they walked, unconsciously falling into a couple's rhythm.
Mrs. Anderson spotted them first and waved. Lydia looked back and said, "Felicity, your dad and my mum are here."
Felicity watched them saunter toward them and said, "They look pretty chummy. I wonder what's going on."
Lydia took a good look at her mum. "Mum's wearing a skirt. That's weird."
"And dad's wearing a nice shirt, not one of his awful Hawaiian things."
"You don't think they've decided they want to go out together, do you?" Lydia sounded hopeful.
"No, I don't think so. Mom hasn't been gone very long. My brothers would throttle him, I think. And David would go through the roof."
"Well, they look very chummy."
"They have been friends for a long time, just like us."
"I suppose."
Phyl and Cal reached their daughters. "Are you ready to go?"
Felicity and Lydia looked at each other and shrugged. "I guess."
Cal said, "Then go say thank you to Mrs. Anderson, Felicity, and gather your stuff."
Lydia raced over to say thank you then came back to her beach towel and began to meticulously fold everything and put it carefully into her bag. Felicity came sauntering back and shoved everything into her bag like she was stuffing a sausage. Phyl went over to embarrass Tim with a motherly hug and began to help him get his things together.
Lydia grumped. "How come he gets help from Mum?"
Felicity grinned. "Because he's clueless. He only came back with one sock the last two times we came here."
Lydia sighed but grinned back. "You're right. He is clueless."
Tim heard that exchange and charged over to tackle his sister, but she sidestepped and gave him a poke in the ribs as he went by.
The kids bantered and made lots of noise on the way back to the house. Cal spotted the mink again and everyone stopped to watch quietly for a short while.
As they said goodnight, Cal took another good look at Phyl, with her long ash blonde hair in a ponytail, her sparkling blue eyes and her long legs with their clean athletic lines, and decided to put aside any thoughts in that direction.
As Phyl was getting ready for bed, she replayed the supper and their walk to and from the beach. She was certain that she had not imagined Cal's interest in her. What she definitely had not imagined was her response. Except for the long hug at Brenda's funeral she had not been held by a man in more than five months.
She needed a hug. That was all. Cal was not going to ever really be interested in someone who could be his daughter. Was he?
As she brushed her hair she tried, without success, to put away the memory of the last time she and Cal had danced together. Feeling disloyal to Harry, she eventually drove Cal out of her thoughts and went to sleep.
Chapter Four - August
"I don't know why I didn't cancel this." Phyl looked around the small half cabin she was going to share with Felicity and Lydia.
"Because we were too busy with Brenda's funeral. And both of us are too cheap to forfeit good money." Cal moved to grab Tim's backpack.
"Are you saying that Dutchmen are cheap again? I'll have you know that I'm not Dutch, Harry was. My side is Norwegian."
"You married in. That makes you sort of Dutch. But I was referring to the frugal habits of my Scottish ancestors...although... I have heard that the Dutch can teach lessons to the Scots on how to pinch pennies." Cal smirked.
Phyl took a backhand swing at Cal which he dodged nimbly. "So where are the kids?"
Cal took a look out the window. "Tim's playing tetherball with some of the guys he met last year. Lydia and Felicity are reintroducing themselves to the Scotchmer twins, you know, the girls who are twenty minutes older and younger than they are. But you should see this."
Phyl looked over Cal's shoulder to see a small group of boys trying their best to make small talk with the girls. "Oh, my. Well, they're teenagers now. I suppose it was inevitable. I can see it's time for that talk with Lydia."
"Maybe you can do the same with Felicity. I'll give the same message to both of them from the overprotective dad perspective, if you want." Cal turned and found himself far too close to Phyl. Swallowing, he said, "I should get this over to our side of the cabin."
Phyl hesitated before she stepped back. It had been a long while since she'd been this close to a man. She looked up slightly into Cal's face. She could see the widening green eyes and hear the hitch in his breath that told her he was interested. But she also saw his determination to not respond. So she stepped back and let him leave.
The week was bittersweet for both of them. With Brenda and Harry gone neither of them could quite get settled. Fortunately the kids were able to reconnect with their friends and were able to have fun, although they had a few moments here and there that would remind them of their missing parent. Because it was their tenth year at the camp there were lots of people who knew both Harry and Brenda.
Harry had always looked forward to the outdoor activities at family camp but the early morning swim where the two of them could play in the water and touch and tease was what Phyl missed the most. She went down to the water early each morning and thought about swimming out to the floating dock and back, but there was no one waiting on the far side to steal a kiss so she did laps for exercise and finished early.
Cal missed the afternoon canoe trips with Brenda. In their second year at the camp, Brenda had arranged to look after the kids during the morning swim so that Phyl and Harry could have their private time. In return, Harry and Phyl took care of Felicity in the afternoon so that Cal and Brenda could be alone. Brenda had found a small island that was just out of sight of the camp's beach with a secluded wildflower meadow where they could steal kisses without being spied on. But he had no reason to go now.
Tim took Cal around to some of the special spots where his father shared time with him. The walk through the frog marsh was difficult for Tim, but he showed Cal how to find the frogs. They built some new memories by spotting several elusive five lined skinks including a juvenile with a blue tail. By the end of the week Tim was able to talk about his father most of the time without either anger or tears.
The girls would spend their time between curfew and sleep talking about their days. Felicity had one bad evening when a well meaning woman who knew Brenda cornered her and offered a boatload of saccharine platitudes that were probably intended to comfort her. Instead, Felicity felt like the offered comfort was insincere and she got both tearful and angry.
Phyl was able to turn Felicity's anger at the woman into a teaching point. She reminded the girls that death is a very uncomfortable subject for most people and there are not very many words you can say. A sincere "I'm sorry for your loss" followed by a sincere "Is there anything I can do to help?" was the most effective way to communicate your sympathy.
The worst part of the experience for Cal and Phyl was the theme for the Bible study. This year's program was designed to facilitate communication with your partner, which would have been fine the previous year, but this year Cal and Phyl were the only single parents, something neither had been when they paid to attend.
With the two families so close in other respects, the rest of the camp were treating Cal and Phyl as if they were a couple. They ate all their meals together, ended up on the same teams and in the breakout sessions where there was supposed to be one on one communication they were paired together.
The first day was awkward but as the week progressed they used the morning time to try to answer the questions the way that they would have had their late spouses been their partner.
Cal learned that Phyl was still unhappy with having stopped at two children. As an only child she'd always dreamed of a large family, but Harry only wanted the new American dream of one boy and one girl. Cal passed on some of the frustrations that Harry had with Phyl's penny pinching ways which Phyl responded to with a wry smile.
Phyl learned that Cal was often frustrated with Brenda's meticulous planning which never seemed to allow for much spontaneity in the marriage. Phyl let Cal know that Brenda had long ago reconciled herself to the fact that Cal couldn't seem to remember important dates like Valentines Day except for the last one when she was in the hospital.
They used some of the time to tell stories of the good times with their late spouses. Cal had arranged for the company to pay for the family to spend the summer with him in Portsmouth, England a couple of years before Felicity was born. He had to be there to supervise the creation of a full set of drawings for a older submarine the Canadian Navy wanted to buy. By working too much overtime before and after they were there, he was able to work three days a week and spend the rest of the time that summer touring the British Isles and France with the family.
Phyl remembered the reward trips that Harry had earned as the top sales rep in Ontario. In successive years they had gone to Aruba, Disney World, Hawaii, Portugal and Disneyland. The resorts all had child care so that she and Harry could spend time alone.
The growing attraction between them was firmly ignored by bot
h. One morning Cal spotted Phyl's ponytail out the window of the cabin and leaned over to watch as her fascinating form headed down to the beach for her morning swim. The competition swimsuit was not designed to flatter her figure, but because she was trim and fit the effect was much the same as if it had been designed with that in mind. Cal wondered if he wanted to get closer, then he saw his reflection in the mirror with all of the grey stubble and put his attraction firmly out of his mind. Phyl deserves a man her own age, he told himself.
Phyl watched Cal play badminton with Tim. That man is so graceful. Phyl pretended to read her book while watching Cal take off his shirt because he was overheated. The sight of his still lean torso attracted the gaze of more than just Phyl. It's a shame he thinks he's too old for me.
So the week ended without anything being spoken between them.
After church on Sunday, Lydia and Felicity were listening to music in Felicity's room.
Lydia said, "Was it my imagination or was your Dad scoping out my Mum this week?"
Felicity replied, "Are you sure it wasn't the other way around? Although she wasn't the only one. That weird woman who ran housekeeping seemed really interested in Dad."
Lydia frowned. "Well, your Dad is way hotter than her boyfriend. But you didn't answer the question."
Felicity looked at her hands. "Yeah. I think Dad really likes your Mum."
Lydia smiled. "Mum smiles differently when he's around, too. Maybe she likes him, too."
Felicity grinned at her friend. "Wouldn't it be cool if they got married? Then we'd be like real sisters."
Lydia said, "That would be awesome. But I don't think it's going to happen."
Felicity looked puzzled. "Why not?"
Lydia rolled her eyes. "Can you imagine what David and Elaine would say?"
Felicity did a sarcastic impression of David, "Dad, what are you thinking? How could you marry a woman who could be your daughter? What's going to happen to my inheritance?"
A May-September Wedding Page 3