The Leafing: the 2nd book in The Green Man series

by Sharon Brubaker

  “Of course, I remember!” Sylvia said. “How fabulous!”

  “We were visiting and thought, why not?” Marian continued. “The priest was available and we decided to make everything official. Then we went to Italy and Greece for our honeymoon. Now here we are, an old married couple,” Marian ended with a grin.

  “Oh, Marian, you are ageless,” Sylvia commented. She grinned at her friend.

  Indeed Marian looked as though years dropped from her face.

  “Well, that’s my big news,” she told Sylvia. “We’ll need to have a reception here soon, since we eloped. I’ll let you know when that all will be taking place, of course.”

  “Now,” Marian stated matter-of-factly, “You need to let me know what’s happened with you and what happened between you and Owen.”

  “If you’ve seen Owen,” Sylvia said stiffly, “I’m sure he told you his version.”

  “I know what he told me,” Marian said gently, “but, I want to hear your side.”

  “I’m not sure where to begin,” Sylvia told her. “Mom and Anne sent a bridal magazine to the house and Owen went ballistic. He thought we were all roping and tying him into marital doom,” Sylvia said with an edge to her voice. She strived to keep her voice steady. “He blew up and left and I really haven’t seen him since. No phone calls, emails, texts…nada, nada, nada.”

  “It can’t be easy with both of you working at the same place,” Marian said gently.

  “It’s a big enough place that avoidance is pretty easy,” Sylvia told her.

  “Are you interested in getting back together with him?” Marian asked.

  Sylvia paused, wondering with a small flutter in her heart, if Owen had asked Marian to ask her this. She thought about it. She was still angry. “I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “He didn’t wait to hear any explanation. He didn’t listen to me and the truth. I don’t know if I want to be with someone like that, no matter how much I love him,” she said.

  Marian nodded. “I understand, but consider that he doesn’t know how to say he’s sorry, either.” she told Sylvia.

  “That’s not my problem,” Sylvia told Marian a little more stiffly than before.

  Marian gave Sylvia a hug. “Hey, don’t be angry with me. I’m not even the messenger.”

  Sylvia sighed, “Marian, he broke my heart and the trust between us.”

  Marian gave her another hug before she looked at her watch and told Sylvia, “I’d better get back home,” she said. I have to unpack and Jon and I are figuring out what do about combining our households.”

  Sylvia turned to Marian, “I don’t think I could ever be angry with you,” she said.

  Marian nodded. “Don’t be a stranger,” she said to Sylvia. “Owen will be at my house until he finds a place of his own. You’ll need to face him some time.”

  Sylvia nodded in return. She didn’t trust her voice.

  “I almost forgot,” Marian said, and pulled a package out of her purse. “A little something I thought you would like,” she said as she turned and went out the door.

  Sylvia waved as Marian pulled out of the driveway. She always returned from her trips with something. Sylvia tugged at the package. It had some weight to it. Inside she found a brass door knocker similar to Marian’s door knocker of the Green Man’s face. She smiled.

  Chapter 12

  Change always comes bearing gifts. ~Price Pritchett

  Sylvia returned to work the next day. Marian’s words, that Owen did not know how to say ‘sorry,’ had more of an effect on her than she had expected. The news made her vacillate between feeling good and then feeling very, very angry at Owen. Carol was right, she decided. She needed to move on.

  She poured herself into her work. She needed to convince the company that working with children and educators was the key to a better presence in the community for Thurmont. A meeting was coming up in the next two days. Mr. Carter was nervous too. He barked at her on occasion and then apologized in the next breath. They prepared and practiced for the upcoming session. Sylvia dressed carefully on Wednesday morning in her best nubby brown silk suit and bronze blouse. She added the edgy jewelry Gwen had given her and went out the door.

  Mr. Carter had stopped to purchase breakfast pastries and coffee for them prior to the meeting, but Sylvia couldn’t eat. Mr. Carter reassured her she had done a fabulous job and they went to the conference room at the front of the building.

  As Sylvia walked into solemn faces, she thought briefly this was sort of a gauntlet. She took a deep breath and shared her presentation stating that, since the baby boomers of the area and their children had a negative perception of Thurmont that the way to pull in the community was through the families and the children at schools. She proposed a trust be created so educators could apply for grants in the spring for funds. In the Fall, community led board would vote on the projects and the educators would be treated to a presentation dinner in the fall, and then present the results at a spring banquet with statistics and a media driven project. Sylvia proposed continued community education seminars on the environment at local gatherings, festivals and libraries. She had worked hard on her plan and it was obvious they were impressed with her work. They thanked her and said they would discuss her ideas and get back to her.

  Sylvia thanked the board for their time and gathered her things to go. Mr. Carter said they should go out to lunch and Sylvia heartily agreed.

  It was good to go off campus for lunch. Mr. Carter drove them to a small, family run restaurant at the edge of town. He ordered a glass of wine for Sylvia and a beer for himself and recommended their sandwiches.

  When the drinks came, he raised his glass to her. “Excellent job,” he told Sylvia. “Don’t be surprised if they promote you.”

  Sylvia glanced up at him. “Promote me to where?” she inquired.

  “Don’t know,” he told her, “but, I would be hard pressed to replace you,” he said gruffly.

  Her head swam with possibilities, but she didn’t want to leave North Bay or her job under Mr. Carter. They ate their lunch and returned to the office. An official email was waiting for Sylvia. She had been promoted to “educational liaison” with a raise. She would remain working with Mr. Carter, but have an office adjacent to him and share a new hire or transfer of an office assistant.

  “Congratulations, Sylvia,” Mr. Carter boomed at her as he too read the email.

  She was stunned.

  “In my eyes, they should have promoted you last spring, but they chose to focus on that young man of yours,” he said. “He gained all the glory, but you had laid all the groundwork.” He shook his head. “It wasn’t right.”

  “He’s no longer my young man,” Sylvia reminded Mr. Carter dryly.

  “Oh, oh yes,” he stammered. “Sorry, I forgot.”

  “No worries,” Sylvia said. “Anyway, last year was a nightmare and this year,” she pointed to the computer screen, “seems to be starting off well.”

  “We’ll need to get interviewing right away,” Mr. Carter said. “Do you think Carol would want to transfer down to us?” he asked.

  “I’ll ask,” Sylvia said with a chuckle. “She certainly wouldn’t mind leaving Mr. Keely,” Sylvia commented.

  “Good,” Mr. Carter replied. “Problem solved if she agrees. The company will love a transfer rather than a new hire.”

  Sylvia went to find Carol.

  “Where have you been?” Carol chided when Sylvia walked into the personnel office. “I couldn’t find you at lunch and you didn’t answer your email or office phone. Where’s your cell?” she demanded.

  “Oh,” Sylvia said, “I turned off my cell for the meeting this morning and never got back to turning it on.” She looked contrite and Carol laughed.

  “Well…” Carol prodded, “What’s up?”

  Sylvia filled her in on her new position and asked Carol if she would like to transfer to the Public Information office.

  “Would I ever!” Carol crowed. “Wow! Away from
Mr. Keely, aka Mr. Asshole,” Carol stage whispered to Sylvia.

  She ran around the desk to hug Sylvia. “Congratulations to you!” she cried.

  “That’s awesome news.”

  Sylvia took to her new job like a fish to water. She worked long hours pulling her ideas together and time flew. She found herself spending twelve or more hours at work and falling into bed exhausted in the evening. At one point she was quite grateful she didn’t have a puppy to train.

  Mr. Carter stopped her for a moment in one of her frenetic moments and said, “More responsibility means more work. I’m sorry, hon. Welcome to the corporate world.”

  She only sighed and he gave her a hug.

  January ended with a huge snowstorm and thankfully liberal leave was permitted at Thurmont. Sylvia was grateful that she had a moment or two to slow down. Sylvia dressed in warm clothes and went out to walk in the glittering world. The snow sparkled everywhere – on the bay, on the lawns and on the common. The air was fresh and crisp and she took in deep breaths.

  Far down the road she saw a dog walker. As she got closer she realized it was Tony and Percy.

  “Percy!” she cried out happily.

  Tony released the leash and Percy’s high step trot reached her. He was sniffing her all over and quivering with doggy joy. Sylvia laughed and leaned down to give him a hug. Tony walked up with a smile.

  “Hi,” Sylvia said between licks from Percy.

  “Hi,” he returned. “I was just on my way to see if you were home.”

  “No,” replied Sylvia with a smile, “I’m out here with you and Percy. When did you come down?” she asked.

  “Yesterday, before the snow started flying,” he said.

  “We were able to take liberal leave,” Sylvia told him. “It was nice to stay inside and watch the snow fall instead of driving in it.”

  They had walked closer to her house and Sylvia asked, “Do you want to come in for coffee?”

  “Sure,” Tony told her.

  They stamped the snow off on the back porch and entered the kitchen. Sylvia filled a bowl with water and put it on the floor for Percy to drink while she prepared coffee.

  “Black, right?” Sylvia asked Tony as she ground beans and boiled water.

  “Yes, that’s right,” he told her. “I’m surprised you remembered,” he commented.

  She made the coffee and put the pot and cups on a tray.

  “Follow me,” she said to Tony and she led him to the study where a small fire was smoldering in the fireplace. She poked at it and a small flame licked around the logs. Sylvia poured coffee and they both settled in front of the fire. Percy followed them in and lay down with his head on his paws.

  “This is,” he hesitated, “Nice,” Tony said finally as he settled back in the chair.

  “It’s cozy,” she said, “but, the water looks too cold today,” she commented remembering the icy blue swath that flowed between the snowy covered ice on her walk.

  They sipped at their coffee.

  “So how are things?” Sylvia asked him. “Any word from Joyce?”

  Tony’s face turned stone like and he shook his head. “No word,” he said. “Nope.”

  “How about you?” he asked. “What’s been happening?”

  “Nothing except working hard,” she said. “I received a promotion and I’ve been working longer hours. I was glad to get a few hours respite yesterday with the snowstorm.”

  They both sat watching the fire for several minutes without speaking.

  Tony broke the silence. “Do you want to go out to dinner tonight?”

  Sylvia looked up, surprised. “Oh, I’m sorry, I can’t,” she said.

  His face fell. “Are you back with Owen?” he asked.

  “No,” Sylvia answered, “but, our mutual friend, Marian, eloped over the holidays and there is a reception this evening. Are you up for a party?” she asked him. “Would you like to accompany me? Marian’s parties are always fantastic,” she said convincingly.

  Tony hesitated. “Will Owen be there?”

  “I’m sure he will be,” Sylvia said. “As far as I know he’s still living at Marian’s. But, it doesn’t matter,” she insisted, “Please come.”

  “All right,” Tony answered, “Black tie?”

  “Semi formal,” Sylvia said.

  He nodded and asked, “What time?”

  “It begins at seven this evening,” Sylvia told him, “Candlelight and champagne reception. No gifts.”

  “All right then,” he said and stood. “Come on, Percy,” he called to the dog.

  Percy had left the study and they found him at the French doors in the living room, staring out at the bay.

  “He loves that spot,” Sylvia told Tony. “I wonder what he sees or thinks he’s seeing.”

  “Who knows,” Tony said. “Come on, Percy,” Tony demanded. “Let’s go!”

  Percy reluctantly got to his feet. He whined softly.

  “Aww,” Sylvia crooned, “You are welcome anytime, Percy. I’ve missed you.”

  To Tony she said, “You’ll have to let me borrow him again, some time. I really have missed him. I even considered getting a puppy, but not with these new work hours,” she said shaking her head.

  Tony clipped the leash onto Percy and turned to Sylvia, “You are welcome to borrow him at any time. Like I said before, he’s Joyce’s dog. I love him, but…” he left the comment in the air.

  “Too much of a reminder?” Sylvia asked softly.

  “Something like that,” Tony replied. He walked to the door with Percy, “See you tonight.”

  Chapter 13

  Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights. ~Pauline R. Kezer

  Sylvia hung her dress for the party over the edge of the closet and looked at it. When Sylvia had shown Carol the invitation to Marian and Jon’s party, Carol had insisted they go shopping for a cocktail dress.

  An understated “Wow,” was Carol’s first comment when she saw the engraved card. She dragged Sylvia to the mall and several bridal stores looking for a cocktail dress. Finally they found a black and turquoise dress that stopped Carol chattering when Sylvia walked out of the dressing room.

  “Owen will weep and get down on his hands and knees and beg forgiveness when he sees you in that,” Carol predicted.

  Sylvia wasn’t sure that Carol’s prediction would come true, but the dress was lovely. The pleated black silk bustier was offset by a turquoise taffeta skirt with black appliqués. It enhanced all the right curves and was short, swishy and flirty. Tony’s reaction was perfect when she opened the door for him that evening. His mouth dropped open and it took him a minute to recover.

  “You look fantastic,” he told her.

  “Thank you,” she said with a satisfied smile.

  He helped her put on her coat and walk out to the car with her very high heeled pumps.

  Marian’s house was alight with the twinkle lights Owen had placed in the garden last summer. The 18th century glass glittered with the candlelight and movement from inside. A young man from the catering company showed them where to park. The young man opened the door for Sylvia to exit the car and she waited, shivering slightly as Tony parked his car and walked back to her. In his hands he held a bottle of wine. She looked quizzically at him.

  “I know, ‘no gifts,’” he said, “but, I couldn’t come empty handed.

  They knocked and the huge oak doors opened.

  “Sylvia! It’s so good to see you,” Marian cried out happily and gave Sylvia a hug.

  Jon gave her a warm hug as well and she introduced Tony to them both.

  Tony shook hands and gave the bottle of wine to Jon and said, “Congratulations.”

  Jon read the label and nodded approvingly first at Tony and then at Sylvia. It was obviously a very good wine.

  “We will definitely enjoy this,” he said. “We may need to save this for a special occasion.”

  Marian told Sylvia they wer
e putting coats in the library, so Sylvia led Tony back down the hallway, but not before Anne had spotted her.

  Anne Anderson also hugged Sylvia and Sylvia introduced Tony. Anne shook his hand and looked inquiringly at Sylvia.

  Sylvia ignored the looked and asked, “Where’s Phil?”

  Anne chuckled, “Hiding in the library, where else? Is Mary coming this evening?”

  Sylvia shook her head, “No, Mom was planning on it, but the snow stopped her. She couldn’t get away from work in time to come early, so she has sent her regrets,” Sylvia told Anne.

  “Let us put our coats down and I’ll catch up with you in a little bit?” Sylvia suggested.

  Anne nodded and walked toward other guests. Sylvia whispered sotto voce to Tony that Anne was Owen’s mother. They entered the library. Phil, Owen’s father, was settled in a chair and reading.

  “Hi, Phil,” Sylvia said. “Nice to see you.”

  “Hmmm?” Phil responded slowly pulling himself out of a book, “Sylvia!” he said. “Good to see you.” Phil stood and gave her a hug.

  Sylvia made introductions as they put their coats, along with others piled high, on the sofa.

  “Will you be joining the party?” Sylvia asked Phil.

  “In a few minutes,” he said, “Be right there.”

  He had already sunk back into his book. Sylvia pointed to the door and put her hand over her mouth in a quiet chuckle.

  She closed the door of the library and said, “That’s Owen’s father. He probably won’t be joining the party unless Anne can drag him from the library.”

  She led Tony to the dining room where people were crowded around food and drink. Sylvia introduced Tony to many people and finally they made their way to where champagne was being served.

  She toasted Tony, “Thank you for coming with me,” she told him.

  “Absolutely,” Tony said. “This is a lovely home,” he commented.

  “It’s gorgeous. Marian has excellent taste in antiques. It’s beautiful and comfortable,” she told Tony.