Woodlands

by Robin Jones Gunn

  The chorus chirped in with, “You won! You won! You really, really won!”

  “But, you see—” Leah tried to explain.

  “Now you just stay on the line,” the announcer said, “and Tina will tell you all about the fabulous cruise you’ve won.”

  After two clicks, a female voice said, “May I have your name and phone number, please?”

  “Actually … Tina, is it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Tina, I was trying to call a patient from our hospital who left this as his phone number. But I think I misdialed the number.”

  After a pause Tina said, “What number did you think you dialed?”

  Leah repeated the number she was trying to reach, and Tina verified that was the number for the radio station.

  “What area code did you dial?” Tina asked. “This is 203.”

  Leah began to laugh. “Well, that explains it. I meant to dial 503 for Portland, Oregon. Sorry to have troubled you.”

  “No, wait!” Tina said. “Don’t hang up. You won the cruise.”

  “But how could I? I don’t even live … where is your station located, anyhow?”

  “New Haven.”

  “New Haven what?” Leah asked.

  “Connecticut,” Tina said.

  Mary, who had just returned from lunch, slid her purse in the bottom drawer of the desk, giving Leah a curious look as Leah echoed, “Connecticut?”

  “Look, you won the cruise,” Tina said. “We just announced you live on the air. We can’t go back and say the last winner was a hoax. Nothing in our rules says you have to know you’re entering the contest to win. Or that you have to be in Connecticut when you call. You were caller number nine. You won the cruise, whether you want it or not.”

  “I can’t believe this,” Leah said.

  “Would you be so kind as to give me your name, phone number, and a fax number for your travel agent? We deal directly with travel agents for all our arrangements.”

  Leah figured she might as well give Tina the information. Reaching for the telephone book, Leah looked up the number for A Wing and a Prayer, the only travel agency in Glenbrooke.

  Mary stepped closer to Leah’s desk and mouthed the word “What?”

  “Thank you,” Tina said. Then sounding as if she was reading from a card, Tina continued, “Congratulations, Leah Hudson, on winning the WPZQ jackpot. All prizes are for promotional consideration only and cannot be exchanged for cash value. We hope you will keep on listening to the hottest station in the nation, playing all the hits all the time. Enjoy your cruise.”

  Leah hung up the phone and turned to Mary, who asked, “What was all that?”

  “I just won a cruise to Alaska. Via Connecticut.”

  Word of Leah’s trip spread quickly at work, and everyone agreed Leah “deserved” the cruise. She didn’t know how she “deserved” anything. She had dialed a wrong number. It was all pretty crazy in her opinion.

  One of the ER nurses had been to Alaska, and she was eager to tell Leah all about it. The woman even went home on her lunch break and brought back four travel books on Alaska, a large photo album, and two home videos of her trip, which she told Leah to watch that night at home.

  Leah left work at 4:30, as usual, and drove directly to the travel agency for her 4:45 appointment.

  Alissa, the owner and only travel agent at A Wing and a Prayer, was on the phone when Leah entered. In Leah’s opinion, Alissa was beautiful enough to be a model. She carried herself with a bit of a swish when she walked and always looked fresh, as if she had been born with naturally gorgeous hair, skin, and nails. Alissa and Brad had moved up from Southern California, and whenever the weather warmed, Alissa wore the classiest outfits in town. Today, however, Alissa was wearing gray, just like the sky.

  Taking a seat on the couch by the window, Leah flipped through a travel magazine and gazed at pictures of the Bahamas.

  Is it wrong for me to wish I’d won a cruise to the Bahamas instead of Alaska? I mean, I should be happy to go anywhere. But after seeing all those pictures of that frozen land, this picture of warm blue water sure looks appealing.

  Alissa hung up the phone and turned to greet Leah. “Sorry to keep you waiting. I received the fax from the radio station this afternoon. This is pretty exciting, Leah!”

  Leah rose and went to one of the chairs in front of Alissa’s desk. “I have a question. Do you know if this cruise is transferable?”

  Alissa looked down, carefully reading the fax paper in her hand. “The only conditions they list are that you can’t work for the radio station or be related to anyone who does.”

  “No problem there. I don’t even know anyone in Connecticut!”

  Alissa smiled. “And you’re limited on when you can go. It looks like you have to take the cruise offered from May 15 through 19.”

  “This year?” Leah asked.

  Alissa nodded. “These limited promotional packages often tie into the lowest priced season, which I’d guess is the case here. But, no, it doesn’t say anything about transferring to another person. I can call them to make sure. Did you want to try to sell the ticket?”

  “No. No, I didn’t mean transferring it to another person. I meant transferring the destination.” She pointed to a poster behind Alissa of the Grand Canal in Venice. It showed a man and a woman lounging on a mound of pillows in a gondola. Behind them stood a dashing gondolier, who was doing all the work while they cuddled. “Now that’s my idea of a real vacation. If I had my choice, I’d like to go someplace warm.”

  Alissa shook her head. “No, sorry. It’s valid only for the Alaskan cruise.”

  Leah kept staring at the poster. The way the gondolier was positioned, he seemed to be singing. For some reason the thought of being sung to made her feel like crying. She tried hard to hold back the tears, but they welled up in her eyes and tumbled down her cheeks before she could stop them.

  “I’m sorry,” she said to Alissa, who was offering Leah a tissue and looking startled. “I’ve been like this a lot lately.” Leah continued to stare at the poster.

  Alissa turned around to see what Leah was fixated on.

  “Jessica says my emotions are being released after being pent up for too long, or something like that. I think I’m slowly going crazy.”

  Alissa reached across her desk and gave Leah’s hand a squeeze. “Maybe this cruise is exactly what you need. You’ve had an intense year, Leah. I’ve heard Brad say that sometimes people don’t start to grieve until months or years after a shocking loss. It might do you a world of good to get away and completely relax.”

  Leah nodded.

  “And you do know, don’t you, that if you ever feel like talking to someone, my husband has a way of helping make sense of all the pieces. Brad would be happy to talk with you.”

  “Thanks,” Leah said quietly. She took another tissue and wiped the last tear. “I appreciate it, but I’m okay. Really.”

  Leah rose to leave when Alissa said, “By the way, do you know anyone who needs a couch? It’s in good shape. Brad had it in his duplex in Pasadena, and I’ve never liked it. We finally found a new one we could both agree on, but now I have to haul the old one to a donation center—unless you know someone who wants it.”

  Leah immediately thought of Seth. “I know someone who just moved into the area, but I don’t know what his furniture situation is.”

  “If you talk to him, could you tell him it’s available? And it’s free,” Alissa said.

  “Thanks,” Leah said. “And thanks for the Kleenex.”

  “Remember what I said about talking with Brad.”

  Leah nodded. “I will. Thanks again.”

  Leah left the travel agency and sat in her car a few minutes, trying to decide what to do. She was planning to visit Franklin next. She could ask him for Seth’s phone number, and then she could call Seth, the way she would call any one of her friends and tell him about the couch. It didn’t have to be awkward. Just because she had let her feelings get t
he better of her the first few days she was around him, that didn’t mean they couldn’t settle into a nice, everyday relationship like she had with so many other men in Glenbrooke.

  Leah wondered what Brad, who had provided wise counsel for her in the past, would say about that. Was she repressing her true emotions? Maybe. But that had to be better than dreaming up some one-sided romance in which she was the only one doing the dreaming.

  She closed her eyes, but all she could see was the poster of the gondola and the singing gondolier. She wished she was nestled in those cushions right now, floating down a canal instead of sitting in the middle of Main Street, hugging the steering wheel, alone in her car.

  It’s just so hard to admit to anyone that I have a problem. How could I tell Brad I’m confused by my feelings for Seth? Or that I’ve realized for the first time that my father’s predictions of me weren’t true? Or that I’m wondering if maybe I do have the right frame and frame of mind to attract someone stable after all? Would Brad tell me to grow up and start to act my age?

  Leah drew in a deep breath.

  No, Brad wouldn’t do that. Brad would listen carefully, and he would have sound, caring advice. But then he would know the deep thoughts of my heart. I’d have to trust him to keep my thoughts and feelings private. It was hard enough opening my heart to Seth and telling him my secrets without any guarantee that he was trustworthy.

  Leah wasn’t in the habit of trusting anyone but herself. And now that she realized she couldn’t trust herself to settle her own emotions and to make sense of the tumble of recent events in her life, she felt completely lost.

  Opening her eyes, Leah turned the key in the ignition. That’s when she noticed a note on her windshield, wrapped in what looked like a used plastic sandwich bag. Apparently it was supposed to keep the note dry. Leah retrieved the note, which was damp despite the plastic bag. The name at the bottom of the scrawled lines was “Seth.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Her heart began to pound as she read Seth’s simple words on the note he must have left while she was in the travel agency.

  I thought of you this morning when I read this verse: Song of Songs 6:11.

  Seth

  Leah’s spirits instantly rose. He thought of me? But what does the verse say?

  Since Leah didn’t have a Bible handy, she laid the note flat on the passenger’s seat so Seth’s words could dry out. Then she drove to the grocery story for a quick purchase and on to Franklin’s house, as she originally had planned.

  Seth thought of me.

  Leah arrived with a smile on her face and found Franklin napping in his favorite recliner. The spry old man always left the door unlocked. He said it was so the “Cleaning House” people would know to come on in if he didn’t hear them knock. Leah tried to tell him once, years ago, that the contest was run by the Publishers Clearing House. But Franklin still called them the “Cleaning House” people.

  As far as Leah knew, Franklin sent in his entry form every time one came in the mail. He only subscribed to two magazines but that didn’t stop those “Cleaning House” people from inviting him to enter every contest they had.

  Leah called out from the entryway, “Franklin? Hello, it’s Leah. I brought you a little something.”

  Franklin stirred in his old, brown recliner and immediately perked up. “Well, look at you! And with flowers to boot.”

  “Flowers and candy.” Leah waved the bag of peppermint patties for him to see. She knew they were his favorite candies. Or at least they were the easiest candies for him to eat.

  “It’s not even my birthday,” Franklin said, struggling to stand up with the help of his cane.

  “Don’t get up.” She went over and gave the old gentleman a kiss on the cheek.

  He settled comfortably back into the recliner.

  “What have you been doing?” she asked.

  “Making plans,” Franklin said with a twinkle in his eyes. His glasses were so dirty Leah didn’t know how he could see her.

  “Here, let me clean your glasses, Franklin. I’m going into the kitchen to put these flowers in water. I’ll be right back.”

  “Leave the candy here with me,” he said, reaching for the bag.

  “Yes, sir,” she teased. “Don’t eat them all before I come back.”

  “Just watch me try,” Franklin quipped.

  Mavis, the day nurse who cared for Franklin, was in the kitchen fixing chicken for dinner. She had a small television on the counter and was engrossed in an afternoon talk show. Leah helped herself to a vase for the daffodils and then washed and dried Franklin’s glasses.

  When she returned to the living room, Franklin had opened the bag of candy and was letting one of the mint patties melt in his mouth. She handed him his glasses.

  “Oh, much better,” Franklin said, adjusting them a bit. “You are much too kind to me, Leah darlin’. And that’s why I’ve been making plans.”

  Leah slid over to the couch, where she sat down, wondering if Seth had been right about the will. Was Franklin going to announce he had left her his house? His old recliner? Or was Franklin going to declare he had bought her tickets to the movies?

  “You know I enjoy visiting you and bringing you treats,” Leah said. “You don’t have to make any plans to do anything for me, Franklin. And you certainly don’t have to give me anything.”

  “Who said I’m doing anything for you?” Franklin spouted. “I’ve been making plans for you to do something nice for me.”

  “Oh!” Leah felt her cheeks turn red. “What do you want me to do for you?”

  “I want you to take me to Hamilton Lodge.”

  “Do you mean at Hamilton Hot Springs? That’s more than four hours away. Why do you want me to take you there?”

  “I haven’t been there since Naomi passed on.” He leaned back, and a tender look crossed his face the way it always did when he spoke of Naomi. “That used to be our favorite place. We were among the first customers to stay in their new facility. That was on our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. After that, we went every other year. Like clockwork. It was our special place.”

  Leah quickly calculated and deduced that the new facility must have gone up in the sixties. This brought her an instant vision of a resort done up in harvest golds and avocado greens, just like the house she had grown up in.

  “I’d like you to take me there,” Franklin said. “You name the weekend.”

  “I—I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know what? You don’t know if you want to take me, or you don’t know which weekend?”

  How could she say that the last place she wanted to go was a sixties-style hot springs resort? She knew she shouldn’t be so picky, after complaining for years about never going anywhere. But this all seemed so strange. First the cruise to Alaska and now the hot springs. And both of them on tight time schedules so she had to make decisions right away.

  That wasn’t the only reason Leah hesitated. She didn’t know how to tell Franklin she didn’t want to be responsible to care for him for a weekend away. Visiting at his home and occasionally taking him out for a drive was one thing. Going all the way to Hamilton Hot Springs and caring for him for a weekend was asking a lot.

  “Wouldn’t you be more comfortable with someone else like Mavis?”

  “Mavis deserves some time off,” he said.

  Leah knew the next obvious choice would be Seth. She had a funny feeling Franklin was waiting for her to ask about his nephew. “What about Seth?”

  The glimmer was back in Franklin’s eyes. “I have his picture right up there on the mantle.”

  “Yes.” Leah noticed the photo of Seth was now front and center. The picture showed a much younger, less tan version of Seth with hair longer and darker than his current shade of sun-kissed blond. The smile was the same. Leah tried not to let her feelings show. Seth had such a nice smile.

  “He turned out all right, didn’t he? You know he had that crazy spell when he lived with the monkeys in
the jungle. You know that, don’t you?” Franklin paused, waiting for Leah’s reaction.

  “Wasn’t it the rain forest in Costa Rica?”

  Franklin feebly waved his hand as if to dismiss all the details he couldn’t keep straight. “Point is, he turned out all right in the end, don’t you think?”

  Leah hesitated.

  Franklin sat up a little straighter and answered for her. “Yes, he did. He turned out all right. And so did you. Now answer my question, Leah. Will you take me to the hot springs this weekend?”

  “I can’t go this weekend.”

  “Then how about the next weekend?”

  “I don’t think so.” She was starting to feel bad about saying no.

  “Why not?” Franklin persisted.

  “It’s May Day weekend, and I’m helping Shelly with the May Day event at the camp.”

  “Oh,” Franklin looked down at his thin hands. “Then it was nice of you to bring me the May Day flowers early this year. I ’spect you’ll be too busy on May Day to stop by. I understand.” He lifted his gaze. “You’ve been good to me, Leah, honey. I wouldn’t want to take you away from all your other friends.”

  Franklin was a sly one. Did he sound more frail than usual? Was he making his voice weak so she would take pity on him? Leah knew she would miss him when he was gone. It made her realize that once Franklin died, the last piece of her childhood would be gone. She didn’t have parents or grandparents left to connect her with her early years. Only Franklin.

  “Oh, all right, you ruthless trickster, you,” Leah said, picking up a throw pillow and pretending she was going to toss it at Franklin.

  “Good. Which weekend?” His voice seemed to have improved.

  “The last weekend in May. Is that okay for you?”

  “That’s just fine. I’ll make the reservations tomorrow.”

  “I don’t know how you talked me into this,” Leah said, sauntering over and snatching one of the candies from his bag. She also didn’t know how she could go on the cruise and fit in a trip to the hot springs with Franklin.

  “We’ll have a grand time,” Franklin said. “All three of us.”