Snowbird Season

by B J Phillips

  “Sounds like it isn’t overly problematic right now. Tell you what, I’ll make a couple of phone calls tomorrow and see if things can be hurried along so we can get you out of this and on with your own life. Putting this behind you as soon as possible is the best thing, don’t you think?”

  “That’s true. I want to move on with my life and I can’t till I feel I’m free from Jo.”

  “Just out of curiosity, does any of this moving on part possibly involve feeling something for Kelly?”

  “Kelly?” Andi tried to give her aunt the ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about’ look she’d used while she was a little girl.

  Elise grinned at Andi. “Don’t look at me like that, young lady. You know I always could read you like a book. Now, I could be totally wrong about this, since it’s happened once or twice before.” Elise winked at her niece. “I’m guessing you have feelings for Kelly. Am I right?”

  Andi looked a bit sheepish. “I like Kelly a lot. You and I have talked about this before…I can’t see how it would ever work.”

  “So that’s why you took off in a hurry when you did? You could’ve at least texted her or called her to say goodbye, as a friend if nothing else. You hardly said two words to her the day she installed the bookcases.”

  “Look, although I wanted to I didn’t think I should explore my feelings for her, especially since I was legally married to someone else. I’m sure I’ve hurt Kelly’s feelings, but I don’t know how I could’ve avoided it. If I said anything to her at all, I was afraid she’d be able to tell how I felt about her and that could’ve been a bad move. Besides, how in the world could the whole thing work out?”

  “What work out? I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”

  Andi looked away, reached for her wine, and sat forward on the sofa, staring into the fire. She took a deep breath. “You know, it’s the whole ‘I’m here, she’s there’ thing. I own the gallery here, and she’s got her business there. My whole life has been centered here, while hers has always been there. It’d never work.”

  Elise reached over and began slowly stroking Andi’s back as she had when she was a child. “Well, no, it wouldn’t if you look at it that way. I was going to suggest that you contact Kelly and at least wish her a Merry Christmas. Although, if you’re feeling like that, perhaps she isn’t the one for you and you should leave things alone.”

  Andi glanced over at her aunt, then back at the fire. “Really? That’s interesting, coming from you. I thought you were trying to throw us together.”

  “Sweetie, I was hoping you’d find a friend. At the time I met her, Kelly seemed like a nice woman about your age, that’s all. I wasn’t trying to set you up with someone else, honestly.” Elise leaned around to attempt eye contact and smiled.

  Andi took a little sip of wine, and sat back against the sofa again as her lips struggled to keep a full grin from breaking out on her face. “Uh, huh. Sure, you weren’t.”

  Elise looked away, shrugged and took another leisurely sip from her goblet. She gazed back at Andi. “I honestly wasn’t. I was thinking more like friend material for you. Once the two of you started spending time together, you perked up considerably. You smiled a lot more and you seemed happier than I’ve seen you in quite a while.”

  “I’ll admit that being around her and her friends I felt a lot happier than I had for a long time.”

  “After you left, Kelly seemed very subdued. She asked about you the first couple of times I had her over for lunch. After that, she stopped asking and didn’t mention your name again. It took her a while to start acting like herself.” She tilted her head as she regarded Andi. “Maybe she feels more for you than you think she does.”

  Andi looked back at the fire.

  “Anyway,” Elise sipped her wine, “I guess that doesn’t matter if you don’t feel the same way about her. Besides, as you said, there’s the whole ‘you’re here and she’s there’ thing going on.”

  “I don’t know what to do.” Andi’s gaze didn’t move from the fire, her reply so quiet Elise almost didn’t hear it.

  “What do you want to do? I mean if there wasn’t the distance thing going on, what would you like to do?”

  “Tell you the truth, that evening we spent with Shawn and Carrie was the most relaxed and fun evening I’ve had in a very long time. I realized early on that Kelly and I seemed to be good together. At the same time, all I could think of was that I didn’t have the right to feel anything at all for her. I’m still married, after all.”

  “What, you can’t have friends? Is that what Jo tried to make you feel? Like you aren’t allowed to have any fun or friends without her?”

  “Well, sort of. Maybe. I don’t know. I’m not sure now what Jo did and what I put on myself.”

  Elise set her glass back down on the coffee table and put her arm around Andi. Andi snuggled into her aunt’s embrace, her head on her shoulder, as her gaze lingered on the fire.

  “Look, my dear, if you care at all about Kelly, and I’m pretty sure you do, why don’t you call or text her and at least give her a clue what’s going on, even if you don’t want to go into details. She probably thinks by now that you don’t care about her in the slightest.”

  “I know that. Saying goodbye would’ve been hard and I might’ve given away or told her how I felt about her. Like I said, I’m still married. I’m also afraid if Jo thinks I have someone else in my life that she’ll make things hard for me, even though the divorce was her idea and she had already moved on to someone else while we were together. I bought that gallery during our relationship, even if it was before we were married. She made an appearance occasionally for showings, but I made it what it is. I’m still afraid of losing it, or at least half of it, to her.”

  “You’re divorcing. Jo has enough money and property of her own. You don’t owe her anything, although I can understand your concern. Remember, Jo’s the one that hurt you. I don’t see Kelly doing the same thing. I do agree with you that being apart for a while might be good for both you and Kelly. Maybe your concern that Jo might go after the gallery in retribution is valid. If that’s truly a possibility, perhaps having no contact with Kelly might be better for now. However, I wouldn’t leave Kelly in the dark for very long. She might be hurt enough that she won’t want to be your friend again, let alone more than that later.”

  “I know. I’m thinking now that I’d like it if you could make those phone calls you offered earlier. I’d love anything that could speed up the process and give me my life back as soon as possible.”

  Chapter Twenty

  CARRIE HANDED KELLY ANOTHER Christmas cookie, this one shaped like a star with green icing and little snowflakes on it. Kelly had a sudden thought that they should make Christmas cookies in the shapes of palm trees and flamingos there in Florida.

  “Thanks, Carrie. As usual, dinner was great and these cookies are outstanding.” She bit off a part of her star cookie. “Thanks for inviting us.”

  “You’re always welcome. You know that.”

  “You’re family, Kelly. Remember that,” Shawn said.

  “Does that mean you’re adopting me?” Kelly chuckled.

  “Not on your life,” Carrie said. “We were hoping that you’d be here with someone special in your life this year.”

  “I do have someone special.” Kelly looked over at Piper, asleep on her cushion in the corner by the fireplace.

  “I was referring to the two-legged variety, actually. Piper’s a real sweetie, but…”

  “Yeah, well, so far, it ain’t happenin’.” Kelly let out a small sigh. “Although Piper’s very special in her own way, I haven’t given up hope of finding that human someone special. At least, not yet. In the meantime, I’m not holding my breath.”

  “So…what happened to Andi, anyway? Haven’t you heard anything at all from her?” Shawn asked.

  “Nah.” Kelly took another bite of cookie. “Other than something about ‘nice job’ the day I installed the bookcases, I haven�
�t heard one word. Not even a text message saying Merry Christmas or anything. How ‘bout we leave it at that.”

  “Okay, I know you’ve seen Elise since she left, haven’t you? Hasn’t she mentioned Andi at all?” Carrie asked.

  Kelly studied the ceiling before looking back at Carrie. “Look, the last time I saw Elise was before she went back to New York for Christmas. She had me over for lunch a couple of times after I finished the bookcases. We didn’t talk about Andi. Can we leave this alone?”

  “Sorry, we just wondered what happened. If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine with us.” Carrie stood to get the coffee carafe from the kitchen table. “We liked her. I got the impression she liked you, too.”

  “If someone takes off without saying a word and hasn’t said a word since, I’d say she didn’t like me as much as she let on.” Kelly got up and walked to the window, her back to them.

  “Maybe, maybe not,” Shawn said. “Is it possible she’s got some good reason? I mean I ran all the way to Atlanta to try to figure things out.”

  “Yes, you did. You, however, didn’t run off without saying anything.”

  “I was going to. That was my original plan, simply to get away from the situation. If Carrie hadn’t called me that night and invited me over, I wouldn’t have told her I was leaving. My weakness for chocolate pie did me in. Sounds awful, doesn’t it?”

  “It was awful after you took off,” Carrie said, back with the coffee carafe. “As I recall, you did call me while you were gone. You didn’t leave me in the dark completely.”

  “So possibly you need to call Andi,” Shawn suggested. “If nothing else, tell her you were thinking about her and wanted to wish her a Merry Christmas.”

  “Look, she’s the one that took off, not me. I tried to call her twice and left her a message each time. There was no call back or even a text. Don’t you think she should be the one that calls? Seems to me that she’s made it clear she doesn’t want any contact from me.”

  “Not necessarily. Maybe she…oh, I don’t know. Now I’m running out of ‘maybe she’s’ for you,” Shawn said.

  Kelly turned around, put her hands in her pockets and looked at the two of them. “There’s something else I didn’t tell you. Elise sort of warned me about getting hung up on Andi.”

  “Really? Her aunt did that? Why?” Carrie asked.

  “Elise was concerned that I might be getting too attached to Andi. She told me it was good of me to be her friend, but she warned me not to expect anything else from her. Since Andi sure left in a hurry, I guess Elise was right.”

  “Again, not necessarily. She seemed very happy in your company,” Carrie said.

  “Right, happy enough to want me to kiss her.” Kelly suddenly wished she hadn’t said that.

  “She wanted you to kiss her? Really? When?” Shawn asked.

  “I shouldn’t have told you that.”

  “Too late now. You already did. Give.” Shawn leaned forward in her chair. Carrie looked over at her with a look that said leave it alone. “Hey, it’s not me this time!”

  Carrie rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Kelly, you don’t have to tell us anything you’re uncomfortable with.”

  “Oh, I might as well.” Kelly sat back down, reached for her coffee, and took a sip. “We drove out to Fort Myers Beach that night we had dinner with you guys. We were sitting there looking at the water and the moon. She seemed chilly and moved over very close to me, so I put my arm around her.”

  “Uh huh…and?” Shawn prompted. Carrie rolled her eyes at Shawn and shook her head.

  “The next thing I remember is her looking up at me with those big beautiful brown eyes. I wanted to kiss her and it was clear she wanted me to…so I kissed her. It wasn’t a big deal kiss, simply a little kiss.”

  Carrie smiled. “Then what?”

  “Then she gave me a cute smile and snuggled in closer, but that’s it. We left soon after that.”

  “That sounds fairly innocent,” Carrie said.

  “Nothing was said about it?” Shawn asked.

  “Well, later I did say something about how I shouldn’t have kissed her, since she’s my friend and all. She said in so many words that it was no big deal and that was that. Nothing else was said about it. Shortly before she got in her car to leave that night, she kissed me on the cheek. The next day she took off for New York without saying goodbye.”

  They all sat there in silence. The clock ticked from its spot on the mantle and the fire crackled in the fireplace.

  “Is it possible that you’re more than a friend to her, and although she enjoyed that kiss she wasn’t ready for it? I mean, she recently broke up with someone, right?” Carrie took a sip of her coffee.

  “I guess anything’s possible. She could’ve said goodbye, though, even if it was only a text message saying ‘gotta run, thanks for the nice evening.’ She didn’t even tell me she was leaving. As I said, I tried to call her and even left a message. She didn’t pick up and she never returned my call, so I’d say it’s obvious that she doesn’t want any contact from this end. Again, that doesn’t sound like someone who cares much about me.”

  “Then again,” Carrie said, “it could be because she does care for you. All I’m saying is, things aren’t always how they seem on the surface.”

  “What am I supposed to do? Sit around and wait for her to come back or call or something?”

  “No, I’m not saying that. Like someone wise once told me, don’t give up on her yet.” Carrie smiled. “On the other hand, you don’t have to sit at home and wait for her, either.”

  “Yeah, I know. I know I shouldn’t have started caring about her. I knew she had a life in New York that I wouldn’t want to be part of. I’m not the society type.”

  “No, you’re not. You do clean up well, however.” Shawn laughed and wiggled her eyebrows.

  “Very funny.” Kelly showed a small grin. “I do, don’t I?” She grinned bigger.

  Carrie laughed. “Of course, you do. You looked great at our wedding. I’m surprised some woman didn’t swoon right there.” She put her hand to her forehead in a dramatic show.

  “Swoon. That’s a good one. Wow, you two are full of it this evening. Seriously, it’s possible Andi decided it’d be better that we not have any contact because it wouldn’t work. Who knows? Whatever it is, I guess I’d better get over it.”

  Shawn thought for a second. “You and Andi enjoyed each other’s company while she was here. It could be that’s all it was supposed to be.”

  “True. I do like Elise, though. She wants to stay friends with me, as well as keep me around for future jobs. Andi’s part of her life, so I need to let it go, I guess.”

  “Hard as that sounds, yes, that seems like a good idea. At least for now,” Carrie said. “As I said earlier, if I were you I wouldn’t rule her out completely as a friend, anyway. You might be surprised down the road.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that situations change and people change. Just sayin’.”

  “I think I’m getting tired of always being the one left standing on the sidelines, as far as love is concerned. I pretty much knew Andi wasn’t ready for anything more than being friends. Too bad that it didn’t stop me from caring about her more than I knew I should’ve. That’s my fault.”

  “So, now what? You can’t turn it off like a water spigot. She must have a clue that you care about her. I mean, that kiss…” Shawn said.

  “Right. That kiss…clearly it didn’t mean much to her if she can take off like that without a word. I know I wouldn’t have. I was a bit concerned about it.”

  “Did you say something to her afterward about it? Like it was nothing or something?” Carrie asked her.

  “All that was said was that it was a spur of the moment thing on both our sides. And that we’re friends still. Maybe I should’ve let it be? Did I do something wrong again?” Kelly stood up once more and began pacing the room.

  “I doubt you did anything wr
ong at all. This whole thing is mostly that you have no idea what’s happening because she took off like that. She left without leaving you a clue. She could’ve at least sent you a text.” Shawn said.

  “Yes, she could’ve done that. It would’ve taken only a few seconds and I wouldn’t be wondering what’s going on,” Kelly said. “Or maybe I would. Who knows?” She sat back down.

  “Kelly, you know we love you. We think you’re one of the most loving, giving people in the world.” Carrie reached over and patted Kelly’s leg.

  “Thanks. Why do I sense there’s more you want to say?”

  “Because there is?” Carrie grinned. “I wonder if it’s possible that she figures you’ll still be around after she gets back. Maybe you shouldn’t be so available when that happens. Maybe you need to let her know you aren’t just sitting around waiting for her to come back…and maybe you need to keep yourself out there for now. I can almost guarantee you that she isn’t simply sitting at home thinking about you.”

  “Probably not. She has her friends there and the gallery, so she’s got plenty to do. Besides, how do I know she didn’t go running back to her ex? That could be why I haven’t heard anything from her.”

  “Haven’t you talked to Elise about her at all?” Carrie asked.

  “Not really. Not since right after Andi left. Haven’t had a reason to bring her up since then. Plus, I haven’t talked to Elise since she went back to New York.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yes, she said she always goes back to the city for the Christmas holiday. She told me she’d really miss it if she couldn’t.”