Chapter 36
CHAPTER 36
C orinne. Monday
No sooner had I finished up a customer call than an inter-office email came through on my computer. It was from Barbara, asking me if I wanted to go to lunch. As I’d been meaning to have some quality time with her, and Elijah had other lunch plans today, I happily accepted. And, thinking of Elijah gave me an idea of where to go.
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Barbara and I walked into Kathleen’s coffee shop together.
Kathleen, always behind her counter like Vanna White at her letters, smiled welcomingly at us. Barbara remembered her from when Kathleen and Elijah were seeing each other. The three of us had warm, friendly words together, and Barbara and I ordered lunch and sat down.
“Well, aren’t you the modern, sophisticated girl,” said Barbara, “being so friendly with the ex-girlfriend?”
“What’s to be hostile about?” I asked. “Kathleen and I had a good talk about her relationship with Elijah and she’s happy with me. She’s really nice.”
“She always was,” Barbara replied, glancing back in Kathleen’s direction.
“I’m just glad to see Elijah has another very nice girl after his last one.”
“You’ve always looked out for Elijah, haven’t you?” I remarked.
“He’s like the son I never got to have,” she admitted.
“I like that,” I said. “And, I like how you’ve always taken a personal interest in me. It’s almost like having another mom.” I now felt the need to take the same kind of interest in this woman who’d been so kind to me from the minute I walked in the door. “What about you, though? I don’t really know that much about you. Are you married? Any kids?”
Wistfully, she answered, “I’m widowed, dear. It’s been quite a few years now since I had to say goodbye to my Charles. He was the sweetest man and would have made a wonderful father if we’d met earlier in life. I happen to be one of those late bloomers in love. It took me a long time to find the man that I truly wanted. But, I’m not sorry I waited. Charles’s love has always been with me, though he’s been gone so long.”
Her story touched me deeply. I felt like a bit of a late bloomer myself, having waited as long as I did to become sexual with a man. Like Barbara with Charles, I wasn’t the least bit sorry that I’d held out until meeting Elijah. Even so, I saw some of myself in her. I was still of child-bearing age and could have children with Elijah; I hadn’t held out until it was too late for that. But, hearing Barbara speak so glowingly of the man she’d chosen for her life, I felt so very close to her now.
“Well,” I said, “then I’ll just have to adopt you as a mom since mine isn’t here anymore. Would you mind having a daughter?”
She reached over and gave my arm a loving squeeze. “I never had the chance to shower my love on a child of my own. I’m happy with my memories of Charles, but it’s something I feel I’ve missed in life. I would absolutely love that.”
We both got a little misty and ended up laughing through the beginnings of happy tears.
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I stayed in my cubicle during my afternoon break, still feeling the glow from my surrogate mother/daughter bond with the lady upstairs, when a text came over my phone. It was from Daddy.
What’s this I’m hearing about you trying to coax your sister into moving to Cincinnati, young lady? At the rate I’m going, I’m going to have nothing left but this house and the church. Will I need to find myself a new parish down there now? I don’t know if I can be that far away from my daughters.
Oh boy, I thought. I knew Daddy wasn’t really angry; he wanted Leanna and me to be happy and have our own lives. But, the prospect of both of us living in a different city, and not having Mom with him, couldn’t have been the happiest thing for him. I couldn’t help feeling a bit selfish.
As if on cue, another email came up on my office computer, thanking me for lunch and the start of our wonderful new relationship. I looked up and smiled my most intrigued smile. I couldn’t help myself. It made wheels start turning in my head.
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I was upstairs and at Barbara’s desk in a shot. “Is there any way I can get in to see Elijah right now?” I was practically hopping with excitement, which naturally made her curious.
“I’m sure you can get in to see Elijah most any time you want, dear. But, is there something I should know about?”
“It’s just something personal,” I said. “Can you ask him if he’s busy? Please?” I was excited, but playing my cards close to the vest. I didn’t want to let on about what I was really thinking.
With a crook of her eyebrows, Barbara checked with Elijah on the phone and told me I could go right in. Almost giggling, I stepped through his office door and shut it firmly behind me. Elijah, behind his own desk, gave me as curious a look as Barbara had done.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
Stepping closer to the desk and pointing at the door, meaning the person on the other side of it, I answered, “Barbara!” I almost jumped and laughed.
“What about Barbara?”
“Barbara and my father!” I said, glancing over my shoulder and measuring my tone as if she could hear me. “What do you think about hooking up Barbara and my father?”
Elijah cocked an eyebrow at me and said, “Does your father do hook-ups?”
“No, not like that! I mean, what if we set them up to meet and go out together? Do you think anything might happen?”
He did a face palm with both hands and groaned. “What are you now, match-dot-com?” Taking down his hands, he asked, “How do you know they’d even want to be set up?”
“Only one way to find out!” I grinned.
He leaned back in his seat and grunted. “Wonderful. My girlfriend wants to turn my secretary’s life into the senior version of The Bachelorette. ”
I ignored that crack because I had a good feeling about the whole idea.