by Gail Sattler
The trip into the parking lot became another blur of activity. Before she separated herself from the little entourage, Josh stepped aside with her while the boys piled into the van.
“Thanks for coming with us and for sitting with us in church. I want to make regular church attendance a part of their lives, and with that I hope to be able to share the gospel with them in a meaningful way, instead of church just being something they ‘do.’ ”
She smiled. “That’s great. And thanks for lunch.”
He smiled back. “Since Bradley asked, will we see you next week?”
If he was coming with the boys, then most definitely.
“Probably. See you next Sunday, then. Good-bye, Josh.”
Four
“Hello? Josh?”
Josh found himself smiling at the sound of the voice on the other end of the phone. Then, he realized that because it was Monday morning and he was taking the call at work, she was at work, too, which meant she was calling from the school— and that meant the call was about Bradley.
His stomach knotted. “Good morning, Melissa. Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing is wrong. I’m phoning to say that the principal got a call from one of the residents in the neighborhood. It’s about the dog that bit Bradley and me. They’ve identified the dog. It was up-to-date on all its shots, so we don’t have to worry about rabies or anything.”
“That’s really good. But what about the dog? Is there a police report to fill out and stuff like that? When something like this happens, doesn’t a process start to put the dog down? Or press charges or something?”
“Actually, we don’t have to worry about it. The dog got hit by a car over the weekend, so no one has to make a decision on what to do about it. I’ve got mixed feelings about that myself; it’s kind of sad, but it’s been taken out of our hands. So I guess that’s a good thing.”
Josh wiped his greasy hand down the front of his coveralls and stuck it in his pocket. He turned to face the wall as he spoke because he didn’t want a customer to listen to him on a personal call. “Yeah, I guess. I’ve been doing a lot of praying over that. Although it’s not exactly the way I hoped it would happen, either. The most important thing is that Bradley is fine and you’re fine.”
“I know what you mean. I love dogs, and even when it’s not a nice dog, it still upsets me to hear when something like that happens.”
“Yeah.” Josh knew the first thing he was going to do when he got home was to give Cleo a big hug and an extra dog biscuit. “I have to get back to work—I guess you do too.”
“It’s recess time, so I’m okay for a few minutes yet, but I guess you’re not on a coffee break, are you?”
He heard the customer behind him shuffling in the magazine pile. He hadn’t had time to take a break today. He still had a lot of catching up to do from the time he missed on Thursday, which his boss was going to let him make up. “No, I’m not. I’ll catch you another time, I guess.”
They said their good-byes, and Josh returned his attention to the problem on his customer’s car. After the customer left, Josh pulled the car into the bay to begin working on it. As he tinkered, his thoughts returned to Melissa.
Even though they’d been far from alone yesterday, it had been good to be in the company of a single woman for no real purpose except to socialize and relax, if being in charge of five boys could in any way be called relaxing. Melissa had barely blinked when Kyle had accidentally dropped one of his fries into her coffee, and she’d been a tremendous help in making them take turns with the ketchup without fighting. She’d also been the one to catch Ryan loosening the lid to the salt before he passed it to Andrew to shake onto his fries. Even Tyler liked her because she talked to him differently than the younger boys, instead of lumping them all together as he had seen people often do.
Josh smiled. The woman was indeed good with kids.
Josh’s smile dropped, and he squeezed his eyes shut for a second before he resumed his work. He’d always thought Theresa was good with kids too. She’d also taught Sunday school in his home church, but she wasn’t a teacher by trade like Melissa. They’d even talked about kids from time to time, and at the same time, Theresa had started to hint about wedding bells.
Even though he didn’t see fireworks when he was with Theresa, he’d thought she was the right woman for him to spend his life with, until he made the decision to look after his nephews when Brian and Sasha went to Switzerland. Theresa’s scathing comments and inability to understand how important this was to him, especially since he and Brian no longer had their parents, had cut him to the core. The spiteful things she’d said leading to their breakup had taught him a few things about her he hadn’t seen before, making him grateful to have discovered them before he made a serious commitment.
It also started him thinking about his situation and the projected reality of how long it could last, and where his life could go in the process. Theresa’s final barbed words were that Sasha was never going to get better, and no woman in her right mind would ever want to date him, an instant adoptive father of five boys, one of them only ten years younger than himself.
The trouble was, Theresa was probably right on both counts. Looking back, he’d always thought Sasha to be a bit unstable. Only twelve when his brother had married Sasha, at the time he’d thought her a little strange, even though from a child’s perspective he couldn’t say what it was—he only knew that something wasn’t quite right with her. As the years went on, she had become more and more unstable. Both her mental and physical health worsened, and no doctors had been able to help her. Now she had progressed to such a point that Brian thought this clinic in Switzerland was her only hope of a recovery after a lifetime of suffering.
Because of that, his family needed him, and they had to be his first priority. Therefore, he didn’t have the time, and certainly not the energy, to both raise the kids and date, especially to find someone who knew him the way Theresa had, before the kids came into his life full time. Those kids needed a lot of love and attention, and he was the only one to give it to them since their parents were gone.
Therefore, Theresa’s unkind words about him being single for as long as he had the boys probably would be true. It wasn’t like he was a regular single father with one or two young boys. There were five of them, one of them a teenager.
And thus ended his future love life.
Josh turned his concentration to adjusting a timing belt until his stomach grumbled, making him check the clock, which was exactly in sync with his stomach. It was just few minutes after noon, and lunchtime. Josh wiped his hands and had just stuffed the rag into the back pocket of his coveralls when Rick called him to take the phone.
As he hung up, he looked up at the time again, then quickly checked his wallet. “Hey, Rick, I’ve got to go to the school again, so I’ll take my lunch, and I’ll add a few more minutes to take that blue Ford for a test drive. I’ll be back in three quarters of an hour.”
❧
“Hello again, Uncle Josh. It’s been so long since we spoke.”
Josh smiled back at Melissa as he handed Bradley the hamburger, fries, and the drink. “Yeah. I thought I tightened the lid to that thermos better this morning, especially after last Friday. We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”
She smiled back, and Josh’s breath caught. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of her as very pretty, because she certainly had a unique warmth and a very pretty smile.
“Josh? Is something wrong? You’re looking at me funny.”
He narrowed one eye. “Have you done something different with your hair since yesterday?”
“Uh. . .no. . . ,” her voice trailed off as she ran her fingers into her hair to fluff it.
“Never mind, it must be the light or something. Actually, this is kind of a good opportunity for me to ask you a question. I’ve got about ten minutes before I have to head back to work. I wanted to thank you for encouraging the kids yesterday. We talked ab
out the Boys Club and the youth group, and they’re all interested in going.” He paused to grin. “Even though it’s going to mean another night of driving them around, I’m looking forward to it. Now I can go to the adult Bible study on the same night. I’ve never had to think about it before, but baby-sitting can sure get expensive. I’ve missed attending weekly Bible studies, so this is a good chance for me to plug in while they’re all off doing something else. It’s going to be great getting involved in church activities again.”
“That’s wonderful, Josh. What about Cleo?”
Josh let out a short laugh. “Cleo? She’ll just sleep the whole time everybody’s gone. She spends a lot of time home alone. Actually, I think she sleeps a lot.”
“Does that mean you’d go to the adult evening Bible study alone?”
“Yeah, although it’s been a long time since I’ve been to one by myself. I wouldn’t think I’d be the only person going stag, would I?”
The light touch of her fingertips on his arm startled him— first, that she’d actually touched him, but secondly, he hadn’t realized they’d been standing so close. Then he realized it had been him who approached her and stood close so Bradley wouldn’t hear what they were talking about.
“Our church is quite large, and we have an assistant pastor who is also a counselor. He specializes in couples counseling. Would you like me to get his card for you?”
All he could do was blink in wonderment at her perception of his situation. He had no idea how she’d known that he’d recently split up with someone, and he chided himself for being so transparent. He thought he’d done a good job in overcoming the sting of Theresa leaving him, and it made him wonder if it showed that much. “No, that’s okay, but thanks for suggesting it. I’ve been thinking about it since all this started, and I decided she’s not the person I’d marry, anyway.”
She withdrew her hand as fast as if she’d been stung.
He checked his watch. “I think I’d better be heading back to work. But first I’m going to say bye to Bradley. Thanks again for the phone call this morning, Melissa. I’m glad both of you are going to be okay.”
At his own words, he couldn’t help but glance at her arms, which were covered by long sleeves, efficiently hiding the bandages. He’d done the same with Bradley’s clothing.
Bradley had just stuffed the last of the fries into his mouth as Josh approached his desk. “Sorry about your lunch, Sport. But I know you like the fries better than the sandwich.”
“Yeah, Uncle Josh. Thanks. Did you have a nice talk with Miss Klassen?”
“Yes, I did.”
“She’s really nice, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she’s nice. I think we’ve talked about this before. I’ve got to go back to work. See you at supper time. And make sure you do your homework as soon as you get to Darlene’s.”
“I don’t get homework. I’m only in grade one.”
“Well, maybe I should tell your teacher to give you some.”
“Does that mean you’re gonna talk to Miss Klassen again soon?”
Josh tried not to laugh. “No, I was just kidding. Now go play with your friends. See you later.”
Bradley rushed out the door into the school ground, and Josh waved to Melissa on his way out the door.
As he drove back to work, he thought about how cute it was that Bradley liked Melissa so much. For a little kid, Bradley had good taste in women, unlike himself.
Maybe he could learn something from the kid.
❧
Melissa walked from desk to desk during the class’s free time, assisting her young students with the tasks in front of them. She worried that after such a large high-fat lunch Bradley might be sleepy, but she found him at his desk all alone, diligently working on tracing alphabet letters in his workbook.
She joined him, making herself as comfortable as possible, sitting beside him on one of the child-sized chairs in order to speak to him privately.
Bradley didn’t look up at her. Instead, he concentrated intently on making a pattern of dots and dashes in alternating colors on each letter, a very time-consuming project considering that all she wanted the children to do was to trace the letters to get used to their shapes. Still, it was a better alternative than staring out the window, which she had caught him doing many times since his parents went away.
“Hi, Bradley. Those are nice colors you’re using.”
“Thanks,” he mumbled as he carefully chose the next color for his next dot.
“So, did you like church on Sunday?”
“Yeah,” he muttered. “It was okay.”
“Your uncle Josh says that he’s going to take you and your brothers to Boys Club on Wednesday. He’s going to go to the adult group, and Cleo is going to stay home.”
“Mmmm,” he mumbled as he carefully snapped on the lid and chose his next color.
“Do you like Cleo?”
Bradley nodded as he compared two red felt pens, then selected the one on the right.
“Does Cleo play with you?”
“Yes, except she kisses me too much when she does.”
Melissa thought it good that Cleo was affectionate to the boys, except that made her think about Cleo kissing Josh. The thought turned her stomach, and she forced herself to think of something else.
Since Cleo obviously liked the children, it would make sense for her to participate in some of the children’s school activities, with or without Josh. She knew many of the mothers from past years and wondered if Cleo would have any distinguishing features that would help Melissa identify her as having been at the recent science fair.
“I was wondering, what does Cleo look like?”
He closed one eye and stuck out his tongue to curl at the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on a series of dots on the next letter. His reply came out only as a mumble. “Uncle Josh says she’s too fat. But I think she’s okay.”
Melissa tried not to cringe as she sucked in her stomach and covered it with one hand. “I think it’s time to start packing up. It’s almost story circle time.”
For the rest of the day, Melissa could only half concentrate on the stories as Bradley’s words echoed through her head. Fortunately, the day went quickly. She went straight home, but her thoughts kept drifting to Josh.
Children usually spoke with blunt honesty, yet she couldn’t see the kind man she’d thought Josh to be speaking in such an unkind way in front of the children. It didn’t matter if Cleo was overweight or not; it wasn’t right to say it in front of them. As well, it bothered her to know Josh didn’t care that Cleo wasn’t going to Bible study with him, and, as well, it didn’t seem like he expected Cleo would ever go to church with them. He never mentioned her once in the entire time they were together at the restaurant. Bradley had been the only one to ask if they should bring any food home for Cleo, and Josh had merely said no, that he didn’t do doggie bags.
She didn’t know much, but she did know that something was very wrong about the whole situation.
Melissa continued to stew about it but could come up with no answers.
By the time she’d finished supper, she was going crazy.
She wanted to talk to Cleo to see if she could discover what was going on in their relationship. If Josh wasn’t going to take her hint about the couples’ counseling sessions, then perhaps she could somehow get to know Cleo and convince her to convince Josh to participate, for the better of the two of them.
Phoning the McMillian household seemed like a good way to start.
The phone rang only once before someone picked it up. One of the boys answered, but she couldn’t tell who it was.
Melissa cleared her throat. “Hi, this is Miss Klassen. Is that Ryan?”
“No, it’s Kyle. Is Bradley in trouble?”
Melissa grinned. There was no shortage of sibling rivalry in the McMillian household. “No, he’s not in trouble. I was wondering. Where’s Cleo?”
“Cleo’s outside. Do you want to talk to Uncle J
osh?”
She didn’t want to talk to Josh, but it was too late to do anything else as she heard the shuffle of the phone being passed.
“Hi, Melissa. What can I do for you?”
“Our class is having a field trip to the bakery next week, and I’m calling for drivers.”
“Oh, and you’re calling me because I’ve got a van? But I have to work, and I don’t have any time off coming.”
Since he made no offer to give the van to Cleo to let her drive, and since she didn’t know if Cleo had her own car, Melissa decided to let that idea drop. “That’s okay. I had to ask.”
Melissa didn’t know how it happened, but instead of ending the conversation, they ended up talking and talking until Josh suddenly noticed that it was past the younger boys’ bedtime. After they hung up, Melissa couldn’t remember the last time she’d spent an hour on the phone like that, even with her best friend. Josh was funny and kind and very interesting to talk to. She’d enjoyed every minute of their conversation, with one exception.
She still hadn’t learned anything about Cleo.
But tomorrow was another day.
❧
“Hello again, Uncle Josh.”
Josh sighed and looked up at the clock on the classroom wall. He had exactly twelve minutes to get back to work. If he caught all the lights green, he could do the drive in sixteen. He forced himself to smile. “Hi, Miss Klassen. I have no idea how his juice got spilled again. I checked the lid this morning. I really did. Twice.”
As Bradley dug into the hamburger and fries, Melissa discreetly tilted her head to one side, indicating she wanted to speak to him privately. Instead of running back out the door, he approached her, then stood between Melissa and Bradley so Bradley couldn’t hear her or see her mouth as she spoke.
Her voice dropped to a husky whisper. “This is two days in a row this week, and it’s only Tuesday, plus this same thing happened on Friday. I wonder if he’s doing it on purpose to get the hamburger and fries instead of a sandwich.”
