by K. E. Garvey
While she exchanged a few words with the boy with the messy hair, Warren crossed the street and stopped in front of the entry gate of the parking lot. On a hunch, he waited and watched. He only had to wait about thirty seconds before she and the boy parted ways and she headed directly toward Warren. His eyes narrowed in an attempt to see her better. As she got closer, she pulled her phone from her purse, and with one hand flipped her hair back over her shoulder. Her head lifted slightly as she did this and he saw the young girl with the long, dark hair once again in his mind. He began walking toward her as if he were going to pick up his grandchild from the schoolyard. They practically brushed shoulders as they crossed in the middle of the street. He smiled and nodded, but she continued with little more than a side glance in his direction as she said, “Yes, Liam’s. Seven-thirty,” to the person on the other end of the call. Once she had passed, he turned and watched her disappear into a white Ford Taurus. She headed north when she pulled out of the lot, and only now did he wish he hadn’t sent the cab away.
With nothing better to do, he decided to familiarize himself with the small town. If tomorrow hadn’t been Saturday, he’d have found himself someplace suitable to spend the night and return to the school before anyone arrived. He’d save himself the hotel money and sleep on a bench in a park if he had to. He’d done worse. The only place he had to go was Rodney’s, and that was far worse. Monday, he’d be prepared. He’d come back and have a cab ready and waiting when school let out. He’d follow her home, watch her, and maybe learn who she lived with, if anyone. He hadn’t thought to look for a wedding ring on her finger, but he was sure she’d have one. Even more than being pretty, she had a confident air about her. She walked with authority, certainly a quality she wouldn’t have yet grown into as a child.
For every circumstantial or coincidental reason he found to convince himself it was really her, he found another why it couldn’t be. Was he standing on hope? Was he willing to spend precious time chasing a ghost of the girl he was searching for? He pondered these thoughts while he walked, and concluded that there were worse ways to spend his last days.
When the light changed, he crossed the street and found himself standing at the front door of a restaurant. The sign over the door read, Liam’s.
~ Sali ~
Sali marveled at how the overhead lighting brought out the purples and blues in her engagement ring, while tilting her hand slightly forward caused the bar lights to bring out the fiery reds. It was the prettiest ring she’d ever seen, and it still surprised her that Steve was so in tune with her that he chose the exact same ring she would have chosen given the chance.
“Sorry I’m late-ish. Traffic on the expressway was brutal.” Steve leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. “What looks good?”
After watching her ring sparkle for another moment, she picked a menu off the table and admitted she hadn’t looked it over yet.
“You okay?” He asked.
She knew he was concerned, and she knew why. Over the years, he hadn’t been the first or only one to point out her personality transformation before a big race, and tomorrow’s race was a big one. “I am,” she replied. “My engagement ring has given me something new to fuss over. I know I’ve said it before, but it really is beautiful. I can’t stop looking at it.”
He reached over and gave her hand a squeeze. “How was your day?”
They spent the time waiting to order, and then for their food to arrive, sharing the big and little events of the past ten hours. She no longer felt pangs of jealousy when he talked of the models he had photographed that day, and he had become genuinely interested in what went on within the four walls of her classroom. The fervor and excitement of their new relationship had settled to a comfortable ember, but rather than miss what had quieted over the last three years, she eased into the comfort of a healthy, grown-up relationship. At first, the feeling was foreign, but one she cherished like one would their favorite memory.
Once their food arrived, they settled into the sounds of other patron’s muted conversations, the clink of flatware on plates, and the soft Muzak playing in the background. When her ring flashed while she cut her meat, it brought their upcoming wedding to mind.
She asked, “Did you ask Curtis if he’d photograph our wedding?”
“He’s still out of the country, but he’s supposed to be back next week. I don’t know why he wouldn’t.”
“I sent the placeholders out yesterday—oh—I almost forgot, if you haven’t already don’t make any plans that include me for next weekend. I’ve been asked to present the medals at one of the youth races on Saturday.”
He nodded. “What about tomorrow? Do you want me to go with you, or head out in time to be at the finish line?”
She motioned with her fork while she swallowed the food she’d been chewing. “The finish line.” As an afterthought, she added, “But you can drop me off in the morning, if you don’t mind. Beth isn’t running tomorrow and you know how much I hate to drive before I run.”
“Sure.” He reached over and covered her right hand with his left. “Don’t be mad, but what race is this one again?”
She set her fork down and lifted her water glass. “We’re even. I don’t remember what you said about lenses and filters a few minutes ago.” A playful smiled stretched across her face. “It’s the Novo Nordisk in Long Branch. It’s about a half an hour up the Garden State Parkway. I would have asked Amy, but she extended her trip by a few days. I’m picking her up at the airport on Tuesday after school. I was thinking we could take her to dinner to celebrate her return and her degree.”
“Sounds good.”
She finished her meal first, at least the part of it she was going to eat, and excused herself to the bathroom. Race nerves, she was sure of it. They had taken longer to hit than usual, and came in the form of a queasy stomach rather than jitters, but they found her just the same.
As she weaved her way through the staggered tables on her way back to her own, she spotted a gray-haired man standing alongside Steve. When the man turned back and spotted her approaching, he seemed to walk away while Steve was still speaking. She watched the man pass the hostess station and disappear out the door.
“Who was that?” She asked as she sat.
Steve shrugged. “He must have overheard us talking about the race and wanted to know the particulars, you know, when and where. That was it.”
She glanced at the door once more before putting him out of her mind.
Chapter Fifteen
Warren - 2018
His thoughts whirled through his mind like a steel ball in a pinball machine. He had to devise a plan, a well thought out and put together hit and quit type scheme that would give him the best possible chance of being undetected when he put it into action, but he was either too tired or too excited to think straight. One thought that seemed to settle was Kate. Her murder was a solid tie-in, but would anyone suspect? Would an astute detective make the connection between her and a much younger woman named Sali Bloo?
Sali Bloo.
Although more mature, her voice hung lightly to the girl of the past. He had known in his heart that she was the one he was looking for, but always knew he’d have to be sure. Sali Bloo was left handed, just like her. But was that enough? No. He’d have to have something a bit more personal, more concrete, like her mother’s name, or her date of birth.
Both the road and the night stretched out in front of him. Sleep would evade him for some time to come. Body spent but mentally charged, he would rummage through the house while Rodney snored off a few too many longnecks. The house and garage were a hoarder’s delight, and if he couldn’t find suitable supplies there, he wouldn’t find them anywhere.
With his head resting on the back of the seat he watched telephone poles whizz past the bus as it rumbled its way to Lancaster. He had spent twenty years in prison imagining their reunion. He imagined what the look on her face would be: surprise? Fear? Hostility? He figured shock would be first
quickly giving way to fear with hate following closely behind. The transformation would happen so fast he might miss it if he weren’t looking directly at her. He supposed he understood her range of emotion, even the hate. What he had done was wrong, but only to someone who didn’t understand. He had tried to love her as his own. He had tried to forget where she had come from. He would have protected her from the evils of the world had she let him. Was there a chance she had found forgiveness in her heart while he was away? He thought about that for a while and came to realize that it was nothing but wishful thinking on his part. If she had forgiven him she would have come to see him. Written to him at the very least. Her mother was no longer an influence, and she was plenty old enough to think for herself. In that moment, his head became convinced of what his heart had always known. Just like her mother, she was a cold bitch who never appreciated the love he showered on her.
And for that, she would pay.
Chapter Sixteen
Sali - 2018
Sali looked to the board behind the attendant’s desk for what seemed like the hundredth time in the past ten minutes as if she expected her sister’s arrival time to change. The apron was a flurry of activity, but not one of the planes had been an Air France flight.
Six-ten. Twenty minutes late. Why hadn’t they changed the time on the board? She drew closer to the plate glass and looked in both directions. She had triple checked the gate number, so where was the plane? The lobby grew warm. As she went in search of someone who could tell her why the plane was late, she heard her name called out. She turned to find Amy waving her hands over her head, kips stretched wide across her face.
She covered her mouth to contain a squeal of excitement, and began weaving through the crowd of people between them. When she reached her sister, she flung her arms around her, closing the gap created by her year in Paris. They hugged for several minutes before she finally took a half-step back.
“How did I miss you, I never took my eyes off the gate?
“They had us exit from a different gate.”
She squeezed her sister harder. “I was getting worried.”
Amy replied, “God I’ve missed you.”
After another hug, Sali pulled back and held Amy at arm’s length. “You look great.”
“You look engaged,” Amy said with a smile.
“Come on. Let’s get your bags and get out of here. Steve made reservations, and I can’t wait to hear everything. Were you able to reach Paul?”
Amy slung her purse onto her shoulder and took hold of Sali’s hand. “About him…”
The only word that came to Sali’s mind slipped from between her lips. “No.”
Amy gave her hand a squeeze. “Yeah. He called about two weeks ago. It was four-thirty in the morning Paris time, so ten-thirty here. It was short and not so sweet. Basically, said he couldn’t be the man I needed him to be until he could be the man he wanted to be, whatever that means.” She swung their arms. “He ended the call with the obligatory ‘I love you more than you know,’ and I haven’t heard from him since. But hey, this isn’t what I wanted to talk about first.”
The sadness in her voice pained Sali. Since they’d been little girls she had always felt each of Amy’s hurts, and as the oldest, felt it was her job to look after her. What pained her most was that she was unable to ease her hurt. “I’m sorry, but I agree. I have been dying to see Paris through your eyes, so let’s start there. We can talk about Paul once you’ve had a couple glasses of wine.”
“Wine cries, always therapeutic.” Amy tried to match her tone to her words.
“Always works for me…. Ooh, baggage claim,” she said as she pointed to the right.
“Have you talked to Aunt Katherine lately?” Amy asked as they waited for her luggage to appear on the carousel.
A pang of guilt knotted in her stomach. “I haven’t. I’ve been meaning to get out there, but there’s always something going on. And speaking of talking, you sound more like Mom than ever.”
“I know. I heard my own voice on my answering machine in Paris and it nearly freaked me out. That one.” Amy pointed to a red and gold Pullman. “I’ve tried calling Aunt Katherine a couple times in the last week and keep getting her voicemail. I thought she might have mentioned an upcoming vacation to you.”
Sali pulled the large suitcase off the carousel while Amy worked the smaller one from between several larger bags. “Now that you’re back, we can take a ride out together.”
“Good, but first, food. If I had a little salt right about now, I swear I’d eat my own tongue.”
Their shared laugh was music to her ears. God, how she had missed her.
~
“Upfront, I apologize for staring, but Steve, wow.”
Sali followed her stare and wiggled the fingers on her left hand when her ring flashed as if on cue. She turned her attention to Steve. “You done good, babe.”
Steve looked back to his plate, scraped the last bite of food off it, and said, “Pretty girl, pretty ring. It wasn’t hard to pair them,” before forking it into his mouth.
The smile on Amy’s face faded, and she quickly hid the change behind her wine glass. Sali’s chest tightened in guilt. Here they were fussing over her ring and the happily-ever-after to follow while Amy was alternating between hiding and drinking her recent pain away.
“Why don’t we talk about something else?” Turning her attention to Amy, she said, “Do you want to go with me on Saturday? I thought that we could go to King of Prussia afterward, maybe have dinner at Legal Seafood. I know Steve would be secretly grateful if you stepped in for him.”
“Not secretly, openly. I don’t know which I dislike more: standing through a youth race or being drug from store to store in search of sandals in the perfect shade of muted black. Seriously, Amy, I’d owe you one.”
“Sure. Why not. And maybe we can stop by Aunt Katherine’s afterward. Vacation or not, it isn’t like her to go away and not let either of us know where she’ll be. I’m trying not to let my imagination run away with me, but… do you think she could be in the hospital?”
Sali shook her head with certainty. “Someone from the hospital would have called us as her next of kin. I’m sure she’s fine. It was probably a spur of the moment idea to get away and figured she’d be back before either of us noticed she was gone, but if it’ll make you feel better we can drop by after the race and check things out.”
“What if she’s not there? Are you going to call the police, report her missing, or are you going to wait it out?”
Sali looked between Steve and Amy, one looking more nervous than the next. “Would you two stop. You’re anticipating a problem that isn’t a problem yet. If she’s not there… well, it would depend. If her mailbox is overstuffed and there’s several Merchandisers lying on the welcome mat, I might become a little—”
“Worried?” Amy interrupted.
“Concerned. But why are we having this conversation anyway? If anything had happened to her, someone would have called us by now.”
Amy reached for her hand. “Are you sure about that?”
Sali understood what her sister implied beyond the words. She replied, “I’m sure,” in a voice that lacked conviction. She leaned back pulling her hand from Amy’s. Forcing herself to smile, she said, “We’ll go to her house Saturday, and I’ll try calling her between now and then. There’s nothing more we can do at the moment, so I’d like to move on to something I’ve wanted to do since Steve placed this ring on my finger.” Once again, she leaned forward and scooped Amy’s hands into her own. “I know this won’t come as a total shock, but I did want to do it in a traditional manner. Would you be my maid of honor?”
Amy squeezed her hands a bit too hard. “This is sweet, but superfluous. Of course, I will. Oh, and I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since you told me, and I can’t wait to run a few ideas by you. I couldn’t be more excited if I were the one getting married.”
Sali patted her hand. “And I want to hear e
very idea you have, but we’ve got time. We haven’t set a date, but it won’t be before next summer. Steve has some news of his own.”
Both women turned toward him and waited. Sali knew he didn’t like talking about himself, but wanted him to be the one to share his big news. And it was big news even if it did interfere with other aspects of their life.
“I’ve been asked to teach a class at Columbia for the upcoming semester.”
“That’s great. Isn’t it?” Amy asked.
A moment of tense silence fell over them. Steve looked to Sali, and then said, “I suppose it is. It didn’t come at the best time, but at the end of it there is the possibility of something more permanent.”
Amy offered a wide-eyed stare. “Permanent, wow. Aren’t you the guy who once said you left teaching because you could teach well or photograph well, but couldn’t do both well at the same time?”
“You could sound a little happier,” Sali said.
“I am happy.” Amy placed both hands over her chest. “If this makes you happy, of course, I’m happy for you. It’s just a surprise. I thought you guys had gone down this road before, that’s all. And… New York. It might as well be California with the never-ending traffic jams.”
Now that she knew what was bothering her sister, she was able to put her mind at ease. “I’m staying here. Steve will stay in the city during the week, and come home on weekends and holidays.”
Amy pulled the napkin from her lap and folded it on the table. “I can’t believe you’re being so cool about this.”
Steve said, “Cool about it? I was on the fence and she talked me into it.”
Amy cocked her head to one side and stared at Sali.
“What? It’s a great opportunity, especially if things go well,” Sali said.
“She’s right,” Steve said as he stood. “There are so many new photographers out there slashing their prices to undercut the professionals that business drops off a little each year. This is guaranteed for now with a chance at permanence later on. But right now, I’m going to pit stop at the gent’s room.”
