by Anne Leigh
Love Unexpected
Anne Leigh
This novel is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to peoples living or deceased is purely coincidental. Names, pigments, and characters are figments of the author’s imagination.
Dedication
To my husband, what I know of love, I know because of you.
Prologue
My dad told me she was going to be ok.
I didn’t doubt him.
She gazed at me with her light violet eyes, very much like my own. I kissed her on her left cheek, “Mommy, you’re going to be ok.”
She looked tired, restless; but her sweet demeanor was ever present. She smelled like my favorite scents, of lilacs and rosemary.
“Sweetheart, I’m sorry, I’m so tired. I need to rest now,” her pale lips whispered. She was sitting up in bed, her hands were colder than usual, her voice hoarser.
Daddy said she was going to be fine; but why did it feel like she’s going somewhere? I could see it in her eyes.
“Mommy, is everything ok?” At the age of 9, I understood that she has not been her normal, active self for the past year. My dad said it was because she had lyu-kee-mia. I didn’t know what it meant. I just knew that it made my mommy tired, weak, and very, very skinny. She came back home from the hospital 2 days ago. I thought she was going to get better after staying at the hospital. At least that was what she has told me countless times – that people went to the hospital to get better. But today, she looked paler, more tired, and restless.
She kissed the top of my head and in a shaky voice, “Sweetheart, remember, Mommy loves you very much. Don’t ever forget this, ok?”
My dad entered the room. He went out to speak to someone on the phone. His blue eyes were somber as he sat next to my mom and me.
To my mom, he said, “Get some rest, honey. I’ll take care of her.”
“Ok,” my mom responded. Her eyes were closing. She must not have gotten enough sleep. I knew I shouldn’t have asked her to watch Toy Story last night.
Before she completely drifted off to sleep, she whispered in my ear, “I love you, sweetie….You and daddy, always.”
I leaned into her, hugged her, and kissed her soft, unblemished cheeks, “I love you too, mommy.”
My dad kissed my mom’s hair and lifted me up in his arms.
He brought me to my room, tucked me in bed, and kissed my forehead.
“Goodnight, sweetheart,” he said, as he slowly walked towards the door.
I must have been tired from playing with Kieran all day because I felt so sleepy. Before he left my room, I asked, “Is Mommy going to be ok?”
He never replied.
Chapter One
“Follow your dreams; they don’t lead you astray.”
Sedona
I was running late. I woke up to my alarm at 5:45 AM, drove to the gym for 2 laps in the pool and took a shower by 6:30. I dried my hair in 5 minutes, and put on my lip gloss in the car. I was on the front steps of California State University San Francisco (CSUF) at exactly 7:15 AM.
My day always started out with a cup of tall Mocha, no whip, and extra shot of espresso from either Yany’s Donut Express or Xtreme Coffee. On exam days, I went to Xtreme Coffee. On regular school days, I went to Yany’s.
So here I was, # 5 in line for that steaming mocha, while perusing my Pediatric Nursing final exam notes. I had a final exam to get to in exactly 45 minutes. I had 15 minutes to get my coffee and drink it, run to my classroom in 10 minutes, go to the bathroom in 5 minutes, and still have 14 minutes to get settled in, arrange my pen, pencil, and eraser (to a perfect isosceles triangle) on my desk, and even have time to spare to catch up with my classmates.
It sounded like a great plan, until HE showed up somewhere between minutes 0:12 and 0:15 when it was almost my turn to give my order to the chatty barista. I was going to take a step towards the counter, with my mouth opening, ready to say ‘Mocha’, but all I managed to say was ‘Mo –‘
He cut in front of me! I was not able to get a good look at his face because he faced the barista. He was wearing a baseball hat, loose green shirt, and denim jeans. From my peripheral line of vision, he was about 6’4, slightly tanned skin, most likely from the sun, a silhouette of a beard on the side of his jaw, and a tiny condor tattoo was visible on his right arm as he handed money to the barista. The barista apparently knew him because she had his order ready to go.
I heard muffled, “So sorry, but I really gotta go.” Whispers started behind me. They were probably as annoyed as I was. No, when I glanced back, the hushed whispers weren’t of annoyance, rather, they were of reverence.
Reverence?! As if it was a normal daily occurrence for that man to be cutting in front of people! Before I had a chance to say anything, he gave a short nod to the barista, grabbed his cup, and left as inconspicuous as he came in. How rude!
I forced myself to take deep breaths. Positive Chi could not be drained before finals.
Breathe, Sedona. The measure of intersecting straight angles is 180 degrees. The complementary angles equate to 90 degrees each. I was imagining the actual measurement between parallel triangular forms.
“Miss, are you ready to order?”
I merely nodded at the barista. Pictures of perfect, geometrical shapes were now floating in my head. I was back in control.
I was about to hand her my $5 bill when she shook her head, “Coffee’s paid for.” My confusion must have shown on my face, “He’s got it covered. He’s probably apologizing because he had to cut in front of you.”
My mouth stretched into a tight grin. What were the chances that my coffee would be paid for this morning because the dude who cut in front of me felt sorry for actually cutting in front of me? Before I could form any more algebraic equations in my head, I moved to the ‘Pick Up Here’ side of the coffee shop and waited for my steaming mocha.
Zander
I felt really bad. I wasn’t in the habit of cutting into lines. There was no excuse for what I did. I just wanted to get my coffee and run to class. I was going to get in line but as soon as I saw the long-ass line, I knew I’d be 30 minutes late for the finals. My Architecture Design III professor was such a stickler for punctuality. I had been late three times in his class already. If I was late one more time, he would probably hand me a refusal note for finals. Without at least a cup of black Joe’s, my body refused to function. Desperate times called for desperate measures. My plea was answered when I caught a glimpse of my buddy, Tyler, behind the Xtreme Coffee counter; I signaled him if he could make an exception for me.
I cut in front of a woman who was about ready to order. I pulled on my cap way low to hide my face. I couldn’t even look at her face because I was embarrassed. But, getting to finals trumped my embarrassment. I pulled on my cap even lower when I reached the counter and smiled at the barista. Hopefully, the $10 bill I left for the lady in line was enough to cover her order.
Finals were hard. Good thing I had a B+ going in. I didn’t have much time to study for the Finals. I had 2 away games in a row and the traveling really drained me. I hated buses and airplanes or any form of transportation where I was not in front of the wheel. I had 2 more finals to go and I was done for this semester. Looking forward to a week off was a great thing.
*****
Two days later
Sedona
I felt really good about the results of my final exams. I checked my grades online for the 4 time. I always checked my grades 4 times, which meant I logged on and logged off 8 times. 8 was a good number. It was lucky for me. I did not mess with what worked in the past. All my Chem grades were posted. A+ for all of them. Yes! Now, I was just waiting on my nursing theory exam results. Nursing classes was 50% Theory, 50% Clinical Rotations. I only needed an
average of 60% to pass all of my nursing theory classes because I had an average of 98% going into my finals. If Ms. Perez did not post my grades online by 6 PM today, I would call her directly. She was contact # 93 for me, right after Mr. Penafiore, my social anthropology professor.
After logging off the computer, my phone buzzed, it was Kieran.
“Hey, Ace, how did finals go?” he sounded cheerful. Swim meets must have been great.
‘Ace’ was his childhood nickname for me. He said it was because I ‘aced’ at everything. Well, almost everything. Swimming was one of the exceptions.
“Great, just waiting on other grades,” I replied.
“I’m sure you did great. When have you never?”
I smiled; he was my number # 1 fan, as I was his.
“Thanks, how was the meet?”
His chuckle boomed through my phone, “Top qualifier for the 400-IM and 200 Free. What can I say, I’m working my way towards the Olympics!”
Oh dear god. He was on one of his highs again. The kind of high you get after placing first in neck-to-neck swimming competitions. When he was in this mood, there was nothing I could do but let him go on and on. After about 2 minutes, he finally said, “You zoned out, huh?”
“Yup,” I said, with a giggle.
“You know how it goes, Ace, you get all the good and the bad with me.”
“Yup, after 12 years, 2 months, and 4 days of friendship, trust me, I know.”
“Well, Ace. You’re the genius and I’m the brawn.”
I laughed, “Whatever.”
“Gotta go, Ace. Coach is a-calling. Don’t forget to pick me up at 7 PM on Wednesday,” he said.
I said with a smirk, “When have I ever forgotten?”
“Never. Best reason you’re my best friend,” he chuckled.
“Whatever. Stay safe. See you,” I said before I hung up.
I was still laughing at Kieran’s in-born arrogance, borderline annoying words, about his ‘greatness’ when I heard a knock on my door, followed by a smiling, hazel-eyed face, “We’re on tonight, right?” It was Nalee, one of my roommates and best friends.
I nodded my head and smiled.
“Yes, Nales. Of course we are.”
She sat her 5’2” petite frame on my bed and in a wistful voice, “I wish you didn’t have to go for your summer internship so we could go travel after graduation!”
I said quietly, “Nales, I’d love to go travel with you and Tanya, but I got to do my internship and take my boards.”
She nodded her head vigorously, tumbles of curly, brown hair fell from her ponytail, “I know, girlfriend. I know you have your life planned out and I’m just thinking that once we graduate, we’re all going to be pulled into different directions so it would be really cool if we got to go around the world and travel as a last hurrah after college!”
Her statement brought to mind the inevitable reality - we were graduating college and as much as we didn’t want to, we would be leading different lives. Nalee would be an environmental scientist. She had a job waiting for her at a Florida-based company. Tanya, a civil engineering major, planned to stay in the West Coast.
As for me, well, every single thing that I did had a purpose, since the day I learned I could be whatever I wanted to be. Ok, well since I was 15. I lived with 3 P’s and 5 D’s. The P’s were my goals; D’s were my rules.
1. Publish the first ‘Nursing in Sports Science’ book by age 30. My mom published her first Astrophysics book at 28.
2. Practice nursing prudently. I wanted to be a nurse since I was 5. I minored in Chemistry because I loved it since middle school.
3. Prove that you can achieve all the top honors in school and career.
4. Don’t cheat. Except when racing against Kieran in the pool.
5. Do go to sleep before midnight. REM sleep is restorative. Exception: Girls’ night out – added when I turned 21.
6. Do it and enjoy it. With the right boy, but not before 16.
7. Don’t fall in love. Falling in love can mess up the 3 P’s. Look at Nalee – Sorry, Nales.
8. Don’t wear a one-piece. It doesn’t suit your body.
My brain was my ‘biggest asset’ as my dad often said. Learning and excelling came easy for me. However, it still took hard work and focus to maintain my GPA with grueling class schedules. I may have been given the gift of a cranium that could hold massive amounts of information; but, I still had to do the actual work – all the assignments, group works, and clinical rotations.
I looked over at Nalee and thought about how lucky I was to have a friend like her. She never made fun of how I was such a stickler in achieving all my plans and goals. She accepted them as extensions of who I was.
“How about this, Nales? When I finish my master’s program, we can travel anywhere you want to go. And, here’s the kicker, wherever you guys are, I’ll pay for your tickets,” I stated.
Her eyes lit up, “That will be so cool!! Sedona, you don’t have to pay for our tickets. We’ll let our rich friend pay for it!”
‘Rich friend’ meant Tanya. Nalee and I teased her about it. We were the only ones who could. Tanya’s family owned a chain of supermarkets in the West Coast. She was actually the reason why we, college students, were living in a posh, 3-bedroom, 2 ½ bathroom apartment near CSUF. It took a month’s worth of groveling and trying to convince Tanya to have Nalee and I pay for at least a third of the rent. Tanya was really hesitant but she finally caved in when we told her that we’d rather live in a smelly, coed apartment than live with her for free.
I laughed at Nalee’s suggestion, “Sounds like a plan!”
Her phone went off, “Excuse me, Sedona, I have to take this call. See you later.” Before she stepped out of my room, she pointed to a picture of Kieran and me hugging each other at a swimming competition. Nalee put her thumbs up and winked. She liked to rib me about Kieran’s ‘hotness’.
Sure, Kieran was a 6’2, blonde, brown-eyed, ‘hunk’ of a man, as he often called himself. He has been in my life since I was 9 years old. Our friendship has evolved through time. He would always be my best friend. No more, no less. And it was the same for him. Whenever they could, Nalee and Tanya teased me that best friends turned out to be best boyfriends. Maybe for other people. There was none of that ‘more than friends’ spark between Kieran and me.
With no one to talk to, I worked on my draft for my thesis, ‘Biochemical reactions during hypoxic events’, for over an hour. It wasn’t due until graduation; it was a continual work in progress.
My brain was going into overload thinking about the theorems that I was going to utilize. I needed a break. Dad’s image came into mind.
I dialed Dad. He was in Spain at this time. As a travel photographer, he was out of the country almost half of the year. It was 1:00 AM, Madrid time. My dad did not sleep until 4-5 AM so he would answer.
His phone rang twice before he picked up, “Hey sweetie.”
“Hi dad,” I smiled. My dad’s voice always brought me comfort.
“How’s everything?” he asked, in a sleepy voice.
“Dad, were you sleeping? I’m sorry -” I rushed; I thought he would be awake at this time.
He mumbled, “No, it’s ok. I must have fallen asleep. I had a busy day today.”
“I miss you, dad.” My voice broke. I haven’t seen him for over five months. We talked almost every weekend, but I missed spending time with him. In person.
“Oh sweetie, I miss you too,” his normally cheerful voice sounded exhausted.
We talked about my finals, school, and friends. When he finally asked about his ‘son’, Kieran, I tattled on Kieran’s arrogance. I described how his son was puffed-out and had such a big head because he had just won (as usual) in the qualifying swim meets. My dad’s laughter broke the line. It gave him immeasurable relief and comfort that Kieran and I attended the same university. Initially, he was not keen to the idea of me going off to college at 17. The one thing that convinced him was that Kiera
n, who was 19 at that time, would be there to watch over me.
My dad described his travels in Spain. He was currently assigned to capture nature, wildfire, and landscape imagery in Madrid for a magazine. Next week, he was going to Barcelona for another assignment. He never thought of his travels as ‘assignments’. He often joked that he couldn’t believe people paid him money to do the things he loved the most – travel and photography.
He and my mom actually met when he was on assignment to take pictures of the beautiful parks and wildlife in Arizona. My mom was there for the Astrophysics and Cosmology conference. They met at a hotel lobby and he often told me, “The first time I saw her, I just knew she was the one for me.” A month after they met, they were married. Nine months later, they had me. When my mom first laid eyes on me, she said that my cheeks were so red. They reminded her of the reddish hues of the canyons in Sedona, Arizona. Hence, my name, Sedona.
