Shelter of Hope

by Lyn Cote

  “He brought it!” Johnny jumped up and down.

  “She brought it,” Marc corrected.

  Johnny reached for the Frisbee but Dottie couldn’t resist washing the boy’s face with her eager tongue. “Sit!” Johnny yelled. “Sit!”

  Rosa hurried closer. “Maybe these dogs aren’t used to children—”

  The fear in her voice washed over Marc. “Down, Dottie,” he ordered, his tone fierce.

  Dottie dropped to the ground and whimpered in a pathetic wounded tone. Johnny dropped to his knees and petted Dottie’s head. “It’s okay. Don’t cry.” Dottie stared up at him with imploring brown eyes and crept the few inches on her belly to him. She whimpered again.

  Marc felt ashamed at scolding the dog so harshly. She didn’t deserve it.

  “It’s okay,” Johnny said, still petting Dottie. “It’s okay, Dottie.” She moved even closer, laying her head on Johnny’s lap. The dog made one of those ridiculous sounds of pleasure, a cross between a sigh and a snort.

  Marc smiled, suddenly feeling lighter.

  Rosa chuckled. “Are you okay then, son?”

  Marc turned and the expression on Rosa’s lovely face snared him. Usually serious, her face now glowed with joy, a mother’s joy. Marc’s throat tightened. Suddenly he wanted to give her more reasons for joy. He wanted to help her with Johnny. Stop. I can’t be thinking this stuff. I’ve just been so lonely. That’s why I’m having these thoughts.

  Johnny laughed. The older dog, Roxie, sidled up to Johnny and nudged his other hand. The little guy smiled and began petting both dogs with each hand. “What kind of dogs are these, Marc?”

  “Mr. Chambers,” Rosa corrected.

  “Uh-huh,” Johnny agreed.

  “These are golden retrievers. They are very good with children. They like to play. They were originally bred for hunting. So they like to run.”

  “Another thing that boys like to do too,” Rosa added with a grin in her voice.

  That drew Marc. He turned to her. The same smile lit her face and he wanted to touch that face, feel the warmth of the radiance.

  “I think I want this kind of dog when our house is built,” Johnny said.

  “You might want to go to the animal shelter,” Marc said, “and pick up a dog that needs a home.” This simple exchange had moved him, calmed him. The urge to touch Rosa’s cheek now became irresistible. He raised his hand, reaching for her.

  But then Marc dropped his arm. Touching Rosa would be inappropriate. He hated that he was not acting like himself. This had all been triggered the day Johnny had run in front of the cement truck. When would he start feeling like himself again?

  Rosa tilted her head, looking at him questioningly.

  He had no answer for her, but her effect on him was unmistakable. His mouth had gone dry and there was a knot in his chest.

  She broke the connection. She reached for the Frisbee on the ground and tossed it. The dogs raced to catch it. Johnny shouted encouragement, bouncing after them several feet away. Again, Rosa stared into his eyes as if searching for something. “What is it, Marc?” she whispered.

  “Hey!” a voice hailed them, interrupting Rosa.

  Marc looked over her head at Luke walking up the drive toward them. Marc closed his eyes and thought how much easier it would have been if he’d just stayed upstairs.

  Luke was grinning broadly.

  Oh, no, Luke, this isn’t what you might be thinking, bro. Before Marc could put the words together, Luke stuck out his hand to Rosa. “Am I glad to see you. Rosa Santos, right? We went to high school together.”

  “I am Rosa,” she said, taking his hand but looking to Marc.

  “Yeah, I know,” Luke said. “I didn’t know you and Marc knew each other,”

  “This is my brother, Luke,” Marc managed to get out.

  “Oh.” Rosa’s eyes widened. “That’s right. You’re Luke Chambers. We did go to school together. You were on the state championship basketball team.”

  “Yeah,” Luke said and let go of her hand. “That must be your little boy. He turned out to be a pretty sturdy little guy. He might be good at sports.”

  “Thank you. I think he’s kind of special.”

  Johnny turned and said something to his mom. Rosa moved away a few paces to answer his question.

  Luke sidled over and said in a low tone, “I hope you have enough sense to ask her out. Rosa Santos. I could never understand why Johnny’s father didn’t marry her. I mean, after they finished high school, that is. She was one of the prettiest and sweetest girls on the cheerleading squad. I’d lost track of her.”

  “She’s here because her grandmother’s inside with Naomi canning salsa,” Marc said, feeling desperate to head Luke off. “I’m just helping build her house in town. That’s all.”

  Luke ignored the last sentence. “Oh, the Habitat house. Mom was talking about that but I didn’t pay much attention. Maybe I should come help out too? And Dad.” Luke lowered his voice another notch. “Anyway, Jill is starting to think I’m a loser who doesn’t have a family or I’m trying to get out of meeting her. If you’re not asking Rosa out, then you better come up with somebody fast for the double date. I don’t want to lose Jill.”

  “I just…I haven’t dated lately.” Unable to say more, Marc hoped Rosa hadn’t overheard Luke talking about her. His brother hadn’t said anything that he shouldn’t—except the part about Marc asking Rosa out. Maybe if he avoided Rosa and Johnny, everything in his head would go back to normal. It was worth a try. But after the past few days, he had a feeling that no matter how hard he tried that avoiding Rosa would turn out impossible.

  Chapter Three

  In the campus library, Rosa sat across from the man she was trying to avoid—with extremely limited success—Marc. A few minutes ago they had been sitting in their first class together. How could she have known that Marc would be taking Introduction to Law Enforcement Careers, too?

  “Well, I guess we should get started?” he said in a false hearty tone.

  She forced a fake smile and nodded.

  “Why don’t we do you first?” he asked.

  At that moment, outside the nearby wall of windows, a cloud shifted, letting a shaft of brilliant sunlight cast itself onto Marc’s hair. The reddish highlights there shimmered like bright unseasoned copper. The breath caught in her throat. She stiffened her resistance. This silly crush will pass. And soon. She peddled down her reaction. “Okay.” A little word hiding so much inside.

  “Why did you decide to take this class?” he read from the interview page they’d been given to fill out. He had his pen poised to write down her answer.

  Why did teachers do this? Make them do assignments together. What was this, high school again? That was an unfortunate thought. High school and its immediate aftermath had been the worst years of her life. “When I was in middle school,” she began, forging on, “I was in the Big Sisters program.” She took a breath. Why did being near Marc make it hard for her to breathe?

  He nodded, encouraging her.

  “The woman who was my Big Sister for three years worked in the state trooper’s office as a dispatcher. She was a…real role model for me. That’s why I chose law enforcement.” Rosa nearly sighed with relief.

  As Marc was writing, Rosa saw movement from the corner of her eye. Someone who was standing almost out of her line of peripheral vision had caught her attention. The person was just standing and watching them. Why?

  “Is that all?” Mark asked, sounding like he wanted her to have much more to say. That was odd.

  She turned her attention back to him. The insight struck her that each of them was peering at each other from behind masks. She was hiding her deep sorrow and regrets. What was he hiding? “That’s all, I’m afraid. Your turn.”

  Marc cleared his throat.

  She waited with her pen poised. Then from the corner of her eye, she saw that the person who was watching them had stepped into her line of sight. It was that girl she’d seen in th
e student union that day of the trapped bird. She realized now that this young woman had been in high school with her, not in the same year though. What was her name and why did she find Rosa interesting? Or maybe it was Marc. He was a man worth looking at after all.

  She looked back to Marc. From his studied expression, she guessed that he was trying to figure out how little he could get by with telling her. What was Marc trying to conceal?

  Marc started speaking fast. “I was an Over the Road driver for nearly ten years. I had an accident and decided I didn’t want to live that lonely life anymore. I was impressed by the emergency staff that responded to the accident in January. And that’s why I’m here.”

  Suddenly several things happened at once in Rosa’s mind. Marc’s mention of an accident in January broke the dam, which had been holding her back from remembering. She knew which accident he was speaking about. In January there had been a horrible chain reaction highway accident, south on the interstate around Madison. Many people had been injured and a few died. It had been on the local TV news for over a week. Marc had been mentioned and also…

  The name of the girl watching them came to Rosa. She was Penny Mason. And Penny’s older sister, who had been living near Madison, had been killed in that January accident. What was her name?

  Rosa realized that her mouth was hanging open. She closed it. This prevented her from blurting out all that she had just connected together. She throttled the desire to say anything about the accident. Now she knew a bit of what made Marc protect his privacy. Maybe he was just tired of people asking about the accident, talking about it.

  She read the next question on the sheet. “What particular field of law enforcement are you interested in now?”

  “I don’t know really. That’s why I’m taking this course. I just want to be able to help people…” His voice trailed off.

  She nodded, still keeping her lips together.

  “What about you?” he asked.

  Penny Mason distracted Rosa by moving away, running away. The young woman’s pace quickened the closer she got to the exit.

  Marc must have noted the direction of her gaze. He started to turn his head toward Penny.

  No. Rosa grabbed Marc’s hand that rested on the top of the table. That swung his gaze back to her—as she had hoped. But now she had to come up with a logical reason for touching him. “I need to apologize,” she said. “I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation with your brother that afternoon in your backyard.” She blushed, recalling that Luke had called her pretty and urged Marc to “ask” her. She plunged on, “Who are you going to ask for the double date?” She blushed hotly.

  Marc stared at her.

  She took a deep breath. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to stick my nose into your business.”

  Marc sat back, pulling his hand free. “I haven’t asked anyone. I haven’t dated for a while.” His face hardened somehow as if fighting pain.

  Sympathy rushed through her. He must have spent months recovering from his injuries from the accident. “Me neither.”

  A slideshow of images of her son and Marc together flashed through her mind. No, don’t, she ordered herself. Stop. But her mouth couldn’t stop the words that had welled up from deep inside. “I could go with you—just as friends.”

  He gazed at her and then swallowed. “Thanks. I don’t want to let Luke down. We could go just as friends.”

  She heard more than his simple words. He was fearful of her getting the wrong idea. He wasn’t ready to date and neither was she. At least, that was what she always told herself when her mind drifted to Marc.

  Her face still blazed over what she had just done. She wondered exactly what shade of red her face had turned. But this wasn’t about her. It was about helping Marc who deserved her assistance. But a date?

  That was tricky. She would have to be very careful not to let on that she thought about Marc often. Way too often. Lord, help me go on this date and yet keep a sensible distance. But what was a sensible distance?

  On Tuesday evening, Rosa waited by her car which she had parked in front of her half-built house. It was the evening she was supposed to double date with Marc—just as a friend. But why then was she wearing her best dark wash jeans, her favorite red blouse and an embroidered jean jacket?

  This is not a real date, she reminded herself. Nonetheless, it was troubling to realize that no matter how much she said this to herself, she had been unable to stop herself from both dreading and looking forward to this evening.

  She heard Marc’s pickup before she saw it. And that gave her pause. When had her hearing tucked away the sound memory of Marc’s truck? This could not be good.

  Marc parked in front of her and got out of his truck. He beat her to his passenger side door and opened it for her.

  “You didn’t need to do that,” she murmured, surprised and pleased. So few men today showed such courtesy.

  “Glad you didn’t bite my head off,” he said with almost a grin. “I’ve tried to open doors for a few women and they’ve nearly mowed me down.”

  She reached up and grabbed the hand hold and lifted herself onto the high seat. “Some women think the old courtesies are demeaning, but I can be a liberated woman and still appreciate kindness.” And you are a kind man, Marc Chambers. This thought tugged her heart. Keeping my distance would be so much easier, Marc, if you weren’t so kind.

  “Glad to hear that. My grandmother always says that she didn’t need women’s lib—she was born liberated.” He shut her door and hurried around and got in.

  Rosa smiled at his comment. “Your grandmother is quite a woman. I hope that I can face turning eighty with as much zest as she is.”

  Marc fell silent. He was looking at the street and tapping his hand on the steering wheel.

  Rosa turned to study his expression. He looked pained. Learning about the accident was only part of the puzzle that was this complex man. There was more she was sure, perhaps something about Penny Mason’s older sister. She thought the older sister would have been in high school when Marc was.

  “Here’s Luke,” Marc said, sounding relieved.

  “Oh, I wondered where he was,” Rosa said, not admitting that when Marc had arrived, she had totally forgotten Luke. This was not a good sign.

  Luke parked his truck in front of Marc’s and walked to the pickup and climbed onto the seat beside Rosa. “Hi,” he greeted her with a shy smile.

  “Hi, Luke.” Now she was sitting very close to Marc and trying not to touch him. She wondered what her future neighbors—the few that already lived at the end of the New Friends Street—thought of her going off with two men.

  “We didn’t want our family to know we were going somewhere together,” Marc supplied the explanation of this rendezvous point.

  “Yeah,” Luke said, sounding embarrassed, “I know it sounds funny that we want to keep this quiet like a couple of teenagers—”

  “No, I understand completely,” Rosa said quickly. If she were in Luke’s position, she wouldn’t want her grandmother to know that she was going off to meet someone from an online dating service.

  “Great,” Luke said with obvious relief.

  Marc was driving them north out of town toward Rhinelander. Silence developed and Rosa knew that if she didn’t break it, it wouldn’t be broken. “Luke,” she started, “how long have you and Jill been in contact over the Internet?”

  “About three months online and…and then I asked her in June if I could call her and talk on the phone. So we’ve talked several evenings for hours. I had to get more minutes on my cell phone.” He sounded as if he’d been running and he had to stop to get his breath.

  The information was mundane, but Luke’s tone of voice told more than the words. Luke was very interested in this woman and very hopeful. Rosa sighed silently. She hoped that this Jill would be what Luke hoped for.

  Though silent and seeming tense, Marc drove as if he knew where he was going. Soon he pulled into a parking lot of a family restaur
ant where Rosa and her family had eaten at often over the years. “Oh, the Diner. I love their fried chicken.”

  “So does Jill,” Luke said, sounding relieved and nervous at the same time.

  Rosa let Marc help her down from the truck. The three of them walked toward the entrance. An older man in a well-pressed shirt and dark dress slacks and a young woman, a petite blonde in jeans and a ruffled white shirt, waited just inside the door. There was a pregnant pause while they all stared at each other.

  “Jill?” Luke asked, managing to stutter over the one syllable name.

  Jill beamed. “Hi, Luke. Yeah, I’m Jill.” She looked up at the man beside her. “This is my dad, Tom Bellers.”

  Tom held out his hand to Luke who shook it but he didn’t take his gaze from Jill. In fact, their gazes locked and held.

  “And who are these people, Luke?” Tom prompted, not unkindly.

  Luke looked startled.

  Marc held out his hand. “I’m Luke’s brother, Marc, and this is my date, Rosa Santos. Rosa and I attend community college together.”

  Rosa was pleased with Marc’s unexpected aplomb in this awkward situation.

  “Can I see some ID?” Tom asked.

  Jill blushed. “Dad, you know that Luke was investigated by the dating service—”

  “I’m not leaving my little girl with strangers without proper ID,” her father said.

  Both Luke and Marc showed Tom their driver’s licenses and auto insurance cards. Rosa began talking to Jill to help the young woman over this embarrassing moment.

  “Okay. I checked several public sources about you, Luke, and you don’t have a criminal record or anything else unsavory that I could find. I was going to stay here in the restaurant and sit at a different table. But now that I see you I don’t think I’ll have to do that. But Jill, remember that you aren’t to ride anywhere with them or go into any private place, right?”

  Jill looked pained but replied without any tinge of rudeness. “Yes, Dad.”

  “I will expect to meet Jill and the three of you back here by closing. Where are you all going after supper?”