Just A Little Romance

by Mary Jane Russell

  “What time is it?” Sam asked.

  “Time for you to go back to bed. I’ll call Lisa for you.” Paul pulled out his cell phone.

  “No way. I’m hungry, and she’s going to treat me to an indigenous meal.”

  “Seriously, what’s Lisa’s number? She’s not ready to see you this way.” Paul was poised to punch numbers on the phone’s keypad.

  The doorbell chimed.

  “I’ll get it.” Sam struggled to stand from the chair as her thick socks slid on the hardwood floor. She giggled. “I feel like Tom Cruise in that underwear dancing movie.”

  “Don’t you dare!” Paul steadied her and walked behind her to the front door.

  Sam fumbled with the doorknob with her left hand, then threw the solid door back with enough force to cause the knob to bounce off the wall bumper. “Excuse me. Hi!”

  Paul gently pulled Sam out of the open door. He held the storm door for Lisa. “May I help carry anything?”

  “I’ve got it. I’m balanced.” Lisa had an insulated carrier in each hand. “Which way to the kitchen, Eeyore?”

  Paul pointed as Sam turned to him and said, “I told you so.”

  Sam took a deep breath. “Oh, my God, you smell wonderful.” She was back to drawing out words again. “I mean, the food smells wonderful. You look delicious.”

  “Oh, my,” Lisa said.

  Paul walked past the sofa and waited until Lisa set the carriers on the kitchen counter. “I’m out of here. Lisa, always good to see you somewhere besides the hospital. She’s a little loopy from the pain meds, so be gentle with her.”

  “I can get my cast wet any time I want to,” Sam said from the living room.

  “Don’t desert me.” Lisa rolled her eyes. “I should’ve thought of the meds and waited to do this. My mothering instincts kicked in on me.”

  “That’s a good thing. I’m guessing she’ll try your patience tonight. Think teenager drunk for the first time.” Paul kissed Sam on the cheek. “Try to behave.”

  “What’s a have?” Sam said the word with a long a.

  “Oh, brother,” Lisa said. “Hey, Red, look this way.” Lisa snapped her fingers. “Should I take this on to someone else and give you a rain check for another night?”

  “No,” Sam said as Paul said, “Yes.”

  “Okay. I’m hungry. We’re going to eat, then you’ll go back to bed.” Lisa checked the cabinets for dishes and called over her shoulder, “There’s plenty here for three and she’ll still have leftovers.”

  Paul didn’t slow his route to the door. “No way. See you, wouldn’t want to be you. Oh, God, now she has me regressing. Call me if you need help, either of you.” Paul was gone.

  “Okay, missy, take a seat at the table.” Lisa guided Sam by the shoulders to the table. “You and I don’t need to be tripping over each other.”

  “Might be fun.” Sam was put in her place without protest.

  “How many of those pills have you taken?” Lisa asked.

  “Just according to directions. Maybe I took the first one too soon after what I had at the hospital, then another when I woke up a little while ago. Boy, do I feel woozy.”

  “You think?”

  Sam forgot and tried to shrug with her entire upper body and hit her cast on the edge of the table.

  “I bet that hurt,” Lisa said.

  “What?”

  “Oh, Lord, are you going to taste anything or even remember that I was here?”

  “You betcha.” Sam raised her right arm with her left and set the cast carefully on the place mat.

  Lisa brought candles to the table and her own lighter. “First, a little ambience, and I’m hoping for something besides the Three Stooges since Paul has left us one short.”

  “What was the shortest one’s name?” Sam was perplexed.

  Lisa snapped her fingers again. “Focus on me, Red.”

  “This is my natural color,” Sam said, fingering her hair. “It’s the L’Oreal I naturally buy.”

  Lisa sighed.

  “You have my complete attention.” Sam sat up straight in the chair.

  Lisa spoke from the kitchen. “The menu for tonight? I’d be delighted to tell you what I made for my customers today.”

  Sam looked about to see who had asked before understanding she was supposed to. “What is tonight’s menu?”

  Lisa came to the division between kitchen and dining room with a dishtowel draped over her forearm and a chef’s apron covering her blue jeans. “For your enjoyment tonight, we have oysters Rockefeller, Chateaubriand with portobello mushrooms and madeira wine jus, steamed asparagus with hollandaise sauce, twice baked potatoes with leeks and parmesan, tiramisu hearts, and coffee with chocolate dipped strawberries. Recipes are courtesy of www.gourmet-food-revolution.com. They also suggested starting with champagne, but I think we’ll forgo that this time. So what do you think?”

  “What’s jus with you?” Sam asked with a straight face.

  Lisa shook her head. “I can see now that you’re going to drive me insane.”

  “Turnabout is fair play,” Sam said, earning a second look from Lisa.

  Lisa dimmed the overhead light and served each course, enduring Sam’s quips with humor. By the time they were sipping coffee, ninety minutes had passed in the blink of an eye.

  Between the food and Sam not taking another loaded Tylenol, she was almost back to herself. “Thank you so much. Don’t tell Paul, but I’ve never enjoyed a better prepared meal.”

  “My pleasure.” Lisa briefly bowed her head.

  “Time with you makes me realize how shallow all my dates this past year have been, and I mean the actual dates, not the women. Rushing the women was my doing. You were right when you said I had much to learn about romance. As Tambor reminds me, ‘Smart people.’” Sam said it despairingly.

  “Let’s consider this a fresh start. The first thing you do is learn to listen to the nurse in me.”

  “Okay,” Sam said.

  “Go to bed. Rest is the best you can do for your body after what happened yesterday. I’ll clean up my mess and load the dishwasher.”

  “But I was raised that if you cook, I clean.”

  “Believe me, that’s my kind of deal, but tonight’s the exception. Bed,” Lisa said firmly.

  “Yes, ma’am, and you’ll notice I resisted any easy jokes.”

  “Thank God. That reminds me. Take another regular Tylenol—the docs never tell you that it’s okay to exceed the dosage on the package when you’re really hurting. Come off of the loaded pills when you feel like going back to work next week—hopefully Tuesday or Wednesday.” Lisa stood and gathered the plates. She stopped by Sam’s chair. “Hey.”

  Sam looked up.

  Lisa bent over and kissed Sam gently on the cheek. “Sweet dreams.”

  “You’re a cruel woman.”

  Lisa chuckled as she helped Sam up from the chair and gave her a push along the hallway.

  “But I could get used to you telling me what to do,” Sam said softly as she returned to her bedroom.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Sam counted the carefully packed boxes of books. The moving company had made her promise to use the smallest of their boxes for her sake and theirs. It would also help when the collection arrived at the university. No doubt the boxes would be placed in storage until a part-time employee was assigned to inventory the contents. Ava had her own cataloging system that she and Max had used over the years of collecting so they wouldn’t repeat purchases. Sam doubted that the university would give much credence to Max’s cigar boxes with index cards cut in half.

  “Thirty-five boxes.” Sam looked across the den at Ava. “I’m betting the university library doesn’t have many of these. You guys traveled and bought so many editions overseas.”

  Ava chuckled. “We usually ended up giving away our clothes so that we could pack the trunks with books when we came home.” She sat in Max’s recliner, gently rocking. It had surprised her that Donnie wanted the old c
hair for his den.

  The house had almost emptied itself. The estate sale had been a huge success with pickers who bought in lots and individuals who sought single pieces. Ava had been stunned by the easy influx of cash. Don was mollified by having six months’ rent at Ava’s new apartment paid in advance without Ava touching her savings.

  Don was also stunned that the house sold so quickly. He had asked a reasonable price before attempting major upgrades. His concession for the sale was to pay all the closing costs rather than drop the actual sale price. He had none of the hassle of arranging and overseeing renovations. He had discussed the strategy with Ava of investing the funds from the sale of the house in bonds of varying maturity, bearing both their names. Ava had readily agreed. Don wanted none of the proceeds, insisting that all he wanted was for Ava to be financially secure for the years ahead of her.

  “It was all easier than I thought,” Ava said. “I should’ve done this sooner.” She rubbed the arms of the chair.

  “No last thoughts of anything we missed that you wanted to take with you?” Sam asked.

  Ava had a grouping of fifteen boxes containing the core of her library on Virginia history that she worked with on a daily basis. She had tagged a half-dozen pieces of furniture to be moved. Once she began to realize the catharsis provided by uncluttering her life, she had decided to take surprisingly little with her to the apartment.

  Ava shook her head. “All of this feels right. I want a fresh start. I want to simplify the remainder of my life. The last thing I want is to try to force a house full of things into a two-room apartment only to make it cramped and uncomfortable. I’m embarrassed by how much Max and I had accumulated here. We weren’t hoarders, were we?”

  Sam chuckled. “Not unless you have a stash of empty margarine containers or cases of toilet paper somewhere that we haven’t found.”

  “I can’t believe how much you did with that cast on. I hope you haven’t set your healing back by lifting too much,” Ava said.

  Sam patted the fiberglass. “No, my arm pretty much lets me know when it’s had enough. The difficult part was labeling the boxes left-handed so that someone else could decipher the writing. Another two weeks, and I may see my arm again.”

  Ava walked into the kitchen. All the cabinets had been emptied. Sam was to coordinate pickup by the DAV within the week remaining before the closing date on the house.

  Don now had time to have the house cleaned and make sure Ava was settled in without rushing everything at the last minute.

  “You seem not to have minded a broken wrist,” Ava said.

  Sam grinned. “Well, it finally got Lisa and me together, so I think it a small price to pay. Yet I don’t want or need to rush anything with her. I really want it to just play itself out. I feel such an underlying excitement about the possibility of a good and lasting relationship, I don’t want to spoil it. You know?”

  Ava nodded. “That means all is as it should be.” She walked into the dining room and looked about the empty walls. “I’m honestly excited about my move.” There was wonder in her voice. “I feel as I did when I packed one suitcase and left for college when I was a girl. We were a few years over World War II. Max was going to college on the G.I. Bill—what a marvelous instrument that was for so many generations. He had enough saved for a tiny little house. My parents agreed to pay for my schooling as long as I swore to complete whatever degree I started. We waited to have Donnie until after we both found jobs.”

  “Very wise,” Sam said.

  Ava shrugged. “We couldn’t afford to do anything else. I have no regrets. I had a wonderful husband, a long career, and a child who is here now for me. I wouldn’t change any of the major events of my life, and I’ve stopped worrying about the little things. Worrying is just such a waste of time.”

  “How many people are able to recognize that about their lives?” Sam said.

  Ava came back to Sam. “It’s not too late for you, dear. Your forties and fifties are wonderful years, even your sixties if you take care of yourself. I didn’t really begin to feel that my health was compromised until I was in my seventies. Now each day is a bonus.” She motioned Sam to lean closer. “Enjoy every moment you can—it’s the small things that make you happiest. Listen to your heart.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” At the moment, Sam’s heart was full. She knew there was nothing more important than her friends and Lisa.

  “There’s Donnie.” Ava looked out the front window. She held on to Sam’s hand as they walked to the front door together.

  Ava closed and locked the front door behind them. “Adieu, adieu.” Ava whispered a farewell to her home and that phase of her life. She squeezed Sam’s hand, then waved to Donnie.

  Haley jogged across the street to give Ava one last hug. “I’ll come to see you in a day or two.”

  “Me too,” Sam said.

  Ava nodded as Donnie helped her into his car.

  Donnie held out his hand to Sam. “Thank you for all your help. You’ve been a good friend to my mother.”

  Sam watched the car until they were out of sight.

  “Beer?” Haley said to Sam.

  “Oh, yeah.” Sam followed Haley. “I hope I have just a measure of her dignity when it’s my time to do that.”

  Both women tried to cover that they were crying.

  “There goes my butch card,” Sam said.

  Haley blew air between her lips. “Like you ever had one.”

  “Honorary,” Sam said.

  “Well, my mascara and lipstick are ruined,” Haley said.

  “You wouldn’t know one from the other.” Sam bumped shoulders with her friend.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  “I’m not nervous,” Sam said to herself. She squinted at the house numbers too small to read from the street on half of the houses. “Who am I kidding? I’m way nervous.” She grinned. “How cool is that?”

  Sam glanced at the time displayed on the Nissan’s radio console. “That clock has to be slow. I’m not early.”

  She slowed the car as she entered the block of numbers of the one she was looking for. Kelly had warned her that it was easy to drive past the place and not realize it. She looked for a wider curb entrance than the standard residential. “Got it.” Luckily, there was no other car behind her so she could slam the brakes rather than have to double back.

  “Jeez, Louise,” Sam said as the slight curve of the driveway gave vision to the large tract behind the residential lots bordering the street. She approached a breech in the brick wall and screening white pines. An old wrought iron gate was staked open. She eased the car to a stop in front of the white frame gatehouse that served as an office. No one was on duty. She continued along the crushed seashell drive and followed the turn that would take her to the main house.

  The two-story antebellum house set on a slight rise overlooking the surrounding lawn and pasture. Sam grinned with delight as the theme from Gone with the Wind played in her head. “But this is Virginia.”

  A wide portico ran along the entire front of the house with Doric columns easily two feet in diameter supporting the roof. The house was a holdover to the past when the area had been prosperous farmland. As times changed and subdivisions encroached, most of the land had been sold, leaving twenty acres surrounding the grand old home. The house itself had gone through the cycle of showcase home to one of Chesterfield County’s coal kingpins only to be used for hay storage a hundred years later as it awaited a wrecking ball or restoration. Fortunately, after the last two hundred-acre parcel was successful as a golf course, the house was bought and restored as an inn. It had been renamed Manakin House in honor of the French Huguenots who settled the area and mined the first coal.

  If Sam had continued along the main drive, she would have passed a row of outbuildings that looked alarmingly like slave cabins that were nowadays rented as cottages. A barn stood on the back corner of the property. Sleigh rides were a big attraction in the winter when snow cooperated. The rest of the year,
equestrian lessons were a revenue mainstay. The property boasted a pond stocked for fishing that was landscaped to give the feel of being in the deep woods rather than walking distance of a rented room. The country club also offered free visitor golfing to guests of the inn in exchange for a catering discount.

  Sam had heard of the lavish parties held at Manakin House but never been invited to one. Most of Richmond’s elite held some part of their children’s weddings here, whether party or actual ceremony. Bookings were solid during December for Christmas gatherings.

  Sam thought back to the phone call from Lisa that had brought her here.

  “How’re you doing?” Lisa began.

  “Okay.” Sam stopped the stair stepper reps.

  “Is Ava settled in her new apartment?”

  Sam wiped her face with the towel from the handlebar. “She is. She called as soon as Don left her alone the first time. She’s so excited to have everything she needs in a small, accessible space. She gives me hope for the distant future.”

  “What’re you doing in your immediate future?” Lisa asked.

  “Nothing. I’m in a groove—go to work, come home, behave myself. That’s it. My cast comes off next week.”

  “Woohoo! Will you trust me to plan an evening for us this Friday?”

  “You bet.” Sam’s only reluctance was that it was Tuesday—so many days to wait.

  Lisa chuckled deep in her throat. “You’re so easy and transparent.” She gave Sam the time and address.

  Sam whistled. “Manakin House. You’re kidding. How dressed up do I need to be?”

  “That’s personal preference.” Lisa waited for the return of Sam’s attention. “Casual’s fine.”

  And she was gone, leaving Sam staring at her cell phone.

  Sam had taken Lisa at her word. She wore blue jeans and a pale green Oxford shirt with the tails out. She hoped she wasn’t about to embarrass herself.

  Sam locked her car out of habit, even though no one was around. She approached the main entrance of the building and wondered why the place was so deserted. This was all very strange. The front doors were unlocked.