Route 66 Reunions

by Mildred Colvin

“But Mr. Parker is one of our larger contributors.” Her voice rose.

  Kevin nodded toward the far side of the room. “Don’t worry, he’s here. I’m sure he made a good-sized donation.”

  Dr. Jenson had been quietly waiting. Now he slipped his hand around Sarah’s waist and spoke. “Is there anything we should be doing, Sarah?”

  Before she could answer, Kevin said, “Oh don’t mind me. I’m leaving.” He regained Sarah’s attention. “Tomorrow night we’re going out on the town. Wear old clothes. Blue jeans and a T-shirt would be perfect.”

  He could have sworn under oath he saw smoke rise from Jenson’s ears. Just to make sure, he added, “This fascination you’ve developed for the Mother Road is catching. You know there’s a bike trail on the old road. I’ve lived along Route 66 all my life and pretty well ignored it. Now I’m finding there’s more to the road than I ever knew.”

  Kevin smirked at the doctor before giving Sarah a wink. “Yep, a bike ride at night on the Mother Road should satisfy those romantic notions you get. Be ready at seven.”

  He didn’t give either of them a chance to respond as he turned and walked out of the meeting room.

  Chapter 10

  S arah pulled her oldest T-shirt over her head and let it fall to the outside of her equally worn blue jeans. Kevin wanted old, so that’s what he’d get. She brushed her hair up into a ponytail and secured it with an elastic holder then laughed at her reflection in the mirror. If she owned a bicycle, she’d make Kevin eat his words and take her riding. She was certainly dressed for it.

  What could he have planned? Harold had thrown a fit after Kevin left last night. He’d threatened to spend the evening with her so he could protect her from that lunatic. Only he couldn’t because he had to leave town for a seminar. Didn’t she know how dangerous bike riding in the city was and especially at night? He’d gone on and on until she finally convinced him Kevin had no intention of biking. He’d only been goading Harold. And had he ever succeeded.

  With a pointed reminder that his engagement ring was still in her possession, Harold said she shouldn’t be dating other men. But she wasn’t dating Kevin. Not really. Besides, she offered to give the ring back, and he refused to take it. He said she needed more time to get her priorities straight. The ring still sat on her coffee table closed up in its box because Sarah was afraid of hurting Harold’s feelings. Soon, she reminded herself, she would have to.

  Her doorbell rang. She hurried to the door and peeked through the security viewer. One hand pulled the door open while the other splayed across her abdomen in an attempt to quiet the butterflies fluttering inside. His faded blue jeans had a frayed hole in the knee. He wore a blue denim jacket over a white T-shirt, and his dark hair looked windblown and touchable. Dimples deepened in a smile just for her. Somehow he’d become the boy she remembered, and she swayed with the impact of emotions she couldn’t handle. She grabbed her jacket and draped it over her shoulder as she blinked, forcing her mind to the present.

  “So where are the bikes?” She stepped out on the porch with him and closed the door.

  “Bikes?” His grin widened. “We can’t ride bikes at night in Chicago, Sarah. There’s too much traffic. We’ll enjoy Route 66 from the car. You ready?”

  “Sure.” She fell into step beside him and didn’t resist when his fingers touched hers and slipped together in the familiar hold from their youth. Harold always guided her with a hand at her waist. She liked holding hands with Kevin.

  He held her door then walked around and took his place behind the wheel before asking, “Have you ever been to Lou Mitchell’s?”

  “Yes, hasn’t everyone?”

  “Um, no. Is it a good place to eat?”

  “Kevin, Lou Mitchell’s is one of the original restaurants on Route 66. Of course it’s a good place to eat.”

  He grinned at her. “Too bad, ’cause we aren’t going there. They closed at three.”

  She fought the urge to laugh with him. “Where are you taking me, then?”

  He turned the corner and entered the busy street. “I should let you guess, but we’re going to Henry’s Drive-In for a hot dog. I’ve heard they’re well worth the drive.”

  “You’ve never been there either, have you?” She gave him a stern look. “I’ll bet you don’t go anywhere that isn’t sit-down service with a waiter. What happened to the down-home boy I used to know?”

  His expression as he turned toward her conveyed a depth of feeling that had her heart pounding. “I’m here, Sarah. Just older and a bit jaded. But I still appreciate what’s important, and I know what I want.”

  “What do you want, Kevin?” As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. What if she didn’t want to hear what he had to say?

  “Right now?” He grinned. “I want a hot dog. How about you? Doesn’t that sound good? But only one. I don’t want you too full. You can have something to drink though.”

  Sarah laughed. “You’re making no sense whatsoever.”

  He chuckled. “You’ll see.”

  At Henry’s Drive-In, Kevin ordered one hot dog, and they shared it, although he bought them each a soft drink. Sarah didn’t question his motives. Kevin’s surprises had always been fun.

  His next stop was a miniature golf course.

  “Oh, I haven’t done this in ages.” Sarah felt the years roll backward as they laughed together when Kevin’s ball jumped over the hole instead of going in. They held hands and stood with shoulders touching, yet she felt a barrier. Something that kept them from getting too close emotionally. She couldn’t cross the invisible line that had been drawn so long ago and strengthened by their disagreement over Marilee’s Home.

  She’d loved Kevin so much, but she’d hated him just as intensely for the last eighteen years. How could she forgive him for the past when she couldn’t forgive herself? What they’d done was her fault as much as his. She thought their love and their promise to marry someday made everything all right. She knew better now.

  “Last hole.” Kevin caught her attention. “Let’s see you get a high score on this one.”

  “Ha, ha. Not a chance.” Sarah held her club against the ball, as she sighted the distance to the windmill and watched the blades sweep the ground in front of the hole. Just as a blade covered the hole, she hit her ball, sending it rolling toward the windmill. The blades rotated, leaving the little door in the windmill open, and her ball rolled through.

  “A hole in one? ‘I haven’t done this in ages.’ ” Kevin mocked her while his eyes twinkled. He set his ball down. “I should just turn my ball in.”

  She laughed. “Want me to do it for you?”

  He lifted his eyebrows. “Careful. Pride goeth before a fall.”

  “You’ve been reading the Bible.” Sarah couldn’t stop the surprise from sounding in her voice.

  He shrugged. “Yeah, I told Trey I would. I assumed you had, too.”

  “I have. I do.” Guilt made her tell the truth. “Okay, I’ve read a little, just not every day like he asked.”

  “I know.” Kevin touched his ball with his club. “It’s easy to forget, but really, reading a little each evening isn’t much of a chore. Besides, once you get started it’s pretty interesting. There’s a lot of good stuff in there, and it seems to relate to real life.” He grinned at her. “You know, like your prideful attitude.”

  “Oh you.” She slapped his arm just as he hit the ball.

  “Hey!” He started to complain until his ball rolled through the windmill door and returned through the works to the miniature golf office. “I got a hole-in-one. Thanks, Sarah. Guess I needed your help after all.”

  “Admit you couldn’t have done it without me,” she teased him, and they argued all the way to the car.

  After they left the golf course, Kevin drove east and north to Lake Shore Drive. The sun had already traveled low in the western sky when they parked at an unusually deserted stretch of beach and climbed from the car.

  Sarah had never seen the o
cean, but Lake Michigan stretched enormous beyond the horizon, just as she figured an ocean would. A lone sailboat far from shore looked small on the vast water sparkling with orange and white reflections against the deep blue depths.

  They held hands as they walked slowly toward the water while their shoes sank in the sand. Their shadows fell before them in elongated imitation linked together with their joined hands. Kevin’s voice sounded soft in the evening against a background of traffic and city noises. “I’m glad you came with me tonight.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Want to take your shoes off?” He stopped and waited for her answer.

  She grinned and nodded. Harold would never go barefoot on a city beach. There might be broken glass. He would only think of the danger.

  Kevin grinned. “I figured as much. Stuff your socks in your shoes and tie the laces together.”

  They slipped their shoes and socks off then strolled on down the beach with their shoes hanging over their shoulders.

  “Tell me about your life.” Kevin spoke after several minutes of silence. “Fill in the blanks for me.”

  When she hesitated, he said, “Please, Sarah. I want to know everything about you. Where did you go to college? Who were your friends? Did you plan to be a personnel director in a hospital? What have you done for the last eighteen years?”

  They stopped and faced each other. He placed his hand over his chest. “I have a big empty feeling here. Please help me fill it with mental images of your life.”

  Sarah understood because she felt so empty at times, too. She stood holding Kevin’s hand, but it wasn’t enough. Something important was missing. Something to do with love and fulfillment. If anyone could fill her heart, she knew it must be Kevin.

  “I wouldn’t mind hearing about your life, too, Kevin.”

  The hint of a smile touched his lips. “Let’s sit down here and watch that sailboat while we talk.”

  “Okay.”

  They talked while the sailboat drifted down the lake until it became a tiny speck. A couple strolled past, and a lone man walked by, but Kevin and Sarah scarcely noticed as they became acquainted all over again. Their shadows faded into the darkening evening before Kevin asked, “There’s one thing I need to know, Sarah. Why did you never marry?”

  She looked at him and read the uncertainty in his gaze. He really wanted to know, so she told him the truth. “I never found anyone I could love.”

  “Are you hungry?”

  “What?” She laughed when he took her hands and pulled her to her feet. “How do we go from baring our souls to ‘Are you hungry?’ ”

  His grin took her breath as usual. “It’s getting late. We need to get out of here before some ruffian decides to ask for a donation. Besides, my hot dog half is gone, and I have a special dinner planned.”

  In the car, she asked, “So where are we going?”

  “I’ll tell you when we get there.” Kevin drove across town, expertly dodging her questions until she gave up.

  “All right, but it’d better be good.” She retied her athletic shoe. “Hopefully we’ll have curbside service. Most restaurants frown at this much sand.”

  “Nope.” He chuckled. “We’ll be dining in tonight.”

  Sarah didn’t much care where they ate as long as the evening didn’t end too soon. This time with Kevin had brought her home in a way she hadn’t expected. Where had the hatred gone? The hurt and bitterness she’d carried so long? She thought back over the past couple of months and couldn’t put her finger on a time when she had stopped thinking of Kevin as the enemy. More and more her thoughts and feelings were returning to the way it had been so long ago.

  When he turned into a parking lot and stopped, she turned quickly to look at him. “Why are we at your apartment?”

  “Because we’re hungry?” He answered with a question and an innocent look.

  She frowned. “Kevin, I won’t do—”

  “Don’t even say it, Sarah.” He gripped the steering wheel. “I won’t either. But I see nothing wrong with us eating a meal I’ve prepared in my kitchen. Do you?”

  She shook her head, her eyes downcast. He got out and circled the car to open her door. “I’m sorry, Kevin. I shouldn’t have doubted you. You’ve been a perfect gentleman, and I had no cause.”

  “You’re forgiven.” He smiled, and they turned toward the door.

  Maybe too much of a gentleman. Beyond holding hands, Kevin hadn’t offered any indication he wanted more than friendship from her. Would a kiss be out of line? But he hadn’t backed down from demolishing Marilee’s Home. She wouldn’t think of kisses until the girls were taken care of. They had to keep looking for a building. So far nothing they’d looked into had been acceptable.

  When Kevin ushered her into his apartment, and she saw the table set for two with a bouquet of fresh flowers in the center and a candle on each end, she forgot the home and their differences.

  “Let me get these warmed up, and then we’ll eat.” Kevin pulled some covered dishes from the refrigerator and placed one in the microwave. “This shouldn’t take long. Why don’t you sit at the table?”

  Sarah stepped into his tiny kitchen instead. “Can I help? What do you have to drink?”

  “Here.” He opened the refrigerator again and pulled a plastic jug out. “Pour this in the glasses on the table.”

  “Mmm. Sweet tea. My favorite.” Sarah took the jug from him and stepped around the bar separating his kitchen from the dining area. She looked into the open living room, dining, and kitchen areas, then turned to the table and poured tea. “You have a nice apartment. Very clean and neat for a bachelor.”

  “Small but not bad,” he agreed. “I’m not here all the time, so I don’t need much. As an accountant, I travel a lot.”

  “Sounds like an interesting job.”

  “It’ll do.” He grinned. “I like buying and selling old properties better.”

  “I wish you hadn’t said that.” Sarah frowned as she handed the tea to him.

  His eyebrows rose. “I told you I was working on something for your girls. Don’t you trust me?”

  “Why should I trust the guy who kicked us out in the first place?”

  He made a tsking sound with his tongue as he set a casserole dish on the table. “Are we going to fight when we have all this good food waiting?”

  Sarah leaned forward to sniff the rising steam that smelled delicious and stirred her appetite. “What is this?”

  “Shepherd’s pie.”

  She glanced up. “With lamb?”

  He laughed. “No, hamburger just like Mom taught me. Hope you like green beans.”

  “Mmm, yummy. All right, hurry and get the rest of it on the table so I can otherwise occupy my mouth.”

  He chuckled and turned as the conventional oven timer sounded. “There’s the bread.”

  Golden brown home-cooked rolls joined the casserole on the table. Sarah sat in a chair and watched Kevin wipe his countertop. This was a side of him she’d never seen.

  He looked so domestic. Too domestic.

  “Don’t tell me you actually made this bread.”

  He looked up with a grin. “Okay, I won’t.”

  “It looks homemade.”

  “It is.”

  She held his gaze until he laughed. “All right. If you must know, the dough came frozen in little balls. All I did was set it out in a pan for a while and put it in the oven. I stuck it back in for a few minutes to warm. It should be pretty good.”

  “No doubt, but something tells me you could do the whole mixing and kneading bit if you tried.” She laughed at the look on his face. “Then again, maybe not.”

  “You are right. Not.” He joined her at the table. “It isn’t much, but I didn’t think we’d want a full-course meal after the hot dog. Besides, this was easy. Go ahead, see what you think.”

  Sarah reached for his hand. “I don’t always pray before I eat, but after meeting Trey, I’ve felt like something’s missing if I don’t. Do
you mind?”

  His fingers closed around hers, and a warmth spread up her arm. “I don’t mind. Do you want me to?”

  At her nod, he began. “God, we appreciate all You give us, including our food tonight. We pray for Your blessing as we eat. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

  Sarah had never felt closer to Kevin than at that moment. The love she had fought so hard for the last several weeks unfurled in her heart. Finally she pulled her hand back and picked up her fork. How could she forget the girls? How could she so easily forgive Kevin?

  After they ate, Sarah helped Kevin clean up. Their evening out on the town had come to an end. She couldn’t remember when she’d had a better time. In Kevin’s car, she leaned back and closed her eyes for a moment. Why couldn’t tonight stretch on into tomorrow and the next day and the next?

  “If you aren’t too tired, I’d like to make one more stop.” Kevin turned the key, bringing his car to life.

  She smiled across at him. “No, I’m not tired. I’ve enjoyed tonight, Kevin. A lot. Thanks for taking me.”

  He stopped at the street and gave her an intense look. “It’s been my pleasure.”

  She let her smile linger as they drove across the city toward her house. Then Kevin turned onto a side street, and she remembered he’d said there’d be one more stop. Surely he couldn’t come up with anything better than what they’d already done.

  When he slowed in an older residential area and pulled into the drive of a large two-story Victorian house, she sat up straighter. Did he plan to introduce her to someone?

  “There aren’t any lights.” She peered through the window for a closer look. A black wrought-iron fence surrounded the front yard. The wide, covered porch welcomed them. The driveway continued back to an unattached two-car garage. She saw privacy fencing with a gate between the garage and the house.

  When Kevin didn’t move, she asked, “Who lives here?”

  “No one now.” He opened his door. “Let’s take a quick look around.”

  Before she could object, he helped her from the car. “Come on, Sarah. I own this house.”

  “You? Why?” She didn’t know what to ask, so she let him lead her through the privacy gate to the back door, which he opened with a key.