The Anniversary (Christian Romance)

by Samantha Jillian Bayarr

  Sadie ran down to the living room and picked up the phone to call Eleanor. With her finger in the number three hole, she pulled the dial a full turn, closing her eyes to concentrate on the rest of Eleanor’s number. Next she dialed a four, followed by five, three again and zero.

  Wait…that’s not the right number…that’s our number!

  Frustrated, Sadie called to her mother who was busy making breakfast in the tiny kitchen. “What’s Eleanor’s number?”

  Her mother stood in the arched doorway. “It’s on the pad near the phone, Sadie girl. Are you having trouble with your memory again?”

  “No just suffering a brain-fart.”

  The look of horror that spread across her mother’s face let her know she should not have said that. It’s not that she meant to say it, but her thoughts were all over the place.

  “What? You watch your language young lady.”

  Sadie ducked her head to avoid having her mother see the smile she was trying hard to hide. “Yes, ma’am.”

  She located the number on the pad and dialed Eleanor. She needed to talk to her best friend immediately. No matter how tough it would be to convince Eleanor of the truth, she had to bounce it off someone before she lost her mind completely. She hoped Eleanor would understand and believe her. As long as they’d known each other, they’d had a long-running pact to always tell each other the truth about everything no matter what. She only hoped Eleanor could handle it.

  ****

  After breakfast, the doorbell rang and Sadie jumped abruptly from the table and ran toward the door.

  “Just a minute, Sadie girl. Where are your manners?”

  Sadie ran back to table and plopped herself back into her chair. “I’m sorry. May I please be excused?”

  Her mother nodded to her and she jumped back up, racing to the door a second time. She could hear her mother calling after her to stop running in the house, but it was too late. She and Eleanor were already halfway up the stairs.

  Once they were in her room, Sadie closed the door and grabbed the chair from under her dressing table and shoved it under the door handle.

  Plopping down on the floor beside Eleanor, she began to confide in her the events over the past fifty years, careful to avoid too many personal details about Eleanor’s married life since she and Alex hadn’t even begun to date yet.

  Eleanor looked at her eagerly. “Is my husband dreamy? How many kids do I have?”

  Sadie didn’t want to answer, but she could see the hopeful, romantic look that adorned her friend’s face. How could she disappoint her?

  She pasted on a smile. “Of course he’s dreamy. And you have two kids—one of each, just like me.”

  Eleanor’s eyes glazed over, her mind lost in thought. This conversation was not going the direction Sadie was trying desperately to steer it.

  She cleared her throat and tried again. “The point I’m trying to make here, Eleanor, is that I need you to help me decide what to do about Sam.”

  Eleanor snapped out her stupor. “Don’t you love him anymore, Sadie?”

  It was a fair question, but Sadie wasn’t prepared to answer it—not in a way that Eleanor would understand. How could she? She, herself wouldn’t have been able to understand the stresses of having children and living with a man with whom she rarely spoke to. Being a bored housewife with all the material possessions she needed, but lacking in romance wasn’t something understood unless it was experienced it firsthand. She remembered having the same dreamy look on her face when Sam asked her to marry him fifty years ago. She had been just as naïve as Eleanor was now. How could she burst the romantic bubble Eleanor lived in?

  Deciding on a different approach, she chose her words carefully. “You don’t see your parents gushing all over each other with kisses and such, do you?”

  Eleanor shook her head on cue.

  “Well it’s the same with Sam and me. Except we married so quickly that we didn’t take the time to build a friendship first. Once all the romance left off when we started to age, we had nothing to fall back on.”

  Confusion set deep in Eleanor’s eyes. “It doesn’t happen to me and my husband does it?”

  Sadie put up a hand to wave off her worry. “He still loves you even though you’re…”

  Eleanor grabbed her arm and gave it a yank.

  “Say it, Sadie Marie. I want to hear you say it.”

  Sadie jumped up and paced the room. How could she tell her best friend that she’d died almost a year ago?

  Unless…there was a way to avoid it altogether.

  Sadie stood by the window, staring out as though to search for words that would soften the blow.

  “Just promise me you won’t go anywhere near a ladder on August 14, 2010, and everything will be fine.”

  Eleanor jumped up and joined Sadie at the window. “Is that how I die? I fall off a ladder? How queer is that? I always imagined sinking on an ocean liner like the Titanic or something more dignified and romantic like dying of a broken and lonely heart the way Jane Austen must have. But killed by a ladder? Is that how my obituary read?”

  Sadie tried to put herself back into the shoes of her eighteen-year-old self, realizing that she probably would have answered in a similarly absurd manner. Not wanting to offend her overly dramatic friend, she tried to change the subject.

  “Tel me one thing, Sadie Marie. Was I still beautiful when I died? Was I dressed properly in my casket? Were there a lot of people in attendance?”

  Sadie’s eyes glassed over with tears that threatened to spill. “Yes to all of it. You looked like a dignified, grand lady.”

  Eleanor rested her head on Sadie’s shoulder and began to weep quietly. Sadie put her arm around her and the two of them sobbed for several minutes. Sadie cried from remembering the day like it was yesterday, knowing she didn’t want to go back without her friend. She assumed Eleanor cried for the way she imagined the romance of it all.

  CHAPTER 5

  Sadie followed closely on her mother’s heels.

  “Don’t you believe in second chances?”

  Her mother’s look softened. “Of course I do, Sadie girl. But I also believe that if you’ve made your bed, you have to lie in it.”

  “That saying has never made any sense to me, Mother. And I don’t like the sound of it. I believe I’m being given a second chance.”

  Her mother cupped her chin, her hand dripping with soapy dishwater. “You are so young, Sadie girl. Your life is full of chances. I don’t understand what you’re getting yourself all worked up over.”

  She wiped the dish soap from her chin with the back of her hand. “I’m talking about Sam, Mother. I don’t want to marry him. I want to explore my options.”

  Her mother rinsed her hands and grabbed a linen towel to dry them as she gestured to her daughter to join her at the small table in the kitchen.

  “Sadie Marie, your father and I already discussed going to college with you. What’s this nonsense about marrying some boy named Sam?”

  “That’s just it, Mother. I’m not going to marry him anymore. I’m going to college. I always wanted to be a journalist, and now I have the chance to do it all over again—the right way. There will be plenty of time to marry Sam or someone else later—after college.”

  She patted Sadie’s hand. “That’s right, Dear. But you don’t have to worry about any of that until after the summer. Why don’t you and Eleanor go to the movies tonight? I saw on the marquee that Breakfast at Tiffany’s is playing at the State Theatre. I think you’re old enough to see that movie.”

  She leaned up and kissed her mother on the cheek. “I think I’ve seen that movie enough times, Mother.”

  “What are you talking about, Sadie girl? Tonight is the first showing of that movie here. Did you and Eleanor go to Detroit to see that movie?”

  “No, Mother.”

  She chided herself for confusing her mother by admitting to things that happen in her future life.

  “I’m going over to Elea
nor’s house to see if she wants to go to the diner. I think I want to get a job over the summer. I always wanted to try waitressing and never did. I think that’s something every girl should experience, don’t you?”

  Before her mother could protest, Sadie was heading out the kitchen door and down the alley to Eleanor’s house. Memories of her teen years were quickly flooding her mind, and she realized she now remembered where her best friend lived. It was the white, two-story house with the black shutters at the end of the alley. She even remembered the tire swing in the yard. The very same one Eleanor’s father had to fix the previous summer after the two of them had twisted on it until the rope snapped. They were too big for the old tire swing, but they’d taken turns spinning on it while they planned their futures as they were about to embark on their senior year of high school. She remembered it as though it was yesterday, though in reality it was over fifty years ago.

  Her pace slowed as she reminisced about her youth. Was she totally crazy, or was she so old that she didn’t even know how to feel young again? But the fact remained that she was young now for whatever reason, and she couldn’t seem to shake off her old self, or the thoughts that raced through her mind about Sam.

  In her present physical state, she knew she was a virgin, yet the older side of her knew what it was like to be intimate with Sam. The thought caused her to blush, which seemed like an unusual response for her. Maybe it was the right feeling for the young version of herself, but she had experienced these things already, and shouldn’t be slipping into her younger thoughts.

  Was it possible that she was changing not just physically, but mentally as well? Would she revert to being young altogether and forget her older self and her life with Sam completely? It was almost too much to even think about without it giving her a headache.

  When she approached the end of the alley, Eleanor came rushing out the back door to greet her.

  “Are we really going to get jobs as waitresses at the diner?”

  Sadie threw her hands up. “I forgot my mother tells your mother everything.”

  Eleanor laughed. “They’ll be on the phone all night talking about it.”

  Sadie kept walking toward Michigan Avenue where the diner would be full of their classmates. She knew Sid would give them jobs since he used to be married to Eleanor’s Aunt Carly.

  Within an hour, the two of them were walking out of Sid’s Diner with their uniforms and a promise they could start Thursday night. Sadie was feeling giddy about the path her second chance was taking her. She decided that having the experience of a summer job and attending the community college in the fall was just the thing she needed to get Sam off her mind.

  When she walked in the back door, her mother was already waiting to see her new uniform. She’d obviously heard the news from Eleanor’s mother.

  CHAPTER 6

  By the time Thursday rolled around, Sadie was so happy she was still a teenager; she hummed as she readied herself for her first job ever. Her entire marriage to Sam, he’d insisted on being the breadwinner since his father passed his business onto him. Sadie filled her days with charity club meetings and lunch at the country club, but it had never given her the satisfaction of doing anything worthwhile. Now, she hoped she’d finally get that chance.

  She pulled the neatly pressed, pink dress over her head and adjusted the starched white collar and cuffs at the short sleeves of her uniform. Tying the matching white apron around her waist, she examined the look in her bureau mirror. Giggling, she felt the look would not be complete until she pulled her thick, brown hair into a high ponytail at the back.

  Selecting a crisp white ribbon for her ponytail, she tied it in a bow, satisfied that she looked like a typical waitress from the 60’s. Saddle shoes and bobby-socks were just the thing to authenticate the look. If only she could curtail her speech to fit the lingo that populated her youth. She also hoped her father had film in his camera so she could document this day—just in case it was real.

  ****

  After her dad dropped Sadie and Eleanor off for their first shift at the diner, they met with Willamena, who’d been waiting tables at the diner for as long as Sadie could remember. She’d already shown them around the kitchen and showed them how the tables were numbered in the dining room when they’d been hired.

  Now it was time to show them where to get drinks and orders. Willa gave them each a small order pad and explained to them what the abbreviations meant, then shoved a pencil in each of their hands and escorted them to their sections for the night. With only two tables each, they were off to a great start with their summer careers as waitresses.

  Sadie jumped right in when her first customers were seated in the booth in the corner of her section. She worked with ease, wondering why she hadn’t ever gotten a job before. The night wore on, and though her feet were getting a little tired, her enthusiasm never wavered.

  Eleanor, on the other hand, was clumsy and having a tough time getting the hang of things. Though Sadie helped her at every opportunity, she continued to fall behind. With Sadie and Willa to pick up the slack for poor Eleanor, the night was a success. Now with thirteen dollars in tips in her pocket, Sadie was ready to call it a night.

  By the time they finished closing the diner, Eleanor’s dad was there to pick them up from their shift. It wasn’t more than three blocks from home, but it was nearly midnight, and neither of their parents wanted them walking home that late. Sadie had argued with her mother about taking the car so they wouldn’t have to be picked up, but her parents didn’t like the idea of having their only car sitting at the diner all night.

  Once she was home, Sadie felt so exhausted she collapsed on the end of her bed in her uniform. She kicked her shoes off and pulled her pillow under her head, hugging it as though it would magically rid her of the pains of her first day as a waitress. She’d loved the job already, but she had to admit, it was physical labor—something Sam would surely frown on.

  As she drifted into slumber, her ears perked up at the familiar sound of her Blackberry text message alert. She struggled to open her eyelids against the sleep that fought to claim her. When the familiar sights of her childhood room came into view, she sunk back into her pillow believing it to be only a dream.

  ****

  In the morning, thoughts of the text message plagued her, but she let it go, knowing her Blackberry was back in 2011 where she’d left it.

  At the breakfast table, her mother dished out pancakes and sausage, while her father kept his nose stuck in the newspaper, smoke from his pipe filling the dining room. Sadie missed the smell of the cherry tobacco that her father used to fill his pipe. After he died, she’d kept his pipe and would smell the tobacco whenever she missed him. Now, here she was, able to smell that smell again, and it put a lump in her throat.

  She sat down beside her father. “Hey Pop, would you mind snuffing out your pipe? I have a bit of a headache, and it’s making me a little dizzy.”

  He set the newspaper down, pipe clenched in his teeth. “Why don’t you open the windows, Pumpkin? It’s a beautiful day. That way you can have a little fresh air while you let me finish what’s left in the bowl.”

  She pushed her chair behind her and went to the windows behind the table. “But Daddy, you don’t want to get cancer. You’re a doctor; you know better than that.”

  He pulled the newspaper back in front of his face. “Don’t worry about me, Pumpkin. I’m not going to get cancer from having a pipe once in a while.”

  Yes you do!

  Sadie pushed open the window with a huff.

  “You’re the one that needs the fresh air, Daddy. And I’m not going to sit here and watch you kill yourself.”

  She ran from the room and up the stairs, collapsing onto her bed in a fit of tears. Soon, her mother was at her bedside smoothing her hair.

  “What’s this all about Sadie girl?”

  Her mother’s voice was calming, but she couldn’t tell her the truth. She’d already accused her of acting st
range, and Sadie didn’t want her parents putting her in the asylum.

  Sadie hugged her mother close. “I just can’t lose you and Daddy all over again.”

  Annie tried not to react to her daughter’s peculiar statement. “You aren’t going to lose us. We aren’t going anywhere Sadie girl. Come down and have some breakfast. Your father is worried about you, Dear.”

  Her little brother Max came tumbling into the room and stopped when he saw their mother. “Eleanor is on the phone for you.”

  Max stood there watching curiously as Sadie wiped her eyes. “You want me to tell her you’ll call her back?”

  Sadie jumped off the end of her bed and grabbed her brother, hugging him closely.

  He squirmed from her grasp. “Leave me alone, Sadie. Are all teenagers as strange as you are?”

  Sadie tried not to let his comment affect her. “I love you, Booger.”

  “Stop calling me Booger,” Max called over his shoulder as he ran down the stairs.

  Sadie turned her attention from her brother, images of her mother’s funeral invading her thoughts. “I love you too, Mom. I don’t think I ever said that enough to you and Daddy, but I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”

  Her mother stood up and started making the bed.

  “Sadie girl, are you menstruating? Is that why you’ve been in such a strange mood these past couple of days? Or does this have something to do with your birthday on Sunday? You know your father and I won’t make you leave home until you’re ready…not like the Edwards boy across the street. We aren’t trying to get rid of you so we can move to Florida like they…”