“I know.” He took her in his arms and hugged her close.
Genevieve caught a glimpse of Anna and Mallory out of the corner of her eye. Both the girls had stopped watching the video and were watching Steven and Genevieve, as if caught in a moment of wonder to see their parents so snuggly.
Steven didn’t let go and neither did Genevieve. They swayed slightly, moving to a gentle strain of music that no one could hear but the two of them.
“I’m going to miss you when I leave tomorrow,” Steven whispered.
“I’m going to miss you, too.”
“I wish I didn’t have to go.”
Genevieve could hardly believe her ears. Steven had never said that to her. “I wish you didn’t have to go, either.”
He kissed her neck. Shivers ran up her spine.
The phone rang, and Anna jumped to answer it. “I’ve got it!”
Steven and Genevieve slowly drew apart.
“It’s for you, Dad. It’s Fina.”
Steven took the remote phone and headed for the living room.
Anna was staring with wide eyes at her mother. “Did you and Dad have a nice drive?”
“It was wonderful.” Genevieve let her face take on the full smile that it wanted to carry at that moment.
“Where did you guys go?” Anna asked. “You were gone a long time.”
“We went to the coast.”
“Aww!” Mallory piped up. “I wish we could have gone. When do we get to go back to those tide pools?”
“I could take you girls sometime this week. We could take a picnic.”
“I wish Dad could go with us,” Anna said.
“So do I.” Genevieve’s words were honest yet they didn’t carry any of the old barbs. “Maybe we can all go together in a couple of weeks when he gets back.”
Anna seemed to still be examining her mother with her trademark scrutiny. “Mom, how come your shirt is inside out?”
Genevieve felt her face turn red. “It’s not inside out, is it?” She pulled at the side of her sleeveless, blue knit top to have a look. Sure enough. The seam was on the outside. “How embarrassing. I must have worn it this way to church.”
“It wasn’t inside out at church,” Anna said. “I would have noticed if it was.”
Genevieve couldn’t hide her blushing face from her daughters another minute. “I better turn it around.” She hurried to the downstairs bathroom.
Closing the door, Genevieve looked at her red face in the mirror. She pressed her hands against her warm cheeks and looked into her sparkling gray eyes. Her hair was windblown from the ride. Dozens of wavy, sun-kissed strands had liberated themselves from the ponytail at the nape of her neck. They had positioned themselves around her face like a tangled cord of twinkle lights still hanging in there two weeks after Christmas.
Genevieve pursed her full, red lips together and commanded the surge of embarrassed, delighted laughter to go back down. She swallowed it like ball of caramel taffy and felt the sweetness go inside her.
Oh, this is rich!
Genevieve slipped off her shirt and turned it around. She smoothed back her hair and smiled at her enlivened reflection.
This is so rich. Anna caught us!
A tiny giggle escaped from her mouth.
I am in love! Completely, wildly in love! And the man I’m falling in love with is my husband!
Chapter Fifteen
On Monday morning, Steven was late getting out the door.
He and Genevieve had fallen asleep in each other’s arms, and when the alarm went off at 5 A.M., he had awakened his wife with kisses on her bare shoulder.
Steven was determined to make eggs for breakfast because he had said he would. Genevieve worked beside him in the kitchen, brewing a pot of his special coffee blend. This morning she added extra cinnamon just because everything about this man was extra spicy.
The girls weren’t up yet when Steven reached for his travel coffee mug and kissed Genevieve good-bye. He kissed her and kissed her again. The expression on his face was one of agony as he touched her cheek with his free hand and gazed at her intently.
“I don’t know what you’ve done to me,” he said in a deep voice. “But I hope I never recover.”
Genevieve kissed his cheek and then his earlobe. She was about to whisper, “I forgave you. I released you. I untied you and let you go.” But then she remembered how well those phrases had gone over the day before in the café.
Instead, she said simply, “God cleaned up my heart and flooded it with light.” She kissed his neck. “And that’s where I found something I thought I lost a long time ago …”
Steven pulled back and examined her expression.
“I found my love for you, and I’m not going to lose it again,” she said.
Steven smiled at Genevieve. “I’ll be back two weeks from tomorrow unless I can adjust my schedule.”
“I’ll be here waiting.” Genevieve handed him his captain’s hat. “Hurry home, my love.”
“I will.” He kissed her again before glancing at the clock on the wall. “Oh boy, I’ve got to fly.”
Genevieve smiled at the pun. “Yes, you do. Bye.”
“Bye. Ciao, mon ami.”
She stood in the middle of the kitchen wearing only her yellow fleece robe. Her skin still tingled from where his kisses had touched her that morning. Floating in the air was the subtle scent of his leather-toned aftershave mixed with cinnamon and French roast.
Instead of the old, sickening fears about their relationship as she drew in these mixed fragrances, a new, satisfying hope rose in her. He’ll be back. We’ll have more wonderfully romantic times together. I have only begun to love my husband.
Genevieve poured herself a cup of coffee and added cream and sugar. She made herself comfortable in the rocking chair by the window that looked out on the backyard. Next to the rocker was her Bible. She opened to John 11 and read all the way through to the end of the book before she forced herself to pull away and take a shower. Leah was coming for breakfast at eight.
Dozens of questions, thoughts, and insights from what she had just read swam through her mind. She was glad that Leah was coming over. Genevieve didn’t want to wait until Wednesday to discuss these questions with the other women at the Bible study, and Leah was always open to talking about God.
The part Genevieve wanted to discuss was in John 20 after Jesus was resurrected from the dead. He told His disciples that if they forgave anyone’s sins, they would be forgiven, but if they retained anyone’s sins they would be retained. Those were powerful words. Genevieve wanted to know more about what Jesus meant.
However, the discussion of spiritual matters didn’t happen. The girls were both up and dressed by the time Leah arrived. Alissa had come a few minutes before Leah and was about to take Anna and Mallory swimming at the waterfalls near Camp Heather Brook. The girls had to go on a morning swim because the campers filled the lake area in the afternoon.
After Alissa and the girls left, Genevieve stuck a plate of the scrambled eggs Steven had made into the microwave and asked Leah if she wanted any toast.
“No, thanks. I’ll get myself some juice, if that’s okay.”
“Sure, help yourself.”
Leah placed a fat file folder on the kitchen table next to her plate of eggs, and as soon as Genevieve sat down, Leah jumped in. “This is what I wanted to show you—the plans for Glenbrooke Days.” Leah’s apple red cheeks glowed with excitement. “I’ve been talking to some of the older people around town, and you wouldn’t believe how much they want to see this happen.”
Leah pulled out a hand-written flyer and showed it to Genevieve. “We’ll have a flyer like this made up professionally, of course, but this will give you an idea. The first Saturday in October looks like the best day. We’ll close Main Street and bring back as many of the original events and booths as we can. It’s going to be great!”
Genevieve was impressed to see the long list of participants and potential contribu
tors. “You’re the head organizer, I take it.”
“For the time being. If someone else wants to take over, I’ll gladly let him or her have the whole project. But with extra time on my hands until the café is up and running, I can do this. Or at least get it started. And that brings me to my next point. We need to have the Wildflower Café in full swing by the first week of October. This is the biggest event of the year, and it will all happen right in front of the café. We must be in business by then.”
Genevieve blinked. “That’s only two and a half months away.”
“I know.”
“It’s been almost two months since the fire, and you know how much the builders have accomplished in all that time.”
“That’s why we have to get going!” Leah said. “And that’s why I was so determined to meet with you first thing this morning. I don’t know what it’ll take, but as your new partner in business, I’m here to say we have to make a plan and push these guys to make the deadline. We have the money in the bank now, and all the legal papers have been completed. We can’t waste a single minute.”
Genevieve agreed with Leah. She didn’t have quite the level of urgency that Leah did, but she certainly agreed with her in principle.
“The way I see it,” Leah continued, “if you and I come up with a plan and meet with the builder to present our guidelines, then at least we’re working with something. So far, you’ve been at his mercy, and he’s been fitting you into his schedule whenever he pleases. The café needs to be switched from a sideline project to the top of his list.”
Genevieve sat up straighter. “Okay, let’s dive in. You know I’m not afraid of hard work.”
For the next two hours, the two women put their heads together and their pencils to the papers in front of them. The list of ideas for how to design the café continued to grow. The options, now that they had double the floor space, were much broader.
Genevieve leaned back in her chair. “We have to narrow this down. We have to make some final decisions.”
“I know,” Leah said. “That’s exactly what I’ve been saying. As I see it, we have two separate projects here. We have to decide if we want a normal little diner sort of café or if we want to do all these specialty areas like the tree house and the ice cream shop and the espresso cart.”
“It’s too much, isn’t it?”
“It’s just more complicated. We can do whatever we want. I like all the ideas, just as you do. But maybe we shouldn’t try to do everything, or at least not right away.”
Genevieve thought of her elaborate garden in Pasadena. It had taken years before she had all the paths and the bench, the swing, and the fountain exactly where she wanted them. When she had started to dream, she wanted it all. Every picture in every magazine captured her imagination, and she was certain she could make it all happen.
The process of sitting and picturing each section was what helped her the most. That, and the many years she worked on the garden. With the café, she didn’t have time on her side.
“Come on,” Genevieve said. “We need to go look at the café. We have to stare at the space for a while.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I think we need to go to the open space and see it in our imaginations before we make a final decision.”
With pens and paper, lists and folders, Genevieve and Leah drove to the café and parked in the back. Genevieve noticed the wildflowers in the vases on the chair under the tree.
“Did you leave those vases there?” she asked Leah.
“No.”
“Are you sure? I thought it was a Glenbrooke Zorro sort of touch of beauty.”
“Not this Zorro. It could have been Ida. She has a lot of those summer flowers growing like crazy in her side yard.”
Genevieve picked up the vases and the now dried wildflowers and carried them into the café. To her they represented a new beginning, a touch of beauty in a place that had been desolate.
It brought a little smile to her face when she thought of how Steven had taken off for work that morning with the blue wildflower still clipped to his car’s visor. Maybe he had glanced at it and remembered when Genevieve gave it to him yesterday with a wide-open heart.
Leah turned and looked at Genevieve. “How can you smile like that? Every time I come in here I still feel like crying.”
“These two vases and especially these wildflowers mean something special to me. They represent a future full of promise.”
“For I know the plans I have for you,” Leah said.
“The plans you have for me?”
“No,” Leah chuckled. “The plans God has for us. Haven’t you heard that verse before? It’s in Jeremiah. Chapter 29, I think. I learned it from one of Jessica’s little index cards. You know, the cards she writes verses on so she can memorize them.”
Genevieve didn’t know Jessica wrote out verses on index cards, but she was curious about a verse that talked about plans that God made. “Do you know the verse by heart?”
“Yeah. It goes, ‘ “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” ’ ”
“I love that!” Genevieve said.
“Me, too. You know what I think?” Leah looked around the empty café. “I think we should pray. We should dedicate the rebuilding of this place to the Lord.”
“Do you mean we should have a blessing party like Meredith and Shelly had for their parents’ bed and breakfast when they wrote verses on the floors?”
Leah clapped her hands together. “Yes! Perfect! Let’s do that. But for right now, let’s pray. Just the two of us.”
They stood in the center of the floor and joined hands. Leah prayed as naturally and openly as if Jesus were standing right next to them. Then she said, “Amen,” and waited for Genevieve to pray.
Genevieve didn’t jump right in. She knew what she wanted to say in her heart, but the words didn’t tumble out of her mouth the way they had cascaded from Leah’s mouth. Genevieve asked God to bless them and direct them as they made decisions about how to design the café. Then she added, “And be with Steven right now. Show him how real You are. Amen.”
With renewed vision, Leah and Genevieve took what Leah called a “virtual” tour of the café, discussing all the options. They came to a conclusion that neither of them had expected: They had too much space.
For the cozy sort of dining they wanted, the openness and all the fun ideas like built-in trees were distractions.
Anthony, the builder, and two of his workers showed up at noon, ready to finish plastering the kitchen walls. Leah and Genevieve talked to him about their dilemma. Genevieve was feeling nervous about having purchased the other side of the building now that it appeared to be too much.
“Unless,” Leah said, formulating aloud while sketching on a pad of paper, “we make some clever adjustments, like this.” She turned the paper to Genevieve. “Expand the café this far into the new space, then put up a new wall, with a door of some kind between the two spaces. Then in this other, smaller area, we’ll put in a special place for kids.”
“What are you talking about? A daycare center?” Anthony asked.
“No, no, not a daycare center. A little ice cream shop. Or maybe a kids’ bookstore that also sells candy and toys. What do you think?” Leah asked.
Genevieve wasn’t sure. “How would we work that? It takes both of us to run the café. Who would run the kids’ section?”
“I don’t know. It would be separate. We could hire someone to run the store or hire a new person to wait tables.”
“I don’t know,” Genevieve said. “It sounds like a lot more work.”
“Not really,” Anthony said. “I mean, as far as the restructuring. We could run a new wall six feet in from where the old wall divided the building. Once you decide what you want, I can get my whole team here, and we can have it up for you in no time. You just have to make up your minds.”
r /> Genevieve looked at Leah. Her eyes were lit up and her cheeks glowing.
“You know what?” Leah said. “This is what I want to do. I didn’t know it until this moment, but I want to set up the shop for kids next door. Kids of all ages. I’ll have a few toys for sale, Meredith can tell me what kids books I should stock, and I’ll have ice cream. And hot cocoa in the winter. This is perfect!”
“Leah,” Genevieve said cautiously, “are you sure you know what you’re saying?”
Leah laughed aloud and clapped her hands together. “Yes! This is perfect! I’ll call it the ‘Dandelion’! Get it? The Wildflower and the Dandelion!” Leah spontaneously hugged Genevieve. “Seth is going to love this. This is so me. This is what I want to do.”
Genevieve found it difficult to share Leah’s enthusiasm. A few hours earlier, Leah was saying how jazzed she was about organizing Glenbrooke Days. Now she had launched into a blazing vision of a children’s specialty store. Worst of all, Genevieve was losing her partner and the one who made the Wildflower a special place for the older customers. Genevieve could see them all leaving the café and gathering next door, exchanging their morning coffee for morning cocoa just to be near Leah.
“We need to talk about this and think this through.” Genevieve looked from Anthony to Leah and back to Anthony. “I mean, this is crazy, Leah. You said this morning you wanted to have the café up by the first week of October, but now you’re talking about a much more complicated plan. We would have to change the legal forms and file for new business licenses and—”
“We can do all that,” Leah said. “Or more specifically, I can do all that. You can just concentrate on the café. It’s your dream. Your baby. I need to be free to follow my dream, too.”
Leah’s words hit Genevieve hard. She was right. This was an old, familiar problem of Genevieve’s. She had latched onto Steven when they were first married in such a way that she felt alienated and abandoned when she couldn’t share his dream for flying. Once again, she had latched on to Leah and found it easy to depend on Leah to make her own dream a reality.