Chapter Fourteen
Alissa put down the salad tongs and looked hard at her new friend, hoping for some hint that this was a joke. “Seattle?” Alissa repeated.
Shelly nodded. Her jaw seemed to clench and unclench. She slowly said, “When I was having a hard time finding a roommate a few months ago, I put in for a transfer to Seattle because a lot of my family lives there. I grew up there. When it was denied, I forgot about it. Then you moved in, and my financial situation was straightening itself out.”
“Can’t you turn it down?” Alissa asked.
“It’s a little more complicated than that. I’m due for a pay raise, and I’d definitely get it if I transferred to Seattle. I might not get it for another six months if I stay here. Plus I’d have a new flight schedule with weekends off, which would be a first in my career.” Shelly leaned back in her chair. “And I’d be near family. I have friends here, but it’s not the same. You know.”
“Well, I don’t exactly,” Alissa said. “But I think I know what you’re feeling. It sounds like you need to take the transfer before they change their minds.”
“But I feel so bad,” Shelly said. “You just moved in, and we’re barely starting to know each other.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Alissa said. “I know what jobs are like in the travel industry. You have to take any advancement you can when it comes to you. I think it’s great you’ll be near your family again.”
“What about you? Can you handle the payments here by yourself?”
“I’m sure I can for awhile. I may need to look for a roommate, but not right away. When do you leave?” Alissa pushed the salad closer to Shelly, encouraging her to dish some up for herself.
“Two weeks,” Shelly said.
“They don’t waste any time, do they?”
“Not in the summer. Would you pass me the salad dressing, please?”
Alissa took a bite of salad and hoped the chewing sound would dull the pounding that had started in her head. She knew Shelly’s move wasn’t a decision she should take personally. Yet she couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss already. Loss was a feeling she was familiar with. In her earlier years, she had been the one to leave people and places. Then important people in her life started to die, and they all left her.
Without expecting it, Alissa felt a salty tear slip from her tear duct to land in her salad. She hoped Shelly hadn’t seen it. She didn’t want to make Shelly feel bad.
But Alissa couldn’t help it. The tears started to come. And she couldn’t stop them. This was so unlike her. She had barely cried when she experienced big losses in her life. She was always strong and immovable. This was only a roommate, someone she had known less than a month. Why should so many tears come now?
“Excuse me,” she said once she could find her voice. “This isn’t about you. I just need to have a good cry.” Alissa got up from the table and slipped into her bedroom. Once the door was closed, she really began to cry. So many tears. So much loss and injustice over the last ten years of her life.
As she pulled the last tissue from the box and dabbed at her red eyes, Alissa chided herself for crying a river of tears. The thought brought back the memory of that song she had tried to find in the hymn book the previous week, “I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me.” Tonight she had a river of tears, not life, flowing from her. She had held on to her sorrow for too long, secretly questioning God and feeling bitterly betrayed by his insensitivity to her needs.
Those long stored-up grievances against God were pouring themselves out. She was beginning to see things differently. God was God. God could do whatever he wanted. He didn’t have to answer to Alissa for what happened in her life. Instead, she was the one who would one day stand before him and give an account of what she had done with all he had given her.
There was a gentle tap on her door followed by Shelly asking if she could come in. Alissa sat up in bed, embarrassed for losing control in front of Shelly. “Come in.”
Shelly opened the door with the newspaper in her hand. “How are you doing?”
“Better. I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize. I was noticing a good movie is on television tonight. Why don’t you watch it with me? I made some popcorn.”
Alissa didn’t hesitate. “I’d like that. I have to be honest and tell you I’m really bummed you’re moving. But I think it’s the right thing for you.”
“Thanks,” Shelly said. Her clean, scrubbed face caused her to look open, sweet, and happy. “We can still get together sometimes, with the way we both travel. Maybe we could plan a vacation somewhere. With your travel discounts and my airline discounts, it could be an inexpensive trip.”
“That sounds like a great idea,” Alissa said. “I’m going to change, and then I’ll join you for the movie.”
“Okay. I’ll grab a drink for you. What do you want?”
“Water is fine,” Alissa said. “With some ice.”
The next morning at work Alissa was thinking about how the “pajama party” had turned out to be the best thing the two friends could have done. It helped her move past her grief.
It occurred to Alissa that she could also raise her spirits by spending time with Rosie. On a lark, she called Rosie, who answered on the third ring.
“Why, hello!” she said. “How are you, Alissa? I was just about to go out. I’m glad you caught me.”
“Oh, too bad. I was calling to invite you to lunch today.”
“Well, it’s just a doctor’s appointment. His office isn’t far from your agency. Why don’t you join Chet and me for lunch? We’re going to Green Street. That Diane Salad is my favorite. It’ll probably be too hot to eat out on their patio, but we do like the menu.”
“I would love that,” Alissa said.
“Is 11:30 too early?”
“No,” Alissa said. “That’s perfect. I’ll see you then.”
She returned to the tedious job of cataloging the new travel package brochures while Cheri caught all the incoming phone calls. Renée came in around eleven, and since no customers were in the agency at that moment, she stood between Alissa and Cheri’s desks. She smoothed back her fluffy red hair and made an announcement.
“We did record sales in June,” she said, lifting her hands in the air, “and you both get raises! I was just at the accountant’s, and your raises will begin with your August 1 paycheck. Don’t all thank me at once.”
“You should thank us,” Cheri said with a half smile, which meant that, even though she was going to present this as a joke, she was serious. “Alissa and I have been doing the work of three employees. Have you thought any more about hiring someone else, even if the person is only part-time?”
“What do you want,” Renée said, placing a hand on her broad hips, “a raise or another employee?”
Alissa and Cheri looked at each other. “Both,” they said in unison.
“You two are impossible,” Renée said good-naturedly. She wasn’t the best of bosses, but at least she rolled with the punches. “This month you get the raises. Next month, we’ll talk about another employee.”
Alissa left to meet Rosie for lunch and felt as if she were walking on the clouds. A raise, right when she needed the extra income to cover the soon-to-be increased rent on her duplex.
“Why are you doing this, God?” she whispered as she walked the four short blocks to the Green Street Restaurant. “You just keep doing more good stuff in my life. Thank you.”
It struck her that only last night she had been dragging before God all the things he had taken away from her, and she had complained much louder than she was thanking him now. She recalled a verse in Job that seemed like a good one to help her keep her perspective in balance. “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
As she hoofed it past the flower shop and stationery store, Alissa wished she could grasp the eternal truth that was wrapped up in Job’s statement. God does give. And he does take away. He’s
God. He can do whatever he wants. Alissa realized she was supposed to thank him, to bless him no matter what, in good times as well as bad.
She was less than a block from Green Street when she strode past The Computer Wiz. As always, she looked in the window on the off chance she might see Brad working there. She never had seen him. But then, she didn’t know his hours or where he worked in the shop.
Today, however, she did see him. He was walking out the front door just as she was going by. He had on tan shorts and a long-sleeved denim shirt with the sleeves rolled up. His hair was pulled back in a short ponytail, and his face was shaved. He looked a lot different than he had on Friday night when he showed up at her back door and listened to her go on about the hymn she had discovered.
“What took you so long?” Brad said, and then fell in stride alongside her.
Alissa stopped to look at him incredulously.
“Come on. We’re going to be late for lunch,” he said.
“I don’t remember inviting you to go to lunch with me.”
“You didn’t. Chet did.” Brad gestured with his hand that she should step it up.
This was supposed to be my time with Rosie!
Alissa slowly took a step, a scowl on her face. “I didn’t know you were coming.”
“We didn’t know you ladies had made plans that overlapped ours.”
“Overlapped yours. When did you and Chet make your plans?” Alissa asked, now in step with Brad.
“Last Friday. I called him to see if he wanted to go for another milk shake, and he suggested we get together today since Rosie had a doctor’s appointment. Only you called Rosie this morning and goofed up everything.”
“I didn’t goof up anything!” They were at Green Street’s door, and Alissa felt like punching Brad in the stomach. He could be so rude sometimes.
Brad reached over her head to open the door for her. With his arm still shadowing her like a canopy he leaned forward and said in her ear, “Hey, listen, you can be mad at me later, but do me a favor and be nice to me in front of my friends. I like these guys.”
Alissa couldn’t help herself. With both hands, she pushed Brad away from the door and against the wall where no one inside could see her give him a piece of her mind.
“Hey, you listen,” she said. “These guys are my friends, too. I don’t like it when you talk down to me. And I don’t like it when you’re rude.”
“How am I rude?” Brad said, his arms folded across his chest.
“You’re so blunt. I don’t like it. Like your little line, ‘What took you so long?’ That’s rude. Blunt and abrasive and rude.”
“Maybe you’re just sensitive because you’re used to people treating you like a little princess.”
Alissa felt the blood rush to her face. If they hadn’t been about to meet Chet and Rosie, Alissa would have slapped Brad for saying that and then marched away. She had never slapped a guy before, but she sure felt like it now.
“You know,” Brad said, shaking his head, “I thought we were doing so well. Last Thursday, the bongo-fest and our great conversation afterwards. What’s going on with you?”
Alissa had been so up and down emotionally the past few days she didn’t know where she was now. The last person she wanted to confide in regarding her spin-cycle feelings was Brad. Yet at the same time, she had this strange feeling that he—of all people—might actually understand what she was going through and have some worthwhile advice.
Drawing in a deep breath, Alissa said, “Okay, Brad, look. Let’s not go ballistic over this. I’m fine. Really. You might want to consider my advice that occasionally you could practice using some manners. It wouldn’t hurt. And I’ll take your caution to heart and not be overly sensitive. Now, can we go have lunch with our mutual friends and not be at each other’s throats?”
Brad looked as if he had a pithy comeback ready to whip out, but he pressed his lips together and answered, “Sure. Okay. Let’s go.” As a gesture of his attempt to be more mannerly, he held out his bent arm, offering to usher her in like a queen.
“Don’t overdo it,” Alissa muttered, without taking his arm. They walked in tandem to the front door where Brad reached for the handle first and opened the door for her.
They both spotted Chet and Rosie at a corner table. Brad stepped back, inviting Alissa to go first. He shook hands with Chet and placed a kiss on Rosie’s cheek. Alissa slid onto the chair next to Rosie and glanced at Brad. He was looking at Alissa. It was as if each of them was wondering if the other would keep the peace.
“They’ve just added a barbecue buffet,” Rosie said. “Looks wonderful. That’s what I’m going to have. But everything on the menu is good.”
Chet gave Alissa a big smile. “So nice the way it worked out for the four of us to meet up like this. Rosie was real glad you called this morning.”
Alissa couldn’t help but flash an ever-so-subtle “so there” look at Brad. His steady green eyes were watching her, almost daring her to make one false move so he could have an excuse to stop being polite.
Alissa carefully did not make any false moves. She ordered the barbecue along with Rosie, and as they went over to the buffet, Alissa said, “I still would like to have lunch with you sometime when it’s just the two of us.”
“I’d like that, too,” Rosie said. “One can never have too many friends.”
“I didn’t tell you,” Alissa said, holding out her plate to the carver for some of the sliced beef, “but I met Meg at your wedding. I think she’s adorable. She told me more of your story, but she only got to the part about some woman named Hannah who took Chet away.”
“Oh, Hannah didn’t take Chet away. She was married to Elton, you know. They were missionaries in Brazil, back in the ’50s. They actually lived in a tree house. Can you imagine that?” Rosie reached for a scoop of potatoes. “Oh, look at that, will you? They have corn on the cob. I do enjoy fresh corn.”
Alissa put a piece of corn on her plate as well. It might as well have been a banana fresh from the Brazilian jungle because, whenever she started to listen to Chet and Rosie’s story, it was as if she had been transported there.
“What happened?”
“Hmm?” Rosie said, looking up from the zucchini bread basket at the end of the buffet. “Oh, yes, Hannah. She developed cerebral palsy. She and Elton returned to England after only three years on the field.”
“How sad.”
“Oh, it was,” Rosie said, returning to the table and sliding her chair forward as Chet rose to help seat her. “But Chet saw the need for someone to assist the missionaries who were going into the jungles. You know, in all the practical ways. Building things for them. Taking in supplies. He earned his pilot’s license in Brazil, and when he wasn’t working for the government, he was helping the missionaries.”
“The government position only lasted until ’78,” Chet added. “But I stayed on another fifteen years or so. Couldn’t leave my friends. There was always a missionary who needed something.”
“They must have viewed you as a blessing sent from heaven,” Alissa said.
“Or a critter from the earth,” Chet said. “I guess that’s why they all called me ‘Gopher.’ ”
Brad laughed softly.
The waitress stepped up to serve Brad his hamburger and Chet his club sandwich with a glass of milk. Chet offered to pray, and then they all dug in.
“What I want to know is how you and Rosie ended up together,” Alissa said. “I mean, you were in Brazil, and Rosie was in Redlands.”
“Actually, she moved to Altadena in ’86,” Chet said.
“It was ’87, but that doesn’t really matter. I’d still be on the ranch if it weren’t for Walter’s brother, Martin. He showed up only days after I’d gotten the last child through college and presented me with some legal documents proving the ranch was his. I hired a lawyer and tried to fight it, but Martin won. He was the blood relative listed in the will. Even above Walter’s own children. I still think it was terribly un
fair.”
“You see,” Chet said, waving a french fry at them, “Walter had signed over the ranch to Martin the day he bought the land, before he was even married. And then the man never drew up another will.”
Rosie shook her head. “And, of course, since I never married Walter, I wasn’t even a legal guardian to those five children. But Martin conveniently waited until they were all grown and out of the house before presenting his documents, just to be sure the court didn’t saddle him with the kids, too.”
Putting down her fork, Rosie said, “Oh, let’s not talk about it. I always feel my blood pressure go up when I think of Martin.”
“Her kids moved her to the house we’re in now. It was Amelio’s, and he lived with her for a few years,” Chet explained. “When I left Brazil, I stayed with an old army buddy who lived up in Santa Barbara. His wife had passed on, and he didn’t mind my company.”
Rosie chuckled. “I guess not. You turned into a five-year house guest.”
“It was a big house,” Chet said. “Needed lots of repair work, which had become my specialty. Then I lived in a trailer on the beach for awhile. Sort of a bum, you might say. It was awful hard for me to adjust to all the comforts and advancements of life in the States after having been gone so long.”
Alissa looked over at Brad. She was engrossed in the story. Brad had a vague look in his eye, as if he were wondering what the point was to all this.
“We should get to the point,” Rosie said gently, as if reading Brad’s mind. “These two have been such patient listeners.”
Chet drew himself up to full posture, and with his head held high, he announced, “Then the mailbag arrived. My buddy in Santa Barbara received a stack of mail for me that had been forwarded from the last government office where I’d served in Brazil. One of the letters was a notice about our high school class reunion.”
“Did you go?” Alissa said eagerly. “Is that where you two found each other?”
“Couldn’t,” Chet said flatly. “The announcement arrived two years after the reunion.” His eyes lit up, and he reached over for Rosie’s hand. “But my Rosie’s name was on the list. I nearly died and went to heaven right then and there. And the best part was, her address was listed right there by her name.”