After heading down the stairs, she started her usual routine. She put the kettle on to boil and went to the foyer to gather up the mail. Unfortunately, she missed the courier, but he left a little note that her deliveries were in the greenhouse, signed with a smiley face.
She leafed through the mail at the kitchen table until the kettle boiled, and prepared her morning tea, taking time to savor the fragrant aroma, before taking her first sip and allowing the taste to remain on her tongue.
After a few moments of peace, she decided to get dressed, and head out to the sun porch to fill any outstanding orders. As she looked outside the frosty pane of glass on the kitchen door, she took in the bright, beautiful autumn day, and looked forward to another winter soon to make its appearance.
There was a tapping at her front door. Perhaps the courier decided to return. Instead, the person outside was the man she desperately was trying to put out of her mind. She let her emotions get out of control the night before. It was a lesson. She would be much more cautious in the future. But right now, she needed to face him.
She opened the door. The was such a look of concern over his features. He was a good man, she knew.
“Hi Andy.”
“Sara-Kate, I’m so glad to see you.”
Then she did something she never did before. “Come on in, Andy.”
“Wow, you’ve never let me past the foyer before.”
She could sense his hope and excitement, and knew she had to be gentle but firm with him. She caused this hope in him, and now her regret was an acid that blistered her. She did not want to hurt this man.
“Would you like coffee or tea? Something to eat?” She asked, as she showed him into the living room and patted the couch.
“No, I just needed to see you.”
She sat in the easy chair. It was better if she tried to stop this right now. “Listen, Andy...I am so sorry for what happened last night.”
“I...” he tried to interrupt.
She lifted a hand to stop him. “Please, let me speak.”
He nodded, ever so polite.
“I hope what happened last night...showing up at your door uninvited...that I didn’t cause any friction with the woman who was with you.”
An immediate blush covered his face, and she felt worse. She didn’t want to embarrass him.
“She’s not who I want to be with Sara-Kate. I want to be with you.”
There was such a seriousness in his blue eyes that caused her to quiver just a bit. Somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered if the Fates sent Andy into her life as a test. A test to see if she would fail, and fall in love with him against the rules of the spirit world. Yesterday, she nearly succumbed after her fallout with Reed.
It was so clear now. For two years, Dr. Andy and she played the little game of his coming to the door every week. Perhaps she let it continue for so long because she was lonely, and maybe he did it to see if he could break her from her shell.
However, today it ended.
“Andy...” she paused to gather her thoughts. “I have a very complicated life. Yesterday, a lot of it caught up with me, and I regret it.” Somehow, she just knew it wasn’t going to be enough to satisfy him.
“Sara-Kate, I’ve been coming to your house for two years now. You know it’s not to just pick up cookies. I know someone hurt you deeply at some time in your life. I know it’s caused you to never leave this house until last night. I don’t know what this is all about, but I am willing to do whatever I can to help you, no matter how long it takes. I want to marry you.”
If it had been another time, another life, he was saying all the right things. Yet it wasn’t another life, and upstairs was Reed, the man she did love, the man who was spirit just as she was.
“As great as that sounds, and as wonderful as you are, Andy, I can’t, and I’m truly sorry for that. That’s just not...going to happen. Ever.”
“The guy?”
“Reed?” She wasn’t willing to discuss Reed with him. Their life was private. “My relationship with him is personal, I’m sorry.”
“I think that kind of says it all,” he stated, but not in a nasty tone. He stood up from the couch.
She said all there really was to say. She wouldn’t wallow in apologies. She already apologized. There was also no sense in prolonging this conversation, nothing was to be gained from it with the possible exception of finality.
Wordlessly, she walked him back to the foyer.
At the last second, he turned back. “Sara-Kate, I wish you all the happiness in the world. I hope whatever it is you are waiting for has arrived.”
With that, he walked from her house and didn’t look back. She knew she would never see him again, and she wished him happiness. As she closed the door, it suddenly hit her.
The Fates.
She passed their test.
***
By mid-afternoon, Sara-Kate finished packaging and labeling all of the outstanding Sara-Kate’s spirit orders and stacked them in the foyer for the next morning’s courier pickup. Reed was still upstairs asleep. She debated whether to wake him, or let me continue to sleep. After all, he experienced the worst shock of his life the day before. Perhaps he needed to sleep and heal.
She walked the stairs and crept into her bedroom. Reed was peacefully asleep on his back, his breathing even. For a moment, she was overwhelmed by how much she loved this man. Could they
