“I think that she’d love it.”
“And you’re okay if I invite her?” Stacie asked, feeling slightly guilty asking if someone else could join their family outing.
“I’d be more upset if you didn’t,” Josie said, tapping her watch. “In fact, if you head home now, you should be able to catch her before she goes to bed.”
She was shooed out of the house at the receiving end of a snapped dishtowel and a scowl. All in all, not that much differently than the twins when Josie sent them out on errands. In this case she went willingly…eager to complete her assigned task.
Chapter Six
There had to be some unspoken rule of the universe that said if your phone was ringing and you were on the other side of a locked door, your keys would refuse to cooperate. The other half of that rule stated that while attempting to open the door the phone would keep ringing only to stop the second your key slid into the lock and you turned the knob.
While Maria fumbled with her keys, she tried to suppress the sense of urgency the repetitive ringing generated. Hurry. Rush. Don’t miss the call and wonder who the unknown caller was or what they wanted. Her pulse sped up and her hands didn’t want to work right. It was all very Pavlovian in a way that went far beyond a little doggy drool. It was hunger for human contact—made into fast food by modern technology and sprinkled with the worst of seasonings—instant gratification. None of that stopped her from rushing to the phone with plans of pulling it off the hook and checking the connection. An abrupt and sickly half ring stuttered to a halt just as she snatched up the pale yellow plastic. Hah! Whoever it had been, was trying to call back.
“Hello,” she said, breathless after her run for the kitchen. She started to toss her bag on the kitchen table, then stopped in mid motion when she realized who it was.
“Stacie? Is everything okay?” It was a fair question considering how late it was. That, and the fact that she had just left Josie’s house less than an hour ago.
“Yeah, everything’s fine. I was just wondering if you’d like to join us tomorrow.”
Maria sagged against the wall in relief. Half of her had thought the worst. A late night call from Arizona could only mean one thing and she had let her imagination run wild. She wasn’t lying when she told Josie that her grandmother was not a young woman.
“Tomorrow? I have a class in the morning, but I’d love to go after that,” Maria said after listening for a few minutes. “Do I need to bring anything?”
“Just yourself,” Stacie said, then apologized for calling so late before saying goodbye.
Maria smiled, the warmth residing there wasted on a silent phone. No matter, she thought as she hung up. She was too delighted with the way the evening had ended. She called, didn’t she?
Stacie had sounded so excited. The way she described the creek and surrounding area sounded absolutely wonderful and exactly what she needed right now.
The grounds of the retreat, while beautifully landscaped, were still a false wilderness. Every square inch was a delight to the eyes, a visual feast designed for peaceful contemplation and placid walks but she missed the chaos of a landscape sculpted by none other than Nature herself. Every twisted trunk and tangle of limbs spoke to her, reminding her of the power of the wind to shape and the trees to endure. It was the same with every pebble, every trail, every runoff and crack in the earth that spoke of years of rain finding its way across the land. There was music there, and a millennial dance happening so slowly she could only hope to see the grace and beauty in the snapshot she was privileged to view.
The manicured and carefully pruned trees within the retreat were lovely, straight and true and proudly reaching for the sky, but they had been shaped by man, not nature. There were no scars, no marks of battle or evidence of surviving adversity and that lessened them somehow. She had more respect for the toppled tree that had split and fallen to the ground, yet every year managed to grow a new canopy of leaves.
“Deep thoughts for so late at night,” Maria said, kicking her shoes off and rolling her shoulders around to work the kinks out. She didn’t mind driving at night, but the Bug had a mind of its own and she didn’t want to end up stranded somewhere waiting for the engine to cool down. She had grown attached to the ugly thing this summer, even though it wasn’t what she had expected to end up with.
Secretly, she was a jeep sort of woman, but the faded yellow Bug looked so hopeful sitting in the used car lot that day that she couldn’t resist taking a look at it. It bucked like an old bronco the first time she shifted it into gear, then sputtered and kicked for a second before taking off quite spryly. But that wasn’t enough to sell her on the vehicle. Someone had replaced the shifter with a bright yellow smiley face that grinned up at her, practically begging her to remember her childhood fascination with the 60’s. She ran her hand over the back of the worn seat, then turned and prepared to haggle.
