“Bernice? You have the funniest messages on your phone. I just called to find out what’s new.”
Heather. And she thought that Alex’s voice was a recording! A hysterical giggle formed in the acid churning in my stomach. I sucked in some fresh air to diffuse it. “Ah, not much new happening here.”
Ruthlessly, I stuffed all my emotions into the vault in my heart that I’d let Jesus clean out. I didn’t know what else to do with them at the moment. Heather was the new that was happening in my life and I didn’t take a breath during the day without thanking God that she’d found me after twenty years. But, Alex…he was the something old. He’d been the main ingredient in a stew of insecurities that I’d kept warm for years. What was I supposed to do with him?
He started to hum the song “Unforgettable.” Even in the gloomy interior of my car, I could see that his eyes were closed and he was smiling.
Chapter Five
“I’m just pulling up to the Golden Oaks,” I said, pressing my chin against the phone so Heather wouldn’t hear Alex in the background. “It’s my night to cut hair.”
“I won’t keep you then, I just want you to start thinking about the holidays. What are your plans?”
I never made special plans for the holidays. They just kind of…happened. Elise and Sam always invited me for Thanksgiving and after dinner, Elise and I would waddle into the living room with our second piece of pumpkin pie to watch It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s one of Elise’s favorite movies and that’s the only reason I pretended all these years to enjoy a movie about a man who was given a second chance—even though I knew that never happened in real life. Now, since Heather had reappeared in my life, I was beginning to believe.
“I’m not sure just yet.” I answered her question cautiously and glanced at Alex.
“I’ll call you tomorrow and we can figure something out. Mom and Dad know I want to spend some time with you and they said they’re flexible.”
“Sure. That would be great.” Make room, stuffing more emotions!
“Is something wrong?” There was a touch of uncertainty in Heather’s voice and I glared at Alex. Which was wasted because his eyes were still closed.
“No, not at all. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” I scraped up some cheerfulness and injected it into my voice.
“Bye…Mama B.”
Mama B. My throat tightened and I blinked away the tears that scratched the backs of my eyes. Where had that come from? Not that I minded…I just felt totally humbled by the honorary title. I certainly didn’t deserve it.
Alex followed me into the Golden Oaks and I was relieved to see that Audrey Cooke, the receptionist, wasn’t sitting behind the desk to greet people. Maybe it was possible to smuggle a celebrity into a group of senior citizens without any fallout.
“I always stop by to say hi to Esther and John first,” I murmured.
“Relatives?”
“Friends.”
I navigated Alex through the corridors until we came to a room near the end of the hallway. “I should mention something, although you’d probably figure it out soon enough by yourself. John is blind.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t act weird around him, though, because he has a sense of humor about it.”
“How can someone have a sense of humor about being blind?”
“You’ll see.” I rapped lightly on the door. “Esther?”
“It’s Bernice,” I heard Esther say just before the door opened.
She and John must have set a record for the oldest pair of newlyweds. Their summer wedding was held right at the nursing home and I’d even fixed Esther’s hair for the occasion. It was a day I’d never forget because it was the day I took a deep breath and faced the past. Although, it had been a little easier when part of it wasn’t warming the air beside me.
“Hi, Esther.” She put out her arms and I hugged her, resisting the urge to lift her off her feet and swing her around the room. She is so petite she could get lost in a group of fifth-graders and I feel like a giant next to her.
“Come in, come in.” Esther linked her arm through mine and noticed Alex hovering in the hall. “Is he with you?”
No. Yes. Argh. Complications. How was I supposed to introduce Alex?
“I’m Alex.”
I exhaled. Problem solved.
“One of Bernice’s old flames.”
I was going to kill him. Wait a second, there was a commandment about murder, wasn’t there? Maybe I could dye his hair green…And what was this about being one of Bernice’s old flames? Like I’d had a buffet to choose from?
John, sitting in his wheelchair by the window, laughed. “Both of you, come in. Alex, let me take a look at you.”
Alex glanced at me, clearly puzzled.
“I warned you,” I whispered.
“Do you live nearby?” John asked.
“California.”
A sudden thought hit me like shrapnel. Esther always asked about Heather when I visited her. That was because in a sunny window one afternoon I’d spilled out my life story to her. But I wasn’t ready to tell Alex about Heather yet. It wasn’t a good time. Not that there was any empty space in my appointment book that I could fill in to make that announcement.
“Bernice?” She looked at me and the compassion in her eyes broke straight through to my heart. She knew who Alex was. Was there anyone in Prichett who hadn’t figured out who Alex was? Still, relief cut a sweet path through the panic.
“I lived there for a few years. Near Monterey,” John was saying as he reached out and took Esther’s hand. “I can’t compare it to living here, though. I’m spoiled by the changing seasons. We know we’re going to get winter, but what kind of winter? The kind that yanks your breath out and steals it away or a mild one that dumps huge drifts of snow outside the windows? And spring, is it going to be warm and green or gray and muddy? If I lived anywhere else, I’d miss the variety, that’s the truth. Even when I was in New York, I’d remember this area and it pulled me back like high tide. Now I know why.”
Esther blushed an adorable pink. “Sounds like it’s the seasons you love, not this old lady,” she teased.
“I love you both.” John winked. “How long are you staying in Prichett, Alex?”
“I have some vacation time.”
“A week?” Esther asked the question that I had been afraid to.
I could deal with a week if he really insisted on staying in Prichett. I worked every day except Sunday and could avoid him on several evenings when I had other commitments. He’d be long gone before Thanksgiving.
Alex smiled. “Actually…I have three months.”
I lost sight of Alex an hour after I started cutting hair for the residents. The last I’d seen him, he’d been talking to a woman named Althea, who thought that he was her son, Henry, who’d finally come for a visit. No one had said anything about having a celebrity in their midst. In fact, half the people in the family lounge probably thought that Alex was Althea’s neglectful son. Once in a while, I saw one of the nurses give Alex a speculative glance but no one approached him.
“Three months,” I muttered under my breath.