When the sun had set and the sky was dark, Jay pulled a
flashlight from his jacket pocket and used it to guide their way back to his
car. Karin was glad she’d brought a sweater as the crisp air off the lake had
cooled the temperature significantly.
“Are you cold?” Jay asked as he opened her car door for her.
“A little,” she answered.
“I’ll put the top up then,” he said.
They rode quietly back to her office, only speaking to make occasional
small talk. About halfway there, he reached over and took her hand in his, and
she let him. Goosebumps traveled up and down her arm like an electric current.
“If only this could last…” she thought.
“Have a safe trip back to Chicago.” She said as she got out
of the car. She was at the top of the porch steps before he could get out of
his seatbelt and open and driver’s side door to yell to her.
“Can I see you again?” he asked. She paused for a moment,
with her hand already on the door handle.
“Sure,” she said. “Call me the next time you’re in town.”
She hollered back to him and then she was inside the house before he could
speak again. She leaned hard against the inside of the door and felt tears well
up in her eyes.
“What are you doing?” she questioned herself out loud. Karin
was startled when she started to step away from the door and her phone suddenly
rang from her pocket. She reached for it and answered it.
“I’ve been trying to call you all day. Where have you been?”
said Michelle’s familiar voice on the other end.
“Oh, sorry about that,” Karin said. “I was just about to
call you.” It wasn’t really a lie. She had intended to return Michelle’s calls
when she got back to the office.
“Something doesn’t sound right in your voice. Did you hear
something about your mom? What’s going on?”
“I’ve been out to the lake with Jay?”
“Jay, as in Jacob Palmer, Jay?”
“Yes.” Karin looked out the window to be sure that he wasn’t
still there, and then she went to the kitchen to make a pot of hot water.
“Out, like on a date, to the lake?” Michelle asked.
“Yes, exactly like a date.”
“And? What did you find out? Is he married? What’s he doing
in Dunewood? Why is he looking at apartments? Does he still live in Chicago? Is
he moving back here?” Michelle’s voice gradually grew in pitch and intensity. “When
did he ask you out? Did he just show up at your office out of the blue? Why
didn’t you tell me sooner? You have to tell me everything.”
“Slow down, Michelle,” Karin said. “I can only answer one
question at a time.” And, then she spent the next hour on the phone with her
friend, trying to answer all of her questions, one at a time.
“We’ve done all this before though, Shel, and I already know
how the story ends,” Karin said, sipping on a cup of hot chocolate that she’d
made while they talked. “I want the kind of marriage that the Bennett’s had,
the kind the Marquette’s had, the til death do us part kind of marriage, and he
might want that too, I know he used to, but he has to wait for the my mother
approves kind of marriage and I’m just never going to be that girl.”
“Ugh,” Michelle groaned. “Why do you have to even think
about marriage anyway? Can’t you just be happy being secret lovers? That’s more
exciting anyway, and then he can keep his money and you can help him spend it.”
“No, I watched my mother work her way through boyfriend after boyfriend, some new man always coming or going. I don’t want to have a revolving door on my heart. I want to find the forever one.” Karin said. “And what that means right now is that I can’t waste any more time hanging out with Jay Palmer.”
The story continues here.
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