Chapter 7
Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, and faith looks up.
—Mrs. Miracle
Seth’s hand lingered on the telephone. Something was wrong with Sharon. He knew his mother-in-law, could sense her uneasiness, her unhappiness. He heard it in the telltale inflection in her voice, the hesitation, the weariness. He wished he knew what he could do to help, or if that were even possible. He felt close to his in-laws. Close and grateful, as well he should.
During his most recent visit to California, when he’d driven down to move the twins back with him, he’d noticed something then. Sharon had laughed a little too loudly, sounded a shade too enthusiastic. Not about the twins leaving; that had been difficult on everyone. But about life in general. It wasn’t like her.
His father-in-law, however, had grown quiet, introspective. Noncommunicative. He’d seemed prone to hide his face in a book. There’d been some talk about the Palmers taking a cruise, but since then he hadn’t heard anything more about this long-awaited vacation.
Seth had attributed their odd behavior to the stress of his taking the children. But whatever the reason, it didn’t seem to have gone away. The tension was as thick as tar.
Not until he was puttering around inside the garage while the twins helped Mrs. Merkle with dinner did he realize that he hadn’t spoken to Jerry, and neither had the twins. His father-in-law generally made a practice of speaking briefly with the twins each week. Seth understood that the kids’ grandfather didn’t like talking on a phone, but he got a kick out of chatting with his two grandchildren. Not so this Sunday.
Seth reached for the toaster. It had stopped working a month or so earlier, when Mrs. Hamilton had ruled the roost. He’d promised to take a look at it, but this was the first chance he’d had. Not that he held out much hope of repairing it. It would probably save a lot of time and effort if he were to pop into the car and buy a new one. And he might have, if fixing it hadn’t afforded him the opportunity to piddle around the garage and enjoy the solitude.
In another hour the Seahawk football game would be televised, and the kids would be crawling all over him. The toaster offered him the perfect excuse to spend a few peaceful moments alone.
For a long time, Seth had avoided opportunities to think. Then, just when he’d felt it was no longer necessary to restrain his thoughts from dwelling on his dead wife, the children had returned. Every now and again one of the twins would glance up at him and it was like looking into Pamela’s eyes, seeing his wife smile again. He might as well have been hit from behind. The pain was back, ever-present. Ever reminding him of all that he’d lost.
He sought his own company this afternoon for another reason, however. He’d seen her in church that morning.
Her.
He didn’t know her name. A face. A friendly, pretty face, with wide, hauntingly beautiful eyes that seemed to reach out and touch him. She’d been sitting toward the back of the church, hidden behind a marble column, looking as fresh and lovely as a bouquet of springtime flowers.
He should have walked over and introduced himself then and there and been done with it. Instead he’d steered the kids out of the church as fast as he could without being obvious. Later he’d wanted to kick himself. He’d acted like a schoolboy, and all over a woman. One whose name he’d been too shy to ask.
She worked at the travel agency next to the Safeway store, that much he knew. He should, since he frequently invented excuses to stop off at the grocery on his way home from the office. Just on the off chance he might see her. Naturally he tried not to be obvious about it, but he couldn’t help wondering if she’d noticed him.
He’d been out of the dating scene for so long, he wasn’t sure how to go about meeting a woman. Not without someone introducing him. The last time he’d walked up to a woman cold turkey and struck up a conversation, he’d been in high school.
He hadn’t minded making a fool of himself back then, but it bothered the hell out of him now. The fact he was interested said a lot. Perhaps he was ready to meet someone. All he had to figure out was how to go about it.
Following the near panic attack in church that morning, Seth was no longer sure of anything. He’d become so disgusted with himself that the only clear option was to drop the issue entirely. It encouraged him that he found himself attracted to another woman. It was progress, he supposed, but he wasn’t in the place where he felt comfortable seeking her out.
She did intrigue him, however, Seth admitted as he dismantled the bottom of the toaster. Crumbs fell onto his workbench, and he brushed them aside. But there were plenty of attractive women around. If that was what appealed to him, all he had to do was look around the office. There were any number of eligible, good-looking women in search of a meaningful relationship there.