Chapter Twenty-One

Mia was on the plane to Toronto. She was flying east to meet her future in-laws, and she had never been so nervous in all her life. Her stomach was churning, and there was an acid taste in her throat. A thousand questions troubled her all the way across the country. Will I measure up? Will they think I’m the right kind of wife for the business? The right kind of woman to raise their grand kids? Can I really go through with all of this? What if they’re just too stuffy? What if I don’t like them? What if I hate Toronto? What if they want me to stay home and have kids and not find a job? By the time Colby met her in the baggage claim area, she was almost in tears with her worries.

This was the first time Mia had seen Colby in a pin-striped suit, with all the trimmings, she was overwhelmed. She had never even pictured him in more formal attire. The suit was tailored to fit his lean frame, and his shoes were polished to a spit shine. His hair was much shorter, and razor-cut to perfection. He had even had a manicure, she was astonished to see.

Mia wondered if she was losing her mind to worry about anything. Colby’s parents were charming, and made her feel at ease, and at home in their huge home on the lake. There were fresh flowers everywhere in the house, including a spring bouquet in Mia’s bedroom and an orchid in her bathroom, of all places! The house was magnificent—all decorated in House Beautiful’s latest fashionable colors and styles. Mia had never seen such a huge collection of chrome and glass and Lucite so charmingly displayed throughout the house. The view of the lake showed large shipping vessels as well as bright sailboats dotting the water. There was a jetty out beyond the pool, where a good sized power boat was moored. Colby had promised to take her out on the lake while she was there, and that he had his own boat on order for after the honeymoon. The CN Tower, highest building in Canada was front and center of the view, and Mia was mesmerized by the whole atmosphere.

The Palmers took Mia golfing at the club, where, thanks to years of the Sindling Family Golf Tourney, she managed to acquit herself, although she was no match for all the Palmers. They introduced her to the membership chairman so she could get her own entry card for the club, sent her and Colby off to use their box seats at a Toronto Blue Jays ball game, attended the church where the wedding would take place and had introduced her to the company bigwigs, and the club members at several functions.

Mrs. Palmer—“call me Carla, dear”— had dragged Mia off to have her wedding gown fitted, picked out flowers, and introduced her to the wedding planner and Carla’s interior designer, who would be ‘doing’ the condo for Mia and Colby.

She and Colby had been feted at showers, barbecues, brunches, dinners and cocktail parties in their honor. Mia enjoyed the social whirl, and held her own with all Colby’s family, friends and clients. After all, she was a bright, educated person, with a lot to offer to the conversations she was a part of.

Throughout the four day stay, Mia constantly had the impression she was being interviewed for a very important job—that of Mrs. Colby Palmer. She felt if she didn’t work very hard, she wouldn’t get the job, or be able to keep it later.

On the plane ride back, Mia began to think about the differences between Rob and Colby. Rob had listened to all her plans and dreams, had told her all of his, except the one that had him traipsing off to God knew where to work in some foreign oil patch. Rob had actually asked her to wait for him, to marry him, and had told her tenderly how much he loved and treasured her. Up to this point, Colby had done none of that.

Mia realized with a start, the person she really wanted to talk to was Rob. When they had been together for the summer before he left for the middle east, they had done nothing but talk, the whole time they were together. They agreed on politics, religion, food, skiing, hiking, music, a love of kids and gardening. By the end of the summer, they had even begun finishing each other’s sentences. They were so attuned to each other. Mia wanted to feel that same kinship with Colby, but he didn’t like shopping for just the right groceries for that special meal. He was just as happy eating at the club, and had told her she didn’t have to cook just for him. He hated cooking himself, hated the messy kitchen and was content to use the fridge for beer and champagne.

He didn’t like window shopping with no particular goal in mind, and he hated sitting in the Starbuck’s having coffee for an hour or more. All of these things Mia had enjoyed with Rob, didn’t seem to matter to Colby.

The next day, she tapped Ava for lunch, and began to pour out her misgivings about marrying Colby.

“Well, if you don’t love him, of course you can’t marry him,” said Ava. “How do you know he doesn’t love you? Some men just can’t say the words.”

Mia reasoned, “I tried telling him once when we were in bed together I love him. Wouldn’t you think he could at least reply ‘me, too’?”

“Maybe the reason I can’t commit to this marriage thing is the way Rob and I felt about each other, and the way we parted,” Mia thought out loud. “Maybe I should just talk to him once more and see if that’s what’s holding me back.”

Mia knew the phone service where Rob was, was iffy at best. She also knew even if she could get a call through, chances were Rob could be off skiing, or out in the field, or anywhere.

She also knew if she managed to get an email through to him, it could be days before he received it, or was even able to answer her. She knew she didn’t want to wait that long, and she knew time was running out before the wedding.

She had waited till the last possible moment before handing in her notice at work, and she had applied on line for several social worker jobs in Toronto. A chronic shortage of social workers would ensure she would have a job shortly after arrival there.

That night, Mia called Noah, and asked for Rob’s email address.

Noah could have commented on that, but seemingly Ava had cautioned him against saying, “I told you so,” or some such comment. It was another two days before Mia could work up courage to send him a short note, asking him to call her at his earliest convenience.