9

Marilyn Anderson sat on the sofa and watched as her husband, Jim, came hurrying out of their master bedroom doorway. He was getting ready to leave for an appointment, but he seemed to instinctively know she was too exhausted to get up and kiss him good-bye. She was grateful she had the day off from both of her weekday occupations: her part-time job at Odds-n-Ends and her volunteer work at the Women’s Resource Center.

He walked toward her, bent down, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Her mind drifted back to yesterday’s dinner after church.

Only half the crowd had left after coffee and dessert. By then, it was late afternoon. The rest hung around long enough to heat up the leftovers around six. Michele had stayed until well after dark. Marilyn felt bad for her daughter. She was clearly down and missed Allan something awful. Marilyn had spent a good deal of energy simply trying to lift Michele’s spirits. After Michele left, the house still wasn’t quiet, of course, since Tom and his family lived upstairs.

They had been living there for a year now, since they had been forced to unload their house in a short sale. She loved having them here, especially loved getting to spend so much time with her grandkids. But she could never fully relax until they were in bed. Jean did her best to give them some sense of separation, making as much use of the upstairs as possible.

“Will you be gone all day?” she asked Jim.

“Actually, no. I was only going to take a half day. Maybe a little more than half. If you’re able to, I’d like to take you out for a little bit around midafternoon. Maybe go for a walk down by the river or get a cup of coffee.”

“Really?”

He looked upstairs for a moment, making sure they were alone. “I have some pretty big news to share with you.”

Marilyn sat up straight. “Is it about what you and Audrey Windsor were talking about yesterday?”

“It is.” He looked upstairs again.

“Can you tell me—”

Her phone rang. Jim was closer, so he picked it up. “Hello? Excuse me? Oh yes. She’s here. What’s that? I see . . . just a moment, let me see if she can come to the phone.” He pressed the mute button. “Hon, it’s Arlene from the Women’s Resource Center. Do you want to take it?”

Instantly, Marilyn shook her head no, then felt a strong impression God wanted her to say yes. Or maybe it was just guilt. She waved for Jim to hand her the phone. “Hello, Arlene?”

“Marilyn, could I ask you a huge favor? I know you’re off today and I wouldn’t call you at home like this normally, but something pretty important has come up. Do you have a minute?”

Jim kissed her on the cheek, whispered, “See you around 2:30,” and waved good-bye as he opened the door to leave.

She waved back then gave Arlene her undivided attention.

“About an hour ago,” Arlene said, “I got a phone call about a young girl we’ve been counseling for several months. Her name is Christina. She’s going through a really tough time right now.”

“I think I know who she is,” Marilyn said, “but I’ve never met her.”

“I got Christina to agree to meet me down at the center,” Arlene said. “I’m wondering if you could possibly join me there. I’d really appreciate it. I don’t want to lose this girl. She’s in such a vulnerable place right now.”

Marilyn held her cell phone a few inches away from her face, closed her eyes, and released a sigh. Now she wished she hadn’t taken the call. She was aching for rest. What Arlene was asking hardly seemed like a restful thing. “There isn’t any other time we could meet her?” Marilyn asked. “It has to be today?”

“I’m afraid so,” Arlene said. “Christina’s mentor, Megan . . . you know Megan.”

“I do.”

“Megan was supposed to meet with her today. In fact, this was supposed to be their last time together. Last week, Megan got a call from her sister saying their mother was very sick. She asked if Megan could come up there soon to help. She’ll probably be gone for months. She hated leaving all her girls but felt she had no choice. Yesterday, Megan’s mother took a sudden turn for the worse, and she had to leave this morning to fly up north. That’s what has Christina so upset. At least that’s part of it. She was hinting about pulling out of the program altogether until I told her I’d meet with her myself. I’d be the one doing most of the talking today. But if you could be there, and she got a chance to meet you, I think it would reassure her she’s not going to fall through the cracks.”

“When would I need to be there?”

“We’re meeting in my office in just over an hour.”

An hour, Marilyn thought. Everything inside her wanted to say no, but again, she felt this tug that God wanted her to do this. “Okay. I can do that.”

“Oh, thank you. I’m so glad you said yes. I’m going to call Christina right away and tell her. I’ll see you in a little while.” Arlene sounded excited.

At least one of them was.

Christina pulled into the parking lot of the Women’s Resource Center and stared at the front door through the windshield of her ’98 Ford Taurus. The windows were down since the A/C didn’t work. Barely anything in this car did. It had all these fancy buttons and gadgets, but most of them didn’t do a thing. She guessed their purpose was to remind her of still more things she couldn’t afford.

She really didn’t want to come here today. Ms. Ryan had talked her into it. That’s right, Arlene. She wanted Christina to call her Arlene, which she found hard to do. Arlene was a real lady, refined and—what was that other word? Dignified. Refined and dignified. Not the kind of person she felt right calling by her first name. She was sure Arlene had asked for that courtesy to better identify with her, make it seem as if their lives weren’t so far apart. But the gap was huge, and using first names wasn’t going to close it.

Arlene was nice enough, though, and Christina had decided to give this thing one more try. It really upset her losing Megan. They had been meeting together for over three months now, every week at least. Christina felt like she could really trust Megan, could ask her anything, and Megan would answer her straight up.

Megan had quickly become like the mother Christina never had. Well, Christina had a mom, biologically speaking, back home in New York. But Christina had seen enough moms on TV shows and movies to know how far offtrack her childhood had been.

“Mom” was living with boyfriend number four, and that count was just in the last three years. Number four, like all the rest, hit on Christina whenever her mother wasn’t looking. She’d had enough of it. “Mom” hadn’t even tried to contact her after she’d been gone a month, even though Christina kept sending her notes about where she lived now.

But Megan had fit the mother role nicely. Christina had actually begun to believe Megan truly loved her, in a motherly sort of way. Megan had said she did many times, and Christina was finally beginning to believe it.

And now Megan was gone.

Christina knew she had good reason. Megan’s mom was dying, all of a sudden out of nowhere, Megan had said. She hated to leave Christina stranded like this, but she had to fly home and take care of her. Of course she did. Christina knew this.

It didn’t help any.

She looked up, noticed a nice car pull into one of the open spaces by the front door. An attractive brunette got out, and it wasn’t until she turned to face the parking lot that Christina realized she knew this woman. Well, she didn’t really know her. But she recognized her as one of the regular volunteers. Christina had thought she could’ve been a fashion model when she was younger. The attractive lady walked to the front door just as Arlene came out to greet her.

No way, Christina thought. Was this her new mentor? Both women turned to walk inside, but Arlene stopped to look once more at the parking lot before closing the door. Christina wanted to duck, but she wasn’t fast enough. Arlene saw her sitting in the car. She smiled and waved.

Well, Christina had better get out and give this thing a try.

She had promised Megan this morning she would.