Whisperer (14 page)

Colt and Jesse
grinned at her and then laughed. It was good to see her again. She
had been missed – the three of them had grown up and done
everything together as a trio throughout school. Jesse and Colt
sometimes felt like there was a leg missing without her. And they
both had decided to come see her at the same time.

Meg made them
the striped bass dish she had made earlier. The guys found it
exquisite and were pretty impressed that their sister had become a
fine chef – not just a good cook. Dinner was fun, laughing,
talking, joking. She was able to come back out with them for a
while and they told a few funny family stories, while enjoying each
other’s company. After dinner, Jesse and Colt took a cab to their
sister’s apartment and waited for her to come home from work. She
was able to take the next two days off to be with them. Her boss
took pity on her, since he knew Meg was close to her family and
they lived out of town.

Fisherman’s
Wharf was the first stop the guys wanted to see while visiting Meg.
They bought shrimp and crab at an outside vendor and ate while
looking at the boats in the harbor. Winds off the bay brought fresh
ocean smells that they breathed in with relish.

“Damn, it
smells good here. It’s so dry in Nevada that my skin feels like an
old range cow sometimes.”

“That’s an
interesting image for me, Colt. I’ll try to remember that next time
I’m back home.” Meg and Jesse laughed.

“Would it be
presumptuous of me to ask if anyone wants to start the ‘family
advice’ conversation? I love seeing you both, but I think this is
more than a happy visit.” She looked from one to the other. “Who
wants to start?”

Colt looked
uncomfortable and said nothing, so Jesse began. “I love Audrey, but
I’m not sure about marriage.”

“Why not? You
have terrific role models with Mom and Dad and our grandparents…
Also, Audrey’s parents… What’s on your mind?”

Jesse threw his
remaining food in the nearby trashcan and wiped his mouth with his
napkin. Then he threw that away. Meg knew he was stalling, trying
to find the right words. He had always done that—thinking before
speaking. -- A quality that endeared him to her.

“Divorce, I
guess. Lots of people get married and then divorced. I don’t want
that to happen to Audrey and me.”

“You don’t want
to get married, so you won’t get divorced? Not sure I follow that
line of thought.” Meg looked perplexed.

Colt asked him,
“Do you love Audrey more than any other woman and feel like she is
the only one for you? Does she set your heart on fire when you look
at her and feel a deep need to be with her?” Meg looked sharply at
Colt. Something was definitely going on with him. She had never
heard him speak like that and it wasn’t all about Jesse.

Jesse thought
about that for a minute. “Yes, to all of that. She is the one for
me and always has been.”

“Then what’s
really stopping you from marriage?”

“Fear, I guess,
of making a mistake.”

“If you love
her and she loves you, where’s the mistake?” Meg asked.

“If you make
each other happy and want to be together, where’s the mistake?”
Colt asked.

The brothers
and sister looked from one to another for a long moment. Jesse took
a deep breath and then another. They waited him out and didn’t say
anything. Jesse always needed time to think things over. He was
deliberate and had been since he was a kid. He wouldn’t act unless
he felt the green light inside.

“Let me think
about all this for a while. What you’re saying definitely helps,
and Dad gave me a kick in the rear as well, but I need to think it
through a bit more.” He paused. “Thanks. You’ve helped more than
you know.” He hugged Meg and shook Colt’s hand.

Meg smiled at
Colt. “Cowboy up, brother?”

“You bet, Colt.
Go for it,” said Jesse. Colt shook his head.

“Let’s go back
to your place, Meg. I need another location to spill my tale of
woe.”

“Can’t wait to
hear this one.”

They rode a
cable car back to Meg’s block and then walked a ways to her
apartment. Meg and Jesse exchanged nervous looks. They knew this
was serious for Colt to put them off, even for a little while.
Apparently, he wanted complete confidentially and quiet. He always
knew pretty much what he wanted, so seeing him uncertain was
foreign to them.

When they had
all gotten comfortable in her big living room chairs, taken off
jackets and boots, Meg brought in a chilled bottle of Chardonnay
and three glasses. “I could bring in beer, if you’d prefer, but
this is Sam’s, of course.” She and Jesse laughed. Colt smiled.

She poured the
wine and raised her glass, “To family.”

“To family,”
they agreed. They took sips and set down their glasses. A long
pause followed.

Colt cleared
his throat. “Mandy left for Sacramento.”

“Why?” Meg and
Jesse looked surprised.

“Her crazy
mother showed up, her ex-boyfriend started calling, then throw in
brother Miles, and you get a real nasty brew.” He stopped and
looked at them.

Both Meg and
Jesse just stared at him.
What??

Meg went first.
“But at the roundup and Dad’s party, everything seemed so great for
you two. I thought we’d be hearing wedding bells by now.”

“I thought you
were going to go back to Donner and ask her to marry you. What
happened?” asked Jesse.

“I did. We had
a wonderful night tucked in a blanket on the sofa, a classic movie
on the TV and a fire blazing in the fireplace. It was
picture-perfect. I proposed and she accepted.”

Meg went over
to him to throw her arms around him. “I am so happy for you, Colt.
Congratulations!”

He hugged her
back, “Thanks, Meggie.”

Jesse got up
and came over to shake his hand. “Put her there, partner. Going to
settle down with the pipe and slippers, eh?” They shook hands and
Colt actually laughed.

“Yes, that’s
the good part. Plus I had bought a ring in Naples – Mom helped me
pick it out, and she’s wearing it now… Wherever she is.”

“Why did she go
to Sacramento?”

“Her mother was
staying at her place driving her crazy and Miles showed up on my
doorstep to drive me crazy. Eddy, the asshole, started calling and
texting her to have ‘a talk’ and the whole thing just blew up in
our faces. Miles had a big fight with Deidre, the mother, and left
the whole mess in my lap. Dad called him and told him to get the
hell out of my business, so he beat it.

But he did some
damage before he left. I’m not happy with him.”

“So Mandy went
to Sacramento to escape all the turmoil?” Meg asked.

“Why didn’t she
stay to work things out with you?”

“I think she
was overwhelmed. Also, her mother was pretty harsh with me and
Mandy blew over that. I suspect she wanted Deidre out of town to
give her some sort of ultimatum. She probably wants to deal with
the asshole ex-boyfriend also on her own. We
have
been
talking.”

“So the wedding
isn’t off?” asked Jesse.

“Nope, just
delayed – I think, I hope,” said Colt. He was wondering if the
words he had just spoken were true.

Meg was unhappy
that her brothers were unhappy. She loved them both dearly and
wanted to help in some way.

“Tell me what I
can do to help either of you. Jesse, I could be Cupid and shoot a
love arrow in your heart…. Colt, I could be really bad and just
shoot arrows at Asshole and Crazy to scare them away. Would any of
that help?”

They both
laughed at her. She had a way of turning a cloudy sky into a sunny
one. Just being with her lifted their sagging spirits.

“Also, you
can’t tell me that Mom and Dad don’t know all about this already. I
think Janie must work for the secret police or something. It’s
scary the amount of information they compile. And how about Grandma
and Grandpa? Jeanne can sniff out a problem from a hundred yards
away. Sam may be a bit slower, but he catches up fast. No advice
from them?”

“I have spoken
to Jeanne. She sure can say the right words to make you feel
better. She insisted that it would all work out in the end because
Act Three was right around the corner.” They all laughed at
that.

“She even
called and spoke to Mandy a little bit. Mandy told her about our
engagement, but then cried about the rest of it. Jeanne tried to
get her out to Sonoma, but Mandy insisted she had a few things to
do in Sacramento that couldn’t wait. Grandma said she sounded
pretty determined.”

“I really like
that about Mandy,” said Jesse. “She knows what she wants and goes
to get it. I could learn something from her.”

“Really?” asked
Meg smiling. “Like what?”

“Like making up
my stupid mind about Audrey. What
am
I waiting for? Things
are only going to get better between us, once I can get my feet out
of the concrete block they’ve been sitting in.”

“Oh – Oh…. It’s
the dreaded C-word, Jesse.” said Colt.

Meg started
guessing. “Is it ‘command’ or ‘context’ or ‘confusion’ or….”

“ ‘Connect’,
‘commiserate’, ‘consign’, ‘confide’…”

“Very funny.
Okay…I’m not afraid to say it – commitment. There!”

Colt and Meg
started applauding, blowing raspberries and kisses.

“Let’s have a
fun day tomorrow, guys, and then go back to deal with whatever.
Where do you want to go?”

Meg and Colt
said, “Golden Gate Park” together.

“You want to
ride horses through the park?” When they nodded, he said,
“Perfect.”

Deidre was
waiting for Mandy at the Sweet Pony Restaurant in Old Town
Sacramento. Mandy thought it was appropriate to come full circle,
where she had met Colt in the very beginning. It meant a great deal
to her and she was going to have it out, once and for all, with her
mother. Enough was enough. Deidre had been happy that her daughter
finally called her. Mandy probably hadn’t called her since moving
to Donner Lake and meeting Colt. She was beginning to have second
thoughts about her behavior and the consequences that would result.
What if Mandy married Colt? What if they had children? Her
grandchildren?

Mandy walked
into the restaurant, saw her mother and went over to sit down with
her at a booth. Deidre noticed she didn’t smile and knew she had
some real groveling to do. Did she want to do it? Could she do
it?

“Hello,
Mom.”

“Hello, Amanda,
dear. Thank you so much for calling and inviting me to lunch. I
appreciate it more than you know.”

“This is it,
Mom. This is the last time I am calling you. If you don’t clean up
your act, this will be the last time you ever see me. Is that
understood?” She didn’t smile.

The waitress
came over to hand them menus. She looked from one woman to the
other, gave them the menus and hurried away. They didn’t look happy
or particularly hungry.

“Amanda, could
we just calm down and eat a little lunch. It’s good to see you. How
are you? Her mother tried to smile at her.

“How do you
think I am? You’ve caused enough trouble for me and for Colt that I
had to break off my life with him to come and sort this out.
Between you and Eddy, I haven’t had much fun lately.”

“Oh, Eddy
called you? How nice.”

“It isn’t nice,
nor is it welcome to have him call me. You gave him my new cell
number. Why do you think I changed it in the first place? .... No
idea?.... So he wouldn’t call me anymore. I’m sorry that I even
gave it to
you
now.”

“Oh, don’t say
that. We’re getting off on the wrong foot here. Can’t we just enjoy
ourselves as mother and daughter?” She ran her hand nervously
through her hair.

“When was the
last time we did that? -- Maybe when Dad was alive, but that’s sure
going back a few years. Lately, all you’ve done for me is create
trouble.”

The waitress
came back. “Are you ready to order?” she asked hesitantly looking
at Mandy.

“I’ll just have
a cup of coffee.”

“That’s
it?”

“Yep. I’m not
really hungry.” Mandy handed the menu back to the waitress.

“Well, I’d like
the steak sandwich, medium rare on sourdough. Thanks. Oh, and
coffee.” Again, the waitress beat a hasty retreat. The temperature
at this table was below freezing.

“What did Eddy
want?”

“I don’t know
and I don’t care. I’m engaged to Colt, Mom, but now I have to deal
with Eddy again. That’s another problem you caused for me.”

Deidre looked
down at her hands and then up to Mandy. “I’m sorry I said those
things to Colt when we met in Truckee. He seems like a nice, young
man.”

“No shit. Why
did you say those horrible things? He didn’t deserve that. You
don’t even know him.”

Deidre looked
very uncomfortable and squirmed in her seat. “We haven’t lived
together in a long time and I’ve been able to keep something from
you.”

“Okay, I’ll
bite. What?” Mandy was losing patience.

The waitress
came over and hurriedly poured them each a cup of coffee. She left
just as quickly and said nothing. Mandy put sugar in her cup and
stirred.

“I’ve been
going to AA. Ever since the breakup with Gary, I’ve been drinking
too much and, I guess, it has affected my behavior. Maybe you’ve
noticed.”

Mandy took a
sip of her coffee and looked at Deidre over her coffee cup.

“Really?” she
deadpanned. “I hadn’t noticed at all.”

“Amanda, I’m so
sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused. Honestly… What can I do to
make it up to you?” She seemed sincere, but who knows? “I don’t
want to lose my only daughter. Please say it isn’t too late for
us.”

Too much water
under the bridge… How do you keep forgiving someone who keeps doing
the same behavior over and over, but claims it will all be
different the next time? Wasn’t that the definition of insanity?
Mandy thought that over for a minute.