Clouds (10 page)

Now it was too late to call. They were in the air. On their way. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen.

Outside, the sky was a seamless blue without a cloud. Far, far below them lay the thick, brown earth, marked in perfect patchwork squares of autumn fields plowed under.

Heartland
, Shelly thought.
Kansas. Maybe Iowa. No, we’re too far north. Maybe it’s Manitoba. How dry it looks. So precisely measured and divided. And so lonely. I know that feeling. I think I did the same thing to my heart, plowed it all under and left it in its tidy little sections
.

Shelly glanced at her sister, who was wearing a headset and watching the movie from the middle seat. Shifting her position, Shelly returned her attention to the view out the window.

She had never realized how compact the seat space was. A passenger couldn’t cross her legs if the person in front of her had reclined the seat. And the meal tray barely fit on the tray table if the seat was reclined. Buttering a roll without elbowing one’s neighbor was also a challenge. Shelly felt claustrophobic, which gave her a whole new appreciation for what it was like to be a passenger.

The endless view out the window was her only source of calm. Blue, blue skies kept her content for many miles, as her imagination spun and wove and then unraveled a dozen scenarios of what it would be like to see Jonathan again.

She finally admitted to herself hours later that she was
scared to face him. She was a scaredy-cat, just like he had called her years ago when she was so leery of climbing the steps up to the tree house. But also just like that childhood experience, Shelly knew she had to overcome her fear of seeing Jonathan.

Look at you! You’re not afraid of heights anymore. You fly for a living. You’ve sat here for hours looking out this window. You can get over this fear of Jonathan Renfield
.

Shelly continued to coach herself as the cabin lights came on and the drowsy passengers awakened. She knew she would have to take each step as it came. Maybe it would be convenient to rent a car and drive to Belgium, and maybe it wouldn’t. Maybe when they arrived at Jana’s she would have news that would help determine Shelly’s next step. Maybe Jana had told Jonathan that Meredith was coming, and he had decided to come to Heidelberg to see her. When he arrived, he would be pleasantly surprised to see Shelly. At least she hoped he would consider it a pleasant surprise.

What if he had turned bitter toward her over the years? No, not Jonathan. He was nothing but tenderness and kindness.

Gazing below as the shadowy clouds of night cleared, Shelly watched a city stir with the morning. All the lights that had been turned on to protect homes during the night were being turned off. Shelly felt herself turning off her own security lights and letting the adventure of this new day light her path.

Chapter Nine
 

T
he last part of their journey seemed the longest. They encountered delays at the Frankfurt airport in the baggage-claim area. Security required that all baggage be checked to the claim tickets, and uniformed guards with the aid of dogs were randomly checking luggage. The intensity of the security made Shelly aware of the ever-present danger of bombings and terrorist activity. For the first time she felt nervous about being in a foreign country.

Strangely, Meredith seemed more confident and decisive than Shelly. She was the one who remembered they needed to exchange some money before trying to find the train station. Shelly felt physically and emotionally exhausted. All the exercise her mind and heart had done on the flight was showing up now when she really needed to be clear-headed.

Once their passports were stamped, their luggage cleared, their money exchanged, and they had found their seats on the train to Heidelberg, Shelly laid her head back and fell asleep.
All too soon, Meredith shook her and said, “We’re here. Get your stuff.”

They had both packed light, on Shelly’s insistence, and it paid off now when they had to grab their belongings and hop off the train. Pulling their wheeled bags behind them and wearing their warm jackets, Shelly and Meredith headed down the platform toward the main entrance. Meredith led the way as if she had been there before. Of course neither of them had.

“Jana’s going to meet us at the curb out front. She said it was easier for her to do that than to park and come in. We’re a few minutes late, but she should be there.”

For an instant, Shelly wondered if by any remote possibility Jonathan might be with Jana. Shelly became self-conscious of her appearance. Her hair was much longer than Jonathan had ever seen it. At the moment, she had it pulled back in a ponytail holder. When she was working, she usually wore it in a twisted French roll, but it wouldn’t be easy to locate her bobby pins now to try to fix it. She had worn no makeup on the flight since twelve hours was a long time for makeup to stay fresh. Besides, she wasn’t working this flight so she didn’t feel the need to try to look fresh and friendly to all the passengers.

Another thing that had changed in the past five years was her weight. Shelly had been more consistent in working out. She weighed five pounds more than she had in high school, but it was well distributed. Her figure had changed, too, she thought. A little more on top, a little rounder on the bottom. The tomboy was gone from her frame. Would Jonathan notice the way her shape had graced itself into a woman?

“Do you think we should stop and go to the restroom before we meet her?” Shelly asked.

“Do you need to go?”

“Well, not really, I guess. I can wait.” Shelly hoped her sister
couldn’t read her thoughts and figure out why Shelly wanted to make the stop.

They stepped into the brisk air of the Heidelberg morning, and someone immediately called out, “Meri! Over here! Meredith!” A woman hung her head from the open passenger window of a blue minivan and waved at them.

“There she is. Perfect,” Meredith said. “Come on.”

Jana and her husband, Mike, greeted them both enthusiastically and helped them into the van with the luggage.

“That’s all you have?” Jana said. “I’m impressed.” She was taller than Shelly and Meredith and wore funky, wire-rimmed glasses. Her dark hair was short, with a point at the back of her neck, a sort of backward widow’s peak. Mike wore bizarre glasses, too, with large, colored wire frames. He was a large man, older than his wife, and had the build of someone who had played football in college and then stopped working out.

“We have to run a few quick errands,” Jana said. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. How are you two?” Meredith patted both of them on the back as Mike pulled out of the parking lot. “It’s so good to see you.”

“We’re doing pretty good,” Jana said.

“We’re way too busy,” Mike said. “We have our quarterly staff meeting starting tomorrow morning, so we apologize ahead of time if we don’t get to spend a whole lot of time with you. Heidelberg is such a fun city you won’t need a tour guide.”

“I told you about the staff meeting, didn’t I?” Jana said, turning around and smiling at them. “We live downtown near the university. It’s a compact, typical European flat, but we do have a guest room. We’ll give you a key; so you’re welcome to come and go as you wish.”

Meredith was asking questions about the famous
Heidelberg Castle and about obtaining tickets for a tour-boat ride. All Shelly could think of were Mike’s words, “quarterly staff meeting.” Jonathan was staff. Maybe she wouldn’t have to figure out a way to get to Belgium. Maybe Jonathan would come here. Maybe he was already here.

“Is there anything we can do to help you guys with your staff meeting?” Shelly asked. “Is it going to be held at your home?”

“No, we have a meeting room at a church,” Jana said. “It’s a two-day meeting. We’ll have two other guests on our living room floor tomorrow night, but no, there’s nothing you can do. You’re welcome to meet us for dinner, if you would like.”

Shelly’s mind was reeling. How could she ask about Jonathan without letting out a wild shriek? What if he was one of the staff people who would be sleeping on the living room floor? Couldn’t Meredith see her agony? Why couldn’t she come right out and ask about Jonathan for Shelly?

“We could stay at a hotel,” Meredith said, “if you need your guest room.”

“Are you kidding? No way would I want you to spend the kind of money they demand for a decent room in this town. You put your bid in first. You’re my guest. I don’t want you to stay anywhere else.”

“Really,” Mike added. “She’s been looking forward to this, Meredith. I’m counting on you to give her a good bit of refreshment. After our staff meeting you still have a few days, don’t you?”

“I don’t have to be in Frankfurt until Wednesday at nine in the morning,” Meredith said. “Oh, look! That’s the castle, isn’t it? It looks just like the postcards you sent me. That was a pretty dumb thing to say. Of course it looks like the postcards.” Meredith laughed contagiously.

“It’s the jet lag,” Mike offered. “It’s hitting you already.”

Meredith kept laughing as she looked out the window. The
castle on the hill did indeed look enchanting. Even though it was far away, it was impressive. The stone wall stood in bold defiance of the hundreds of years that had sharpened their worst days on its ledges. Tawny, brazen, and unshaken, the Heidelberg Castle crouched like a lion overlooking the city.

Shelly pulled her gaze away and formed another question for their host and hostess, “Are your staff coming in tonight?”

“Some are. Some will drive in early tomorrow morning. Depends on where they’re coming from,” Mike said.

“Is this a quarterly meeting for everyone who works for your organization?” Shelly asked.

“Almost everyone is coming,” Jana said.

There was a pause as the car rumbled over a bump in the narrow road and came to a halt in front of what looked like an automotive-repair shop. Shelly inconspicuously poked her sister, hoping Meredith would take the hint and ask outright about Jonathan. Too entranced by their surroundings, Meredith peered out the side window and seemed unaffected by Shelly’s misery or the poke.

“That reminds me,” Jana said as Mike ran into the small shop. “Your old neighbor will be here for the meetings. I haven’t mentioned to him that you guys are here. Meri told you, didn’t she, that we found out we both know Jonathan?”

“She told me,” Shelly said cautiously.

“He’s coming?” Meredith said, suddenly catching on. “That’s fantastic! He’ll be so surprised to see us.” Meredith pinched Shelly on the thigh, causing Shelly to jump a little. Meredith’s golden laughter spilled all over them.

“What’s so funny?” Jana asked.

“Oh, just the thought of seeing Jonathan again,” Meri said, trying to regain her composure. Shelly could tell Meredith’s laugh was full of happiness, the kind of laugh she had tucked away for Easter-egg hunts and Christmas mornings when they
were kids. She was as excited about Shelly seeing Jonathan as Shelly was.

“It’s been a long time,” Meredith explained. “More than five years. I was just wondering if he had changed much.”

“The only way that guy could have changed is if he was a royal terror as a kid, because now he’s a dream. Believe me, he is one of the best youth leaders we have on staff. Mike is really close to him. I think he’s a doll.”

Hearing this person Shelly had met twenty minutes ago talk about her Jonathan so freely made her want to spill her guts about her deep and abiding, albeit only recently resurrected, love for Jonathan.

Fortunately, Meredith spoke up first. “When is he coming? Is he staying at your house? Shelly and I should think of some way to surprise him.”

“I’m not sure when he’s arriving. He’s not staying at our place. We have two staff women coming. We thought it would be a little easier, since we already had you two, to sign up for two women. With only one bathroom, a couple of guys would have really complicated things.”

“What could we do to surprise him?” Meredith asked, her mischievous eyes twinkling.

Shelly swallowed hard and smiled at her sister.

“Just show up at our staff meeting tomorrow morning at nine. That should shock him enough. The church is only a few blocks from our house. You have to go through the
Floh Markt
, but that makes it a fun walk. I’ll show you when we get home.”

“What’s that? A German flea market?” Meredith asked.

“Exactly.”

Mike came running back to the car with a long, black rubber loop in his hand. “Okay,” he said, jumping into the driver’s seat. “They had the fan belt I ordered for Barb’s car. What’s next on the list?”

“The post office, and that’s it.”

Shelly absorbed herself with thoughts of Jonathan while Mike and Jana finished their errands. The billboards they passed looked similar to ones at home, only these were in German. The stores all looked vaguely familiar in this newer part of town. She could almost believe they were driving in an American city by the looks of things. But she noticed slight variations from the American versions of billboards, streetlights, buses, and the shapes of the cars and trucks that passed them on the noticeably narrow streets.