Courting Alley Cat (17 page)

              “You know what they say,” Zena said, a big grin spreading across her face. “The best of friends make the best of lovers.”

              “I hadn’t heard that,” Alley said, staring at Steven, trying to keep her face blank. Well, if he wanted to be straight, he should be straight. “Congratulations,” she said, deciding that she had to wrap her mind around this thing and be happy for her friends.

              Then Zena was hugging her. “You’ll be my maid of honor, right?”

              “I better be,” Alley said.

              Zena sat down next to Steven and kissed him on the mouth. Alley looked away. She had a ways to go before she could adapt to that image.

              Grabbing Alley’s hand, Zena pulled her onto the couch next to her. “So, tell us.”

              “Tell you what? You two are the ones with all the good news.”

              “What about that guy - Justin?”

              “I don’t know,” Alley said, feeling the lump in her throat that didn’t seem to go away. “He seemed to be a little distracted.”

              “That girl,” Zena remembered. “Well, you don’t need that in your life. You’re in Dallas now. There are lots of guys to choose from.”

              “Yeah,” Alley said, heartlessly. She had grown up in Dallas. She knew what was out there. And sure, there might be a good guy, but there was one thing she knew for certain - Justin was not out there in Dallas. She had left him behind in Hanover. Even now, every muscle in her body was screaming to get back to him. She repeated her mantra once more.
Trust Granny
.

              She inhaled deeply. Repeated her mantra twice more.
Trust Granny.

             
“You really fell for this guy,” Steven said, pulling Zena close again.

              “Steven,” Zena admonished. “Let’s not make her feel any worse than she already does.”

              “Look at her,” he said. “I don’t think she could feel much worse right now.”

              When Alley looked up at them, she knew her heart was in her eyes. She couldn’t help it. They were so happy and so full of hope - just as she had been only a few days ago. When the tears started to fall, she didn’t try to stop them.

              “I have to go,” she managed to say and, pulling away from her friends, hurried to her car.

              The next morning, after Alley had gotten settled in, sat down at the kitchen table to check her mail. There, unnoticed between two credit card statements, was a letter from her editor. She quickly scanned the letter, then with a feeling of panic, she reread it, slowly this time. One sentence, she went back and read a third time.
We had to change your publication date and need your manuscript by July 15
th
.

              She glanced at the wall calendar her mom had hung next to her kitchen desk. Seventeen days. She had seventeen days to complete her novel. She thought about how much was ready to be sent in. Not even half. Then there were revisions to consider.

              She couldn’t do it. There was no way. Zena’s wedding was in six months and she had tons of things to do.

              And then there was the thing she had put off thinking about. Her thesis. She was supposed to have the literature review completed by the time the Fall semester started. She hadn’t ever touched it.

              She sat back and closed her eyes. She had to set some priorities. She would finish the book, then the thesis, and finally Zena’s wedding.

              She had to do it. Her newly established reputation was at stake. If she was going to make it in this business, she had to do it.

              She could overnight it. That left sixteen days. Ok, fifteen to be safe.              

              “Mom?” Alley said, after finding her mom in the solace. When she wasn’t entertaining, or doing some other social thing, she was in the solace. It was her own private space.

              “What is it?”

              Alley ignored the twinge of irritation. Her mom must know it was important for her to disturb her here. She knew that her mom was still a little upset with her about Justin, though, for the life of her, she couldn’t see why her mom would be worried about it. Alley was the one hurting here.

              “I need to borrow your office.”

              Her mom studied her for a moment, then held out her hand for Alley to hand her the letter. She read it quickly, then handed it back. “We need to get busy, then don’t we?”

              Two hours later, Alley stepped back and examined her new office. Her mother was like that. It always astounded Alley that her mother could be so elegant socially and yet still accomplish so many household and work-related things with the efficiency of an executive assistant.

              Her mother’s office was behind the house, up a little path to a secluded spot that looked down into the back yard of the house. Many years ago, Kylee had taken the notion that she wanted to be a writer. Bradley, the doting husband, had had her own little private space built in the back. It had huge windows to look out at the deer and squirrels and had enough bookshelves to rival a small bookstore.

              The only problem was, Kylee couldn’t stand the isolation. She had declared herself banned from the house every time she left for her office. After a mere month, she gave up on the whole idea of working there and moved her computer back into the living room.

              Now it was used only in emergencies such as this one.

              Not only was Alley’s computer set up, but the little compact refrigerator was stocked with sodas, water, and fruit. The little pantry area had enough food for a month.

              Now all she had to do was to get to work.

              Justin locked up the clinic and went upstairs to the kitchen. His eyes automatically strayed to the house next door. Of course, he knew she wouldn’t be there.

              He missed her.

              He missed her more than he had imagined.

              Granny had made it clear that she didn’t want to see him.

              He had to respect that. He wouldn’t force himself on anyone.

              It bothered him, though, that he hadn’t gotten to talk with her himself.

              He could have called her. He had her cell phone number in his phone. He just didn’t know if he could bear her being cold to him. She most likely wouldn’t answer anyway.             

              And he wouldn’t blame her. He took a soda from the refrigerator and drank half of it as his brain churned with confusion.

              He needed to see her. It would have been so much easier if she had just shown back up. Why couldn’t women make things easier, at least some of the time? It was even worse when two of them ganged up together, like Alley and Granny had done.

              No, that wasn’t fair. Alley had left. Granny had ganged up on him. He still wasn’t sure whether or not she believed him about the whole cow thing. He was pretty sure she believed him about the Brenda thing. She had met Brenda, which made things a whole lot more believable.

              So. He had some options. He could sit here like a bump on a log and wait until she showed back up - which could conceivably be never. Granny had been spending holidays in Dallas. Why should that change? Second, he could forget her and move on his way. Yeah, right, like that would ever happen. Or, third, he could get himself over to Dallas and find her. 

              After finishing off his soda, he sat at his desk. His gaze landed on the paper his father had printed out. There, in full color, was Alley’s address, mapped out.

              Justin mentally reviewed his schedule for the week.

              Tomorrow he was booked. But Saturday was coming up, and Dad had offered to relieve him on the weekends at any time so Justin could have the opportunity to actually have a life. He had yet to take him up on it, but this seemed like as good a time as any.

              “Why do you want to see her?”

              This wasn’t going nearly as well as he had hoped. In fact, at this point, he was sort of beginning to wonder if he really did want to see Alley, after all. He had been inside the house for a full fifteen minutes and had gotten nowhere. Although, he had to admit that the homemade cookies almost made both the drive to Dallas and the interrogation by Alley’s mom worthwhile.

              “I guess she told you what happened?”

              “She didn’t tell me so much in words, but the look in her eyes told me all I needed to know.”

              He winced and washed down his bite of cookie with a swallow of fresh-squeezed lemonade. “It was a misunderstanding,” he said.

              “A misunderstanding? When my husband and I have a misunderstanding, we don’t stop talking to each other for hours, much less days or weeks.”

              He nodded and lowered his chin. She was right, of course. “Do you make fresh-baked cookies every day? These are wonderful.”

              “No,” she answer, watching him closely. “I made them for someone.”

              He met her gaze. “Alley?”

              She nodded.

              “I really need to see her.”

              “Then what? Then you go back home and add another notch to your bedpost?”

              His eyes widened. “I’m not like that, Mrs. Alexander.”

              “Then what are you like?”

              “I’m a one woman kind of man. I’ve loved Alley since she was an adolescent coming next door to visit Granny. I couldn’t say anything, because I’m too much older and could have gotten into some trouble, but I knew. Then, when I saw her again, this summer, it was very clear to me. She’s the woman I’m going to marry. She may not know it yet and I sure hope I have your blessing, but I can tell you that even if I don’t, I’m going to do it anyway. That is... if she’ll have me. Which at this point, I’m just not so sure about that. But I’d surely like the chance to try.”

              Kylee was silent for a long time. Justin willed himself not to fidget. He set down his empty glass on the coffee table. And waited.

              Finally, Kylee stood and said simply, “come with me.”

              Justin followed her into the kitchen and watched as she packed a plate with cookies and a put a lid on the pitcher of lemonade. Then after handing him the plate and the pitcher, she opened the back door.

              “Follow that path up to a little house. Alley will tell you herself what it is you want to know.”

              He didn’t answer. He just stared up the path that disappeared into the trees, then, after glancing at Alley’s mom, he stepped out the door.

                                         
Allora so loved Winston. She could not bear to think of going through this life without him.

                           
“Allora,” he said, taking her hand and looking into her eyes.

              “Yes, my love?” Her voice was thick with emotion.

              “You have to make a promise to me.”

              “I’ll promise you anything. You know that.”

              “Promise me that you won’t go off after any evil creatures without me.”

              Allora smiled. Winston was utterly romantic. “I promise.”

              “Good. Now,” he continued. “I have a promise to make to you.”

              “What’s that?”

              “I promise not to go off after any evil creatures without bringing you along,” he said, then took her hand and pressed it to his lips.

                            “And?”

                            “And I promise to love you eternally.”

                            “And?”

                            “And I promise to love both of you eternally,” he said, placing his hand gently on               her swollen stomach.

                            Allora’s eyes grew misty. Indeed, life was good. And having Winston there with               her made it everything else all the better.

The End

             
Alley sat back and appraised her progress. It needed some revising, of course, but the story had gone where she needed it to go. She was actually a little glad that she had revisions to do. She wasn’t ready to give up Allora and Winston. She had grown rather attached to them over time.

              Idly, she wondered if that was a sign of a psychological disorder. She had invented these people and she didn’t want to give them up. Was that how a schizophrenic felt? She shook her head. She was getting delirious - which also couldn’t be a healthy sign.              

              She was surprisingly on target for her deadline. She got up every morning, showered, made coffee, and made her way to the office. She turned on the computer and got right to work.  She would have skipped lunch, but Mom insisted that it was an unhealthy practice, so she would go down to the house and eat a sandwich. Then she would get right back to work. Her favorite time of the day was around three o’clock or so when mom would bring her some type of treat. Sometimes it was a soda and a candy bar. Sometimes it was homemade brownies and a cream soda. It was always a surprise and it was always welcomed. She would work, then, until dinner time, when she would leave her sanctuary and go down to dinner with her parents. Sometimes she would collapse and watch a movie, and sometimes she would go back to writing.