Some Day Somebody (3 page)

Early August

Damn, my life sucks.

Sam Langley stared up at the August evening sky from the front porch of his home. Today marked the unwelcome anniversary of his first year as a single man—middle aged, single, and not enjoying it in the least. Funny the divorce should finalize on the exact same day.

God it was hot. The dog days of summer were upon them, with no relief in sight for at least another month, maybe even two. July had broken records for heat and humidity levels, causing temps to rise into triple digits.  He braced both hands on the porch rails, and breathed in air that was hot and dense with moisture.  Nothing compared to summertime in south Louisiana.

As fast as it got here, it’d be gone. Before long, he’d be surrounded by the sights, sounds and smells of Fall...Parents calling kids in to do homework, music and cadences drifting over from the stadium as the high school marching band practiced routines for Friday night’s game, the smell of leaves burning, or the occasional lit fireplace as someone took advantage of the first cool snap. Fall meant lower temps and drier air as humidity levels dropped, causing the entire population to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Normally, he’d welcome the sights and sounds of the fall months. It meant the reddish gold of leaves as they turned, and the calls of Speckle Bellied and Blue geese flying in from the north, precise in their V-formations. Unfortunately, along with football season and shorter days, the fall season would also bring the long, lonely nights he dreaded.

He walked inside to answer his ringing phone, thankful for the interruption of his personal pity party. A smile crossed his face as he recognized his married daughter’s number on the caller ID, no doubt calling to check up on her old man again.

“Hey Pop, how you doing tonight?”

“I’m okay, Amanda. You and Joe just making it back from your mom’s?”

“Uh huh, I know how you worry so I called to let you know.”

“I’m glad you did. Is your brother walking home?”

“One of Nick’s buddies picked him up. He asked me to let you know he’ll be riding around for an hour or so.”

“Okay, hon.” He paused. “
How’s
your mom and everyone on that end?”

“Everyone’s okay.”

Sam heard a catch in her voice and waited through the awkward moment of silence. “What?”

“It’s just that, I was a little surprised when she told me the divorce went through.”

Sam heard the hesitation in her voice.

“Why didn’t you tell us, Pop?”

He clenched his jaw and took the phone out to the porch with him. “I didn’t want to involve you in our mess.”

Amanda spoke quietly. “I would rather have heard the news while I was home, so I could mope in private.”

“I’m sorry.” He released his breath in a long, slow hiss. “One year ago, I never would have believed I’d be facing another summer—another fall, and all of those damn holidays—alone again.” Being single for the holidays was number one on his list of least favorite things.

“You have us.”

“I know. I appreciate having you kids around, too. But...”
That won’t put a damper on those long, lonely winter nights.

Sam stood still and listened to the sounds of small town life. The young mother from next door pleading with her husband to help get their two rowdy boys settled—a barking dog down the street—the slow steady rhythm of the train’s freight cars clattering along the rail six blocks to the west. “When your mother left me a year ago, I really believed she’d be back by the end of the month.” 
Like all the other times she left in our twenty-one year marriage.

“We all thought the same thing, but I guess Mom had other plans.”

Sam grunted in agreement as he heard Amanda cover the phone and speak to someone else in a muffled voice.

“I need to go now, Daddy. Are you
gonna
be okay?”

Sam smiled at the label that called to mind images from years past. His little girl, with banged up knees, big brown eyes, a constant pixie grin, and long, black pigtails...now twenty years old with a husband of her own. “You go on and get back to Joe. Don’t worry about me.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too, baby girl.”

Sam ended the call and stood there, remembering the day Linda left. How the first month’s confidence in her return had slowly disintegrated when two months stretched into three, then four. The loneliness had eaten at him, eventually forcing him to accept the death of his marriage. It ended the only life he’d known for over two decades, with the only woman he’d ever known, in the biblical sense, anyway.

He found himself twisting the plain, gold wedding band he’d continued to wear, even though Linda had discarded hers immediately.

He pulled it off and raised it skyward to view the partial moon telescopically through the circle of gold. Sam palmed the ring before walking to the end of the sidewalk then out to the middle of the street. Without giving it another glance, he wound up and pitched it as far as he could into the night. He never heard it land but knew it was gone, long gone, like his wife and marriage.

Heat enveloped him as he made his way back to the porch. Sam dropped heavily onto the top step, feeling the residual warmth from the cement. As miserable as it was out here, he dreaded going back inside.

Sam gazed up at the star studded sky, amazed at how much he sucked at going solo. He’d have at least thought he’d enjoy being able to watch what he wanted on television, but he didn’t.  He hated being alone, hated shopping for groceries alone, and hated not having a reason to shave. Scratching at his three day growth of beard, he thought of his king size bed and how much he hated sleeping alone. It wasn’t even the sex, although he missed that, too. It was being in that big old bed, with nobody to talk to at night.

Sam wiped a hand roughly over his eyes.
I’m lonely, damn it all.
He stood up slowly and shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his denim shorts. He looked up at the sky as though he were talking to God. “So what the hell do I do now, huh? What do you have in store for this old man?”

Old man?
He shifted uneasily at the thought of his birthday around the corner. Being thirty-nine and single hadn’t done much for his mood at work. He doubted moving into the fourth decade of his life would be any better. He’d gone from the office clown to ‘
Oscar the Grouch’
in no time at all. At first the nickname his survey crew gave him had been an inside joke, but his ever present surliness had made it too easy for the rest of his co-workers to adopt it. He prayed something changed before it became a permanent condition. Sam emitted a low growl at the thought. The last thing he needed was to be forever associated with one of Jim Henson’s Muppets.

CHAPTER 2

Mid
August

Carrie followed her new supervisor around the office as he gave her the grand tour.

Dale spoke in a quiet drawl, typical of people raised in the northern parishes of Louisiana. “Counting you, we have five designers, and a five man survey party. That’s headed by Sam Langley, here,” he said, pointing to someone just walking into the front door. “Nice of you to join us, Langley, you want to introduce Carrie to your bunch?”

Carrie turned and found herself facing a big, barrel chest covered in a blue chambray work shirt.  She lifted her gaze up...up...to the tall, broad-shouldered man standing before her. Striking blue eyes, nearly the same color as his shirt, held her attention as he stared solemnly down at her.

The fair haired man nodded, and introduced each of his crew members in a business-like manner before retreating into a nearby office.

Carrie watched him walk away, wondering if she had done something to offend him.

The only other woman in the office walked by with a mug of coffee and offered her hand. “Hey, I’m Roxanne but everyone calls me Roxie. Don’t pay any attention to
Oscar
.”

Carrie’s gaze danced from one stranger to the next. “I don’t remember meeting an Oscar.”

Roxie sipped her coffee and motioned toward the office that mister big, blonde, and blue-eyed had disappeared into. “Sam Langley, aka Oscar the Grouch.”

“Yeah, I noticed he didn’t look like a happy camper.”

“He’s been cranky since his wife left him over a year ago,” Roxie explained.

Carrie sucked in her breath and grimaced.  “I know the feeling. I’m waiting for my divorce to finalize any day now.”

Roxie wiggled the fingers of her left hand to flash her wedding ring. “I’ve been through it, too, but now I’m on my third husband.”

Carrie cringed at the woman’s confession. “Are you one of those people who walk on broken glass for kicks?”

Roxie put her head back and laughed. “Men...Can’t live with ‘
em
, too damn broke to live without ‘
em
.”

***

Before Carrie knew it, she’d been at her job for two weeks. She enjoyed the relaxed working environment and had already formed lasting friendships with her co-workers, or most of them, anyway.

On the second day of September she glanced up from her studying as members of the office car pool entered from the back door, as usual, nearly ten minutes late. From her own brief experience with the carpool, she was well aware of who to blame.

She’d never forget the embarrassment of being fifteen minutes late her second day on the job because of Sam’s inability to get to work on time.

She’d sat in that truck with the others, waiting for Sam, and seething at his tardiness. The driver, a member of his survey crew, refused to leave without him, so they waited at his designated pick-up spot until he finally arrived, fifteen minutes later than he should have been. Once he’d taken his sweet time to settle himself in his front seat place of honor, she’d given him a verbal chew-out he’d accepted with pure indignation. Since then, anytime they were in the vicinity of each other, the room temperature dropped to match her icy disregard for her co-worker.

She met Sam’s gaze briefly, as he dropped coins into the soft drink machine, before returning her attention to her study guide.

“Look at you, hard at it this early in the morning. I’m so impressed.”

Carrie responded in a dry monotone. “Goody...I can sleep at night.” She knew little about the man, other than the fact that
Oscar
seemed to be in a perpetual bad mood.

He folded his long body over to retrieve his can of Coke, and walked slowly toward her desk. “
What’cha
got there?”

“A study guide,” she said, returning to her book. The sooner she could get a couple of certifications under her belt, the better. Certifications plus time, meant a raise in pay, and boy did she need that. She’d just tanked up her car for the second time, since dropping out of the car pool. With the price of gas, her paychecks wouldn’t go far.

“
Hmph
,” he grunted, popping the lid on his drink. “That’s all you ever do is study.  What’s the hurry?  If you needed the money you’d still be in the carpool.”

She stared up at the man, shocked at his nerve. “If you’ll think back, genius, I tried that.”