Sunsets (26 page)

L
ater that evening, after the majority of Lauren’s boxes were unpacked, Kyle and Jessica announced it was time for the six of them to take a dessert break. Kyle gave his wife a wink, and she smiled back.

Then Kyle led them to his truck and suggested that Jessica and Alissa sit in the cab with him. Lauren, Kenton, and Brad were offered the truck bed, which they shared with a large ice chest and a stack of woven Mexican blankets.

“I can drive my car,” Kenton offered.

“Not where we’re going,” Kyle said. “What’s wrong? You getting too old for a little adventure?”

“Never!” Kenton said, slipping his arm around Lauren’s shoulders. She wrapped her arm around Kenton’s middle, and Alissa noticed how nicely the two seemed to fit together.

Kyle turned to Alissa and said, “If you’re not up for this, I would understand. Your rash looks better, but I know it must still be bothering you.”

“I’m okay,” Alissa said. “Where are we going?”

“A secret little dining spot we found,” Jessica said as she climbed up into the truck. “I think you’ll like it.”

Alissa sat next to the window on a beach towel Kyle had brought along. He said it was so the seat’s upholstery wouldn’t irritate her, but Alissa thought it might be in case she was still contagious. She made sure she sat as far away from Jessica as she could and let Kyle open and close the door for her. They were all being kind and gracious about her poison oak, yet Alissa couldn’t help but feel like a leper.

Kyle drove to the edge of town and then turned, with a sudden bump, onto a dirt road. A wail of protest rose from the trio in the bed of the truck along with some friendly fist pounding on the back window.

“We found a waterfall back here,” Jessica confided to Alissa as the road grew bumpier. “It’s not more than a trickle this time of year, but you should see it in May when the wildflowers are blooming!”

The truck came to an abrupt halt, and the protesting threesome jumped out of the back. Alissa waited for Kyle to open her door, but it was Brad who opened it. She made note of his kind act and thought it was nice the way his sister’s friends were rubbing off on him.

“Hey, Kenton,” Kyle called out, “give me a hand with this ice chest.”

“This is no ice chest,” Kenton said. “This is a refrigerator with handles. Doesn’t it come with wheels? And where’s the espresso cart?”

“You’ll see,” Jessica said. She handed Brad and Alissa flashlights and slipped a thin sweater around her shoulders. Kyle grabbed a couple more flashlights and stacked the blankets on top of the ice chest.

“This is so fun!” Lauren said. She held her light up for Kenton as he and Kyle blazed their way along the worn trail into the forest.

“I hear water,” Brad said after they had walked about twenty yards.

“That’s Heather Creek,” Kyle said. “Over this way. There’s a place I cleared.”

“Yes indeedie, boys and girls,” Kenton teased. “There’s no need to fear when fire fighter Kyle is here.”

Alissa followed them into a clearing surrounded by huge ferns. Straight ahead was a ten-foot waterfall trickling into a small, dark pool edged with rocks. She flashed her light around the rocks and could see where the pool let out into Heather Creek, which was a hushed brook.

“This is incredible,” Lauren said. “How did you guys ever find this place? I want to build a house right here.”

Kyle put down the huge ice chest as Jessica began to spread out the blankets for them to sit on. He took a deep breath and said, “We bought it.”

“How do you buy a waterfall?” Brad said.

“The property. We bought forty-three acres along this creek. We’d like to develop it into a camp someday. We were eager to show it to you guys, but when it’s hot like this, the bugs are pretty bad during the day. Jess and I like coming here for midnight picnics.” Kyle lowered his voice and tilted up his head. “Look up there.”

Alissa followed his glance, up past the towering pines into the deep night sky. A thousand glittering stars returned her gaze. To the right, the moon, as round and bright as a beach ball, seemed to be balanced on the pointed nose of the tallest pine tree.

“It’s beautiful,” Lauren said. She moved next to Kenton and
wrapped her arms around him. Kyle sat on top of the ice chest and patted his knee, inviting Jessica to sit and watch the night sky with him.

Alissa and Brad stood about six feet apart. They awkwardly turned and looked at each other at the same moment. Alissa wished he would move closer. He didn’t have to hold her hand or take her in his arms. After all, she was still covered with an unappealing rash. All he had to do was move one step closer.

But he didn’t. Instead he stood his ground and turned his gaze up into the sky, checking out his sister and her boyfriend out of the corner of his eye.

See?
Alissa told herself.
There’s nothing between us. The attraction I feel for him is not mutual. I have no reason to feel so drawn toward him
.

She convinced herself that the moments she felt attracted to Brad were temporary feelings. He didn’t have those feelings for her. He treated her like a chum, one of the guys. Not at all like someone who was close to his heart.

“Anyone interested in a little dessert?” Kyle asked as he and Jessica got up to open the ice chest. On one side a freezer-like compartment was packed with ice. The other side was dry with two large thermoses, six stoneware coffee mugs and a plastic bag full of spoons, sugar packets, coffee flavorings, and creamer. Alissa also noticed several tea bags marked “Irish Breakfast.”

“What a great idea!” Brad said. “Hot and cold to go. You know, Wren, I’m beginning to like your friends more and more.”

Lauren gave Kenton a squeeze, and looking up into his admiring eyes she said, “I knew you would, Brad.”

“We have tea and coffee,” Jessica offered. “Also marionberry pie and, of course, DoveBars.”

“This is becoming a serious addiction for you, isn’t it?”
Kenton teased. “Aren’t you afraid your child will come out refusing to eat anything but chocolate-coated ice cream bars?”

Jessica blushed slightly in the glow of the flashlights and pulled out candles of varying sizes. She placed them on a flat rock behind them and began to light the wax sticks of soft light.

The forest was transformed into a secret place of celebration. Alissa settled herself on the edge of the blanket, allowing the warmth of the moment to envelop her.

Brad offered to help Jessica by cutting the pie. Lauren set about making two cups of tea, then served one to Kenton with a kiss on his cheek. Alissa felt wistful. Even if she hadn’t found love, at least it was nurturing for her to be around people who had.

As Kyle handed her a mug of hot coffee, Alissa thought of Chloe and fought back the urge to sink into depression.

“So,” Brad said, settling on the blanket with his slab of pie and pointing his fork at Kenton, “exactly what are your intentions toward my sister?”

“Radley!” Lauren snapped. “Stop with the Father-Knows-Best imitation.”

“The way I see it, this guy convinced you to move all the way out here. So I have every right to ask his intentions.”

“I didn’t convince her of anything,” Kenton said, his words smooth and even. “She was offered a teaching position at the high school. It just so happened that I had bought the town newspaper before I even had met her.”

“Wait a minute,” Brad said. “I hooked you two up on the Internet more than a year ago.”

“Right,” Kenton said. “To clarify, I bought the paper before we met face to face.”

“So what you’re telling me is that you two didn’t really plan to end up together in Glenbrooke?”

Kyle spoke up. “To use our friend Teri’s expression, it was a God thing.”

Alissa had to agree. It sure sounded to her as if Kenton and Lauren’s relationship fell into that category. The answer seemed to satisfy Brad’s brotherly concern, too.

Slipping her first bite of marionberry pie into her mouth, Alissa thought of how someday she wanted that in a relationship with a man. She wanted to know in her heart that their coming together was a God thing. Until then, she decided, she ought to concentrate on enjoying the wonderful friendships God seemed to be bringing into her life.

A
bout halfway through their long drive home Alissa went fishing for an opinion from Brad. “Would you ever want to live in a place like Glenbrooke?”

He paused before answering, “I don’t know. Maybe.”

Alissa had heard Brad telling his sister he thought she had made a wise choice. She had asked if he meant regarding Kenton or Glenbooke, and Brad had said, “Both.”

“Why? Did that place capture you the way it did my sister?”

“Maybe a little. Do you think Lauren and Kenton will marry soon?”

“I hope not,” Brad said. “They barely know each other. The only way to have a good marriage is to start with a long friendship. I think they should wait at least two years.”

“Two years! That’s ridiculous. What would they be waiting for? They’re established in their careers; they’re old enough to know what they want. I think they should get married at
Christmas. Why put that extra pressure on their relationship when they obviously are right for each other and deeply in love?”

“It’s not the being in love part that matters. It’s the being ‘in commitment,’ ” Brad said, driving past an off-ramp on the freeway. “Remind me to pull off at the next one. That’s where I stopped to get gas. We’ll put up a sign for Chloe.”

“What are you saying?” Alissa asked, noting his concern for her cat but wanting to get back to exploring his philosophy of relationships. “Is the commitment more important than being in love?”

“Of course. You can be committed to someone and be faithful without ever being in love. Look at all the arranged marriages in the world.”

“You know, you just take the romance right out of it. How will you know when God brings the right woman into your life?”

“Oh, I’ll know.”

“And then what will you do?”

“Here’s the off-ramp,” Brad said, turning right and avoiding her question. He pulled into a small gas station with an even smaller garage and office. “Do you have some paper? Write down your phone number at least.”

Alissa scrounged in her purse for something suitable while Brad filled the tank and washed off the windshield. They went into the garage together, looking for the manager so they could give him the lost cat information.

He took it willingly, but Alissa didn’t feel hopeful that the man would actually post the information or do anything with it. They drove on to the next place where Brad remembered stopping for gas. This one was a large station with a convoy of trucks lined up waiting for diesel. Alissa felt sick to her stomach
as she thought about Chloe meeting one of those eighteen wheelers head-on.

“Just forget it,” Alissa said when they pulled back on the freeway. “I’ve accepted that Chloe is gone forever. Don’t even bother to stop at the next place.”

“I’ll probably have to anyway to get gas,” Brad said. “Besides, I’m not ready to give up. Have a little more hope, Alissa. She’s probably made friends with some gentle soul who has fed her so well you’ll never be able to unspoil her.”

Alissa appreciated his optimism, even though she knew it was pointless. It made her realize that even though Brad wasn’t afraid to pick a fight, he was also a fighter in the good sense of the word: he never gave up.

The final exit Brad took was called Kettleman. Several gas stations and a variety of fast food places greeted them. He drove past them all and headed down a two-lane road toward Fresno.

“Where are you going?”

“I got gas off the beaten path here. Sometimes the prices are lower if you drive a mile or two off the freeway and into the town.”

The “town” they entered wasn’t much to speak of. Graffiti etched the wall of the corner liquor store. Black wrought iron bars were on the windows of the small houses along the road, and the gas station that supposedly had the great prices was tiny and had no business.

Alissa and Brad got out of the truck and felt the rush of the afternoon heat rise from the pitted blacktop.

“Hello?” Alissa called out when she stepped into the garage. “Is anyone here?”

A faint “meow” echoed from the shade beside a stack of tires.

“Chloe?” Alissa raced to the tires. A big black blob of a cat lay with her belly against the cool cement. She had a white patch on her nose. “Chloe!” Alissa cried out in disbelief, scooping up her cat. “I can’t believe we found you.”

“Me either,” Brad muttered.

A guy in coveralls stepped in from a back room and said, “That your cat? She’s been hanging around here for a couple of days now. I tried to feed her, but she didn’t eat much.”

“Thank you for looking out for her,” Alissa said, holding her thin cat close. She smelled like transmission oil and rubber tires. “Come on, you wayward little girl, you. Let’s go home.”

Chloe slept most of the ride home. It was seven long, hot hours. Alissa convinced Brad to run the air conditioner at least part of the time. They talked about their favorite movies and songs and sang along with some of the numbers on the radio. Their conversation didn’t turn back to relationships or anything heavy. Instead they skimmed the surface of who they were in a companionable way. It was nice just being buddies together on the road, with Chloe making little snoring noises every now and then.