Sweet Misfortune: A Novel (19 page)

Sophie wrote down her cell number and handed it to him.

Alex turned to Meredith and grinned like a hyena. “Now your sons can’t tease me that I don’t talk to girls!”

Everyone laughed out loud.

Everyone, that is, except Alex. He just smiled and turned a light shade of red.

The group chatted for a few more minutes before Ellen decided it was time to go. Sophie kept stealing glances at Alex during the conversation, marveling at his genuine optimism, especially given his circumstances.
Fitting,
she thought,
that he should want to respond to a want ad for happiness. Lives by himself, lost both of his parents, and he still manages to keep a smile on his face.

Chapter 28

Your temper must be tempered, before someone gets hurt.

E
VALYNN TURNED ON THE IGNITION AND LET THE CAR
idle. “So? Where to now?” She was looking at Sophie, who was twirling her hair around a finger in the other front seat.

But Sophie wasn’t looking back at Evalynn. She was still staring out the window at the home of Jacob—and Alex—Barnes. Alex was waving from the front door. Sophie smiled and waved back.

When Sophie didn’t answer Evalynn’s question, Ellen spoke up from the backseat. “You know what I think, Sweets? I think that did you a boatload of good.”

“Oh yeah?” Sophie asked, twisting around in her seat so she could see her foster mom better. “What part do you think was best? Hearing that I single-handedly lopped off Jacob’s fingers on the day after his wife died, or finding out that now he’s dead, too?”

“Single-handedly,” snickered Evi. “That’s terrible.”

Ellen rolled her eyes. “I meant the part where you heard that he didn’t blame you.”

“
Pfff
. Meredith was speculating.”

“Sophie,” Ellen said, slipping into her motherly voice. “When is it going to sink in that it wasn’t your fault? It was just an unlucky circumstance.”

Sophie’s eyebrows jutted up. “Oh, c’mon, let’s be fair. I’ve dealt with this pretty well over the years, if you don’t count my moodiness on birthdays. We wouldn’t even be having this discussion if the fortune hadn’t shown up in the mail.”

Ellen gave a sympathetic smile. “You’re right, you’ve done well. And it really is unbelievable that that fortune made it back to you. One might almost go as far as to say it’s—”

“Here we go,” mumbled Sophie.

Evi laughed.

Ellen ignored both of them. “
Divine providence
. Gotta be.”

“Oh yeah,” retorted Sophie sarcastically, turning again to look out the window. “God
made
Alex get on YouTube and then forced him to reply to the want ad. I’m sure stirring up my past is at the top of His omnipotent list of things to do.” Sophie chuckled out loud at her own comment. She always found humor in, and frequently poked fun at, Ellen’s longstanding assertion that life’s little coincidences were evidence of God involving Himself in the affairs of mankind.

Evi chuckled once more.

“Laugh if you want,” commented Ellen, “but I’m telling you, this is providence.”

Sophie and Evalynn shared a sideways glance, but let the debate die. Since Alex was still on the front porch waving good-bye, Evalynn decided it was time to actually go somewhere. She put the car into gear and pulled into the street. It was a cul-de-sac, so thirty seconds later they passed by the house again, and Alex was still there smiling and waving. All three women waved back.

Once they were clear of the Barneses’ neighborhood, Evalynn adjusted her rearview mirror so she could better see Ellen’s face. “Now would someone like to tell me where we’re heading?”

Locking eyes with Evalynn in the mirror, Ellen dismissed the question with a look that said,
Darned if I know.

“Sophie?” Evalynn asked.

There was more silence, but only for a moment.

“I want to see your copy of the police report from the accident,” Sophie told Ellen without turning around. “You said you still have it, right?”

“Yes,” she replied. “But not if anyone else asks, okay? It’s not exactly protocol to copy such things and take them home. You want to read through it?”

Sophie nodded.

“Mind if I ask why?”

Now Sophie turned around again. Her expression was calm and resolute, like things had suddenly become clear. “Because you were right. Going there today was good for me. I should have done it a long time ago.” Right then, Sophie’s phone rang. She looked at the number but didn’t recognize it. Initially, she considered not answering, but by the fifth ring she got curious and flipped it open. “Hello?”

The voice on the other end was loud enough that even Evalynn and Ellen could hear most of what was being said. Sophie had to hold the phone several inches from her ear to keep it from hurting. “Hello! Is this Sophia Jones?”

“Alex?”

“Yes! It’s me. I’m calling. Hi!”

“Alex, can you talk a little softer? I’m getting static.”

“Sorry, Sophie. I don’t talk on the phone a lot. Is that better? I know you’re in the car. Can you still hear me?”

Sophie put the phone up to her ear and smiled. She liked the melodic quality of his voice. “Yes, Alex. That’s much better. And I can still hear you just fine. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Huh?”

Sophie suppressed a laugh. “What can I do for you? Is everything okay?”

“Oh. Yes. But after you left I remembered some things.”

Sophie lifted one eyebrow and shot a look to Evalynn, thinking perhaps she was about to learn more details about either the accident or Jacob Barnes. “Really? Do you want to tell me?”

“Yep! I remembered that there are lots of reasons to be happy, and I wanted to tell you, so you don’t have to have an ad in the newspaper anymore.”

Sophie couldn’t help but smile. “I see. That’s very thoughtful, Alex. Can I put you on speakerphone so Evalynn and Ellen can hear, too?”

There was a pause, and then Alex said, “Okay.”

While Sophie pushed several buttons on her phone, Evalynn whispered, “Where are we going?”

“To Ellen’s,” Sophie whispered back, and then she told Alex they were ready.

“Sophie?”

“Yes?”

“I’ve never been on speakerphone before.”

“I see,” she said soothingly. “Are you nervous? I can turn it off if you want.”

Alex took a few second to consider that. “No,” he said finally. “I’ll just pretend like I’m talking on the microphone at Albertsons. Sometimes I get to do that. And sometimes they call my name on the speakers and everyone hears.
Alex to customer service!
The speakerphone is fine.”

“Okay. Fire away,” said Sophie, thoroughly amused.

For the next two minutes Alex rattled off a litany of things that to him were happiness. The three women in the car just sat and listened, grateful for his insights. Later they would try to remember everything that he’d said, but the list was too big to capture them all. Happiness, he told them, is watching the sun break through clouds, or watching it rise in the morning. “If the sun didn’t come up tomorrow, I think I’d be pretty sad. And,” he added, “it would be really dark.” He also explained that happiness is eating dinner with your family—even the teenage boys who like to tease—and talking about what happened during the day. It is working hard at a job, even if you don’t always enjoy it, because it feels good knowing you did your best. Talking was on his list, plus reading a good book, or reading a good book aloud so you can talk and read at the same time. Then there was waking up in the morning.

“Waking up in the morning?” Sophie asked, making sure she’d heard him correctly.

“Of course. When was the last time you didn’t wake up in the morning?”

She let out a laugh. “Never.”

“See. If you didn’t wake up, I don’t think you’d be very happy about it.”

Everyone in the car laughed. Alex wasn’t sure he saw the humor, so he continued: “And happiness is helping people when they need help, and smiling at other people, even if they don’t smile back.” He stopped for a second. “Or even if they laugh at you. And happiness is looking at pictures of your family… and remembering.” He paused once more, this time longer than before, and Sophie thought she heard him put the phone down and then pick it up again. “That can be sad, too. But more happy than sad.”

“Did you just put on your sunglasses, Alex?” she asked.

“Yes. How did you know?”

“Just a hunch.”

When he was through, everyone in the car thanked him for calling and sharing his thoughts. Sophie reiterated that he was welcome to call her any time he wanted.

“I’ll call if I think of more happy things,” he told her.

“I can’t wait.”

“Or if I find the letter.”

“Thank you Alex.”

“Or… maybe if I just want to talk.”

“That would be nice.”

“Bye, Sophia Jones!”

Sophie smiled at the phone. “Good-bye, Alex.”

Evalynn took her right hand off the steering wheel and poked Sophie in the side. “Somebody’s got a new boyfriend,” she joked.

“Yes,” Sophie responded proudly. “I think you’re right.”

“So are you going to tell us why you want to see the police report?” asked Ellen from the backseat.

Loosening her seat belt so she could maneuver more easily, Sophie twisted around and smiled at her foster mother. “The best part of meeting Alex and Meredith had nothing to do with what they told me. It was what I told them. Simply acknowledging my role in the accident and apologizing for it was… liberating.” The look of resolution returned to her face. “I want to put this behind me once and for all. It’s been my little black cloud for too long, and I’m tired of the rain. So if there’s anyone else in the report that warrants a visit, I want to know.”

Ellen nodded. “It’s in my desk at home.”

F
IFTEEN MINUTES LATER
they pulled up in front of Ellen’s aging building, then walked up together to the third-floor apartment. Sophie and Evalynn sat at the kitchen table while Ellen retrieved the police report from her desk in the bedroom.

Sophie spent a good twenty minutes quietly poring through the old pages of the report, familiarizing herself with the names of people in the other cars, reading their accounts of what happened, and studying the words of eyewitnesses who’d watched the disaster unfold. It was like a walk down memory lane in her mind, only the memory seemed slightly askew—her own version of what had happened that night had always been from the perspective of a scared nine-year-old girl. Now, through adult eyes, she was reading the accounts of other adults, none of whom recognized that a spoiled little kid in the Volvo had anything to do with the deadly incident.

When she was done reading, Sophie closed the report and slid it on the table toward Ellen.

“Please don’t tell me you want to contact everyone who was in the accident,” Ellen said.

Sophie shook her head. “No…”

“It sounds like there’s a ‘but’ coming,” said Evi.

Sophie smiled faintly. “But… one family really deserves a visit.”

Ellen frowned. “The family of the other guy that died?”

With a nod, Sophie said, “Tim McDonald. He was a UPS driver, and he died from his injuries a few days after the accident. I just… Reading the report was good for me. I think they might like a copy too, if that’s okay. And when I take it, that’ll give me a chance to explain a few of the details that didn’t make it into the report. To me, it’s important that they know.”

Ellen sighed, then pushed her chair away from the table. “I can’t let them have a copy, Sweets, but if they keep it under wraps, I’ll let you take this one for them to read.” She shook her head, like the whole thing was a bad idea. “I’ll go make a few calls, see if I can track down the family.” She picked up the report and left.

Ten minutes later Ellen retuned holding a yellow Post-it note. She dropped the police report on the table and then stuck the note to it. “The closest living relative is Tim’s mother, a woman named Lucy McDonald. She lives on the other side of the state, near Idaho, in a little suburb of Spokane called Millwood. There’s the address.”

“Millwood,” Sophie repeated. “How many hours is it from here to there?”

“About eight hours round-trip,” Ellen answered.

Sophie grinned. “Looks like I’m definitely going to have to brush up on my driving.”

“You can’t go all that way by yourself, Sophie. Let Evi go along. Or I can go too, if you want, but that’s too much time behind the wheel for you. Besides, you don’t even have a car.”

Sophie tapped her fingers on the table while considering what she wanted to do. When she’d turned sixteen, Ellen had forced her to get her driver’s license, but Sophie hated it, mostly because she was afraid that she might cause a collision like the one she’d experienced as a child. So although she knew how to drive and had a license, she’d always chosen to either ride the bus or bum rides off of friends. “You’re right. It’s high time I get a car.”

“And you’ll let me come along?” asked Evalynn, though the tone she used made it sound like she was coming whether Sophie wanted her to or not.

“It’s up to you. But if you do, you’ll have to help me finish going through all that stupid mail. I’m sure I’ll have even more by then. One of us can read letters while the other is driving.”

Evi grinned. “Great… sounds like a thrilling road trip. I’ll read letters, then you’ll dismiss them and throw them out the window.”

Sophie laughed. “Exactly! Hey, whatever it takes to avoid a date with you-know-who.”