Page 63 of August
“Okay,” Myra said.
“You’re considering something right now that you don’t feel like you should be considering.”
“No, I–”
The old woman held up her hand and said, “There’s no use in pretending it’s not true. I suspect it has something to do with the new person in your life. You’re worried that you shouldn’t pursue it because she might still be dealing with things from her past.”
“I’m sorry. Who are you?” Myra asked, looking around the sidewalk. “Do I know you? Does Elisa?”
The woman laughed again and replied, “No, you don’t. And I don’t know Elisa, but I knowyou. Well, I know people like you. I’ve met a lot of people like you over the years.”
“People like me?”
“People who are in between or just starting out. People with questions. People who need direction or just need someone to tell them that it’s all going to be okay.”
“Are you a therapist?”
“Something like that,” the woman offered with a wink. “So, it’s this Elisa, then?”
“I was on my way home, actually. So, I’ll let you get back to your night.”
“You weren’t. But just let me tell you this before you go, all right?” She paused as if actually asking if Myra would stay to listen. “People deserve second chances. You deserve one just as much as she does. It’s also okay to worry, but when you worry, if you can share the worry, it often helps or goes away entirely.”
“She might leave,” Myra said and shook her head because she had no idea why she was sharing this with a complete stranger on the sidewalk. “Well, maybe not move away entirely, but she might be gone for the next couple of weeks and then every couple of months. I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but we’ve only been out twice. We’re so new.”
“And you’re afraid that you might lose her,” the woman said with a nod.
“I can’t really lose something I never had. She has kids. They’re basically adults, but they need something from her right now, and I don’t want to keep her from doing what she wants to do. I just worry that she’ll go back to her old life and that it might be that. She deserves to be happy, and her first chance, as you might call him, is an absolute asshole.”
“I see,” the woman replied. “Well, I think it’s up to her what she does, but if it’s meant to be, it’ll be.”
“That’s it?That’syour message? If it’s meant to be, it’ll be? I could have gotten that from a fortune cookieandgotten my lucky numbers.”
“Well,I’mnot a fortune cookie,” the woman said with a kind smile. “But I am usually right about these things.”
“You told me to share my worries with her.”
“And you should. But maybe wait,” the woman said.
“Wait for what?”
“Just wait.” The woman winked. “Trust me.”
“I don’t evenknowyou.”
“Your friends do,” she replied. “I have to go, but you should just say yes. You’ll want to say no; you’ll want to make something up, but don’t. Just say yes.”
“What?”
Myra’s phone dinged in her pocket, so she pulled it out, and when she looked up, the older woman was gone. Myra looked around, but it was as if the woman had vanished.
“Is she a magician?” she asked herself and checked her phone.
Elisa Benedetti: Hey, I know you said you got held up at the office, but I’m cooking for the kids tonight. Want to eat with us? We don’t have to say anything about us dating, but we can. Or, we can pretend we’re just new friends, if you want. I’ll leave that up to you, but I’m making lasagna. Well, Adele and I made lasagna, and AJ made the garlic bread this time, so it’s not burned. If you want to join us, we’ll be getting started in about twenty minutes.
The old woman had just told Myra to say yes. Was this what she was talking about? Was this merely a coincidence?Myra could lie again and tell Elisa that she was still at the office. She could also say that she wasn’t ready for dinner with Elisa’s kids as a date or a friend. It was pretty soon for them to tell the kids that they were dating. Itwas, wasn’t it? They had had two dates. Then again, she’d never dated a woman with kids, and these particular kids weren’t exactly kids anymore; they were adults and about to go off to college. Maybe they could handle it.
‘Then again…’she thought to herself.‘They’d never seen their mother date anyone, let alone a woman.’
