Page 14 of Delayed Intention
“Unless it was Rose Haddad, I have no idea,” she laughs, refilling the girls’ snack cups before they start to wander off again. “Although last time I spoke with her, she was perfectly capable of using a cell phone.”
“Not Rose,” I say, “It was Lily.”
“Wow. Lily? What’d she want?” Her tone turned frosty.
“Relax, I’m not still a teenager with hurt pride—that was nearly twenty years ago.”
Michelle frowns. “She hurt more than your pride. You gave up after that. You used to be a romantic.”
“Easy, Miche, I grew up, is all—we live in the real world, remember?”
“Love exists in the real world, Josh.” She twists her wedding band in a move that is probably unconscious. Alan Teferi, her husband, is a physician in the Army and is currently deployed. Anyone who knows them can see the devotion they have to each other. They met when Michelle had done a brief stint at a VA hospital as a travel nurse. They are one of those sappy in-love couples I would enjoy hating if I didn’t adore them so much. They aren’t perfect, but they always work through whatever life throws at them. I’ve seen it.
“Love exists, for you, sure. I take after Mom.”As long as I don’t take after Dad.
She rolls her eyes at me and decides to let it go.
“Okay, I’ll bite, what did Lily have to say?”
“She sent me an apology letter; I guess in the spirit of the holiday season.”
“That took a long time.” Michelle shoots me a suspicious look. “I wonder what prompted it.”
“I heard from Mom that Lily had a falling out with Ellen and came out to be with Rose for the holidays.”
“Ugh. Ellen Mendes is a piece of work. I can’t imagine having her as a mother. That couldn’t have been easy. But it doesn’t excuse her ghosting you for almost two decades.”
“Maybe,” I sigh. I got the feeling from the letter that there might be more to the story, but I decided to keep that to myself to spare my sister from further speculating about my supposed romantic nature. Michelle is convinced that deep down, I secretly desire‘true love’and am looking for my perfect match. That part of me had to grow up.Good riddance.
“Well, there’s more—I didn’t even tell you this yet, but Rose reached out to me. Eddie Mendes is getting married out here, you know. You got the invite?”
“I have the save-the-date, sure. What does that have to do with you?”
“Apparently, Eddie and his fiancée, Felicia, want to have the wedding in Estes Park, but they cannot come out here to do the in-person stuff: look at sites, taste food,… all that stuff…”
“So, Rose asked you to help out?”
“Not just me.”
“Lily.”
“Apparently.”
“Interesting.”
“I don’t see why. It’s just a family friend and sister of the groom with a flexible schedule helping a couple of busy surgeons with a few errands.”
“I think it’s interesting.”
I try for a change in subject. “You want to try to walk over to Alberta Falls, or do we need to get these monsters home?”
“I am not a monster, Uncle Josh,” Ella is laughing while jumping up and down in front of me.
“Really,” I say, looking down at her, “I think I need a closer look. Why don’t you freeze for a second so I can be sure? I mean, if you aren’t a monster, you should be able to freeze and hold very still.”
Ella freezes, and Miche tosses me some type of wet wipe, and I clean off Ella’s sticky hands and face while she tries to be still. “What do you know? She isn’t a monster after all.” This entire process momentarily transfixed the other girls, so Michelle was able to wipe them down as well.
Michelle looks at her little ladies. “Let’s burn off some more energy and walk back around the lake the other way. Then we can head back to Uncle Josh’s and take a nap.” Ella groans at the suggestion that she will be napping. Looking at her, I give her five minutes in the car before she passes out.
