SWEET SATURDAY SAMPLE: AN UNEXPECTED CONNECTION -- AUGUST 3

Welcome to another Sweet Saturday Samples.  Click on over and see a whole array of samples to “taste.”

In last week’s episode from Interior Designs, we saw Maeve and Martha searching for love in some wrong places, until they thought about the ones that got away.  On a new kind of quest, we now join them…after.

I woke up Saturday morning slowly, watching the play of light coming through the blinds and luxuriating in the carefree mood that seemed to settle in around me. I could smell the coffee nearby. Stretching, I slowly headed that way. Curled up on the loveseat,  I sipped my cup of coffee and stared around me as if to memorize and absorb the new ambience.

Fully awake at last, I pondered the phone call from last night. Totally unexpected, it had rocked my world.

The almost-familiar voice on the other end of the line tugged at my memory, even as I struggled to identify it. But then he’d said: “Hi, Marty. I was just thinking about you the other day, so imagine my surprise to get your e-mail.”

“Duane! Wow, I thought you might e-mail me, but I never imagined a phone call.” I wondered how he had found the number, but then recalled that it was listed on my website.

“From your photo on your website, I can see that you’re just as gorgeous as you were back in college,” he chuckled.

Even though his words seemed cloaked in sugary flattery, it still felt good to hear them. I laughed, then, and said: “Ah, that’s what I remember about you, Duane. You’re a sweet talker!”

“But the words are true,” he protested. “So tell me, pretty lady. What, besides work, are you up to these days?”

We’d chatted for a few minutes, filling in the details of our lives. He’d shared that he had married his college girlfriend, but that they’d been divorced now for five years. He had two kids who lived with their mother in San Francisco. He’d said they were thirteen and eleven years old.

I’d talked a bit about my marriage ending a couple of years before and about my one daughter.

At the end of the conversation, which I later realized had gone on for about forty-five minutes, he’d told me he was driving up to San Francisco in about a week, and wondered if he could stop by on his way through Fresno. I was surprised at my quick agreement.

Now as I pondered the conversation and the upcoming “date” next weekend, I realized, also, that Meadow would not be at Hal’s then. Probably not a good thing for her to meet someone new right now. So then I decided to see if Meadow could have a sleepover at Maeve’s with Kirsten. Chances were good that Buzz wouldn’t have her next weekend, since he had her now. Even if he had the boys, he usually only took Kirsten about once every four weeks or so. I knew this bugged Maeve, but what could she do?

Glancing at the clock on my nightstand, I realized that it was actually pretty late. When I punched in Maeve’s number, I was a bit startled to get the machine. Hmm, wonder where she can be?

Should I call her cell phone? But even as I contemplated doing so, I hesitated. No, I’d just call her later.

I had left a message on her machine, so she would call me when she was able. It was strange, though; I thought about what she’d had planned last night, if anything, and couldn’t recall her mentioning a single thing. Maybe something totally unexpected had happened. I smiled to myself at the thoughts crowding through my mind.

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