Chapter 47
This is the funniest thing I've every seen being towed...
Hidden Secrets
Leona Palmer Haag
Chapter 47
The vibrating phone on the nightstand woke Jenn up.
She leaned across Katie and fumbled with it and finally got it open.
"Hello?" she groggily said.
"Jenn, it's Kristina from across the street. How
are you?"
Jenn blinked at the bright morning light coming
through the French doors she hadn't pulled the curtains completely over the night
before. "Great," she managed to reply, and made it sound halfway
convincing. Her eyes felt swollen after all the crying she'd done in the dark.
"My dad's hosting a group at Kitt Peak this
evening to look at the stars and invited me to join them. Joe is on call and can't
come, so I was wondering if you and Katie would like to join Dallin and me for
a trip to Tucson today? We'll stop at the observatory on the way home
tonight."
"Where?" Jenn asked in complete confusion.
"Tucson and Kitt Peak. The national
observatory."
As Kristina told her about the space telescopes, her
father's work, and her plans, Jenn looked across the bed over the rumpled
blankets to her laptop sitting precariously on the edge—like her sanity.
Despite her reservations about being Kristina's friend, the decision to escape
the cage she was trapped in was too tempting to refuse. "How soon are you
planning on leaving?" Jenn asked.
After hanging up the phone, Jenn pulled the laptop to
her. The journal screen popped up and she typed: Escape! Katie and I are going
on an adventure!
Jenn hadn't been too excited to socialize with Katrina
after Tuesday's cooking demonstration. It had turned out to be a group of women
from her church getting together to share and sample recipes with two or three
of them demonstrate new ones. A lot of church talk had ensued. Who was teaching
what lesson when, and such. Jenn felt like an outsider. An observer. An
exclusion being included—but not completely. And as far as religion went, Jenn
liked exclusion. Totally.
While at Kristina's, Katie had been invited to join a
children's play group. She'd agreed because being cooped up day after day was
unfair for her daughter. They'd gone on Thursday morning to the hostesses home.
That too had been a group of women from church. It had gone smoothly, but there
was so much church talk! Religion. Sunday events. Wasn't there anything else
going on in these people's lives?
But Katie loved it. Thrived on it. So Jenn had
promised to join them each week. But for how long? When would Nick get home?
When would they disappear from Scottsdale? Whisked off to Dallas without
warning or a forwarding address?
An hour later Kristina honked the horn on her big
silver Chevy Suburban. Jenn opened her garage door and took the baby seat from
her SUV and Kristina helped her buckle it next to Dallin's.
"How does lunch in Tucson and then a quick trip
to Nogales to visit a museum sound?" Kristina asked once they were on the
road.
"Sounds yummy and fun," Jenn replied.
It was all girl talk as they drove.
Kristina asked questions and Jenn kept her answers straight-on truth when
forced to comment so she wouldn't have to remember details of fibs. Mostly,
Jenn imitated Natalie and turned each question and subject back to Kristina.
She discovered her friend loved art and had a passion for color. She focused
her talents on drama, and produced two youth productions yearly, gathering
support and volunteers throughout the community. She was looking forward to
tryouts for the next play—one her daughter had helped her write.
"I feel ordinary in comparison. My life is
routine and boring," Jenn said as the miles of rolling desert passed.
"I love art, but have practically reduced my talents to finger painting
and gluing dyed macaroni and pieces of string and cotton balls to colored
paper."
"We'll visit some art galleries for fun,"
Kristina said.
Jenn eagerly agreed. It seemed like ages since she'd
done something she wanted to do just for herself. Maryland didn't count. Nick
had forced her into that trip. Thoughts of Nick flooded through her mind and
settled like a weight on her heart.
"Look, there's the Mexican border," Kristina
said a few hours later.
Jenn's head swiveled so fast she almost got dizzy. A
fence separated the countries, and the division was obvious. Houses on one side
looked wobbly and dingy. There was dust and disrepair. A higher standard stood
tauntingly on the United States side. Jenn's heart thudded. Nick spoke Spanish.
Had he ever been to Mexico? Was he across the fence? Just inches away?
"Have you ever been to Mexico?" Kristina
asked, her question crashing through Jenn's thoughts.
Jenn numbly shook her head. She'd never dreamed of it.
"Have you?"
"A couple dozen times. Everything from a quick
trip across the border for pure vanilla or a few props for a play, to a family
vacation in Mazatlan to soak in the sun and go deep sea fishing."
Jenn swallowed. "Is it easy to cross?"
"You need a passport now."
"What about illegals?"
Kristina shrugged. "Some are smuggled through,
but I'm sure it's not around here. Maybe out in the desert. Maybe next time we
come down we can cross. Do you have a passport?"
Jenn nodded. Kristina pulled into an art gallery and
they got out. Jenn submerged herself in colorful paintings and swallowed back
the desire to ask about the foreign country just inches away. When they left
the gallery, Jenn turned to Kristina and asked, "Do you like traveling in
Mexico?"
Kristina laughed. "I've never considered going to
Mexico traveling because I haven’t gone that far in or stayed overnight. What
I'd really like to do is tour Europe. Joe served a mission in Scotland and
wants to take me there."
"What's a mission?" Jenn absently asked.
There it was. Church stuff. Just like that, Jenn had
opened the door—and without even knowing it. She patiently listened and nodded
at appropriate times as Kristina talked about her church. Through lunch.
Through a museum. While shopping. As they browsed through another art gallery.
As they drove to Kitt Peak. As they wound their way to the top of the mountain.
As they parked and braced themselves against the icy cold January night.
Church talk resumed after they'd looked at Saturn and
a host of celestial orbs with Kristina's astronomer father. It continued
through the dark night until the lights of home grew close. Jenn allowed it.
Even encouraged it. It kept talk away from her.
"If you ever want to know more about my church,
I'd be happy to tell you or send someone to talk to you," Kristina
brightly said.
Jenn smiled. "Maybe someday." She knew the
legendary someday never arrived.
"I'd love to have you come to church with me
tomorrow morning. You sound so interested."
Jenn shook her head. "No thanks." Her
interest had only been superficial.
"It starts at eleven. You can sleep in, have a
late breakfast and still get ready in time. It's a great way to start the
week."
Jenn shrugged. "Katie and I have a full day
planned tomorrow." She didn't admit that it was full of nothing. Except
loneliness. Emptiness. Silence.
"Maybe next week or another time," Kristina
easily said. They pulled into Jenn's driveway and stopped. "It was fun.
I'm glad you came with me," Kristina said.
"Thank you. With my husband gone, it was a nice
break in the monotony."
That night Jenn booted up the laptop and added a
journal entry:
Today I exhaled and my breath floated over the border
into Mexico. It was probably inhaled by someone who exhaled it in Spanish.
Weird thought, huh? I wonder if it will travel one breath at a time from one
person to another until Nick inhales and there it is—a bit of me inside his
lungs, just tiny tissues and cells away from his heart. I wish I knew where he
is tonight. Inches from me, or miles?
Jenn stared at the words. Had she received a breath
from Nick that afternoon? Maybe unknowingly? She curled up in a tight ball and
cried herself to sleep.
End Chapter 47
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