Page 123 of Grown-Up Second Chance

~ ~ ~

When I woke an hour later, I was groggy, unsure of where I was. Living in the RV had lulled me into a safe sense that I knew where everything was. This was the third time in as many days that I’d slept in a strange bed, and it took me a moment to figure out where the bathroom was.

After splashing some water on my face, I took a quick shower, then changed into shorts and a t-shirt. Time to get this show on the road.

Joe spotted me coming toward his RV spot, and closed the book he’d been reading. His smile was cautious.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. “Long drives aren’t as easy as they used to be.”

“Nothing is as easy as it used to be.”

Including us.

He cleared his throat. “Something to drink? I got some gin and tonic for you. Or I have beer.” He gestured to his cooler.

“Beer, if you don’t mind.”

“Here you go.” He handed me a beer and gestured toward the empty chair. “How was your trip? I didn’t get a chance to ask you … before.”

“It was longer than I anticipated. Rain really messes everything up.”

“I thought you were used to it after all those rainy winters in California.”

“I’ve driven a lot less over the last few years. My business office was close to home. By the time the pandemic arrived, I was down to a few employees. I let the office go, and then the remaining employees.”

Joe nodded.

“I needed a change, especially after Larry and I split.” I considered the feeling I’d had at the time. “Bookkeeping felt like it no longer fit my life.” I shrugged. Examining all the changes I’d made in California would be a good task for the drive back to my sisters.

“I had a good time last night.” I went on to tell him about my meal and spa treatment. I left out my experiment with adult movies. No one was ever going to hear about that!

“I’m not sure I can give you as good a culinary experience here as you had there,” Joe said. “But I did lay in some ingredients to make up my special chili. Tonight I thought I’d throw some burgers on the grill.”

“That would be great,” I said, then added, “You mentioned some small hikes earlier.”

“Yes.” He looked at the sky. “It’s probably a little late now, but maybe tomorrow we can get up early and do the Cliff Shelf Trail. I did it the other evening. There’s a small pond there. I’m not sure how it made it in all this heat—the ranger said it’s there later than it’s ever been. Anyway, it attracts the animals at morning and dusk. I thought you could bring your camera.”

“That would be fun.”

“How is that going, by the way?”

I told him of my experiments as he prepped the grill for burgers.

“But I was really happy with the photos I took of the couple at the restaurant.” I’d surprised myself with how well they came out. I’d always been shy about taking pictures of people, feeling like I was invading their lives. But with the permission of the couple, I’d been free to express the beauty of their love shining through their eyes.

“They had an arranged marriage,” I told Joe.

“Really! I didn’t think that happened anymore. Were they happy?”

“Very. She told me they’d learned to trust each other, and they became friends. Finally, they learned to love each other.”

Joe turned his attention back to the grill, and I let the silence be.

Could I find that kind of love with Joe? Although we’d known each other once, we were strangers now. I stared at my old friend, and my body twitched with awareness. Over time, if we worked at it, I believed we could find happiness far beyond what I thought I’d had with Larry.

I was willing to do the work. Was Joe?

---