“It was January,” Alex said. “We’re still adjusting.”
“Of course you are. Wow, that’s tough. If there’s anything I can do...”
“There isn’t. I’m with my family.”
“Okay, but if you think of something...”
Glen covered the awkward silence. “I think that dinner is even more important now,” he said. “What do you say, Alex? Is tomorrow night good for you?”
Alex stood and maneuvered her way to the aisle. “I couldn’t. You understand. Lizzie and I have to go now.”
“Sure,” Glen said. “We start rehearsals on Wednesday, kid. We’ll see you at nine o’clock.”
“I’ll be here.”
Alex and Lizzie walked to the exit, and only when she’d opened the door did Alex take a normal breath. She’d felt Daniel’s gaze on her the entire way up the aisle and now had to convince her knees to quit trembling.
“Why didn’t you want to go to dinner, Mom?” Lizzie asked. “Those guys are so nice. I wanted to go.”
“Maybe some other time, honey. We’ve just arrived here. Grandpa wants time with you.”
“Okay, but if they ask again, say yes.”
Alex nodded. You got away with this, she told herself. No harm done. Surely she could manage a short summer season without Daniel Chandler knowing the truth about his daughter.
* * *
“HEY, WE’VE STILL got a bridge to build. Can we get some work done today?”
Daniel hadn’t realized he’d been staring at a closed door until Richie Parker’s voice echoed off the theater walls. Beside him, Glen chuckled. “Guess Richie doesn’t realize we got something important done today that didn’t include the bridge.”
“Yeah,” Daniel agreed. “Hiring Lizzie was a stroke of luck.”
Both men turned and headed toward the stage, where construction of the romantic bridge had halted. “I don’t know about luck,” Glen said. “I remember Alex having a good bit of talent that summer at the resort. Maybe it runs in the family. At any rate, you and Alex made my job as choreographer run smoothly.”
Daniel had thought of Alex Foster many times in the past few years. Because of her, that summer was the best he’d ever spent at Birch Shore. He had noticed her right away. In fact, he clearly recalled rushing up to the SUV her father drove and offering to transport Alex’s bags into the dormitory. And it hadn’t been ten minutes after her dad left that Daniel had invited her to go with him to the cafeteria for supper. And so began a relationship that seemed to have been built on days of grinding rehearsals, subpar meals and, what made it all worthwhile, moonlit walks on the beach that led to his eventually making love to Alex.
Oh, yeah, he’d had it bad for Alex that summer. Unfortunately, she seemed to have developed something equally as bad for another guy as soon as the season ended. The resort closed, the kids left, and except for a few phone calls, Daniel never made contact with her again. He’d searched his brain for reasons to explain her sudden surprising behavior. When logical explanations didn’t come to him, he tried to forget her, to move on with other girls. But he’d ended the best summer of his life with a broken heart.
Eighteen years earlier
DANIEL RETURNED TO Ohio State believing that he’d met the girl of his dreams, the one who would make all his hard work and sacrifice worth it. Someday I’m going to marry Alex Foster, he’d told his friends at Ohio State.
The first phone calls had been exciting, fun, sprinkled with sweet words, and them sharing their dreams. They planned when they would get together again. And then, the last time she spoke to him, everything changed.
“You shouldn’t call me anymore, Daniel,” she said.
“Why? What’s wrong? Are you ill?” If there was something wrong with Alex, Daniel made up his mind to leave campus and go to her immediately.
“No, I’m fine. But I’m moving on.”
“Moving on? What does that mean?”
“I never meant to hurt you,” she said. “But I’ve met someone else. Actually, he’s a man I’ve known for quite some time, and we’ve just discovered we’re in love.”
“I don’t believe you, Alex. Something’s wrong. We don’t have to wait for Thanksgiving. I’ll come to Wittenberg to see you. I can leave tonight.”
“No, I don’t want you to do that.” She paused for torturously long moments. “I won’t be at Wittenberg. I’m getting married.”
“So it’s over, just like that? We’re through?” He hated the petulant tone of his voice, but it was so difficult to get the words out.
“I’m sorry. Really, I am.” Her voice hitched. He wanted to reach out and grab her, shake her, find out what was wrong. “I have to go now.”
The line went dead, and he held on to the phone even after her voice had faded. It took a long time for him to accept what had happened. That the girl he’d fallen so hard for had joined the insular world of the married, while he became part of the blur of a summer soon forgotten. But Daniel didn’t forget. His grades suffered. His friendships became almost meaningless. No, Daniel hadn’t forgotten.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Glen said.
His friend’s voice brought Daniel back from a heartache he’d carried for a long time.
“Something wrong?”
Daniel shook his head. “No. I was just thinking...it’s a shame that Alex is a widow at such a young age. Must have been hard.”
“I’m sure it was, but maybe not all that surprising.”
“Why? What do you mean?”
“I heard that she married someone her father’s age, another doctor. That would make him even older than I am.” Glen smoothed a few strands of thinning blond hair from his forehead. “If you can imagine that.”
Daniel halted, stared at Glen. “Wow, I almost can’t.” Truly, he couldn’t put the young, sweet Alex Foster with a man her father’s age. “Why would she do that?” he asked.
“Love works in mysterious ways, my friend,” Glen said. “I’m just sayin’...the guy could have died from old age.”
Daniel didn’t believe that, but still, it was strange. “Incredible,” he said under his breath.
“Maybe she’ll get another chance with someone her own age,” Glen said, echoing Daniel’s thoughts. “In the meantime, our pal Richie up there is getting grumpier by the minute. Hope you’ve got some time left in your busy day, Senator.”
“I do. I told my dad I’d be at the hardware store by 3:00. That gives me five hours, minus a few minutes to eat the lunch you’re going to treat me to.”
Glen laughed, slapped a hand on Daniel’s back. “You got it. Isn’t it nice to have a hiatus from the state capital, Danny? You have all this time to sit around and contemplate the meaning of life.”
“Right. Between working for you and my father, I haven’t had time to contemplate the headlines in the Greenfield Gazette.”
Only now he found himself contemplating relationships, especially one from his past.
WEDNESDAY MORNING JUDE breezed in the back door of the house, followed by an energetic Mutt. She grabbed a piece of toast from the platter left from breakfast, poured a cup of coffee and sat in the nearest