“Okay. So, we could call her up right now? Or I could ask her and get back to you?”
After months and months of absolutely nothing happening, things suddenly seemed to be happening awfully fast. “Uh, call her, I guess?”
“Will do.” Darren dialed and held his phone to his ear. “Hey, Cindy. Are you busy? Great. Can we have a confidential conversation? ... Great. I have Samantha’s ex-husband sitting here in my office ... yeah, that’s right ... and we would like to ask you for some advice. Would you mind if I put you on speaker phone and then put you on the spot?”
Darren pressed the speaker button, which allowed Brent to catch the tail end of the woman’s laugh.
“Okay, you’re live with Darren and Brent.”
“Hi, Brent, how are you?” She said this easily, as if they’d been friends for ages.
“Good.”
“That’s good. How can I help?”
Darren gave him a look that asked if he wanted to explain. Brent gave him a look that said, no, he did not.
“Brent thinks he might want to reconcile with Samantha. But, of course, they’ve both changed since the divorce, and he doesn’t really know her anymore, and so we thought we might ask you if you thought she might be receptive to that, or to him reaching out at least.”
Cindy didn’t say anything, and Brent wondered if they’d dropped the call.
“And if she would be receptive,” Darren continued, “then well, we men here have no idea how to begin such a mission.”
After another bout of silence, Cindy said, “Wow.”
What did that mean?
“So much makes sense now,” she said.
Darren frowned at the phone. “Come again?”
“Sorry, thinking out loud. Well, I don’t know for sure if she would be receptive. I do know that she is not interested in dating anyone else, so that’s a good sign.”
“That is good,” Darren said. “So, if you were her, how would you want your ex-husband to try to rekindle things?”
“Well, I think you should sweep her off her feet.” The phrase sounded less ridiculous this time than it did when Pastor Adam had used it. Maybe it was because a woman had said it. Or maybe Brent was just getting used to the idea.
Without speaking, Brent made it clear to Darren that he did not know how to sweep a woman anywhere. If he did, he probably wouldn’t be here.
“And how does a man sweep a woman off her feet?” Darren asked.
“Well, there are lots of ways. But you’re going to want to be as romantic as possible. Roses and chocolates and poetry ... Samantha likes music. I would use that.” She gasped. “Oh, you know what might be neat? A secret admirer. Not for long, just for a little bit. It would make her feel so special.” He could hear real affection for Sammy in this woman’s voice. It made him like her.
But he wasn’t sure he could pull that off. His face must have betrayed his skepticism because Darren said, “And how might a practical-minded man go about being a secret admirer?”
“Hmm, good question ... maybe you could send her flowers at work. Send her chocolates. Gift cards to someplace nice, someplace where she’d have to buy something fun, not like a gas card. Maybe make her a mixed tape. Although I guess that couldn’t be a tape these days. A mixed CD? A mixed something.” She chortled.
“And is that how your husband won your heart back in the day?” Darren asked.
“Oh, heaven’s no!” she cried. “Frank brought me fresh brook trout.”
September 26
Dear Frank,
I know that you think that a lot of what I do these days is silly. Well, I guess I don’t know that you think anything. I don’t know what it’s like to live up there in glory. Maybe you’re above such matters now. What I mean to say is, I know what you would think if you were still down here with me.
I know you would think that it is silly that I write to you in a journal nearly every day. But tough. Because it’s keeping me sane and making me feel close to you, and it’s less silly than talking to you out loud, which is the same as talking to myself.