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“Sure! Come on over!” Cindy said after Samantha had invited herself.
“Thank you. Be right there.”
Right thereturned out to be an exaggeration. Cindy lived in the willywacks.
But Samantha found Cindy’s house and was still rapping her knuckles on the front door when it swung open.
Cindy and a large black dog sitting beside her leg both stared at her. “Come on in!” The door opened wider. “Let me take your coat.”
Samantha surrendered her coat and followed Cindy to her couch. A little girl sat in front of the TV, a collection of brightly colored plastic ponies splayed out in front of her. “Granddaughter?”
Cindy shook her head. “Only by informal adoption. That is Colt Faro’s little girl. Lily, this is my friend Samantha.”
“Hi, Samantha,” the girl said without looking up.
“Her dad is out on a date,” Cindy said. “So, how are you doing?”
“Good, I think. But something pretty crazy is happening, and I’m really overwhelmed and have lots of mixed-up emotions, and I really, really want to drink.”
“Oh! Do you want to go to a meeting?”
“I thought about it, but there wasn’t one right away. I’m okay, I think. I just didn’t want to be alone.”
“Did you call Carol?”
“I did. She didn’t answer.” Samantha exhaled fully. “I’m okay. I feel better already. If you don’t mind keeping me company for a few minutes.”
“Oh! Okay! Great then. Stay as long as you like.” She sank back into the cushions. “So, tell me what has you so overwhelmed.”
Samantha recounted the whole secret admirer ordeal, starting with the gift certificate she hadn’t spent and ending on the hillbilly tango. She’d thought that last part might make Cindy chuckle, but it did not. Instead, it almost looked as if Cindy felt guilty.
“So you’re saying that you don’tlikehaving a secret admirer?”
Samantha considered the question. “Not exactly. I’m saying that I didn’t have the self-esteem to think that it was real, and now that I know that it’s Brent, I’m totally freaking out. Wouldn’t you freak out if you were in my shoes? I mean, who up and decides to be a secret admirer to his ex-wife?”
Cindy winced.
Samantha didn’t understand this reaction, but Cindy sure was emotionally invested in her plight, so that was nice.
“All right, give me a few seconds to process all this.” She chewed on her lip. “You said the card that came with the flowers didn’t make any sense?”
“Every gift comes with words that don’t make any sense.”
Now she looked amused. “Can you give me an example?”
“Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. Love is not love.” The words came out of her like rapid fire.
Cindy let out a bewildered squawk. “Did you really just rattle that off?”
“I’ve read it a few times.”
Cindy’s expression grew contemplative. “Wait, say that again, and slow it down.”
What, did Cindy want to have an impromptu poetry reading? “Let ... me ... not ... to ... the ...” She couldn’t stand going that slowly and accelerated as she finished the line.
Cindy nodded knowingly. “That’s Shakespeare.”
“What?” No. Brent and Shakespeare? No.
