Eleven Days: An Unexpected Love (3 page)

She
put
her
arm around
Lana
and gave
her
shoulder a big squeeze. "Of all the people who love him, I think you'll miss James the most. I think sometimes you were closer to him than me."

"Well, Sharon, I did have many more years
with
him than you did. If you remember I
was
the firs
t person you were introduced to,
"
Lana
said as she
noticed
h
er
eyes were swollen
and
she
had
developed puffy bags under them, and
it saddened Lana to see her so heartbroken.

"I remember the first time James introduced us, you were getting ready for a date and you messed up your eye makeup and James offered to help. You let him put on your eye shadow and he made it worse. He put blue eye shadow on one eye and brown on the other. The whole
time he messed up your make-up
he
was
winking at me. I
tried hard
not to laugh out loud. When you looked in the mirror and saw what he did you tried to kill him," Sharon reminisced.

Lana
grinned when
she
thought about James being a toot. "Yea, if I could have caught him I think he
would
have died
that
night. And if you remember right, because of
his
shenanigans I needed to redo all my makeup which made me late. Then he met my date at the door and acted like he developed a facial twitch."

Sharon rolled
her
head back
with
laughter and said. "Yea and he told your date it
was
hereditary."

"No he didn't? He never told me
about
that
incident.
I could tell Carl
wanted the
date to end
, and n
ow I know why.
" Tears filled
her
eyes because
she
could picture James
telling Carl he had a twitch.

"Believe it or not, James felt bad about
telling him a lie
, and
that
could be the reason he never told you. James also said Carl
was
not the right one for you, especially if he could be driven off so easily."

"He should have felt bad."

With
a little twinkle in
her
eyes Sharon added. "You know eve
ry time James ran into Carl, he
all of a sudden develop
ed
another twitch."

"No wonde
r every time I ran into Carl he
ask
ed
me about my health. I'm surprised I could catch a
husband at all
with
the way James acted."

About
that
time some guests were leaving and Sharon excused herself to talk
with
them. James made a right choice by picking
her
.
She
could take a joke better than most, and he
constantly pulled
something on
her
.
No matter how many pranks he pulled,
he never
showed any maliciousness
.
She
would
laugh and go about
her
business, and sometimes
she
would
get even.
She
thought Sharon
was
wrong about
her
missing James the most.
Lana
got to go home to
her
routine, and Sharon
had
to go to bed alone.

Chapter 4

October 10, 11:02 a.m.

Lana
thought putting the funeral behind
her
would
have helped
her
disposition, but instead
her
depression and weariness lingered.
She
did not answer the phone or door.
She
barely ate and slept, and
her
eyes were sunken and
she
developed dark circles under them.
She
missed James terribly, and
she
didn't know how to get over t
his
feeling of dread.

Her
kids knew
the difficult of a time their mom was having
,
and they were worried about
her
. They thought the best thing for
her
was
to get away, they begged their mom to come visit them in Colorado. The kids were right,
she
needed to get away.
She
loved them very much but
she
needed to be alone in an alien place, not
with
her
children. Being
with
family conjured too memories.

She
made
her
decision, even though
she
didn't really like the
beach,
that
's where
she
would
go.
S
he
would
go north and rent a beach house. The idea of walking along the beach and doing nothing
was
exactly what
she
needed. Fall being the off season, finding a rental should not be a problem. Getting away should help
her
to rejuvenate herself
with
out every corner
she
turned being some kind of memory.

Looking on the map
and
decided
on
the Cape Cod area in Massachusetts. Plymouth sounded like a great place. The pilgrims landed
there
to make a fresh start, and
she
would
too.
Her
family went there for a vacation when
she
was
a child, and
she
remembered loving the beach
and
playing
with
her
sisters.

She
would
fly into Boston and take a slow drive down Highway 3 to the rental. It followed close to the coast and goes through many old towns.
She
could shop in these towns and maybe catch some
his
tory. Happiness already filled
her
heart just thinking about getting away to new surroundings, and being alone.

Chapter 5

Day 1

October 15, 6:40 a.m.

Today
was
Lana's flight to Boston, and
she
sat waiting for
her
plane, drinking
her
second cup of coffee. Normally
she
didn't like the hustle and bustle of the busy airports. Today
she
liked it because it keeps
her
mind busy and off
her
own woes.
She
watched the people at the airport moving around
with
out a care in the world
except to catch their plane and
get to their destination. Kids were playing, cell phones were buzzing, and couples were holding hands and everyone
was
full of life.

Two i
sles over a couple just married
were discussing
where they wanted to visit when they got to Boston. The young bride mentioned
she
wanted to go see a couple of lighthouses
that
were eerily haunted, and
she
emphasized the word eerily.
She
also wanted to tour all the famous old houses. One plac
e
she
mentioned
she
wanted to visit,
the Boston Common a place where hangings took place. The girl read. "Many events happened at the Boston Common, but the most notably
was
the hangings. In 1660 Mary Dyer
,
along
with
three other Quakers
,
was
hung. Many people still see
her
today standing by
her
noose wearing
her
black hanging gown."

The young groom, on the other hand, talked about just relaxing in the room.
Lana
smiled because
she
knew what
that
meant. They were adorable and
full of love
and
she
knew they
would
work it out
between them
. They held hands and smooched every five seconds.
Life goes on
,
Lana
thought.

Her
thoughts were interrupted by a man. "Is t
his
seat taken?"

"Oh no, please help yourself,"
Lana
answered trying to be nice and polite, but
she
really
didn't want to
chitchat.
She
moved
her
belongings out of the chair and knew
how
inconsiderate of
her
to leave them there. Especially since the airport
was
packed
with
people.

"Are you on your way to Boston, or is it just a layover? Oh, and by the way my name is Peter." He reached out
his
hand to shake hers and
she
obliged, trying to be polite.

"I'm going to Plymouth for a vacation, and my name is
Lana
. Are you on your way home?"
She
asked to be cordial, even though
she
could care less.

"My home is New Jersey, but I have some business in Boston. If you're interested in getting out, there are lots of sights to see in Boston. There's the Museum of Fine Arts, The Prudential Skywalk, and Paul Revere House for starters."

"Thanks
,
I will consider
that
, but I'm staying at a beach house outside of Boston."
She
kind of liked the idea of going to those places. It might do
her
heart some good, plus
she
loved U.S.
his
tory.
She
noticed when he said museum he said it odd. He said it almost like Mooseum, like calling a cow.

"There are plenty of lighthouses, and nowadays you can even stay the night in some of them," said Peter.

"I'm sure Plymouth has many sights and many lighthouses."

"I think they have some of the oldest lighthouses in the nation, and if you go on the peninsula near Plymouth, there were lots of them. There's Wings Neck, Sandy Neck, Nobska Point, Race Point, Highland Light, Wood End, and Long Point Light."

"Oh my, you do know your light houses."
Her
eyes widened as he rattled them off
his
tongue
with
out thinking about it.

"My wife and I go light houses watching a few times a year. We enjoy the
his
tory of all of them. Sometime
s
we
even
go ghost hunting in them."

About
that
time, over the intercom the attendant called. "Ms. Andrews, please report to Gate 14."
Lana
looked over to the young attendant
and she motioned for
her
to come over to the
gate
.

"They're calling me and thanks for the tips, and you have a safe trip,"
she
said while gathering
her
belongings.

"You have a safe trip too," Peter
said.

When
Lana
made the reservation
she
mentioned
she
wanted
to sit alone. The attendant informed
her
about an
empty seat at the back of the plane and no one
would
be near
her
.