Dream On (Stories of Serendipity #2) (11 page)

“NO I didn’t!!!” Sierra cried.

Alyssa closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and counted to ten.
 “It doesn’t matter, it’s done now.”  Alyssa said.  “Sierra go get the mop.  Cayden, I need a plunger.  Please don’t stick it on your face.”

When she had cleaned up the mess, the toilet wouldn’t flush.
 Alyssa made a mental note to call a plumber tomorrow.  Her cell phone rang.

“Alyssa?”
 Her mother.

“Hey mom, what’s up?”

“I need you to come get my Halloween decorations down, before October is over, and I don’t have a chance to decorate.”  Alyssa’s mother loved Halloween almost as much as Christmas.  She decorated her house and she dressed up for trick or treaters, then she forgot to leave her porch light on and complained every year about not having any kids stop by.

“Sure mom, I’ll be by soon to do that for you.”

“If you don’t come do it, I’ll have to climb that ladder and get them myself.” Alyssa sighed heavily at her mother’s blatant attempt to get her over there.

“If you climb that ladder, I’m putting
you in a nursing home.”  Alyssa had to pull the receiver away from her ear as the resounding click echoed across the lines.

If she made it through this week, she would take the kids to church on Sunday, she swore.

The next Thursday, Alyssa was picking up in the living room after bath time, when she noticed the acrid smell of smoke.

“Guys?”  She called for the kids. “Sierra?  Cayden? Where are y’all?”  Her voice rose in pitch, even though she tried to control her frayed nerves.

“In here Mama!”
 Cayden’s little voice came from their bedroom.

Alyssa rushed in to find the ceiling fan draped in dirty clothes and stuffed animals tied up with rope.
 The darling angels had loaded the blades of the fan with items that were weighing the motor down.  The whole fan had come out of the ceiling a couple of inches, and there was black smoke coming from the base of the fan.

“What in the world do you guys think you are doing?
 I have told you over and over not to mess with the fan!”  She flipped the switch at the wall, turning the fan off.  Exasperated, she got a portable fan and set it up in front of a window to dispel some of the smoke.  

Her voice rose in pitch and volume.
 “I’ve told you and told you not to throw stuff on the ceiling fan!  I can’t believe y’all would do this!  Now I’ve got to call somebody else to come and replace it. And I’ve got to buy a new fan!  After spending almost $300 on a plumber to come out and fix the toilet you guys broke!”  She knew she was losing it.  She shouldn’t be yelling at them like this.  

She turned her back to them
and took a couple of deep breaths.  She could hear sniffling behind her.  Cayden, especially, hated to be yelled at.

Aly
ssa turned back to the children and lowered herself to her knees. Forcing serenity she didn’t feel into her voice, she said, “I’m sorry for yelling, guys.  I just got really frustrated, but I think I’m better now.  Can we hug?”  

Sierra ran into her outstretched arms.
 “We’re sorry, Mom.”  Cayden hung back, still unsure if the outburst was over.

“Cayden, sweetie.
 Mommy’s really sorry for yelling at you.  I shouldn’t have done that.  I love you both.  I just got mad.  I shouldn’t have lost my temper. I’m sorry.” Cayden unwillingly allowed her to hug him.

“Now, let’s get into bed.
 I’ve got a great story to tell you guys tonight.”

“Will you sing the Scooby Doo song?”
 Cayden asked, still tearful.

“Of course I will, Sugar.”

Chapter 9

Dalton sat on the fourth row pew next to his mother.  He didn’t mind church.  It helped to center him sometimes.  He didn’t love the organized aspect of it all, but he believed in God and most of the Bible, and listening to somebody talk about it usually lifted his spirits a little.  Lord knew, he needed his spirits lifted.  With his Dad sick, and his Mother barely speaking to him, he had been feeling pretty low.

He felt his mother’s expectations pulling at him like a magnet, and his initial reaction was to pull away.  He didn’t like the idea of doing something just because it was expected of him.  But, this was his mother, and the whole family was going through a difficult time right now, with Dad sick.  He wanted to help out, he just wanted to do it on his own terms. 

While he was getting ready for church this morning, Mary had come into his room and told him to iron his shirt because his collar was sticking out.  Dalton hadn’t done it, and she was miffed about it, continually reaching over to smooth it down for him.

It wasn’t a passion of his, but he’d gone to church his w
hole childhood and enjoyed it.  Now he only went when he came home.  It wasn’t a priority in his adult life, but he did enjoy it when he got the chance to go with his mom.  His mom really seemed to need her church friends lately, and she got a lot of pleasure out of Dalton going.  So, he had suggested it to her last night, and she’d jumped at the chance.  It had pleased her, briefly, he’d suggested it.

Glimpsing people Dalton hadn’t set eyes on in a while was cool, and he nodded to several old classmates before the service started.
 As everyone was getting settled, two children and a woman in front of him captured his attention.  They seemed so familiar, but as he couldn’t see their faces, and he couldn’t tell where he knew them from.  Her golden hair falling down her back was gorgeous.  He resisted the urge to finger the waves.  His mother would probably kill him, if she saw him doing something like that.

The preacher’s sermon interrupted his reverie.

“A virtuous woman is clearly spelled out in Proverbs in the Bible.  If you will turn in your pew Bibles to Proverbs, Chapter 31, verse 10.”

As he read along with the preacher, Dalton ruminate
d on the virtuous woman of the Bible.  She clothes and feeds her family.  She respects her husband.  She is strong, both physically and emotionally.  She has self-confidence.  She is generous to the needy.  Her children and husband praise her.  Dalton liked the virtuous woman.  Who wouldn’t?  His own mother was the epitome of a virtuous woman, wasn’t she?

His thoughts turned to Alyssa.
 She was probably one of the most virtuous woman he knew...imagined.  She put her children first.  She was strong, self-confident, and generous.  

The preacher went on to say, “A virtuous woman is not the end of the story, though.
 A virtuous man has many of the same qualities, qualities which complement his wife and help nurture his family in Christ...”

Dalton realized th
en, he didn’t deserve Alyssa or any real woman like her.  What was virtuous about him?  He constantly put his own needs before others.  Wasn’t it obvious by all of his sexual escapades in Dallas?  Years of clubbing and taking home women to appease his sexual appetites made him less than virtuous.  If Alyssa was real, and knew him, she would probably think he was depraved.  Hell, he was depraved.

He admitted to himself that he was having a problem.
 He couldn’t quit thinking about this figment of his imagination.  He was obsessed with her.  All day of every day, he constantly replayed the dreams of the night before in his mind.  Her children, her friends, her students, they all captivated his attention.  The way she interacted with everyone was extraordinary to him.  But what was killing him, was how real it all seemed.  

Dalton shifted uncomfortably in the pew, skewing the cushion under him.
 His mom glared at him, and he smiled sheepishly, mouthing a “sorry” to her.  The corners of her mouth turned down disapprovingly, and they both stood to sing the closing hymn before leaving.  He scanned the crowd for the woman who had been sitting in front of him, but he didn’t see her anywhere.

Alyssa really wished she could pay more attention to the preacher’s sermon.  Her efforts to keep the kids still and quiet so they didn’t bother the people surrounding them took most of her attention.  She usually had to put Cayden in her lap.  The nursery only took kids up to four years old, and the truth of the matter was, he probably could glean some life lessons from the service if he would only sit quietly.

But today, Sierra was acting up, too.
 She had been sitting quietly during church for years, but today for some reason, she wanted to wiggle like a toddler.  She was up in her seat, down on the floor, up on the seat, back down on the floor.  She was being quiet enough, but Alyssa knew if she let her do that, then Cayden would be wiggling too, and the next thing she knew, they would be wrestling and squealing in the middle of the service.

Alyssa spent most of the service with her kids in a death grip, one on each side of her. She had her arms around their necks in what she hoped appeared to be an extended hug.
 She was holding tight enough they couldn’t move.  

Occasionally, she would experience a weird tingly sensation, as if someone was watching her, but she decided she probably
was
being watched.  A single woman with two small kids in church tended to garner a lot of attention. That was part of the reason she didn’t come to church as often as she used to.  After the divorce, she couldn’t handle the pitying glances, the well-meant words, or the blatant snubs.  When her Sunday School class put her name on church-wide prayer list, she quit going to church regularly.  Alyssa knew they meant well, but she couldn’t handle it.

The preacher’s sermon on the virtuous woman made her regret coming to church today anyway.
 All the talk about a virtuous woman and her husband made her feel queasy.  How virtuous could a divorcee be?  As soon as the service was over, she ducked her head and left out of the side door.

Chapter 10

Alyssa was frustrated.
 Steven hadn’t told her until Sunday afternoon he couldn’t keep the kids this week.  He said it was a last minute business trip, but Alyssa had her doubts.  She knew his boss, and he was a super-organized control freak.  He would have had any business trips scheduled months in advance.  

Not that she cared, she jumped at the chance to look after the kids longer.
 If Steven couldn’t keep them, and Alyssa wouldn’t keep them, then they would have to stay with Steven’s mother, and Alyssa would eat chalk before she would let that happen.

An electrician had come out to replace the ceiling fan in the kids’ room, to the tune of almost $500.
 Alyssa was pretty sure the town’s repairmen were out to get her.  It was because she was a woman, Alyssa was sure.  First of all, a man would never have called somebody to come out and fix that stuff, they would have done it themselves.  If they hadn’t done it themselves, they would have at least known what the doo-hicky the plumber had replaced was, or at least how much they cost.  And she had seen Steven replace a ceiling fan, and he made it look easy, not that he would do her any favors.  Alyssa was convinced these people had a list of prices for men and a list of prices for women.

At least it was the weekend again, and they would be at the Hot Pepper Festival.
 That was good wholesome fun for the kids, and she’d been planning to take them anyway.  Steven had another engagement this weekend.  She thought he might have a girlfriend he wasn’t telling anybody about.  Probably Stephanie.  Not that she cared.

Alyssa watched the parade on Saturday, Cayden on her shoulders, while Sierra ran to grab all the candy she could for her brother and herself.
 They all enjoyed waving to the parade entrants, dancing to the band’s rendition of "Funky Town," and visiting with the people in the street around them.  After the parade, they made their way to the booth for Jackie’s Crisis Center donations.

Jackie, Jennifer, and a girl Alyssa didn’t know were already at the booth when they got there. To the children’s utter delight,
 Alyssa gave Jennifer some money to feed and entertain Cayden and Sierra and sent them on their way.

The morning went by quickly, with all three of
them busily taking in donations and writing receipts.  Alyssa was pleasantly surprised at how well Jackie’s service project was going.  The girl had solicited the newspaper’s support, the Chamber of Commerce’s support, as well as various business owners.  They had enough donations to fill a couple of truckloads, and Jackie had all of that organized as well.  Alyssa was impressed with her effort.

By the afternoon, the donations had slowed, so they were fold
ing and organizing the clothing to box and bag up for easy transport.  Alyssa was making a pile of clothing to be laundered before taking it to the Crisis Center, when Summer came up behind her.

“Hey Alyssa, I asked around about your...um...” She looked at the high school girls around them.
 “Situation.  Unfortunately, nobody had really heard of anything exactly like it before.  But I did get some names of other people to call.  I was going to do that this evening, but I saw you here and thought I’d go ahead and tell you I don’t have anything yet, but I’m still looking.”