The Widow's Friend (25 page)

Thanks again! Your friend and Schmoe,

Calliijo

***

From Levi Stone (Three hours later)

Hi again, girlfriend. I saw your e-mail and my heart skipped
a beat. Yes, it’s true—I still love you, but I’m working on it. And yes it’s
true that we’ve come full circle. The last time I walked away from you, and
this time you have left me. I still have to scrub you from my heart, and trust
me girl, that’s not an easy task.

The CD’s were nothing. I’m just a good listener, that’s all.

You make me smile in my heart, Calliijo.

Your old squeeze, Levi

P.S. This conversation just makes me miss you all the more,
just as I’d suspected. I’m still under your spell. We’ll see what another
thirty days brings, because we really can’t keep meeting like this grandma.
Stay warm flannel girl, Levi

***

From Callii Wilson (Thirty minutes later)

Levi, You stay warm too. I know that you will because you
have a good heart.

Sister, Callii

P.S. YOU ended it this time too.

***

From Levi Stone

Jan 25th

Calliijo, you’re such a Shmoe. You ended it this time, girl.
There’s no question about that, but you did it for the right reasons. We’ll
discuss it again after forty days and forty nights. But for now, leave me
alone. My mind will be like a cold and shuttered haunted house, rising up in
the darkness, with only the ghost of Callii-past wandering its hallways.

Love ya girlfriend, Levi

***

From Levi Stone

Jan 25th (Thirty minutes later)

Are you home?

***

From Callii Wilson (Fifteen minutes later)

Yes I am.

***

From Levi Stone (Forty five minutes later)

Well, I just need to tell you that you’ve got me all whacked
out now because you think I dumped you. Not even close. I was beginning my
Calliijo-fast rather nicely until we had our little exchange over the last
twenty-four hours. Now I’m all stirred up. Are you going to be home tomorrow or
Thursday? (Don’t be nervous).

***

From Callii Wilson (Five minutes later)

Dearest Levi, I am sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you. At
this point, I don’t think it matters who ended it. I think for now it is the
best for both of us to let it rest. I am sure you know what I mean. I don’t
think getting together will help things at all. I will always be your friend
and I hope you feel the same about me.

Your friend always, Callii

***

From Levi Stone (Ten minutes later)

That ought to do it. See you in the spring.

“Hunkered
Down”

I was living my life in elephant years. Not only was I
banished from talking to Callii, but I was bored out of my skull in the middle
of winter. The clock in the family room talked to me. In the middle of the
night it taunted me: Tick, tick, tick—reminding me of my bleak and dreary
consignment. I went to work everyday and came home every night, making my way
through the mundane routine that my life was composed of. The irony of it all
was that the last few months, while Callii and I had been talking, my wife had
been on her best behavior, but now that I had been frozen out from conversing
with Callii, Mary had definitely taken a turn for the worse. Life at home was
almost unbearable.

I thought about things a lot. I was still a bit surprised
that I had fallen so hard and so fast for Callii, but I couldn’t seem to have
helped it. She was warm and she was witty, and she seemed to like me too, and
that seemed a miracle in itself.

But gradually the weeks went by and my birthday finally
arrived. Mary and I were on vacation in a timeshare we owned in sunny St.
George, Utah. But it wasn’t all that sunny and it definitely wasn’t all that
warm. The grandkids had all gone home and my wife and I were finishing out the
week by ourselves. I wondered if Callii would write, and I wondered if I would
have enough privacy in the condo to reply.

“Cold
Snap”

Levi had me wondering. He’d said that he hadn’t dropped me
but that I’d dropped him, and that had surprised me. I went back and reread the
e-mails. How could something so right there in front of us be so misunderstood?
Maybe I had taken things a little too seriously, but on the other hand, that
haunted house thing had cut me to the quick.

It was hard being widowed. I had a tendency to shut down a
bit and not expect much at all in the way of affection, but I had no other
choice. I had my kids and I had my friends, but there was still a certain
emptiness in my life. I was tough in my own right though, because I’d always
had to be. My entire life had been one experience after another. I had led my
kids through all of them and we had weathered them well, at least I thought so.
But Levi was right, I was made of flesh and blood, and if I would allow myself
to admit it, I did have an ache inside, and I did yearn for the affection of a
companion.

I kept busy enough, that was the only way I could stay sane.
The basement had flooded and there was oh so much to do down there. I was going
to put my house up for sale in the early spring and there was plenty to do to
get ready for that as well. Indeed, I was very busy, and the weeks did go by.
And then finally, Levi’s birthday arrived. I had it circled on my calendar and
I was glad that I hadn’t forgotten. It was late and I was tired, but I forced
myself to type out a note. I was anxious and unsettled, but I wanted so much to
see if he was still my friend, and this was the only way to find out.

From Callii Wilson

February 22nd

Dear Levi, I hope you are having a funderful day, because
today is your Birthday. What have you been doing since we last visited? Things
here are about the same. Anyway, I want you to know I have missed visiting with
you and I hope things are going really well for you. I hope this year will be
your best ever.

Happy birthday to you!!!!!!!!!!

Your forever friend, Callii

P.S. I almost forgot. Thanks for mailing me the Valentine’s
Card. It was the only one I got and that made it even more special. Thanks for
thinking of me.

From Levi Stone (One hour later)

Sweet Callii, so nice to hear the tinkle of your e-mail
coming in. I have missed visiting with you, too. Nothing much ever changes in
my life. I am, however, in St George this week. We have a timeshare down here
every President’s Day weekend. The grand kids were here through Tuesday, and
now it’s rest and relaxation for the remaining three days. We’ve been wandering
through the Parade of Homes.

I have worried about your flood recovery. Did everything
work out? Are you selling your home? How is that going?

I was glad to send you a Valentine’s card. After all you are
my little heart breaker, my old flame, and my friendly friend, forever. I just
thought that might be a tough day for you. And I meant everything I said in the
card, but I couldn’t say any more than that. Our friendship was too precarious.

I’m looking forward to your next e-mail, sugar cookie.

Your friend, Levi

***

From Callii Wilson (Thirty minutes later)

It’s good to hear from you and I’m glad you are enjoying St
George. I can’t believe that our paths almost crossed again. I reserved five
rooms in St. George this weekend for my family and me to come down and enjoy
the good weather and the home show, but just today we decided the weather wasn’t
going to be all that good, and being stuck in a hotel with a hundred kids didn’t
sound all that fun, so I called and canceled them—too funny. I am headed to Las
Vegas on Sunday (all by myself) to attend a trade show. That should be fun for
me. I was just going to drive there from St. George, but oh well.

As far as the flood is concerned, they still aren’t done
fixing it yet. I am so tired of being in a mess. I guess I will have to get
angry with them or something. I got a new furnace the day before yesterday and
it doesn’t work either. Money well spent, huh? Now they are telling me that I
might need a bigger one and that means more money. I think it is unfair to
quote you a price and then you choose them because they are the least
expensive, and then they keep adding more money once they get started. Is it
because I am a dumb woman and they know they can take advantage of me? Well,
that is the story of my life, but enough from me for now.

Again, happy birthday friend. I hope you are having a great
one.

***

From Levi Stone (Twenty minutes later)

Are you awake, dumb woman, or are you in bed?

***

From Levi Stone (Ten minutes later)

Well, I guess you’ve retired for the night. You are not a
dumb woman, Callii Jo. “Stuff” happens to all of us. I had a guy fix my roof
last September for the tidy little sum of $1,200. Then, when it rained in
December the water started coming down through the same spot in the ceiling
again. I didn’t do anything dumb and neither did you. Sometimes things just
happen. I’m gonna have him come back and give me a 2nd opinion of where the
leak is, but I don’t expect much more than that. Whether you’re going to an
auto mechanic, a doctor, or a roofer, diagnosis is the key. Anybody can fix the
problem after that. In your case someone misjudged something. Let’s hope they
were better than that on the other parts. Don’t be mean though, you’ll get more
out of them with sugar than a stick. Trust me on that.

I almost wrote you an e-mail telling you of my financial
woes last fall. I had a 90 day period (beginning with the roof leak) where I
had an outgo from my bank accounts of $16,000. Now this was above and beyond
the weekly grocery bills and utilities and all the normal stuff one has to pay
for. I don’t know why it happened, (probably to keep me married, heh…) but I
don’t remember a time, ever, that I was under so much immediate financial
pressure. So hang tough girl, life happens, and we just have to deal with it.

Have fun in Vegas this weekend. I’ll wave to you on the
freeway. I’ll look for the pretty one in the… I have no idea what you drive.

So there you go friend, grandma, heartbreaker, old flame,
temptress, back row bleacher bum, grasshopper, friendly friend, Sister Wilson,
pen pal, and fellow freeway traveler. I hope your trip goes well, write me a
note before you leave, time willing. I’m heading back home tomorrow, Saturday,
with a stop at my daughter’s house first. Watch the weather closely. It will be
touch and go. We’ll write more when you return and get back into some kind of a
groove, a more careful friendship kind of a groove. Sigh.

It is so nice to talk to you again, good friend. It’s been
awhile, but I still like you girl.

Your pen pal, Levi

“Surprise!”

Callii hadn’t written me for a week and I was beginning to
wonder what was in her head. Was she growing cold? I didn’t really know, so I
dropped in on her unexpectedly. I knew it would surprise her but I needed to
ask her a question. I had this gnawing desire to turn our story into a novel,
and I couldn’t even think about doing it without her permission.

I had Lexi with me and we dropped in right in the middle of
a Saturday afternoon. Little Lexi didn’t know what was going on. I simply told
her I had to drop a few books off to a lady I knew in Rexburg, and that was
good enough.

I knocked on the door, wondering if Callii would even be
home. The door opened slowly and there she stood. She seemed a bit startled,
but she quickly gathered herself and introduced herself to Lexi as Grandma
Callii. She asked Lexi a few little questions and treated her very nicely, like
most grandmas would do, but then I asked Lexi to wait on the porch for a few
minutes as I closed the door behind me.

I gazed at her and smiled. She smiled back. We didn’t say
much, I didn’t have time to, but I did ask her if I could write a book about
our internet fling. I had been considering it for several weeks now. She was
caught off balance, but she did give me her consent. I informed her, of course,
that if we were able to sell it she would get half of the proceeds. That
sweetened the offer and seemed to make her all that much more agreeable,
otherwise she may have resisted a bit.

I also asked if her fingers were broken, since she hadn’t
written for a week. She didn’t have an answer, at least not a good one, but I
didn’t push it.

I said goodbye, cracked open the door, and began my exit. On
the way out, to my surprise, she reached out and stroked her hand against my
back. I reached back my hand and she rested hers in mine. I squeezed it gently
and she responded in kind. And that was that. Lexi and I were on our way.

I looked back as we drove away, wondering if she was
watching from the window. It would be a good sign if she was, but I would never
know. I knew that in the first place, but I still had to look.

“Levi
– The Enigma”

Levi had dropped by unexpectedly. He said it was because I
hadn’t written for awhile. I hadn’t meant to be cold or distant. It was just
that I had so very much to do. It wasn’t easy for me to write him, anyway, not
like it would be for him. He was a talented writer and I hardly even really
knew what to say. But now he had me thinking. He had been nice, like he always was,
and his hand had felt so warm and so…welcome.