My-Serendipity.net - Echoes in the Silence

The day had started far too early with Danny’s break-of-dawn visit. Melissa might have been tired but Kona was still on her usual schedule so the duo had just returned from their morning jog. For the first time in well over a week, Melissa finally felt optimistic.

Yes, her husband was still pogo-ing around the globe. Yes, her apprentice still had a long way to go before she would be ready to cut him loose. Yes, her car (as far as she knew anyway) was still busted and yes, today was the first of a series of long driving days. Yet for reasons that she didn’t question, today she was able to set all the negatives aside for the benefit of the positives they held. It was a good way to begin.

Judging by the sounds upstairs, the east coast time schedule had gotten the best of Kaylen. She was up and in the shower. Filling a glass with water from the refrigerator dispenser, Melissa headed out to the back porch to call her brother, cool off, and think about what she needed to still pack.

Six days was all she had to wait now. She would see Hayden at his parent’s anniversary party in six days. While his promotional commitments wouldn’t end for another week after that, the 14 hours she would have him in Toronto would get her through. It would take her and Kona that week to drive back home anyway. It was a downhill coast from that point and she was ready for things to be easier.

When the phone rang she answered it quickly, expecting it to be her brother or her dad with a status of her truck. "Yell-O."

"I’m going to close my eyes. Tell me what you see right now." It was far from either of the men she expected but instead, the much more needed voice of her absent husband.

"Hmm…let’s see. The sky is the same color blue as those pastel M&M’s that you can only get at Easter and there isn’t a cloud to be found anywhere. The mountains still have some green to them thanks to late spring rains, but the brown is overtaking it a little each day. There are 4 horses off to the left, on that hill up from the valley. They’re grazing and swishing their tails. They look like they don’t have a care in the world. Closer by there are a couple of wild bunnies hopping through the grass below the deck. I bet they’re happy the yard didn’t get mowed this week. The air is clean but with a glint of ‘burn’ in it from the wild fires that are still smoldering north of us. Kona is on the deck giving Phoebe a proper cleaning. The cat is NOT amused and keeps giving me looks like I should save her but I’m busy drawing hearts in the perspiration on my glass of water and imagining you in the empty chair across from me."

The line was quiet for bit before he answered. "Six days. We can do six days, right?"

"Piece of cake," she smiled as she spoke, noting how good it felt.

"How are you holding up today? You sound better."

"I feel better than I have been. Danny came by earlier."

"Isn’t it only," there was a pause and she pictured him checking his watch, "7:30 in the morning?"

"Indeed it is." As she recapped the young mans visit in the predawn hours to tell her about her open gate, Hayden agreed she should have closed it, but she shushed him and continued through to the end of the story.

"It took him a week for all of that to snap into place?" he stated more than asked. "Maybe you were right, maybe we shouldn’t place our future plans on his training."

"Hey! What about having faith in my…what ever you called it… my ability to train him?" she laughed and noted to herself that it felt even better than smiling.

"I said I had faith in you and I still do. You’re proving me right by getting through to him. It is just a slow process, that’s all. So now you need to call Garry and you probably aren’t packed, so what time do you think you’ll get on the road today?"

"I need to call Eric and see if the truck is fixed, but I’m hoping before noon so we can get a good jump on the distance."

"Wait…your truck is acting up? Oh, I don’t like the sound of that. It’s been having little things go wrong more and more. If I can’t get you to fly, will you at least please take my car instead?"

"Think about what you’re saying…4,000 miles…"

"It’s 2,700, not that I’m checking," he interrupted. "…that’s 5,400 round trip. Take my car."

"Ok, 2,700 miles with Kona on the back seat of a black Jaguar? You’re not serious. We both know that Eric and Dad won’t send me on the road unless they’re sure the truck is reliable. If it’s iffy, then I’m taking Eric’s truck. Problem solved."

He could only sigh in defeat. "Eric’s truck is newer, so fair enough. Listen, before you leave, I have something for you. It’s in the office, under the stack of scripts on the left side of my desk."

Melissa hustled back into the house and down the hall to the office, found the pile of scripts shifted them to the side. "A CD?"

"Yep! I did it before I left. It’s for your drive."

"So you knew I wouldn’t fly all along."

"I had hoped but you have a history of being a little stubborn."

"Well, I can’t wait to hear it."

"And I can’t wait for these 6 days to pass. My arms are feeling very empty and my lips are completely neglected."

"Let’s see…you’re home for 14 hours…taking away 2 hours for customs and travel both directions that will leave 10. Do we actually have to stay for the whole party or you think your parents would understand if we made ourselves scarce?" she hinted.

"Scarce is going to be my new middle name," he played along.

"Your sister just sauntered down," she said as Kaylen emerged from the kitchen with a tall glass of orange juice and wet hair. "I’m going to let her talk to you for a while so you can compare notes on my mental state and the out of control party planning while I take a shower."

"That sounds like a Pandora’s box," he chuckled back. "Will you call me when you stop for the night so I know you’re ok?"

"I don’t know what time that will be your time and I don’t want to wake you up. Turn your phone off and I’ll leave a message."

"The phone stays on. What if you need me? If I don’t answer for some reason, leave a message but call…promise?"

"Ok, I promise. Six days…we can do this. I love you!"

"Love you back!" he added before he was handed off to his baby sister, convinced it was going to be the slowest six days of his life.

****

With a clean bill of auto health, a hastily packed duffle bag, one semi-formal outfit sealed tightly in a garment bag, a homemade CD and an eager pooch, Melissa and Kaylen were on the road shortly after noon. Considering the girls, it was a small miracle. Phoebe would spend the next two weeks with Beth and Eric, no doubt pouncing on his cast. Melissa asked Beth to take videos of the torment so they would have something to laugh at over holiday gatherings. She agreed. Eric protested.

They flipped a coin to see whose music they’d play first. They had a very full four days on the road to trade off. Kaylen won and they spent half of the days drive listening to alternative rock. They stopped for an early dinner and decided to drive further before finding a place to spend the night so they popped in the CD that Hayden had left for her.

It made Kaylen groan but it was some of the songs they loved to listen to, a very eclectic blend of genres, tempos, and decades. Flipping the pages of her Cosmo, she sat quietly while Melissa listened, but closed the magazine when they got to the last track of the disc. "Is that who I think it is?"

Melissa nodded rather than speak over the sound of Hayden singing. It was the tune he had hummed to her as they danced before the press tours and the movie’s release, how could she have not recognized it immediately then? She had heard him play the tune so many times before on his piano but she never knew the words. They were beautiful and so appropriate for the circumstance, a tale of separation and dedication…of looking forward to forever. When had he found the time to pull off recording it? This was her very non-technical husband. He had trouble working his Blackberry. Someone had kept a pretty good secret.

As the song ended, Kaylen reached over to repeat it. "That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard," she said softly as they listened to the song again and Melissa couldn’t have agreed more.

When they found a hotel to spend the night in, she did as she had promised and called – unphased when he groggily answered the phone not with ‘hello’ but with "Hey Beautiful."

"You sang for me," she sighed.

"To you…always."

As he began his day and she ended hers, they talked about the lyrics of the song, of their future together, and at how quickly they wished the next five days would pass. Melissa felt stronger than she had in weeks, ready to power through and be with the man she loved again. She’d known going in that the time apart would be hard, but she’d underestimated even her worst predictions. Only three days until she reached his parent’s house and another two days past that before he was there with her. They’d come this far, they could make it. She was as sure of it as she was the sun would come up again in the morning.