Welcome Home

    John and Claire hadn’t spoken more than a few words as the hot afternoon faded into evening. As they lay naked side by side he glanced over and found Claire searching the ceiling. 

“What’s the matter?”

For a moment she didn’t speak and then turned to him.

“I’ve met someone.”

                 He wasn’t surprised but had hoped his premonition wouldn’t prove true. He’d been holding his breath and blew out a long exhale. 

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

“He’s a friend of a friend from work. We’ve been seeing each other for a couple of weeks.”

He tried to gauge the situation, but her eyes held no clues.

“What’s his name?”

“Alec.”

“Are you in love with him?”

She turned toward John in tears. “I don’t know. I’m confused.”

He nodded and reached for her, but she resisted his embrace. 

“I need some time to think.” She blinked away the tears as she sat up. “Please give me a few days to figure it out.”

The next day John took Charlie for a walk out to the meadow a block from the house. They cut through the eucalyptus grove and crossed the long-neglected property line where loose strands of barbed wire hung from weathered fence posts. Beyond the fence, the footpath disappeared beneath furrows turned up by a tractor to keep the weeds down.

                When they reached downtown Moon Valley John snapped the leash onto Charlie’s collar. If they walked another block they’d be at the Italian restaurant where Claire worked but John hesitated to continue, thinking she’d suspect him of spying on her. 

Still, he wondered if she had even gone to work. Maybe she hadn’t gone in at all. Maybe she’d lied to him and decided to go see this Alec person. He had to assume that they’d already slept together and had probably talked about having her move in. He was tempted to go the extra block despite his hesitation but finally decided against it. 

So much had changed in the past 24 hours and he considered buying a six-pack of beer so he could forget about it all for a while. But instead, he bought a single beer and didn’t go directly home. He and Charlie walked out to the eucalyptus grove where he sat with his back against a tree while Charlie sniffed the ground before lying next to him.

It felt comforting to have this large open meadow so near the house where nothing had changed for many years. It was as if the meadow existed in a state of eternal grace, with no indication of any owner or restricted entry. He studied the enormous girth of the eucalyptus trees, wondering how long ago they’d been planted and for what purpose. The luxuriant green tree canopy exuded an aura of mystery and as he relaxed among the trees it felt as if he’d entered a protected sanctuary where the outside world had no power to penetrate.   

Hearing a plaintive cry, he glanced up to see a red-tail hawk soaring above the tree line. As the hawk floated along on the thermals another red-tail appeared. They both began circling in ever-expanding arcs and suddenly swooped down to land in the crown of a tree not far from where he and Charlie sat. 

He hadn’t noticed the large mass of woven branches in the tree’s crown, the nest where the two hawks were now feeding their brood of chicks. The squeaks and squeals from the chicks reached a crescendo and then the pair flew off again in search of more rodents to ambush.

John leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes, thinking about how excited he’d been just two days ago, so excited to be coming home to see Claire. And if he hadn’t gone up to work in Alaska none of this would have happened. How could he have been so foolish to think she wouldn’t meet someone?

It was nearly dark when he grabbed the empty beer bottle and stood up, startling Charlie who abruptly jumped to his feet. The gorgeous August day had fled and along with it his bliss. His relaxed routine prior to going to Alaska was lost, perhaps forever, and he wondered if Claire would leave him. He wasn’t sure if he could go on living in the house alone and he wasn’t ready to consider finding a roommate to help pay the mortgage. He’d paid a dear price for his sojourn.

As he rounded the street corner, he spotted a Volkswagen bus parked in his driveway. The driver’s side door swung open, and a tall and slender woman slipped out. She turned toward him and in the fading light he recognized Claire’s friend Kristanna from Northern California. She held a small suitcase and smiled as he walked up.

They briefly hugged.

“What a surprise.”

“Yes.” She nodded. “It was a spur-of-the-moment thing.”

“Claire’s still at work. Why don’t you come in?” John took the suitcase and led her through the front gate and into the house.

Even though he didn’t know Kristanna very well, having only met her briefly a couple of times, she seemed at ease and trusting so he briefly described what had transpired over the summer.  After he finished, she was quiet and simply nodded.

“I’m so sorry.”

Not wanting to make her feel awkward he thought he’d better suck it up and change the subject. He asked what she’d been doing since they had last met. She talked of spending time on her rural property in the mountains of Utah and how she and her new beau planned to move there permanently in the fall. She’d come south to see Claire and another friend they’d known from their days waitressing together. The conversation grew more relaxed as she chatted about the friend who was now a film student at UCLA. It felt good and right to have someone else in the house for a few days. It would relieve the tension that had been building with Claire.