Lael climbed up the rise of the steep trail leading to the house. She glanced at her watch.
Three-thirty! No wonder she was tired–she had an all-day hike! As the house came into view, Gorby came bounding down the trail to meet her.
“Hey, boy,” she greeted him. “Did you sleep away your whole afternoon? You should have come with me, I had a great walk.”
She hurried the rest of the way to the house and let herself in. “I’m beat!” she announced to no one in particular, flopping down on the couch. Almost before her head hit the pillow, she was asleep. She had vague images in her dreams of someone she was supposed to know, yet couldn’t quite place. She couldn’t quite make out whether it was a man or a woman, but she felt a strong sense of familiarity, and, strangely, love. She awoke hours later to a darkening room and a rumbling stomach.
“Shower first–dinner second!” she told herself firmly.
Clean and refreshed, she descended the staircase from the master bedroom, cozily ensconced in robe and slipper, her hair freshly washed and wrapped in a towel. She moved efficiently through the kitchen, quickly heating herself a bowl of the lentil potato soup she’d made the day before and tearing off a chunk of home-baked honey wheat bread, to which she applied a generous slather of butter, to go with it. Carrying them into the living room, she settled down to eat. She had just finished when the phone rang. Eagerly she picked it up with a gay hello.
“Hi, hon–it’s me. Looks like I’ll be wrapping things up early here. I should be home Wednesday evening–want to have dinner at El Burro’s?”
“Roger! Hi, sweetie. Yes! Absolutely! I’d love to. How’d you meeting go?”
“Smooth as glass. Tell you all about it when I get home. Miss me?”
“How can I miss you when you’re right here? If I’m you, and you’re me, and we’re part of the One, then we’re never really separated!”
“You wanna run that by me one more time, hon? I didn’t quite catch that.”
“Me, neither!” Lael laughed. “That’s the problem with we wordsmiths–we never know what’s going to come out of our mouths next!”
“Did you work on the book today?”
“Nope–I spent the whole day hiking in the woods. But I’m going to buckle down and get to it tomorrow. I love you, Rog!”
“I love you, too. See you Wednesday, love. Bye.”
“Goodbye,” Lael answered, and, as she laid the phone in the cradle, came the unbidden murmured words, “Goodbye and God speed!”
THE END
