Running Northwest (50 page)

The sun was shining down now on her face; her curly brown hair blew in the wind behind her as she drove down the coastal highway. There were only a few clouds in the sky, Stephanie finally had a good sense of how immense of a view of the ocean and stretching coast line there was from certain points while driving down the road, and she loved it. The view shifted from rocky coastline and the expansive blue ocean to green fir trees, the ocean peeking through occasionally. The sun made them both even more vibrant. She knew it was cloudy here a lot; rain and clouds were around more often than not. Ann told her the people on the northern Oregon Coast took advantage of a sunny day. As she drove through Garibaldi she saw Tillamook Bay off to her right, the place was alive with activity. As she drove many thoughts were going through her mind, she realized how much she was going to miss the Oregon Coast. How many things were left unexplored and unknown to her, things she had not discovered yet? She wondered if she would ever come back, ever see what else this place offered her, and she wondered what was going to happen with Thomas. The ocean views began to give way to farmland and countryside as she passed through the small town of Bay City. After driving through Bay City she saw on her right, a sign flash by her that said Town of Tillamook.

Making her way through Tillamook, she realiz
ed she was coming up on Thomas’
café, the Sunset. She wondered if he would be there this time of day, she briefly thought about stopping to get some coffee. Up ahead she saw the familiar businesses that preceded his shop on the street, and then saw the café’s sign. Without realizing at first what she was doing, she began to slow down and look. When she drove by much, too slowly she realized there were two men standing out front smoking. She instantly recognized Pockets and his clothing…then she realized the other man was Thomas. She hit the accelerator hard and charged down the street almost instantly surpassing the posted speed limits. She turned hard; tires screeching at the next left, which was a road, called the Wilson River highway, and headed towards the mountains ahead and beyond that eventually Portland.

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As Thomas and Pockets stood at front of the coffee shop talking, a car drove by, slowed down and then sped up again. The woman driving seemed to look in their direction before she sped away.

“Well that was odd,” Thomas said.

Pockets knew exactly who it was; he knew her car and recognized Stephanie instantly. He said nothing though and laughed a little then replied to what Thomas had said with “Damn tourist is probably lost”. However, in his head he was thinking, “is that damn girl out of her mind, why did she do that
?
”

“Yeah we get them this time of year around here don’t we Pockets
?
” Thomas said.

“Oh we sure do Tommy, well hey I should be on my way I’m thinking
,
” Pockets said.

“Well thanks for stopping in Pockets; it was nice to see you. You should come down and say hello more often,” Thomas said.

“I will defiantly try my best Tommy” Pockets s
aid, as he shook Thomas’
hand, walked down the stairs, got into his jeep, and turned left heading back towards Cannon Beach. Thomas turned and went back inside the shop, closing the door behind him, sat back down at the counter and opened up the book he had been reading. Alexis should be here shortly and he was ready to leave. Even though he opened early, he had done a fair amount of business and was ready to go and enjoy the day.

It was evening on the Oregon Coast now and Thomas was long out of work. After picking up Daniel from Erin who was unusually quiet, they went out for ice cream and took a drive down to Oceanside. It was a small town on the coast. The sandy beach was wide open and Daniel liked to look at the houses build on the h
ills next to the surrounding
beach; he thought they were “cool”. The dogs however just loved to run in surf as usual especially Layla.

After they got home, Thomas spent 45 minutes talking to his mother Grace on the phone who, in her own special way was giving him parenting advice. He tried to change the subject a few times but it did not work and again was happy she lived clear across the country in Florida. Daniel wanted to talk to his grandmother for a bit, but that conversation lasted on
ly minutes; Thomas’
mother quickly getting bored talking to the boy and saying she had to let him go. Thomas was on the other house phone listening in on the conversation and was not pleased with her tone. Nevertheless, Thomas as usual did not expect any different but it still made him sad for his son as always. In his mother’s eyes Ariel, her granddaughter was the favorite and apple of her eye. He did not look forward to the day when his son was smart enough to notice his only grandmother’s tone as they talked and indifference in her voice. Even now, he knew his son wishes she called him more and did not understand why she wouldn’t.

The next phone call went much better for both Thomas and his young son. That call was to Ed, Thomas’ father in Michigan and as luck would have it his sister Amanda was there with his niece Ariel. That phone call lasted nearly an hour and a half and Thomas and Daniel talked to everyone at one point or another, some at the same time. Daniel still had no idea his grandfather would be in Oregon on Friday and nobody gave the secret away over the phone.
His
dad had went fishing that day and caught a few fish and told Daniel all about it; without a doubt exaggerating the size for the boy. Ed could burp and Daniel would find it amazing, everything the grandfather did impressed his adopted grandson. In many ways, they both ate it up.

Thomas and Daniel were sitting on the couch eating popcorn at seven in the evening. They were watching some TV show about aliens in South America that Daniel was completely intrigued by and could not take his eyes away. Thomas watched as the boy put one piece of popcorn in his mouth at a time, chewing very slowly and his eyes glued to the television screen. Sunset would be in a few hours and they were thinking about having another fire later on.

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Stephanie looked out the window from her seat on the 747 she was flying on. She had just taken off 30 minutes prior from a two hour layover in Denver. She could see the sun had more or less set already to the east, shadows were beginning to cover them below her, it looked beautiful she thought, peaceful. She sat next to an older man on the plane who for the time being had fallen asleep with the help of some drugs he offered to Stephanie also, which she declined. She flipped through her camera and looked at all the pictures she had taken while she was out in Oregon. That first night she went to the Riptide with Ann and her friends, the night of the storm, she had brought it with her. Apparently, at some point they had gotten hold of her camera and decided to take their own. Some of the pictures were hilarious and some were very sweet. One was Ann and Ben holding a napkin in front of them with “we will miss you” written in black pen.

As she scrolled through she saw a picture she had taken of Thomas and his son Daniel when she had seen them that day up in Cannon Beach. The day she almost ran into Thomas accidently, it made her wonder if she should have played it off and let it happen. If Thomas would have believed, it was just coincidence. That the two of them ran into each other on Cannon Beach, while she was just there on vacation.

“Too late to find out now I guess” she said aloud.

The man next to her woke up long enough to say “too late for what?”

“Oh I’m sorry sir I was just talking to myself” Stephanie replied feeling bad she had woken him up.

“Oh all right then, well whatever it is, it’s never too late, it’s never too late for anything” the man said then fell asleep again.

Stephanie turned her head and looked over at the snoring old man next to her. She smiled a little, what he said for some reason made her think.

Eventually Stephanie managed to fall asleep. A few hours later she was woken up by the old man next to her politely nudged her letting her know they were about to land in Grand Rapids. She looked out the window and saw the lights of the state she lived in below her. Small towns, tiny lights and headlights from cars went in and out of her view and she sighed deeply. She had spent her whole life here and never really imagined living anywhere else, mostly out of fear. Now, Michigan was the last place she wanted to be. She was very excited however to see her dog Shadow, she knew leaving her in Michigan was a mistake. Stephanie sat up straight and prepared to land. The plane was going down faster now; she could hear the landing gear lower below the plane. Minutes later she felt the wheels hit the ground and the engines roar slowing the plane down.

About twenty minutes later, she was standing at the curb after collecting her bags and waiting for a cab. She was home; at least that is what it was supposed to be.

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Ann and Ben were sitting in their living room watching an old movie that Ben had rented. The sat sharing a bag of chips and a drink. As they were watching, the movie there was a knock on the door making them look at each other. It was late and rarely did they have a visitor this late specially an uninvited one.

“Who could that be now?” Ben asked looking at his watch.

Ann was already up and heading towards the door, she peered through the window, saw that it was Beth, and opened the door.

“Hi Beth, what are you doing here this time of night” Ann asked.

From over Ann’s shoulder, Beth could see Ben sitting in his chair and waved to him, who waved back.

“well I got bored so I was across the street at the cottage cleaning up since Stephanie left and found this laying on the bed” Beth said and gave the thing in her hands to Ann.

Ann took it, looked down, and smiled. She was not sure if Stephanie left it on purpose or not.

“Okay thanks
Beth I’ll make sure she gets it
back one way or another” Ann said.

The two women chatted briefly then Beth said goodbye for the night and Ann shut the door, went, and sat back down.

“What do you got there babe” Ben said with a curious look on his face.

Ann handed it over to Ben who looked at it and smiled and said “cute, I wonder why she left it though”

“Fate Darlin Fate
,
” Ann said.

“What’s that supposed to mean
,
” Ben asked.

Ann laughed and said; “just watch your movie lover” as she took the thing back from her husband and set it on the coffee table in front of her. She starred at it and thought about it for a long while.

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After walking into her front door, she was instantly mauled by her hairy and excited husky Shadow. The dog practically knocked Stephanie down and licked her skin off her face. Stephanie sat on the ground with her dog and rubbed Shadow’s belly for 20 minutes, the dog ate it up. As far as homecoming goes this was a nice one and probably the only one she was truly looking forward too upon being home. She called Karen from the cab on the way from the airport and let her know she was in town. Karen had asked if she should come over but Stephanie quickly cut her off saying no politely and that she would see her at work on Wednesday. She was tired, frustrated and had a lot on her mind. More than anything, she just wanted to spend some time with her dog and be alone.

Stephanie went to bed after a long shower, not even bother to unpack from her trip and leaving her bags near the door where she left them. Shadow stayed right next
to
the shower and refused to leave despite getting wet a little and a few times tried to get in with Stephanie. They went to bed shortly after, the big dog cuddled up next to Stephanie the whole night, happy to have her girl home.

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The sun had set on the Oregon Coast now and Thomas, his son and their dogs were sitting next to a fire. Daniel had a marshmallow roasting near the flames and was intent on not setting it on fire since he did not like them burned. Layla came and went, occasionally wondering down near the water and running along the beach. Thomas and Daniel ventured down at one point also and looked up at the moon that was now showing just above the mountains on the coast. The night was clear and Daniel was showing his dad as many of the constellations as he could see and remember.

The night was cool but nice and as they sat by the fire, they could hear the waves from the Pacific gently rolling onto the sand in a nearly predictable pattern and crashing down. Thomas loved hearing the ocean, the waves and the sounds they made that could be heard for a distance.