The Warmth of the Day

My thanks go to Randi for her editing skills, I'm once again in your debt my friend. I started this story eight years ago and although I would pick it up and push it forward, I could never get it across the finish line. Well, it was a joint effort between a dear friend and I, but somehow we managed, I hope. Please enjoy your read.

*******

The warmth of the day was coming to a close now; Lisa would be there soon. Grabbing a cold soda from the fridge and then pushing open the back door to step out onto the porch and look out at the view, every day was different and yet always held me within its grasp.

"How could this city boy have ever got so used to this?" I thought. I heard her giggle and even thought I smelled her perfume as my gaze turned towards the rocker at the far end of the porch.

It was an exercise in futility, and yet I did it anyway. Lisa wasn't there.

She was in my mind, and most definitely in my heart maybe, but not sitting there on the rocker. It didn't spook me as much as it did when I first thought I was hearing her; she was my soul-mate and our love and attachment was the realest thing about us. Sitting where I usually sat it felt like we were both looking out over the fields beyond the boundaries of the house and the horses that grazed there.

*******

I had been a computer geek when Lisa saved me. I was a guest speaker at my old college and hadn't even noticed her. Computers were my life, and girls? Well, girls came a low second, almost third, then. I was clumsy around women; they were from Venus after all, so how was I supposed to know anything about them? At the end of my slideshow and speech came the dreaded question and answer session. This bit I had hated, so it was a great relief when my old professor eventually brought proceedings to a close and I could get my slides together and make an exit.

It was her perfume I noticed first. Looking up, Lisa just stood there with that captivating smile on her face. I felt my cheeks redden as I asked. "Can I help you with anything?"

"I need a summer job," she replied as matter of factly.

Thankfully my old professor came up and made the introductions. I was speechless, Lisa was beauty personified. The deep green eyes held you while her voice seemed to soothe you at the same time. At no point while we spoke was I uncomfortable around her and that was a first; she was a girl, after all. While one arm held her books close to her chest, her other hand would occasionally brush a stray hair back behind her ear. Hell, even her ears were attractive. There was just something else there, but I just couldn't think what it was until much later.

I tried to dissuade her by telling her the only sort of summer job I had coming up was cover for one of my staff going on maternity leave. The rest of the staff had absorbed the major parts of Helen's job between them, but that still left things like filing and general clerical work. Lisa's eyes were like saucers and she had that happy look about her. Trying desperately hard to make even that sound less attractive, I added that that would also include pushing a broom around. Lisa let out a small cheer and ripped out a piece of paper from one of her books, scribbled her number down, pushed it into my hand and walked out of the class. All I could do was stare as she left.

It was my professor patting me on the back that brought me back from that dark place of thinking to myself, 'What have I done?' A week later I received a phone call at the office; it was Lisa wanting to know if I had given away her summer job. I had to admire her power of persistence and I think I had decided then the job was hers. We chatted for a few minutes. I had always liked phones, it was that detachment that they allowed you. I had one last stab at trying to change her mind, but even I had to admit defeat.

My parting words were that I would see her the next day at eight sharp and the uniform of the company was jeans and a T-shirt. I pondered on Lisa for a moment more, smiled, let my admin people know that we had a summer work experience coming in the morning and gave them Lisa's contact details.

It took all of five minutes for life to take over once again, and that caused my conversation with Lisa to move further and further into the recesses of my mind. An hour later I was talking on the phone to one of my very first customers; that conversation meant I was called out of state that night to sort a program that was proving difficult, so it wasn't until three days later when I returned on the red eye. Since I saw no reason to go home from the airport, I returned to the office.

Grabbing a coffee and heading to my office, it's never a good idea to try and read your mail whilst walking and when the mail is upside down, it was then I bumped into Lisa, my coffee was now a hot spot over my shirt and down the front of my pants.

Holding my shirt away from my skin and Lisa freaking out behind me, I got to my office, pulled my shirt off and trying hard to wipe the residue of coffee away from me while Lisa stood in the middle of the room, suddenly very quiet. It even caused me to pause my own actions. I was in my office with this stunning woman and I was topless.

Lisa grabbed my coffee-stained shirt and with an. "I'm paying to get this cleaned," she rushed from my office.

The next morning my now stainless and pressed shirt was sat on my desk when I came in.

*******

We grew into a friendship, but the weirdness of the situation never left me: the computer geek and the beauty queen as we slowly became known around the office. She would do the most bizarre things, at times. We had known each other just shy of three months by then, and I was sitting at my desk thinking that it was time to head on home. She walked in and dumped a bucket of chicken on the desk. I stared, surprised first at the fantastic aroma coming from the bucket and then up at her.

She smiled back sheepishly as she was sat down and said. "I know you are going to ask me out someday, so I thought dinner was a good idea."

It was the best fried chicken I ever had, plus the company of course. We began to date, soon after. Lisa was the best thing that had ever happened to me in a long while, because she brought out a side of me I had kept hidden to all.

One day she came into the office sat down and said. "Look, I'm an old fashion girl at heart, so do you come live with me, I come live with you or we buy a place together?"

A week later she moved in with me and thus came the beginning of my life with Lisa. We married in a small ceremony that mainly consisting of her folks and our work colleagues, with a few joint friends making up the rest of the invites. Her father walked her down the aisle. In the short time I knew Lisa's parents they simply welcomed me with open arms. Charley was the proudest man ever that day.

Lisa had to hand him a tissue from one of her hidden stash as they walked down the aisle; his wife pretended to scowled him when he sat in the pew next to her, and then for the next ten minutes they both shared Isabel's own stash of tissues, much to the amusement of both my new wife and I.

*******

It was another two years into our lives that we decided to try for children and had been trying for close to a year, but to no avail. Lisa decided to go to the doctor and find out why it was taking so long. Many tests were done and then we got a call from our doctor wanting to see us both. She sat us down and told her she had cancer; at best, and with the aid of chemo to slow the rate of her cancer, they said she had eighteen months.

Telling Lisa's folks nearly killed us both; I loved them almost as much as I did my wife. Her mom dropped everything, she just up and quit her job and moved in with us to help us both. I sold the company soon after for far less than its worth, but the company I sold it to guaranteed all my people a job, so I accepted.

We bought the farm two months later, both Isabel and Charlie were both still some way off from retirement, so to keep the money going into their pockets and pension, I offered both Isabel and Charley a job on the ranch. Charley had always been good with his hands and being closer to their daughter for both of them was going to help everyone in the coming months. The horses that my wife loved so much, we bought as we went along. Occasionally, we would get a phone call from an animal welfare group asking us to take a horse for which they desperately needed a home.

Lisa's cancer treatment tired her a great deal, so an oversized porch that overlooked the fields was added to the back of the house. Charley did a quick sketch of what he thought would suit the house, Lisa took one look at it and loved it. Her dad spent the rest of the afternoon out back with a tape measure and a pad, sizing everything up, and barely a week later my father-in-law and a work crew descended on the back of the house. Within two days it was up and we smelled nothing but varnish drying for the entire third day.

We would both sit there watching the horses at play in the fields, and if she was strong enough, we would take a carriage ride for a while around the paddocks. If not, we would just watch the sun set from the rocker. Lisa died in hospital two and a half years after being diagnosed with cancer. She was brave and a fighter; she would often say that she was just too stubborn to stick around for only eighteen months.

Half of the town folk and my ex-colleagues turned up for the funeral at the town's only church. I asked both Isabel and Charley to stay on and I even admitted something to them that they had known for some time. Those two folks were the closest to a mom and dad I had, since I was orphanage raised, and to be honest, all three of us needed each others' support at the time.

That was three years before. My world fell apart that day. I became known as a recluse after that; the town folk would mostly see Charley, but on a few occasions they would see me in town buying supplies and animal feed and I waved, pass on a hi or good day. Other than that I had little to do with the town that had welcomed us all with open arms; the memories of my late wife were my sole company on those long evenings.

The saddest part was, and even I wouldn't ever admit this to either Isabel or Charley, that it was only my computer work and the visits from Lisa that stopped me joining her. It was a sad indictment of my life I'm sure; my wealth grew and at the same time the hole in my heart refused to heal.

*******

I felt a tear roll down my cheek, my heart was thumping hard in my chest as the memories started to overwhelm me once again.

My lips parted and the words simply repeated what my broken heart had felt for the last three years. "Dammit girl, I loved you so much."

A warm breeze crept its way across the field and enveloped me within it. I smiled, yet it didn't stop a tear finding its way down my cheek. I was just about to say something when I heard a screech of car tires... a bang... then another bang. It had come from the front of the house. Leaping from the rocker I ran through the house and out the front door. A car had destroyed the fence, steam was emanating from the radiator and I could hear a child crying from somewhere in the car.

I ran to the driver's side. A woman was unconscious across the steering wheel; beside her, the crying child was still strapped into the car seat and was trying desperately to reach for the woman slumped over the steering wheel. By that time, Charley and Isabel had joined me. Charley and I got the woman out while Isabel took hold of the child. I'm just glad Isabel took charge of the situation after that. We got the woman in the house with Isabel following close by with the little girl in her arms and calm for the moment, while she could see her mom and the gentle tones coming from Isabel.

It was quicker pulling the doctor from town rather than getting her to our local hospital. I sat at the bottom of the stairs watching the front door, waiting for him to arrive while Isabel and Charlie took care of my new guests. The Doc pulled up and I let him follow me until we reached the spare room. That's when I stopped and he walked into me. The poor man apologized as I stood to one side and let him enter and then went back to the bottom of the stairs.

This was all too much commotion going on for me, I totally understood it all, but it still put me on edge. Isabel came and sat on the step next to me, her hand sought mine and held on tight.

"It's a concussion. The doctor has just agreed with me; she needs rest. I know her, Alex. She's a reporter for the local paper here in town. Her name is Clare Stewart. We've spoken a few times when I've been out and about; she's only been here short of a year and still finding her feet. I want you to allow me to let them stay. If they go home there isn't anyone there to look after them both. I'll look after her little girl, Alex; she won't get under your feet."

My mind was screaming NO, and that's the part of me I chose to beat to death, I lived the life of a recluse, by my own choosing. That woman didn't ask for her car to crash outside my house or the blind fear her own daughter went through watching her mother out cold across the steering wheel with blood making her injuries look ten times worse than they really were.

Being a recluse was a circumstance of my choosing; she didn't choose for her car to become intimate with my flowerbeds. With my mind made up, I turned to Isabel and nodded. In return, I got a kiss on the cheek as a thank you before she stood and went back into the bedroom. I let the doctor out my front door, half an hour later.

*******

With my office door open I heard the stairs announce our guest was descending. My first thought was that she must have smelled Isabel's cooking. As I came to the door, her back was to me as she looked into the kitchen.

"Excuse me, ma'am." she said.

A plate got dropped onto the kitchen table and I smiled, poor Isabel didn't get people sneaking up on her all that often.

"Oh my!" replied a shocked Isabel. "Lady, you shouldn't be up, much less walking around. The doctor says nothing is broken but you need the rest. Your child is fine. My husband is keeping her entertained watching the horses while he's mucking out the stalls."

Other than taking her upstairs to the guest bedroom, I hadn't seen the woman properly. I let Charley call the doctor and volunteered to lend one of my t-shirts and robes. Other than that, the woman with her back to me was a stranger. The bandage around the top half of her head couldn't hide the red hair that fell to just below her shoulders; a man's robe on a woman's body tends to hide the rest of her. The phone in my office shook me from my thoughts and seemed to attract the attention of the woman talking to Isabel.

Keeping track of two conversations wasn't all that easy, especially when the person on the other end of the phone suddenly got all technical and I found that my attention was no longer divided. By the time I once again came out of my office the woman was now sat at the table with her back to me, eating something that Isabel had prepared for her.

*******

I found Charley out by the barn a hammer in one hand while he held the wreckage of the front fence in the other. The little girl was standing by the fence-line a few yards away poking hay through the fence at one of the horses that the animal sanctuary people asked us to look after.

"Charley, you're good, but you're not that good."

He smiled and then shrugged.

"Just thought I would maybe be able to fix it. If the car didn't do enough damage then the tow truck sure did when they pulled it out of the flower beds to take it away."

As I made my way to my car I told Charley to look after our guests, and when they wanted to go home then take them. I had to go into the city for a day or two. He nodded, but didn't add to the nod. It took me two days to get to the bottom of the problem the phone call to my house gave me. Thankfully for me I always kept an overnight case in the trunk of the car for times like that.

On my way back home I even swung by my old college to visit my old professor. He spent his time over coffee trying to get me back in to guest speak in his class to his students once again. I think he was trying to draw me out of the ranch more than anything. I knew I couldn't, and eventually we settled on catching up. Although I painted a picture of being busy on the ranch, he saw right through me.

"Alex, you're hiding, not just yourself but your talents. Lisa is dead, the injustice of the fact that it was at such an early age didn't escape anyone, but she is dead. At least promise me you will think about doing a few guest speaking parts here at the college. I don't want you hiding away; it's not doing you any good."

For my part, I wasn't even sure I could. The college was where my life started, not just academically but also when Lisa got in my face and asked for a job and eventually took over my heart. I knew I would be forever in its debt for both, and yet my feelings were still too raw. The one thing you don't need is a guest speaker standing in front of a bunch of students bawling his eyes out.

I left both my old professor and college how I always left them: on good terms and with a very vague promise that I would think over his offer. By the time I got home it was dark. By morning Isabel was waiting for me, the hands on hips gesture a forewarning that I was in for a lecture from her, as well.

"You embarrassed me. Yes, I know this is your place, but you don't slink out of it without checking up on the health of your guests."

Being a guy and not totally sure what she was talking about, I thought I defended myself rather well when I said, "The last I noticed was that the woman was eating at the table; the little girl sure looked like she was enjoying feeding one of the horses."

Her hands bunched into fists; she wasn't giving an inch.

"You let that woman into your house and my momma taught me that that one act then became mi casa, su casa. You then embarrassed me by slinking off at the first opportunity."

She was right, of course. Oh I could have challenged her on the finer details, and going by past experience Isabel would have let me stick my neck out just far enough for her to chop it off. The call from Cintrec Industries wasn't important enough for me to leave instantly, even Harvey told me that over the phone. The problem was intermittent, and looking back I could see I felt uneasy having another woman in the house.

Isabel knew she had made her point. I was given breakfast after that. Charley came in and gave me a rundown on what had gone on over the couple of days I had been gone and grabbed the keys to the truck before telling me that he was off the town for supplies. He even kissed his wife on the way out the door to emphasize the point that he was going, and not me.

*******

The rest of the day I both watched the horses from my office window and got some work done. It was late in the afternoon when I looked up at the time. Lisa would be there soon. Isabel glanced at me, then the time and sadness crept into her eyes as she watched me grab a soda from the fridge and walk out onto the back porch. For a moment I looked out over the field, my heart beat so hard in my chest that I heard it in my ears.

My vision blurred for a moment, and I used the time to take a drink before sitting down on the rocker. The warm breeze crept its way over the field and both calmed and terrified me at the same time. I heard the door open and turned to watch as Isabel held the door for the woman from the crash and her child to emerge into the sunlight. They both squinted a couple of times as their eyes grew accustomed to the harsh summer sun lowering itself down over the ridge line in the distance.