Alison Strobel - The Heart of Memory

“Hi, Savannah. Listen, I’m flying out to New York again tomorrow and I’ve got a layover in Atlanta, around one. My plane for New York doesn’t leave until almost 3. Do you think we could meet? I have some stuff from A &A that you need to go through, and I wanted to talk to you about something, in person.”

Savannah frowned. “Well, sure, that’s fine. Let me find out where we can meet and I’ll give you a call back.” They hung up and she told Tabitha about the call. “It’s never good when someone wants to talk to you ‘in person,’ is it?”

“Hmmm… not usually. You never know, though.”

“No, I know Marisa. Good news she can’t keep under her hat.”

“I’ll be praying for your meeting.”

She gave Tabitha a sidelong look and almost asked her not to. But hearing it from her felt different than it had felt from Shaun and Marisa. More sincere, less threatening. Even if she didn’t think it would do any good, it felt good to know her best friend was back at her side.

AT ONE O’CLOCK SAVANNAH ENTERED the Atlanta Bread Company just across the street from the airport. She ordered sweet tea for herself and waited at a table, trying not to feel anxious. Ever since she’d bombed at the book tour gig, her relationship with Marisa had been awkward at best. She’d given up expecting anyone to understand, but Marisa pushed her patience to the limit. Lately Savannah had taken to flat-out lying to get out of seeing her, and had it not been for the “in person” comment she’d have done the same for today.

Savannah grew more nervous as one minute after another passed. She ordered another iced tea and chided herself for her nerves. After all, what was the worst Marisa could have to say?

The more she thought about it the more she wished she hadn’t asked herself that.

Marisa finally appeared at half past one. “I’m sorry I’m late; it took longer to get here than I thought it would.”

Savannah tapped into her new bitter side to deal with her anxiety. “Never mind. What’s one more half hour out of my vacation?” The sarcastic tone was uncomfortable in her mouth, and seeing Marisa become even more flustered made her feel worse. “So,” she said, hoping to move things along quickly so she could get back to The Refuge, “what was so important that we had to have this little meeting?”

Marisa pulled a large yellow envelope from her computer bag. “This is some mail that came for you at A &A. I already sent the form replies to the ones that it made sense to, but there were some that I didn’t know what to do with.”

“Do you want to make replies right now?”

Marisa looked slightly uncomfortable. “Well, no, not really.”

Savannah was a little miffed. Wasn’t that her job? “Well, alright then. Neither do I, frankly. But couldn’t these have waited until I came back?”

“I suppose they could have, but I thought this might be the better way to do it.”

She rolled her eyes. “Why?”

Marisa pushed her hair behind her ears, a clear sign she was nervous. “Savannah, I think it’s time for me to quit A &A.”

Savannah was surprised at how hurt she felt, especially since she had already given Marisa the go-ahead to leave. “I – I didn’t think you were ready to go.”

“I wasn’t. But then all this happened, and I started making my plans to go out to New York, and I realized I just didn’t want to come back. Not that I didn’t want to come back to you,” she quickly amended. “I just mean I don’t want to leave Jeremy. I’m pretty sure I want to marry him, but I know it would be wiser for us to spend more time together first. He can’t leave his job, and my job is… well… precarious.”

Savannah told herself she had no right to feel abandoned, but she couldn’t deny the emotion. It had been different when she’d been the one telling Marisa to go, especially since Marisa hadn’t seemed eager to leave. But to have her officially quit felt like a knife in the gut. “I’m… well, I’m happy for you and Jeremy, of course. I just didn’t think you’d be leaving so soon.”

“I know, I’m sorry. And I’m sorry that I’m springing this on you while you’re on vacation. But I really felt like God was telling me it was the right thing to do. I already turned in my resignation to Shaun.”

Savannah was surprised. “You decided that quick. I just told you yesterday you could take some time off.”

“Well… I’d already written it. I was just waiting for God to tell me the right time to go.”

Savannah bristled at the comment. “Nice of him to ruin my sabbatical.”

“Savannah-”

“No, no, never mind. I really am happy for you, Marisa. Was there anything else you wanted to dump on me before you left?”

“Um, no -”

“Alright then, I’m going to get going.” Savannah grabbed the envelope from the table and stood. “Have a nice flight. Good luck in New York.”

She walked out of the restaurant with tears in her eyes and her emotions in complete confusion. She tried to sort them out as she drove, rather than wallowing and making herself too weepy to drive. She was halfway back to The Refuge before she finally realized the real reason she was so upset. It had nothing to do with Marisa, really, but with A &A. It felt like the beginning of the end. Without Marisa, she had no assistant. But there was no point in hiring someone else, because she wasn’t working anymore anyway. And if she wasn’t working anymore…

She decided to push back her return flight when she got back to The Refuge. Suddenly she couldn’t bear the thought of going home.

SHAUN WOKE UP TO THE sound of a thud downstairs. He sat up and checked the date on his watch. Savannah wasn’t scheduled to come home for another week, now that she’d changed her flight-had she changed it again?

He got out of bed and pulled on a pair of sweats as he called out, “Savannah?”

“Just me, Dad.”

He smiled as he finished dressing and went downstairs. “Hey, sweetheart. I didn’t know you were coming home this weekend.”

“Hey, Mr. Trover.” Adam appeared from the dining room. “I was just putting Jessie’s school stuff on the table in there for her. Sorry if we woke you up.”

“Not a problem. I wouldn’t have slept in if I’d known you were coming. What’s the occasion?”

Jessie nodded to the pile of books Adam had put on the table.

“I’ve got a huge project due Monday and wanted to get some more time to work on it. There are just too many distractions on campus, and Adam had to come back anyway for his dad’s birthday dinner. He’s going to keep me company until he has to meet up with family.”

“Ah, well, happy birthday to your dad, Adam. I’m going to get myself some breakfast and have a shower; can I get you two anything?”

“No thanks, Mr. Trover.”

“We ate at the dorm,” Jessie said.

“Alright then. I’ll leave you alone so you can get to work.” He went into the kitchen, but could hear Adam and Jessie as they talked in the dining room. He couldn’t help but smile at how the two of them sounded together-already like an old married couple who could finish each other’s sentences. He and Savannah had been like that once.

His thoughts turned to Jessie and Adam marrying. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine it. They’d only been dating since the spring, but sometimes it was just obvious when two people belonged together. He’d been protective of Jessie when she’d told him she and Adam were dating; she’d never had a steady boyfriend, and he wasn’t crazy at the idea of some boy trying to get intimate with his daughter. But he’d begrudgingly admitted after seeing them together that, if she had to date someone, Adam was the best kind of boy for her to choose. And it was helpful that he and Savannah already knew his family, since his mother worked at A &A. Savannah had chided Shaun for not seeing their relationship in the cards sooner. They’d met when Adam’s mother, Ginny, had come on staff with A &A four years ago, and Savannah swore Adam had developed a crush on Jessie the first day they’d met. “I’m surprised it took them this long to get together,” she said. “But God was protecting their hearts. Dating at 20 is very different from dating at 16 – so much more maturity. I give them a year before they’re engaged.”