Out of Touch, Out of Time - Chapter Eleven

July 4, 2008

Cheyenne jumped up and pulled on her shorts and t-shirt saying, “Let’s walk.”

She waited until Jonas had redressed, not bothering to put on his shoes, walking barefoot beside her. She walked past the people starting to fill up the beach toward a less populated area, all the while trying to collect her thoughts.

She wondered how she could say what she wanted and not sound as hurt as she had been for the past two years. Once she decided where to start, she was surprised at how calm she felt. Finally the pain of John’s betrayal was gone, replaced by the gentle eyes of Jonas.

“His clothes are still in the house because he ran out in the middle of the night while I was working at the computer putting together the last show I did for the gallery. He poked his head in the office and said he’d be back soon. He never came back. I’m pretty sure he took one bag with him, but he didn’t want to be obvious about it. I found out later my replacement who was waiting in the car for him was only twenty. Apparently when I reached thirty, I made him feel old.”

She shook her head, “Funny, I thought mid-life crisis was supposed to happen in mid-life, not when you reached your thirties. But John had never grown up, and I doubt very seriously if he ever will.

“No, when I said people leave me I meant my parents.”

“But your father is still alive, is he not?”

“Yes, but after my mother died, he might as well have, too.”

“I’m sorry. Do you want to talk about your mother?”

She smiled, “There’s not much to say, and to really explain it, I’d have to tell you about my entire life.”

He answered her smile, “If you want to tell me, I’m more than willing to listen.”

She chuckled, “Okay, you asked for it.”

“My parents were hippies at a time when it wasn’t really fashionable to be one anymore. In a loose fashion hippies are a bit like gypsies. My parents certainly were, anyway. They’d wanted to see the world and because they had money, a lot of money having come from wealthy families, they were able to do what they wanted. However, they never spent more than they had to, which means we always lived very simply.

“I was born at a time when they were living and working in France. My mother wanted to give me a true American name, and Cheyenne was the only thing she could think of when they asked her what she wanted to call me, so Cheyenne America is my name. How’s that for terrible?

“Anyway, until mom’s death ten years ago in China, my family and I were still traveling the world. When I was a kid, they’d enroll me into whatever educational system there was available wherever we were. Fortunately languages came easy to me since I spent the better part of my life learning new ones.

“Finally, after mom’s death, dad decided to stay in England because he just couldn’t bear to be in the US without mom and he was finally tired of traveling. I tried to live there, too, stayed for five years, but I wanted to see where my parents had grown up. When I came to Bluewater Village, the house auction had just started. I had mom’s money, so I bought the house.

“I fell in love with the house at first sight. The first thought I had was that the house needed to be rescued as much as I did. I’d spent my entire life wandering, never having a real home. So, that’s why I’m here and why I’m so determined to make the house a home. I’ve seen my dad exactly twice since I moved here, so in effect, I have no family. As I said, I lose everything I love as my dad might just as well be dead, too.”

“Doesn’t he telephone?”

“No, I remind him too much of my mother, or so he says.”

She sighed, “Enough about me, your turn.”

Chapter Ten

Chapter Twelve