The Year That Follows by Scott Lasser

Author:Scott Lasser [Lasser, Scott]
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-307-27231-7
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2008-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Back at home Sam hears a knock. He can count on one hand the number of times in a year he gets a knock on his door. Usually it is some stripe of soul saver, Jehovah’s Witness or Mormon, the kind of Bible-thumpers who tend to inflame the ire of other Christians. Go figure. Most of his life he closed the door in their faces, but lately he’s listened, then asked, “Are we not all children of God? And does this God really care more what we believe than how we act?” He cares about both, is always the answer. “Then I’ll leave the believing to you,” Sam answers, and gently closes the door.

Today, though, it’s Phyllis, with a look on her face that is close to terror.

“What is it?” he asks.

“I thought you were dead,” she says and moves into him, almost knocking him down. In her embrace he can feel how much she cares for him, that he is not merely a convenience, someone to keep her company, but something more. She is not the type of woman (as most are, he thinks) to keep him just to have someone around.

“I called four times.”

“Three,” he says.

“I left three messages.”

“I fell asleep.”

“I thought you were dead,” she says again. She is wiping tears from her eyes. He is moved. He walks to the bureau, fetches the felt-covered, bow-wrapped box that contains pearls hanging from a gold chain, and gives it to her.

“Oh my God, it’s beautiful.” Smiling at him all the while, she tries it on. “Beautiful, Sam.”

“What if I told you,” he says, “that I thought we should live together?”

“I think you should tell me you love me first.”

When was the last time he told a woman he loved her? He can’t remember. It has always gotten him in trouble. Always. What the hell, he thinks, I’m eighty.

“I love you,” he says.

“Say it like you mean it.”

“I love you.”

“Kiss me, then.”

He obeys.

“I would tell you it’s about time,” she says.

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