Jeanne's Dreams

Some have asked what I consider women's fiction in regard to Micromance... this story of a woman being there for a lovelorn friend is a good example...So lets join Val and Jeanne for lunch in the park

“Here.”

Jeanne handed me her phone, forcing me to set my sandwich down beside me on the park bench.

“Isn't it breathtaking?” Her voice dripped with a dreamy lilt. “Oh, I can't wait to see it one day in all its living color.”

Even with the screen brightness at 100%, it was difficult to see the picture on such a sunny day, but through squinted eyes I could tell it was of a sandy beach, a palm tree silhouetted against a sailor's delight of a sky. The place she had been going on and on about ever since her online reconnection with Shane, the one who knotted her heart strings twenty-something years ago.

“Yes, it's very pretty,” I agreed just as I had the other hundred times she showed pictures me of Oahu, and of Shane's oceanside view from his back deck and, of course, of Shane, every bit as pretty as the scenery that surrounded him, exceptionally handsome for a man his age. I could see how she once fell for him…and never got back up.

I handed back the phone and picked up my sandwich, hoping to finish it before lunch hour was over.

Jeanne crunched a potato chip and shifted on the bench, uncrossing her legs and recrossing them the other way, and stared at the screen.

Y'know, being so close to him again, yet still so far, is hard.” Jeanne slid her thumb across the screen, swiping to another picture, certainly of Shane if the appetent glint in her eyes could be believed. “I mean, he calls me every night, but even so, my heart aches more than when he first moved to Hawaii. It's like I miss him more now than all the years we had no contact.”

I screwed the cap off my Dr. Pepper and washed down the last bite of my sub, then philosophized. “Maybe you're not so much missing him as you are anticipating him.”

She turned her head from the phone screen and looked me in the face, the first time she had since we entered the park, wide-eyed, a slight smile on her lips.

“It's true, I can't wait to see him…I mean, actually, see him again.” A blush painted her cheeks and her little smile grew into an impish grin. “Y'know, some nights I can't sleep, my mind too occupied imagining what it'll be like when that happens…y’know?” She gave me a little nudge with her elbow and giggled, and I laughed with her.

“So, have you discussed visiting each other?” I'm sure she would have mentioned it if they had, but still I asked, my nosiness getting the better of me.

Jeanne returned her attention to whatever photo stared back at her from the screen. “Sorta.” She shrugged, the glimmer that had brightened her face fizzled out. “But neither of us can afford it right now.”

She heaved a strident sigh.

“But one day, I'll get there, even if it's not until I retire.” A few silver strands shone in the thatch of hair she twirled around her finger. “It'll be the perfect place to live out my last days. It's paradise, y'know, the closest place to heaven. After all”–a drop of unconditional love glided down her cheek– “he's there.”

I heaved a gulping sigh. Never had I heard anyone speak anything so lovely as that, nor had I ever seen anything so tragic as a woman yearning for the end because it promised a beginning.

I didn't know whether to pity Jeanne or envy her.

“Dammit! We're going to be late.” Jeanne grabbed a napkin and dried her eyes. “I'm so sorry, Val.”

“Don't worry about it.” I gathered up all the trash into one bag, then glanced at my watch. “If you can wait the rest of your life to be with Shane, Weinberg and Associates can wait ten extra minutes for two clerks to come back from lunch.”

Jeanne laughed. “But I thought we just figured out I can't wait.”

I shrugged. “Eh, even so, Weinberg can.”

I gulped down the last of my soda while Jeanne stole one last glimpse of Shane's picture.

“Well, I guess it's back to the ol' grindstone.” Jeanne stood, slipping her phone into her purse, and beaming smiles brightened her eyes, put there by thoughts of a handsome man and an unwavering kind of love I was a stranger to knowing.

Oh, how I envied her.