Part Eleven

At 5:15 a.m. the sun had not yet peeked over the Cascades, but its intense glow stretched all the way across the sky, turning clouds into puffy balls of pink, red, yellow and orange. The Cascade Mountains were etched cleanly against an orange canvas, and the city was visible in fine detail across the calm waters of Puget Sound.

The morning matched Peggy's spirits. She was already on the ferry, settled in comfortably on the left side, where she could look at the beginning of the day. Today, however, there was an important difference in her routine: she sat with Raoul. She was no longer a fellow passenger waving politely from the next booth over. Instead, she occupied the honored spot that was formerly reserved for his motorcycle helmet, which was now relegated to the floor; and his long legs, which before had stretched casually across the whole bench, were now composed politely in front of him.

As she poured tea she glanced out at the row of tall spruce and firs and marveled at how they were backlit by the morning glow. It looked like the rest of the world was on fire. Maybe it was, she wouldn't have noticed.

"I enjoyed our walk on Friday," Raoul said.

"It was delightful," said Peggy.

Friday had been a day when Fate had stepped in to rearrange Peggy's life. She had overslept on Friday morning and decided to take the day off. Faced with a long day and no firm plans, she rummaged around on her kitchen counter and found a brochure she had gotten from a neighbor that described scenic walks on Bainbridge Island. Since she had not ventured to the west side of the island very much, she decided to try the walk along Crystal Springs Drive. It was supposed to be flat, and near the water.

By late morning Peggy was in her car, driving to the small community of Lynwood, just a few minutes away on the other side of the island. Her plan was to park and begin her walk from there. She wore walking shoes and shorts and a hat; on the seat beside her was a small backpack with a Thermos of tea and her sunglasses. Peggy parked near the small coffee shop at Lynwood Center, planning to get a bite of something to take on her walk. A black Mercedes in the spot next to her seemed familiar. Inside the shop, she was dazzled by the mouth-watering display of baked goods and hardly paid attention to anyone else in the store.

A man cleared his throat and said, "I recommend the marble pound cake." She turned her head. It was Raoul.

"Raoul, what are you doing here?" said Peggy. He was dressed in shorts and hiking boots, and wore a hat.

"I thought it would be a nice day for a walk," he said. "I took the day off."

She laughed. "I took the day off because I overslept and missed the ferry."

"Where are you walking?" he said.

"I was going to walk along Crystal Springs Drive. Is it nice?"

"It's perfect. Would you like some company?"

She felt herself blush. "Why, uh, sure."

They each bought a slice of marble pound cake and she put them in her backpack. Five minutes later they were out in a grayish, overcast day, walking along a marsh that bordered the road, breathing in salty air and the aroma of cedar and fragrant flowers.

"Thank goodness the cottonwood trees have finished shedding," said Raoul.

"Oh, that was something," she said. "It looked like snow, the air was so thick with floating bits of cotton."

They chatted casually as they walked along, talking about their homes and life on the Island, and what their children were doing. Peggy realized that they were sticking to safe topics of conversation. She wondered how long it would be until they ran out of things to talk about.

Finally, Raoul blurted out, "Do you know I was happily married for twenty years to a woman who didn't agree with me on anything? We went to different churches because I wouldn't change my religion and she wouldn't change hers. I voted Republican, she voted Democrat. She donated time and money to arts organizations, I played golf. She had friends who were male, female, black, white, gay, straight. My friends were rich, white males. The point is, how did we get along? How did we ever fall in love to begin with? To tell you the truth, I don't really know. It just happened. When the chemistry is right, all the other things don't matter."

With each word of Raoul's speech Peggy felt herself grow lighter and lighter. By the time he finished talking she was weightless. She stopped walking and took his hand. "Raoul, you are a lot wiser than I've given you credit for. I'm sorry for thinking poorly of you."

He kissed her hand. "Thank you for listening. It means a lot to me."

They continued their walk, still holding hands, and Peggy suddenly had the feeling that they could talk about anything.