Susannah's Garden (Blossom Street #3)(35)

“That’s what I did,” Carolyn said. “I married the wrong man.”

“So is Jake Presley the path you didn’t take?” Lisa directed the question to Susannah.

Susannah leaned back in her chair and thought about her life. Despite her youthful love for Jake, she hadn’t married the wrong man. Joe was a good husband and she had a good life. She loved her family, her home, her garden. She enjoyed teaching—but then why was she counting the years until retirement? Still, that was a question for another day.

“I’m not sure,” she hedged, and then decided she should be honest with her friends. “Yes, I guess he is.” She was silent for a moment. “Recently I sometimes wonder if I should’ve married Jake.”

“I thought you said you didn’t know where he was.”

“I don’t mean after I returned from Europe, but before.” She glanced around and saw that her four friends were staring at her with wide, questioning eyes. Smiling, she sipped her wine. “The night before I left, I sneaked out of the house to meet Jake. He begged me to drive to Idaho with him so the two of us could get married.” She’d had no idea that would be the last time she’d ever see him.

Her friends squealed with shock. Everyone had heard about young lovers who’d done exactly that. There was no waiting period in Idaho, and it was possible to go to a justice of the peace and be married by morning.

“You told him no?” Yvette seemed to find that hard to believe even now.

“I think every girl in school was half in love with Jake Presley,” Lisa confided. “He was such a bad boy, and there wasn’t one of us who wouldn’t have given our eyeteeth to tame him.”

Susannah’s voice was filled with regret. “I tried to get him to wait, but it didn’t work.” All she had to do was close her eyes to remember how handsome Jake had looked in his black leather jacket. He was the epitome of cool.

“You never, ever heard from him after you came back? Not even once?” Lisa asked.

“I hoped he’d search for me, but he didn’t,” Susannah confessed. At least not that she knew of. Susannah wouldn’t put it past her father to lie about Jake. All through college she’d waited, certain Jake would find her, certain he loved her, certain that eventually they’d be together. When she reached her mid-twenties, she gave up and married Joe.

The silence nearly undid her. “I have a wonderful husband, don’t get me wrong,” she rushed to add. “My kids are great and almost grown up. This is the best time of my life.”

She didn’t quite believe her own words, even though everything she’d said should be true. Chrissie and Brian would soon leave and establish their own lives—but just as she was about to relinquish one responsibility, she faced another.

Her mother needed her, depended on her. It felt as if Susannah had gone back to the days when her children were young, only in this instance the child was her mother.

“Carolyn,” Susannah said, getting to her feet, eager now to change the subject. “Let me help you with the dishes.”

“Nonsense.”

“Remember Mr. Fogleman?” Sandy asked softly. Up until now, she’d remained suspiciously quiet. Susannah sat back down.

“The algebra teacher?” Susannah recalled that he’d been strict and unbending. She’d barely pulled a B in his class her junior year. One good thing about living in France was that she hadn’t ended up in another of Fogleman’s algebra classes.

“I had the biggest crush on him.”

“Mr. Fogleman?” Lisa gasped. “Old Fogey Fogleman?” She thrust out her wineglass. “I need a refill.”

Carolyn grabbed the wine bottle to replenish her goblet.

“I used to leave notes on his windshield.”

“You didn’t?”

Sandy blushed. “Really risqué notes.”

“You signed them?” Yvette shrieked out the question.

“Not on your life.” She laughed. “He knew, though.”

“How?”

Sandy cupped her mouth with her hand to hide a smile. “He gave me an A—when I deserved a D.”

“Are you joking?”

“I’m not.” She took a big gulp of wine. “Mom said a man called and asked for me shortly after I graduated and deep down I feel it must’ve been Mr. Fogleman.”

“What makes you think that?” Susannah noticed that the others had leaned forward, listening intently.

“Mom said it was a rather strange phone call. It almost seemed as if he was happy I wasn’t home.”

“Whatever happened to Mr. Fogleman?” Lisa wanted to know.

“He transferred to Spokane High School after that one year in Colville.”

“You should look him up,” Lisa urged.

Sandy shook her head. “I’m a happily married woman, or at least I was until tonight.”

More giggles followed. “Good grief, here we are pining after the missed opportunities of our youth,” Carolyn said.

“We’re all around fifty and we’re still afraid,” Lisa added.

Only she wasn’t, Susannah realized. “I don’t know why I didn’t look harder for Jake,” she said, angry with herself.

“Your dad would’ve had a conniption,” Carolyn reminded her.