“Don’t think about it like that,” Sherry insisted. “It’s not nothing you’re passing through. It’s nature. It’s beautiful.”
Darren scoffed. “Oh God… You’re one of those people. I don’t mind nature, Sherry. I really don’t. But to go driving through it for several days, ‘cause once you get that far up north and out west, those cities start getting further and further apart.”
“Exactly,” Sherry said, leaning the side of her head into Darren’s shoulder. “And you get to see the virtually untouched parts of nature. Wow, so you really don’t wanna go to Alaska?”
“Hell yeah, I would go to Alaska,” Darren said. “I have no problem with that part...But I’m just not driving that far. You have to be crazy.”
Darren and Sherry walked arm and arm down the block. Sherry had started to pull away from Darren when they came up on his car. Much to her surprise, Darren continued on walking straight, as if his car wasn’t parked right there. “What are you doing?” Sherry asked. “Darren, the car is right here.”
“I know where the car is,” Darren said, “but who said I was ready to run home so quick. You wanna go on a walk?”
Sherry shrugged her shoulders. “Sure, why not,” she said, looking into Darren’s eyes. “I guess so.”
Sherry continued walking down the block with her arm wrapped around Darren’s. When they came to the corner, Darren led them to the right. They were now heading north, only four or five blocks from the river. Sherry looked up at Darren and giggled. He held his head so high and confident as he guided her down the sidewalk.
“What are you laughing at?” Darren asked. “What? What happened?”
“Oh nothing,” Sherry said. Again, she leaned her head against Darren’s shoulder. “I’m just noticing how mighty good you’re getting at getting your way around. You’ve been here a while, but not that long. You’re walking around here like you’re from here.”
Darren laughed. “Okay… Well, I guess I’ll take that as a compliment. I guess...”
“It is,” Sherry said. She felt safe in Darren’s company...safer than she’d felt in a very long time.
“Yeah, I guess I am learning my way around here kind quickly,” Darren said. “Then again, this place isn’t that big like that.”
“I bet it’s not to you,” Sherry said. “I could only imagine having to learn my way around Chicago and how long that’s gotta take. I couldn’t imagine having to do somewhere like that. Fort Wayne was enough me…. It’s the big city around here, especially compared to my town.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” Darren said.
“So,” Sherry said, looking forward as the street dipped under a viaduct. A train chugged along, the track passing between office buildings, “where are we headed?”
“Up this street right here,” Darren said, nodding forward.
Sherry turned and looked ahead. The street dead ended after the next stoplight at a parking lot for a government building. The park was beyond that. If he’s going to the park, why don’t he just say we’re going to the park?
Darren did just what Sherry thought he was doing. Within a few minutes, they walked into Headwaters Park. The trail curved away from the street and deeper into the park. The tranquility of it all, mixed with the perfect night air, was so relaxing. Rushing sounds of the nearby river soothes their minds and mixed well with the few glasses of wine they had at Valentina’s. Crickets and other bugs chirped and buzzed in the background.
“So, do you think you’re going to stay here permanently?” Sherry asked.
Darren bit his bottom lip in thought. “Depends,” he said, glancing back at the high rises sticking out above the trees and shorter buildings.
“On what?” Sherry asked. “What does it depend on? How business goes here or what?”
Darren shrugged. “Well, I don’t know, really. I’ve always been so conscious of how I answer questions like that. There’s a big difference now of course… We have Gabriel to worry about.”
We? Sherry thought. He said we even though, technically, I’m still just the nanny. Sherry recalled signing over her rights at the adoption agency. “Yeah, that’s definitely something to think about,” she admitted. “Once he gets to a certain age, you definitely don’t want to keep uprooting him and having him learn somewhere new. I had a cousin growing up whose parents were in the military. We were kinda close...or at least as close as we could be for someone who always moved around. When she would come to town, we would hang out and talk and all that. And she would talk about how she felt like she never had a home. I couldn’t really relate, but now I can kinda see why.”
“Yeah, absolutely,” Darren said. “I like Fort Wayne, I do. But there are some other questions that would have to be answered before I would actually decide to live here permanently.”
“Yeah, you have property and that kind of thing here,” Sherry said. “I imagine you would have to live close by a place if you’re trying to do the landlord thing.”
“Well...actually,” Darren said. “Not necessarily. My dad has properties he’d probably only seen once, if that. I remember when we would go on road trips growing up and stuff, we would stop in these odd little towns in the middle of nowhere and not necessarily close to the highway or whatever major road we were on. We would always be asking Dad why in the hell we were going out of the way to those places. Next thing you know, we were sitting outside of properties in tiny towns we’d never even thought of while Dad was inside or walking around the outside. So, not really. It’s ideal to be nearby, but you don’t really have to be. Plus, if I were to move, it would probably be in the Midwest. A lot of my family’s business is in Chicago and I really don’t wanna be too far away from that.”
“Okay, I get it, I get it,” Sherry said, nodding. “So, then, what question would have to have answered?” The trail slopped down a bit, lights winding at its sides. When Sherry glanced back, traffic on the street disappeared beyond the trees and bushes. Ahead, the trail came close to the river. Two benches, on either side of the trail, popped into view “So, then what questions would have to be answered for you to decide if you want to stay here or not? Come on, spill. Don’t hold back.”
Darren chuckled, glancing down at Sherry suggestively. Sherry couldn’t help but to wonder what was going through this man’s mind. “Well,” he said, “actually one is one that you would have to answer.”
“Me?” Sherry asked, surprised. “What do I have to do with you and your business and whether or not you’re gonna move and all that? You’re not gonna have to ask me what I think you should move to. I’m just a small-town girl myself… My biggest move is coming here when I was ready to break free or whatever from my family.”