THE SANCTUARY Read Free

felt so alone or frightened before. If only she could reach out to the CGFs she might feel better, at least Lydia would feel less alone in the world. But she couldn’t. Not yet. But she knew she would have to if she was going to save the Sanctuary.

Two
    JULIA
    W hen the phone rang, Julia was elbow deep in dish suds. “John, can you get that?” she asked. She had heard him in the den just a few minutes ago. The phone continued to ring. She didn’t know whether he had not heard her or was just pretending not to hear her. After sixteen years of marriage, he had developed a keen sense of selective hearing.
    “Hello,” Julia said as she tried to wipe foamy suds off the phone and her hands. In the process, she dropped the phone, and it hit the floor with a clatter. She scooped it up and said a quick, “I’m sorry,” into the receiver.
    “Hey, Jules.”
    Julia’s mood brightened the instant she heard Sonya’s voice. Even though Sonya lived less than an hour away, they didn’t talk or get together as often as they used to when they were the CGFs. Before the “incident” with Lydia and Liz, which had marked the beginning of the end of the CGFs. Julia was still friends with Liz, Lydia, and Sonya, but it was difficult (and weird) getting together with Sonya and Liz without Lydia or Sonya and Lydia without Liz, so their connection had become tenuous. Even when they got together, it was awkward to remember not to bring up anything that related to the forbidden topic of Lydia or Liz. Julia tried to convince herself that the dissolution of the CGFs was all right. She had her hands full with John and their five kids and their respective pets: a dog, a cat, a gerbil, a lizard, and an aquarium full of tropical fish.
    It was just the way things were. Liz lived in New York and was always flying off somewhere to film vanishing species or newly discovered tribes or such. Sonya was busy getting married and divorced and married and divorced. So sad! And then there was Lydia. She was busy taking care of David and anyone else who needed her. Lydia was good at taking care of people. She needed to take care of people.
    “Hey! Are you there?” Sonya asked.
    “Hey yourself. What’s up? How are you? And Michael?” she asked. “Sorry I haven’t called in a while. I’ve been meaning to, but then the day gets away from me and by night I’m too tired to talk. I suppose if I started exercising I’d have more energy.” Julia shivered at the thought of herself in sweatpants doing Zumba or spinning, or whatever torturous exercise was in vogue these days.
    “I know what you mean. Look, I didn’t call just to catch up. I’ve got some bad news, and I don’t know how to soften the blow, so I’m just going to say it.” Sonya took a deep breath and continued, “David Coble died yesterday.”
    “No way! I can’t believe it. I just saw him at the grocery store a couple of days ago picking up some stuff for a special anniversary dinner. Their fourteenth anniversary. He looked perfectly fine. What happened? Why hasn’t Liddie called me?” Julia asked.
    “Well, I don’t know much. I haven’t talked to Lydia. She doesn’t want to see or talk to anyone yet, according to her aunt. It wasn’t a heart attack, but it was something to do with his heart. It was unexpected. Right out of the blue. Lydia’s Aunt Francis called to let me know. She tried to reach you, but your line was busy. I said that I would let you know since we needed to talk about the funeral.”
    “Bless her heart,” Julia cried. “Even when John drives me crazy, I can’t imagine life without him.”
    “You’re preaching to the choir, my friend. Remember me? I’ve done that whole ’til death do you part thing four times. I think I still have a piece of cake in the freezer from my last marriage,” Sonya quipped.
    Julia was amazed that Sonya could joke about three failed marriages. She was also amazed at how her friend could keep pursuing love and marriage after