Tightening the Knot (5 page)

           
When she got home that evening, Meredith was very thankful she had invited Jenna over for dinner.
 
It would be nicer to spend time with a friend than an empty house after a difficult day.
 
She was even more thankful that she had accepted Jenna’s offer to bring pizza.
   
The women agreed that a pizza should generally be topped with veggies.
 
Nothing with veggies could be called junk food.
 
When Jenna arrived with pepperoni and extra cheese, Meredith knew she was not the only one in need of some comfort food.

           
“I saw him again today.”

           
“Uh… him?”

           
“You know.
 
I told you about this guy at the gym.
 
Shawn.”

           
“Oh yeah.”
 
Meredith could tell already that the meeting had not gone well.
 
She watched her friend go straight for the pepperoni, picking three off and popping them in her mouth before starting at the point of her slice.
 
“So what happened with Shawn?”

           
“Nothing!
 
I mean, he talked to me for nearly a half hour when he came in and even waved when he left, but he didn’t ask me out.”

           
“Gee, that’s strange.
 
Maybe he actually believed you when you told him you don’t date clients.”

           
“Well, he didn’t have to give up so easily.”

“Here’s a radical idea.
 
If you’re sure you’re interested, why don’t you just ask him out?”
 
Meredith had never, in her short dating life, asked a guy out.
 
Yet somehow the sarcasm worked.

           
“That’s not the plan.”

           
“Right, the plan about waiting for someone to try harder.
 
Maybe he his.
 
Maybe by talking to you, he’s hoping to change your mind.”

           
“He doesn’t have to work
that
hard.”

           
“He doesn’t know that.”

           
“Look, you said you wanted a guy to work for a ‘yes.’
 
You don’t really know that’s not what he’s doing so you’ll just have to convince yourself to have some patience.”

           
“I suppose I’ve already waited years for someone worth my time to come along.
 
I can probably wait a few days for this guy.”

           
Meredith raised her eyebrows.
 
“Days?”

           
“What?
 
I can’t be patient
and
optimistic?”
 
Jenna grinned broadly and finished her slice.
 
After the pizza, they made some popcorn and decided to watch a movie.
 
Meredith had an extensive collection of romantic comedies so this was not an easy choice.
 
They settled it in the usual way, by each picking one and playing Rock, Paper,
Scissors
for the right to watch it.

           
They chatted for a while when the movie was over and Meredith eventually found the nerve, and an opening, to discuss her own romantic problems.
 
“Remember I told you the other day that I was trying to work on my marriage?”

           
“Yeah.”
 
Jenna looked a little hesitant.
 
She need not have worried as Meredith was unlikely to share anything too uncomfortable.
 
Her nature remained very private throughout their long friendship, but Jenna still waited for her to open up a little more.
 
She rather hoped to be let in on the good stuff first though.

           
“You see…
 
There’s just this weird tension between us.
 
I feel like if I could just make some sort of gesture to show I’m trying to fix things, that might get us talking again and sort of… back on track.”

           
“Okay.”

           
“Well, I can’t think of anything.
 
Can you help me thing of something?”

           
“You remember that I’m not married, right?”

           
“I know.
 
But I thought that might actually help.”
 
When Jenna looked very skeptical, she continued.
 
“Maybe that it would make you more objective or something.”

           
“I don’t know about that, but… let me think about this,” Jenna sat and scrunched up her face a bit.
 
It has been well documented that scrunching your face helps you think.
 
“Well, could you maybe… like send him some, I don’t know, man-flowers?”

           
Meredith burst out laughing.
 
“What are man-flowers?”

           
“I may have just made that up.”

           
“No kidding?
 
How am I supposed to send him something that doesn’t exist?”

           
“If you’d stop laughing for a minute, I’ll explain what I meant.”
 
Jenna waited for Meredith to contain herself, with only slightly more patience than she had for Shawn, and then continued.
 
“Well, you know how it’s common for men to send flowers to women as a nice romantic gesture.
 
What I mean is, isn’t there like a male equivalent that you could send to Greg as a similar show?”

           
“I… I’m not sure.
 
Do guys get things?”

           
Jenna grinned.
 
“Not usually.”

           
“I mean, in the mail.
 
Do guys get things delivered?”

           
“Aside from things wrapped in brown paper?”

           
Meredith sighed.
 
“Are you helping or not?”

           
“Sorry.
 
Well, what does Greg like?
 
Couldn’t you just get him a little surprise?
 
Just a little something that he wants to show that you’re still paying attention.”

           
“Except that Christmas is next week so I already have something under the tree.
 
I’m not sure it’s much of a surprise to get my husband a Christmas present.”

           
“True.
 
The timing doesn’t really work in your favor.”
 
She was quiet for a moment.
 
“You know, maybe there really is no such thing as man-flowers.”

           
Meredith smiled and they sat together with scrunched faces, trying to squeeze out a better idea.
 
Jenna finally shrugged as though she was giving up.
 
“So when does Greg’s mom arrive for the holidays?”

           
“Tomorrow at… um, I think the flight is around
4:30
.”

           
“Oh… Hey!
 
Maybe you could just be extra nice to her as a kind gesture.”

           
“Okay, I see you’re out of ideas.”
 
Meredith teased her friend, but was grateful on the inside because the joke really had given her an idea.
 
Greg wanted to tell his mother about their baby woes.
 
No details, just a simple comment to let her know the lack of grandchildren was just as disappointing to him and Meredith.
 
But Meredith insisted they keep it between them and he had agreed.
 
She just couldn’t stand to talk about it.
 
Maybe she should relent in her stance.
 
Telling Greg it would be okay with her to say something to his mother might show that she was trying to open up a bit about the whole thing.
 
She would just need to time it so that he told his mom near the end of her visit.
 
That would really be best for all concerned.
 

╣ Chapter 6 ╠

           
A voice mail for Meredith early Wednesday afternoon confirmed that Greg had arrived in town without delay and would have no trouble picking his mother up from the airport as planned.
 
She was not
surprised,
therefore, to be swept up in a giant bear hug by her mother-in-law, Judy
Donnor
, the moment she walked through the door.
 
What did surprise her was the sound of a dog barking.
 
She looked around for the source and saw a metal crate in the corner of the room.
 
Inside was a medium-sized dog with orange and white speckled fur and pointed ears.
 
It stopped barking and returned Meredith’s gaze with much more than a scrap of hope and with its tongue lolling out one side of its mouth.
 
It was an adorable animal.
 
It was also a bit of a puzzle since she was reasonably sure there had not been a dog in her living room when she left for work that morning.
 
She looked from Greg to his mother.
 
“As far as I know, no one in this room owns a dog, and yet…” She gestured toward the caged animal.

           
“It’s Mark’s,” Greg answered, as though this explained everything.
 
Mark was one of Greg’s co-workers.
 
Meredith had met him on a few occasions, but did not know him well enough to even know that he had a dog, let alone why he did not appear to have a dog at that particular moment.

           
Judy added what she knew of the situation.
 
“I guess Greg volunteered to
dogsit
while Mark and his family are visiting his in-laws.
 
This is very nice of course, but I was as surprised as you are since Greg has never liked dogs.
 
I hope you’re not going to be too put out.”

           
“No way!
 
I love dogs.
 
I tried to talk Greg into getting one for years.
 
But…” she turned back to her husband.
 
“How long is the dog going to be here?”

           
“Till the day after Christmas.”

           
“Is it a boy or a girl and what’s its name?”

           
“Girl.
 
Her name is Katie.”

           
“How long has she been in the crate and can we let her out?”

           
“I was waiting for you because I didn’t know what to do with it.
 
She’s only been in there about two hours.”

           
Meredith unlatched the crate and the dog ran in crazy circles, sniffing the three of them thoroughly,
then
flopped down at Meredith’s feet.

           
“The thing is… Mark said she likes to run away.
 
We need to make sure we put a leash on her before we open the door to take her out.”