Date of a Lifetime
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Lynne Marshall
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Chapter One
Eva DeLongpre opened her computer for some precious time to work while her eleven-month-old son, Noah, took his morning nap. The small wood-floored office in her Santa Barbara home overlooked the grassy backyard, surrounded by trees that had survived last year’s fires. The woodsy scent of the California bay laurel permeated the air thanks to the open window. She loved her yard and everything about the home she’d managed to purchase with her nana’s help last year. Living in the lap of luxury, Eva would forever be grateful for that trust fund.
Following in her mother’s footsteps by juggling a job and an adopted child had proved to be more complicated than she’d expected. Over the past year she’d learned how difficult it was, and almost cut her often-missing-in-action mother some slack because of it. Almost. Truth was, if it hadn’t been for Nana, Eva would have been even lonelier as an only child. Nana had infused the extra love Eva longed for into her life while growing up. Determined not to let a job overtake home life with her child, like her mother had, Eva had vowed, on the day the adoption became official, to work out of the home and to spend as much time as possible with Noah.
Opening the Dreams Come True website email, she found a new batch of messages from senior citizens. Since her move, she’d changed from the Los Angeles youth division to the County of Santa Barbara over-sixty crowd at the nonprofit organization. As she read through the latest requests, one immediately grabbed her attention.
My name is Savannah Schuster. I’m eighty-four and have recently been diagnosed with early dementia. I’m an old maid—that’s what we called it in my generation—aka a spinster.
“These days we say single, Ms. Schuster,” Eva spoke to the computer. “Like me.”
I’m a retired secretary, have never been married and haven’t had a boyfriend or a date in a long, long time.
Your company claims to make dreams come true, and my dream is to have a date with a handsome man just once in my life. I have someone in mind, not anyone famous or out of reach, but won’t say who unless I get a response from you.
The main thing is, I’d like to have this dream date while I can still remember it.
Time is running out! Can you help me?
Sincerest thanks,
Savannah
In the past, Eva would’ve conferred with coworkers before granting the most unusual wishes. However, these days the first person she consulted for just about everything was her newfound twin sister, Lacy.
“You won’t believe this,” Eva said as soon as Lacy answered her cell phone.
Having been separated at birth and unaware of it for over thirty years, then finding each other through a series of random encounters when it would be more likely to get hit by lightning, they made it a point to be there for each other. Lacy always took Eva’s calls, and vice versa.
“I’m in the middle of making a dozen wraps to go. Can I call you right back?”
“Of course!”
“Give me fifteen. Talk soon.”
Lacy owned and operated a food truck, and since that was her livelihood, the demand for business had to come first. Eva completely understood.
If it hadn’t been for that bright pink food truck and, more important, the owner operator with copper-red hair and blue eyes looking exactly like Eva and catching a coworker’s eye, Eva may never have met her twin. Whether it was accidental or meant to be, Eva would be forever grateful they’d found each other. If only it could’ve happened sooner.
Her friends had called the discovery an amazing coincidence, but Eva and Lacy agreed: their finding each other after thirty-one years had to be fate. They’d shared a womb for nearly nine months and both had gone through life feeling something was missing. Living incomplete to a deeper degree than either could imagine, they’d both yearned for something they couldn’t name. Until they’d come face-to-face that day one month ago at Zack Gardner’s construction site.
While waiting for Lacy’s return call, Eva reread Ms. Schuster’s email and became curious about who the “date” she had in mind might be. Eva replied to the email, not confirming the wish would be granted but asking for more information. After all, Savannah had said she’d only disclose who the person was if she got a reply. Nothing more.
It also gave her time to reconsider privacy issues regarding sharing with her sister. She’d never had to think of that before and it was one more thing that made her smile these days.
Eva received a reply within a couple of minutes, leaving her to believe the eighty-four-year-old was either glued to her home computer or had a cell phone and knew how to use it! Never underestimate the seniors, she’d come to realize over the past six months in her position. Even if they used outdated and sometimes politically incorrect expressions. “Spinster” and “old maid” came quickly to mind.
I’ve always dreamed of having a date with a handsome politician since the Jack Kennedy days back in the early 1960s. These days I’ve been following a local and very handsome politician from my hometown. Mayor Joe Aguirre of Little River Valley.
The fact she wrote texts in complete sentences without a single abbreviation confirmed she was a senior citizen. Why a politician? Eva could hardly stomach politics, let alone politicians. But this wasn’t her wish, it was Savannah’s. And budgetwise, a dinner tab in a local restaurant could be a more doable proposition. The charity’s mission statement promised to bring joy and beauty into the lives of those facing the challenges of life threatening and/or chronic disease in the last stage of life. Joy and beauty, as with most things in life, were in the eye of the beholder, Eva reminded herself.
Her cell rang and Lacy’s bright, familiar face popped up, which still rattled her because of the resemblance. “Hey! Can I run something by you?”
“Of course.”
“Theoretically...” Eva paraphrased the email without giving away her potential client’s identification.
Lacy’s laugh always got Eva going, and they spent a few moments enjoying their chuckles about one of the oddest requests she’d had since joining the nonprofit.
“Here this person is with an uncertain future, and all she wants is a date.”
“She’s sincere,” Lacy added. “Kind of tugs at my heart.”
“I know. That’s why I love my job so much. I get to help people do what they could never arrange on their own. Especially while dealing with illness or insecure finances.”
“You should do it!” Lacy said without hesitation. “We know him and he’s a good guy.” Since Lacy had lived all her life in Little River Valley fifteen miles inland from Santa Barbara—Eva’s most recent hometown—she took this as a strong endorsement.
She leaned back in the dark oakwood swivel chair at her sturdy desk, glancing out the window as she thought briefly.
“Then I’ll get the paperwork going on this wish request and email her back.” Though Eva had a full-body cringe over the thought of spending time with a politician, there was no way she would leave a newly diagnosed dementia patient on her own. Savannah deserved to have her date with a handsome man while she could still remember and enjoy it. Wasn’t that all she’d asked? Also, a dream date would be an inexpensive wish. Win-win! And all Lacy’s talk about this Joe being a great guy, and apparently being easy on the eyes, had piqued her interest.
She googled Mayor Joe Aguirre of Little River Valley and clicked on images. Yowza! Savannah had great taste. The stylish black hair, close-cropped on the sides and longish on top, complete with a side part, and the man’s penetrating eyes beneath those dark brows sent a chill through her chest. Not to mention the classic Roman nose and sensual mouth. He looked sexy, er professional, in a suit, too. Maybe she could forget her aversion to all things politics for one night. For the sake of Savannah.
“Are you coming for dinner tonight?” Lacy asked.
“Wouldn’t miss it!”
After a shy start, they’d shared a meal or coffee or at least a long phone conversation every single day since finding each other. Today would be no different. When Lacy cooked, Eva pigged out! Over the last month, after figuring out some personality differences, their friendship had grown by leaps and bounds. Finally, she had the sister she’d always longed for, right down to Lacy insisting Eva was a control freak, and Eva encouraging Lacy to step up her business game. Often, they’d had to agree to disagree and move on.
With a smile on her face, Eva went back to her computer, took another peep at the gorgeous mayor and moved on to the business side of her job. The paperwork. She’d made a name for herself making dreams come true for the last five years, establishing a charitable organization with some of Nana’s trust fund money. She loved running a nonprofit. Didn’t even mind all the fund-raising. How could Eva refuse her client’s wish when she prided herself on making the most unusual wishes come true, and especially since this would be the one-hundredth wish Eva had granted in her short career. A milestone.
Last year, leaving the larger, more general side of the Los Angeles–based nonprofit in good hands, Eva created the senior citizens division in Santa Barbara after moving there. She’d wanted to honor her grandmother and this seemed the perfect way. Getting away from LA had helped her heal emotionally, too. She’d become too attached to one of her young Dreams Come True clients, and it had nearly broken Eva’s heart. The relationship had certainly changed her life. The teenage mother had found out midway through her pregnancy that she had cancer, and her one wish, being that she’d lived all her short life in foster care, was for her baby to have a home. A real home.
As an adopted child herself, Eva had made the decision without batting an eye, though until that moment she’d never planned on having a child while being single. Life could pitch screwballs that way, like finding her twin out of the blue!
She and Yolanda, Noah’s mother, had bonded deeply and stayed in touch until a few months after the delivery, when the young woman succumbed to the cancer. But Yolanda had died knowing her healthy baby boy was in a loving home and that he’d never want for anything with Eva as his mother. If anyone had deserved peace of mind in her short life, it was Yolanda, and she had finally gotten hers.
Best decision Eva had ever made, though her life had changed drastically after taking on a child as a single parent. But all for the better.
Noah’s lusty cry through the baby monitor alerted Eva. Nap time was over.
She tidied the few papers on her desk, pushed the chair in, padded across the hand-scraped wood floor and closed the door securely behind her. The office was the one place Noah didn’t have free rein in the house.
They all sat around Zack Gardner’s kitchen table best suited for two, three tops. Eva squeezed in beside Emma, Zack’s ten-year-old daughter, like she always did whenever she dined with Lacy at her fiancé’s house. After the initial “getting to know you” phase, she’d quickly become one of the extended family. What a difference one month could make.
“We’ll do dinner the usual buffet style,” Lacy said, addressing the problem from the oven, setting out the bubbling hot casserole beside a huge salad bowl along with fresh bread on the opposite counter. “Okay, line up. Emma, honey, why don’t you start.”
Emma, the aspiring junior chef, jumped at the chance, sniffing the air as if the finest cuisine had just been served. Eva had quickly learned her twin sister’s curried chicken and broccoli dish could easily qualify for such a title—fine cuisine—and her mouth watered as she waited her turn. Lacy had also been teaching the girl the basics of cooking since meeting Zack a few months ago, and Emma had taught Lacy how to crochet in return. Something about that story always squeezed Eva’s heart.
Noah sat in his portable high chair, kicking his feet, hands twisting and turning in anticipation of his turn. His dinner was not nearly as aromatic as the casserole, but healthily prepared by Eva with fresh-steamed and mashed broccoli and pulverized roasted chicken set aside by Lacy as she put the casserole together. Eleven-month-old Noah couldn’t be trusted with bread since he would keep shoving it in until he gagged, so Eva served him cooked whole and ancient grains from her stash at home instead.
“We could branch out to the dining room table, you know,” tall, blond Zack said, last in line, having insisted Lacy go before him.
“I know, but it’s cozier in here—less formal, right, Emma?” Lacy said with a wink.
“Right.”
Eva loved how Lacy had found her way into their lives and how this table meant only for father and daughter, now managed to seat more. With just enough room for four plates and a glass each, they crowded around the table, elbows nearly touching, and Noah sitting a bit back between Emma and Eva as they began the meal.
“Lacy tells me you have a special request to grant.”
“You mean the big date?” Eva lifted her gaze from the delicious food to her future brother-in-law, handsome and totally in love with her sister. “Yeah,” she laughed lightly. “This sweet lady wants a date with a hot guy who happens to be your mayor.”
“That’s so cute,” Lacy said. “Isn’t that cute?” she looked to Emma for affirmation, who gladly made a huge nod. The girl clearly adored Lacy.
“We can arrange that, you know,” Zack continued. “I’ve dealt extensively with Joe Aguirre on the senior housing project. He’s a good guy. Never thought of him as ‘hot,’ though.”
Eva smirked. “Not the usual slick what’s-in-it-for-me politician-type?” She couldn’t help her bias; she’d studied the news enough to figure out the trend.
“Not at all. He’s lived here all his life and only wants what’s best for us. He’s the right guy for the job and we’d like to keep him in office. This ‘date’ might help.”
“He’s been getting a tough time from his opponent,” Lacy added. “Because he vetoed a fast-food chain from building two drive-throughs. She claims our seniors need cheap places to eat to help stretch their fixed incomes.”
Eva screwed up her face. “Fast food is the last thing they need.”
“I know, right? They need healthy, nutritious meals, not that stuff loaded with salt and fat, begging for strokes,” Lacy finished Eva’s thought for her, as they often did since discovering each other. That part still amazed and sometimes creeped Eva out.
“I can call Joe tonight if you’d like.”
“Thanks, Zack.” Eva picked up a roll, broke it in half and buttered it as she spoke. “But I want to think this through a little more before I officially grant the woman’s wish.”
“Okay, but just keep in mind he could use a boost to his likability ratings, because his opponent has really been bad-mouthing him to the seniors around here. And the guy doesn’t blow his own horn enough, in my opinion. Too humble, I guess. A date with a sweet senior could change more than a few minds.”
Eva took a quick bite of dinner in between feeding Noah. Too humble? What a refreshing thought where politicians were concerned. “Sounds like you really support this guy.”
“We do,” Zack and Lacy said in unison.
“I’ll get in touch as soon as I make up my mind, okay?” Noah was preoccupied with trying to pick up a tiny piece of farro from his tray with pincher-like precision, which gave Eva the chance to take another bite of delicious casserole and a couple chugs of water.
“Of course,” Zack said before shoveling a forkful of chicken and broccoli dripping with mushrooms and cheddar cheese into his mouth.
“Speaking of getting in touch,” Lacy piped up, “have you heard back from your mom yet?”
Eva shook her head, her mouth full. Her mother, rather than sticking around to be a grandmother when Eva adopted Noah, had embarked on a yearlong around-the-world cruise. Although Bridget’s timing was unintentional, Eva had to concede, since she had already signed up for the cruise before Eva announced the adoption. Still, becoming a mom for the first time without experienced backup had been daunting.
The internet was spotty in most of the ports on the cruise, and Eva had lost track of where her nearly seventy-year-old mother currently was. “It’s kind of like playing Where in the World Is Bridget DeLongpre.”
That elicited a laugh out of Lacy, who always got her meager attempts at jokes. Carmen Sandiego. Bridget DeLongpre. Yeah, you had to be there in the 1990s. And one of the things Eva and Lacy had discovered about each other—they’d both been huge Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego nerds. Which helped with the geography questions on Jeopardy! Something else they’d both admitted to being hooked on.
“I’ve tried to skype her, but she hasn’t been available. I’ll send another email and let her know you and I have more than a few questions to ask.”
Just before Eva and Lacy officially met, Lacy had discovered in the attic some mysterious paperwork disclosing that her mother had adopted her a month after birth. Her father, who Lacy looked the spitting image of, hadn’t had to do the same, and all Lacy wanted to know for now was if her father was her true birth father. Her hunch was, absolutely. The fact he’d died last year made it impossible to ask or to check out their DNA for a match. Of course, the DNA test was the first thing Eva and Lacy had done after they’d met, and as they’d guessed they were indeed identical twins.
They had so many questions about why the twins had been allowed to be separated at birth, and Bridget was either honestly inaccessible or running away from sharing the answer. Separating sisters? What a horrible idea! If any two people were owed the truth, it was Lacy and Eva.
Lacy gathered Emma’s empty plate and stacked on her own dish. “Please keep trying. Have you had any luck finding any paperwork on your adoption?”
“With work and caring for Noah, honestly, I haven’t had much time to snoop around my mom’s place. Plus, it’s over an hour’s drive to Los Angeles.” Eva ate the last bite and handed off her plate to Lacy. “Besides, it would feel a bit nefarious without getting her permission.”
“I understand.” Lacy took a sip of water before piling Eva’s plate on top of the others and avoided making eye contact.
“All I know is it was a closed adoption.” Which didn’t bode well for getting to the bottom of their story without the help of Eva’s adoptive mother.
Noah let out a squeal and upturned his empty bowl, obviously ready for more food, and in a group effort, everyone at the table jumped to meet one aspect of his needs. Zack refilled his sippy cup with water, Emma offered him one of her broccoli florets while he impatiently waited, Eva wiped up the mess on his high chair tray and Lacy made quick work of dishing out more pulverized cooked chicken.
Happy baby, happy life.
Joe Aguirre hardly had time to run Little River Valley and maintain his law practice, let alone raise funds and run for reelection against an aggressive opponent who wasn’t above pulling dirty tricks. Like the fast-food shenanigans.
Sitting, Joe shuffled through a stack of papers on his messy desk, hoping to find the schedule his best friend and campaign manager, Mike Machado, had copied and personally handed him earlier in the afternoon. All work and no play had made him disorganized.
He shoved the ergonomically adjusted chair back from his functional, no-frills metal-and-glass desk and put his hands behind his head. All Joe was doing was honoring the town charter, written long before he’d been born, which declared no chain stores were allowed within the city limits. The townspeople had been perfectly happy with their own unique department store and numerous other small businesses, independent restaurants, cafés and diners all these years. Why change now?
Suddenly, with the campaign heating up, his opponent had begun to insist the seniors needed cheap, fast food. Change the Charter had become her slogan. Talk about convenient. He went back to searching for the misplaced schedule. “Where is it,” he grumbled, ready to push everything off his table to find it if necessary.
He was wise enough to know this made-up problem by his opponent was in response to his attempt to balance the town budget. The exercise involved tightening a few bloated belts and cutting down allocations for some local government-funded businesses, one of which was owned by his opponent. His decision to allow the building of a hundred small homes for citizens sixty and over, instead of letting the mega fast-food company have its way with expanding wherever it pleased, had also irritated a handful of local investors. People, he’d come to find out, who’d moved to Little River Valley after making their millions. People who had zero allegiance to his hometown and what it stood for. He’d put his foot down, and fast, and now the backlash was an opponent, probably backed by them, who suddenly couldn’t live without the Golden Arches in her backyard.
Change the Charter over my dead body.
His cell phone rang and he grabbed it, putting it immediately to speaker. “Aguirre.”
“Joe!”
Speak of the devil. It was his best friend, the last person he wanted to talk to tonight. “Que pasa, Miguel?”
“Have you seen the latest poll?”
Could he please stop with the continuous updates on the uphill battle? Yes, Joe had seen that poll, thank you very much, and he didn’t want to be reminded about Louella Barnstable’s tightening of his lead.
“We need some good PR and fast. Got any ideas?”
“Honestly?” Joe tossed his pen on the mounting pile of papers on his desk. “If running on my good record isn’t enough, I don’t have a clue.”
“That’s your problem, you’re too pragmatic. You need to show more personality, flash that handsome smile more often.”
“Not my style and you know it.”
“If Louella keeps gaining on you, you’re going to have to come up with something, so you better start thinking now.”
He dug thumbs in his closed eyes and squinted tight. “Okay, I’ll smile more. Kiss more babies.”
“That’s right. Get seen. Shake hands.”
He knew the drill but dreaded it. Not that he didn’t like or care about people. Why else would he be running for a second term as mayor? But his law practice was suffering from inattention. He hadn’t been able to take on a new client in months, and truth was, since he didn’t intend to be mayor for life, it worried him. That and the fact that man did not live from small-town mayoral salary alone. “I promise to be on Main Street walking the boulevard first thing tomorrow morning.”
“And eat breakfast at Donna Lee’s.”
“Good idea.” The quintessential small-town greasy spoon diner. “I’ll let people know there are plenty of places to get good inexpensive meals in town. Served on plates, not in paper bags. Don’t they have an early bird special? We don’t need fast food. Not in Little River Valley.”
“That’s the spirit. Be sure to let the Little River Valley Voice know you’ll be there, too.”
“Isn’t that your job?”
“Okay, bueno. Meantime, I’ll keep my eye out for any and all PR opportunities.”
Joe rubbed his face with a hand. This was the part he hated about running for public office. He couldn’t be spontaneous. Had to have his campaign manager tip off the newspaper whenever he went out, to make sure he was seen and so the story got covered. Kind of like the debate about sound and the tree falling in the forest. If Joe wasn’t seen out and about in Little River Valley, did he exist?
Yes, he grumbled internally. Because he was always working. For the citizens of Little River Valley. “Great. Sounds good. Buenos noches, Miguel.”
“It’s Mike to you, Jose.”
Ending the call with the friendly reminder that Jose and Miguel had been childhood friends helped Joe smile. First day of elementary school, the six-year-old boys had been thrown together in an English only, total immersion setting. Joe’s parents only knew enough English to get along on the job and spoke solamente Spanish at home. Joe had only picked up a few English phrases from watching TV. Both boys had been thankful they didn’t have to go through the trauma alone and had bonded immediately. Friends for life. They’d both come a long way from the Ventura County barrio; and their parents, who’d spent most of their lives breaking their backs on the local farmlands to help them get out, had a lot to be proud of.
