Free Clouds by Robin Jones Gunn Page B

there with their families. The mission has huge turnouts whenever they run a camp or a special event that combines all the groups from the military bases around Europe. Jonathan apparently runs the youth club for the teens on a military base in Belgium. He’s been there for more than a year.”
    Shelly felt her pulse returning to her neck, where it must have made her veins throb noticeably.
Jonathan has been in Belgium for more than a year working with high school students. I never would have guessed it
.
    Shelly’s parents went on to discuss Jonathan’s parents and what good neighbors they had been. Her parents mentioned how they were planning to visit Jonathan’s folks someday in the Bahamas. Maybe next spring would be a good time to do that.
    “When you’re in Germany,” Dad said, “be sure to look up Jonathan. Even if it’s only by phone.” He looked directly at Shelly. “Okay? Promise me?”
    She nodded.
    “Tell him we would love to hear from him.”
    “And tell him to give you his parents’ address. I don’t want to lose track of them,” Mom said.
    Shelly nodded again.
    “We may even, ah …” Meredith paused. “We may even get to ah … get in on an Octoberfest somewhere while we’re over there.”
    “That could be interesting,” Dad said.
    Shelly felt that everyone was waiting for her to say something. Their quick, sideways glances were painfully obvious.
    “I’m looking forward to using some of my accumulated vacation time,” Shelly said, trying to keep her tone and words even. She had plunged her hands beneath the table to hide their trembling. The camouflage effort was wasted under the glass tabletop. She knew Meredith had noticed. Perhaps that’s what had prompted her sister to change her sentence to the topic of the Octoberfest and to move it off of Jonathan. Shelly appreciated that and told Meri so late that night, after their mom and dad had left.
    The two sisters went for their nightly walk around the lake carrying flashlights and wearing matching white sweatshirts that Meredith had bought for them after their first trek around the lake in dark clothes. About twenty yards from the back of their cottage, where the trail wound under the cedar trees and led straight to the lake, Meredith began the discussion. “I hope you don’t mind my telling about Jonathan in front of Mom and Dad. It’s so amazing that his name would come up, especially after you and I had talked about him just a little while ago. I was going to say there’s a good chance we’ll see him, but I decided not to say that in front of Mom and Dad.”
    “Thanks. I appreciate it.” Shelly thought for a moment and then said, “Meri, I have to tell you something. Remember how you said I needed to find some key to unlock my past?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’ve thought about that, and you may have something there. I’ve been thinking a lot about Jonathan, and maybe … I don’t know. Maybe something is there that I wasn’t willing to see before.”
    “Like maybe you’re still in love with him?” Meredith ventured.
    Shelly released a spontaneous, nervous laugh. “I don’t know. It’s been so long. What we knew as love was so naive and incomplete. I don’t know what I think. All I know is that I’ve been thinking about him. A lot.”
    “Do you want to see him?”
    “I think so. I mean, yes, I want to see him. I don’t know if he wants to see me.”
    “Oh, he’ll want to see you,” Meredith said. She shone her flashlight out on the lake where a startled duck took flight, causing the lunar reflection to ripple. Ahead of them, the fat butterball of a harvest moon slumped over the treetops, drunk on its own moonshine.
    “Look at that,” Shelly said in a hushed voice, her chin tilted up toward the full, amber orb. “Is that the most gorgeous moon you have ever seen?”
    “It’s incredible,” Meredith agreed with a sigh.
    “It’s so beautiful here.”
    “I know,” Meri whispered back. The glow from the