Waterfalls by Robin Jones Gunn Page A

forest where the Tulip Cottage sat near a small lake. Drawing in a deep breath of the fresh air, Meredith perched on the porch’s railing and looked out on her small garden. She had fenced it off, but somehow the wild rabbits were still nibbling off the carrot tops and the lettuce. Everything was in the budding stage, and she was afraid it would all be eaten by the forest wildlife before her garden had even begun to show what it could do.
    An itchy-nose pollen smell in the air prompted Meredith to start sneezing. So much for fresh air and organic gardening.
Everything in life has a flip side, doesn’t it? I guess my life has a flip side, too. I love working at home, but here I am, isolated from the rest of the world
.
    Meredith wasn’t used to feeling sorry for herself. She usually had so much going on that time to reflect on what was happening inside her heart was severely limited.
The truth is, I’m crushed. I thought he would call. I can understand why he didn’t, but I had hoped. And hope deferred makes the heart sick. Where does the Bible say that?
    Curiosity compelled her to pick up her Bible from thekitchen table. Flipping to the concordance in the back, she scanned the verses with the word
hope
in them until she found the one she had spontaneously quoted.
    She found it in Proverbs 13:12, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” She underlined the verse and leaned against the side of the counter.
    “So, what’s my longing that’s not being fulfilled? Is it that I want to get married because all my friends are? Or is it because two are better than one since they have a good return for their labor?”
    Meredith realized that was another verse. Being the daughter of a minister had filled her mind with random verses over the years, much the same way being an acquisitions editor had filled her mind with a colorful variety of stories. Back to the concordance she went and found the “two are better than one” verse in Ecclesiastes 4:9. She read the verse before it. “There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. ‘For whom am I toiling,’ he asked, ‘and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?’ This too is meaningless—a miserable business!”
    Meredith went to the refrigerator for something else to eat. She wondered about Jake. Brad had said he was raised by an elderly couple who were now gone. Did Jacob feel like a man all alone who was working hard in the entertainment industry yet feeling discontented with his wealth? Did he ever wonder why he was depriving himself of enjoyment?
    A smile played across Meredith’s lips as she remembered the way Jacob had relaxed with her at the waterfall, how he had tossed the grapes and laughed deeply when she smashed the muffin in his face. Moving the mayonnaise jar aside, Meredith pulled out a tiny glass jar from the back of the refrigerator and held it up to the light. It had been a maraschino-cherriesjar, but now it held only one pale green orb floating in a sea of white vinegar. The lone sailor was not a maraschino cherry but the grape Jake had left on her pillow.
    She smiled. It seemed to be preserving itself nicely. One week in its watery captivity hadn’t done much damage to the memorialized fruit. Back in the far corner of the fridge went the jar, leaving Meredith feeling contented, like a kid who was succeeding at a science experiment.
    Now, if only I could preserve a relationship the way I pickle grapes. Then I’d have something to write a book about!
    Content to settle for an apple as the final course of her lunch, Meredith took a hike to the mailbox at the end of her long driveway. The weather had been unseasonably warm in her corner of the world, and all the spindly wildflowers were bent over the edge of the road. Pretty little maids in waiting dipped their blue bonnets, surrendering their final bit of color to the