Read Sisterchicks in Gondolas! Online

Authors: Robin Jones Gunn

Sisterchicks in Gondolas!

This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

SISTERCHICKS IN GONDOLAS!
published by Multnomah Books

© 2006 by Robin’s Ink, LLC

Sisterchicks
is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from:
The Holy Bible
, New King James Version (
NKJV
)
© 1984 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Other Scripture quotations are from:
The Message
by Eugene H. Peterson
© 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000
Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group
All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.

Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.

M
ULTNOMAH
and its mountain colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission.

For information:
MULTNOMAH BOOKS
12265 ORACLE BOULEVARD, SUITE 200
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO 80921

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gunn, Robin Jones, 1955-
    Sisterchicks in gondolas! / Robin Jones Gunn.
      p. cm.
    eISBN: 978-0-307-56258-6
1. Women travelers–Fiction. 2. Female friendship–Fiction. 3. Venice (Italy)–Fiction. I. Title.
    PS3557.U4866S5628 2006
    813′.54–dc22

2006006118                          

v3.1_r1

OTHER BOOKS BY ROBIN JONES GUNN

Gardenias for Breakfast

S
ISTERCHICK
N
OVELS:
Sisterchicks on the Loose!
Sisterchicks Do the Hula!
Sisterchicks in Sombreros!
Sisterchicks Down Under!
Sisterchicks Say Ooh La La!

T
HE
G
LENBROOKE
S
ERIES:
Secrets
Whispers
Echoes
Sunsets
Clouds
Waterfalls
Woodlands
Wildflowers

T
EEN
N
OVELS:
Christy Miller Series
Sierra Jensen Series

G
IFT
B
OOKS:
Tea at Glenbrooke
Mothering by Heart
Gentle Passages

www.sisterchicks.com

www.robingunn.com

For two amazing Sisterchicks I met thirty years ago:

Ruby, my bunk bed mate in our dorm room in Austria back when our hair was its original color. Cooking with you last summer in our Venetian palace was golden. I love the way we can always pick up our conversations where we left off, no matter how many years or miles have filled the pauses.

And Kate, my sister-in-law, who loved me from day one. I love you back, more than I ever show. Thanks for being more than a relative; you are a true friend and a Sisterchick forever.

Contents

“God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing
.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows
,
you find me quiet pools to drink from
.
True to your word, you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.…
My cup brims with blessing.”

P
SALM
23:1–3, 5
B
(T
HE
M
ESSAGE
)

Prologue

I
don’t think
I would have gone to Venice if I hadn’t had a crazy thought five years ago that woke me at three o’clock one morning.

I was used to wacky, middle-of-the-night thoughts, but not like this one. Usually I created mental memos such as, “Send Aunt Becky’s birthday card by Tuesday, or it won’t arrive in time.” In my head I would respond, “Okay,” and fall back asleep.

Other times the thoughts came fragmented like, “car insurance.” Those were the ones I hated because I’d lie alone in the darkness wondering, “Am I behind on a payment? Or was I merely dreaming about a late-night commercial with some dancing lizard telling me I was paying too much for my current coverage?”

When I discussed these annoying, sleep-robbing thoughts with my sister-in-law, Sue, she responded,
“Welcome to menopause.” Then she told me that she keeps a notepad and pen by her bed and another one in her purse at all times. “That way, if I do go completely insane, at least I’ll have left a trail for the medical community to follow, sort of like bread crumbs.”

Taking her advice, I put a notepad by my bed. That’s why I can still remember the persistent thought that woke me and set this adventure into motion. The 3 a.m. revelation was simple: “You’re not done yet.”

That was it. I wasn’t “done.” Done with what, I didn’t know.

I wrote down the thought, but then, instead of falling back to sleep, I considered all the things I had started but never finished. The list was long. Very few events in my life had unfurled the way I had thought they would. I was too old to start over but too young to roll over and play dead. Such is the muddle of midlife, I told myself. I shouldn’t elevate my expectations this far along in my quota of years. I should be winding down, right?

But at 3 a.m. that particular spring morning, I wasn’t “done” yet. And I didn’t know what that meant.

Sleep wouldn’t return, so I slipped out of bed and made a cup of tea. The sound of the newspaper thumping against the front door of my condo told me the world around me was waking. In a few hours I would leave for work. During the hectic pace of my position as a checkout clerk at Abbot’s Grocery, I would scan dozens of cans of
soup and tomato sauce. I would weigh Red Delicious apples (code #4782) and dripping bundles of romaine lettuce (code #4623). I would say, “Have a nice day” more times than any human should have to say that phrase, and I would forget any thoughts that had come to me in the night.

Then, in the wee hours of the next morning, the same thought returned and woke me again. This time I sat up in bed and said aloud, “What? What isn’t finished?” All was silent except for the whirl of the ceiling fan over my bed.

I fell back asleep. My unremarkable life continued at its usual pace for two more weeks.

Then a letter came from Sam, a friend from college who was now the director of an international mission that was based in Europe.

Jenna, would you consider traveling to Venice in July? We need someone to cook at our mission leaders’ retreat. You keep coming to mind. We were given two comp airline tickets from the U.S. so you can bring a friend. The retreat is only for four days. You may stay at the palace the remainder of the week at no charge. Please respond ASAP
.

I read the note again. Venice? Why me? Why now?

I wasn’t a very good cook. Sam knew that because I worked on the kitchen staff one summer at a camp he and his wife ran in Austria. But that was during college. A lifetime ago. Sam and Austria and cooking all happened when
I was young and naive and had lofty plans for my life. Then I fell in love, and, ignoring advice from friends and family, I spontaneously got married. I had a beautiful daughter and an unwanted divorce all before I was twenty-seven. That was when my life grew small.

Now I was being invited to be part of something outside the small boundaries of my broken, limited life. And in Europe, no less. Was this the unfinished business?

Sam’s invitation stirred something deep within me. I realized that no matter what age we are, a profound sweetness glides over the human spirit when we are included in a small circle by an old friend. It’s a humbling thing to be chosen.

I cried for the first time in a long time, and then I called my sister-in-law. Sue was the friend I chose to take with me to Italy.

She was coming up for air after the worst two years of her life. Because she never had been to Europe, she understandably was hesitant about leaving home, but she finally agreed. We left behind everything familiar about our lives in Dallas when we boarded that airplane and flew to Italy.

Neither of us expected the transformations that began in us during our week in Venice. Our luxurious makeovers started with morning walks to the
panetteria
, where we bought our daily bread. Our nails were “manicured” by eager pigeons that we fed from open hands at San Marco
Square. Instead of cucumber slices over closed eyes, we opened our eyes wide inside the grand, Byzantine churches and drew in the scent of honeyed candles. We meditated on God and life while listening for the echo of footsteps on the ancient tiles.

So much changed inside both of us on that trip. Sue and I look back and refer to that summer as the summer we were ambushed. Neither of us saw the blessings coming. They just came—and kept coming—and bowled us over.

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