Chapter 34

During lunch the next day at school, the talk was predictably about what people had done the night before, the food they had eaten, the people they had seen and how wonderful it all was. When Gloria tried to wheedle details out of Paige, she was contentedly taciturn. All she would say is that I had burned about fifteen different pizzas and that we had enjoyed ourselves. Once again, when the bell rang for fifth period, I held her back.

“You didn’t want to share?”

“Nope. Last night was too special to be bragging about.”

Cool, because that was the way I felt too. I held her in my arms briefly. “Thank you. Me, too.”

She knew what I meant, and I left to find my class feeling very good – a state of mind which lasted for the rest of the day. Paige had a golf tournament right after school and I was scheduled for some heavy lifting at Grandpa’s new house, so we didn’t catch up to each other until I was done working and she got dropped off at home by one of her female teammates.

I greeted her at the door with a kiss before accepting her clubs from her and walking them into the garage. “So, how did you do today?”

“We won,” she said with a huge smile, reaching for my high five. “I just wish you could have been there.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry – Grandpa needed me today.” I had a brain fart. He and I were doing all the scheduling on the project and I should have made sure that the important events were clear for me to attend. “How many more tournaments do you have?”

Paige had to think for a moment. “Well, we usually play on weekends at invitational tournaments and the like. Weekday events like today don’t happen that often. I really don’t know, but I can log on and we can check. Would you like me to do that?”

I put her clubs on the rack that held the other four sets. “Why don’t we? Let’s use my Surface and then I can schedule around those days so I can be there. I’ll check with Grandpa.”

The old man was in his favorite chair, just listening to the goings-on in the house as they flowed from room to room. I got the feeling as we approached that he spent a lot less time napping there than he pretended to, since his eyes opened when we neared.

“What can I do for the two of you?” he asked politely, waving for us to sit down near him. We grabbed the love seat and explained our situation.

“I’ll make it up to you Grandpa; I’ll work extra hours to cover.”

His easy smile and his shaking head indicated that it wasn’t necessary.

“Close your eyes, and just listen for a moment.” He waited while both of us did as he asked. “Now, what do you hear?”

He knew my ears were still young. “Well, Grandma’s in the kitchen humming while she’s doing something and I can hear Dad and Evie talking and laughing in the office.”

“Listen some more. Is that all?”

It was all I could hear and I whispered that to Paige. Of course that got her to giggle, and her laughter joined in and melded with all the other sounds of family in the house. She figured out his lesson more quickly than I and shared it quietly with me; I told her I was proud of her and so would Grandpa be, nudging her to tell him.

Paige eventually piped up, “No, there’s a grandfather dispensing wisdom to his grandchildren.”

I opened my eyes again to see Grandpa smiling at the both of us. “The house will get done when it gets done. You two do what you need to do and don’t worry about where it puts the schedule. I’m enjoying the time I get to spend with my son and daughter and their son and daughter whether it’s on the job or here at home. That’s what counts.”

I snorted, “You can be pretty obnoxious, too.”

He laughed. “And yet somehow it skipped a generation. Go, revise the schedule and be there for each other.”

Paige’s tournaments didn’t make a whole lot of difference to the schedule for the house as Grandpa had already built in some down time for the family. The only real deadline we might run up against was the summer and all of the work that Dad was picking up in Chicago and now in Minneapolis. That was something we needed to begin discussing in our relationship meetings, one of which was that evening.

Grandma and Grandpa, now that they were living with us, had been invited to join in, so there were three couples sitting around the living room and six copies of the same book under discussion. When we had reviewed the last week, both the good and the bad, Dad made some suggestions of things we could each try, tailoring his counsel to the needs of the participants. Before we broke up however, he raised the issue of our various summer plans.

Jose and his wife had already been invited to house-sit for Grandma and Grandpa at the newest place while they were in Chicago taking charge of Dad’s various remodels there. I would be joining him in Minnesota and we would be renting a suite at an extended-stay hotel for a couple of months while he managed one build in Minneapolis and I managed another. It would be tight, but we were splitting one of the two Seattle area crews between us, and so long as there were no insurmountable difficulties, we should be able to finish with a little time to spare.

Evie would be spending a lot of time in Chicago applying her talents to the remodels as well as a more tasteful overhauling of several clients’ décor, mainly the Black and Emerson families and people they knew well. She, along with Grandma and Grandpa had been invited to stay with the Emersons while they were up there. That was one of the sticking points since not everyone had met. Paige was another loose end that needed to be addressed. When it came to that part of the discussion, it was clear that she had been giving the situation some thought.

“So, James is managing one job directly and consulting on all the rest, correct?”

There were nods and assents.

“That means that Tim will have to manage the other Minneapolis build and then cover for James when he’s called away, right?”

I could see the light in her eyes as she walked us down the path she had prepared.

“And Tim’s Aunt June is going to be busy with her baby right around that time too.”

“Probably,” Dad answered. “Where are you going with this?”

“Well, one ... I’m not sitting here in Georgia while everyone I love is either in Chicago or Minneapolis. Two ... with all of you onsite or managing projects, who is going to handle the business side for you? None of this is too far off what I’ll eventually be doing when I get control of GD Holdings, and it would be nice if I had some practical experience ahead of time, don’t you think?”

Dad looked thoughtful. “What do you think, Evie, Tim? It would help out June, not to mention Tim, and she could stay with the Black family in Chicago.”

I was in agreement with everything that had been said except for the Mandy/Paige roommate situation. The fact that there would be someone else to take over the business duties was something I hadn’t even considered. Now that I did, I realized it was a vital component of the work this summer that had been overlooked.

“I think we should implement Paige’s suggestion, Dad. I hadn’t even thought about the business end and we’re going to need someone. Aunt June can remotely log into the financial software and help out when needed. We can express checks back and forth for either you or me to sign, and the scheduling software has a tie-in to the finance app so we can make payments off of the percentage-of-completion reports that are filed.”

The decision still came down to Evie, and I wasn’t sure which way she was leaning. She looked at her daughter and then Dad before searching her daughter’s face again. “You really want to do this? It’s going to be a lot of long hours. You’ve seen how hard these guys push themselves.”

“I think so, Mom. It’s time for me to step up and be a productive member of this family.”

“What about volleyball? What about your friends?”

“Well, volleyball starts the last week of July, and things should be winding down by then enough for me to come back, won’t they? As for friends, I’ll miss them, but it’s only two months, and I’m already Facebook friends with Tim’s exes so it’s not like I don’t know anyone up there.”

All eyes turned to me as I inhaled some Coca Cola painfully down the wrong pipe. “What was that again?” I choked out while hacking up a lung.

She smiled at me sweetly. “Amber and I are friends, and Mandy and I are friends, and Roxanne and I are friends. I’m even Facebook friends with Wendy in Montana. I think it would be best for me, and for you, if I were to meet the Chicago and Minneapolis friends in person and maybe keep closer tabs on what’s going on, don’t you?”

Oh, the Coke burned, and so did Dad’s betrayal of me.

“Yes, Sweet Pea.”

I coughed a few more times and then looked at the man culpable in the ambush. “You couldn’t have given me a heads-up?”

Dad got a sheepish look on his face, shrugged and said, “Sorry?”

Evie laughed. “It’s okay with me if you can convince the boss man after nearly killing him.” She didn’t mean Dad, she meant me as everyone noticed when she cast unwavering eyes my way. Dad, on the other hand just nodded at my raised eyebrow.

“Fine, she goes on the payroll. But just so you know,” I told Paige, “I fired Grandpa once last fall and I demoted him once, so don’t think you don’t have to pull your own weight. If you’re working for us, you’re actually working for us, and a lot of the reporting I do is in the evenings after the work onsite is done for the day. It won’t really be a summer vacation at all. Do you think you can handle that?”

“You’ll be available to help me?” She was keeping her head down, focusing on where our hands were joined.

I gave a quick squeeze to reassure her. “Yes, I’ll help. I’m serious about the payroll though. If you’re going to be working for us I need to get you up to speed. You’re going to have to quit the Kroger.”

“Tim, I haven’t worked there since before Christmas. You need to pay attention more.” Mom’s voice echoed in Paige’s words, and I knew they were both right, as was Grandpa earlier. I needed to take a step back and enjoy what I had now, making the people around me the center of my focus.

That was a doozy of a session, and we didn’t even discuss everyone meeting everyone else or the end of February trip back to Seattle for the anniversary of Mom’s passing. I could tell that was on Dad’s mind when he found me in my room afterwards.

“Can I take you away from those reports for a few minutes?” he asked, gesturing to the work I was doing to update Grandpa’s building schedule and financials.

“Yeah, just let me save these.” I shut down the tablet after making sure my work was properly updated. “What’s up?”

He jerked his head toward the hallway, “Let’s take a walk.”

It wasn’t until we were out of the house and on the path that ran back to the equipment yard that he got to the point. “This month sure has moved quickly, hasn’t it?”

No kidding. What with the house, the move, Valentine’s Day and the madness that surrounded it, we were only a week away from flying back to our old stomping grounds.

“I’ve been thinking of modifying our trip a bit,” he said. “I was wondering if it would be okay with you if we took Evie and Paige with us next Friday, had them meet Frank and June, and then they could fly back on the following Monday.”

What Dad wasn’t saying is that Tuesday, the actual anniversary of the worst day in our lives so far, would be a private affair between the two of us and a stone sitting at the head of a small patch of grass.

“Wednesday, we can fly down to Southern California and then home again on Saturday. That should give us enough time to visit without overstaying our welcome.”

The modification was that now the Mercers wouldn’t be meeting Grandma and Grandpa Edwards. I mentioned that.

“I know, but this just doesn’t feel like the right time. What if we host a party here at the end of April or beginning of May and invite them out for a week? If I remember correctly, it should be quite nice here by then, and hot as Hades already where they live. They should enjoy it, and we’ll introduce everyone all around. Who knows? We may even be able to convince our friends from Minnesota and Illinois to get a taste of spring after their long winter up there.”

I considered his proposition while we made a tour of our buildings in the back lot. “I like it, and I think you’re right. That seems to be a more appropriate way to introduce Grandma and Grandpa to Evie. Do you need help planning the party?”

A sly grin appeared. “I think I’ll give Evie and Paige a budget and let them run with it, see if they’re up to the task. It can also be a dry run for Paige if you set up a party cost-center in the financial software for her so she can get a real-life feel for the kind of input that occurs.”

We walked back to the house, occasionally kicking a white piece of rock ahead of us down the path and chasing it when it disappeared into the grass. I finally summoned up the courage to ask Dad the question to which I most wanted an answer.

“How close are you to asking Evie to marry you, Dad?”

He stopped fifty feet from the garage. “I don’t know, Tim. I’d like to say ‘Ask me again in two weeks and I’ll have a better answer,’ but the truth is that I don’t know if I will at that point. I think you can see that I love her, and that she loves me. The problem is the timing for one, and that we’re only now building a mature relationship that has substance. Then again, there’s never a perfect moment. I don’t know.”

His response was frustrating and yet I could understand it, but I wanted just a little more from him.

“Okay, then answer me this. Are you closer now to that decision point than you were at Christmas, the same distance or further away?”

His smile told me even before his words did.

“Oh, definitely closer,” he breathed.

I threw myself into school for the last day of the week, and then into work on Grandpa’s house over the weekend. In my spare time, I took Paige to the movies, started her on some tutorials in the financial software, spent time with my family, cooked and ate some meals and even slept for a bit. The next week was almost the same except that on Friday, instead of dressing up and going out, four of us spiffed up and took the Audi into Atlanta, placing it into long-term parking at the airport.

I was excited, happy and sad, and was really only concentrating on my own inner turmoil until I noticed Paige trembling next to me in the plastic chairs at the gate. Dad and Evie, very apologetically, had left us there and made use of the VIP lounge for the first-class passengers, so I needed to pull out of my funk and see to my girlfriend with no help from anyone else.

“What is it, Paige?” For all that people didn’t dress up anymore to travel, she, and I had earlier noticed, Evie, were wearing close to their Sunday best. She looked beautiful, but the only vibe I was getting right now was fear and nervousness.

“Come on, tell me. Let me help if I can.”

Her hands stopped moving, gripping each other for support instead. “I don’t want to add to whatever you’re going through, Tim.”

I tried a smile. “Really? Team, remember? Talk to me ... please.”

So, for the fifteen minutes until they called our section to board, she held my hand and talked to me about her fears over meeting June and Frank, and feeling like an interloper on my home turf. I just listened until we needed to get up, then collected her and all of our things and muscled my way through the gate and down the plane’s aisle until we found our seats. I wanted to reassure her before engines started and we couldn’t talk too intimately any more.

“Paige, I don’t want to invalidate your feelings or tell you that you shouldn’t feel that way. I just want to let you know what I told Dad a year ago in Seattle when we were discussing pulling up roots. Since I was going to be leaving for college in a couple of years after we got settled in, no matter where we landed, then wherever he wanted to go was good enough for me. Home would be Dad to me, not necessarily a geographical location. Now, I’ve expanded that to include you and Evie too. Seattle is geography. You and Evie, and Dad, grandmas and grandpas McKenzie and Edwards, June and Frank; that’s all home to me.”

Paige took the hand she was holding and pressed it to her forehead. “Thank you. You all are home to me, too.” Her smile told me that while she still harbored reservations about the upcoming meeting, she was partially reassured.

The door up front closed on our conversation, the last people making their way through the aircraft toward us – a mother with a preschooler and a newborn. Paige was feeling good enough after our talk to snicker at me since the only three seats left were the middle beside me and then two of the three on the other side. I simply sucked it up and smiled as the woman tried to handle luggage, overhead bins, diaper bags and two small and frightened children. I got nudged in the side by Paige, but I was already getting up to help.

“Hi, you look like you could use a hand,” I told her as I popped open a couple of overhead bins around us that had only recently been closed by a flight attendant.

The organization in them wasn’t all that good, but the only complaint I received was from the twenty-something suit a couple rows behind me when I started rearranging for space. I glowered at him until he shut up, and then was very respectful of his case as I shifted things around. I mean that – I’m not a jackass.

With her luggage stowed, the mother looked at the three seats that she had. Paige and I had selected the aisle and window seats, leaving the center one empty; obviously that was where one of them would be sitting. I didn’t make the woman ask, instead I offered.

“I’ll move over and your little one here can sit in the aisle so she can be near you, or we can take the two seats you have there and all three of you can take our row.”

“Thank you.” She extended the hand that wasn’t currently clutching the child carrier. “I’m Pam Squire, and this is Erica; the baby is Luke.”

Pam leaned over to me so she could speak a little more quietly. “Could Erica sit beside you? I’ve been wrangling these two by myself for a week now and as much as I love them, I need a little space.”

I chuckled quietly. “Of course. By the way, I’m Tim McKenzie,” I shook the proffered appendage gently and when my hand was released I pointed at my companion. “And that’s my girlfriend, Paige Mercer.”

Pam made the polite greetings required and then turned back to struggle with belting in the car seat beside her. As she did that, I crouched down next to the little girl.

“Hi Erica, I’m Tim, and that’s Paige. Why don’t I help you while your mommy is busy with your brother?”

She looked at me shyly. “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.”

Mrs. Squire solved that. “It’s okay, Erica, you can talk to Tim and Paige.”

I picked Erica up and swung her into her seat with the accompanying ‘whee’ sound effect that was required.

“Now, you’re going to be here, and your mommy will be right there. I’ll be beside you and Paige will be beside me.”

She was buckled in before she knew it and I managed to climb into my seat without kicking or banging or knocking into anyone or anything. I could tell my girlfriend was trying hard not to laugh as my bulk barely fit between the armrests.

“I’m going to make Dad pay for this,” I promised.

I hadn’t noticed while I was rearranging the Boeing 737 more to my liking, but we had already been pushed away from the gate and were taxiing out toward the runway. In the interests of saving fuel, this airline had made it a habit of only starting one of the two engines for the slow roll, waiting on the second until just before they reached the takeoff area. Erica hadn’t heard the whine of the first engine coming to life and now she was looking scared at the sound of the second, and the subsequent increasing drone of the turbofans. I captured her small hand in my much larger one.

“It’s going to be okay Erica; Paige and I are right here and your mommy is just over there.” I pointed with the hand holding hers and she giggled as she ended up pointing, too. “Have you ever been on an airplane before?”

Mrs. Squire shook her head ‘no’ to answer for her daughter.

“Well, let me tell you what’s going to happen in just a moment.”

I described the various noises, bumps and sensations to the little girl as we took off and started climbing. I must have been charming enough for her and her mother, as both paid rapt attention. When the pressure started to drop as the altitude increased, I explained to Erica that her ears might hurt. I showed her how to make silly faces, and in doing so, her ears equalized and didn’t pain her any more. Fifteen minutes later, we were told that we could remove our lap belts and move around. I looked down and Erica was asleep beside me still holding my hand.

“That was amazing,” Pam exclaimed quietly. “She never warms up to strangers like that, and especially not to strange men.”

Paige leaned over me so Pam could see her roll her eyes. “We call this one the Lady-whisperer,” she told the mother. “Apparently, he can whisper to women of all ages.”

“Well, he certainly did a number on my little girl.” Paige was still leaning forward and Pam recognized something in her expression, “And on you, too, obviously. How long have you been together?”

I decided to field that question. “Well, she hated me at the end of August, started warming up under my charm assault by the end of September, dated me briefly in October, was prescribed as medicine for me in November, helped me pick up women in December, hated me again right after Christmas, and now she has the bedroom next to mine.”

“Tim,” Paige hissed, “none of that is true.”

I laughed softly, “Au contraire, Sweet Pea, all of it is.”

We had Pam’s attention now and this was a story she wanted to hear. I was told that Erica would continue to sleep if I picked her up and set her on my lap. In that way I could take the aisle seat back which would give me some more room and let Paige move closer so the story could be shared.

We implemented her suggestions, swapping passengers around in our row and I took Erica back from her mother as I sat down again. I wasn’t prepared for little arms to encircle my neck while a small sweet-smelling head lay on my shoulder and slept. It startled Pam, too, and she was going to tell me I could give her daughter back to her, when she saw the look on my face.

“Keep this one. Whatever you do, hold onto him and do not let him go,” she told Paige. “But now I really need to hear your story.”

Over the next hour, Paige shared with our new friend, even as a baby was fed and burped, followed by a brief intermission for a change of diapers. The conversation wound down when it was clear that Pam was lagging. Paige offered to take care of Luke, and by this time the women had shared enough that there was no problem with Pam trusting my girlfriend. Besides, where could we go?

Pam slept for the remaining three hours of the flight, and between Paige and me, we engaged small children with rattles, binkies, coloring books and stories. It was only when we had to rearrange seating again on the approach to Seattle, and Pam woke up, that we relinquished her children back into her care. She started crying when she realized that we had let her sleep.

“You have no idea how much that meant to me, how much I needed that. Thank you both.” She strapped Luke in again.

“It was our pleasure,” Paige told her.

We got Erica situated in the aisle seat and I once again explained what all the bumps were as we descended, landed and taxied to the airport. Paige and I stayed back while everyone deplaned at the gate and we helped the Squire family with luggage and logistics, finally emerging in a line following Pam, with me carrying a tired Erica. Dad and Evie were standing off to the side awaiting us.

“I knew we couldn’t have lost them, but I didn’t realize that there was a temporal bubble between first-class and the other passengers,” Dad joked. “How long was that flight? They were single when they boarded, and now they have a three-year old.”

Pam, immediately ahead of us, heard him and stopped to talk with our folks. “These must be Romeo and Juliet reunited.” She didn’t explain. “Thank you both for raising such fine young people; they were a godsend.”

Evie just smiled, elbowed Dad and pointed to the excess luggage that Pam was struggling to carry. He picked it up for her and then started a conversation. By the time we were at baggage claim, he had her story, knew the name of her husband and had made a new business and personal connection with the family. I just stood there holding a sleeping girl and watching Dad as he performed the magic that he almost always did. I think it must have been Evie’s first experience with it as she didn’t interrupt while the conversation flowed.

When a man appeared who greeted Pam and the rest of the family familiarly, we knew it was her husband. Dad helped him carry things out to their car while I stood with the women and children. I could see business cards being exchanged as the two fathers walked back into the concourse. Mr. Squire approached me and I gently untangled myself from Erica, handing her to him.

Both of us were surprised when she roused enough for words. “Daddy, I want Tim to kiss me goodnight.”

He was startled, but he dutifully turned her in his arms so I could do as requested. I gave her a light press of lips on her forehead and whispered, “Nighty night, Erica. Be good.”

“Night, Tim, night, Paige,” a sleepy voice responded.

Both Dad and I kept getting incredulous looks from Evie as we stood at the car rental counter. The flight had been five hours, we had left at seven but with the time zones, it was still only nine o’clock out here, which is why we were going to rent a car and then drive from SEATAC to Frank and June’s place early enough yet not to be a bother. Evie didn’t say a word until we were all in the car, and then she addressed her daughter.

“What in the name of all that’s holy was that!?”

“I told you, Mom, it’s real. That was the Lady-whisperer’s charm, and apparently it works on women of all ages. Mrs. Squire said that Erica never warms up to strange men, but she slept in Tim’s arms for half the flight. In fact, he had her telling him that she wasn’t allowed to talk to him within thirty seconds of their meeting. You should have believed me.”

“I thought I did. I thought I’d seen it already back in fall when he pulled his Mrs. Robinson routine on me, but that just now was almost palpable, and the little girl was only three. Oh my God!”

Dad chuckled. “It’s okay, Evie. Spiderman and Uncle Ben.”

She showed that she and Dad shared a common history when they repeated the line together, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

I don’t know if Paige was familiar with that quote, but the point was moot. She had picked up on something her mother had said and she looked at me as she asked for an explanation. “What Mrs. Robinson thing are you talking about, Mother?” If I heard the edge, then surely Evie heard it as well.

“Oh ... that was the evening you went to the fair together. I tried to tease him and I learned very quickly not to do that.”

She told the story and had all of us laughing, particularly when she finished.

“It’s like looking into the eyes of a viper, isn’t it? You know it’s dangerous, and yet you just can’t help yourself or look away.”

Well, two good things came out of the flight and the subsequent banter. First, the ladies were now anxious to meet Aunt June so they could hear more ‘Tim stories,’ where before they had been worried, and second, once introductions were made, they all bonded over said stories. I wasn’t sure I wanted my Aunt to hear some of the Georgia tales, and I know I didn’t want Paige sharing too much with her mother, particularly if Evie became either my step-mother or mother-in-law, or both.

It was obvious they were sharing because that first night, even before we got all the sleeping arrangements settled, (Mercers in the guest room, Dad in the home office and me on the couch), conversation in the kitchen would come to a halt whenever I was in earshot, and then pick up again preceded by giggling. It’s not paranoia when they really are talking about you.

Dad, I and Frank retreated to the unfinished basement where we set up camp chairs and I was allowed to share in the experience of drinking a beer with the guys. We caught up quickly, although I happened to be the subject of stories down here too. I stayed, however, in order to inject a bit of truth whenever things got too outlandish. Around two in the morning, eleven o’clock Pacific Standard Time, Paige was sent down to enforce curfews and we all made use of the facilities before turning in.

The big picture window in the living room pointed west so that sunsets could be captured, but it let enough of the sunrise in to wake me around six, local time. Babies and toddlers may be warm and cuddly while they’re hugging you, but certain sour milk notes on my sleep attire seemed to have crept in overnight. That may have just been me. Regardless, the shirt I had been wearing the day before didn’t smell that good, even after I rinsed off in the hall bathroom and sprayed on some women’s deodorant I found there. I ended up just pulling on my pants and checking out the kitchen, shirtless.