Chapter 6: Change Has Come

For the first time in ages, Greg approached the house wondering what he would find inside. Normally he would have stopped for a beer or two before coming home. Once at home, he’d find some disaster that required his attention. It was his hope that this time would be different. He shifted the flowers to his left hand so that he could open the door with his right. He felt a little stupid carrying the bouquet of flowers.

Sharon was waiting by the door for Greg to arrive. She hoped that he wouldn’t stop by the sports bar for a drink, but she was afraid that old habits died hard. It wasn’t the last time she wondered why he would go along with her scheme. The one ray of hope was that he had such a good time at the Green’s house.

Holding his breath, he opened the door and stepped inside. Seeing Sharon at the door, he was stunned. She was wearing a very attractive dress. He knew that it had to be new. He smiled feeling uncertain and then held out the flowers.

In a quiet voice, he said, “Hello, Sharon.”

“Flowers!”

She stared at the flowers unable to believe that he had actually brought flowers for her. In a flash, she knew that her plan was working better than expected. Excited, she hugged and kissed him. She pulled back and smelled them.

She said, “I can’t believe you bought flowers. They’re so pretty! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

That stupid feeling he had while walking up to the house carrying the flowers quickly evaporated upon seeing her reaction. She took the flowers from him and raced off to put them in a vase.

As she ran, she called, “I’ll meet you on the patio.”

On the way to the patio, he stopped by the bedroom and put on a sports coat. They had agreed that until he had a chance to go shopping for a new suit that he would wear a sports coat. After adjusting the jacket, he headed towards the patio.

The kids were waiting for him. Cathy was wearing a dress and Harry was wearing a nice pair of pants and a regular shirt.

Wondering what kind of reaction he would get, he said, “Hello, Cathy. Hello, Harry.”

“Hello, Dad,” Cathy answered with a smile.

Still not convinced that his parents were going to do what they had discussed, Harry said, “Hello, Dad.”

Walking over to the little table Sharon had set up, he asked, “Would you care for a drink?”

“Yes, please.”

“Yes, please.”

Greg fixed a drink for himself, a wine for Sharon, and the two wine spritzers for the kids. They hadn’t gotten a tray, so he carried the drinks over to the kids. When he handed one to Cathy, she said, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Thank you,” Harry said when Greg handed him his drink.

“You’re welcome.”

Even as Greg was giving his reply to Harry, Sharon entered the patio. Greg fetched her drink and handed it to her. She smiled and said, “Thank you and thank you for the flowers.”

“You’re welcome and you’re welcome,” Greg said with a smile.

The two kids were looking at each other. Cathy couldn’t believe that her father had brought flowers home for her mother. Harry was still trying to get over the fact that his father had just handed him a drink.

Finally Harry said, “I didn’t believe you would actually do it.”

“Do what?” Greg asked.

“Give us drinks.”

Greg raised his glass and said, “To the future! May it be bright.”

Everyone raised their glasses. Harry took a sip of his drink and considered the flavor. After a minute, he decided that the drink itself was no big deal. The big deal was getting the drink.

He said, “Thank you, Dad.”

“You’re welcome. What did I do?”

“You kept your promise. I appreciate it,” Harry answered.

“It was my pleasure,” Greg said. He glanced over at Sharon and saw the expression of approval on her face. He asked, “How was school?”

Harry caught himself before shrugging his shoulders. He frowned for a moment as he thought about how to answer the question. School was something that he attended and did his best to survive. He complained about it to his friends, but it was a shared complaint.

He answered, “That’s one of those questions that I really don’t know how to answer. I guess if I really had to answer it, I’d say it was pretty boring. How was work?”

“Pretty boring,” Greg replied with a smile. He took a sip of his drink and then said, “I guess that some activities really aren’t that great a topic of conversation. You live in some environment for most of the day, but it’s so removed from what everyone else is doing, that it is hard to describe it to them.”

“I guess so. I hadn’t thought about it,” Harry said while he thought about it.

Greg turned to Sharon and put his hand on hers. Her dress had a slit along the side that showed off her legs. The top was low cut, but tasteful. He said, “With all the excitement at the door, I didn’t get a chance to tell you how much I like your dress.”

“Thank you. I managed to make it to the bank during my lunch break. I took a little longer and stopped at a boutique by the office. I thought you would like this,” she said clearly flattered by the compliment. She crossed her legs so that the slit opened a little wider.

“It is very lovely,” Greg said while watching Sharon shift so that more of her legs were shown off.

It was a thrill to see that his eyes were locked on her legs. She blushed slightly. Her reaction was so unexpected that she was left wondering what had caused it. It seemed ridiculous that she was blushing because her husband was looking at her legs. The thought that she should buy some thigh high stockings crossed her mind. The idea of it brought a smile to her face.

Watching the interaction between her parents, Cathy couldn’t believe that her mother was flirting with her father. Her father’s reaction was even more interesting. He actually looked interested. In a way, she found it romantic. It was like Mr. and Mrs. Green.

He asked, “How was work?”

“Oh, it was okay. Nothing too interesting happened,” she answered. It was an informal job that didn’t require her to dress up for work, a fact that she had appreciated for a long time.

Harry asked, “What do you do anyway?”

“I’m a claims adjuster for an insurance company,” she answered.

It was a part-time job at a relatively small company and didn’t pay much. The hours were flexible and the dress code was lax, so it was convenient. She had gotten it to help fill the hours when the kids were off at school, but the extra money did help a little.

“I know that, but what do you do?”

“When someone files a claim, I read it over and determine how much we are supposed to pay,” she said. She decided to give a little more detail. “I read the reason for the claim. If we cover it, I double check the amount of the charges against the allowed amounts for the procedures. I check for limits, deductions, and then calculate the amount we’ll pay based on those things.”

“That does sound boring,” Cathy said.

“Not always. Sometimes you get claims that are really funny. People do some of the stupidest things you can imagine,” she said. She took a sip of her glass of wine and tried to recall one of the funnier episodes. Smiling, she said, “We had a three hundred pound guy who was checking his hemorrhoids in the mirror of his dresser. He had climbed up onto it so that the proper part of his body was visible in the mirror. The dresser collapsed and he broke his arm.”

The kids broke out laughing at the image of some guy bent over atop a dresser. Harry said, “That’s one guy who is short a few cards in his deck.”

Smiling, Greg said, “We all do stupid things on occasion. We get so caught up in what we are doing that common sense flies out the window.”

Looking around, Sharon said, “Oh, I forgot the snacks. Excuse me while I get them.”

“Go ahead,” Greg said.

He watched his wife walk to the door. The dress showed off her body quite well. He wondered when he had stopped noticing her. Somehow, over the years, she had become a shape to which he had talked and a voice that he did his best to ignore. It was like he was seeing her for the first time. He liked what he was seeing.

“Earth to Dad,” Harry said.

“What?”

“You were like totally into Mom. Are you feeling okay?”

Cathy was stunned by the expression on her father’s face. That look was quite common at school when guys checked out the asses on girls walking down the hallway. Most of the time, that look wasn’t appreciated. Of course, there were occasions when that look was very much appreciated.

“Actually, I’m feeling better than I’ve felt in a long time. I feel relaxed and happy to be at home. How about you two?”

“I guess,” Harry answered. He looked at the drink in his hand and realized that most of it was still left. He took a sip and said, “It’s a lot different than most days.”

Cathy wondered if it was going to last. She said, “I’m fine.”

“The weather is going to be warm enough to start using the pool again. We’re getting a service to take care of it,” Harry said pointing to the pool. The tarp still covered it and it sagged in the middle from a puddle of rain water.

“Oh, that’ll be great,” Cathy said. Last summer her father only treated the pool on occasion and half the time the water was dirty or it was over chlorinated. Maybe this year the pool would be usable every day.

Although the pool was supposedly purchased for the enjoyment of the family, it was really little more than a status symbol. It meant a lot of work for Greg and very little enjoyment by the family. He had grown to hate the pool and resented the time spent on cleaning it.

Greg said, “I wasn’t a good pool boy. Hopefully we’ll get a good looking one that you and your mother can drool over while he’s working.”

The unexpected humor from her father caused Cathy to burst out in a laugh. Harry teased her a little about standing at the window watching the pool boy. He then went on to describe a pool boy that sounded more like a guy that operated a jackhammer.

While they were teasing each other, Sharon came out with a tray of mini-tacos that she had heated in the microwave oven.

Curious about what brought on the laughter, she asked, “What’s so funny?”

“We were just talking about you and Cathy drooling over the pool boy,” Harry said. He said, “I told Cathy that Dad was going to hire some guy with a beer belly and a butt crack the size of the Grand Canyon.”