Chapter 25

They drove directly to the airport from the cabin, Paul driving the rental and Andi in the Ranger. After turning in the rental at the Enterprise rental turn-in lane, they drove to Your Host, a diner on Union drive and Lucy Kocis was there waiting for them. Lucy is another pulmonologist from University hospital but has moved on to the Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) here in Buffalo and has been tight friends with Andi for years.

“Aunt Lucy! Aunt Lucy!” cried the twins, jumping up and down at her feet.

“Madeline! My favorite 3-year-old!” said Lucy as she swept Sandy up into her arms.

“I’m Sandy and I’m five” said Sandy with her best attempt at a snarl.

“You’re Maddie.”

“Don’t call me Maddie!” shouted Madeline from the floor. She stomped her foot in anger.

“I didn’t call you Maddie, I called Sandy Maddie.”

Lucy is five foot six with light brown hair, an incredibly slim yet athletic build, and a very plain face. So plain that it is unique. She’s a runner, an Olympic caliber bicyclist, and a Jill-of-all-trades winter athlete. She can ski Alpine and ski Nordic in all disciplines. Paul wondered if she could skate, because other than riding a toboggan down a hill, his only winter skill was ice skating. True, he likes to cross-country ski, but that’s just an amateur moving about on his own property, not an athlete with visions of gold driving them on. Other than hiking, his only other summer sports skill was swimming slowly on his back, watching the clouds go by. Actually, he’s a pretty good swimmer. He just likes to watch the clouds.

They went inside the Your Host, a chain of diners across Western New York, and ordered coffee and hot chocolate for the girls. “Shopping won’t take long,” said Andi. “I can’t afford much.”

“Use this,” he said as he placed a metal credit card on the table in front of her. “It’ll cover whatever you get,” said Paul as he sipped his coffee. He waited for a reaction from Andi. She merely stared at him for a long time, then suddenly realized he was not kidding her.

“Then we may be out there for a while,” grinned Andi nervously.

“Fine, get something pretty.” Her face was a mask of surprise as she leaned in for a kiss. She missed Lucy’s scowl, but Paul didn’t. When Andi left to go to the bathroom, Paul leaned over and said softly to Lucy, “Is there a problem?”

“No problem,” said Lucy into her coffee cup, “but Andi is my best friend and she isn’t a gold digger and she’s not for sale.”

“Look, I understand that you don’t trust me, sometimes I don’t understand this whole thing myself, but I’m not trying to buy Andi. And to be honest, she doesn’t know what my assets are, so if she’s a gold digger she’s either clueless about how the game is played or I am going to have to fire my accountant.” He leaned over and spoke softly to Lucy, “I know gold diggers, I’ve had a few try to worm their way into my wallet, and you’re right, she isn’t one. If I had any idea that she was, kids or not, the moment the storm was over I would have dropped them off at the corner of US 219 and US 39.” Lucy glared at Paul and he leaned back and sighed, then he shrugged. “We fell in love, what can I say?

“Say you’ll never EVER break my best friend’s heart,” Lucy glared at Paul and her expression only changed a bit when Andi returned from the Ladies’ room.

After a discussion over coffee concerning where they’re going to go next, the twins were divided. Sandy wanted to go look at dresses with her mommy, Madeline wanted to go home and get supper ready with her new daddy. “Fine, let’s do it that way then,” said Lucy, and they headed out to the parking lot. Paul transferred Sandy’s child seat (the one on the right) to Lucy’s car, but as it came time for the girls to separate, they stood between the cars, whimpering and holding each other’s hand.

Paul crouched down and whispered to Madeline, “if you want to go help Mommy pick out a dress, that’s ok. If I need help with dinner, I’ll call Aunt Macy.”

“You sure poppa?”

“I’m extra sure Love Bug.”

“Bug bug.”

And she kissed him on the cheek. “You can call me Maddy if you want.” She whispered loudly. Lucy and Andi looked at each other in shock and Paul put Madeline’s child seat in Lucy’s car. Madeline absolutely hated being called Maddy, but she made this exception for her new daddy.

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