Chapter 50: Advice

I was awakened, several hours later, by Megan moving in the bed.

“Sorry. I have to pee. I’ll be right back.”

She walked across the hall, naked. I glanced at the clock. It was a bit after eight. Megan snuggled back in beside me, but both of us were too awake to go back to sleep again.

“It feels so nice just lying here beside you that I hate to get up,” she said, after a few minutes of quiet cuddling. “But I have a shit ton of packing to do, and the train leaves at noon. I have no idea how I’m going to carry everything.”

“I’m sorry you have to take the train, Megan. Wish I could drive you. Hey - do you need all your stuff as soon as you get home? You could put some of it in Cheryl’s car, and I could drop it by your place on Friday when I come to get Cheryl.”

“That’s an awesome idea! Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Not at all. But I’d rather not have to schlep it all into my mom’s place if I don’t have to - so make sure that nothing you send with me can be damaged if it freezes - ok?”

She leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

“You are the most thoughtful person in the world. That makes the trip home so much easier.”

We got up, then, and took a shower together, and pulled on some clothes, and made coffee. I gathered what I needed from Cheryl’s room, and went to my place and collected what I needed from there. Then I loaded all of my gear and gifts into the backseat of the car so that the trunk would be free for Megan’s things.

I drove back and picked up Megan and her stuff, a significant amount of which appeared to be dirty laundry, and dropped her off at the train station. She had ultimately decided that she could manage with very little for the next few days, and took only a backpack onto the train with her, leaving the rest to go in the car with me. When I got out to give her a hug, she gave me one last searing kiss goodbye, and then turned and headed for the platform.

I pointed Cheryl’s car towards home. I was cutting it close, but unless something went wrong along the way, I would make it in time to meet my sisters after school and walk them home. Cheryl called, and we chatted for a while as I drove. She’d been texting with Megan, who had told her about me dropping her at the station and bringing Megan’s stuff to Toronto. Cheryl echoed Megan’s sentiment that I was incredibly thoughtful.

The drive home was uneventful, and I got to the house with enough time to get all my stuff unloaded and carried up to my room before I headed to the school to get the girls. Julie was the first one out, as usual, and gave me a tight hug.

“Oh, Johnny, I am so glad to see you. I was hoping you’d get home in time to come walk us home.”

Jamie appeared just then, and also wrapped her arms around me. Then, hand in hand, we walked home. The girls caught me up on their days and everything that had happened since I’d last been home. We texted most days, but it wasn’t the same as actually talking. We had our usual milk and cookies, and then the girls ran upstairs to change out of their uniforms before starting in on Mom’s dinner prep list. By the time Mom came through the door, we had the meal almost ready, which was a good thing, because she looked totally wiped. The last week of work before the holidays is always extra stressful for her.

We talked about the coming days while we ate. The winter carnival at the school Mom worked at was coming up the next night, and the three of us normally went along to help out. It was supposedly organized and run by the parent council, but there were always more jobs than there were volunteers, and it was for a good cause, so Mom and many of the teachers tended to help out. As well as being fun for the kids, it was a fundraiser for the parent council, and the money would be used for things that the government considered extras. These included library books and sports equipment as well as bigger things like field trips and upgrades to the playground.

“What do you have planned for the rest of the week, Johnny?”

“Not much, Mom. I’ll drive to Toronto on Friday and spend the night with Cheryl, then bring her back on Saturday.”

“That’s a longer drive than you normally make on your own - and you aren’t used to the big city traffic,” Mom commented. “Make sure you leave lots of time, so you don’t have to rush. Ok?”

I nodded.

“I will. And I’ll be careful. I’ll likely leave right after lunch - I have to go to Megan’s when I get there and drop off some stuff for her.”

“Who is Megan, and why on earth are you running errands for her?”

I laughed.

“Megan is Cheryl’s roommate, Mom, and I’m not running errands for her. She rode the train home today, and had a pile of stuff she wanted to take, so I told her to throw it in the trunk and I’d drive it in for her, since I was going anyway. Her parents live just around the corner from Cheryl’s parents.”

“Well, that makes sense, then. It was nice of you to offer to help her out like that. Would your Good Samaritan spirit stretch far enough to spend tomorrow afternoon moving boxes from the parent council closet down to the gym?”

“Of course. I’ll come to the office after lunch.”

I’d barely gotten two bites of food chewed when the next request came. This time it was from my sister Julie.

“Johnny,” she said, in the tone of voice that she always used when she wanted to ask me for a favour. “Jamie and I want to do some more Christmas shopping. Will you drive us in to the mall on Thursday after school?”

I sighed. I was happy to do it - and I knew that shopping in our tiny town was the pits. I could feel the time I had at home disappearing quickly, and there were some things I had wanted to do - as well as trying to relax a bit. But I couldn’t say no to my sisters.

“Sure, I can do that.”

They both came and gave me hugs. Mom got up to clear the table, but I told her to go and relax, and I’d take care of it. Julie said she’d help, but I told her not to bother. It didn’t take that long to put away the leftovers and load the dishwasher.

I headed upstairs after that, and just as I stepped into my bedroom, my phone dinged. I assumed it was a text from Cheryl, but when I looked I discovered that it was actually from my friend Ben. Ben and I had been in school together from the first day of kindergarten until high school graduation, and while we weren’t what Cheryl would call besties, we were probably the next best thing that either of us had to a close friend. Neither one of us had much of a social life outside of school: me because I was busy taking care of my sisters, and Ben because he was needed to help his Dad on the farm. But unlike me, Ben had had a girlfriend all through high school. Sarah had also been in school with us all along, and I think she set her sights on Ben in Grade 2. It took her until Grade 9 to convince him, but once she had him, she had him. Sarah had two younger sisters, Rebecca and Rachel, who were the same ages as Jamie and Julie.

“Hey!” Ben’s text read. “Sarah says Becky saw you outside the school today. You home for Christmas?”

I texted back.

“Yep. Just got in today. You?”

“Came home Saturday. Any chance you’d have time to meet up in the next few days? Or has your Mom got you busy?”

“Busy enough between her and the girls. But I’d love to see you. Lunch tomorrow?”

“Perfect. Paddy’s? Noon?”

I texted back a thumb’s up. Then I called Cheryl and checked in. She said that she had had a good day, and that she and Megan were having dinner the next night. I told her about the plans for the school fair and lunch with Ben and the shopping trip. She told me she missed me, and I said I missed her more, and she said no, I didn’t. We agreed to call it a tie. Then I said goodnight to my sisters and turned in.

I slept in on Wednesday morning, which is unusual for me. I think it was all of the emotions and hard work and everything from the last few weeks catching up with me. After I got up, I took what was left of the morning slow, and then went to the elementary school and spent the afternoon hauling boxes around. Mom and I came home as soon as the office was closed, and the four of us had a quick supper, and then we all headed back to the school. I spent the night handing out slices of pizza and cans of pop to the families of the community. It was good to see some people I hadn’t seen in months, or even longer, and I know that Mom got a boost out of having all three of us there to help out.

By the time we got home all four of us were exhausted. I texted Cheryl to see how her day had been, and it took her a bit to text back that it had been ok. She also said that she and Megan were together, and that Megan said to say hi. I said to say hi back, and that I was saying good night to both of them. I think I fell asleep even before my head hit the pillow.

Thursday morning I was up in time to see Mom and the girls before they headed off for the day. Julie texted, almost as soon as she got to school, to ask if I’d mind if a couple of other girls tagged along on the shopping trip, and I said that was fine as long as their parents knew and as long as she and her friends were ok being crammed into the backseat together. I did a couple of loads of my laundry, and gave the kitchen a quick clean so Mom wouldn’t have to do that.

A bit before noon, I walked down the hill to the closest thing my town has to a pub, a little place called Paddy’s. The last time I had been there was when Mom took Cheryl and I out for a talk when I first brought her home to meet the family. Ben was parking his pickup just as I arrived, so I waited, and we shook hands and went in together. Courtney was working, and she hugged us both. Ben ordered a beer, which surprised me, though I happily followed suit. When Courtney brought us our drinks, I ordered a toasted Western and he ordered a pulled pork sandwich. Courtney headed for the kitchen to put the orders in, and Ben watched her go. She was in a skintight red dress that succeeded in covering all of the important bits of her body while leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. Then he turned back to me and raised his glass to mine.

“It’s good to see you, Johnny. I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too,” I said. “Thanks for suggesting this. But I am really surprised that you managed to get into town in the middle of the day like this.”

He laughed.

“Well, if Dad finds out what I’m doing, he’ll be pissed, but it’s worth it.”

“What part of what you’re doing? Drinking a beer at lunch or eating pork for lunch?”

Ben laughed. His father runs an organic beef farm, and he has some pretty strong beliefs about drinking.

“Both!”

“Well, let’s try to look on the bright side,” I suggested. “If your Sarah finds out that you were checking out Courtney Woodland’s assets, she’ll kill you before your Dad can.”

I was sure that beer was going to come out of Ben’s nose.

We made small talk, mostly about school, until Courtney brought our food over. Ben bowed his head for a minute, silently, and I waited until he was done praying before I picked up a fry and popped it into my mouth. He took a bite of his sandwich, chewed and swallowed, and then got to the point of asking me to lunch.

“So, Sarah tells me that her sisters told her that the gossip mill is working overtime about you. The rumour is that you brought a girl home a few weekends ago to meet the family.”

I sighed.

“Is that all that the small-town gossips are saying?”

He shook his head.

“They say that this girl you brought home is smoking hot, incredibly rich, and head-over-heels in love with you. And Rachel says that your sisters are even more smitten by her than you are.”

“Well, other than the ‘incredibly rich’ part,” I laughed, “I think that’s all true.”

“You have a picture?”

I pulled out my phone, opened up one of the shots that Megan had taken of the two of us in the park, and passed it over to him.

“Wow, Johnny. When do I get to meet her?”

“She’s coming here on the weekend,” I replied. “Her parents are out of the country for the holidays and she is spending them with us. I’ll be bringing her to your Christmas party, if that’s ok.”

“Of course that’s ok! It’ll be great to meet her.”

He sighed, and took another bite of his food, and chewed it while he looked at the table.

“Can I ask you a question that is absolutely none of my business?”

“Sure.”

“Um ... are you two ... like, have you...”

“Had sex?” He nodded. “Yes. We have.”

He looked up.

“And?”

“Way better than anything I ever imagined.”

Courtney came over and offered us refills. I accepted, but Ben asked for a water. I waited till she had brought us the glasses and was safely out of earshot to continue the conversation.

“I take it you two are still ... staying pure?”

He nodded.

“Yeah. But it’s hell, Johnny. I mean, I love Sarah. You know that, right? I really do. And I know that being a virgin on her wedding day is really important to her, and I can respect that. Honestly. But...”

He paused for a bite of his lunch.

“Last year, we went away to school together, and we’d go out for an evening, and I’d walk her to her dorm, and she’d give me a goodnight kiss, and I’d walk back to my dorm, and I guess it sucked a bit, but it was ok. But then this year we talked our parents into letting us share an apartment. I guess you likely heard that. She has her bedroom and I have mine, of course. We hang out in the evening, and then she goes to the bathroom and gets ready for bed, and I meet her in the hallway, and give her a kiss goodnight, and she goes into her room and I go into mine. And I lie there, in my bed, knowing she is asleep just on the other side of the wall. And it is driving me crazy. And it’s not just the sex. I mean, I want that. But I also just want to hold her. Do you know what I mean?”

I nodded.

“I don’t know if this will help, or make things worse, but the only better than falling asleep at night with your woman in your arms is waking up in the morning with your woman in your arms.”

“I believe it. And I’d suggest we try it - spending the night together, I mean - but I know if I had her in my arms in a bed I wouldn’t be able to resist. But something needs to give, or I’m going to go nuts. I can’t be this close to her all the time and not be closer, if you see what I’m saying.”

“So what are you going to do about it?”

“I’m going to propose. I want us to get married this summer.”

I wasn’t surprised that Ben was going to ask Sarah to marry him. After all, Sarah had announced on the first day of Grade 9 that she would be marrying Ben, and he’d shown no signs - then or since - of disagreeing with her. In fact, in most things, Ben seemed pretty content to let Sarah do the planning. But Sarah’s plan was that the wedding would wait until they had both graduated from university, so that they could move back home to the little house Ben’s grandparents had lived in, beside his parent’s house. Ben and his Dad would farm together for a bit, until his Dad retired, and then Ben would take over.