Chapter 17

The next morning, I slipped out of bed early and started coffee brewing for breakfast. I knew where everything in the kitchen was, so I started working on that too while I was at it. Hope joined me a short time later, surprised that I was up and moving.

“I thought you might want to sleep in a bit today,” she said when she entered the kitchen.

“I’d been thinking the same about you two,” I shot back.

“Busted,” she admitted with a rueful shrug of her shoulders as she took one of the four cups I set out and poured herself some coffee. “You heard us?”

“We kind of assumed you’d heard us and decided that it sounded like fun,” I said lightly.

“We never did get around to fixing the soundproofing inside the house,” she admitted. “Sabrina used to know every time we made love when she was growing up.”

I laughed at that and went back to making breakfast. By the time Carl was at the table, I had eggs, bacon, toast and hash browns ready for him. I’d already served Hope and when Lori joined us sleepily, I set a plate in front of her and then got my own breakfast. As soon as I sat down, Hope bounced up and started cleaning up.

We didn’t really have anything planned for the day, so when Carl went to work, the three of us went shopping for the day. It was pleasant to get out and see some of the old haunts that I’d left behind. We shopped craft and hobby stores for things that would be useful to both Hope and Carl in their respective hobbies and a few other trinkets for the rest of the family. We popped over to get Eve a sweater from the college and things like that. I got some Denver and Colorado themed presents for Mike and Mary and then we went to lunch. After lunch, we shopped for groceries for the house to help replace what we’d used up since we arrived. Hope was a little reluctant to accept that, but we insisted.

We were a little more vocal in bed on Friday night and just like before, our love-making inspired a similar commitment next door. We delighted in that and hoped that they weren’t just being polite for our sake and that they were all over each other regularly without our help.

I was up to fix breakfast again on Saturday morning and Hope was the first one out of bed.

“You might want to ease off on the cooking,” she told me. “On Saturday, Carl sleeps in. He won’t want to move before lunch.”

I nodded and planned for three instead. “So, are you two always this romantic or are you just making noise to be polite so we don’t feel like we’re disturbing you?” I asked with a smirk.

She blushed. “Well, we never really stopped being interested in each other,” she said. “Having you two around these last few days has gotten us fired-up though. I think Carl’s developing a crush on Lori,” she told me conspirationally.

I nodded. “Lori has that affect on a lot of people, men and women. She oozes sex appeal. I was a little worried that I was gonna have a problem with Bill the other night since he stole my first girlfriend from me. I thought he might have wanted a chance to do it again, since Lori is so gorgeous. He behaved himself though.”

She nodded. “I know that Sabrina told us he’d been miserable to you, nearly getting you killed on the job and what happened with how he met his wife.”

I nodded. “Well, he’s grown up a lot over the past three years,” I admitted. “Maybe that night stuck in his head and changed him. Maybe it’s because he has a daughter to think about now, but either way, he’s less of an asshole than he used to be.”

She sat, lost in thought about that for a while and shrugged. “I’ll never have to deal with him again. He killed my baby and I’ll never forgive that, but I understand why you have.”

I was making pancakes this morning and put a short stack in front of her to start her off. “I think you should consider letting it go,” I told her gently. “Not for him, certainly. For yourself though and for Sabrina. I know she wouldn’t want you to carry that anger with you. Do it for yourself too because every time you have a negative thought about him, it’s a moment that you could have been focused on happiness.”

She thought about that for a little bit and sighed. “How did you get to be so smart?” she asked with a little pride in her voice.

“Smart?” I laughed. “I’m dumb as a stump. Sabrina led me around by the nose until she could find someone capable of keeping me out of trouble.”

She joined me in laughing and the two of us settled down to eat. I was mostly done with mine when Lori arrived, looking radiant. I immediately got up, gave her a kiss and started making breakfast for her. We were going over to Mom and Dad’s and separating from there for the day. I secretly thought I’d have more fun going with them and getting my nails done, but I was committed to walking around a golf course all day with Bill and Dad. My leg was already telling me that this was a bad idea.

We embraced the horror though and I got the rental of a set of clubs and shoes. We had a friend of Bill’s join us for a fourth and the three of them talked about local issues. I was mostly left to concentrate on the game and occasionally brought into the conversation when something less personal was the topic.

It was the sixth hole where I started getting questions about my cane. “So what happened?” Jason asked. He was nursing a beer out of the cooler that had taken up residence in the cart we were using.

“Car accident,” I told him “SUV t-boned me. Thankfully I wasn’t driving a small car or they’d still be sponging me out of the cracks in the building.”

“Fuck!” he said wisely. “That must have sucked. You go after the other driver?”

I shrugged. “It gets better all the time,” I said dismissively. “Everything’s settled, but I can’t go into details.”

He nodded and the topic moved on to something else. I was just as happy. By the end of the round, it was lunch time. My leg was screaming, so the four of us went up to the clubhouse for something to eat while they talked about their game. I turned in my clubs and my shoes after lunch and told them that I couldn’t handle another round, which was their plan for the afternoon. Hell, I shouldn’t have done the full 18. So I hung out in the clubhouse, nursing soda while they took their threesome out for the afternoon. I could have gone out with them on the course, I supposed, but I was pretty miserable and I wanted a little alone time.

The highlight of my day was when we got back to the house and saw the results of Lori’s day at the spa. She always looked fantastic, but my eyes nearly came out of my head at the sight of her after a day of relaxing and pampering. “Wow!” I said. “You look amazing! I don’t even know what to say! You always look like a supermodel, but right now? That word doesn’t do you justice!”

She giggled cutely and came to kiss me. “You’re sweet. Biased, but sweet.”

Bill tried to give Linda some of the same praise, but it sounded a little contrived after my outburst. Dad had planned to barbecue tonight and went out to start the grill. Years ago, he’d built a permanent barbecue out of the back of a Popular Mechanics magazine. It was huge, with eight burners, surrounded with brick and housed two propane tanks underneath. I don’t know why he wanted that much space. We hardly ever had that many people to the house, but tonight, with six of us, it got a bit more of a workout.

We all adjourned to the back patio where we talked and Dad ran the grill. I was asked about golfing and admitted that it wasn’t a bad game, but I thought it was too hard on my leg. Lori gave me a searching look and I shrugged.

“I didn’t play the second round,” I told her. “I just relaxed at the clubhouse while they finished their day.”

“You should have called it a day before it got that bad,” she scolded me gently.

“Next time, I will,” I promised. She stayed close to me though and massaged my leg a little, knowing that she’d have to do a more thorough job tonight if I was going to be able to move tomorrow.

Surprisingly, that didn’t bring a round of jokes at my expense. As a matter of fact, Bill was watching her hands longingly and even Dad occasionally glanced at what she was doing. Unfortunately for them, they hadn’t escaped the notice of their wives and I could tell that it was likely not going to be massage night for either of them. I relaxed while food cooked and I found myself smiling at my sexy other half. She smiled right back and helped work the knots out of my thigh as much as she could right here.

The food turned out to be everything I remembered from our barbecues growing up. There were steaks, chicken, ribs and sausages all done to perfection. There were also skewers of vegetables, baked potatoes and ears of corn. By the time we were done, we were all stuffed and there was still a pile of food left. That got split into three piles. One went in the fridge, one went with Bill and Linda and mom asked me to bring the third back to Carl and Hope.

We spent the rest of the evening enjoying our time together and there was some mention of doing something for Christmas. I told them that I needed to make time for Mike and for Rosa to meet Lori, but we’d see what we could arrange.

“We have two spare rooms here,” Mom said. “I’ll talk to your brother about bringing the kids here instead of you going down there.”

“Rosa can stay with us,” Linda volunteered. “We have plenty of room.”

“I guess if Hope and Carl are interested in company, then we can make that work,” I said, thinking that it might be the closest we could come to having everyone for the holiday. “That assumes that Lori’s parents aren’t insistent on us coming to see them for Christmas,” I pointed out quickly.

We begged off relatively early since we had to pack for our flight tomorrow, but promised we’d be in touch about Christmas. By the time we got back to Carl and Hope’s, my leg was still feeling stiff, but better than it had been.

They were delighted by the leftovers and the tentative plans for Christmas. They also remarked about how stunning Lori looked after her day with Linda.

That night, we weren’t particularly careful about how much noise we made and Hope and Carl reciprocated. Their cries started our cries again and I started to think that if we didn’t get out of here soon, the four of us would dispense with the bedrooms and just crowd the living room since we were practically in the same room as it was.

That next morning, Hope was walking a little gingerly and we were all smiles. “We’re gonna miss you kids,” she told us as we sat for breakfast. She took one of our hands in each of hers. “I haven’t felt so young since Sabrina started going to sleepovers.”

We chuckled about that. “Does that mean we’re welcome to come back and make noise in the middle of the night?”

“You better!” she said and then lowered her voice. “I think seeing your pretty face has inspired him to be more passionate,” she told Lori with an amused chuckle. “Yesterday morning, I caught him critiquing himself in the mirror, sucking in his stomach, puffing out his chest, that sort of thing. I’m sure if you come back for Christmas, we can get him into a gym. I’ve been after him to do that for a few years now.”

Lori giggled, blushing at the thought of Carl developing a crush on her. “That’s too adorable!” she said when she could talk again.

We finished our last minute packing after breakfast and then we were off to the airport with hugs and kisses from Hope and Carl, who’d just gotten up to see us off.

I felt a little conflicted about Denver now. It had brought me nothing but tragedy, but it was still home to me on some level. It resonated with me. I guess that would be the best way to put it. Sometimes that resonance hurt. Sometimes it was comforting. The last few days had been comforting. I thought that the pain was mostly behind me, so long as nothing opened those old wounds.

Lori and I were disgustingly affectionate as we waited for boarding and then again once we were settled in our seats for the flight. “Nervous?” I asked.

“A little,” she admitted. “I really want my parents to love you.”

I squeezed her hand and we settled in for takeoff. “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I told her soothingly, but I was worried too and I knew it showed. “Even if they don’t love me, they’ll eventually come to accept me.”

“You really think?” she asked hopefully.

“Sure. Linda’s parents always liked me, so when she ended up with Bill, they despised him. That only got worse as he kept doing bad things to me. Eventually though, they got to the point where they accept him. They might not LIKE him, but they accept him.”

She nodded. “I don’t want them to accept you though,” she frowned. “I want them to welcome you.”

“Like a son?” I finished the thought knowingly. “My face might pave the way for that a little. The beret might get us some mileage too.”

She nodded. “I want to talk to them as soon as we get there and explain that. They have to know before we even go upstairs.”

I agreed and we decided on the flight that she’d do most of the talking initially. They were her parents, after all. She knew how to talk to them better than I would.

We landed and got our bags, rented a car for our time there and then headed south toward New Prague where her parents farm was. She pointed out a lot of local sights as we traveled and generally kept up an excited chatter. This was where she’d grown up and she didn’t get back here often. I got the sense that she’d stayed away from the place after Jeff died. I could understand that. I’d done the same thing after Sabrina had died, only just now crossing that line.

I was seated in the passenger seat this time as she drove, which only made sense since I had no idea where we were going and she did. The city had quickly faded out to smaller settlements and farm fields as they headed south and all too quickly, Lori turned the car into a long drive, leading up to a largish house. It was flanked by a pair of large barns and several other outbuildings. I took in the look of the place and felt a sense of rightness about the place. I couldn’t put a finger on it, but it felt very much like my mental impression of what the place would be like. It wasn’t a perfect match. The lane had been paved and the barns were painted white or were covered in metal sheeting for siding. I’d imagined them being red for some reason, with dirt lane and a rustic porch on the house, but none of that was true. The feel of the yard matched the impression though. It was the details I’d gotten wrong.

We’d just come to a stop when her mother came to the door to greet us. I could see where Lori got her looks. Gwendolyn Johnson looked like she was in her mid-thirties, not her late forties. She had a lusher figure than Lori, but I could see the same sparkle in her eyes even from this distance and she had the same dazzling smile as she came down the steps. Lori was already out of the car, squealing with delight at seeing her mother. I got out of the car quietly while they hugged. I got my cane under me and waited with a smile on my face while they held onto each other, swaying back and forth.

“You must be...” she trailed off as she caught sight of my face, all the color leaving hers. “Jeff?” she gasped, one hand going to cover her mouth as she stared into the face of a ghost.

I smiled at her sadly and wished I could tell her that I was him. “No, Ma’am,” I said gently. “I’m Peter.” I came forward and was about to offer her my hand when she reacted.

She reached up to touch my face with both hands, her fingers trembling as tears formed in her eyes. “You look so much like him,” she whispered, touching me tentatively as if worried that I wasn’t real and I’d fade away if pressed too hard.

I smiled and took a chance, giving her a very gentle hug. She wrapped her arms around me and took a moment to regain her composure. “I know,” I whispered in her ear. “I wish I could have gotten to know him.”

She gave me another squeeze and then sniffed, getting hold of herself and leading us inside. We took our luggage out of the car and she called her husband on his cellphone to let him know that we’d arrived. We were waiting for her father to arrive before we told them the story of how I’d met Jeff. About twenty minutes later, we heard the sound of an ATV rumbling into the yard and shutting off. We were settled at the kitchen table with cups of coffee with her mother staring at me in wonder that I looked so much like Jeff.

Lori went to meet him and wrapped her arms around him. “DADDY!” she yipped happily at the reunion. “Try not to be too shocked when you see Pete, Dad. Mom nearly peed her pants.”

“You’re not too old to go over my knee, young lady,” her mother barked sharply at that.

Gordon Johnson looked me over as he stood in the doorway, Lori hanging from his neck and looking like a tornado couldn’t uproot him. He seemed more solid than a century old oak, but the sight of me made him back up a step. I stood and came to offer him my hand. “Hello, sir,” I said. “I’m Peter Hamilton.”

He blinked again and took my hand absently. “Hello, Peter,” he said faintly. He stared at me for a long moment and then shook himself. “Forgive my manners. You just look a great deal like our son.”

I nodded. “I know. He and I met once. It was like looking in a mirror.”

“You knew Jeff?” he asked, surprised. “How did you meet?”

“Let’s sit down, Daddy. That’s a rather large story.”

The four of us sat down and she told the story about how we’d met and become closer. She talked about my connection to Sabrina and how she’d helped guide me in dreams after her death. Then she told them about the last time I’d dreamed of her and saw Jeff with her.