Chapter 85

Next up would be the wedding of Alice and Jeff. They wanted something small, so I recommended our Gold Standard Jazz Band we just used at Terry’s plus the Gold Standard Thirteen, our singing group from the same event.

It was still scheduled to be two days after Christmas. The Most Reverend Thomas C. Powell would run this event as well. To be weatherproof, we had it and the reception in the new covered portion of our back yard putting down a smallish dance floor. Stuart wired up a few colored lights and the event went quite beautifully.

Janice sang “A Dream is a Wish...”

JANICE
A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you’re fast asleep
In dreams you lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for, you keep

Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling thru
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
The dream that you wish will come true

After that, Reverend Powell did his part, I handed the bride and groom their rings and their vows went off without a hitch.

One of my favorite moments is when they are first announced as Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Allen Grandy.

All the fun moments occurred, with Rose Newman catching the bouquet and Geoff Cooper catching the garter. They gave each other a kiss on the lips over that.

The first dance was to Jennifer singing “Goldfinger.”

The rest of the afternoon went well, with a honk and a limousine arriving for the bride and groom. It being an early in the day event, there was only some finger food, besides the cake. We played for about forty minutes after they had left, before the smallish crowd started to leave.

Tracy Crabtree had shown up, telling us ‘no news’ about the baby, but mom and dad were doing fine. I had Mike lead a song, so I could dance with Jennifer. at least once.

Coincidentally, Mike had James singing, “Fallen from the Sky.”

While I was no Fred Astaire, I did OK when I danced with Tracy. When the song was over, I went to kiss her on the cheek, but she moved and it was a hardening kiss on the lips.

“I had to do that ... Cece told me you were a good kisser. I hope I didn’t get you in any trouble over that Michael. I seem drawn to you for some reason.”

“Be careful, Miss Crabtree. I may feel the same way,” I said walking away from her.

Oh ... dear!

Finally, it was December 28^th. I woke up with Jennifer riding me hard and I was ready to give her what she wanted.

{p}Chapter 0085
Over the next week, we made lists and bought all the little things you forget when you are developing a house to become a home. Besides all of that, I was getting GSS texts wondering when our next rehearsal and/or Tour might be?

I wonder if it’s because the love of performing, or the money? There were screams when I handed out the checks, some girls did too!

A knock on the door invaded my reverie and I went to open it. He said he had two refrigerators, and two floor freezers. There were a few other smaller pieces to install.

I opened the garage door and directed them to where everything went. Ken even had a water line ready for a fridge out here.

The deliverymen had some shelving units that needed to be put together, but I stopped them, saying I wanted to do something on my own.

They went to get the inside the house appliances. While I opened the boxes and took out the stuff, the girls went inside to oversee the men at work.

It was fun doing something with my own hands for a change. Stuart was reading the instructions, we make a good team

“MICHAEL,” they called.

“Yes dears,” I said.

“Come inside please?” Princess said.

I walked in and we had an oven in place, with a flat top surface. We also had an ultra-wide ultra-deep refrigerator with water and ice in the door plus a separate place to get purified water built-in. they left an additional matching mini-refrigerators in every upstairs room.

The last thing they unloaded was also Kenmore, like everything else was, a washer and dryer in the laundry room. Mom kept everything USA made, God bless her.

Princess gathered up all the books that came with everything and found a cabinet to keep them in for now. The deliverymen took all the boxes they had emptied. For now, the mini-fridges stayed in their boxes.

There was a honk outside. I opened the door to hear, “Open the garage sweetie.”

The Savana backed in, with Peter driving, and his wife, Jennie and Jennifer. He got out helping Stu and I finish the last of the mobile shelf units and we rolled them to the back of the Savana, opening it to a very many cases of water. The girls kept the unit from moving and we put twelve cases of 24 bottles each on the three mobile units leaving the middle and top shelves for other things.

We moved the shelves against the back wall, stepping on the lockable wheel. From the middle section on the vehicle, came a box that Princess had saying, “Clear the way, I have spices to put away, people.”

I never saw so many spices in one box before. She was followed by Jennie who had a restaurant supply of standard condiments in large sizes.

“Is anything left in the store, ladies?” Stuart asked.

“Maybe,” Ms. Robinson said. “We still have a box or two of baking supplies, shortenings & oils, snacks and other goodies.

“Walmart,” Peter said getting a box inside on the counter.

I stopped asking questions and helped unload the rest of the loaded vehicle. Princess and Stuart took sheets, blankets, pillows, and pillow cases to the appropriate rooms. They seemed to take a long time at it.

A horn honked ... it was from Glidden Furniture in Terre Haute.

They knew what went where first putting a rug in every room. Each room had a full sized chest of drawers and a half-sized where the mini-fridge would be.

Peter and Stu went back and got the minis out of their boxes, throwing them down stairs onto the wooden floor.

“Hey there, be careful gentlemen,” I said to him.

“We don’t have a dining table yet?” Jennifer said.

“We had been eating next door and you constantly told me that we wouldn’t order anything until the house was rebuilt. I expect it to be coming from a specialty place. I asked Janice for a leaved table that could hold fourteen or more.”

“What about living room furniture and TVs?” Jennie asked.

“I thought we should pick some things out together, we are a family,” I said. “Maybe put a smaller TV in each bedroom ... the house is smart from what Ken told me. Electronics, especially new age televisions, makes it hard to find a USA based country of origin with the high end details we should have, so a look through some reviews should help me make decisions quickly.

I read about a company called Vizio that will have a 110-inch TV on the market in a couple of years. That might just be too big!

We waited around, I was using the hot spot from my phone to get on the internet looking for stuff we still needed to get, when the doorbell rang again. Princess got it, but called me over.

It was a private delivery truck and they wanted to know where the dining table should go. I showed him and he rolled out a twenty-foot roll of rubber right where I pointed to.

I also told him where to put the extra chairs and leaves. He did want to put the entire table together, if I didn’t mind.

He left and it took both men to bring in the base unit table. It was beautiful dark tone of mahogany. They set it on the rubber, and unlocked two places underneath both ends. Next, they lifted it und pulled as far apart as it would go. They brought in and unwrapped each leaf and installed it following the grain as they went. It was magnificent as it grew before our eyes.

Seven leaves all together, then they pushed it back together and locked it down.

“Mr. Thomas, I suggest you keep it like this for a week. Let all the leaves learn their place, so to speak.”

“You look familiar ... where do I know you from?” I said.

“Jeffrey Calkins, father of Abraham, Brittney, and Conner Calkins. The two boys are in your GSS. Brittney is homeschooled by her mother, Cynthia.”

“Abraham looks just like you, Sir. I have met your wife, but never you before. Is it appropriate to give my delivery man a tip?”

“Let your conscious be your guide about that, son,” he remarked.

I reached into my pocket and found some cash. I pulled two crisp one hundred bills off the roll and stuffed them into his overall chest pocket.

“Does Brittney sing?” I asked.

“I thought she would have to go to either of the schools everyone else is from,” Jeff said.

“Not necessarily, Mr. C”

While we were talking, a total of twenty matching chairs were unwrapped from bubble wrap and placed along the perimeter of the great room.

“What about the rubber mat?” Jennifer asked.

“Two things, it will protect the floor and over 70% of people move it from where we place it. Thanks folks, this was one of the bigger units we have made for anyone.”

“Do you design and make things as well as deliver?” I questioned.

“Michael,” he said. “It’s my company ... I do everything. Here’s my card.”

He called his guys together and they all left. What a nice guy!

That was everything we expected. Taking the Savana, we all went to dinner. I told Peter to take us to his favorite place, and in a few moments, he said, “This is our favorite place in town” and we pulled up to the Ponderosa Steakhouse.

I love this place, with large steaks. Everybody but Kit Kat got a steak dinner, she got a big salad and a baked potato. She and her hubby were so sweet feeding one another.

I had Princess and Jennie on either side of me, with Stu on Izzy’s other side. I saw Peter and his sister occasionally glancing at one another, especially when his wife was talking to Jennifer.

She cut a small piece of her Rib eye and fed him a bite. It was quite cute to watch the two of them interact.

Jennie did the same for me, feeding me a sirloin tip from the side order she got. “Hmmmm, almost as tasty as you are,” I said very quietly. Nonetheless, I got a hip check from either side of me.

The food, the people, and the ambiance ... all made this for a very nice evening.

After dinner, we all headed home.

Back in our room, after Stu and Isabel had a very romantic kiss’, Jennifer had changed into something to sleep.

“Hey sweetie,” Jennifer said. “Want to fuck me hard”

“I’m not really in the mood Jenn, do you mind?”

“Okay,” she said, “We don’t have to have sex, so I will just strip naked and play with myself until I cum on my fingers and then lick myself clean.”

“Could I watch that ... without getting involved personally?”

“What?” she said.

“Shut up and get naked you, naughty girl,” I said stripping down to nakedness myself.

We were face to face and looking at each other.

“I love you,” we said to each other, and I rolled her on her back and gave her what she had asked for.

********

Next morning, Dad came over to see if there was anything he could help with.

Taking stuff to Jennies room I said, “Dad, follow me ... if you ever get kicked out for the night ... here is your room.”

“Good to know Michael. What if your mother gets kicked out?”

Everyone laughed at that as I said, “Only guys get kicked out.”

We got the stuff to Jennie’s room where Katie asked, “Why is it so far away from everything else, Michael?”

“We didn’t want to keep her awake at night when someone was ... entertaining.”

“So, that means I could bring someone over to ... entertain?” Jennie asked.

“Of course, man or woman ... why should I care?” I smirked. “I even have someone in mind in case you find your soul-mate and move out. I’m currently promised to keep that to myself.”

We crossed over to see the other rooms before we went back down.

“Nice sound room, Michael,” Stu said looking inside. “Are you planning to write your symphony in there?”

Peter walked up to look inside it as well.

“Something like that,” I answered. “I need special equipment for that ... Stu will advise me on what exactly I should get.”

“Use personal money on that,” Brian said. “For tax purposes, I mean.”

“Thanks Dad, but I knew that.”

“I figured you did,” he said slapping me on the back.

“Michael, honey,” Ally said. “This really is a beautifully designed place. Ken really did a fine job recreating your vision.”

“How soon are we all invited over for dinner?” Peter said.

“We still need family room furniture and some technology. I found a nice sized TV to put on the west wall. If you can all have some patience, I would guess we could have a dinner all together in about seven to ten days. The table holds twenty.”

“What’s with the rubber mat?” Jeff asked.

“The delivery man, who turned out to be the owner and father of two kids in the GSS, mentioned that most of the time it gets moved from where they position it.”

“It holds twenty ... it looks like a solid piece of mahogany” Alice said.

“There are seven leaves, I haven’t talked to the ladies about this, but I kind of like it all as one piece. It looks more majestic and intimidating to me this way.”

“We could use it with the protective cover for breakfast and regular dinners, but reveal the grandeur of the table for big events,” Princess suggested, as Stuart came from behind her putting his arms around her.

“Well, let’s let them settle into their beautiful home,” Brian said. The three couples all left arm in arm.

“If you need the Savana for anything else, just ask,” Peter said on his way out.

“Thank you,” Princess said giving him a kiss on the cheek.

The door closed.

“You know Isabel, that your brother has the hots for you, don’t you,” Jennifer said. “And I don’t mean Michael either.”

“That’s just silly. He loves his wife ... and I’m a lot of things, but not a home wrecker,” she said defiantly.

“I see it also,” Jennie said.

“Well, my only love is my husband, Stuart, and Michael when available,” she added with a giggle.

“Remember when you girls told me all the ladies that were hot for me? The list is easily as long for Princess,” I remarked.

“No, it’s not ... who’s on it, exactly?” she said.

“You don’t seem to realize that you are lusted for by boys both young and old, don’t you?”

“I have seen James Allen looking you over, more than once,” Jennie said. “Also, Johnny Carter.”