Chapter 3

Sam’s Turn

I was going crazy. Sue and Julie left to go get breakfast and buy a few clothes. I looked at my watch AGAIN!

They left nearly six hours ago. SIX hours! How long does it take to eat breakfast and buy a few clothes?

Okay, maybe they had a really, really LONG breakfast! That would still give them four and a half or five hours to shop???

I had not really realized until after they had been gone for a couple of hours just how much I was already missing Julie. How much I wanted to hold her hand. How much I wanted to hold HER! How much ... how much I wanted to kiss her again. How much I wanted to kiss her ... forever.

I finally yelled at Bob and told him I had to run a quick errand but made sure he would text me if Sue and Julie came back.

I made a small, albeit rather expensive purchase. Actually a lot more than just “rather” expensive.

They still weren’t back!

And that jackass brother-in-law of mine refused to text Sue and find out what was taking so long!

“Sue told me she would be back when she came back and I wasn’t to bother her and Julie until I heard from them!” he insisted.

Asshole!

I even threatened him a couple of times.

Didn’t help.

Jerk!

“Oh, God, FINALLY!” I thought. Sue just sent a text that she and Julie were on their way back.

I was not sure who I was going to kill first.

Sue. Or Bob!

The door!

In walked this gorgeous redhead, and behind her was my soon to be dead sister-in-law. Then Sue closed the door.

“Where is Julie?” I demanded, “What have you done with Jul...”

That was as far as I got before I realized that the gorgeous redhead ... was Julie?

I think if my jaw didn’t hit the floor it had to come close.

I mean, yes, I know, have always known, how pretty she is. Even if she always denies it.

And I have always thought how much prettier she could be if she would take the time and trouble to really work on her looks.

I mean you CAN’T be married for several years to a supermodel without understanding a LITTLE something about how makeup and clothes work together to create a style. To enhance what is already present.

What is the old saying, “you can’t turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse,” but if you start with a silk purse, you can certainly embellish it a little. Add a few pearls, or a gold chain or something.

But this gorgeous creature? This is not EMBELLISHMENT! This is transformation!

And ... if I had even the slightest doubt ... I knew she was someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

I had to try several times before I could even say anything. I mean I could feel my lips moving, but nothing came out.

“Julie? I finally managed to whisper. “Jules?”

And she nodded and grinned and laughed. God, it is really her!

Then Julie was in my arms, again, and we were kissing.

And then that jackass brother-in-law of mine threatened for the second time today to throw a bucket of ice water over us.

“Get a room, for God’s sake,” he demanded.

“We’ve got a room,” Julie answered.

“And tell your other guests to wear ear plugs or something,” she yelled at Jack before we left the lobby.

That’s my girl!

As it turned out, I think I should have been the one who should have been wearing ear plugs!

If I thought Julie had been somewhat vocal the day before ... well, that was nothing compared to the three times we made love this afternoon.

And any time we weren’t making love, I was telling Julie how beautiful she was. How beautiful every single part of her body was and how much I loved touching and kissing every part.

After making love for the third time and hearing Julie’s stomach growling, we finally got up and got dressed to go out and get something to eat.

I insisted Julie again wear the same dress she was wearing when she returned from shopping.

“I can’t believe how truly beautiful you look in that dress,” I commented.

“What?” she answered, “This old thing?”

But her ear-to-ear grin showed how much she appreciated hearing that comment.

When we walked into the lobby, the desk clerk grinned at us.

An older couple, guests I assumed, grinned at us.

Julie blushed.

We ate a wonderful meal, then walked for an hour or so in Helen before returning to our room.

Once we were back in our room, I realized I had not charged my cell phone in two days. While Julie was in the bathroom changing out of her dress, I got the charger out of my overnight bag and hooked it up.

When Julie came back in, wearing shorts and another rather daring top (if I do say so myself and God, did she look great in it), I asked her about charging her phone.

Julie actually turned slightly pale and I heard her mutter, “Oh, shit!” That was actually one of the few times I had ever heard Julie cuss. Yes, at work, after some particularly difficult customer, she might say he or she “had been an ass,” and I had certainly heard her say “dang,” “darn,” or “dag-nab-it,” but rarely would I hear her say anything stronger than an occasional “damn.”

“What’s wrong, Jules?” I immediately asked.

She explained that while we were on the way to Helen, when I stopped for gas and to get us some drinks, and after she had called Bob to change the reservations to a room with a single bed, she had turned her phone off.

“I ... I know what I wanted to happen after we got here,” she said and immediately blushed (I was really learning to love the way she blushed), “and I didn’t want any distractions.”

Then she blushed even more before adding something else.

“And once I found out how ... adequate ... you were as a lover, I never even thought about my phone!” She said that last with a huge smile on her face.

“Adequate?” I demanded, “ADEQUATE?”

Julie actually giggled.

“Unbelievably, incredibly, amazingly, stupendously adequate,” she smirked. “In fact, the most adequate I had ever imagined!”

Somewhat mollified by that last, Julie further assuaged my hurt feelings by giving me a kiss which made me forget all about what she had just said!

Julie grabbed her overnight bag and pulled out her phone and turned it on.

It must have beeped, buzzed, vibrated and rung for five minutes. And as Julie started going through all the calls and texts she kept softly muttering, “damn, damn, damn.”

Julie explained that, as best she could tell, her Dad had called her about the time we arrived in Helen.

“I always call him back in five minutes or so,” she added.

When she didn’t call him back, he called again, then 15 minutes later, a third time. She was also scrolling and reading and scrolling and reading all the texts.

“When I didn’t call him back, he finally called the store. They told him I had called out ‘due to an emergency,’ and he really started calling and calling, then texting and texting.”

Altogether, Julie had about 15 unanswered phone calls and about 25 text messages from her Dad.

Her fingers were almost a blur as she sent Frank a text.

“I told him I am fine, just forgot that my phone had been turned off,” she told me, “and I told him I would call him in a few minutes.

“I’ve got to call him now,” she said, then I could see the worry on her face, “But how do I tell him about us? He has no idea I am even slightly interested in you!”

At that statement, I had to laugh. When Julie asked why I was laughing, I had to relay the entire conversation between Frank and me while she was “straightening up” around the house.

At times, during the next 10 or 15 minutes, Julie’s mouth would drop open in astonishment, at times her face would turn red with embarrassment (“He TOLD you that!”) and at times her face would turn red for other reasons (“I can’t believe he said that! You just wait until I get my hands on him.”)

When I told her what her Dad said about “range, windage and crosshairs,” then how he pantomimed shooting a rifle at me, she laughed.

“I can’t believe he knew all that,” she commented, “I ... I thought I was doing a good job of hiding how I felt about you.”

I also told her what her Dad said about knowing her better than anyone else.

“I guess he does,” she admitted.

“Now, I’ve got to call him,” Julie said, “God, he is going to be so mad at me.”

Then I had a thought.

“Why are you looking like that, Sam?” Julie asked, “Sam ... Sam, you’ve got this strange look on your face.”

“When you call your Dad on his cell, and he knows it is you, how does he answer the phone?” I asked.

“Umm, usually, ‘Hi, Sweety,’ or ‘Hi, Honey,’ something like that,’” she answered.

“Put your phone on speaker phone and call him,” I told her, “then don’t say anything.”

“Sweety, where in the world are you?” we heard Frank answer, “Are you okay? I’ve been so worried about you, Honey!”

“Wow, Frank,” I responded. “I didn’t know you cared. I mean you never call, you never write and you never send me flowers.”

Julie was about to die from trying not to laugh out loud.

After a short silence, the phone almost came apart from Frank’s next comments.

“Sam, you SON-OF-A-BITCH,” he yelled, “Why the hell do you have my daughter’s phone and where the hell is my daughter?”

Julie and I both lost it!

Julie finally recovered enough to gasp out, “Here, Dad, I’m here!”

“And where the hell is HERE!” he demanded.

“We are in Helen, Dad,” she answered, then she repeated those words, with a heavy emphasis on the first word, “WE are in Helen, Dad, at a hotel – together.”

“Are you okay, Honey?” Frank asked, in a suddenly very subdued voice, “Are you REALLY okay?”

“Better than I have ever been in my life, Dad,” she answered.

Then I thought perhaps I should say something, in words Frank would have no trouble understanding.

“Frank ... I want you to know your daughter is a superb marksman,” I said. “She ... she has qualified EXPERT on the rifle range!”

There was a prolonged silence on the phone. Just when we were wondering if Frank were still there, we heard one word.

“Julie,” was the only word, but we both could hear Frank’s voice break as he said it, and we both could hear a sniffle.

“Daddy,” Julie softly asked, “are you crying?”

“What?” (sniffle), “Don’t be ridiculous,” Frank answered. “It ... it is just this pollen... (sniffle) it really makes my allergies act up.”

We told Frank when we would be leaving Helen and agreed to meet for dinner in a couple of days.

“Hey, Julie,” Frank said at one point, “just want you to know if that ... Marine jerk ever hurts you or makes you sad, well, I know several places where we can dispose of the body and no one will ever find it.”

“Don’t worry, Dad,” she answered, “I have already picked out a couple of places where I can dispose of the remains if I need to.”

Now THAT caused a raised eyebrow from me.

Finally it became obvious the conversation was petering out but I still had something I wanted to say to Frank.

“Frank,” I began, “I know you can’t see us but I am sitting here holding hands with Julie and there is something I want to say to you, while she can hear every word.

“Frank, it’s not you, it’s me! I just hope we can continue to be friends!”

“God Damn Jarheads!” Frank shot back, but you could hear the laughter in his voice. “When I see you then I will ‘friend’ you right upside the head with a baseball bat.”

Frank went on to call me a few other choice words, and even at one point seemed to question whether or not my parents were enjoying the bonds of holy matrimony when I was conceived and born (for the record, yes.).

After we ended the call, there was one thing I simply had to ask Julie.

“You ... you said you had already picked out a couple of spots to dispose of the remains?” I asked, with a small grin.

“I think there are a couple of things my Dad probably didn’t tell you,” she said.

“Did Dad tell you he was on the Navy team that won the Inter-Service Rifle Team Championship at Quantico?”

I knew that was one of the toughest shooting competitions in the world and is held at Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Va.

“No, somehow that never...” I started to say, before Julie interrupted me.

“And did he tell you he lost the individual championship by one point?” she said.

“He also forgot to mention...” Julie interrupted me again.

“Did he tell you that he started taking me to the shooting range when I was about eight and by the time I was 12, I was an expert shot with either rifle or pistol, and for the next six years Dad and I traveled all over the country entering shooting competitions.”

“Apparently there are several things he forgot...” before Julie interrupted me for the third time.

“I have a whole room full of championship trophies in a room at Dad’s house. And Sam, love of my life and my soulmate forever?” she paused.

“Yes, Little One?” I asked, perhaps a little hesitantly.

“Dad and I ... we never ... NEVER ever miss!

“Just something for you to think about, Honey,” she ended, with the sweetest and most innocent expression on her face.

An hour or so later, I just very casually asked Julie if she had ever heard anymore from her former fiancé and her former best friend.

I was actually very relieved when Julie’s face turned thoughtful, then she said, “No, no, I never heard from either one, don’t know what happened to them.”

Then she smiled the purest, most sincere and innocent smile you could ever see and added, “If you are really interested I could ask my Dad where he disposed of ... I mean if he knows what happened to them?”

“No, no, that won’t be necessary, Little One,” I told Julie.

I think ... THINK ... she was kidding, just pulling my chain. But I would really rather not know for sure.

By now it was getting dark outside, but we both wanted to walk. We roamed the streets of Helen for about 30 minutes before making our way back to the hotel.

I knew it was time.

“Julie, I want to ask you something,” I began, but at the exact same time Julie was saying, “Sam, I want to tell you something.”

We laughed, then I insisted, “Ladies, first.”

“Sam, when we came up here ... I really didn’t know what to expect. I mean I knew what I wanted to happen (she blushed), but I really never expected it to be ... so wonderful.

“I now realize that what I thought, in the past, was love was nothing. Actually, less than nothing. Two days with you ... and now I know what love truly is.

“I want you to know, Sam, my beloved, you don’t ever have to scratch my back, but I will always scratch yours.”

????

I was trying my best to parse that statement.

After a rather prolonged silence, Julie finally asked, “Well, what do you think?”

“You ... you don’t want me to scratch your back?” I finally manage to ask.

“No, Sam, you don’t understand,” Julie insisted. “I love it when you scratch my back.

“What I am trying to say, Sam, is now that I know just how much I truly, truly love you, that you don’t ever have to scratch my back, but I will always scratch your back.”

I was still trying to parse that statement.

Then I remembered something the Marine Corps taught junior enlisted men.

Any time someone gives you an order and you are having trouble understanding exactly what is meant, you always repeat back, in your own words, what you thought you heard. Then they can either confirm if that is correct, or clarify it if you didn’t entirely understand them at first.

So I repeated back, in my own words, what I thought I heard Julie say.

“So what you are saying, Jules, is now that you know how much you love me, I don’t ever have to scratch your back, but you will always scratch my back. Is that right?”

Julie didn’t just smile, she beamed!

“Oh, God, Sam,” she cried out, “you understand!”

Then she laid a lip lock on me that nearly took my breath away!

I actually didn’t understand anything, but the kiss made up for it.

“Now, I want to ask you something, Sam,” she said.

After that last series of statements or questions, or whatever it was, I might have been a little slow to answer.

“Okay, Jules,” I finally responded. “Then I have something to ask you as well.”

“I just told you, Sam, how much I love you. I didn’t know it was even possible to love someone as much as I love you.

“Sam Johnson, I want to spend the rest of my life with you by my side!”

Then she dropped down to one knee.

“Sam, will you marry me?”

Again?

I am being proposed to, again?

After Lisa confided in me about her past, about the endless parties, the booze, the drugs and yes, the men, then told me about her overdose and nearly dying, I realized I didn’t care about ANYTHING but the two of us. What was in the past, can stay in the past. The future was all that mattered.

To tell you the truth, I was still very nervous about what kind of future I could offer Lisa, but I knew I wanted her in my future. I had planned on buying an engagement ring and proposing to Lisa the next day.

Lisa, however, beat me to it, and proposed that night.

After Julie and Sue left this morning, I thought a lot about the difference in our ages, then thought even more about how incredible the previous day and night had been.

As they were gone for seemingly forever, I also realized how much I missed Julie and wanted her in my life, forever. The difference in age no longer mattered.

When I left and told Bob I had to run an errand, then made a small, but expensive purchase?

It was an engagement ring. That was going to be my question for Julie tonight, after she finished.

I was going to ask for Julie’s hand in marriage.

What could I do? I never mentioned the ring, or the fact I was planning on proposing to Julie.

I just answered, the most heartfelt answer I could give to her query.

The giant delivery corporation FedEx used to have, as it slogan, “When it absolutely, positively has to be delivered overnight. FedEx!”

Well, the Marines have stolen that slogan and updated it.

“When it absolutely, positively has to be destroyed overnight. Marines!”

That is, more or less, what I told Julie.

“Absolutely, YES, positively, YES! A thousand times, YES!”

And no, the thought of Julie’s room full of championship shooting trophies and her comment about already having picked out a couple of places where she could dispose of the remains and the fact that she NEVER ever misses, never entered my mind. Well, I mean, not really!

I also tried to remind myself, as Julie expressed her love for me later on, to pick up some ear plugs or something. Damn, she is vocal! I love it!

I honestly don’t know how many times we made love that night. We simply could not keep our lips and tongues, not to mention other parts, off or out of each other.

The next morning when I woke up I realized it was nearly nine am! I mean, yes, the last time we made love was about five am, but I still usually get up a lot earlier than that.

When I tried to wake up my beautiful Jules, however, I was told that if I didn’t let her sleep, she would kill me. Apparently my future bride is not a morning person.

This did give me an unexpected chance.

I took a quick shower and dressed, then wrote Julie a love note using hotel stationary and left it on my pillow.

I asked the desk clerk if Bob and Sue were around and he said both were in Bob’s office.

I walked inside and I could only stare at Sue for a moment.

“What? What?” she asked.

“I don’t even know how to say this, Sue,” I began. “I don’t know how or what you did to Julie yesterday, but thank you.”

I think I might have had a few tears in my eyes.

“I don’t just mean the physical changes,” I hastened to add. “I somehow always knew Julie was a lot more than just pretty, but to see it now is just ... breathtaking.

“But as great as the physical difference, that is nothing compared to the Julie I was with yesterday and last night. Julie is now ... I almost can’t describe it ... so calm and relaxed and ... I don’t know ... content might just be the best word.”

“What you are trying to say, Sam,” Sue offered, “is that our little Julie is now comfortable. Comfortable with herself, comfortable with the way she looks and comfortable with her own skin.”

“Yes, that’s it!” I almost shouted. “Comfortable with herself! How did you do that, Sue? How?”

She smiled.

“Well part of it was just convincing her that while you were acting like a total jerk to her Monday, it actually meant you were in love with her but didn’t know it yet.”

“Jerk? I wasn’t being a jerk to her Monday,” I denied.

“Sam, Sam, Sam,” Sue said, in a very quiet tone. “I can understand you telling her that you didn’t want to talk about Lisa. But you did talk to her about Lisa. Then after really realizing just how much anguish, how much pain you were living with, how much you were suffering inside, Julie bared her soul to you. She offered you her heart.