Chapter 84

Once again, Jill seemed to pounce on me once we were in bed. She didn't slow down until we had come in each other's mouths.

I heard the alarm clock go off in the background and then it stopped. I nodded off. The next thing I knew, Bozo was licking my face. I woke up to find out that Jill had hit the snooze button.

We got up and I got her to school.

Our swim meet went OK but we had a harder time than usual without Garth. Since I was away from school with the team, Mom got Jill from school and brought her home. I took her to the college and picked her up when her class was over.

On Friday, I left practice early and picked her up. I came back and she waited while I mopped the floors in the locker room.

I went out to the garage when I got home. The floor was completely done and the pipes and ducts for water, sewage and heat were all run, protruding up through the floor. There were several rolls of insulation inside, out of the weather. I also noticed a new heating and air conditioning unit outside the garage.

I went up the stairway, which was now completed. The rooms were all framed and there was Romex, phone and cable run throughout. The framing was also done on the extension of the walls and the new roof. There was a sign off sheet stapled near the entrance for an inspector to OK with a list of the various inspections remaining. The rough electrical was called for first thing Monday morning. After that, the drywall would go up while the outside walls were closed and the roof was put on. I assumed the insulation was for the outside walls and roof.

Since things were up in the air with her father and Wanda, we went to our game instead of Jill's. Mom stayed home, so it was me and Jill, Sara and Chris and Mary and Charlie. Charlie's father seemed more relaxed today than on Sunday once he made sure that we weren't going to any parties after the game. He was OK with us stopping off at a restaurant for a snack.

Our game was at home. A few girls made their way by our seats during the game, covertly checking out Jill. Patty Johansen was one of them. She didn't look too thrilled when she saw the way Jill was hanging on my arm. A couple of them actually stopped and talked to all of us.

The game was pretty lousy. We played Santa Maria, the rich kids' school. They outclassed us and we were behind by a couple of touchdowns before the first quarter was over. After that, we scored field goals where they scored touchdowns.

I kissed the top of Jill's head.

"It's not the same."

"I know."

"Your dad always made it fun. And the games were a lot better, too."

We'd had a good meal at home so we didn't need to hit the snack bar at the game. By the time it was over, we were ready to get something.

We took a look at our finances and realized Perlione's was out of the question. I'd gotten used to our Friday night pizzas. John had spoiled us ever since I'd met Jill. We ended up at Taco Bell, like the good old days before Jill ran into me.

We talked about costumes for the dances next week. It was going to be strange because a lot of kids would be wearing costumes at the game. Both schools had home games that were starting at 6:00 instead of 8:00. The dances started at 9:00, so we could head over to the dance when the game was over.

Mary and Charlie were going to go to Highpoint as a pirate and his female prisoner. Mary would have her hands tied behind her back the whole night and Charlie would have his eye patch, holding the end of a chain wrapped around Mary's waist. Mary had nixed the idea of Charlie going as Frankenstein without the patch. Chris wanted to go as Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt but Sara wasn't going for it. She didn't think anyone would recognize them and had no idea how to dress as them. I didn't think she wanted to dress up as one of the ugliest women in history, either.

Jill had our costumes all figured out but wasn't telling anybody. It was going to be a surprise, for me and everybody else.

We were all finishing up when Jill pulled a cell phone out of her purse and made a call.

"Daddy? It's me... I'm fine... Yeah, I know... We all miss you, Daddy... At Taco Bell... We're going to take Charlie home in a few minutes... Hang on, I'll ask.

"Jack? Can we stop off at my house for a few minutes?"

"Sure."

"He says it's fine, Daddy... OK. In a little while. I love you, Daddy."

Charlie drained his Pepsi. "OK. I'm ready. Let's go."

We all cleaned our messes and got up. Chris took the trays with the trash and took care of them.

We pulled up to Charlie's and his father came out. He turned around when he saw that his son was kissing my sister goodbye.