Chapter 4

We arrived home at 1:30. Mike was the first one out the door to welcome us home.

"Hi Mom, did you have a good time?" Mike reached around Mel to give her a hug.

"Mommy had a wonderful time Mikey. Daddy really surprised mommy this weekend."

"Good, I knew you were going to be happy." He gave me a hug as I came around the car.

When we went inside the house where Becky greeted us happily. Robbie was busy on the phone. It seems that his girlfriend was more important. Oh, to be 16 again. I remember those days too.

A few minutes later, Julie came into the room. She had that pouting look on her face.

"Thanks for leaving me stuck here."

"Hey, I told you before we went to bed that you had to be up before noon. You weren't even up at 2 when we left. You can't say that you weren't warned."

Suddenly, the look on her face turned happy, "I know, I just thought I'd have a little fun with you. I actually enjoyed being here yesterday. If nothing else, the food was better."

"That's good. When do you want to get back up to the college?"

"I don't need to be back until tomorrow. I had my homework with me, so I was able to work on that yesterday. I hope you don't mind but I borrowed your computer."

"No problem. I'm sure that you already talked to Becky about that. She would have told you that it would have been fine. You still didn't answer the main question though, when do you want to go?"

"Take me back when you leave for class tomorrow. My first class doesn't start until 11. I'll have time to get what I need from the dorm between then."

"Ok, that will be fine. My first class is at 9, so you better be up much earlier than you were on Saturday or you'll be here all day again."

"I'll be up. Becky told me what time she has to be up. She's going to wake me up when she gets up."

"Ok, if you're certain. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to unpack."

With that, I went to my room. Melanie was already in there cleaning out her overnight bag when I got in there.

"So when are you taking her back?"

"She wants to go when I leave for my first class tomorrow. She said the food is better here."

"Oh ok. I guess that'll work."

We emptied our bags and I was just about to leave when she grabbed me for a hug.

"I love you. Thanks again for the wonderful weekend."

"I love you too. You deserve it. You do put up with me."

"Yeah right, 'I put up with you.' You spoil me rotten."

"That, I do."

Once we finally broke apart, I went to my office to check my e-mail. Mostly Spam again. I had to laugh at some of them. How many copies of the same message do I need?

I went to find my boys. We normally spent Saturday morning together. This week I rather blew them off for good reason. I found Robbie, still on the phone with his girl. I indicated that I wanted to talk, so he gave her some excuse and got off.

"What's up dad?"

"I didn't know you had a girlfriend. Who's the girl?"

"Her name is Erin. I ran into her yesterday. We seem to be hitting it off. I haven't decided if I want to ask her out yet though."

"That's cool. It's good to take things slowly at first. Hey, you want to play catch or something? We didn't get to our normal Saturday routine."

"Sure, let me get the football."

We went outside to do our bonding. This has been something that we have enjoyed for quite a while. Playing catch. It started back when he was playing Little League Baseball and we still do it today.

4 o'clock was the Bills game on the tube, so we spent the next few hours in front of that. As usual, the Bills found a way to lose the game in the end. Nice to see some things don't change.

Julie spent the evening with Becky. I don't know what they were doing but they seemed to be getting along well. All I know is that the music was blaring from the room. I actually had to shut the door to hear the game.

The next morning as I was having my first glass of orange juice, Julie comes into the kitchen dressed and ready to go physically. She was awake but she didn't look like it.

"Morning. I'm impressed, you actually got up before noon."

"Morning. Is there any coffee?"

I simply pointed out the coffee maker, "You'll need to help yourself. I don't drink coffee."

"Thanks. How long do I have?"

"I'll leave in about an hour. You have time for coffee and breakfast. Help yourself."

"Thanks."

By the time we needed to leave, she had actually started to seem alive again. I don't know how some people could drink coffee. It's always made me want to throw up.

When we arrived at the college, Julie said her goodbyes and was off toward her dorm. I had class in a few minutes, so I had to get moving myself.

The next few days flew by pretty quickly. We received our next programming project on Wednesday as always. I reminded Julie of her getting a start on it commitment. I received a dirty look for my trouble. Work was, well work as always. Customers always seem to have trouble keeping their databases up and running.

Before I realized it, Friday had arrived. That meant 2 things. No classes or work tomorrow. Melanie was going to be home tonight. Starting Sunday, she was going to be working the evenings again, so I'll see her more in the next 2 weeks.

She was very happy to see me when I arrived home. I was more than happy to return her hugs and kisses.

"I missed you."

"I missed you too. You're so much more pleasant to deal with than my customers at work. Much lovelier as well."

"Thanks. I love you too. I have dinner ready, come eat."

"You won't have to tell me twice."

As we ate, we caught up with the past weeks events. When it was time for bed, we took our time and made love for what seemed like hours. I went to sleep very happy.

I woke up Saturday morning with Mel in my arms. It felt so good just lying there holding her. I considered lying there until much later, but nature was calling as usual. I relieved myself and as normal, found my boys making breakfast.

"How did your game go last night?"

"I had a few big catches but we got beat. Our running game was going nowhere and we gave up too many turnovers. We pretty much beat ourselves."

"That sucks. I bet your coaches lit into you guys after the game."

"They blew up. That was certainly a long bus ride home."

"So, what are we going to do today?"

Mikey piped in, "Let's go for another bike ride. I enjoyed the last one."

"Works for me, how about you Robbie?"

"Sounds like a plan to me. Let's eat breakfast first though."

We ate breakfast and soon we were out riding the bikes again. We went about 20 miles before getting back home on our round trip. Mikey was sore. He's not used to this long distance rides. Because Robbie was playing football, he's in pretty good shape. I have also managed to stay in shape as well. Mikey was just a bit young yet and was struggling to keep up. We ate lunch and lounged around for a while.

I left the house in time to catch up with Julie in the lounge at our normal time. I was there early again, which is becoming rather custom. When she arrived, she was much more conservative than she was 2 weeks ago.

"Good afternoon. I'm glad that you decided to get up on time for this Saturday."

"Oh thanks, do you always have to be such wise guy?"