Chapter 6: River City

I might have known. Serenity was completely fine with the possible changes to our schedule. In fact she declared that the changes suggested that we just take the two weeks off while I was in Hartford. She would go home to visit her parents.

Becka was a little less pleased, but her displeasure pleased me to no end. "Spider, we just started going out, and now you're going to be gone for two weeks, and then you say you might even have to leave a few days early."

"We're going out?" I asked stunned. "As in, officially dating?"

"Well," Becka said, suddenly shy and blushing. "I guess that's how I thought of it. "Didn't you?"

"Thought of it? No." I whispered, shaking my head. "Dreamed of it. Prayed for it, yes. But I hadn't dared think of it that way — until now."

With that, Becka stood up and dropped herself lightly onto my lap, wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a kiss before hopping back up and resuming her place at her desk.

"The Starlight will have to be Thursday night again, if you don't mind," Becka said, as if the kiss hadn't happened. "The Music Man doesn't have a weekend date for a couple of weeks, which means not until you're in Hartford."

"Thursday works for me," I answered. "And anytime you want to repeat that last little bit is fine with me too."

"I'm sure," She said with a light little laugh that was too musical to be called a giggle. "How about you escort me to lunch today, and we'll see if we can find an appropriate moment."

The remainder of my morning was a blur. Lunch was a local sandwich shop, one of the usual places. There were plenty of people there from our office and our building, and I did get my second kiss, as sweet and brief as the first one, but this time in full view of a lot of people who knew us. I sure couldn't find anything to complain about as far as my Monday went!

With my new doorway to the fortress, I was able to take advantage of my evenings by stepping through and spending several hours a night working out in the gym or reading my manuals and studying the schematics and mechanical drawings. Every time I spent any length of time at this task, I found myself marveling at Trey Young. Terana had lost a genius when that man had died, there was no doubt about it in my mind.

Thursday night at the Starlight was a great experience. Since it's an outdoor theater, there was no need to dress up, and with the curtain going up at 8, we had a fun, no pressure, early dinner at a diner near the theater. We joked about this and that and even had fun reading that night's edition of our own paper to each other. I saw a raised eyebrow several times while making comments, particularly while we were reading an article by Clive Barksdale, the Star's 'science and technology' reporter. Becka didn't make any other comment through, so I didn't ask.

The play itself was grand fun. This was a local production, not a visiting Broadway production. The stars were local, and familiar for the most part. The male lead, a full-voiced baritone named Gene Craddick had been a featured male lead in Kansas City musicals for as long as I could remember. His current co-star was a very lovely young lady whose name escapes me, but who had a fine voice herself and a lovely bosom, prominently displayed in several of her outfits, which seemed odd for Marion the Librarian, but I guess the director decided to feature her prominently. So to speak. I got a slug in the shoulder for making that comment to Becka, but she did giggle as she did it.

The music was good, with some members of the Kansas City Philharmonic filling out the otherwise decent local amateur orchestra that performed for most of the local productions. The brass section was strong, as it needed to be for this play, and along with the other featured voices, left no jarring notes.

Cripes, I should be a critic, I guess, but live theater has always been one of those things I've enjoyed. Yet another of the things my Mom loved that she passed on to me.

There was another dinner date the next week, and the kiss that ended this one could finally qualify as seriously steamy. I stood for it, and Becka pressed herself against me without reservation during it. I let my hands hold her tightly, but kept them in the small of her back. A goodnight kiss in the middle of a crowded neighborhood sidewalk was no time to begin to develop wandering hands.

Finally it was time to leave for Hartford. I was catching a late night flight on Friday night, and Rebecka rode with me to the airport to see me off. This meant a very long and very meaningful series of kisses at multiple points on the way to the boarding gate.

"I'll miss you while you're gone," Becka whispered into my ear the last time. "I'll make you dinner when you get home."

Damn! How was I supposed to concentrate on the work at hand for the next two weeks when I had that promise hanging over me?

The hotel in Hartford was called the Goodwin. It was in downtown Hartford, just north of Bushnell Park. It was more than a short stroll from there to the training center, which was at the other end of Bushnell Park on Capitol Avenue.

Doc Graham met me at the airport, in a van equipped with a hydraulic lift. He'd rented it specifically for my needs, and the driver as well. It seemed like a lot of trouble, but again he reminded me that this was an area that the company had been weak in, and my entry into the training program had forced some folks near the top of the corporate food chain to recognize that and take action. I was merely benefiting from that action.