Chapter 35

Cindy perked up. "Baby, you're NOT lost. I found you!"

Tina said, "You might've found HIM, my Alan found ME." Then to the group: "Who's got the biggest car? We should ride together!"

Cindy giggled and nodded assent.

"Ford Taurus," Alan said.

"You win," I said. "I went with a sub-compact! We could all FIT in a Focus..."

Alan laughed. "No, we'll take the Taurus. Do you two need to go back to your room first, or are we ready to go?"

I looked at Cindy. "She LOOKS ready, but you never know ... Baby?"

"I'm ready. You ready, Tina?"

Tina shut the cover on her laptop and stood. "I'm ready. Let's go."

Alan patted his back pocket to verify his keycard was in it, and we walked down the hall behind Tina and Cindy. Tina's walk had a little more gentle flow to it. Cindy never seemed to shake the idea that she was on the verge of skipping, her hair bobbing delightfully.

Allan nudged me. "Look," he laughed. "Cuties!"

"Uh-huh," I said. "Apparently in my former life I rescued puppies or something to have karma like this."

At the lobby the girls stopped and waited for us. Cindy took my hand and Tina linked up with Alan and we strode past the front desk, two couple headed out for the evening. The air outside was crisp and chilly as we walked to the Addison's parked car.

Tina said, "Guys in the front, girls in the back. Ya'll are taller."

We got in the car. I closed the door and felt familiar fingers touch my face.

"We're buckled in back here," Cindy chirped.

Alan started the car as I punched up our destination on the GPS, and off we went.

I started the conversation about work. I REALLY wanted to hear how another wise sane middle-aged engineer would end up with a teen-aged wife. I mean, besides ME.

"Sounds like the same division as in Arizona," I said. "I ended up with the generators and you got the distribution."

"Pretty much. Only generation I have is the emergency set that keeps the control room coffeepot going. Got a nice utility substation. We built it too."

"Those are fun," I said. "You get Tina out there?"

"No," he said. "I tried but our safety guy's one of those anal retentive ones that's hard to work with. I'm surprised he's still there. You're telling me that Cindy..."

"I'm the "Engineer's Apprentice," Cindy said. She turned to Tina. "I've got all kinds of pictures on my laptop in the room. You gotta see 'em!"

"You remember Bill Carmody, right?" I asked Alan.

"Yeah. He's on your project?"

"Yeah," I said. "Project manager on this one."

"Day-um! He was good running the mechanical side of that last job."

"He's doing a great job with this one, too. He's like Cindy's godfather out there. She's out there almost every week. Sometimes twice."

"Alan, I wish I could visit your job."

"I know, baby," Alan said. "We talked about it. But lemme work an angle on it. Might be able to get you out there with your physics class, and work from there. Uh, Dan, doesn't that interfere with her school?"

"Uh, Alan, I'm kind of proud of my Cindy. She's sort of a unique case in the eight grade."

"Unique?" Tina questioned.

Cindy had a little smile but kept quiet.

"Yeah," I said. "She's graduating from high school in May."

"Me too," Tina said. "But I'm a senior. What's the deal, Cindy?"

"I took a test. And another test. And Dan gave me a little push abut school..."

"She's just scary smart, is all," I said.

"Got me one a'those," Alan laughed. "Tina's an honor student, even with missing half a semester last year as a high school dropout."

Tina lowered her eyes. "It's part of a long story, Mister Dan."

My little redhead patted her new friend's knee. "Tina, Dan an' I know about long, sad stories. I got my own..."

Alan's eyes flitted off the road and at me. "Who starts first?"

"I think I'd rather let Cindy decide what she wants to tell. I just sort of showed up at the RV park..."

She picked the story up. "Me an' Mom were livin' in a trailer in an RV park. It wasn't a very good situation. My mom was..."

Tina sensed the connection. "Mine was horrible, Cindy. I lived with my grandma until she died, and then I had to move in with Mom."

"I lived with my mom in a thirty-foot travel trailer," Cindy said. "An' Mom worked in a bar..."

I sensed a bit of a quiver in Cindy's voice. "Baby, you don't have to..."

"Hush, honey," Cindy said. "I want people to know how bad it was before you came along, love. Tina, my momma gave me up when I was fourteen to the nice lady who ran the RV park, just so she could go to Vegas with some dude she picked up at a bar..."

Tina said, "Alan found me about to get the crap slapped out of me by my mom's boyfriend. They were going to meet a guy to do a drug lab in Arkansas. Mom's in jail now. Alan offered me a place to stay until we got things sorted out. I did all kinds of sorting, and he kept showing up on the top of the stack." She smiled and reached her hand forward to caress Alan's neck. "I love you, Alan. D'ya know that?"

"Yes I do, angel," he said.

"Dan was somebody to talk with, then somebody to help me with schoolwork, then a friend, and then there is no reason it the world that I'd ever want NOT to be with him. I don't know how we lived without each other..."

I couldn't see her. The car was lit only by the ambient light of a city street and my little love was seated behind me, but I knew her 'happy serious' smile, green eyes atwinkle, the way the corners of her mouth turned up as she showed dimples to accentuate the freckled nose.

"He gives me the stars..." She reached up and gave me a proprietary touch.

"She's my star," I admitted. "You oughtta see her onstage."

"Stage?" Tina blurted.

We were pulling into the restaurant parking lot. "We can tell that story inside," Cindy said.

The four of us walked into the restaurant like the two couples we were. Fortunately it WAS a family place because we were all in our 'travelling clothes'. For Cindy that was jeans and a sweatshirt. This time it was University of Alabama.

I noticed that Alan and Tina made a cute couple. The top of her head reached his ear. My Cindy was ten inches shorter than me, a delightful thing, in my mind, but the difference in our heights emphasized the difference in our ages.

We were taken to a table in a corner, nicely removed from the traffic flows. "Just don't forget us back here," Alan chided the waitress.

We pored over menus and chose a couple of appetizers and our entrees and chatted the whole time. Cindy told her story about our musical exploits. She set her eye on Alan. "Did YOU know he could play guitar?"

Alan raised his hands in surrender. "Nope. He kept that part pretty well hidden." He paused. "Well, there was that one time, but he'd had a few beers and so had I, company party, you know, and he took the bass from the guy in the band for a while, but who can tell when a bass player's any good?"

I laughed. "I see you still have a decided lack of discernment in music."

"Hey, bud," Alan said, laughing, "I'm here for the same concert YOU are..."

"That's probably Tina's idea," I picked.

Tina stood by her guy. "I'm just the navigator on this one. The first time I ever saw a live concert, Alan was sitting there next to me." She smiled. "First time in an airplane, too."

"And now you have your license?" I asked.

"I took my flight test two weeks before Christmas," she said.

"I'm jealous of that," Cindy said, feigning a pout. "I have to wait 'til I'm seventeen. It's gonna be my birthday present."

"Little darlin' wrangled a couple of flights in an Extra," I said. "Thought I was gonna have to buy one..."

"Oh, really?" Alan said.

"Didn't we see one of those somewhere in Kentucky?" Tina asked.

"Yeah, baby," he answered.

Tina's turn to stick a pouty lip out. "Cindy, now I'm jealous."

Cindy giggled. "Don't be! I'm sure you have plenty of adventure all your own."

"Oh yeah," Tina laughed. "Like escaping Tennessee before Alan got arrested for child molestation."

"Alan," I said, "You were molesting this lovely child? You DOG!"

"I molested him first, Dan," Tina admitted. "He was all perfectly honorable and everything..."

Cindy cut her eyes to mine, smiled, and said nothing.

Tina continued, "And we thought the age of consent in Tennessee was sixteen like a lot of other places, but it wasn't, so we had to do a flying trip to Louisiana for a judge to fix up some paperwork and marry us."

Another knowing glance from Cindy. And a giggle. "Oh, Dan an' I know about judges and paperwork," she said.

The chatter continued through the meal. Cindy and I did our normal trick of ordering two different entrees and swapping plates halfway through. No, we wouldn't do that in a 'white tablecloth' place, but this was a family-style restaurant and we didn't feel bad about it. I noted that Alan and Tina split a dessert. So did my Cindy and I. And four coffees afterward before Alan and I almost went to fisticuffs over who picked up the tab.

"Dammit, Alan," I finally said, "YOU drove. I pay!"

"Alright," he gave in. "I get lunch tomorrow. If you guys wanna hang out with me an' Sweetie."

Cindy and I were a duet. Together we said, "Of course!"

I paid our check and the four of us trooped out to the car and rode back to the hotel. I heard low voices and giggling in the back seat as Alan and I talked about work things. We exited in the parking lot and walked back into the hotel.

"Tina and I figured this out, guys," she said. "We all have been living in travel trailers and tonight's the night for loooong hot showers."

Tina looked at Alan, smiling. He looked enraptured. She said, "So, we all do our own things for breakfast, and we'll get together around elevenish and figure out lunch." Giggle. "C'mon, THING," she said.

"Yeah, c'mon, THING!" Cindy giggled, pulling at my hand, urging me toward the elevator.

"How can I argue with this?" I laughed.

I let us into our room and Cindy turned the deadbolt and fastened the chainlock. I scooped her into my arms and kissed her. Then she kissed me back.

"Wow, guy," she said. "I never in a million YEARS expected anything like this!"

"It's kinda got me floored, too. But you and Tina seem to hit it off."

"I never had a sister, Dan," Cindy said. "Tina's, well, I don't know ... I LIKE her ... She could BE my sister, in an only slightly parallel universe."

"Me an' Alan said the same thing, baby. Ya'll look like sisters."

She pushed me backward onto the bed. "Uh, Dan, love of my life, d'ya think you might be interested in a long hot shower? Hmmmm?" Her eyes sparkled. "I think it would be nice to be wet an' naked and soapy..."

"That's a wonderful idea, little redheaded girl," I said, pulling her against me. Her face moved towards mine, our lips fusing.

She hopped up, sat cross-legged on the bed and untied her shoes. I slid my loafers off and wrapped her in my arms from behind and attacked the nape of her neck, pushing aside her short bronze hair, reducing her to a giggly mass.

"Stop that, ' she giggled. "We need to take a shower."

I didn't stop. She twisted around and captured my mouth with her own. "Okay, guy," she smiled. "A couple more."

Finally we stood and stripped together and hit the shower. Unlimited hot water, lots of soap, we spent half an hour, I guess, before we finally got out. After toweling off, she began to dry her hair while I tended to my shaving. She was still drying her hair and brushing it when I finished. I observed the diminutive beauty as she finished and walked into the room. It was very pleasant. Her breasts were growing a bit, the undersides taking a sweet roundness, still a delightful A cup, pushing into B territory, still perfection for her slender form, and she strode into the room with confidence and expectation, straight into my waiting arms.