Chapter 49

So I'm at work on Monday morning and my cell phone rings. I look at the display. It's Alan. I'm in my office, so taking the call isn't a problem. "Hey, brother-in- law," I said. After all, if our wives are sisters, then that makes him my brother- in- law.

"Hello, Dan. How's work?" he asked.

"I'm cleaning up the contract language and turning it into a technical specification," I said. "You know how that works."

He laughed. "Yeah, and if I was gonna bet, you wrote the contract language in the first place."

I smiled. "Might've done a bit of it. Sure looks familiar. How about you?"

"Routine stuff. Got the auxiliaries up, got us on a temporary feed to the new buildings, won't hit the big substation until we're ready to do some major equipment for real," he said.

"Sounds like fun."

"What I wanted to call you about, it's kinda gossipy, but your guy Jason and Cindy and Tina's sister, Susan, they're officially an item."

"No joke?!?" I blurted.

"Nope. He actually asked Susan's parents for their permission to, as he put it, 'court their daughter'."

"Told you that guy was a nerd," I laughed. "Sounds like something I'd've done."

"Doesn't mean I stop sweating over them, though."

"I know, old son. But what can you do?"

"I know," he said. "But she's Tina's friend..."

"And Cindy's," I added the obvious. "But if they WANT to date, what can you really do?"

"I know..." then he laughed. "I just wanted to give you a 'head's up' before you get Cindy's version."

"This'll tickle her. She likes Susan. Says she's a good fit for the community. And one good thing..."

"What's that?" Alan asked.

"Susan's going to Auburn with our wives. That kinda locks ol' Jason in, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess it does, huh?"

"All we can do is hope it works out for them, and if it doesn't, that it's relatively painless," I said.

"Yeah, I guess." Alan didn't sound totally convinced. "You know, we probably need to start looking around Opelika soon. Gonna need to get some ideas about where this troop is gonna live, and where we can do an office, and all that."

"You're right, commander," I said. "Time's flying, you know."

"Well, there IS that whole 'internet' thing," he laughed.

"You're right. Let's do a little recon. See if anything pops up, then we can go over and look."

"Sounds good," Alan laughed. "Of course, we'll have the whole crew with us..."

"Uh-huh..."

"Okay, buddy. Talk to you later. Jason just walked in with a big grin on his face."

"Okay, Alan. Tell 'im if he messes up, I'll hunt 'im down..."

"I'll pass that on," Alan laughed. "See ya later."

I went on about the day's activities, taking time at mid-morning to stretch my legs. Sara was at her desk, fitting into her new permanent job quite comfortably.

"Hello, lady. Who's on your list to terrorize today?"

She smiled, looking over the top of her glasses. "Dan, Dan, Dan ... I don't keep a list. But if I did, you'd be on it ... How's Cindy?"

"Doin' just fine. She's gonna take the high school exit exam in a week or so. I'd be worried. But she's not. And if she's not worried..."

Sara shook her head, chuckling. "You got it bad about 'er, don't you, buddy?"

"Yes I do, lady. She's a joy. Remarkable."

"Your face lights up. So does hers. If I'd been paying attention the first time you brought her here, I might've not been as surprised."

I sat down beside her desk with my coffee mug and looked around. Seeing nobody else in the building, I told Sara, "Nobody was as surprised as I was. I didn't come over here looking for fourteen year olds."

"Yeah," Sara said. "But look at her. She's timeless. Like a reincarnation of Queen Elizabeth. Their first one, that faced down Spain."

I was amused. Sara read my face.

"Wha-attt? I can't be a student of history?" she said.

"No, just that I never actually applied the term 'timeless' to Cindy. Sara, you gotta know how much she's changed since the first time I met her. She was a bashful, almost scared little thing. We'd just swim in the afternoon and talk about things. Then she started school and asked for schoolwork help."

Sara smiled. "I'm sure that's the way it started. And now look at you two. Her. She's quite a bit of work!"

"Yes she is," I smiled. "And it makes me happy when others see a little of what I see in her."

"Well, I can see it now, but I gotta tell you, when I first found out y'all were married, uh..." she said.

"Oh, hell, lady! D'ya have any idea how difficult it was to come to work after we got married? I mean, she's the love of my life, but I was worried that people would think..."

She shook her head, tossing her hair back. "That people would think exactly what I thought, that you were some kind of perverted child molester?"

"Yeah. That. You may not understand this, and if you repeat it, I'll swear you're hallucinating, but I value YOUR friendship. And everybody else's on the job. But you. And especially Bill Carmody. I was afraid that you guys wouldn't accept that, or that you'd think bad of Cindy."

"No, I thought she might be deluded, but any blame would've been YOURS. That's the way the law is, you know..."

"Oh, believe me, I DO know. I almost left the state when she and I started talking about love and relationships. Sara, guys my age who get involved with fourteen year old girls go to jail."

"I know that, Dan. I questioned that in my own mind after you two got married, though. But now, I see you two together. I see HER! Hell, Dan, (from Sara, who NEVER cussed) I'm more abused than HER!"

"You say that now..." I said.

"Yeah. You can imagine the conversations when the news got out and you weren't around." She sighed.

"I can imagine..."

"I don't know if you can. But Bill..."

"Bill told me that if I hurt Cindy, he'd put my body in a concrete pour."

"Sounds like Bill. The first day she came in here, he told me that she reminded him of his grand-daughter."

"Treated 'er like his grand-daughter. Says he's flying back for her high school graduation."

"Oh, yeah, about that. You need to get a headcount. Cindy's gonna need a LOT of invitations!"

"Her new sisters and my buddy Alan are flying down here for it, too," I said.

Sara's eyes lit up. "Oh, yeah, that crew you showed me. Alan's married to a seventeen year old, and that blonde girl, she's part of the gang?"

"Uh-huh. And remember Jason Ellerbee?"

"Your lead technician?"

"Yeah. He's dating Susan. The blonde girl."

Sara's jaw dropped.

"She's the oldest of the bunch. She's eighteen."

"He's what? Twenty-seven?"

"Twenty-six," I countered.

"That's getting closer to normal," she admitted.

"Uh-huh. And exactly how do you think you can tell an eighteen year old girl who she can't date?"

"Her parents know?"

I told her the story about Jason formally asking permission to date Susan.

Sara giggled. "He always had a twist on words," she admitted. "And he didn't seem rude or coarse. And you KNOW how construction guys can be." She raised an eyebrow at me. "But you weren't either, you know. Just so you know that I noticed. Bill wasn't either. I had some real reservations about taking that job. But I'm glad I did."

"I'm glad you did, too," I said. "I appreciated your work. And I'm really happy that you and your husband ended up here after it's over."

"Yeah, it did turn out good, didn't it?" she smiled.

"Uh-huh. Lots of good from the whole thing." I got up and returned to my office.

As the day drew to an end, Sara stuck her head in my door. "Dan? Thank you for talking with me about you and Cindy. You know I love 'er. Question 'er choice of mates, but she's a charmer."

"Thank you, Sara. I appreciate that. Give your hubby a hug."

Giggle. "I'll do that, buddy! You give Cindy one!"

"Guaranteed!" I said.

I left the office a few minutes after Sara, headed home. Somehow, the conversation with Sara had me yearning for a certain young redhead.

I found her at the RV park office, leaning over the counter, one leg raised behind her, chatting with Helen. When she saw me, she bounded over, a bundle of happy young woman, laced her fingers behind my neck and kissed me.

"Well, hi, baby," I said. "Hi, Helen!"

"She misses you, Dan," Helen laughed.

I kissed Cindy back. "That's good," I said, "because I miss her." Cindy backed away a fraction. "What's up babe?"

"Oh, nothing," she said. "Well, the high school exit exams are in two weeks. They're doing reviews over there. I'm thinking about going. I just have to ride the bus a little further, that's all."

"Have you talked to..."

"Mister Jim? Yes. He's the one who told me about it."

Helen was shaking her head.

"I think it's funny, too, Helen..." I chuckled.

"Uh-huh. Fourteen. And she's debating as to whether or not she needs to sit in on reviews to graduate from high school." Helen smiled broadly. "Cindy, d'you realize how far you've come since last year?"

The little redhead's green eyes twinkled. "Yes, ma'am. Sometimes I close my eyes during the day and think about all the changes since this guy showed up here." She had me, her arm around my waist. I don't know where she kept my heart. She looked at me with those smiling green eyes. "Mizz Ann and Mister Jim want us over for dinner. She's got a lasagna in the freezer."

I laughed and told Helen, "Ann's lasagna is a very pleasant surprise. I can't pass this up."

Helen smiled. "You two just go do what you need to do. Dan, have you talked with the trailer people?"

"As a matter of fact, I did," I said. "They're talking about delivery on Friday. I talked to the manager of the shop. He says it'll be like new."

That got a squeal from Cindy. "Our HOME is coming back!"

"Yes it is," I said. "I'm taking Friday off to get our stuff out of storage and back into the trailer, so it'll be livable when you get in from school."

"Really?"

"Really!"

"What if I skip school and we do it together. It is OUR home!" She was grinning now.

"Let's see what Jim says about that. But it sounds like a good idea to me."

"Bye, Mizz Helen," Cindy chirped as we headed out the door.

I waved. Helen was smiling, watching Cindy lead me by the hand, her gait verging on a skip. She climbed into the truck from the driver's side, buckling into the center seat, and I slid in beside her.

"Get us to the house, baby," she said. "I need major hugs."

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"Nope, I got happy, and I wanna hug you to share it. Dinner's at six at the Hardesty's, so we have time."

That was reason enough to push the pedal just a little bit harder. At least we got inside the door before I had an eager teen wrapping herself around me, green eyes twinkling.

"You ARE happy. Something new?"

"Just a day at school, baby," she said. "One of the pregnant eighth-graders is showing pretty good. At least she's still there. I heard that a couple are bein' home-schooled. That's just a way of sayin' eighth-grade dropout, is what I think. And it's tragic. And I was thinkin'g about how tragic it was, talking with Kaylee."

"Kaylee. Isn't that 'Little Miss My Daddy's a Lawyer'?"

"Yep. But she and I are pretty good friends now. We talk at lunch. Her and I and a couple of other girls. They tried to be one of those snobby cliques, but I ignored that when I helped 'em with math and stuff. So now we talk." She smiled. "But let me finish. We were talking about futures and plans an' stuff and how that pregnant girl kinda lost hers, and how sad it was, and I got to thinking about me and you and I've got a future, even if I wasn't graduating in May, and then I thought about, like Mizz Helen said, what was going on last summer before we met, and it made me happy. And made me want to hug you and hold onto you until we melt together." And she kissed me.

Eight months since our first kiss, which was, according to my cutie, her FIRST kiss, and Cindy was GOOD at it. My hands cradled that copper hair, then I gazed into those green eyes. "Cindy, sweetness, if you do one more like that, we may miss dinner."

Giggle. She kissed me on the nose.

"You're not the only one who looks back at how things have changed since last summer, you know," I said.

"I do know, love," she smiled. "You've told me and I believe you. 'S what Tootie says, too." Giggle. "Now, are you gonna change shoes?"

"Uh-huh," I said. "And wash my face." I did that, the cool washcloth feeling good, refreshing, and when I stood up I saw Cindy behind me, reflected in the mirror. I pulled her around to my front, her back against me, and I looked at our reflection.

She knew what I was doing. "Strangest view of perfection I've ever seen," she smiled. "Let's go see our friends."

"Yes ma'am," I laughed.

We were back in the truck, listening to the music, talking.

"Mister Jim says that a good eighth-grader should be able to pass the high school exit exam."

"You have to do more than just pass, baby. You have to do competent or better."

I glanced away from the road to see her face. She was smiling.

"Mister Jim and my teachers say I won't have a problem."