Chapter 14

Monday, September 24 - Friday, September 28

It had seemed so beautifully simple when he and Shae were cuddled together in his old bed in his old home. They'd talked a little more -- not a lot more -- but as he lay there silently holding her, several things became clear, although inextricably mixed together.

Shae had not been an issue in his mind until she surprised him with it -- he just hadn't been thinking far enough ahead. But as soon as she articulated it, he had a vision of a future most likely perfectly acceptable to him when the time came. In fact, he was comfortable with the notion, even intrigued by it. It was not inevitable -- yet anyway -- but it could likely go that way.

But, like he'd told her, it was just too soon.

More than anything else, it finalized the decision to return to Bradford for a while. For any number of reasons, he needed the breathing space, and in their own way the boys needed it too. With his job intact and his mother right across the street, Bradford seemed like the ideal place to lick his wounds, and let the time needed for healing to pass.

By the time morning came, Shae realized he'd made his decision, and she apparently accepted it. From then on, she'd been supportive of the idea and did her best to help out, making no more hints or pleas to continue his stay in the apartment at least semi-permanently.

One of the things they talked about on the drive back to New York was that he had only been in the Battery Park apartment for a few minutes and had found the grief intolerable. It had been clear that he wasn't going to be of much help in the packing and loading and moving.

Cleaning out his apartment would be an extremely painful chore. As close to Dave's pain as Shae had been, she even had doubts she could handle it. There was a lot of Julie in the apartment -- her clothes, personal items, and jewelry, of course, but even toiletries. For that matter, even the furniture would carry memories of her; no matter how many times they were washed, the sheets of the bed would still bear her imprint.

Given a choice, Dave wasn't sure but what he would be willing to just leave everything there except for his and the boys' clothes and personal items, their toys, some critical paperwork, maybe the desktop computer, those sorts of things, and hire someone to haul the rest to Goodwill or a dumpster. In fact, it even seemed like the simplest solution, but even then, someone would have to do the sorting and packing. He wasn't even sure he was capable of any of that chore.

When they got back to Shae's apartment, Dave bit the bullet and called the Albrights, telling them he was going to move out of the Battery Park apartment at the first opportunity. He proposed giving most of Julie's clothes to charity, but holding back jewelry and personal keepsakes, a few of which he would keep for the boys, but most of which he'd give to the Albrights. A little to his surprise, they agreed that was a pretty good way to go about it.

They were, not surprisingly, anywhere near as thrilled with the idea of him taking the boys to Bradford for a while. In fact, in the process of the discussion, Stan made a counter-proposal he obviously had thought hard about -- move to Hartford with the boys, and become involved in the family business, so that in time it could be passed down to them. Drawing deep on his reserves of diplomacy, Dave agreed it had a great deal of merit but wanted some time to think about it, since it would be a major career change at an already difficult time. While he was already facing a great deal of other change, staying with Dunlap and Fyre would provide at least one stable anchor for a while. It would not hurt to let the idea sit for six months or a year while he sat in Bradford and let time pass, and if the idea seemed viable then, a change could be made anytime after that. After some discussion, Stan saw his logic.

As far as it went, in six months or a year it might not even be such a bad idea, Dave rationalized after he got off the phone. If for some reason the virtual office system didn't work out, and if, as seemed possible, he found himself left out in the cold, Stan's proposal offered a solid fall-back position, one that would probably involve more money than he was likely to make at Dunlap and Fyre. However, as far as he was concerned, the job satisfaction was just about zero; added to that, he knew no one in Hartford except for his in-laws, while he did have friends and acquaintances in both New York and Bradford.

On top of everything, while he thought he could get along with Stan, if a little strained at times, Deborah was a much different story. Even though, with the passage of time, she might get over some of her hysteria and depression, just like he was facing, it still left the fact that they did not get along and never had. She was bossy, patronizing, condescending, and just plain irritating as she continually tried to make him aware of his natural inferiority. He did not want the boys exposed to such behavior any more than necessary; in fact it was one of the positive points about the move to Bradford -- it would be harder for Deborah to drop in and upset everyone.

The final argument against a move to Hartford, now or in a year, was one he hadn't even considered until the day before: Shae. The two of them getting together in the long run wasn't exactly a bird in the hand, but he could easily rationalize it would be hard to do much better and easy to do much worse. But again: just too soon.

With the decision to move to Bradford made, and the situation with both Shae and the Albrights stabilized for a time, Sunday seemed like a fairly productive day.

Monday didn't go as well. Shae was shooting, of course, and he stayed at her apartment to make some phone calls on some critical issues. He tried to work on Dithyran's Probe after unexpected problems arose. When Shae got home, he was pretty down from frustration. "What's the problem?" she asked. "Maybe there's something I can do to help."

"That's the problem," he said glumly. "You've already been so much help I hate to ask you for more."

"Moving hassles, huh?"

"Yeah. It looks like we can get into Battery Park to move out on Friday, first thing Saturday at the latest."

"That's about what we expected," she said. "Nothing surprising there."

"Yeah," he shrugged. "But the problem is I've spent half of today calling around trying to find a mover. There's no one willing to do it in that kind of time frame; they want a lot more notice. And it's damn expensive. On top of that, Friday or maybe even only part of Saturday doesn't give you or Mom much time to sort everything out and pack it up."

"Eve and John would be willing to help, I'm sure," she offered.

"I've asked too much of them, too," he said. "Well, not John directly, but he's given his wife up an awful lot to help me out."

"I'm sure he doesn't mind under the circumstances," Shae said consolingly. "I know you haven't met John, but I hope sooner or later you'll get to know him. He's an awful nice guy; we all go back quite a ways."

"Yeah, but still. Realistically, we're going to need another week of lead time at a minimum, maybe more. The boys have been out of school long enough, and I don't want them to go much longer. You don't fall behind in kindergarten, but they're just treading water now."

"Oh, you're just being down and frustrated," she shook her head. "Another week wouldn't hurt that much."

"It's just getting more difficult," he shook his head. "I thought about taking or sending Mom back with them before next weekend, and having her put them in school. But I don't like that, either, the biggest reason being I should be around for a change that big."

"They can survive some hassles," Shae told him. "You just need to relax, let it go, and back off from it for a few. Now, as I see it, the big hassle is coming up with a mover, right?"

"Yeah, and getting everything packed and sorted without it getting too emotional."

"Just throwing out an idea," she said. "Why not try it from the other end?"

"I don't follow you."

"I have no idea what the movers would charge, but when we were in Bradford I saw a sign for a cheap daily rental for U-Hauls. How about if we call Emily in on it? Maybe she could find someone who could drive the truck here, maybe give us an extra set of hands or two, like maybe Kevin."

"That has potential," he conceded. "But there I go again, asking someone who's already given a lot to give more."

"Oh, bull," she snorted. "You don't understand Emily, do you? She likes doing this stuff. It gives her a challenge, makes her feel useful. She'd be thrilled if you asked."

He let out a long sigh. "At least with Emily, there's no question that it would get done," he nodded. "Like I say, I really hate to do it, but it's a possible way out of the problem."

Emily proved to be at work at the Spee-D-Mart; they could hear her running the cash register in the background as they explained the situation. "Yeah, sure, no problem," they heard her say, not quite sure if she was talking with a customer at the same time. "I shouldn't have any problem finding hands; enough people have offered to help. What do you say we shoot for Saturday at this point? If for some reason it can't be done, like you can't get in, let me know as soon as possible."

"Sure," he said. "Will do. I wouldn't want someone to start this way in a truck and then not be able to get in."

"Sure, that would be a pain," she agreed. "You're moving into Maude Perkins' old house, right?"

"Yeah, I talked to Arnold this morning, it's a go."

"All right, I'll get hold of him, see if there's anything that needs doing on this end."

"Emily, I feel like I'm already asking a lot of you."

"Don't worry about it," she protested. "Dave, I wouldn't have offered to help if I didn't want to. It's not a big deal. I'll take care of everything on this end. If I have any questions, I'll call you, Shae, or your mom."

"Emily, I'll have to do something nice for you some day."

"Easy," he heard her smile. "When I ask you to do something for someone sometime, say yes. Don't worry, Dave, I'll take care of it."