Chapter 60: Another Thanksgiving in Kansas.

The next two weeks were both productive and frustrating. In Colorado, I worked my butt off trying to do all the work that had to be done at the five other resorts and meet with Hank and Ian in the corporate offices to review the different properties. They told me what they wanted and I gave them my opinions on what was practical and would be least expensive yet accomplish the most in meeting their goals. It was their decision and their choice about what was going to be done. Once they gave me that information we were able to work out a schedule.

The weekend I was in Colorado I took the opportunity to get together with Garrett Johnson and his family. He was happy to see me and his family was very welcoming. Even though I had offered to take them out for dinner, Garrett's wife, Joyce, insisted that I stay with them for their evening meal. She figured I'd enjoy a family dinner.

"Rob, you know they gave me the local I.T. Manager position."

"I hadn't been told but I suspected they would. I touted you as smart, efficient and specifically knowledgeable about the computer system at your resort, Garrett."

"Well, I owe you, big time. Along with the position came a hefty raise in pay and that's always appreciated."

"Are you having any problems with the admin side of a management position?"

"I did for a while. They seem to getting less and less as time passes."

"That's normally the way of it. After you're in a position for some time you learn the things that have to be done and how to do them."

"Hank told me I'd grow into the job. I guess he was right."

Joyce had had enough. "Garrett, Rob didn't come here to talk about work and I won't let you do it any longer."

"Yes, Dear."

She was looking daggers at him. "Don't you 'Yes, Dear' me. You know I'm right and after Rob leaves, I'll kick your butt up around your ears if you bring up work again."

Garrett looked somewhat embarrassed as he turned to me and shrugged his shoulders.

Joyce addressed me. "How is that lovely young lady, Kay, doing? Weren't you two getting married sometime soon?"

"We were married this past summer."

I didn't see Samantha because she was behind me. "Was it a big wedding?"

I turned, so that she was part of the conversation. "No, it was a family and friends type wedding on her family's farm. My parents and my two best friends came to Kansas for the wedding. Kay had her parents and brothers there along with several of the family friends from the area."

I reached into my wallet and pulled out a copy of the wedding picture with Kay in that beautiful wedding gown and me in my suit. I passed it to Samantha. She took it and was oohing and ahhing at it as she brought it over to show Joyce.

"Kay looks beautiful in the gown, Rob."

"Thanks, Joyce. She did look good, didn't she? Are you letting Samantha date yet, Garrett?"

"She's gone to a few parties but she still hasn't brought any boys home for me to Google or for us to meet."

"Moooommmm!"

"Well, you haven't, have you?"

"I can't do that, I'd die of embarrassment and none of the other girls' parents make them bring a boy to the house."

"You won't die, I promise you, and your father and I will feel better. We might even let you go out on a date."

The rest of the evening we spent together, talking about how we were all doing. I think I did a heck of a lot more talking than they did. The women wanted to hear all about our honeymoon. We all had a good time. Andrew even stayed with us for about half the time. I left them promising to have them out for a sail if they ever came to San Diego for a visit. They sent their best wishes to Kay and I duly promised to relay them to her.

I wasn't able to get home by Wednesday as I had hoped but Friday morning I caught a flight back to San Diego. The car service got me home but I had to wait for Kay. With her new schedule, she worked at the company every weekday morning. At lunch time she went to the college campus and went to class. Unfortunately her new schedule consumed her Friday afternoons and Wednesdays; she was a real nine to fiver now. She still had weekends off but had to do her reading for classes then. I told Kay, life is a series of compromises and adjustments.

I was waiting for Kay when she came through the door. "Hi, my baby, how was your day?"

"It was long, very long; they've been like this since I started the new intern program and changed my class schedule."

"You look tired."

"I am, Rob. I never realized this program would be so time consuming. I'm going from early in the morning until the end of afternoon classes."

"Are you going to be able to get through this?"

"I'll get through it. I fought hard to earn this position and I'm NOT going to fail at it. I won't let myself fail at it."

"I don't want you to burn yourself out."

"Other people have done this and made it through. I should be just as able as they were and make it through, too."

"Where have they got you working?"

"I'm in the Engineering Department again. I have the same desk I had for the summer sitting next to Troy."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm working on small projects, similar to the one I did for the summer. Troy is still watching everything I do and I can ask him if I need help. I don't have to explain every step I take but I have to be ready to."

"How is Troy taking it?"

"He's good and watches over me. As I understand it, I'm going to be given projects to do; they're going to get bigger and more complicated as the internship goes on. I have to meet with Troy and Ben every three months and they'll tell me how I'm doing. I still work for Ben through Troy."

"Are you going to be in Engineering the whole time?"

"Unless I need help on something, I can ask Troy and he'll arrange for me to go to whatever department I need to."

"If it gets to be too much for you, you make sure you let Troy know."

"I will."

We went to our Italian restaurant for dinner, enjoying a good meal and the tiramisu with our coffee. Afterwards we went home and enjoyed ourselves in the shower and then in bed. We had been apart for nearly two weeks and missed each other. Phone calls were okay but there was no comparison to being with each other.

We did go for a sail Saturday, but limited it to a day sail, only because Kay had too much work to do for her classes. She didn't bring work home from the company but there was plenty from her classes. She was happy though, more than happy with work and school. That was important to both of us.

We were able to relax and sail out beyond sight of land. It was always a thrill for me to be able to look all around me in every direction and not have anything to look at but the beauty of the ocean in its splendor and immensity. Kay enjoyed it too but not as much as I did. It was one of my little foibles and why I didn't think I could be happy living anywhere I couldn't sail out beyond the horizon. Before Kay, it was almost always in solitude. Being able to share it with Kay made it more enjoyable.

"Rob, I'm working my butt off at the company. I'm at it from the time I get there until it's time for lunch. I'm glad I have Troy with me, I like him. If I didn't have him there, I don't know if I could do this. He drags me away from my desk at break time every day and makes me walk with him. He warned me when I started he was going to do it. He said it was for my own good, it keeps me from getting fatigued, besides that it gives us a chance to talk."

"What do you talk about?"

"Everything, everything but the specifics of our projects, he won't let us discuss those. We talk about the company, what it's like to be with it long term. We don't talk about how much anyone gets paid specifically, but we talk about the other ways we get compensated. I'm treated like a part time employee now, so I don't have all the benefits but if they offer me a position after graduation, I know what to expect. I'll be able to provide you with medical insurance as my dependent."

"I haven't been someone's dependent since I went to college. I've always been healthy, so it hasn't been an issue. The government mandated insurance issue has bothered me. I understand it but I still haven't made up my mind about whether I agree with it or not."

"That was something I was going to have to deal with, one way or another, when I graduated. I hadn't been looking forward to it, either."

"What else do you talk about?"

"All sorts of things, mostly about life in general, he's also been telling me about his family. He's been telling me how the kids are doing in school and everything. He says Holly's chomping at the bit to start dating and at the same time scared to death of the idea. She doesn't know if she wants to go on an individual date and be alone with a boy or just let him take her to a school dance."

"That's interesting, didn't Garrett's daughter, Samantha, have a similar issue? Is that typical of girls? Not being one, I have no reference."

"I was too busy growing up on a farm to know. City girls go through different things than I and my friends did."

"What did he say about his son?"

"He said Gary hasn't reached the point where he's all that interested in girls yet."

"I think that when we have children, it'll be easier on us if they're boys."

"As I remember my biology, that choice will be made by you in the course of things."

"Yeah, my biology classes taught me the same thing. They also taught me that I really don't have much control in the decision making process, unless we employ some extraordinary methods."

"I like the good old fashioned methods just fine."

"Me, too!"

"The company has already kicked in their share of my tuition for this semester."

"That's good. Did they tell you that?"

"No, school admin did. They sent me an email to let me know my account had been credited."

"That's good. What does it do to your account? Is it positive or negative?"

"It's positive and it's available for me to draw on. Since my tuition is paid I can draw on the account for books, fees and meals."

"What happens if there's a surplus at the end of the semester?"

"Any surplus I can't document as having come from me gets returned to the school."

"You don't get to draw it out yourself?"

"Not unless I can document that I put it in."

"Too bad, but we don't need it. We don't need your scholarship at all and you know it."

"I earned it, it's mine!"

"It's yours and I'm not suggesting you give it back. I'm just saying you don't have to depend on it like other people do. You won't ever have to worry about where the money for your education comes from or having enough."

"Thanks to you."

"You earned it."

"Hunh, how'd I earn it?"

"You made the potentially disastrous mistake of marrying me." I smiled widely at her.

"You're an ass. You had me going there for a minute."

"I may be an ass, but I love you."

"And for reasons beyond understanding sometimes, I love you."

We enjoyed the rest of the sail and after stopping at the fuel pier to top off tanks and dump waste, we moored to our dock as the sun was setting; it gave us a beautiful end to our sail. We had dinner at the diner and went home.

We had another good night and Sunday morning we were up earlier than usual. Kay and I both had things to do. We had each other around but worked alone. The house cleaning and laundry occupied Kay's time and when that was done she had reading to do, it was going to occupy her whole day. I on the other hand, had the yard work, backyard and pool to take care of. I also fixed our dinner on the grill so that Kay could get her reading done.

Monday morning, Kay and I both went to work. Kay drove off towards the company and I went to my office. I had computer logs to review and customers to call. The resorts and their holding company may be my largest client and I had a lot of work to do to get them all settled but I couldn't ignore my other clients. I also had to arrange for the components I needed to be sent to the different resort locations. I hadn't yet discussed with Kay the travel I had to do to implement all the modifications and networking at the different resorts.

I knew Kay wouldn't be happy when we got to discussing this and I came up with an idea that might make it more acceptable. It wouldn't do to put this off so I decided to go over it with her when she was home again and I had a glass of wine in her to help.

"Kay, you know I'm going to have to travel again."

Warily, she asked, "When?"

"The original intent was to have all the modifications and networking done before Halloween. There's no way I can do that, even if I did nothing but work on their project. The schedule I came up with and Ian approved, is for me to get their ski resorts all done by then. I've agreed to do the Georgia and Florida resorts by Thanksgiving, Texas and California by Christmas and the rest after the first of the year."

"Well, that's better than I thought it would be. I was afraid you were going to say something stupid like you were going to get them all done by Thanksgiving and ignore me."

"I couldn't do that! Besides you, I have my other clients to take care of. My reputation is based on doing what I say I can do when I say I can do it, without killing myself. But speaking of Thanksgiving, how would you like to go home for Thanksgiving again this year? If your family will put up with us all, I'll bring my folks to Kansas for Thanksgiving, too."

"I'd like to go home for Thanksgiving and I'm sure my folks will be happy to have yours in, too. I'll have to ask them, of course."

"I haven't asked my parents if they want to come out to Kansas for Thanksgiving yet. I want you to ask yours first about hosting us all."

"I'll ask them when I call on Wednesday. When are you leaving again?'

"Next Monday."

"You're going to have to make it up to me, before then!"

"I'll be happy to." I smiled broadly.

The time up to Thanksgiving had me busier than I can ever remember being. It was a good thing that the corporate offices and all the ski resorts were in Colorado. It allowed me to get the corporate servers and all six resorts done in a big push. I had to spend a lot of time there but it was the biggest block of properties that needed to be worked on. Kay felt better when I was able to tell her that the rest of my trips wouldn't be as time consuming or as long.

Kay was also kept busy. Between her school work and the internship, she had almost no free time at all. She was tired but it was a good tired. From our daily discussions on the phone and when I was home, she felt inspired by what she was doing in one place and learning in the other. She spent half of her first Monday with Troy on campus, in the program offices. They worked out a coordination of her education and work requirements so that one worked with the other and she was able to put theory into practical application.

I was home the Tuesday before Thanksgiving after completing everything that needed to be done in Colorado. I was tired and looking forward to the Thanksgiving extended weekend. Robert and Janice wanted us to come out and were happy to have my parents as well. We were flying to Kansas Wednesday and would be arriving at the airport an hour after my folks did. Junior was going to be there with the big SUV to pick us all up in one trip.

As we came into the arrival terminal, my mother spotted us. "Here they are."

I recognized her voice and turned to see her. "Hi, Mom." I bent to give her a hug and kiss.

Kay in the meantime had gone over to my father and he was greeting her. "Kay, you look tired. Are you okay?"

"I'm okay, Phil. I'm just working very hard between the internship and school."

Junior asked, "Is that all it is? You aren't baking something also, are you, Kay?"

Kay clouded up some. "If I was, it wouldn't be any of your business until I said something about it." There was a little heat in her voice.

My mother looked a little confused and asked no one in particular, "What's he talking about?"

"Dear, he's asking if Kay is pregnant," my father said.

"Oh."

Reyna was there, too. "Junior, that was not a proper question for you to ask and you know it."

Junior colored in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Kay. I'm your big brother and I've always looked out for you. I guess I'm still trying to, in my own way."

After gathering all the luggage, we went out to the SUV and started on the hour plus trip to the farm. Reyna sat in front with Junior while my father and I shared the middle seat. Kay and my mother were in the back seat talking.

It was early afternoon and still light out. I was looking at the scenery as we went. Once we were out of the city and on the open road I could see what looked like snow or frost in the fields. "Has it already snowed here, Junior?"

"We've had some flurries for the most part and there was a light snow fall a day or two ago. It's about what we usually have this time of year. Have you ever dealt with snow, Rob?"

My father answered, "He was born and raised in the northeast, so yes, he's dealt with snow. He might be a little rusty in it but as long as he doesn't have to drive in it, there shouldn't be a problem."

There was light conversation for the rest of the trip out to the farm. Kay and my mother might as well have been alone as they ignored us for the most part. It wasn't until we were on the road up to the house that they rejoined us.

Janice stepped out of the back door to greet us. Kay was eager to see her mother and hurried to greet her with a hug and kiss. They shared a long hug.

The rest of us greeted her before we went in. Junior and I took the luggage to the rooms we were going to use. Kay and I were in her old room and my parents were in one of the separate bedrooms. We went back to join the others in their family room.

Junior said, "I've got to go find Dad and Tommy and let them know we're here. They should be in the barn."

The house smelled wonderful from Janice's cooking. I said, "Oh boy, Janice, you've been cooking. I can barely wait for tomorrow. I remember last year's Thanksgiving. I didn't have to eat for two weeks after Kay and I got home."

"Oh stop, Rob. I know better than that. Dani, I have everything you said you needed."

"When can I get into the kitchen? I don't want to be in your way, I know you have more cooking to do."

"There's plenty of room, it's a big farm kitchen, so that shouldn't be a problem. How much oven time do you need?"

"An hour and a half, at most."

I looked at the two women. "What's going on?"

"Your mother is making a couple of things for tomorrow."

That surprised me. "What are you making, Mom?"

"I'm making a Pineapple Kugel and an Apple Noodle Pudding for desserts. I'm also making a Farfel Dressing to go with the turkey. I was going to make Stuffed Peppers but Janice convinced me she had enough of the main dishes for tomorrow. I may make them for Saturday, though."

"After Kay asked us about your parents coming to Thanksgiving, I called your mom and we talked about the meal. Between the two of us we came up with a traditional Thanksgiving menu but added a couple of Jewish twists from her cookbook."

"What has Robert said about this?"

"He doesn't know, it's going to be a surprise."