Chapter 32

I sat there scratching my head, with all consonants and no vowels. And the fact that sweet Kaitlyn was rubbing her foot up and down my leg, under the table, didn't help my concentration, not at all. Richelle just sat back with a grin, as Kay and Suzy made yet another trip to the dictionary, to verify a word she'd played. I hadn't yet forayed into that arena, mostly because I didn't want to admit not knowing some of the words she'd used.

"C'mon, Rob! You're not gonna let her get away with this, are you?" Kay was mostly laughing. "You're telling me she can just come on in here and waltz away with the whole game, and you're okay with that?"

Suzy was laughing and nodding with her, "Remind me to never get this game for our place!" She looked at me, "And please hide it whenever we come over here!" She looked back at Richelle, "I mean after this mess is over, we ARE planning to come over here once in a while, aren't we?"

"Nope." Richelle emphasized that with a shake of her head, and Kay and Suzy both froze in disbelief. I was caught up short by her abruptness as well. We must have all looked shocked, because Richelle looked at us and giggled, "Plannin' to LIVE here, not just visit once in a while! Only real family I ever had are all gone now, and this feels like home!" She looked at me and Kay, her eyes all shiny, and just said, "Okay wid y'all?"

"Certainly! As long as you don't drag America's Most Wanted through here on weeknights!" Kay looked at me as she said it. She took an eye-roll for confirmation.

Suzy just leaned into Richelle and hugged her, and said, "Guess I'm okay with that, sweetie, but were you gonna ask me about it at all?"

"Nope! After the other night I figured you'd follow me anywhere!"

Suzy turned red, Richelle got swatted, and the game was forgotten. Even more so, when the headlight flash across the window, and the rumble of a nicely tuned exhaust shutting down alerted us to the fact that Laurel and Jake had returned. The sound of a key in the door verified it, and the two walked in, acting surprised to see the four of us sitting there.

"You're..."

"You're..."

" ... home early!"

" ... up late!"

"Yeah, well,

"Have a good time?"

Laurel just smiled and looked up at Jake. Didn't have very far to look, the way he had her wrapped up in his arms. "Did we have a good time, babe?"

"Had a Happy time!"

"Yeah, we did, didn't we!"

Kay just looked at them, then up at me, with a "Huh?" expression, and said, "Maybe it makes sense somewhere, but not right here or right now."

Laurel and Jake laughed, and Jake said, "She was singin',"

"And he was playin', broke in Laurel, "and Jelly was 'most as happy as we were!"

"And I oughtta arrest you for drinkin' and drivin'!" said Richelle. "Didn't figure you'd come back all loopy!"

Laurel laughed, "Nope, no drinkin' at all! Jelly brought out Jake's guitar, and made him play it after we ate, and he said he would, if I'd sing, so we did, and they loved it!"

"Aaahh! Now it makes perfect sense! I hope you brought the guitar back with ya!" Richelle stood up and stretched, "Love me some Blues! But time to get some Zzz's. Last day of school tomorrow, isn't it?"

Laurel just sagged, and said, "Yes, mother, I guess it is. C'mon, Jake, I'll walk you to the door. You got an interview tomorrow too, no?"

I hadn't heard about that, and I looked at him for enlightenment. He grinned, "Yep, Hutch's Auto and Marine. Had my truck stored on his back lot, and he was impressed with it. When he found out Pop and I had done the engine on it, he asked if I wanted a job, and would I feel comfortable with marine engines. I told him sure, and if he wanted to branch out into motorcycles or helicopters, well, I'm up for that, too!" He looked excited, and said, "Long's I don't mess up my fingers I'm okay with most any of those." He kissed Laurel goodnight, and headed out the door. She watched him until the truck growled out the driveway, then closed the door and leaned back against it, with her eyes closed. Until Richelle snickered.

"Don't mess up his fingers, huh?" She wiggled hers, and Laurel shrieked and burst into laughter, along with Kay and Suzy.

"He means for the guitar, you evil person!" The laughter eventually ran down, as we locked up and headed for our bedrooms, then she got us going again, "But yeah, maybe that, too! Some day!"

Kaitlyn, again:

Please understand that I don't have any idea about what they're talking about! All I know is that Laurel was about to do herself in, and now she's sitting on top of the world. I had already got my shower, so Laurel headed for a quick one while I helped Rob neaten up the kitchen. Suzy and Richelle said goodnight, and headed for the room they'd been sharing.

"Place used to be pretty quiet, nights," said Rob. I looked over at him, and was relieved to see that he was smiling. "But not any more!" He came over and grabbed me and just held me. Getting to love that! "And I'm thinking that's a good thing!"

I snuggled up against him, "But what're they gonna do in a couple of weeks? I've been thinking we could spend the first week after our honeymoon, just chasing each other naked around the house!"

He laughed, "See! They've got you all warped and twisted already! And I'm thinking that's an even BETTER thing!" I looked up and he did exactly what I wanted. And after that kiss he did it again. And then again, and if Laurel hadn't cleared her throat just at the right time, I think that the recently cleaned table might have got used for something else!

"Hey, you two! Do not open before Christmas, remember?" She giggled, "Glad it's only another couple weeks!" She sat down at the table and looked up at us, "Are you too tired to talk for a few minutes?" Uh Oh! Sounded serious!

"Not at all, sweetie." Rob pulled out a chair and sat, and I settled onto his lap. "What's up?"

She sat down cater-corner from us at the table, and was quiet for a minute, tracing the pattern in the tabletop with her finger. I noticed an improvement there – she hasn't been chewing her fingernails for a few days now. Then she looked up and asked, "What do YOU think about Jake," and she hesitated again, "and me?"

I was tongue tied, just for a second, but Rob wasn't the least bit bashful, "It's not what WE think, but what YOU think, and feel, and know." He looked at me, "Until a couple of weeks ago, I never even considered what I might think about love at first sight. Or that it might ever happen to me." He wrapped his arms tighter around me, "But now it's all I think about!"

"Hmmmpf!" Laurel snorted, then smiled, "Sometimes I wish it was me that fell off the boat!"

I swatted Rob when he said, "Could've both jumped together!"

"Too late for that now, Tiger! I think I got me a man o' my own!" She looked back at me, "And all to myself, too! An' y'know? I don't care what the neighbors think about it! They don't hear what I hear in his voice, or see what I see in his eyes. An' they damn sure don't feel what I feel when he..." She started blushing again, "What I'm SURE I'll feel when he..."

"On that note," I said, "let's head for bed! Early wakeup tomorrow, remember?"

Rob's turn again:

When I hit puberty, and started dreaming weird things about girls, I found out those dreams could manifest themselves in interesting ways. Most interesting was the one where TWO girls sneaked into my room and into my bed. I don't remember any detail beyond that, but I know that the dreams could never match the reality! And the reality then was that they all ended in the same way. And I'd walk funny to the bathroom because my Captain Marvel underpants were cold and sticky in front.

Ummm – no Captain now, but one or two more nights with these two pinning me in between them, and, well, gotta move! I managed to slide out and make it to the john without waking up my two sleeping beauties, and I figured I might as well take a shower, as long as I was up. The little bit of extra brightness alerted me to the door opening, and I could see the shadow of someone coming in and sitting on the john. Shower was steamed up, so I couldn't make out who it was, but I was guessing it really didn't matter, as both of them had taken their showers last night. I turned back to face the shower stream and rinse off, so I had my eyes closed when I felt a little bit of a draft, and then got poked in the ribs! I must have turned just right, because I felt the water deflect off my shoulder, and heard a "Yip!" behind me. Got turned back around just in time to see the door close again, so it remained a mystery – for a few more minutes.

I got dried off, and opened the door a crack to see if it was safe to go out and get dressed, and the girls had gone out into the kitchen. Got dressed real quick and headed out. Laurel had my good frying pan out and was making pancakes, while Kay made coffee. I moved up behind Kay, and put my arms around her and nuzzled into her hair. Her slightly damp hair! Laurel turned and saw us, and started laughing. "Don't I get one 'a those too, Rob, sweetie?"

I looked at Kaitlyn, and she was grinning that evil-innocent smirk of hers, so I went over and repeated with Miss Laurel. Almost the same, right down to the damp hair! "You're devious," I said, while they both giggled at me. So, I don't really know who tickled me in the shower this morning.

Richelle came out while we were finishing up the first batch of pancakes, and said that Suzy was getting dressed, and would be right out. Kay said the coffee was ready, and poured us all a cup, with one for Suzy. Laurel put a platter of 'cakes on the table, and told me I needed a bigger pan, so she could do more at a time. I went to the pantry cupboard, pulled out a two burner cast iron griddle. "Next time use this one?" Her eyes got big, and she nodded vigorously. I made sure she saw where it was stored, and said, "Gets the same treatment as the pan you're using."

"Roger on that, sir!" She was all smiles again, as she ladled another four pancakes into the pan. Richelle reached into the refrigerator and dragged out a zipper bag.

"This is the way mawmaw used to do it," and she emptied the contents onto a plate. "Except she didn't have a microwave." The smell of bacon soon permeated the kitchen. "Did it up in the oven the other day, and stuck it in the 'fridge for right now. Ready in just a minute!" Meanwhile, pancakes were stacking up, so I got out another pan and started doing eggs. Had us a real downhome breakfast!

I shooed the ladies off to school, and got things cleaned up. Poured myself another cup of coffee, and went to my office, just down the hall. Time to check in on Ray. No answer at the direct number, so I dialed the help line number. No answer there, either. Noted the time, and logged onto my laptop to see if I could get into the server's back door. Nothing. Okay, now I'm alarmed. It's a little after 8:00 AM, and my day has already turned to crap with a crust on it. Ray doesn't just take off and leave me, ever. And the help line VRU always has a status message on it, updated appropriately for whatever condition we happen to be in at the time. That's on backup power, so even in a general power failure, it works. I know, I tested it myself. So – something is Not Right.