To lighten the mood, Michael instigated a ceremony of sorts to get rid of the phones. We smothered them symbolically in a plastic bag that I would fling in some obscure dumpster on the way home. Michael said that we’d try it again and I would receive another phone in the mail and we would talk in the early afternoon California time on Monday.
When there was absolutely no time left for us, we gripped on to each other and relished the wonderful peacefulness of the reconnect and the feel of being together.
I assured them.
“Don’t think for a second that I’ll let you go again. We’ll keep in touch or I’ll come for you. We need time together to figure out how to make this connection work for all of us and to get everything back on track again.”
They both kissed me sweet good-bye kisses and then I got in my car and headed home. Only getting a few minutes sleep for the night didn’t matter because the joy and goodness of being with them had me on an alert high.
On the way home I made a quick detour off the freeway to fling the phone laden plastic bag into a huge off-the-highway dumpster. I felt as though I were getting rid of weapons and trying not to be seen by the bad guys.
At 8 o’clock in the morning on Sunday I was just getting home but didn’t pull into the driveway. I headed directly into my Sunday shopping chores and all the stops that were part of the regular weekend duties. The early bird got the task done with finesse and efficiency and I was feeling relaxed as there was still time available for a nap.
Before I napped, I called Rick and invited him to Sunday dinner with the family. Splurging on lobster tails for the family weekend meal was somewhat unusual but the issue was that I never knew who was actually coming to dinner until after all the shopping and much of the cooking was underway. So, I was taking a chance that Rick would say yes when I spent the money.
“Hello, Rick,” I said into the phone.
“Good morning, Helen.”
“Sorry for the last minute invite, but would you like to have dinner with me tonight with my family? We usually have a ‘group catch’ after dinner. It’s a lot of fun. What do ya say? Will you come? Dinner’s at six.”
“Sure, I’ll come to your family dinner but I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to hang around after.”
Once Rick was on-board for dinner I began to relax a bit.
After the dinner ‘kits’ were put together and each one waited for their attention within the preparation time-line, I headed off to get in a few sleep cycles to make sure I had enough stamina to get the job done later in the day. Three hours worked wonders for me and gave me the energy I’d need to get through the day and evening and still be on top of things.
Dinner fell into place easily and each of my kids called to let me know that they would be coming to dinner. Ollie was bringing Mattie and Kevin was bringing Kathy but Margaret was coming solo. Henry never came to Sunday dinner with the family anymore.
Rick arrived a few minutes before 6 o’clock and seemed exceedingly shy around the kids. Dinner was impressive. We ate at the dining room table which I deliberately didn’t set before the kids arrived so that they could help. The feel of unity with my kids was never more present to me than when we worked as a team for about 5 minutes making the table setting decisions and getting it done.
As Margaret was bringing the dessert to the table, I gave Rick the ‘personalized catch object’ that I’d created for him and named it ‘Wally’, a bastardization of his last name. He really didn’t take much notice of it and ended up not staying for the catch. I found his ‘catch object’ in the corner of the sofa when I was taking care of the ‘walk-through’ process. That was a good indicator that he wasn’t interested in me because when someone you like gives you a gift, that gift, no matter how silly, is treasured. Take for example the new phone that arrived via special delivery on Monday morning; the phone was from Michael and I would indeed treasure it forever. His forgotten and left gift was the perfect excuse to go see Rick the following day.
I packed my famous meat-ball sandwiches and went to see him for an impromptu lunch. I made a point of getting there around 11:45 so that I could spend a few minutes with his secretary.
His secretary’s name, according to her name plate, was Amanda. She was blond with kind of straight and stingy hair and had striking blue eyes. Amanda was a bit on the plump side, sported beautiful porcelain skin and short, neat finger nails. She wore a stylish dress and extremely high heels that complemented her legs. When she smiled at me I was shocked to see her plain face transform into something quite lovely.
When I walked into the office Amanda was standing at a file cabinet just behind her desk. As she saw me coming, I could see that she was going to announce me to Rick before I even got to her desk. When we made eye contact I shook my head to indicate that I didn’t want to her to call him just yet. She watched me as I approached her desk. That time, I put my hand out for her to shake.
“Hi, Amanda, we didn’t get properly introduced the other day. I’m Helen, an old friend of Rick’s.”
She took my offered hand and smiled.
“Pleased to meet you.”
“Really stylin’ dress you’re wearing.”
I’d never seen another like it.
“Thanks,” she said, “made it myself.”
“Oh you sew; that’s something we have in common. Is that lovely frock from a pattern?
“No actually it is my own design; there was no pattern for it.”
There was pride in her voice.
“Wow, a one of a kind.”
I was impressed and suddenly became more interested in Amanda.
“As I look at the quality of the work you’ve done on that dress, I’d like to talk to you about design and technique. Would it be possible for us to have lunch one day this week?”
Amanda agreed to lunch but we’d have to check our calendars for a good day and time. She announced me to Rick and again I watched the interaction between the two of them. Rick made a show of coming into the outer office to get me and kissing me hello. Actually it was a nice kiss but I knew that he was getting back at Amanda for something with that show of affection. Saying only a word to Amanda about holding all of his calls, Rick took my hand and led me into his office and straight to his small apartment next door.
I went to the table in the kitchen to set down the luncheon container that I’d brought the sandwiches in and then to the refrigerator to look for something to drink to have with lunch while Rick just followed and watched. I acted like I’d been there a hundred times.
For the first time Rick spoke to me.
“Helen, I usually like to do the asking when it comes to dates.”
“Rick.”
I said his name again at the beginning of the sentence for a sense of intimacy.
“This isn’t a date. I just came by to return your ‘catch object’ that you left at my house last night. I made the sandwiches because they are really good and I wanted to share them with you. So I was killing two birds with one stone.”
My conversation continued.
“Come and at least try the sandwich and then you can kick me out,” I teased.
Rick came to the table and sat down. I put the sandwich on a plate for him. In a shocked move, he pulled me onto his lap.
“Maybe we could have a different activity before