“Baby, you could never be a punishment; you had to be a gift. Absolutely nothing feels as good to me as you do. You take away all of the pain and unhappiness in my life. I’ve experienced nothing but riches since you entered my life.”
As I liked his thinking better than mine and what I had to contribute. I just looked at Ricky on my pinkie finger and Michael followed my eyes to see my focus. We just sat there for a minute or two looking at Ricky and wondering when she would present her red sparks again.
“Let’s hug up and turn in for the night. The day has taken a toll on me and I need some rest and to hear Charlie’s voice before I sleep.”
We both accepted the reconnect and the goodness that it brought us and Michael walked me to my room and kissed me on the top of my head a good night kiss.
In the music room the next day, Michael and I were on fire with ideas and completed the song we were working on and put together two more and part of another before we took a break for lunch. We were right back at it after lunch to complete the song we started and had the makings for a couple of more before 5 o’clock.
Lu came home earlier than usual so we had an early dinner and then each of us brought our laptops to the dinning room where we stayed together even though we didn’t say much. We were all lost in our emails and our correspondence with the rest of the world and other people in our lives.
The first email that I opened was from Kevin. He asked that Charlie and I come to ‘Sunday dinner’ at their place because he had stuff to discuss about the catch and the business that he needed my take on. I replied that I’d confirm after speaking to Charlie but I was pretty sure that we’d be there.
There was an email from Charlie that made my day. He sent me a couple of pictures that Kevin had taken of us while we were saying our good bye on the front porch. One picture was the two of us, Charlie and me, and we were just looking into each other’s eyes and emanating love. The next picture was of us kissing Charlie’s parting kiss; my feet weren’t even toughing the ground. An involuntary moan escaped my lips as I looked at the photos and longed for my Charlie. That was more of Charlie’s foreplay; I was definitely aroused and thinking of him. I replied that I loved him and that I couldn’t wait to repeat what I saw in the pictures. I told him of the progress we’d made with the song writing and that if we didn’t finish on time we would be early. I also let him know that if we finished early, I was coming home as early as I could.
The following day both Lu and Michael had work and were away for the entire day. With the whole day to do with as I pleased, I spent hours with the gardens and then I went to visit with Wyatt for the promised game of catch with my favorite English barrister.
When I walked into the grand foyer Millie was at the desk and greeted me with a lovely smile.
“Good morning Helen.”
Millie said with cheer in her voice.
“Would you like for me to announce you to Mr. Sussman?”
I just nodded my head and she pushed the button and said, “Helen is here to see you Mr. Sussman.”
“Would you suggest he bring ‘Sussy’,” I asked.
“Oh Mr. Sussman, Helen would like you to bring ‘Sussy’.”
We were both graced by Wyatt’s laugh; I don’t think that Millie had ever heard him laugh until right then because she looked at me with surprise on her face and a question in her eyes.
I simply said, “Nice, isn’t it?”
When Wyatt came into the foyer from the office he had taken off his jacket and had his sleeves rolled. It looked like he meant business and was making preparations to handle the situation as best he could – an explosive catch with me.
“What, you don’t have ‘Hebly’ with you?”
Wyatt made a small joke and I laughed.
“Of course I do. I just wanted to see if you had ‘Sussy’ with you.”
The catch object that I made for Wyatt was a cartoon of his face which wasn’t an easy feat due to how angular Wyatt is and how round the object had to be. It was obvious that he really liked my rendition.
For the following thirty minutes Wyatt and I had a catch right there in the foyer. As the lesser player Wyatt began the catch with the initial pitch. I do believe that he scared Millie with his first pitch which was hard and fast; a pitch that she could hardly track. Without much effort I caught the pitch and sent it back to him with some speed and a taste of his own medicine.
Millie made a sound of pure delight when I sent it back to him. He caught the speedy return and tried to windmill it back to me with even more speed which made me laugh. Wyatt understood that I loved the fast game and he was not afraid of hitting me hard with the object if that’s what it took. Our catch probably would have lasted much longer but Wyatt got distracted by Millie as she maneuvered into a position where she could see the catch better. Wyatt’s pitch went wild and there was no way that I could get to it and Wyatt was eliminated from the catch leaving me ‘the last player standing’ with my title, The Greater Player, still in tact.
After I said my good bye and told Wyatt that I’d keep in touch but would probably be going home in two days because of the progress Michael and I had made for the next PBS special. He told Millie that he was going to take a quick shower and would she ask the next interviewee to sit for a few minutes and that he would be with them shortly.
The rest of the day was spent first in the music room and then in the kitchen preparing dinner for when Michael and Lu got home.
Michel came home first; our hook up was good but Michael was in kind of a sulky mood that I really wanted to change. Try as I did he was upset about something and I knew I wouldn’t improve his mood by letting him know that I was going to leave a day earlier than planned.
“Helen, we still have one more song to write which can take time, you know that. I don’t think you should plan to leave early, at least until we get that song written.”
“I wrote it today. If you’ll follow me to the music room I’ll show you and you can decide for yourself if it’s any good.”
At the piano I played and sang the song that I’d put together that afternoon. Michael couldn’t deny that it was good.
“That’s a good song baby. I don’t need to ask what possessed you to write it.”
The song could have been called ‘Charlie’s My Man’.
Michael came to me and wrapped his arms around me and whispered in my ear.
“It’s just that I don’t want you to go. You make things so much better.”
“I love you, too Michael but I have a life, like you do with a love and a need to be with that love. Charlie is my man and I miss and need him just like you’d miss Lu if you couldn’t be with her and I know that you need her. You know that we’ll be together again for the taping of the special in a couple of weeks. Maybe you can come for a visit after since you’ll be so close.”
Michael’s mood didn’t improve until Lu got home and we sat down for dinner. That dinner together was great with wonderful conversation and hope.
Red Spark Intensity
Charlie picked me up at the airport. When I got off the plane and caught sight of him I nearly cried with how much I had missed him. He was all dressed up in his ‘signature’ suit that I designed and made for him. Lordy, he looked so handsome. His hello kiss was the perfect greeting.
As we were getting into the truck for the trip home, I asked Charlie how fast he could drive because I could hardly stand it that we were so close and still wearing clothing.
Charlie just smiled and shook his head and kissed