My Absence

Dear readers of this story,

I'm sorry that I haven't posted a new chapter in the last little while. We had an insane week in our household last week. A week ago today we found out that our daughter has Type 1 Diabetes. She had been struggling with what we thought was a virus for many months. We were very relieved to find out what was wrong, but as you can imagine, learning that your child has a life long disease and also learning how to manage it is overwhelming. We were doing good to get through a day with carb counting, insulin injections, blood sugar monitoring, and trying to make sure our other child felt loved and was okay with all of these changes; so the thought of doing a chapter was just out of the question.

So what does that mean for this story and Jeff's? It's still here and I'll still be posting chapters but it may not be as often. I'd love to try to keep with one a week and that will be my goal, but if I miss a week, you'll know why.

Also, if you've commented on a chapter in the last week or two, I'm so sorry I haven't responded. I will soon. Just may take a couple days. :)

Thank you so much for reading this and Jeff's story! I promise, there are chapters for each that are a work in progress and hopefully, I'll be able to post one for each this week. 

Thanks again for reading!
Sandybeachgirl

George - Chapter Six: Christmas Surprises - A Surprise Guest

 Normal warnings: Lots of pictures and some language.


The two weeks that were between my last visit to Bridgeport and Christmas crawled by. I had talked to Trev and Charlotte every day in an attempt to put my mind at ease about Charlotte being safe. Trev had started going to the bar more to keep an eye on Charlotte, which I wasn’t thrilled about him going to a bar all the time, but under the circumstances I did feel better knowing that he was watching out for her. Trev had told me that Ethan had also been watching out for both Charlotte and Steph and that neither of them walked out of the bar alone at night and that either Ethan, Trev or both of them made sure that the girls got home. Everytime I talked to Charlotte she would express her unhappiness about how she felt Ethan and Trev were being too overprotective. I tried my best to explain that because she lived in the same apartment building as Steph, and since Tony had threatened Steph,  Trev and I wanted to make sure she was safe. When that still didn’t appease her I would then tell her that it was also to make sure Steph was safe which seemed to made her feel better.

Both Trev and Charlotte were due in town in a couple of hours for the beginning of our Christmas get-together. That was something else Charlotte had talked about every time we talked on the phone since I had returned home. She seemed to be okay with seeing Mom at my house and then going to Mom’s for Christmas Eve but she still seemed nervous about spending the night there. I tried to be understanding. Even for me the house was filled with memories of dad and most of the time they were comforting; but there were times that a memory would bring back the pain from Dad not being there. That’s what I tried to remind myself of whenever Charlotte talked about being unsure and uneasy about going back to Mom’s house.

Another thing that Charlotte had been talking about was having a friend come with her when she and Trev came for Christmas. I was very much against it at first since I knew that whoever it was would feel completely out of place considering what was going to happen. They would have to witness the reunion of Mom and Charlotte, which was going to be emotional, and then they’d have to witness the first Christmas that Trev, Mom, Charlotte and I would be having in over six years. Not only would they feel out of place, they would feel uncomfortable. I tried telling Charlotte that it wasn’t the greatest idea but she just kept going on about how the person didn’t have anywhere to go for Christmas. I continued to stand my ground until Mom called me one day. Charlotte had actually called Mom to see if she was okay with her friend coming for Christmas and she of course told Mom how they didn’t have anywhere to go. When Mom had more than willingly agreed, Charlotte told her how I was being stubborn about it so Mom called me. I couldn’t fight both of them so I gave in. I just hoped this friend knew what the situation was, but there was no telling if Charlotte had told them.

I actually had the day off since I had made sure to not schedule any appointments. I wanted to make sure that everything was ready for when Trev, Charlotte and friend showed up. I had gone to the store and bought some general  food items and the ingredients for the salmon I was making for dinner, made sure all the beds had clean bedding, vacuumed  the cat fur off the furniture, and made sure that the bathrooms had plenty of towels.  After I finished I glanced at the clock. It was four and they were due to arrive at four thirty.  I decided to take a quick shower and change before they arrived. As I showered I started to realize how excited I was. It was Christmas, Charlotte was going to be with us, I was having company stay at the house, which was a rare thing, and Mom and Charlotte were going to be reunited. 

I quickly finished my shower and got dressed. Even though I kept looking at the clock every five minutes it felt like it should have been twenty. Time kept trickling past and I didn’t have anything to do but wait. I tried to read but I couldn’t concentrate on any of the words. I even tried playing with Parsley and Sage but they were much more interested in napping. I was about to go into the kitchen to go back over the salmon recipe for dinner when I heard the doorbell. I walked into the foyer and then opened the front door.

“Man! Am I glad to finally be here! The roads weren’t all the great going through the mountains and the way Charlotte drives, I thought I was going to die!” Trev said as we hugged.

“Ha! I’m surprised you let her drive.”

“She didn’t give me much choice.” He admitted.

“Oh shut up Trev! It wasn’t that bad!” Charlotte said as she entered the foyer. “Jeez, you’d think we almost went over a cliff when all we did was slide a couple of times. God George! This is nice! And you weren’t kidding, you do live right across the street from Grandma and Grandpa Hobble!” I smiled and hugged her.

“So, where’s your friend? Did they decided to not come?”

Trev and Charlotte smiled and then turned to look at the door. I followed their eyes to the door and my jaw almost hit the ground as I saw the “friend” walk up. 

10,000 View Special - The Men of Listening to My Heart

As Listening to My Heart reaches different milestones, I become more and more grateful to you, the readers. Not that I'm not already grateful, but these are special moments. Moments where I get to say, thank you. And I do thank you! Thank you for taking time out of your life to read, laugh, cry, and comment. I know that there are so many other things that you could be doing with your life, and the fact that you've taken time out to read this little legacy, is overwhelming to me. 

I spent some time thinking about how I could thank all of you. Maybe a special chapter? Perhaps a glimpse into the future? What about a photoshoot. . .? And that's when it came to me. . .a photoshoot of the men of Listening to My Heart. I dug into some old saved games, dusted off some of their clothes, and cleaned them up good.  For some of the side characters, I've provided a synopsis of what happened to them after their stories branched off from the heirs. I hope this brings a smile to your face like it did mine. It was fun seeing some of these older guys again.

So please, sit back, maybe grab a drink, a snack is always good too, enjoy the show. . . and thank you again for reading!


Sandybeachgirl

****** 

The Men of Listening to My Heart

Generation One

Johnny Johnson

After Johnny left Appaloosa to travel the world, he met a woman named Wanda and they quickly fell in love. They settled down in her home country of England and they had a son, named Patrick. Johnny, Chuck, and Amanda still remained friends through the years and when Johnny passed away (three years after Carson) Chuck and Amanda flew to England for the funeral.

 Chuck Hobble

Generation Two

Trent Matthews

After graduating college, Julia and Trent moved back to Appaloosa and married a year after Bridge and Carson. Soon after, they moved to a nearby town and had two boys. they remained friends with Bridge,Carson, Charlie, and Kate and attended Carson's funeral. They continue to talk and occasionally see their Appaloosa friends.

 Carson Davila

Charlie Hobble

Jeff Hobble

Generation Three

Tony Cerillo

Ethan Saxton

Will Davila

Trev Davila

George Davila

Thank you, from the men of Listening to My Heart

Poses provided by:

IMHO

gergana Creations

Skylar

Studio K2

Traelia

F&L Club

Simsinastorm

George - Chapter Five: Analysis vs. Opinion - Part Two

***Warning for launguage***

“Hi there, Tiger.” I heard a whisper slightly behind me.

I closed my eyes and thought how surely I hadn’t missed spotting her earlier. I slowly turned around making sure that I had regained my composure.  “You’ve got me at loss.” I admitted as I stood up.

“Why’s that?”

“Because all I can call you is Steph. Whereas you call me Tiger.”

“Well surely someone as smart and observant as you could come up with something.” She said while smiling.

“I. . .think I’m going to go check out the foosball table.” Trev excused himself.

I waited till he had left and then looked back at her. She was still looking at me smirking. “I’m. . .really sorry about last night.”

“Why?”

I sighed and looked down for a moment as I thought back to what I had said to her. “Because it was wrong to do.”

“I asked you to do it, remember?”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I should have. I don’t go around doing that, analyzing people out loud.  I just. . .the last thing I was trying to do was hurt your feelings. . .” I sighed. As much as I was trying to apologize, It was coming out all wrong. I couldn’t find the right words and I knew it was coming across as insincere.

“You’re worried that you hurt my feelings and that I’m upset because I may not have liked what you said.” That was exactly what I had been trying to say but couldn’t. 

“Yes.”

“Look, it’s okay. I’m not crushed, I’m not pissed, I’m not hurt. I figured that’s what you thought about me.”

“Wait, what I think about you and analyzing you is different from each other.”

“How can that be?”

“I have to analyze people every day. I need to know what could possibly affect someone to act or think in a certain way. Like, let’s say. . .” I looked over at Trev and thought of something. “Take Trev. Let’s say he was a patient of mine. He comes in and he says, what at least half my patients say, which is ‘I really don’t know why I’m here.’ I have nothing to go off of. They don’t know why they’re there, I don’t know why they’re there. So I have to start making observations, or analyzing them. Does their appearance tell me anything? What about their mannerisms? Then we start talking, about anything, which allows me to briefly observe their personality.  For a whole hour I observe/analyze them trying to connect dots with all three of those things; appearance, mannerisms, and communication. But that’s all they are; they’re only observations.” She looked confused and Ethan informed her that her drinks were ready.

“I’ll be back.” She told me. I watched as she delivered the drinks to a table of guys and spent a minute talking to them. She checked on another table and wrote something down before heading back to the bar. “I need a Bud and a Bloody Mary, Ethan.” She turned back to me. “Okay. . .what?” 

I scrunched my face trying think of a way that I could explain it better to her. I looked back over at Trev. “I hate to use Trev as an example but I can’t explain this without giving you a specific example; and I definitely can’t use an actual patient as an example. So, yes he’s my brother, and yes I’ve known him my whole life; but, he doesn’t tell me everything and there are certain things that I don’t know for certain. Like, why does he act the way he does, because no one else in our family does. But if I just observed him I’d tell you that he cares very much about his appearance because it’s obvious he works out.”

“Yeah, but you know he’s a football player.” She protested.

“Never mind that; pretend I didn’t. He’s muscular and he dresses nice which tells people he cares about his appearance.” She nodded. “Okay, now his behavior; he’s having a little trouble walking. . .” I shook my head, he was already on his way to getting plastered. “He’s talking to a lot of different people, he’s larger than life in his actions and how he talks to people. Was there anything that I said about him that stands out more than the rest.”

“Drinks are up, Steph.”

She sighed. “I’ll be back again.” I watched as she again delivered drinks and took another drink order. She returned to the bar.“Two Mudslides, Ethan.” She turned and looked at Trev. “I’d say the fact that he’s having trouble walking.”

“Okay, what would cause that?”

“Really, we’re at a bar. . .”

“I know, but just humor me.”

“Fine, drinking too much?”

“Exactly. Now what if you observed that happening over and over again, what would you think?”

“That maybe they need to be more careful about their drinking.”

“Wouldn’t you at some point think they’re a drunk?”

She thought for a moment. “Yeah, I guess I would.”

“Okay, stop there. Don’t make any judgments about what you normally think about someone that would be labeled a drunk.”

“How do you do that?!”

“Just try not to. Now, why would someone do that, drink a lot repeatedly.”

“I don’t know, probably why a lot of people do, to forget, dull some kind of pain.” I smiled. “What?”

“Now think about what you would normally think about a drunk person. How you’d react to them, how they would react to you, what they look like. . .Is that what you think of Trevor? Because he drinks too much repeatedly.”

“No! I would think that maybe there was something that was causing him to drink that much. Like I said, maybe he was trying to forget something, dull some kind of pain.”

“So what you observed about him is different than what you think. You observed that he probably drinks too much and it’s possibly because he’s trying to forget some kind of pain.  But what do you think about Trev?”

“I think for the most part, he’s a fun, nice, and caring guy.”

“What you observed about him is different than what you think about him. . .” That’s when I saw the light bulb go off.

“Steph, drinks are up.” She turned around and got the drinks. She nicely, but quickly delivered them to the table and checked on her remaining tables before returning.

“So you observe people but don’t judge them?”

“Exactly; at least I try not to. When I observe people, whether it’s in my office or at a party, that’s all it is; observations about their appearance, mannerisms, and communicating. I don’t judge why they do it I just observe that they do it and wonder why; what would cause them to do a particular thing.”

“Here’s what I don’t understand, why, if you spend your whole day observing or analyzing people would you want to do it outside of work. Doesn’t it get old or tedious?”

“I like the challenge of trying to figure out a puzzle. Probably one of the reasons I became a psychologist.”

“But why do you look at all people as puzzles? Why can’t you just enjoy being with them? Enjoy their company, their personality. . .why do you need to always ‘solve a puzzle?’”

“I do enjoy just being with people; but more so with people I know then strangers. I usually analyze people I don’t know. I guess partly because I figure they won’t ever know I’m doing it and also because it takes away the uneasiness I feel around people I don’t know.”

She chuckled. “You? You get uneasy around people you don’t know?”

“Don’t you?”

“Do you always answer a question with another question?”

“Do you?”

We stood there looking at each other for a moment; neither one of us wanting to give in to the other. I finally broke the silence. “Anyway, the point I was making earlier was that I am sorry for what happened last night and whether or not you think it was okay, I don’t.”

“And like I said, it’s okay, so you don’t have to keep apologizing.”

I stood there trying to determine if I should let it go or ask the question that had been bugging me all day.  Before I could ask Charlotte was walking up with a drink order.

“Hey Ethan, I need a chardonnay and a merlot.” He smiled at her and nodded. I noticed that they briefly kept looking at each other before they both looked away. 

“Hmm. . .” Steph voiced. “That’s different.”

“Something I’ll have to give her a hard time about later.” I looked at Steph and she was already looking at me shaking her head.

“What?”

“Do you all go around giving each other a hard time about stuff like that?”

“Yeah, don’t all siblings?”

“Again, answering a question with a question. . .I wouldn’t know.”

“You don’t have any brothers or sisters?”

I watched as the emotion disappeared from her. Her usually expressive eyes became emotionless and the smile that had been on her face just moments before was replaced with a blank expression. “No.” She simply stated.

“Hey Steph," Charlotte called us over. "What section are you serving in?” Charlotte came up and asked. I couldn’t believe her timing. Couldn’t she see that Steph and I were actually having a conversation? Steph looked at her and seemed to snap out of whatever she had been thinking about. My guess was she had been thinking about her family, maybe even her dad.

“Section 3; why?”

I turned and noticed that Charlotte looked really worried. She motioned with her head over towards a table and we all looked to where she motioned. Sitting at a table was Tony, looking back at the three of us. I felt the urge to let the bastard feel my fist in his face and was slightly shocked when I felt my hand ball into a fist. I turned my attention to Steph and noticed that she surprisingly looked calm.

“Do you want to switch sections?” Charlotte offered.