I woke up the next morning and looked around the room as I
laid in bed. The sun was out but I could tell that it was still fairly early. I
picked up my phone and saw that it was almost seven. If I wanted to get a run
in that morning I was going to have to get moving. I sprang out of bed and went
over to the dresser to get out my running clothes. I hadn’t been able to run
the day before and I could tell. I felt tight and my head wasn’t as clear as it
normally was, probably from the stress that I could feel building up from not
running the day before. I looked in the
mirror and pulled my hair back since I couldn’t stand my hair getting in my
face when I ran.
As I walked from one end of the bedroom to the other I once
again marveled at how large it was. In all honesty, it wasn’t much smaller than
the downstairs of the house I had grown up in. I shook my head in disbelief and
opened the doors to walk into the living room. I stood still for a minute
trying to hear if there were signs of anyone one else being awake. The house
was completely quiet though. I wondered if I would be able to run and get back
before anyone woke up. I knew Charlotte was a late sleeper and Trev didn’t seem
like he would be a morning person. I wasn’t quite sure about George though.
I walked into the kitchen and filled my water bottle and I
noticed that there was a tea kettle and some tea sitting out on the counter. I
had figured I would have to go without having my morning tea while I was in
Appaloosa, and since I didn’t drink coffee, I was sure I was going to have to
go without my morning jolt of caffeine. Seeing the tea on the counter made me
smile. I decided to have a quick cup before going for my run. I heated up some
water in the kettle and waited to hear the whistle. I started freaking out when
it started, since it seemed to echo through the whole house and I was sure I
woke everyone up. I continued to prepare my tea and had just found the sugar
and creamer to put in it when I was startled.
“So you’re a tea drinker.” I almost dropped the creamer and
scrambled to keep it from spilling all over the place.
“Shitfire!” I exclaimed and I heard a chuckle. I placed the
creamer down and started to scold him as I swung around. “You scared the
living. . .” I knew it had been George but I was shocked for a different reason
when I turned around.
He wasn’t wearing a shirt and it was all I could do to not
stare at his chest. It wasn’t hard to tell when he was wearing a shirt that he
was in good shape, but seeing him without his shirt showed all the evidence of
his well-built physic. I really wished I’d had a better opportunity to study
his torso but I didn’t want to be too obvious.
“Do you always drink tea?” He asked.
“Hmm. . .? Oh, yeah; I’m not a coffee drinker.” I couldn’t
help but sneak a glance down at his chest as he walked past me.
“Me too.” He replied. That
would explain why there was tea in the house. He got out a cup and prepared
his own tea which gave me an opportunity to at least study him from behind. He
obviously had no idea how hypnotizing his chest was or he wouldn’t go walking
around without a shirt on.
“Hello?” His voice called me back down from
daydreaming in the clouds. “I asked if you wanted sugar and creamer in your
tea.”
“Oh! Ummm. . .I take both; about a teaspoon of sugar and
about a half tablespoon of creamer. I watched as he mixed them into the tea and
then he handed it me. I once again had to fight the urge to look at his chest
and thanked him. We drank our tea for a minute in silence when I noticed him
looking at me.
“What?”
“We’re you getting ready to go for a run?”
“Yeah, I usually run in the mornings and I didn’t get to
yesterday. I don’t usually go more than one day without running.”
He nodded and smiled. “I remember you telling me that.” He
took another sip of tea and I could tell there was something going on in that
head of his. “Do you mind if I join you?”
“What? I run for a long time usually. I mean you’re more
than welcome to join me but. . .”
“I think I’ll be able to keep up.” He smiled and put his cup
down. “I’ll be back in a minute.” I watched as he walked out of the kitchen and
I was slightly sad that I was being deprived of seeing his shirtless chest. A
couple minutes later he reappeared wearing running clothes and shoes.
“You run.” I said with understanding.
“Yeah.” He smiled. “Usually about five times a week. I
usually run in the evenings after work. I doubt I’ll get to run tomorrow so I
figure I might as well go ahead. Plus, I can show you around town at the same
time. Oh! And tell you about that surprise I was talking about last night.” I
had completely forgotten about the surprise.
“Okay. I still haven’t stretched.”
“Me either.” I nodded and we both walked outside. As we
stretched I tried my hardest to not look at him. Instead, I looked across the
street at what I now knew to be their grandparent’s house.
“It’s something, isn’t it?” I looked at him and he too was
looking at the house.
“Yeah, Grandpa will be the first to tell you that they got a
little carried away with the house when they first built it. But since they had
kids, and then our parents had kids, and now us grandkids are starting to have
families, there are a lot of people in our family. It’s the only house where we
can all fit. Not that that happens very often but sometimes it does.” His voice
trailed off a little bit and I wondered what he was thinking about. Before I
could ask he stopped stretching and turned towards me. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah.” We walked to the end of the driveway and he pointed
to the left.
“I usually run that way and then continue through town. It
eventually comes back around back here from the other direction. Kind of like a
weird circle.” I nodded. We started running to the left and I took in the
scenery. I hadn’t run in such open spaces in years and it was really beautiful
with the snow covering the yards. We ran for a while in silence until we
approached a curve.
“That house, the one that looks like a cabin,” I nodded. “That’s
our Uncle Jeff’s house.”
I nodded and noticed that someone was walking out of the
house. George chuckled. “Sometimes he sees me running and comes out to say hi.
Although I’m kind of surprised he saw us since, like I said earlier, I usually
run in the evenings.”
We ran over to the fence and I stood there watching as a
dark haired man walked up to greet us. “Hey, George! Getting a morning run in
for a change?”
“Yeah, not going to have time later with going to Mom’s.”
He nodded and then
turned to me. “You must be Charlotte’s friend. Bridge was telling me that she
brought a friend with her from the city.” He held his hand out and I shook it.
“I’m Jeff, it’s nice to meet you.”
“I’m Steph. Nice to meet you too.” I said and then watched
as his uncle and him talked for a moment. I kept looking back and forth between
them and was floored by how much the two looked alike. It was almost like his
uncle could have been his dad.
“What is it?” George asked.
“Surely someone has told both of you that you look a lot
alike. . .”
“Oh. . .” his uncle smiled. “Yes, we’ve heard that many
times through the years.” I looked at Geroge and he had the same smile. I
couldn’t help but chuckle. “Well, I won’t keep you from your run. See you both
tomorrow. It was nice meeting you, Steph.”
“You too.” He turned and went into the house. George
motioned for us to start running again and I was surprised as we turned onto a
dirt road that ran next to his uncles. We ran a little ways before I noticed a
house that seemed to be hidden behind his uncle’s house. I noticed George
stopped running and started looking at the house. I stopped next to him and wondered
what he was doing. After a moment of him standing there without talking he
finally spoke up.
“This is Mom’s house.”
It took me a moment to understand that in that one, short
statement there was a much bigger meaning. This was the house that the three of
them had grown up in; the house that we’d be going to later; the house that
Charlotte was nervous about seeing for the first time in six and a half years.
“Oh. It’s really nice.” I said. I didn’t know what else to
say that wouldn’t sound too awkward. He turned to start running again and I
joined him. That was the first time I had ever noticed him clam up.
He was
almost always inside his own head but this was different. It was like he
retreated inside himself. We ran back to the main road and up a steep hill that
led into town. I felt muscles in my legs that I hadn’t felt in a while.
“It’s a little different than running in the city, isn’t
it?” He said as we reached the top of the hill.
“Yeah, the city’s pretty much flat so I’m definitely using
muscles I haven’t in a while.” I admitted.
“Where do you run in the city?”
“I usually run from the apartment building to the indoor
park, run around in there some, and then back to the apartment.”
“Wow, that’s a long way.”
“Yeah.”
We ran a little further before talking again. “What made you
want to start running?” He asked.
“I started when I was in high school. It gave me an excuse
to get out of the house when I needed one to escape. After I left home I kept
doing it, mostly because I can tell when I don’t. My muscles start getting
tight and I don’t think as well. Plus, it has a calming effect on me.” He
nodded and we started running into town. It was a nice looking town. It was
definitely older but it was still nice, and very quiet.
“So, why did you start running?”
“I’ll tell you when we get up here.” He pointed to a
building on our right and I wondered what the building was. As we ran up to the
front doors I knew instantly.
“Dr. George, Davila. I’m guessing this is your office.” I
smiled at him and he smiled back.
“That it is.”
“It looks nice.” I peered inside and noticed that it seemed
very bright and cheerful which was the complete opposite of what I would have
guessed a psychologist’s office looked like. I turned around and looked at him.
“So are you going to tell me why you
started running?”
He nodded. “I sometimes ran with my Dad. He liked to run
and, like you, he did it almost every day. I didn’t mind running but it wasn’t
something that interested me much when I was younger. After he passed away I
started remembering how we used to go for runs sometimes and how I enjoyed
doing it with him. So I started running. In a way, I feel like it’s a
connection I still have with him.” He said as he looked up at the sky. I hadn’t
really expected that answer; I figured he ran to keep fit.
“Wow.” I said after a moment. “I guess we both started
running for deeper reasons than getting in shape.”
“I guess so.” He agreed. “It’s not much further back to the
house. You ready?” I nodded and we
turned the corner and ran down a hill. We got to the bottom and then turned
another corner. It wasn’t long before we come to what looked like a park that
was right next to his grandparent’s house.
“What a nice park! Must be nice to live next to one.” He
stopped running and I stopped too.
“It’s actually the family cemetery.” I felt the color leave
my face.
“Oh my God, George. I’m so sorry.”
He smiled a little. “You didn’t know, and anyway, that’s
what my grandparents wanted it to feel like when you were in it; that you were
in a nice park that just happened to be a cemetery.”
“Are many of your relatives buried there?”
“Just one.” I immediately understood and wished that I would
stop putting my foot in my mouth.
“Maybe I should just stop talking.”
“It’s okay. You couldn’t have known.” He tried to make me
feel better but he was doing the same thing he had done outside his Mom’s
house. He retreated back inside himself. He looked over at a spot in the park
and I followed his gaze to a headstone that stood by itself next to a tree.
There was something definitely different about the way he was acting and I knew
it had to do with his dad, but I wasn’t quite sure exactly what he was
thinking.
“Yeah, this is just a harder day for me.” I nodded. That’s
pretty much what I figured, and I kind of understood. Not that I had lost a
loved one but that around holidays it was painfully obvious what was missing. .
.family. In my case, my whole family. In his case, his dad.
“I can understand. It must be nice to have others around you
that understand.” He nodded and then suddenly looked at me.
“That reminds me, I was going to tell you about the surprise
that’s going to happen later today. . .”
While driving to Mom’s I had asked Charlotte repeatedly if
she was okay and she kept telling me not to worry. I had hoped that the run
Steph and I had gone on earlier that morning would help me feel less anxious
but if it had, I didn’t notice. I thought back to our run and I had for the
most part enjoyed it. It had been nice to run with someone else. I had just
wished that it had been a different day, a day that didn’t remind me so much
that Dad wasn’t there. I had felt bad that several times during our run that I
had clammed up. I looked in the rear view mirror at Steph and she caught me
looking at her. I smiled and nodded and turned my attention back to the road.
We passed Uncle Jeff’s house and then turned down the dirt road that led to
Mom’s house. As the house came into sight, I heard Charlotte in the back seat.
“Oh God. . .” She said and I heard the crack in her voice. I
pulled into the driveway and turned around.
“You okay?” I asked as I reached back to grab her hand.
“Yeah, I was just. . .surprised by how emotional it was to
see it again after all this time.”
I nodded. “Do you need a minute?”
She nodded and Trev and I got out of the car. We stood outside
for several minutes and we both looked around in silence. At one point I looked
back into the car and saw Steph with her hand on Charlotte’s arm. After another
minute, Charlotte and Steph stepped out of the car.
“Are you okay?” Trev asked Charlotte.
“Yeah. I just needed a minute.” We exchanged a look and I
knew that she was okay. We started walking up to the house and before we even
started walking up the porch steps, Mom was opening the door.
“Merry Christmas Eve!” She exclaimed and hugged each of us.
When she got to Steph she smiled. “So glad you’re here with us!”
Steph smiled back and thanked her. We all walked inside and
Mom took our coats and put them in the den. "Why don’t you all give Steph
a tour of the house so she knows where everything is and I’ll finish cooking
lunch.”
“Do you want some help?” Trev asked her.
“Sure! Do you think the two of you can handle the tour?” She
joked.
“I think we can manage.” I offered and looked at Charlotte.
So far, besides the moments in the car, she seemed to be handling being in the
house okay. “Well, as you can see, this is the kitchen, the dining room is next
to it and then the family room is next to that.”
We walked past the stairs and to a doorway. “This will be
your bedroom. It has its own bathroom so you won’t have to share with anyone.”
I told Steph. We walked in and she immediately walked to the windows at the
back of the room. “Wow, there’s a river back there?” She turned around and
looked at the room. “What is with you all and gigantic guest rooms?”
I laughed. “I don’t know.
I think Mom and Dad figured that a guest would want to be away from the
other bedrooms and this was the area that was designed for it. Kind of like an
oasis away from everyone else.”
She nodded and we walked back into the hallway and up the
stairs. “This door leads to. . .Mom’s room. The next room was the nursery but
now it’s a music room.” I opened up the door and we peaked inside. “There’s a
bathroom and further down the hallway is Mom’s studio.”
“Then there’s our old bedrooms.” I showed her Trev’s, then
Will’s, then mine, and last we saw Charlotte’s. As I opened the door Charlotte
walked in and stopped in the middle of the room. Steph and I exchanged a look
and then looked back at Charlotte. She
kept slowly turning around, looking at everything in it.
“It’s exactly the way I left it. . .” She finally said.
“I didn’t change anything in any of your rooms.” Mom said
behind Steph and I. “They’re yours and I didn’t feel like I should mess with
them.”
Charlotte and Mom looked at each other and they both had
tears in their eyes. I motioned to Steph and we both walked out of the room to
give Mom and Charlotte some privacy.
“It’s almost time for the surprise.” I told Steph. “I hope
it goes well.”
“Why wouldn’t it? From what you told me, it should be a
happy surprise.” I nodded. I just hoped that it didn’t push Charlotte or Mom
over the edge. I looked at my watch and saw that it was a couple of minutes
till noon.
“Better head downstairs.” She nodded and we walked
downstairs. By the time we walked down the stairs and into the foyer the
doorbell was ringing.
