Weddings in the Family

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“So you don’t forget me,” she had said, sitting cross-legged on the bed. They had been eating pizza, the only food available in the town by the time they finished celebrating between the sheets.

“I won’t have time to forget you.” He fed her the last bite of pepperoni. “I’m going to be so busy at work, I won’t have time to think of anything else. Once I’m home, I’ll drop off to sleep.”

He sank onto the sofa, his feet stretched in front of him. He wished he was tired enough to fall asleep right now. The long nights of boisterous lovemaking should have worn him out. Instead, all he could think about was his lonely bed and the long drive ahead for Caroline.

He changed into running shoes and shorts and jogged through the neighborhood, under the shade of the thick oak trees that lined the yards. The apartment building was nestled at the edge of a residential area, the five units catering to those few people in town who didn’t have a house of their own.

A dog barked at him from the back fence of a two-story frame house and he gave a jaunty wave. He hadn’t had time to meet any of his neighbors yet, too eager to savor the time he had with Caroline. He would spend the next few days getting to know them, to become part of this town.

His shower over, he turned on the evening news and slumped on the couch. When the phone rang, he dashed across the room and grabbed the receiver from the wall. “Hello?”

“Hi. I’m home.”

He glanced at the cheery kitchen clock she had placed over the refrigerator. Everywhere he looked, touches of her. He didn’t know if they would provide him with solace or make him regret their decision. “Didn’t take you long,” he said.

“I didn’t stop. And I didn’t speed, thank you very much.”

He grinned and sank to the floor, his back against the wall, the cord of the phone wrapped around his wrist. “Did I say you did?”

“No. But you can’t let it go that I was stopped on our honeymoon. The only time I’ve ever been pulled over, I might add. And I didn’t even get a ticket!”

“The officer gave you a warning ticket.” The yellow slip was packed away with their wedding pictures and license, a reminder of that first trip to Colorado. She had been nervous when the Kansas highway patrolman had come to the window, stating that she had just been married and the name on her driver’s license hadn’t been changed yet. The young officer had given her a warning and said they would be watching her.

Her sniff of indignation sounded over the line. He could imagine her sitting with her legs crossed, her back against the headboard of the bed. “What time do you have to be at school tomorrow?” he asked.

“We’re working in our classrooms. We can go whenever we want. I’ll go in when I wake up.”

“The afternoon, then?”

Another sniff. “I’m not sleeping in that late.”

“Maybe I should call you and wake you up before I go to work.”

“Don’t you dare!”

The bantering went on for several more minutes. He was prone on the floor, the phone pressed against his ear as he said outrageous things to make her laugh. “I should hang up now,” she finally said.

“Yeah.” They were talking late on Sunday night, but the bill would still add up.

“Love you.”

“Ditto.”

“Nick! At least say it over the phone.”

“I did.”

A long sigh. “Sleep tight,” she said. “And have a good day tomorrow.”

He crawled into bed and lay on his back, watching the shadows from the streetlight flicker over the ceiling. Her scent lingered on the pillow next to him and he tugged it into his arms, feeling foolish but comforted at the same time. He was a grown man. He could survive a few days without his wife next to him in bed.

The days at work passed quickly. The owner of the heating and air-conditioning company had opened this second branch three years ago, putting the main responsibilities in the hands of his oldest son. Nick had been chosen to head the marketing department and improve their sales in the region. He pored over reports, looking for ways to help grow the company, papers covering the dinette table he and Caroline had found at a secondhand shop.

He talked to Caroline each evening, after he ran down the streets of his new neighborhood. His running had been relegated to the bottom of his priorities over the last few years. Work and marriage had taken up his time. Now he found the exercise necessary, the sweat and heat he generated helping him forget the empty apartment and the emptier bed.

After covering several miles, he would shower, dial the number of their town house and crawl under the covers. He had replaced the short phone cord with one that reached to all corners of his temporary home. Listening to her chatter about her day while he lay in bed brought her closer.

Not that he could ever tell her how he felt. Except for her “I love you” at the end of each conversation, Caroline never expressed any emotion and certainly never let him know that she missed him. He knew it was foolish, but his pride wouldn’t let him say that he missed her first.

“When are you coming home tomorrow?” she asked after a detailed description of her open house the night before.

He kicked off his running shoes. The phone had been ringing when he came in from his run and he had grabbed it before she hung up. “About tomorrow night—”

“No!” she interrupted. “Nick, you don’t have to work late, do you?”

He dropped his sweaty clothes on the floor and grabbed a towel off the rack, mopping up the sweat dripping from his forehead. “They’re having a picnic to introduce the new employees to the community. I’m expected to be there.”

“Why didn’t they have it earlier? Your boss knew I was going back to Iowa.”

“The picnic isn’t just for our company. The chamber puts it on every year to welcome any new employees that have been hired by the different businesses. They have it in the fall to include the new teachers. I have to be there, Caro. It’s a big deal around here.”

“Fine. Can you leave after it’s over?”

He wanted to. He’d planned to show up, eat a few hot dogs, chum around with the people he was starting to know by name and sight. Then leave and be home by midnight at the latest.

“I don’t think so. There’s a dance, some speeches, lots of mingling. Most people don’t leave until around eleven, I’m told.” Too late to drive three and a half hours. Even if he wanted to see his wife after four days without her.

“Can’t you explain you have to get home to your wife?”

It was the closest she had come to saying she missed him in all of their phone conversations.

“I wish I could, honey. I’ll leave first thing Saturday morning. I’ll be there before you wake up.” He would crawl into their bed, nuzzle the soft skin of her neck, wake her up just enough to rekindle those fires they had been burning all summer.

Her sigh sounded over the line. “We have a fund-raiser for school. A car wash. I took the first shift, from nine to eleven, figuring I’d be there and back before you woke up.”

He stretched out on the bed, the towel wrapped around his waist. “Then I’ll be waiting for you when you come home.”

THE WEEKEND WAS BUSY. Except for several hours in bed after she came home from the car wash, her hair wet and her skin slippery and soapy from the kids’ antics, their time together was spent on household chores. He caught up on the bills, ran a few loads of laundry, helped her stop a leak in the shower. She made what she expected to be a quick trip to the grocery and ended up stuck in the weekend crowd. They had considered a movie but decided Saturday date night wouldn’t give them any privacy.

“I’m coming to you,” she announced over the phone the next Wednesday. “When you come here, you work on the house. I want to have you all to myself, no chores.”

“About this weekend—”

“What this time?” Her voice was resigned.

“We have a retreat to determine the direction for the new year. Mr. Abbott is coming himself.” The boss had been in communication with him during the summer months, but this was the first time he had shown up at the office since Nick’s move.

“I’ll come home next weekend, no matter what,” he added.

Her long sigh echoed over the line. “All right. I can’t go two weeks without you, Nick.”

The longing in her voice warmed his heart. They might not say how much they missed each other, but he knew the need was there. He felt it every night when he crawled into his lonely bed.

THE RETREAT WAS DEEMED a success, Mr. Abbott calling him aside to praise the work he was doing. Nick was certain the business would continue to thrive if they took advantage of the growth spurt that was happening in the town. He was in daily contact with the home-builders’ association, working with the contractors developing new neighborhoods. He had heard a rumor that a large company was considering the area for its latest factory and he was following up on that possibility. Abbott’s Heating and Air could benefit from both the new factory construction and employee housing that would be needed.

He missed talking with Caroline about the progress that was being made. After the first month and the arrival of their phone bill, they had curtailed the long evening phone calls in favor of shorter calls each morning. He’d call and wake her up, they’d chat for a few minutes, and then both rush off to get ready for their day.

Little talk had gone on during the two weekends he made it home. He had tossed in a load of laundry and they had jumped into bed. Once, Caroline had started to tell him about her latest workshop, but he had been distracted by the movement of her lips and they had fallen back into bed, surfacing only when it was time for him to leave.

“Come down next weekend,” he urged at the end of September. He had an important meeting on Friday with the factory manager that would no doubt last late into the night. If she drove to Wheeler, they could salvage the rest of the weekend. “I’ll make sure nothing interrupts our time on Saturday. We’ll hide away from the rest of the world,” he whispered into the phone. “Have that affair you talked about.”

“Isn’t that what we’ve been doing when you come back here?”

He laughed and then glanced around the small space he was calling home. The current state of his apartment couldn’t be further from a secret love nest. Clothes from his week were spread on the chairs and couch. His running shoes and shorts trailed a path to the bathroom. Papers from the current project were piled on the dinette table and chairs. Dirty dishes littered the small sink, and old newspapers were stacked against the overflowing trash can.

He had a week to clean up or she would leave him for being a slob.

“Just come,” he begged. His adrenaline over winning the bid for the factory’s heating and air-conditioning systems threatened to overtake him and he needed to release steam. With his wife.

He arrived home late Thursday after an intense meeting with the department heads. Hammering out their figures before the next day’s meeting meant the team worked through dinner. He was confident the final negotiations would go well for both parties.

Now he needed to spend some quality time with his apartment. The days had blended into the nights and the mess had grown. He planned to crank up some rock and roll and get down to the dirty business of straightening the place before Caroline saw that their love nest had deteriorated into a sloppy bachelor pad.

Whistling, he walked up the two steps to his front door, his tie loosened and the top button of his shirt undone. The suits were the worst part of his day. Who had ever decided a man needed a cord tied around his neck to be successful? He stuck the key in the door and pushed it open.

“Surprise!” Caroline jumped from the couch and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He staggered and caught the edge of the door to keep his balance. “What are you doing here?”

She blinked and he shook his head, sorry his voice had sounded so rough. “I didn’t mean it that way.” He dropped his tie and hooked an arm around her neck, tugging her close. “I didn’t expect you until tomorrow.”

“I gathered that.” Her voice was dry and he glanced around the room.

She had washed and dried the dishes, putting them away in the open cupboards that flanked the kitchen window. His clothes were gone from the various places he had flung them each night. The covers on the bed were smoothed down and he saw a wad of bedding in the hamper. She had even changed the sheets.

He sat down on the couch, keeping her close to him. The citrusy perfume she favored wafted over him and he inhaled deeply. “I expected you tomorrow night. Did you take the day off?”

She shook her head. “Fall break. I forgot to tell you and then decided to surprise you.”

Her scent was causing his insides to twist and he had a strong desire to check out the clean sheets.

Her fingers were busy on his shirt. He sprawled against the back of the couch, watching her work her way down his shirt and onto his belt through half-closed eyes. When she slid the zipper down on his pants, he stilled her hand. “I’ve had a long day.”

“Oh.” Disappointment shone in her green eyes.

He laced his fingers through hers, tugging her to her feet. “I think I’d do better in the bed. Just in case I fall asleep.”

Desire flickered again on her face. “I don’t think you’ll be falling asleep.”

“Really?” He backed her to the bed and gave her a light push, grinning when she bounced on top of the spread.

She raised her arms, holding them wide. “Not right away. After I’m through with you, though, you may wish you had tomorrow off.”

He dropped onto her, rolling them over and over the bed. The meeting with factory management flickered through his mind. No, he had to be there. But a few hours’ wrestling with his wife could only heighten his ability to negotiate the final terms. He buried his hands in her thick curls and prepared for the next day.

“MR. EDDINGTON? YOUR WIFE is here.”

Nick lifted his head from the budget report he’d been studying and frowned at Mildred, his secretary. “Caroline is here?”

He didn’t wait for her response, pushing his chair back and rushing across the room. Why was Caroline here in the middle of the week?

She rose from her seat on one of the soft chairs. “Hi, Nick.” Her cheeks were flushed and her voice sounded nervous.

“What are you doing here?” His hand cupped her elbow and he ran his gaze over her quickly.