Dylan looked at Aimee with his brows pulled tight into one long line. In an extremely serious tone he asked, “Aimee, why the crazy questions? Is there something I need to know? I mean, are we...” He stopped and pointed back and forth between them. Finally he got out the last word, “...okay?”
She quickly answered, “Of course! We're perfect. Don't you think so?”
“Yes, I think so. I mean I know we're perfect. Nothing will ever come between us, right?” He waited for Aimee to respond.
Aimee couldn't promise what she couldn't predict. Her life was unpredictable. But she had become an expert at covering up the chaos. “No, nothing will come between us,” she answered.
Dylan wrapped his arms around her and drew her into his warm body. His lips stopped an inch from hers. His sweet breath pulled her into his spell, as it always did. “We'll always be together. Just you and me, babe,” he said. Aimee closed her eyes and felt his soft lips touch hers.
Chapter 9 Interference
Silence.
“Thanks, Dad,” Aimee answered. “Don't worry. I'm not a little kid anymore. We don't have to celebrate my birthday like we did when I was ten.” Dad and Hannah picked her special day to get married. It was Aimee's nineteenth birthday, and so far, other than a wonderful birthday breakfast with Dylan, it had been rather uneventful.
Silence.
“Enough about my birthday,” she said. “Congratulations to you two.” Aimee had the phone wedged between her ear and shoulder while she stirred cornbread batter for dressing. “So, did you have some pictures taken of the ceremony?”
Silence.
“Email them to me, okay?” Aimee requested.
Sacha stepped around Aimee to wipe her hands on the towel. “Tell Dad and Hannah congrats from James and me,” she interrupted.
“Did you hear Sacha, Dad?”
Silence.
“He said thank you,” Aimee told her. Sacha smiled, then went back to slicing apples for the pie. “Okay, Dad, thanks for calling. I'll let James know you didn't get cold feet.” Aimee giggled. “Have fun, and don't worry about us. Everyone's good here. I'm still going with Paul and Jill tomorrow to Portland, then the game on Friday, and Sacha is excited about doing their first Thanksgiving dinner, so we're fine, Dad. We'll have Christmas together, so stop worrying about us, okay?”
Silence.
“Is Leroy watching Z Boy?”
Silence.
“That's good he doesn't have to be boarded. I really miss him. Maybe someday I can bring him to Eugene to live with me.”
Silence.
“I know. It's just a thought.”
Silence.
“Love you, too. Give Hannah our love.”
Silence.
“Bye.” Aimee ended the call and placed her phone on the counter. A tear escaped the corner of her eye and ran down her cheek. Aimee wiped it quickly with the back of her sleeved arm before Sacha could notice. She did anyway.
“You okay?” she asked as she touched Aimee's shoulder tenderly.
Aimee sniffled lightly first, then answered, “Yeah. I'm fine. It's just that...” she paused to swallow the lump in her throat. She continued, “...well, I'm happy for Dad. He's been alone for a long time, and he deserves to be happy. I just wish we could have shared this with him.”
Sacha asked, “That would have been special, huh?”
“Yeah,” she replied, “it would have.” She inhaled a long breath. No more fretting about Dad and Hannah, she promised herself. She poured the batter into the pan, stuck it in the oven, wiped her hands on the dishtowel, then set the timer. “There you go. One less thing on your dinner to-do list.”
“Thanks,” said Sacha.
“Anything else you need?”
“Nope. That's it for now.”
“Well, I better go finish packing for the morning. They should be by before seven to pick me up, and I don't want them to be waiting.”
“Okay,” Sacha said without looking up as she rolled out the pie crust.
Aimee went into her room and shut the door. Her phone was vibrating on the bedside table. She checked the caller ID. It was DT.
“Hi there,” Aimee answered.
“Hey there, birthday girl,” Dylan greeted. “How was the rest of your day?”
“It was okay. Other than our breakfast, I haven't done anything except help Sacha clean the apartment and get things ready for their dinner tomorrow.”
“I'm sorry we didn't do anything special today, but I promise we'll celebrate it on Saturday. Okay?”
“That's fine, Dylan,” she said. “You know I don't really get into my birthday.”
He replied, “Well, that's gonna change. I like birthdays, and you're gonna start liking them, too. You remember mine's coming up in a couple weeks, right?”
“Yeah, yeah,” she replied. “How could I forget? You've been mentioning it every chance you get for the past month.”
“So, are you ready for tomorrow?” he asked.
“Not quite,” answered Aimee. “I still need to make the pie after Sacha's through in the kitchen. She's been cooking like a wild woman for the past three hours.”
Dylan laughed. “If you don't get to make one, don't worry. Mom and Gretchen have orchestrated this dinner like it's a White House gala.”
“Oh my,” Aimee started, “is the attire formal?”
“I wouldn't wear sweats, if you wanna earn brownie points with my old man, but jeans and a nice shirt would work.”
“Thanks for the tip, not that I was gonna wear sweats. Do you think I'll get time in for a run?”
“I would make time for a run. You might wanna invite Dad. He runs, and you two could visit while you're out. Just don't race him. I'm sure you could beat him, but he doesn't like to lose, especially to a woman.”
“Another good tip. Thanks,” Aimee said. “So, will I get to see my favorite person at all tomorrow?”
“No. I have to ride with the team, which means I have to stay here for the road trip, then the pregame stuff once we get there.”
“Oh rats,” she commented.
“Yeah, I know. Just the price I pay for getting to be a Bear.” He chuckled. “We'll spend time together this Saturday after you work, okay?”
Aimee sighed. She wasn't going to get to be with Dylan, or James and Sacha, or Dad and Hannah for the holiday, but at least she would be with Jill and Paul. Aimee really liked Dylan's mom and stepdad. It was his father who she wasn't looking forward to spending the next couple of days with.
“Okay. No backing out. Just the two of us, right?”
“Right,” he confirmed.
“I better go. I need to finish packing and then shoo Sacha out of the kitchen so I can do my pie.”
Dylan replied, “I'll call you in the morning while you're on the road. And thanks for going with Mom and Paul. I really appreciate you doing this for me. Try to have fun at Dad's and ignore any ridiculous crap that falls out of his mouth.”
“Will do,” Aimee answered. The closer she was getting to going, the less she wanted to, but Aimee promised Dylan so no matter how painful it was spending the next two days with Greg Townsend, she was going to survive...and do it gracefully. “I love you, sweetheart.”
“I love you more,” Dylan said.
Aimee ended the call and stuck her phone on the charger by the bed. She opened the closet door and started fingering through the clothes hanging on the rack. Jeans. Shirts. More pants. More shirts. And a scant collection of skirts and dresses. “Hmmm,” she said while poking through the items. Finally, she found what she thought would be perfect. A compromise between blue jeans and a skirt; a blue jean skirt! Aimee had the perfect top to go with it, and some really cute boots. She pulled the outfit off the rack and surveyed it. Aimee decided, “Well, the skirt is fine, but I better iron the top.”
After she got everything packed away in her suitcase, she prepared and baked the pie. Just as she pulled it out of the oven and stuck it on the cooling rack, Aimee heard her phone vibrating from
the bedroom. She raced and grabbed it. BFF was on the screen. Excitedly she answered, “Hey girlfriend! It's been forever since we've talked.”
Chelsea griped, “I know. I thought we promised we'd talk everyday, or at least a couple times a week.”
“I think we're busier than we thought we'd be, huh?”
“It's crazy, at least here, and I'm not even in school yet. I'm working around the clock it seems, but I love it,” shared Chels.
“Well, you're going to get in school after Christmas, right?”
“Yeah, or Dad's gonna kill me. He's footing the bill for my share of the apartment, but that agreement was before I decided not to go to school this semester. And even though I'm working my butt off trying to pull my own weight, I hear about not going to school every time I talk to Dad...” Chels paused, then finished, “Oh well. Hey, the reason I called was to wish you a Happy Birthday!”
“Thanks. You remembered.”
“Of course I remembered my best friend's nineteenth birthday. Did you do anything special today?”
“Not really. I went to breakfast with Dylan, and he had them do a surprise birthday pancake for me with a flaming candle.”
“That's really sweet.”
“Yeah, he's a sweetheart.”
Chels continued with her questions. “So, how's life in Eugene?”
“It's good,” Aimee answered. She didn't want to spend the next hour talking about every awful thing that happened to her in the past two months since she last talked to Chelsea; Joseph and Brandi showing up in Eugene, and never enough time with Dylan. But she could share one thing Chelsea would consider newsworthy. “Hey, guess what.”
“You and Dylan are finally engaged?!”
“What?!” Aimee exclaimed. “No, not Dylan and me, but two someones did get married.”
“James and Sacha?!” she screeched.
“No, not them.”
“So who?” she questioned, but before Aimee could answer Chels spurted out, “Oh no! For real?! Not your dad and Dr. Morris?”
“Yeah, they got married in Las Vegas today.”
“Omigod!” Chels squealed. “So how come you didn't let me know before now?”
“I only found out a few weeks ago Hannah had moved in, and they were engaged.”
“Why did they go to Las Vegas to get married without family?” asked Chels.
Aimee really didn't know why Dad was in such a hurry to get married that they couldn't postpone the wedding another month until they were home for Christmas. “I don't know. I guess they just decided they didn't want to wait until we could all be home.”
“Wow. Dr. Morris and Mr. S, huh? How do you feel about having Dr. Morris as a stepmom?”
Aimee hesitated for a long moment before answering. It drove her crazy when Dad first started dating Hannah because she didn't want her mom to be replaced, and then especially after she found out her mother wasn't dead, like she had been told all of her life. But no one would believe she saw Mom on one of her travels because that kind of stuff was impossible. There's no such thing as time travel, right? What was truly crazy was, if Mom was still alive, that would mean Dad actually divorced Mom after he had her committed. Or worse, he was still married to Mom, and now Hannah, too. Aimee shivered. That was too creepy. She didn't know how to prove anything she witnessed on that mission, but she knew the truth. And after Aimee returned, she didn't want to have anything to do with Dad or Aunt Lauren for what they did to Mom. Only, after her accident in England where she almost got killed, Aimee realized life was too short. It could end at any time. And she didn't want to leave this world being mad at the only parent she knew, even if he wasn't her real dad.
Finally, Aimee answered, “I like Hannah. She makes Dad happy, and that's a good thing.”
“Your dad does deserve to be happy. Speaking of happy, how are you and Dylan?”
“Great,” she answered quickly. “I'm going to Portland with his mom and stepdad, and having Thanksgiving tomorrow with his dad...”
Chelsea interrupted in disbelief, “You're having dinner with his dad, the man who doesn't like you?”
“Yeah, well, it was important to Dylan so I agreed. We're going to the game on Friday.”
“That sounds like fun,” Chels said sounding a bit jealous. “At least you're gonna spend the holiday with Dylan's family, even if it isn't your own.”
“Don't you have someone to spend the day with?”
“My roommate, Sandy,” she answered. “She's worse than you. She's a friggin' vegan so we won't have my mom's wonderful turkey, or dressing slobbered with gravy, or sweet potato casserole full of butter and that awesome marshmallow stuff on top, or any yummy cheese sauce for the broccoli, and Grandma’s to-die-for pumpkin pie with a huge glob of whipped cream.”
Suddenly, Aimee felt bad for Chelsea. It was hard enough not having Thanksgiving with her family, but at least she was going to have it with Dylan's family. Chelsea only had Sandy to spend the day with her first Thanksgiving away from home. “I wish you could have come home for Thanksgiving. I'd take you with me tomorrow.”
Chels stated, “That would be awesome! I really miss you, Aimee. You're still coming at Christmas, right?”
Aimee cringed. She hadn't bought a ticket, much less told Dylan she planned on going to New York over the holidays by herself to stay with Chels. With the holidays quickly approaching, she needed to hurry up and get her ticket bought, or she wouldn't get one. “I'm coming,” Aimee answered.
Chels shrieked, “All right! I can't wait, girlfriend.”
Aimee checked the clock. It was 11:37 pm. It was late and she needed to get to bed. The time to get up would be here before she knew it. Aimee asked, “Do you realize it's 1:37 there?”
“Yeah, Aimee, I know what time it's here. I'm usually up this late every night.”
“What?!” Aimee exclaimed. “What time do you go to work?”
“Nine,” she answered.
“It doesn't sound like you're getting a lot of sleep.”
“Nope, but that's because it's a party town. You'll see when you come. We're gonna have fun!”
A party town? thought Aimee. The last two parties Aimee attended bombed out. She wasn't positive she wanted to go to another one, but she was ready for some fun.
“Promise?” Aimee asked.
Chels giggled. “Yeah, pinkie promise.”
“Hey, I better go. I have to get up pretty early.”
“Okay. Tell your brother and Sacha hello and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Oh, and congrats to your dad and Dr. Morris for me.”
“Will do, Chels, and try to have a good day tomorrow, okay?”
“That's my plan. Love you and see you soon.”
Aimee replied, “Love you, too, kiddo.”
The call ended, and Aimee stuck her phone back on the charger. Man, she thought, I gotta be better at calling her. She sounds sooo homesick. Aimee missed Chels. She had been her best friend most of her life. And so far, other than Sarah and Lynn who she just ran with, Aimee hadn't made any girlfriends in Eugene. Being at college wasn't turning out to be as much fun as she thought it would be. Aimee sighed, then grabbed a t-shirt before heading to the bathroom to clean up.
At six the alarm buzzed. Aimee slapped it off, jumped out of bed, quickly stretched, then flew to the bathroom to get showered and dressed. At 7:10, Paul knocked lightly on the door. Aimee grabbed her suitcase, swung open the door, handed Paul the case, and then pitched her backpack over her shoulder. She picked up the pie in one hand and her coffee mug in the other and set off trying to convince herself the visit would go well, even if she had a gut feeling otherwise. As soon as she got into the SUV, Jill handed her a brightly wrapped box with a huge, multicolored silk bow. Paul and Jill sang, “Happy Birthday!”
“Wow, thank you,” Aimee said with genuine surprise. “I guess Dylan told you it was my birthday yesterday.”
Jill nodded, then quickly added, “Open it!”
Aimee slowly unwrapped the beautiful
ribbon, then slipped her finger under the taped end and pulled it open. After a few seconds she had it completely unwrapped and what looked like a jewelry box sat in her palm. She pulled the lid off and a small velveteen bag was in the box. Aimee looked up at Jill, who watched her with a grin. Aimee loosened the bag and poured out the surprise into her hand. It was a gorgeous, silver crafted cross.
“Oh my!” Aimee exclaimed. “This is beautiful! But you shouldn't have done this.”
Jill quickly replied, “Why not? Of course we should have. Birthdays are important, and when I asked Dylan for some ideas, he suggested a cross. Do you like?”
“I love it,” Aimee said as she undid the clasp and put it around her neck. She held the cross between her fingers and admired it for a few seconds. Moisture trickled behind her eyelids. “This is beautiful. Thank you so much.”
“Well, dear, you're a beautiful person. Dylan is so lucky to have you.”
A big lump suddenly appeared in her throat, and Aimee quickly swiped at her eyes. It felt really special to have Dylan's mother and stepdad care so much about her.
Jill was bubbly, as usual, and chatted the whole way to Portland, except for the fifteen minute phone call from Dylan, which she requested Aimee put on the speaker so Jill could talk to her son, too. They arrived in Portland shortly after 9:00. Aimee had been to Mr. Townsend's house once this past summer when they left Dylan's FJ in his garage before they flew to Europe. Greg wasn't there then, and they didn’t go into the house. Today when they drove up to Dylan's dad's house, Greg stepped out onto the front entry with a cup of coffee in his hand. He was dressed in shorts, a t-shirt, and a pair of running shoes.
Paul parked the SUV, and both he and Jill got out and greeted Greg like old, best friends. Aimee took her time getting out of the vehicle, but she knew she couldn't put this off too long. After they got their hello's out of the way, Aimee got out and made it up to the happy reunion.
She greeted Greg, faking the happiest smile possible. “Hi, Mr. Townsend. Thank you so much for inviting me to be part of your family's Thanksgiving. I really appreciate it.”
Greg replied, “You’re welcome, Aimee. I wish Dylan could have come, but we'll get to see him tomorrow, won't we?” He smiled at everyone, then picked up his cup of coffee and tilted his head towards the open door. “So, come on in and we'll get this day going.”
The Weird Travels of Aimee Schmidt: Seeking Others Page 15
