The old jukebox was playing songs from the 80’s and people were dancing on the small dance floor near the back of the building. This was the place to be on a Saturday night in Evergreen. She saw Calli wave at her from the corner table. The whole clan was assembled, Jim, Brent, Roger and Calli, she’d make the 5th wheel, but that was a good number to be, since five represented ‘change’ and from her spot in the universe there was going to be plenty of change happening in the next couple of months. What an adventure they all were going to have and none of them had a clue. At least she didn’t think they did.
Roger and Brent were deep in conversation about politics and news and the East Coast. Jim helped her with her chair, always being the perfect gentleman. She noticed that he was paying more attention to her tonight than Calli. Interesting switch, I wonder if he’s trying to make Calli jealous. Just like a guy. The bacon cheeseburgers arrived with heaping baskets of fries. Tonight they had special fries, sweet potato; everyone raved about the taste and vowed to grow more sweet potatoes next year. Jim spent most of the evening talking to Sally. “Would you like to take a spin around the dance floor?” His request surprised her, but not really, “Sure. I’m a little rusty but I’ll give it a whirl.” Sally sent Calli a puzzled, ‘I don’t know why’ look. She definitely didn’t want any problems between the two of them. They’d been best friends forever. Not to be outdone, Brent took that moment to ask Calli to dance. Now this was going to be interesting, Sally hoped there weren’t going to be any unnecessary fireworks going off. Roger looked puzzled as he watched the four of them dancing, from his viewpoint the couples were mixed up.
He spotted Margaret as she came into the Burger Barn. They had been friends for a very long time and both of their spouses had passed over. At their age, romance was rare and special, the two of them respected each other and knew that being happy was a priority. Roger got up and added a chair to their table. Margaret approached the table and asked, “Is this seat taken?” She was clever and funny too. “It’s reserved for the most gorgeous lady in the county. Would you like to dance? Seems like everyone else is, and I think we can show them a thing or two!” As he twirled her around the dance floor, Roger felt the love in the air. Brent and Calli and Jim and Sally. They were still matched up wrong; at least that’s what he thought.
Chapter 24 Kisses The next two weeks seemed to disappear. Calli was extra busy with her garden, Roger was building new bee hives. Brent and Jim were spending their days together and it seemed that they were becoming best friends. Jim had a spare bedroom and had offered it to Brent, being in the motel was okay but having his own room at the farm was much better. The two of them spend most days in the garden hoeing and harvesting. Jim was constantly checking on the apple crop, it looked like it was going to be the best one ever. He felt proud of his success with the orchard, the trees had been neglected for many years and now that they were being pampered again, they were responding with an abundance of apples. It wasn’t time to pick any yet, but he had everything ready. He was grateful that there hadn’t been a killing frost in May that would have destroyed his crop. Brent was feeling more and more at home, even though he was a guest. He helped get everything ready for the farmers market, and basically became Jim’s ‘gopher’ heading into town whenever he needed supplies.
The phone calls had continued and Jim was getting more and more curious as the weeks went on. Just who is trying to reach me and why? He’d figured out that the calls were coming from Germany and he was positive that he didn’t know anyone living there. Brent had been in the house a few times when Jim answered the phone, but hadn’t questioned him about them. Slowly Jim was beginning to trust Brent enough that he had begun to share little bits and pieces of his life as a scientist, mostly he talked about the good times and his success. He purposely avoided the accident and his dismissal and depression. Brent wasn’t in any hurry to get his story, even though his editor called him every night pushing him for results. There were times that he threatened him and told him he’d hire someone else to do the piece. Brent knew that he was all bark and no bite. The story that he was writing late at night was going to be his last one for The Sun. Tomorrow he was going to make an offer on the local weekly paper. Even though he’d only been here a couple of weeks, it felt like home and he didn’t want to leave. If he was lucky, he’d be the new editor within the month. That pleased him and made his heart sing.
In the evenings the girls would come over and Brent would fire up the back yard grill and become the chef. He was actually very good at grilling vegetables, and heaven only knew there were plenty of them around. The four of them were having a good time together, even though none of them were exactly positive how all of this was going to get sorted out. Jim and Calli still seemed to consider themselves a couple. But Sally spent most evenings talking to Jim about spiritual events in the cosmos and Jim with his knowledge of the constellations and the galaxy was enthralled with her interpretations of alignments of the planets. He looked at everything from an astronomy view point and she looked at them from the astrological point of view. They managed to merge the two together and create what they called ‘scientific spirituality’.
“The burgers are done and so is the corn and veggies.” Brent was proud of his ability to feed them each evening. During the day as he was picking vegetables he’d create a new combination to grill together. He was a master at hiding zucchini in just about everything. Considering it was the height of the zucchini season, everyone searched for the hidden squash in every serving bowl. “You really have outdone yourself tonight. This marinade is amazing. I’m not going to ask for the recipe, because I know that you put a little of this and a little of that in your creations. There’s no way you could write a cookbook.” Calli was teasing him without mercy, knowing that he enjoyed it and tossed it right back at her. Sally and Jim had gone out into the orchard to get a better view of the full moon and that left Brent and Calli to clean up the dishes. After they had put everything away, they went to the front porch and sat on the porch swing together. “I’m thinking about purchasing the local paper tomorrow.” Brent looked at Calli hoping she’d approve. “Really? I know that you said that was your dream, but are you sure you want to live here forever? This is a really small town, nothing like Baltimore. You might get pretty bored in the winter when the snow flies and the drifts cover the windows.” Calli laughed, knowing that she was exaggerating about the drifts of snow being that high. But teasing each other had become their favorite pastime and she liked it. She was beginning to see what was causing her heart to flutter whenever she was around Brent, there was some sort of magical connection between the two of them, something that she couldn’t explain with words, but she felt with her heart. People would call it attraction or chemistry. She was beginning to think it was meant to be and it was love. This felt different – yes, she knew that she loved Cal, but not like this. And she knew that she enjoyed being with Jim but again this was different. Sally would call it fate and Calli was starting to believe in it. Not that she’d admit it yet, but as she sat beside Brent swinging she began to realize that her fantasy life with Jim probably wasn’t going to happen. He seemed to be much more in tune with Sally and her spiritual nature. She and Brent were having more fun than she and Jim had ever had.
“Wow! There’s another shooting star. That’s the fourth one tonight. Have you been making your wishes?” Brent looked at Calli, knowing that he was falling in love and he hoped that she was too. “Yes, I always make wishes on falling stars. My grandfather taught me that when I was a small girl. What about you? Wishing that you become the next editor in chief of the Evergreen Weekly?” “Yes I am. There’s also another wish I’m hoping will come true tonight.” “What’s that?” She felt the flutter in her heart, and she secretly was wishing that he’d kiss her. “I was wishing that you’d let me kiss you.” Calli leaned forward almost knocking them off the swing; Brent grabbed her and planted his feet on the floor to stop the motion. His kiss reached her lips and she p
ut her arms around his neck. The fireworks began to shoot off in both of their heads. The sexual tension was finally being released. It had been building without either of them wanting to say anything and or do anything that would upset Jim and Sally. As the kiss deepened, Calli moaned slightly and tightened her arms around him. The shooting stars returned and looked almost like a rain shower. The magic of love was in the air and both of them were relieved and scared at the same time.
“What are we going to do?” Calli was the first to speak. “I’ve been feeling this ever since we danced at the Burger Barn a couple of weeks ago. I don’t want to hurt Jim’s feelings he’s such a great guy, but that kiss told me what I needed to know. You feel the same way I do.” Brent kissed her again, even longer and more passionately. “I’m falling in love with you Calli, I can’t help myself, and I don’t want to hurt Jim either, but I don’t want to miss the love of my life. You have made me feel alive again. I haven’t ever felt like this before. I don’t believe in fate but how can I explain the synchronicity of me coming here and finding you. You are the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. You make my heart jump every time I see you. I plan ways to be around you and make up reasons to come over. Jim hasn’t needed everything I’ve borrowed from you for his garden. I was the one creating all the excuses to be around you. I’m not going back to Baltimore. I’m selling my stock in The Sun and buying the newspaper and if I’m lucky enough I’ll spend the rest of my life finding excuses to be with you.” They sealed the promise with more passionate kisses. “We have to figure out how to tell Jim and Sally without hurting either one of them.” Just then another shooting star fell, “There, that’s my wish.” Calli felt confident that this wish would be answered.
In the orchard, Jim was telling Sally about how he’d pruned and nurtured each one of the apple trees. They were walking hand in hand in the moonlight, the excuse being he didn’t want her to trip over the roots of the trees. But the real reason was that he wanted to hold her hand, more than that he wanted to kiss her. Jim had known for awhile that he and Sally were a better match than he and Calli, but he didn’t want to hurt her feelings, especially by dating her best friend. This was turning out to be complicated and could get messy, especially in a small town like Evergreen. Sally gazed up at the stars, “Look there’s shooting stars. Make a wish!” She knew exactly what her wish was, and she prayed that Jim’s was the same. The feelings between them were electric. If she looked, she knew she would see the connections they had between their energy fields. Accidently, she stumbled over a root; Jim grabbed her and then it happened. Looking in her eyes, he brought his mouth to her lips, checking to make sure she wasn’t pulling away, he continued. The kiss was gentle at first and when she returned the passion, he pulled her tighter and deepened it. Gasping for breath, they looked into each other’s eyes. “I’ve wanted to kiss you since we danced at the Burger Barn. Tonight I couldn’t help myself, you are so beautiful, and you make me feel excited and happy again. Please tell me that you are feeling it too!” Sally took a deep breath, “I’ve seen this in my visions for awhile now. I can tell by your aura that you are not connecting with Calli anymore on a sexual level. And I also can see how we match perfectly on all levels. You are the man I’ve been waiting for. I know it and I also know that this could be very complicated. But I’m not willing to sacrifice my happiness again; I’ve already done that once in my life. You are the man of my dreams, kiss me again!” Jim was more than willing to do just that, they continued until both of them were unwilling to go any farther. “Please, I don’t want to stop, but know that our friends are back at the house, probably wondering where we are. Hopefully they aren’t wondering what we are doing.” Jim looked into her eyes again and saw what he needed to see, confirmation and love. This was the happiest day of his life, at least that’s what he thought at this moment.
Chapter 25 The Wedding When Jim and Sally returned to the house, they found Brent and Calli sitting in separate lawn chairs in the back yard. Sally could feel the awkward energy between the four of them. They all quickly said good night, gave the appropriate hugs and the girls drove away. Jim and Brent were left standing in the yard, neither one of them willing to say anything. “Well, guess I’ll go to bed, the rooster gets me up plenty early in the morning.” Brent made his exit to his bedroom, hoping that Jim didn’t notice how uncomfortable he was now.
The next morning the phone rang early, and Jim was in the kitchen making breakfast. Looking at the caller id Jim picked up the phone hoping that this time he would be able to hear the person on the other end. “Hello. This is Jim. Who is this?” “Jim, can you hear me?” At last the call had a clear connection, “Yes, I can hear you. What’s your name?” “Hey, buddy, don’t you recognize my voice? It’s your old friend Glen from the institute. Remember we worked on the grant together back in the dark ages? I’m calling to see if you’re up to another go at it.” Memories of working in a lab, recording data, measuring frequencies, setting up protocol flooded back along with the unpleasant times of being released from his position and …. “... Are you still there? I’m working on a project here in Munich for the government. They are determined to make contact with life on another planet, they don’t care which planet they just want contact. And I’m authorized to hire anyone I believe would contribute to making it happen. And you are the only one I know who can do that.” There was a rush of enthusiasm that flowed through his body, from head to toe and back up again. This surprised him, no it actually shocked him. He had buried that desire many years ago, and thought it was totally dead, but today he knew that it wasn’t. The scientist in him wanted to make that connection, wanted to make the people on planet earth understand that they aren’t’ the only ones in the universe. “Talk to me Jim, let me know you’re still breathing!” Glen always had a sense of humor; he’d give him that for sure. “I’m here. You have no idea what a shock this is for me. I thought my days as a scientist were over long ago. Can you fax me more information? I’m intrigued and spinning with excitement.” They discussed the rest of the details and Jim turned on his fax machine. Last night he thought he’d had the happiest day of his life, and now this morning he knew it was continuing exponentially. Just wait until Sally hears about this! He stopped himself short. So it’s totally true, he’s in love with Sally. She was the first person he wanted to tell about this, not Calli. Oh, boy, this is going to be a three ring circus if we don’t get all of this out on the table soon. The fax machine started spitting out sheets of paper. Page after page filled the intake box. Jim started reading and the more he read, the more excited he became. The Germans were very precise people and very determined to achieve their goal. They had an open account, money was not the problem, they needed the right people and Jim knew that he was the right one. His passion continued to build as he read more and more about the project.
He grabbed all the pages and headed to town. He didn’t care if Sally’s boss was in or not. He wanted her to be the first to see this proposal and wanted her to be as excited as he was. Sally was sitting at her desk when Jim opened the door. She saw the look on his face and the bright red color in his aura. He definitely is excited about something. “Hi, can you take a break and look at this with me? I ‘d like to go someplace private, it’s extremely important.” “Of, course; let’s go into the conference room down the hall. What has you so all excited this morning, are you remembering last night?” She prayed that was the reason, her hormones were in overdrive seeing him this morning. “Oh, yes I am. But there’s more, just wait until you see. I finally got to talk to the guy who’s been calling from Germany.” They closed the door and since there weren’t any windows and no one could watch them, Jim grabbed her and kissed her. “Well, I guess you do remember last night.” Blushing, Sally sat down and pulled him along with her. “Show me what has you all hot and bothered besides me.” Jim proceeded to tell her about the project and the offer that he had to work with Glen. All of his travel expenses would be paid and he’d have free housing
plus a generous salary. As Sally watched him explain everything she knew that he was going to accept this offer and soon. What about them? She didn’t want to lose him so quickly. “…and here’s the best part, I can take my wife with me.” With that said he looked her in the eyes, “I know this is sudden, but I’ve never been one to wait around when I know something is right. You and I belong together, and we belong together working on this project. They believe that it’s all about science, but I know that you have some of the missing elements that will make all of this happen. Your psychic abilities and your spiritual wisdom are what are needed to keep this project headed in the right direction. And without you, I don’t want to go. Please be as spontaneous as I believe you are. Say ‘yes’. And let’s fly to Munich as soon as we can.” Sally knew what she wanted to say, but also knew that they had to talk to Brent and Calli before they could make plans for themselves. “Yes, I’ll marry you and fly off to Germany but on one condition.” His heart fell, what else could she want from him? “What?” he held his breath, not wanting to know what she was going to ask him to do? “You have to agree to meet with Calli and Brent tonight and tell them everything. I won’t go ahead with any of this until we have talked to our friends. Are you willing to do that?” Jim knew she was right; his too was concerned about hurting Calli. And Brent had become a very good friend to him in such a short time. “Yes, let’s get it over with. But I’m not sure how to tell them. That’s what scares me. I don’t want any hard feelings and I want both of them to remain our best friends.” They stayed in the conference room until they had agreed on a plan and the gentlest way to tell them what was happening. “I’ll call them and make a date to meet at the town square park tonight. I want this to be on neutral ground, not at anyone’s home. Oh, Jim, I’ve dreamed of this day, being with you as your wife, but I didn’t know that we’d become international travelers together. Maybe even galactic travelers if that is possible.” One last kiss and they parted, Jim to go to the bank and Sally to call their friends.
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