A Hero's Reward

by Morrel, Amy

  He headed out to the living room again while the coffee brewed.

  “Did you find something?”

  “Yes, I did. How about this one? I think it's part comedy and part action adventure, yes? It might appeal to both of us.” She held up 'Last Action Hero', an okay movie in his opinion, but not one of Arnold's better films.

  “Sure we can watch that; it's okay, but not great. It has a few good moments though, and it is both comedy and action.”

  Margaret bent over and placed the disc in the player.

  “Oh, I had a thought, I should've mentioned it earlier” Greg said, “We should probably wash your regular clothes if you want them to wear tomorrow instead of stuff that's too large. If we pause in the middle of the movie to switch them to the dryer they'll probably be done and ready by the time it's over.”

  “Oh, thank you. I hadn't thought of that. It's been a strange day.”

  “You've got that right. I've been having a pretty strange week myself. Here, I'll show you where the washer and dryer are or I can just put them in myself if you like.”

  “No, that's okay” Margaret grabbed her clothes which were still folded and stacked on a table in the corner. Greg noted that she went out of her way to ensure that her underclothes were hidden inside the other clothes.

  “Follow me then, it's just next to the downstairs bathroom here.”

  Greg showed her the tiny laundry room and then went back out to the kitchen to pour some coffee. He brought it into the living room just as Margaret was returning.

  “If we listen during the quieter parts of the movie, we can hear when the washer shuts off and pause to switch them over to the dryer.”

  “Thank you again, I would've hated to put those on in the morning if they hadn't been cleaned. They're the only clothes I have left and I'd already worn them for a few days.”

  “You're welcome. Here's a different kind of coffee for you to try.” he handed her the cup, “let's get the movie going, shall we?”

  The movie went over well. He had worried that there might be a bit too much overblown action to it for her to enjoy but she seemed to like it just fine and even laughed at a few spots. Despite watching, he still didn't see her smile though, even when laughing her mouth stayed mostly straight except for a few upward twitches at the corners of her mouth.

  When the movie was over he was ready for bed. He hadn't been kidding when he said it was a strange week for him. His back was feeling awkward and stiff, even if it wasn't causing him pain currently. He thought that a good ten hours of sleep or so might be just what the doctor ordered.

  “I'm for bed Margaret. Feel free to stay up and watch television if you like. If you'd prefer to read, the closed cabinet on that side of the room has my current stash of books. I read pretty much a little of everything so it's a toss-up as to whether you'd find something you liked. You can also hop on the internet on my computer if you want. I don't know if you use the web-based email services at all but if you do you can log into them from here. It should boot straight up; I don't have the system password protected.”

  Greg stood and started to head for the stairs.

  “I'll join you” Margaret said, “Wait, that didn't come out right. I'll go to bed also. It's been a long day with a very rough start.”

  Margaret walked along behind him as they climbed the stairs. He stopped to see her into her bedroom.

  “Thank you again Greg, for everything you've done for me. If I'm a bother let me know and I'll find somewhere else to go.”

  Margaret leaned up and gave him a somewhat firmer kiss than she had earlier in the day, still chaste, but definitely more than a peck.

  Greg found a smile creasing his face:

  “So far, you've been far more of a delight to have around than a bother. I really don't see that changing at all but I'll tell you if it does. Good night, Margaret.”

  “Good night, Greg.”

  Greg laid in bed awake for at least a half an hour, until he could no longer smell her scent in his nostrils and exhaustion overpowered his memory of the gentle feel of her soft lips pressed against his own. His last conscious thought before falling asleep was to hope that she was resting well.

  * * *

  Chapter 7 – The DMV and a Surprise

  Greg woke up later than normal the next morning. When he tried to get out of bed, he let out a groan and fell back on his stomach. His back was abominably stiff this morning and it hurt to move. He glanced at the clock:

  Shit, it's been almost eleven hours since my last painkillers, no wonder I can't move. I need to remember to bring those up with me tonight.

  He forced himself up out of bed and gingerly got dressed. The wall of the staircase was a great help to him as he made his way slowly down the stairs. The hand rail took care of him for the last few feet once the wall was no longer available. He made his way into the kitchen and went directly for the painkillers. It said something that he didn't even notice Margaret, dressed in her newly cleaned clothes, sitting at the table.

  “You look horrible” Margaret said, “like you're in a lot of pain. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Yeah, I forgot to take my painkillers up with me last night and I'm long overdue for my next dose. Give these a few minutes to take effect and I'll be much better company.”

  Greg slumped into a chair after swallowing his pills.

  “I don't normally sleep this late” he said, “But I guess my body decided that I needed the rest.”

  “I've only been up for fifteen or twenty minutes myself, so I understand. I'm normally up between five and six in the morning.”

  Greg decided that she must be a morning person if she regularly got up that early. That was okay with him since he was one himself most of the time. Evidently just not when he was in major pain, as he had just discovered. It was half-past eight already though, and he felt as though he had missed a major portion of his day. He resolved to try to get up closer to his normal six o'clock the next day. He hadn't even set his alarm last night so if he did so tonight, he'd probably be able to get up on time.

  “Could I convince you to make some coffee Margaret? I'll talk you through the process for the whole beans. I cleaned the machine last night so it should be all ready to get set up.”

  “Certainly, while it brews I can make us some breakfast if you'd like.”

  “I think I would, assuming it isn't ready for at least another ten minutes. I'm ravenous but I don't think I could eat just yet, not until the edge is off of my back pain.”

  He talked her through the simple setup for making his gourmet coffee. He showed her where he kept the good beans in the refrigerator and where he kept the distilled water he used when brewing the good coffee. He listened as the blades began to grind the beans and began to feel a little more back on track. As the scent of the brewing coffee filled the air simultaneously with his pills beginning to kick in, he felt nearly human.

  “Would eggs, bacon and toast be okay for you?” asked Margaret, rummaging through his refrigerator.

  “That would be wonderful, two eggs over easy please with two bacon and two slices of toast.”

  Margaret proceeded to whip up breakfast for the two of them. The coffee was done before breakfast and by that point Greg felt well enough to stand and pour a cup for each of them. He sat back down at the table and sipped his coffee as Margaret cooked.

  When she set the plates in front of them both and sat down to eat herself, Greg had to resist wolfing down his food. As the pain faded, his appetite had increased. He settled himself in to eat slowly. His frequent glances at Margaret showed him that the dress she was wearing was entirely unflattering to her. He hadn't taken the time to notice when he had seen it on her, briefly, the other night. He wondered if that were intentional or not. He didn't think that asking her would be a good idea though. Since he planned on buying her some new clothes, if he could find any way to convince her to accept them, he'd try to have some say in what she got.

  Once
he was finished breakfast, he leaned back.

  “Thank you, that was wonderful, just what I needed.”

  “You're welcome.”

  “Okay, so we need to go to the DMV today, then on the way back we'll stop at a grocery store as well. One other thing, what bank do you use? Maybe we can stop at a branch and see about replacing your debit card also.”

  “Oh, I use First State. I know where the two nearest branches are but not what might be near the DMV.”

  “We can always stop at one of the close branches after our other errands if we don't see another one while we're out. Is there any reason we shouldn't just start our errands now?”

  “Do you have a grocery list? It's always better to shop with a list, you end up spending less money.”

  “Ummm, no. As you noticed, I mostly stock stuff I can make quickly. We can make one if you like. If you'll be doing the cooking, you need to make up the list though.”

  “I can do that, it won't take me more than half an hour. I might have to ask you where you keep a few things though so I know if you have them or not.”

  “Well, let me get a pencil and some paper and you can get to work on that. I'm going to check my email, I'm expecting one from my boss since he mentioned he had news for me when I was talking to him yesterday.”

  Pencil and paper delivered, Greg sat down at his computer. When he opened his email and read the message from his boss, he gave out a low whistle. Margaret overheard and asked:

  “Is something wrong?”

  “No, entirely the opposite. My boss is telling me that the plug for the company I gave during interviews has netted us a bunch more jobs. Around fifteen at first, mostly minor repairs. But then after the ice storm the other night we picked up another twenty jobs, some of them not so minor. He tells me he's going to temp hire a few guys from another company to make sure he can get them all done on time but not too worry about it, my two weeks isn't up yet.”

  “Well, that's wonderful news.”

  “That's not even the best, what I whistled about was his comment at the end. He's been talking on and off for a couple of years now about making me a partner in the company and letting me buy him out when he's ready to retire in another five or ten years. He says if the business levels stay picked up that he'll make that official in another month or so after I get back. The levels just might stay up since a lot of our jobs come from word of mouth advertising by people we've worked for. I hope the temp guys he hires work to our quality standards. That's why we're still in business even with the economy kind of lousy now. We do quality work at a fair price.”

  “That's great, what size business are you talking about?”

  “Well, I know he doesn't take down a million a year after taxes but I think he normally pulls down low to middle six digits before taxes. Heck, I'm foreman for the main crew, responsible for about eight to ten guys normally, and I pull down a fair bit myself. Not six digits but it was more than enough to keep four of us comfortable when I was still married to my ex and the kids were here.”

  “It's none of my business but are you going to take him up on his offer and buy him out?”

  “Probably, if he actually goes through with making me a partner. I'd still be doing the same work mostly but I'd have to put in some extra hours and learn how he does his end of the business. It would mean a decent raise when I became a partner and we'd probably have to hire on another crew so the business profits didn't suffer too much, especially if the customer base expands. But the company has a good name and an established customer base already so it's probably worth it. I don't know how much he'll ask for, we were talking about it before and he said maybe one million, payable over ten years. It sounds like a lot but if I'm making what he is now, taking a hundred thousand a year out of that would still leave me with double what I'd make as a partner even.”

  “You've given this some thought, haven't you?”

  “Yes, I've been thinking about it on and off since he first asked me if I'd be interested.”

  “Well, I'm sure you'll make the right choice. I've got the list all set if you're ready to go.”

  They took Greg's car for the trip. It was a 2001 model Saturn SL and it got nearly forty miles per gallon. He liked to buy good quality American made items when he could and the late nineties, early two thousands Saturn vehicles qualified. If you kept up your maintenance they ran like a charm. Add in an MPG rating that beat most of the new compacts that they were putting out and he found that his choice was easy. He also had a heavy duty pickup truck, but that was mainly used for work. Most other time he had to drive, he took his Saturn.

  Their visit to the department of motor vehicles was, amazingly enough, painless. There were only a few people in line during mid-morning in the middle of the week and when they got to the counter he explained the situation. The lady asked him for his own ID and when he handed it to her she said:

  “Oh, I read about you in the newspaper. Is this the lady you saved from the burning building?”

  “Yes” Greg replied, “Her ID was in her purse and it got destroyed in the fire.”

  “Don't worry, we'll get you taken care of right away.”

  They were in and out of the DMV in under an hour. He'd never gotten out that fast before, even when he was trying to renew his own license. Maybe a touch of fame wasn't such a bad thing at all, but he was still looking forward to his fifteen minutes of fame being over and being a mostly anonymous face in the crowd once more.

  Margaret insisted on thanking him once again. He told her that she was welcome and they headed to a Target superstore for groceries. His plan was that once they were in the store, he'd casually mention that they should get her some clothes also so that she had more than the one outfit. He wanted to do this before they got to her bank so they could be a gift from him. He didn't know how well she'd take it but his ex-wife had honed his stubbornness to high levels and he thought that he could convince Margaret to go along with his idea.

  As they were walking into the store Greg turned to Margaret:

  “You know how you were talking about wearing those same clothes a few days in a row? We should get you a couple more outfits while we're here.”

  “You know I can't Greg, I don't have any money until we get to the bank and even then I won't have much to spend. I'll probably go shopping at the Goodwill for some more clothes.”

  “Please, it would make me happy to get you a few new outfits. We can pick up some stuff for your son while we're here if you remember his sizes. He'll need some other clothes also, won't he?”

  Margaret looked indecisive. Hit with the one-two punch of doing something to make Greg happy and getting something for her son at the same time had her on the fence. Greg tried to clinch the deal.

  “I'll tell you what, if you're worried about it I can take care of it for now and when you get the insurance check on your house you can pay me back if you still feel this way.”

  “I'll need that money to rebuild my house.”

  “Then I can wait until you have some money to spare. I'm not worried about it, I'd get them for you as a gift if you'd be willing to accept it.”

  “I told you Greg, I already owe you more than could ever repay.”

  “I think I've mentioned that you don't need to repay me, didn't I? Honestly, I'm not floating in cash but I live pretty frugally and have some tucked away for a rainy day. Let me use some of it for you and your son.”

  “Greg, you're a horrible man. Trying to use my son to sway me to your proposal is just not fair.”

  “Life isn't exactly fair either. I'm willing to help. I want to help. I just don't want to push so hard about it that you feel I'm insisting or trying to take your choices away from you.”

  Margaret stayed silent for a moment, staring at Greg's face.

  “Alright, but I'll pay you back sooner or later.”

  “Later would be better for me if that's okay with you.”

  “You horrible man!” this time there was a note of
humor in her words.

  They wandered over to the woman's section first. Groceries would go last since there would be some refrigerated items. Margaret was browsing her way through clothing, mainly looking at the clearance racks.

  “You can get whatever clothes you want, you don't have to purchase of the clearance racks. Most of those are more summer type things and winter is coming on pretty soon.”

  “I don't want to spend more than necessary.”

  “Then you want to buy the proper clothing for the upcoming season so you don't have to get more clothes later on just to stay warm, don't you?”

  “You're a beastly man Greg, using logic against a poor defenseless woman like myself.”

  “Was that a second joke in as many days? We must be making progress.”

  Margaret took a traditional exasperated, scolding tone:

  “Oh, you...”

  Greg just grinned at her.

  Margaret started to peruse the dresses more appropriate for the season After noting that all her choices were drab colors and at least mid-calf length Greg interrupted her again:

  “Margaret? Can I ask you something without upsetting you?”

  “Maybe, you've been being quite pushy today already.”

  “Sorry, I just wanted to ask you who it is choosing your clothes? Is it your parents and your ex-husband? Or is it you? It just seems that you're only looking at the same clothes that they would have gotten for you and approved of. I thought you said that you were tired of that. You can go with whatever you like. Jeans, t-shirts, mini-skirts.... Although that last might be a bit too big of a step for you currently. But what do you like the look of? You needn't base your choice on what someone else would approve of, but only on what you would like.”

  “Greg, I'd call you a horrible man again but, you're right. I wasn't thinking for myself, I had just dropped back into my old 'What clothes would be acceptable' mindset. Thank you, I told you I wanted my freedom and here I am, trying to keep myself in chains. Amazingly though, you're still here trying to help me break those chains.”