“Who is this guy?” he asked. “Where did you meet him? How well do you know him?”
Maggie filled him in on the meeting at Sunny’s, her secret video game addiction, the shared encounters with Jeremy in the magical game world, the subsequent phone calls, and the courtship of Jeremy. She was surprised when his first question was, “So you really have a level eighty character in World of Warcraft?”
She laughed. “Yes, I really do.”
“That’s cool, Mom, but I’m reserving judgment on this guy ‘til I meet him. Does he really write video game software for a living? And makes money at it?”
“I guess. Have you heard of the game Call To Action?”
He nodded. “Of course. Who hasn’t?”
“Well, evidently Jeremy created and designed it.”
“No way.”
“Way.”
“Huh. I’m liking this guy more and more.”
And he did like him. Jeremy had come over early to pick up Maggie and the boys for the barbeque, and they had some time to get acquainted.
The Call to Action video game had sealed the deal for Dylan, but Jeremy had soon won over Drew as well.
* * *
“You’re doing great with them,” Maggie had said when they had stepped into the kitchen to get some drinks.
“That’s because I am one of them,” Jeremy joked. “Sometimes I still feel like a nerdy teenage boy, and I created several of my games as an escape where that gawky teenage boy who’s hiding in his room can be the hero in an adventure of his own making. They are my test market.”
She laughed and shook her head as she loaded a tray with a bowl of salsa, cans of soda, and a glass of ice for herself.
Jeremy opened a bag of tortilla chips and poured them into a bowl. “Seriously Maggie, I think your boys are great. You’ve done a really great job with them. I was raised by a single mom, and I know what it’s like to have a dad that’s MIA.”
He reached down to touch her cheek and tilted her head up to look into her eyes. “I really care about you, Maggie. I can’t believe I found you, and I know how blessed I am to have you. I’m not going to do anything to hurt you or your boys.”
Maggie swallowed the lump in her throat as he bent down to lay the slightest kiss on her lips. She felt one more layer of the ice that had trapped her heart crack and melt away as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Twisting her hands into his hair, she pulled his face closer to hers and deepened the kiss.
His arms wrapped around her waist, and his long fingers splayed against her back as he pulled her tight against him.
“Mom! Are you bringing chips or what?” Dylan yelled from the living room.
Maggie pulled her face back, but Jeremy held her for a moment, keeping her trapped with his eyes.
“I sure am crazy about you,” he said and pulled her in for one more, hard kiss, capturing her mouth with his as he conveyed his feelings through his lips.
He released her, grabbed a corn chip, and popped it into his mouth. “Now let’s go feed those boys.” He picked up the bowl of chips in one hand and the tray of drinks in the other.
* * *
Drew had watched his mother emerge from the kitchen that morning, her cheeks flushed and her eyes shining, and he couldn’t remember seeing her look so happy. The creases in her forehead and the worry lines around her mouth that had appeared after his dad had left seemed to have vanished and been replaced with a softness around her eyes. She almost seemed to glow.
He watched her now, that glow still apparent as she laughed at some story Sunny told her. Their heads were bent together like two young girls on a playground sharing secrets.
He felt a weight lift from his shoulders as he realized his mom was going to be okay. He had considered putting off college this year to work and be closer to home, but he suddenly felt like things were going to work out, and she would be okay if he went to the state university.
The sound of laughter drew his attention away from his mom. His heart quickened as he watched Piper laughing as she and her cousins launched a surprise Super-Soaker attack on Matt.
Cassie yelped as an errant spray caught her along the side of her hair, but Matt had already jumped up and was chasing the kids through the yard. Within seconds, he had wrestled a squirt gun from his daughter and was pumping the handle and aiming for Piper’s back.
“Uncle Matt!” she shrieked with laughter as a stream of water hit her squarely in the back.
“Drew, help me,” she called, running toward him. He set down his root beer as Piper ran past and tossed him one of her squirt guns. He ducked and narrowly missed a long stream of water coming from Matt’s weapon as he and Piper raced around the side of the house, shooting cold sprays toward Matt and Tyler as they ran.
* * *
Sunny laughed as she surveyed the scene in her backyard. Jake and Jeremy stood at the grill, beers in hand, watching in amusement as Matt and the kids chased each other with squirt guns. Cassie’s voice got higher and higher as she tried to protect the food from the water fight while shouting for the kids to “Cut that out!” and “Put those squirt guns away! Someone’s going to get hurt!”
Edna and Roy sat to the side of the mayhem in adjacent lounge chairs. Edna calmly flipped through a magazine, and Roy appeared to be taking a nap, his Stetson leaned low on his face. His arm stretched across the chairs and rested lightly on Edna’s leg and in between pages, she would set her hand down gently on his.
Sunny’s gaze moved back to Jake, and she smiled as she watched him talking to Jeremy. The highlights in his blond hair caught the late afternoon sun as he causally leaned a hip against the deck railing. He wore his standard khaki board shorts, flip flops and a faded light blue t-shirt that read, I’m what Willis was talkin’ ‘bout.
He turned as if he could feel her eyes on him, and his face broke into a grin, his teeth dazzling white against his tan skin. The party in the backyard seemed to fade into the background, and all she felt were Jake’s eyes on her. Her skin warmed as she felt his gaze caress her body. His smile shifted, and his eyes softened, and she suddenly felt the urge to cover herself up as if he could see right through her clothing.
Oh hell, let him look. She pulled back her shoulders and brazenly stared back with what she hoped were her best bedroom eyes.
Dun-Dun. Dun. Dun. Du-du-du. The musical notes of the theme from Mission Impossible floated through the air, and everyone stopped and turned to Jake.
“Hey, it’s my mission, and I can choose to accept it.” Jake grinned as he flipped the phone open.
“Landon here,” he said. He passed the barbeque tools to Jeremy as he moved to a less populated area of the yard. Sensing it was official business, the party stayed silent and watched as Jake nodded and went through several ‘uh-huh’, ‘I see’, and ‘all right’s'.
He closed the phone and bent his head as he rubbed his eyes, then turned to the group. “That was Tom Mansfield, the detective on Walter’s case. He called with some new information on Walter’s whereabouts.”
“Well, what did he say?” Edna asked. Her magazine slipped from her hands and landed on the grass, the page open to an article offering, Six Sex Tricks He Wants You to Know.
The water fight had ceased, and the group moved closer to Jake, surrounding him as if he were a sponge sucking them all in. They were a somber group, each prepared to hear the worst.
“First of all, they’ve ruled the fire an accident. They pinpointed the ignition point as the back corner of the garage and some faulty wiring. They’re assuming the combination of cleaning products and old rags must have caused a spontaneous combustion. Walter had a full propane tank for his grill in the garage and that was the catalyst for the explosion.”
“Who cares about the explosion?! What do they know about Walter?” Edna cried.
“At this point, nothing new. The fire was just an odd coincidence that happened around the time Walter went missing.”
The group breathed a collective sigh of re
lief as Jake continued, “They’re closing the case on the fire, deeming it an accident with no human casualties.”
“Then where is he? Is he dead? Do you still think someone murdered him?”
“Murdered who?” asked a familiar voice from behind them. “And what the hell happened to my garage?”
28
“Walter,” Edna said, her hand moving to cover her mouth as she turned. “Oh, my God in heaven, Walter!”
The group turned, stunned, and stared at Walter Mead, their missing neighbor, as he stood in the entrance to the backyard. He looked tan and healthy in khaki slacks and a yellow golf shirt.
His expression changed from perplexed to shock as Edna let out a sob and catapulted across the yard to throw herself into his arms. Her bony shoulders shook with sobs, and Walter automatically rubbed her back and murmured soft 'there-there’s' and 'it’s all right's'.
He looked at Sunny over the top of Edna’s silver-curled head. “What is going on?”
Edna pulled back and tilted her head up to his as she caressed Walter’s cheek. “You’re alive,” she softly said. Then she pulled her skinny arm back and slugged him in the bicep. “We thought you were dead, you ornery old cuss. Where the hell have you been?”
The group broke into relieved laughter. Edna stepped back, and Sunny moved forward to wrap her arms around Walter’s waist. “We are so glad you’re okay.”
“Why don’t you have a seat, Walter,” Cassie said. “I’ll get you some lemonade, and you can tell us where you’ve been the last month. There was an explosion in your garage and for the last several weeks we all thought you were dead.”
“Dead?” Walter remained where he was. “I’m not dead. In fact, I’ve never felt better. I’ve been traveling and seeing the world, and I’ve spent the last month with my new wife.”
“Oh, no, you married her,” Jake said with a sigh.
Walter turned to the voice. His mouth fell open, and his eyes brimmed with tears as he quietly asked, “Jake, is that you?”
Jake moved to stand before his grandfather, his face a mix of longing and reserve.
“Yeah, it’s me,” he said, the chip almost visible upon his shoulder. “Your grandson.”
“Oh, my boy.” Walter stepped forward and clasped Jake to his chest. The two men were close to the same height, and Jake’s arms hung limp at his sides as the older man clung to him. Jake’s hands moved up to clap him on the back as Walter’s shoulders began to shake with silent sobs.
Walter pulled back and clasped Jake’s face between his hands as he searched his eyes. “You have your mother’s face.” The tears coursed down Walter’s cheeks, and his voice broke as he said, “And your grandmother’s eyes.”
He pulled Jake back into another embrace. “I’m so glad you’re here. I’m so sorry I’ve missed so much of your life. I’m so sorry.”
The group silently watched the tearful reunion until a small sound broke the spell, and Sunny turned to see Cassie blowing her nose into a napkin.
“What?” she asked, her eyes red from crying. “I’m just so happy to see Walter, and it’s like an Oprah reunion show right here in your backyard.”
Several people laughed, and Walter released Jake, giving his shoulder one last hearty shake.
“I’ve been staying in your house,” Jake said.
“That’s fine. I’m glad you made yourself at home. I had no idea you would be here so soon or that anyone would even be missing me.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone you were leaving?” Edna asked.
“I did. I left a message on your answering machine the night I left. I told you I was going on a roadtrip and asked you to keep an eye on my house.”
“You’re kidding?” Edna said. “That damn answering machine hasn’t worked in years.”
“Why don’t you tell us where you’ve been and what’s been going on.” Jake took a few steps back and sat on the edge of one of the lounge chairs. Sunny sat beside him, and he looped his arm under hers and clasped her hand. Sunny felt a slight tremble in his hand, and she clasped it tightly between both of hers. She squeezed his hand, offering him her silent support.
Walter took a seat on the closest lawn chair, and Cassie poured him a glass of lemonade and set it on the table in front of him. He gestured for them all to sit down as he took a clean white handkerchief from his back pocket and drew it across both his cheeks before opening it and blowing his nose loudly into the fold.
He took a sip of his lemonade and looked into the faces of his friends and neighbors. The group had settled on various lawn chairs and patches of grass, all anxious to hear Walter’s story.
“I’m awfully sorry I frightened you all. That was not my intention. I had been so lonely since I lost Betty, and I felt like my life was in a rut. A couple of the guys down at the lodge were nagging me to get back out into the world and convinced me to try this online dating thing. As you can imagine, there’s not a lot of interest in a broken down old man who likes to garden and tinker in his garage.”
He turned and looked sadly at the pile of ash and rubble that stood where his garage once sat, the burnt-out shell of his tool cabinet standing tall like a sentinel in the wreckage.
He took another sip of lemonade. “But I did meet one woman. She seemed interested in the same things I did, and we met for coffee, then dinner, then walks and rounds of golf. She seemed so young, and she was beautiful, and I got sucked into the allure of a gorgeous women’s attention. Things were moving quickly, and when she asked me to accompany her on a spur-of-the-moment road-trip to California, I threw caution to the wind and packed my bags. I just wanted an adventure.”
“But why did you leave your wedding ring and your favorite belt buckle?” Edna asked.
“And your pocket knife from Betty?” Sunny added.
Walter turned to Edna, a stunned look on his face. “How did you know…?”
“We found the ring, the pocket knife, and your belt buckle amongst the ashes of the fire,” Jake explained. “That’s why we had at first thought you died in the explosion. But we figured something must have happened to you to cause you to leave your most valued treasures behind.”
Walter clasped his face in his hands and shook his head back and forth. He looked back up at Edna. “I’m so sorry I worried you. Before I left, I went out to my workshop and spent some time just talking with Betty. Well, her spirit, I guess. You know how I do that. I explained to her I was trying to move on with my life. I took off my ring and left my knife and belt buckle all in a cigar box on my workbench as a symbol of starting a new chapter in my life.”
He looked around at the faces in the group, and again hung his head in shame. “I was a selfish old man. I didn’t mean to worry anyone. I don’t have any pets to care for, I barely get any mail, and my lawn is set on a sprinkler system. I got caught up in a romance, and when she offered up the idea of this trip, I jumped right in. I was thinking of the adventure of it all, and I just left. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking of anyone but myself and this gorgeous red-head named Mona who made me feel young and alive.”
He looked at Matt as if for moral support. “She lured me in with talk of sunbathing and margaritas by the pool. She had a bikini, for goodness sakes.”
Matt chuckled and nodded at the older man in the universal man-code of understanding that sometimes it all comes down to the allure of the boobs.
“So I get all that,” Jake said, drawing Walter’s attention. “But why did you have to marry her?”
Walter looked shocked. “Marry her? For heaven’s sake, I didn’t marry her. I would never have been able to keep up with her. Besides, I always felt like there was just something a little bit off with that one. I’m not sure, but I think she may have only been interested in me for my money. Don’t get me wrong. We had quite an adventure. We spent a week in Vegas and had some fun gambling and laying by the pool. But that one was sneaky, always workin’ an angle, tryin’ to get me to buy her this or that. Nah, I tried to hang in there for th
e whole trip. But after spending another week with her in California, I said ‘adios’ and ditched her faster than a cowboy uses an outhouse in January. Yes sir, that woman was trouble with a capitol T.”
A loud noise erupted from the chair next to Walters, where Edna sat. The sound was a half-laugh, half-sob and came out as a high pitched snort. “Oh, you are a wonderful man, Walter. I am so glad you are not dead.”
He chuckled as he covered his old friend’s hand with his. “I am too, dear. I am too.”
“I’m confused. If they were traipsing around the country buying gas and staying in hotels, why couldn’t you track Walter’s credit cards and figure out where he was?” Maggie asked Jake.
“We tried,” Jake said. “But he never used any.”
“That’s because I don’t have any of those fool things,” Walter explained. “I have lived my life believing that if you didn’t have the money, you didn’t buy it. I had a stash of rainy day money that I kept in the garage, and I just took that with me. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, ‘cause the darnedest thing happened while we were in Vegas. I was playing the blackjack tables one night and someone stole my wallet. I was lucky that I had left most of my cash in the safe in my room, but I lost my driver’s license and my AARP card.”
“Oh, those are a pain to get again,” Edna said. “Why didn’t you report it to the police?”
“I told the casino security about it,” Walter explained. “But at that time, I was still having fun and playing things loose, so I just let it go and figured I’d have plenty of time to worry about getting that stuff replaced when I got home.”
“Now wait, if you ditched Mona in California, then who did you marry?” Cassie asked, still stuck on his earlier statement, which started a chain of reactive questions.
“Yeah, who?”
“Where is she?”
“Are you really married?”
Walter held up his hand. “One at a time. Yes, I really did get married. To a lovely woman named Helen. She just dropped me off. She wanted to stop at her apartment for a few things before she came back over. She should be here anytime.”
Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No Body (A Page Turners Novel) Page 26