Chapter 10
John-Michael Kennedy
It had been a long few weeks—difficult at times. Ethan came down with a bad cold that led to a double ear infection. John-Michael was busy with school and teaching when he first got sick with it, and Ethan went out to Camp Eden with his Nana so that he could rest and recover. John-Michael drove out there every afternoon and stayed the night, making the commute back to campus every morning.
They did this routine for several days before John-Michael came down with it himself. His turned into pneumonia, and John-Michael joined his son in taking antibiotics. They both stayed out at Camp Eden, in the main house with his parents.
By that point, Sadie and her brothers were finished with the tunnel and she didn't come out to the house. John-Michael was so sick that he didn't even think about any of that until his body started to heal. He was out of it for a solid week. He had to cancel the classes he was supposed to teach, and he had to put off any progress on the classes he was still taking. His life was on hold.
He started to feel half-human again on Thursday. Today was Saturday, and he was much better. He would go back to Raleigh tonight so that he could wake up at home on Sunday and get ready to join the land of the living on campus on Monday.
Molly was at John-Michael's house when he got home Saturday afternoon. She had a small apartment that she shared with a roommate, and she agreed to house-sit for him while the boys were staying at Camp Eden with their parents.
She was standing in the kitchen when they walked in. "What's up y'all two sick-os?"
"I’m not a sick-o!" Ethan said, laughing at her and running across the living room toward her.
"Are you cleaning? It smells good in here." John-Michael asked, smiling where as he put down their things.
"Yes! Just like in the movies where the parents get back and you have to get everything cleaned up just in time."
"Did you have a party?"
"Heyyyy, my man!" she said, catching her nephew and setting him on the counter next to her. "I did have a few people over here, but we didn't do anything we wouldn't do in front of you. We did eat all of your food, though. I put in a Target order to replace a few of the things. I'll go pick them up."
"That's fine. My stuff would have gone bad soon, anyway. I'm thankful you were here. And thanks for getting it all cleaned up."
"How are you guys feeling? Mom said you had it pretty rough. "
"Yeah, I started feeling a lot better yesterday, though. I went for a run out in the woods. They got that tunnel finished. It's so cool. We need to have a party out there."
"Mom was telling me about it. Maybe sometime around Halloween. I can't believe you went for a run already."
"I did it yesterday and today. I wanted to finish sweating everything out. I feel a lot better. What's that?"
"Oh, mail. It was at the door last week."
"Where from?"
"I don't know I didn't even look at it. The smaller envelopes are right there, with a rubber band. You had a couple of bigger packages too. They're in your office. I got them out of the way since people were coming over."
"What is this?" He asked again as he approached the envelope.
It was stacked against the wall in the kitchen, being held in place by a desk organizer where John-Michael kept his keys and sunglasses. It was an oversized, rigid envelope, propped on the counter and taking up a good portion of the backsplash.
He picked it up and squinted at it curiously. The handwriting was a woman's—at least he assumed it was. It was neat and clear with an artistic quality to it. It seemed familiar. As he got closer, he could see that the return address was from Sadie Kirkpatrick. His heart sped up when he saw her name. He pictured her. It seemed like it had been forever since he had seen her. He smiled and took the envelope into his hands, opening it carefully.
"How come you didn't tell me this was here?"
"I didn't know it was special. I thought it was something from school."
He carefully slid out the stack of papers that were in the envelope. Each one was individually enclosed in plastic, and he realized they were photographs. The photos themselves looked to be at least 8x10.
"Whoa, what is that?" Molly asked, coming to stand closer.
"Whoa, what is that?" Ethan said, repeating his aunt.
"It's you," John-Michael said.
"Sadie took me of that," he said, almost getting the phrase right.
"Oh, where is that? Is that in your playroom? That is the coolest picture I've ever seen!" Molly gasped and exclaimed when he showed her the second one. "How many are there? That is amazing. Who took these? Who's Sadie? Did you have a photographer come to your house?"
"No, the guys that built Mom's tunnel have a sister named Sadie. She's the one who came over to watch Ethan."
"Oh, yeah, I remember her."
"She took these when she came over that night. When did they get here? "
"I don't know, last week. It's been a while. Probably when you first went over to Mom's. I figured it had to do with school."
"These are unbelievable," he said, going to the third one. There were four photos, and he laid them all on the counter, leaving them in their sleeves and being careful not to bend them.
"Sadie told me to hold that dinosaur up, and then I made it roar and it scared her sooo bad," Ethan said, remembering how much fun they had.
"These are professional," Molly said to her brother.
"She is a professional," he agreed. "She's a student, but she's got a photography business. She's good."
"Obviously, she's good. You need to call her and thank her for these. How much did you pay her?"
"Are you leaving right now, or can you stay and hang out for a minute while I go put some things away and make a phone call?"
"You're going to call a woman?"
"To thank her for the photographs," he agreed simply, shutting his sister down.
"Yes, I can stay," she said. "I actually need to run to the grocery store to get your things." She looked at Ethan. "Would you like to come with me?"
John-Michael told her not to worry about replacing groceries, but she wanted to. She insisted that she wanted to help out since he had been so sick. He ended up giving her his credit card, but she had already paid for them. She took the card anyway, in case they wanted fast food.
Molly and Ethan left, and John-Michael went back over to those pictures as soon as they walked out of the door. He stood in the kitchen, staring down at the prints—one of them in particular. It was Ethan with a makeshift cape tied around his neck. It was taken in the house with toys and forts in the foreground and background. He was whizzing through it all with his cape flying behind him. There was motion in the photograph, and it seemed like she had enhanced that aspect of it digitally. It was gorgeous. He wanted to cry from looking at it. It wasn't just the beauty of the photograph, but the comfort level of his son.
His eyes shifted to another one. It was from the neck up in the bathroom and it was all bubbles except for his face. There were even bubbles on his face—in the shape of facial hair—a beard with a handlebar mustache. It was all constructed with bubbles. The whole photo was bubbles, basically, except for his nose, mouth, and big brown eyes.
The third one was on the upstairs couch, wearing pajamas and holding a book in his lap. And the last one was outside with his dinosaur. They were all artistic and beautiful. They were, hands down, the four best pictures he had of Ethan. They had been carefully edited and printed on quality paper and were ready for framing .
There was no way he could accept these without giving her something for them. He looked in the envelope, half-expecting to find an invoice. There was a note. It was written in the same neat handwriting that was on the outside of the envelope. It was the same handwriting from his house that night. He remembered what happened after he read that other note. That kiss. Ethan had gotten sick after that, and it seemed like a dream now.
He stared down at the new note.
Hey,
You can tell by these prints that I had fun with your little man. He's the best, and I'd love to hang out with him again if you ever need help. I loved how these came out, and I wanted you to have them. I hope all is well with y'all!
Sadie Kirkpatrick
He looked at the envelope. It was addressed, but it wasn't postmarked, and he wondered when it had come.
He had her phone number, and he called it right then. He was still in the kitchen, standing there, staring down at the images, when she picked up.
"Hello?"
"Is this Sadie?"
"Yes. Is this JJ Kennedy? "
He wasn't sure if she had ever called him JJ. His initials sounded natural coming from her. He liked her voice, and he smiled at the sound of it.
"Yes, it is JJ Kennedy. I just got home. I've been up in Williamsboro with my parents for over a week. E was sick as a dog a couple of weeks ago, and then I caught it."
"Oh, no."
"Yeah, it was bad. But I'm better now. I did get out a little, and I saw the tunnel. Your brothers did a really great job."
"Aw, thanks."
"But that's not what I'm calling about. I just got home, and I opened this package. I'm looking at these pictures right now."
"What do you think?" she asked. Her voice was sweet and hopeful.
"Uh, I, uh, I'm speechless, Sadie. These are honestly the best photos we have of Ethan. All four of them. They're all works of art."
"Oh, I'm so glad you like them, and I'm sorry you were sick."
"I was so sick. It's a relief to be better. I'll play catch-up around here tomorrow, and then Monday it's back to school."
"Man, I'm really glad you're feeling better. I had no idea. That's crazy."
"Pneumonia."
"Yikes. "
"Yeah, but I'm all better. I've been on antibiotics for a week."
"I bet it was nice at your parents' house."
"Yeah, if I have to be that sick, at least I was in a beautiful place."
"I know. How's Ethan?"
"He's great. He got better before me. He loved these photos. He was in here staring at them when we opened them. He was talking about you to his aunt when they left just now."
"Oh, he's with your sister?"
"Yeah, Molly stayed here while we were out of town. She has E now. They went to the grocery store while I was getting unpacked. I’m not doing much of that yet. I'm just standing here staring at these photographs. What do I owe you for these?"
"Nothing. That's a gift. I really enjoyed hanging out."
"You need to keep taking photographs of children, Sadie. People would pay dearly for stuff like this. I would pay dearly for it. Let me. I have money. Let me give you something."
"If you give me something for it, it's no longer a gift."
"I know, but you put a lot of time into this. I can tell. These are special to me. I'm going to frame them."
"Oh, I'm so glad to hear that. That makes my heart feel happy. "
It was a simple statement, but when she said it his chest tightened. It made him feel good to make her happy.
"If you won't let me pay you, let me at least take you to dinner," he said before he could even think about it. "I mean, just as a gesture of thanks, you know, and Ethan could come with us. Or I could—"
"Dinner sounds great," she said, cutting him off. "I'd be fine with that. I'd have dinner with you and still be able to consider the prints as gifts."
"They're such a gift, Sadie. I don't even know what to say."
"I'm so happy you like them."
She was smiling, he could hear it in her voice.
"I have to get back into the swing of things this week. I'll have a lot of catching up to do at work."
"Yeah, we don't need to do anything soon. You can figure things out with work and school."
"No, I meant I want to do it sooner. What about tomorrow?"
"Sunday?"
"Or not," he said.
"No, I was just double-checking the day. I’m good with Sunday. I usually eat on Sundays."
He laughed. "I eat on Sundays too. How do you feel about good food but no ambiance?" he asked.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I was thinking about eating at my house. It's so much easier with E. Do you mind him being here? "
"Not at all. Your house is awesome, I love your house."
"So, you're coming over tomorrow for dinner?"
"Sure. What time?"
"Five or six? Is that okay? I'll make sure food is ready at six, but you can come over whenever."
"It sounds fun. Thanks. Are you sure you're up for it, though? We can wait a few days if you want."
"I'm fine with it. I'm back to normal, and definitely not contagious anymore. Are you okay with it? Are you afraid of getting sick?"
"No, no, I want to come."
"Awesome," he said smiling. "E's going to be so happy."