Chapter 9 #2
“I’ve been thinking about our vacation a great deal lately.
” He said that he has the days counted down on his phone.
“I believe Shawn does as well. She said it’s her one chance to be herself, and she’s not giving it up for anything.
I didn’t know she was holding back on things around the place.
She said it was her magic. She can use it when we’re all together, and no one cares about it. ”
“I can see that. She can be free to do what needs to be done. Do you suppose she uses it a great deal around the house with the kids? Do they have any magic?” He told him how Trevor could see Finny. “That’s good, right? Are there any other ghosts he can see?”
Finny lived in the house before Shawn moved in, and he was a hundred-year-old ghost. He could do some magic on his own, but it would wear him out, and he’d have to rest—which meant that you couldn’t see him.
“Not that we’ve encountered. But I don’t know that there are that many ghosts around the house anymore.
They pretty much cleared out when Finny moved into the house.
There are some at the graveyard that’s in the back, but they don’t bother us, and we don’t interact with them.
” They talked about other magic that Shawn had and when she used it.
It was nice having someone in the house who could do some extensive magic, but she never hurt anyone with it.
He didn’t even know if she could. “What’s Taylor doing since she’s not working for the foundation anymore?
I heard that she was working on some projects for the kids this summer. ”
“She has a brilliant mind about things that the kids can do in the yard. I love it when she gets all crafty. She said that it’s not crafting so much as it’s an outlet for her mind and to get rid of some of the clutter that is around the house all the time.
” Jack laughed. “We’d not have any clutter if she didn’t pick it up when she’s out.
But by the time summer is over, the kids have done some fun projects and have learned something.
Are your kids going to join ours again this year? ”
“I plan on it. Shawn said it gives her two whole hours once a month to just chill. I get to hang crafts all over my office for people to marvel at.” Jack said that he has a refrigerator full of projects already that Taylor had made as trial pieces.
“I bet that’s fun too. The kids have fun, and that’s all that matters to me.
I bet that Taylor enjoys it more than the kids do.
She sure looks like it at the end of one of her crafting days. ”
“She said that had she had it in her mind about having kids when she’d been younger, she might well have been a teacher.
I don’t see her enjoying that too much. They’d require her to teach something once in a while about the curriculum, and she just wants to have fun.
Not to mention she’d have them outside every day.
She does her best work in the yard where she has no restrictions.
” Ethan said he’d known that about her. “She’s a free spirit, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. ”
They talked about their wives while Ethan finished his meal.
He didn’t usually eat in the cafeteria when he was hungry because he’d get questions asked of him about how surgeries were going.
The only thing he could do was refer them to the board that was on the wall that said where certain patients were at during some point in their surgery.
And unless they had the number that went with their family member, he couldn’t help them at all.
Most people around town knew that he was head of surgery, and that’s why they asked him about their loved ones.
After Jack left, he went back to his office and worked on the paperwork that was forever piling up.
No matter how much he got done before lunch, there would be a stack of them on his desk when he got back.
Today was no different. As he was sorting through files, he kept thinking about this morning and Mrs. Challenger.
So far today, he’d been able to avoid her, but he wasn’t going to be able to do that daily.
They would meet at some point in the halls, and he didn’t know what to say to her.
~*~
Jack had all the giveaways in the storage locker so that they’d not be out where people could get to them.
Some of the things that businesses were donating to the dinner were valuable, and he didn’t want to have to replace them if someone got into them.
He closed and locked the door after putting the donation from the hospital—five sets of scrubs of any kind, plus five days off with pay for the person who won it.
He thought that the scrubs sets alone would be worth the ticket, but he didn’t know.
He didn’t have to buy them and wouldn’t know the first thing about how much they cost.
“What did the Banquet Room donate? Last year, their gift was sort of lame. I don’t think that many people put on it that they wanted it.
Do you remember what it had been?” He told Taylor that it had been four place settings of dinnerware of their choice.
“Yes, that’s sort of lame. Did they do any better this year? ”
“I don’t know that I’d call it better, but it was something larger.
This year they’re giving away ten place settings and a dinner for two at the Banquet Room.
I’m not sure how that will work for them.
Do they usually have dinners for people coming in off the street?
” Taylor told him that once a month, they do have that.
“Then that might be good too. I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten there.”
“You haven’t. Not with me anyway.” She kissed him on the mouth, and he asked her what that was for. “For being you. I love you very much.”
“You’re off again, I take it?” She said that she wanted to hit the craft store as they were having a sale on glitter. “I know how you love glitter.”
“It’s the magical dust of summer. And it’s going to be on every project that they make this summer.
I know how Dever loves it.” He really didn’t.
He called it something that he couldn’t remember right now, but it wasn’t nice.
He only said it around the adults. “I’ll be back before dinner.
Is there anything that you’d like to have?
It’s cook’s night off, and it’ll just be the seven of us tonight.
Trevor said something about making your own pizza, but I’d have to stop at the store if that’s what you want. ”
“It is. It sounds fun too.” Trevor usually would pick make your own something when the cook was off.
Last week, it had been sundaes. It turned out to be really good, but the mess was something that he didn’t like cleaning up afterwards.
But the kids had fun, and he couldn’t begrudge them something when they enjoyed it so much.
“I can go to the store for the stuff we’ll need. I don’t mind at all.”
“All right, but don’t overdo it. Last time you got too much, and it was a week before we were able to get all the cheeses eaten. I love cheese too, but there was just too much of it.” He knew that he’d get too much again and didn’t mind the scolding.
As soon as he was ready to lock up the rest of the business, he headed home.
He had to order some supplies for the next catering job, and he loved that he could save them so much money by ordering in bulk.
The large walk-in freezer had saved them a lot of money since they put it in, and he was happy with the results.
As soon as he was sitting at his desk, he heard from Denver.
“I have two things that I need to talk to you about. One of them isn’t important, but it’s just a question that I had.
The other is something that I’ve been thinking about for a while now.
” He told him that he had time now to listen to him.
“Can I come over? It’s something else I’ve been thinking about.
I miss you while you’re so busy all the time. ”
“I always have time to be visited by my family.” He said he’d be over in an hour and was able to finish up the order before he showed up. Just as he was finishing up putting the order into the computer, Denver sat down across from him and looked sort of dejected. He asked him what was wrong.
“Nothing. Like I said, I miss you. With you working with Dakota all the time, it’s hard to get to see you.
What have you been up to?” He told him about the party they were going to cater for the hospital and about how he’d just put in an order for the next three projects.
But he could tell that he was only about half listening to him, and he said that he was going to have a baby on his own since Taylor was so busy with her projects.
“That’s good. I was wondering if you’ve given any thought to having dinner with the brothers more than once a week.
I really miss you guys a great deal, and it would do me some good to have you guys around more often. ”
“What’s really bothering you?” He said it was that he missed them. “Something else is going on, and I don’t know what it is. You have to tell me before I beat the living shit out of you. Tell me what’s going on.”
“I feel like time is slipping away from me.” He asked him what he meant. “I don’t know. Since Grannie and Grandda passed away, I’ve been feeling my mortality a great deal. I don’t regret having Parker take away my immortality, but I do miss you guys and would like to spend more time with you.”
“You’d have to be more upbeat than you are right now.” He said that he’d been feeling his death coming on. “What are you talking about? You have a lot of years left in your life. You have a great family and a home that you love. I don’t understand where this is coming from.”