My darling husband, the fine specimen of a man that he was, sat on a bar stool eating oat meal and drinking coffee from a large mug.
“Good morning.” was his greeting. “Did you sleep well? You seemed a little out of it last night when you went to bed last night.”
“Sure I'm fine. Just a little shell shocked at finally living in our house.” I responded bracing myself a bit in hopes that this was the correct response. It seemed to work, he accepted the answer with no further inquiries and moved on to a new subject.
“You're in jeans and a tee shirt, I thought you had a meeting with your editor today?” he asked.
“My editor?” I responded, this caught me off guard. I had an editor? For what?
“Yes, Molly. Your new book? Are you sure your okay? Maybe you should reschedule. Give yourself the rest of the weekend to adjust to the house and living in New London.” Willard suggested some concern.
“Maybe you're right. With the book, the move, vacation, and all. I almost need another vacation. I think I need some time to wrap my brain around my new surroundings, New London and all, you know?” I tried to sound as focused as I could, in spite of my present state of distractedness.
Just then the phone rang. Will answered, then handed the phone to me. He mouthed, “It's Molly.”
“Hello?” I said in a nervous tone that I tried very hard to cover up.
“Jane would it be okay with you if we postponed our meeting this afternoon until say Tuesday morning. Something came up and I have to push all my meetings back a day or so.”
“That would be great, I kind of need the weekend to reboot my brain anyway. What time on Tuesday?” I inquired.
“Would eleven be okay?”
“Eleven sounds perfect. Where?”
“Wow you really are out of it, we already agreed to try that Millie's place in your new town. It's a coffee shop kind of place. But I think they have sandwiches and stuff too.” Molly explained.
“Yeah, sorry. So Tuesday at eleven at Millie's.”
“See you then. Bye.”
“Yeah, bye.” I turned off the phone and set it down on the counter. Will stood up and approached me with body language that indicated that he wanted to hug me. An attractive man, whom I was married to and he wanted to hug me, seemed natural enough. The embrace was so comfortable, as though I belonged there. I planted my head on his chest and closed my eyes to really soak it in. He smelled great too.
“I love you.” He whispered, then kissed my forehead. I heard,
“I love you too.” escape my lips automatically.
“You're pretty neat.” He went on. I giggled, this seemed silly, but then I could swear that I had heard him say this before, like it was an on-going joke between us. I felt his arms loosen, then we let go completely. He took his bowl to the sink to rinse it and drank the last of his coffee. I sat on the bar stool next to his then looked around the room. This area was like three rooms in on. There was of course the kitchen itself, but then there was a breakfast nook, and a small lounging area that was centered around a large fire place. When I looked more closely I saw that the fire place was two sided. I hadn't noticed this the night before. I could see the family room through the fire place on this side. This general area was decorated in neutral colors, black, cream, tan, with a bit of red here and there for an accent. The refrigerator and the dish washer doors blended in with the cupboard doors, and the wall unit ovens were stainless steel. The counter tops looked like granite, as did the top of the top of the large island where I was siting. The island also housed six gas powered burners, a small sink, and an elevated section that worked well for the four bar stools.
The breakfast nook was made up of an “L” shaped bench around two portions of the table, and three chairs placed at the other open spots. Seating for six comfortably, seven if necessary. The fire side area consisted of a medium sized over stuffed sofa, in a dark khaki, of which the back was turned to the kitchen. An occasional table behind that, a black chair on either side, facing one another, and a smallish glass toped coffee table in the middle. The entire area had hard wood floors, except for a great area rug was under the fire side furniture. The mantel piece held a variety of pictures of Willard and myself, as well as some of our other friends and family, all of whom attended the “Welcome Home,” party. There was a large portrait of Will and me above the smaller pictures, it seemed recent and we looked attractive and happy.
“Weird isn't it?” Will said suddenly.”I remember us planning all of this, buying all of these things, and now it has all come together and it feels so surreal. Like a dream.” I looked at him wide eyed, he knew. It was all an illusion, this was his dream too. Yet then I figured, if this is all a dream, and we're in it together, then why not just go with it until I wake up? It seemed harmless enough. There were things that I would have to figure out and catch up on, but that wouldn't be hard, all I had to do was be myself, do whatever felt natural.
“Yeah, a dream. Even when you can touch things you still expect to wake up at any moment.” I cried.
“I have been going through the house checking things out to see how it all came together, and it is great. The house, the furniture, the decorations, everything is so us. And it's ours, all of it. Feels good doesn't it?”
“Yes, it does. I'm glad to hear you say all of that, I was afraid you might think that I have gone crazy if you caught me snooping around the house, looking at things and such.” I was so relieved.
“No, I've been doing the same thing. Probably more with the electronics and such then perhaps the china, but all the same, it's new and different to me too.” My heart leaped in my chest at the sound of the word china. We had china? Where?
“Well, I have to go get started on this new project for a client. This one will take at least nine or ten months, but it's my first audio book project.” he said. Apparently I looked confused, because then he said, “the latest Barry Eisler book? Remember?” I faked a smile and nodded blankly,
“Yeah, sure.”
“You really do need a break. Take it easy hon. I love you.” he said as he kissed my forehead again, then made his way up the stairs to his studio.
“I love you too.” I answered. From there I made and eat a couple of poached eggs, toast. To this I also added a banana, pineapple juice, and a vanilla yogurt. I found all that I needed easily, like I had set it all up myself. I cleaned up after myself, then proceeded to search my house. The kitchen alone was wonderful, the dishes, the glass ware, the silverware, and the cook ware. I had a huge pantry full of food, the refrigerator was full too. There was a vase of fresh flowers on the dinning room table, I smelled them. When I turned around I saw the china hutch, and the china in it. White bone china bordered in a cream with platinum designs in that. Service dishes, seven piece place settings, including tea cup and saucer, for twelve. There were chargers, place mats, table cloths, runners, cloth napkins, napkin rings, linens for all occasions. I was stunned, these were my things. All I could do was thank God. It might only be a dream, but all good things come from God, and this was a good dream.
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