As Time Goes By

Chapter 25

Helga sits across the kitchen table from Arnold and watches him over her mug of coffee as he eats his breakfast. Looking up from his plate of eggs, he gives her a self-conscious smile. "Why are you staring at me, do I have food on my face or something?"

She takes a sip of her coffee and gives him a smirk. "Geeze, can't a wife admire her husband without getting the third degree?"

He looks at her through narrowed eyes. "Normally one can, but you look as if you have something on your mind."

She puts her coffee down and rolls her eyes. "Always the suspicious one. Anyway, you're sort of right, I guess."

He points his fork at her, his next bite of egg stuck firmly between the tines. "Ha, I knew it. So what's weighing so heavily on your mind?"

She gives him a shrug. "It's nothing heavy, I was just thinking about my final doctor's appointment tomorrow and what a coincidence it is that it falls on Valentine's Day. You did remember that it's Valentine's Day, didn't you?"

He gives her a surprised look. "Heh, I thought you didn't go in for the trappings of a made up holiday like Valentine's Day. What's changed?"

"I don't, normally, but this year is kind of special, don't you think?"

He tries to remember the last time they had actual sex, and nods his head in agreement. "Yeah, the fact that your six weeks post-delivery happens to fall on the same day as Valentine's Day did happen to cross my mind too."

She picks her coffee mug back up and smiles. "So that made me think that maybe we should do something special tomorrow to celebrate."

A smug look comes to Arnold's face. "Heh, already taken care of."

"Oh, really? Care to fill me in?"

"Well, I was going to wait until tomorrow to surprise you, but I may have already taken the steps to procure us a babysitter for the night." He pauses for a moment before continuing on. "Aaaand, I may have taken it upon myself to secure the last two dinner reservations at your favorite restaurant."

Her eyes light up with hope. "Chez Paris?"

Arnold victoriously nods his head. "Yep, none other. But there's just one catch, the only time slot they had left was 5:00. I know that's earlier than we usually have dinner, but –"

Helga is quick to cut him off. "No, no that's perfect. Gives us more time afterwards for, other stuff."

He talks through a giggle. "Other, STUFF? I can't wait to find out what that is."

"Well, nothing planned, we'll just let things happen as they happen."

Arnold looks at the time on his watch and quickly finishes what's left of his coffee. "Sounds perfect, but look at the time, I've dallied long enough, I'd better get on the road." He runs to the other side of the table to drop a kiss on the top of her head. Grabbing his briefcase he heads for the back door. "Have fun with your cupcakes today. I'll see ya when I get home."

Getting up herself, she starts to clear the table. "Gee, thanks. I'll see ya tonight. Have a good day."

The last thing she hears is his quick "Bye!" as he disappears through the door. Her attention now turns towards the baby monitor, and Joy's voice that comes bellowing out of it. Shaking her head, she heads for the stairs. "Okay, okay, take it easy before you pop a gasket. Ciminy, where on earth did you get that attitude, I've never know a child with less patience!"

xxxxx

Arnold makes it to work with plenty of time to spare so he decides to treat himself with a fresh cinnamon bun from the school's cafeteria. The line for food is longer than he had expected, so he pulls rank and walks up to the middle of the line where the morning pastries sit. He notices a couple of guys from the varsity basketball team, and squeezes in between them. The boy to his left doesn't realize that it is Arnold that has come up beside him, and starts to shove him out of the way.

Realizing just who it is he's pushing, he immediately takes a step back while his friends snicker behind him. "Oh, Mr. Shortman, I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else."

Arnold gives him a quick nod of his head. "Oh, no, that's okay, Richard. It's my fault for cutting in line."

Seeing that his actions aren't going to be earning him an afternoon of detention, the boy relaxes a bit and starts to mess with Arnold. "So, pulling rank on us lower class-men, I see."

Arnold takes the good natured quip as its meant, and replies back in kind. "Yep, figured you boys needed some putting in your place." He picks up the last cinnamon bun and holds it up. "I hope you weren't looking for this?"

The boy actually did have his eye on the sweet pastry, but picks up a blueberry muffin instead. "Naw, I don't go for day old, I prefer the fresher stuff myself."

His comeback is met with a new round of snickers from his friends and Arnold gives them a raise of his eyebrows, immediately quieting them. Walking up to the cashier now, Arnold hands her a twenty dollar bill. "Here ya go, this should cover my food, and whatever these chuckleheads here want too."

With their meal being on Arnold, the boys proceed to grab enough food to use up the whole twenty dollars, and they talk with Arnold as they head for a table. Arnold starts to bid them adieu and head for the door when Richard stops him. "Hey, Mr. Shortman, so can we all assume that you'll be joining the other teachers for the big game?"

Arnold gives him a puzzled look. "Huh? What big game?"

"The big basketball game between the varsity squad and the teachers. Didn't anyone tell you about it?"

Arnold shakes his head. "Um, no, this is the first I'm hearing of it. When did this all come about?"

"A couple of days ago when we were talking to Mr. Johannsen and Mr. Cooper." He pauses to give his friends a quick wink before turning back to Arnold. "But if you feel you might be too old for such a match, we totally understand."

For the second time Arnold is met with a chorus of chuckles from the guys and this time he talks to them through narrowed eyes. "Heh, I'll show you who's too old to play. Don't worry, I'll be there. You just let me know the time and day. Oh, and, I wouldn't go inviting your girlfriends to come watch, you might not want them see you guys getting destroyed by a bunch of teachers."

Richard turns to look at his friends and the whole group breaks out in laughter. Turning back to Arnold he gives him a wave. "Whatever you say, Mr. Shortman, but don't worry, we promise to go easy on you."

Arnold leaves the cafeteria now and makes a beeline for Gerald's classroom, anxious to find out just exactly when his friend was planning on letting him in on this, as the boys put it, "big game".

xxxxx

Helga straps Phillip into his car seat. She looks past him to the car seat where Joy lays sleeping and gives her daughter a smile. It had been a bit of a rough morning with Joy acting out of sorts, and she is hoping that the afternoon goes a little more smoothly.

Waving their good-byes to Renata and Otto, Helga pulls out of their driveway and heads towards their local supermarket. Once parked, she pops the carrier part out of Joy's car seat while Phillip undoes the latch to his own. They walk into the supermarket with Phillip holding tightly to one of Helga's hand while her other one holds onto Joy's carrier. Helga heads to the shopping carts, grabbing one that is big enough to place Joy's carrier in. She turns to pick up Phillip so she can place him in the kid seat only to find that he had wandered off.

She begins to panic when she hears him call to her. "No, Mommee, I wants to ride in this cart."

Following the sound of his voice, she sees him standing by an over-sized cart, the kind that is half toy car, half shopping cart. She rolls her eyes at the cumbersome cart and shakes her head no. "No, not today Phillip. Those carts are too hard to maneuver through the store. Plus, we're only getting a few things."

Phillip begins to cry while bobbing up and down with his legs in a mini tantrum, which is unlike him. On a normal day, Helga would not put up with such behavior, but it had been a long night and an even longer morning with Joy's fussing, so, deciding to choose her battles, she gives in and places Joy's carrier into the new cart.

With both kids satiated for the time being, Helga pushes the cart towards the baking isle. Due to the added extension of the toy car, the new cart is hard to maneuver around corners, and she has to start her turn early enough so she can swing the cart out wide enough to make the turn into the isle.

Unbeknownst to her, another cart is approaching from the other end of the isle, and she stops her cart in just enough time to avoid a collision. She calls out a quick "Sorry" as she passes the other shopper. It takes her a moment to realize that she has turned down the wrong isle, and now must repeat the process in order to head in the right direction.

Looking at the signs that hang above each isle, she notices that the one she wants is a few isles down and she begins walking. They pass the bakery department and Phillip gives her a confused look. "Where are we going, Mommee, the cupcakes are over there. I wants those cupcakes for school."

With no one saying she actually had to make the cupcakes herself, she shrugs her shoulders and heads over to the bakery. She finds the packages of premade cupcakes and picks one up. "What flavor do you want, Phillip, chocolate or vanilla?"

Phillip gives his head a firm shake and points to the fresh baked cakes. "I don't wants those, I wants the good kind."

Helga looks at the cupcakes that sit behind the glass counter and it is her turn to shake her head. "No, I'm sorry, Phillip, but those cupcakes are too expensive. Besides, there's no way your friends need that much frosting on their cupcake."

Not wanting to take no for an answer, Phillip jumps out of the cart and runs to the cake counter. He points to a fancy cupcake, the swirled frosting on top towering up a good four inches. "That's the kind I wants. I don't wants no yucky little ones."

Helga glances at the price per cupcake. "Those are four dollars each! There's no way I'm spending eighty dollars on cupcakes for your class. Now get back into the cart."

In full tantrum mode now, Phillip slides down the glass case to the floor where he proceeds to vigorously shake his head and scream. "No! No! No! I don't wants to! I wants those cupcakes! I don't wants no yucky cupcakes!"

Helga's cheeks turn red when the surrounding shoppers turn towards the sound of Phillip's voice. It takes everything in her power to keep her voice calm as she tries to cajole Phillip back into the cart. "Now, Phillip, you heard your mommy, we are not spending that much money on cupcakes when there are perfectly good cupcakes over there on the shelf, okay? Now I'm going to tell you one more time to please, get back into the cart."

Phillip still refuses to get into the cart, and his crying has now gotten the attention of the baker behind the counter. Looking over the edge of the glass case her look turns sad when she sees the crying boy. "Aww, is everything alright?"

Helga is slowly starting to lose her grip on her temper, and she speaks through clenched teeth. "Yes, everything is just fine, thank you."

The worker takes a piece of waxed paper and grabs a cookie from the case. "Would the little fella like a cookie for his troubles?"

At the mention of a free cookie, Phillip stops crying and smiles at the lady while nodding his head. "Yes, pwease."

Helga reaches out to intercept the cookie and hands it back to the worker. "No, that's okay. I don't think his behavior today warrants a cookie."

Seeing his sweet treat pulled right out from under him, Phillip ups the decibels of his cries.

Kneeling so that she is now at her son's eye level, Helga hooks a finger under Phillip's chin and gently lifts his face to meet hers. "Okay, Phillip, we are going to put an end to this crying right now. I understand that you want those fancy cupcakes, but I am not putting out eighty bucks for something that half your class will probably just lick the frosting off and throw away the rest. Now you are going to get back into that cart, and I am going to give you two choices, okay?"

Phillip whimpers out an okay while nodding his head.

Once back in the cart, Helga gives him his choices. "Okay, now, we can either get those already baked cupcakes over there, or we can buy the ingredients and make our own. Which will it be?"

Phillip sticks out his bottom lip. "If we makes the cupcakes can I pick out the flavors?"

Helga nods her head. "Yes, we can make them any flavor you want. Plus, you can even pick out whatever decorations you want to put on top of them. So which will it be?"

He thinks about it for a moment before asking to look at the premade cupcakes once more. The pink and white frosting on them doesn't sit as high as the fancier cupcakes, but the plastic valentine's topper that adorns each one looks like fun, so he decides to choose what his mother had suggested in the first place. With the matter settled, Helga grabs a box of chocolate and one of vanilla and they quietly head to the cashier, with no more being said on the matter.

The rest of the car ride home is quiet, with both her kids sound asleep in their seats. She thinks about Phillip's uncharacteristic tantrum over the cupcakes and, remembering Otto's sneezing from the day before, she hopes that he isn't coming down with something.

xxxxx

Jeremy had planned on showing up at Sheena's first thing in the morning, but when she had gotten up she saw that Eugene had once again left the house before anyone else was awake. She messaged Jeremy, telling him that she would text him the minute Eugene had returned.

He had considered going for a walk about town to take in the sights, but didn't want to risk running into Eugene on the street. So he stayed in instead, and now absentmindedly channel surfs while waiting for Sheena's text. He doesn't have much of an appetite, and picks at a sandwich that he had ordered through room service, barely tasting its ingredients. He picks up his phone and checks the time, wondering just what Eugene has been spending his days doing. Only the worst scenarios run through his mind and he fights hard to push them out, telling himself over and over that there's no way Eugene would ever return to his old ways.

Giving up on the sandwich, he wraps it up in a napkin and puts it in the small mini-fridge that came with the room. He's about to lay back down on the bed and take a nap when his phone alerts him of an incoming text. Grabbing his phone he sees that the message is from Sheena, alerting him of Eugene's return to the apartment.

Without wasting any time, he grabs a jacket and runs out the door. Luckily for him there is a taxi sitting right out front of the hotel, hoping to pick up a quick fare. He hails the taxi and gives the driver Sheena's address as he gets into the back seat. A mere 15 minutes later he finds himself standing outside of Sheena's apartment. He thinks of the man he loves being on the other side of the door, clueless as to what is about to happen.

Giving the door a quick knock, he is greeted by Sheena's smiling face. She whispers for him to come in, telling him that Eugene is in the shower. Taking a seat on Eugene's makeshift bed, he anxiously waits, running through his mind all the things he wants to say.

Sheena takes a seat next to him and tries to lessen the awkwardness by striking up a conversation. "So how was your flight into town last night?"

Jeremy fidgets in his seat. "It was okay. Kind of long when you're traveling by yourself."

Sheena nods her head. There's another moment of awkward silence before she speaks up again. "So, how do you like your hotel room?"

Jeremy appreciates Sheena's efforts to put him at ease, but he's not in the mood for idle chit-chat. He looks at her, abruptly changing the subject. "So you don't have any idea where he goes when he leaves here, no idea at all?"

Sheena shakes her head. "No, not really although I do have some suspicions."

Jeremy looks at her with hope in his eyes. "You do? What kind of suspicions? Has he mentioned anything?"

"No, but I did find a used cocktail napkin on the floor by where he hangs his coat, it must have fallen out of his pocket."

Jeremy becomes worried when he hears that it was a cocktail napkin. "You think he's been hitting the bars?"

"Well, I think that's possible, but I don't think he goes there to drink because he's never come home with any sort of alcohol on his breath, and he's never drunk."

Jeremy desperately tries to put two and two together. "If he doesn't go there to drink, what else could he be doing?"

"I honestly don't have any clue. I wish I did, but I don't. To be honest, it was only the one time, so we don't even know if he hangs out at the bar on a regular basis."

Jeremy nods his head in agreement. "Yeah, you're right. We're jumping to conclusions without even giving him any benefit of the doubt."

Sheena is about to agree when they hear the bathroom door open. A rush of steam billows out, followed by a freshly showered man of the hour. Eugene runs his fingers through his wet hair while he speaks. "Ahh, it always feels so good to take a nice, hot shower. I really want to thank –"

He stops mid-sentence when he sees who's there. His eyes lock onto Jeremy's as he stands up and turns to look at him. "J-Jeremy. Wh-what are you doing here?"

Without breaking eye contact Jeremy calmly replies. "I've come to take you home."