Chapter 28
Leonard and Penny took their luggage from the baggage conveyor and went to the exit of JFK International Airport passing by the car rental to have their own car for their stay in New York. They also took Buster from quarantine check and was glad that their dog was doing alright from their five hour flight from Nebraska. Buster was a little agitated after the flight but finally settled down when he saw his mommy and daddy take him out from the quarantine checkpoint. Leonard loaded their luggage in the trunk and got inside the car, driving out of the airport to his father's place in the city. Penny could feel that Leonard is a little bit on edge as they drove through the city towards Alfred's place. She knew that her husband's apprehension stems from his uneasy relationship with his family. Something that is still unresolved after Leonard's numerous attempts in the past to connect with them.
After about an hour of driving from the airport, Leonard parked the car on the side of the curb.
"Well here we are. I'm gonna call my dad so he can let us in." he said as he dialed Alfred's number. Alfred answered after a few minutes as Leonard and Penny unloaded their luggage from the trunk as they waited by the building's entrance. Alfred emerged from the building, seeing his son and his wife standing by the door. Alfred was glad to see his son again after how many years.
"Hi dad! Nice to see you again!" Leonard said as he shook his father's hand.
"Hi son! It's been a long time. You look great!" said Alfred as he turned to Penny. "And you must be Penny!?" he asked.
"Dad, this is my wife Penny. Honey this is my father, Alfred." said Leonard.
Penny gave Alfred a hug. "Hello sir! It's nice to finally meet you." she said.
"Please, just call me Alfred! And who is this little guy?" Alfred asked kneeling to see Buster in his carrier. Penny slowly opened the dog's carrier and put the leash on his neck, taking him out of the carrier. The dog initially resisted as he felt uneasy in front of Alfred. Alfred offered his hand as the dog sniffed it and after a couple of minutes, Buster finally wagged his tail and licked Alfred's hand making Leonard and Penny sigh with relief.
Alfred stood up, taking the luggage from Penny. "Let's get you guys inside so you could rest and settle in." he said as the couple followed Alfred into the building with Penny carrying the dog in her arms.
They entered Alfred's apartment in the third floor and Alfred showed them to the spare bedroom with Leonard bringing in their stuff.
"I'm gonna order some food so we all could have dinner before you two turn in for the night alright?" Alfred said.
"Thanks dad." Leonard said as he put their bags on the floor. Penny decided to put Buster out on the balcony so he wouldn't run around the house and do a number inside the apartment. She returned to the bedroom and saw Leonard opening their luggage and putting their clothes in the drawers. She decided to lay down on the bed and stretch her arms and legs to shake off her jet lag.
"Ugh I'm so tired honey!" she said yawning.
"Well, we had a long flight. How's the dog doing?" he asked as he put some clothes in the dresser.
"A little shaken up but he's gonna be fine. I'll just chop up some food for him later." she said. "Your dad seems nice?" said Penny.
"Yeah. I wouldn't worry about him. It's my mom you should be worried of." he said as he sat beside his wife.
"When do you plan on us visiting her?" she asked.
"A couple of days from now. I'll give her a call just to be sure she's home." he said as they heard Alfred knocking on the door.
"Leonard, dinner's here." Alfred said from the hall.
"Alright dad, we'll be out in a minute." said Leonard as he pulled Penny up to go to the kitchen. They went out the room and joined Alfred in the kitchen preparing the table for them to eat.
"I hope you two are okay with Chinese food?" he asked the couple.
"It's fine dad." said Leonard as they sat down and began to eat.
"So it seems that you're doing alright from your long absence?" Alfred said to his son. "Would it be alright if I ask you what you've been doing these past couple of years?" he asked.
Leonard told his father all about his trip and his solitude on the island, telling him about how he sustained himself with his new found occupation.
"So you managed to stay on the island for an extended time by fixing televisions and radios? That's impressive!" said Alfred.
"Yes dad. It started because this other guest at the hotel I'm staying in nearly bit the head off of the receptionist because his TV was broken. I told the receptionist that I could help, one thing led to another and the next thing I knew, I was repairing Penny's TV." said Leonard squeezing his wife's hand.
"Yeah and he fixed my computer too, he said it was free but I didn't know that I had to marry him someday!" she said teasing her husband.
"Well I'm really happy for you son. At least you found someone who loves you and makes you very happy." said Alfred.
"Yeah and I'm sorry if we didn't ask for your blessing first." said Leonard.
"Son you have nothing to apologize for." Alfred said. "I'm just glad you and Penny are happy." he added.
"Thank you Alfred. I mean, Leonard has been nothing but supportive of me when I got the offer to do my movie." she said.
They continued talking and catching up until it was time for them to retire for the night. Leonard and Penny took turns cleaning up in the bathroom and changing into their sleep clothes. Penny made sure that Buster was fed and watered at his temporary place at the balcony. Leonard also put an old blanket with the dog so he will be warm and cozy at his temporary shelter. The couple laid on the bed, kissing each other goodnight and thankful that the day has ended while slowly drifting off to sleep in each other's arms.
The couple spent the next day getting settled in their room and arranging their stuff in the closet and cabinets. Penny also took the dog for a short walk around the block so it will have some exercise, get some sun and to do some of it's bodily functions with Penny cleaning up after it before going back into the apartment. They decided to stay at the apartment for the rest of the day as Leonard told Penny that they will drive over to New Jersey to visit his mother the next day. After lunch, Leonard went to the balcony and gave Beverly a call to let her know that Penny and him are coming over to visit. The call was a short one as Leonard expected which gave Penny an idea on what their visit to her would be tomorrow. After the call, Leonard went back to the living room and sat beside Penny, telling her and Alfred about his conversation with Beverly. Penny and Alfred reassured Leonard that he was doing the right thing and that he has nothing to be afraid or worried about.
The next day after breakfast, the couple drove over to New Jersey to Beverly's place – Leonard's childhood home.
"How are you feeling?" asked Penny as Leonard drove over the bridge.
"Fine I guess. I mean, I know we would be spending more time on the road than with my mother for sure." said Leonard.
"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Penny asked.
"I'm sure honey. I want to get this over with so she won't have anything on me that says I cut her off my life or something." he said.
"Okay, if that's what you want." said Penny.
"It is and don't worry, we'll be back to New York in no time." said Leonard while lightly squeezing her shoulder.
They drove for about an hour and a half until Leonard entered a suburban area telling Penny that they were near his mother's house. After another twenty minutes, Leonard parked the car on the side of the street, turning off the engine and pulling the hand break.
"Well, here we are." he said as they unbuckled their seat belts, getting out of the car. He took Penny's hand and walked a couple of houses until they reached Leonard's childhood home. They walked up the pathway and stood on the porch, ringing the doorbell, waiting for Beverly to open the door. After a few minutes of waiting, they heard a couple of door locks clicking and saw a bespectacled woman with tied-up hair open the door.
"Hi mom! It's nice to see you again." said Leonard.
"Hello dear. It's nice to see you too." said Beverly without any excitement from her voice.
"Mom, this is my wife Penny. Honey this is my mother, Beverly." said Leonard.
Beverly was surprised when Penny gave her a light hug. "Hi Beverly! It's nice to finally meet you!" Penny said, quickly releasing her hug.
Beverly fixed her glasses and gave her a weak smile. "A handshake would suffice but I guess a hug is acceptable as well." she said. "I suppose I should let you two inside?" she added while inviting the couple into the living room. Leonard held Penny's hand as they made their way into the living room, sitting on the couch while Beverly sat on a chair facing them. Leonard looked around and noticed that little has changed around the house since he was last here when he graduated from college many years ago.
"So I guess congratulations are in order to you both for getting married?" she said looking at Leonard.
"Thank you mom and we're sorry for not telling you about the wedding. It was a spur of the moment thing." said Leonard.
"Well to be honest, I was quite surprised when you called me yesterday. The last time I heard from you was when you wrote me that letter telling me that you're going away and that you needed to distance yourself from your family. So what changed?" she asked.
Leonard took a deep breath. "Well, I met my wife and it wouldn't have happened if I never went away. Best decision of my life." he said as he squeezed Penny's hand. Penny smiled and was touched by her husbands comment.
"Well if you're happy then why come back here? It was obvious from your letter that you didn't want any form of relationship with me." said Beverly making Penny uncomfortable.
Leonard hung his head and sighed. "I came here so you could meet my wife and to let you know that we're doing alright. I met Penny's parents when we spent a couple of months in Nebraska before we came here to see you and dad." he said.
"Okay. I appreciate the gesture but to tell you the truth, I couldn't care less at what you do with your life anymore. You're the one who chose to cut us off from your life." said Beverly, raising the tension in the living room.
Leonard covered his face with his hands while Penny rubbed her hands on his back. "I never said that I wanted to cut you off from my life. I said that I needed to leave for a while to find my way and now I did." he said trying hard not to get too emotional.
"So are you going back to California?" Beverly asked.
"No. We're going back to the island. We're quite happy with our life there. Simple and quiet." said Leonard.
"Would it make you feel better if I expressed a little interest in how you've been living your life for the past couple of years?" asked Beverly.
Leonard hung his head, knowing that it was useless for him to make a connection with his mother. "You know what mom, it's fine. Penny and I should get going." he said as he stood up, pulling Penny's hand towards the door. Beverly decided to speak before Leonard could open it.
"Do you want me to be honest with you?" she asked. Leonard slowly turned around and faced his mother. Penny felt very uncomfortable with the tense situation as she held on to her husband's arm.
"Yes." said Leonard, looking his mother in the eye.
"I'm quite relieved to know that you're doing okay. At least you're happy with your life." she said then turning to Penny. "Penny, I hope my broken marriage would serve as a lesson of what not to do in your relationship with my son." said Beverly.
Leonard sighed and was slightly relieved at what his mother said. "Thank you mom. We'll be going now." he said as he opened the door.
"Goodbye Beverly. It was nice meeting you." Penny said as they went out the door, walking back to their car on the side of the road.
Inside the car, Leonard leaned his head on the steering wheel, trying hard not to cry and be emotional. Penny rubbed her hands over his back and shoulders to console him. "Hey, are you gonna be alright?" she said.
Leonard sat up and removed his glasses to wipe a tear from his eye. He sighed and put his glasses back on. "Why do I even try Penny? I knew she would treat us exactly like this!" he said.
"Hey, at least you made an effort to let her know we're doing alright. That's more than enough honey." said Penny. "She said she was glad that you're happy. Isn't that something?" she added.
"She only said that because that's the 'socially acceptable' response for these situations." he said.
Penny sighed and touched Leonard's cheeks. "Honey look at me. You tried. What more could we have done?" she said as Leonard looked at her and thought for a while. "Let's go back. Buster's probably giving Alfred a hard time right now." she smiled at him.
Leonard nodded. "Okay. I guess we still have almost a week and a half to go around New York huh?" he said.
"And don't you forget that we're in our honeymoon mister!" she teased him. "Let's just focus on each other and maybe you'll get lucky tonight." she said winking at him.
"Hmm, I like the sound of that." said Leonard as they started to drive away and go back to New York.
Back at Alfred's apartment, Penny cuddled Buster on her lap while Leonard told his father everything that happened with their visit to Beverly's place. Alfred was saddened that Leonard was not able to make a connection with his ex-wife but comforted Leonard with the fact that he made a genuine effort to do so and that there was nothing more that could be done otherwise. The couple decided to stay at the apartment for the rest of the day and do their sight-seeing trip the next day as Penny wanted to see all the tourist spots in the city.
For the rest of their two-week stay with Alfred, the couple went around New York's best tourist spots starting with a visit to the Statue of Liberty. They went on-board the tour barge with the other tourists and went to the upper deck to have the best view of the city. Penny was glad that Leonard was in a good mood during their trip.
"You seem to be in good spirits!?" she said as she draped her arm around his shoulder.
"I am because you're here with me. I couldn't have asked for more." he said leaning over and kissing his wife.
"I'm glad Leonard." she said as they continued to take in the sights, while the barge continued its trip to Liberty Island.
The couple wasted no time in going around New York, with most times bringing Buster with them. They went to Coney Island, Times Square, Central Park and almost all the famous places in the city, taking tons of selfies and pictures with their phones as well as visiting all the best food spots to the delight of Buster who was glad to be out with his mommy and daddy.
After spending almost two weeks in New York, the time came for the couple to fly back to the island as Alfred went with them to the airport to see them off.
"You two take care of each other alright?" said Alfred as he shook Leonard's hand and gave Penny a hug.
"Thanks for having us dad. We'll call you as soon as we arrive." said Leonard trying hard not to become emotional as he doesn't know when he'll see his father again.
"We had a wonderful time Alfred. Thank you for letting us stay with you." said Penny.
"Hey, you're family. You can visit me anytime." said Alfred as he knelt down to say goodbye to Buster. "Bye little buddy! You watch out for your mommy and daddy okay?" he said as Buster barked at him while wagging his tail.
"Bye dad." said Leonard.
"Goodbye son." he said as the couple took their luggage and walked into the airport entrance.
After a couple hours of going thru security, immigration and getting Buster through quarantine checks, the couple went to the boarding gate awaiting their flight to be called as they sat in the passenger lounge. Penny held Leonard's hand, smiling at him. Leonard smiled back, bringing her hand to his lips and kissing it without saying a word.