Chapter 6

Tim woke up to dim light coming in the windows. He opened his eyes and looked out, a little disappointed to see low-hanging clouds outside. Oh, well. It was Monday, the first official day. Maybe they could just hang out in Banff today and see the town and hope for better weather tomorrow.

As it was, he wasn't in the mood to be getting up yet, either. He looked at the time and saw that it was only just past six. No reason to rush. Hopefully, Tony would come to the same conclusion. So Tim got himself comfortable again and let himself relax, slowly easing back into sleep.

There was something about these road trips. Even though things weren't always relaxed, he did always appreciate the quiet moments when he didn't feel like he was hurtling out of control through life. While he loved his life, he couldn't help but regret how chaotic he felt at times. In that respect, he understood exactly what Tony had meant before about wanting his life to be easier.

Somewhere in the middle of those thoughts, Tim fell asleep again.

After an unknown amount of time, Tim heard movement, but he decided to stay where he was and just see if Tony was simply shifting position or if he was actually getting up.

And then, he heard the bathroom door close quietly. Tony was getting up, then. Tim debated whether or not he'd get up right away, and then, he snuggled down beneath the blankets and decided to wait a little longer.

He didn't fall asleep again but he was very comfortable in the bed. He heard the bathroom door open.

"Tim, you awake?" Tony asked softly.

"Yeah," Tim said, without moving.

"You planning on getting up anytime soon?"

"Yeah."

"Like now?"

Tim laughed and rolled over, stretching as far as he could. Then, he opened his eyes and looked at Tony.

"Enjoying yourself?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"You plan on doing anything today?"

"Of course."

Tim sat up, smiling at Tony's veiled impatience.

"Well, maybe we should get a move on," Tony said.

"Well, I was thinking we could take it easy today. It looks like low-lying clouds and hiking around Lake Louise won't be very impressive if we can't see anything."

"What if we have low-hanging clouds tomorrow, too? We can't just stay in the hotel the whole week," Tony said.

"No, but we could give it a chance to clear out. We can take it easy our first day and just walk around and see what there is to see in Banff. Buy some souvenirs, check out the immediate area. Then, tomorrow, unless it's actually raining, we can go to Lake Louise and hike, clear or not," Tim said. "What do you think?"

Tony paused for a moment, just long enough for Tim to start worrying that he'd been too free with his opinion. Then, Tony smiled a little.

"Did I just hear you give a genuine suggestion and not take it back?"

Tim felt his cheeks heat up a little bit.

"It's not the first time," he said.

"It's the first time in a while, and I'm glad," Tony said. "But if you're going to suggest we go to a gift shop, then, I'm all for it. Now, you can get ready and then we'll get breakfast, okay?"

"Okay."

Finally, Tim got out of bed and went into the bathroom. That was the first reference to some of their lingering awkwardness. It hadn't led to anything more, but Tim wondered if it would. He wondered if it should, but he wasn't going to push it for now. They had a full week and there was no reason to push for something big and dramatic right when they got here.

Decision made, Tim focused on getting himself ready for an easy day.

Hopefully.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony watched as Tim went into the bathroom and he sighed a little. He just wasn't sure how to go about this and he wasn't used to being the one so uncertain.

But then, if he just took things as they came, maybe it would be easier.

As he waited for Tim to come out, he looked around the room and focused in on the kitchen. Maybe they should actually stay in and cook a couple of days while they were here instead of eating out every day. It would definitely save them some money. He walked over to the kitchen and started opening cupboards. He was happy to see that they were fully stocked with everything they might need. Tim's idea of staying and walking around Banff today could be a chance to buy some stuff to make meals as well.

The bathroom door opened and Tim came out.

"Okay. I'm ready for breakfast."

"Just a sec," Tony said. "Let's talk a bit."

"About what?" Tim asked and seemed just a bit wary.

Tony didn't like to see that, but he pushed on.

"The kitchen."

The wary expression vanished and Tim just looked confused.

"Huh?"

"We have a kitchen with all the dishes and pots and pans we could possibly need. I think we should plan on eating a few meals here instead of going to restaurants," Tony said.

"Oh. I hadn't even thought of that," Tim said.

"And who's the spendthrift?" Tony asked, smiling.

Tim grinned. "You. Hands down."

"Well, just for that, I may make you cook."

"Ha. Unless it's pancakes, you wouldn't want to eat my cooking," Tim said, although that was definitely an exaggeration. While Tony was a better cook, Tim was fine as long as it wasn't complicated and he had a recipe to follow.

"True. How do you feel about doing some cooking here?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me. We can go to a grocery store while we're walking around Banff."

"Just what I was thinking, and there's a free shuttle we could take back," Tony said.

"Okay. Good idea. Now. Breakfast."

Tony smiled. Tim definitely didn't like missing breakfast.

"Well, let's see what there is in town."

They sat down and started doing some searches on their phones.

"Oh, how about this?" Tim suggested. "JK Café. They serve breakfast and they have some local coffee."

"What about food?" Tony asked.

"They have pastries and quiche and buns, bread, muffins. Nothing fancy but it looks like it would be good."

"Okay. Now, do you want to walk down there or just take the shuttle?" Tony asked.

"Well, when does the next shuttle leave?" Tim asked.

They looked.

"Half an hour."

"It's only supposed to take 20 minutes to walk into town," Tim said. "Let's just walk."

"Okay."

They got all their stuff and then headed out. They stopped by the front desk to make sure they knew the way and then, it was off to Banff for breakfast.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim hoped that there wouldn't be any rain while they were walking around. It was no fun to get soaked, especially here. While it was June, it was a lot cooler here than it was in DC. The average high was only in the mid 60s which was perfect for what they planned. As long as it didn't rain (or snow). The clouds were hanging low, but there was no rain in the air at the moment.

"We should buy a couple of umbrellas," Tony said.

Tim looked up at the sky and smiled.

"Maybe so."

They walked down the road on a gloomy morning. Every so often, Tony looked up at the sky and shook his head.

"What?" Tim asked after the fifth time.

"People come to Banff because of the amazing views," Tony said. "These clouds better not hang around all week long. That'll suck."

"The forecast didn't show it."

"Yeah, but weather forecasters are the only people who can be wrong 90 percent of the time and still keep their jobs," Tony said, darkly.

Tim wasn't sure how to address Tony's mood. He didn't want a repeat of last year, but he wasn't sure if it really was anything serious like it was last year. Finally, he settled for a partial joke.

"Come on, Tony," Tim said. "I can't keep being the peppy one of us. At least try to be a little optimistic. It's too tiring to do it all the time."

Tony looked at him in surprise and Tim smiled. Then, Tony rolled his eyes and gave Tim a little shove.

"It's good for you, Probie," he said. "Serves you right."

They kept on their way down the hill and finally got into downtown Banff. As they headed toward the café, they saw the Visitor Centre and decided to go there first. Inside, they focused on getting maps and lists of things to do. They checked out the information about Lake Louise, Jasper, Yoho and Banff itself. Once they had a pile of maps, they left and continued on to the café.

They could smell the bakery as soon as they neared the place.

"I think this is going to be a great choice, Tim," Tony said, and his pace quickened.

Tim followed along and they went inside. There were quite a few people already there, but that was all right. Since they'd decided not to push and hike today, they didn't need to rush anywhere and they didn't need to worry about really filling up.

They started looking over the pastry case, and Tim was glad that his kids weren't here. He always felt like he had to be a good example and get healthy stuff when he ate with his kids, but for breakfast, he'd always been more inclined to go sweet rather than savory. It harked back to his love of sweetened cereals, he figured, but he definitely had a sweet tooth and it was nice being able to satisfy it without worrying about being a bad example.

"What are you getting?" Tony asked.

"A chocolate-filled croissant and a lemon Danish. You?"

"A breakfast bun and a blueberry muffin."

"Hey, you know what?"

"No," Tony said.

"Huh?" Tim asked, his brow furrowing.

"No, I don't know," Tony said and then grinned.

Tim laughed.

"What?" Tony asked.

"We should get some of these things to take with us when we go hiking. The lighter stuff probably would fall apart, but the granola bars look good for hiking, and we could buy some of their bread and make sandwiches, too."

"But then we have to carry it around with us as long as we're here."

The person at the counter interjected. "You could come back later. We are open for lunch, too."

Tony and Tim both smiled.

"That sounds like a good idea," Tony said. "Okay, let's order and get out of the way."

They both ordered their pastries. Tim got an Americano and Tony got a caramel macchiato. They sat at a table to eat.

"Tim, that looks very unhealthy," Tony said, pointing at the croissant.

Tim laughed and looked at it. Not only was there chocolate inside the croissant, but there was also a drizzle of chocolate over the top and it was dusted with powdered sugar.

"It is," Tim said.

"You're going to be hungry in an hour. That won't fill you up."

"Then, I'll come back here and get another pastry," Tim said and took a big bite out of the croissant, getting powdered sugar all over his shirt.

"And now you look like you've been attacked by dandruff," Tony said.

"Just eat your boring breakfast and let me enjoy mine."

"Okay, okay. You weren't eating like this last year or the year before."

"I was setting a good example for my son," Tim said, focusing only on the meals not anything else. "But my son isn't here."

Tony suddenly pulled out his phone.

"Well, smile, McSweet Tooth."

Tim thought about avoiding it but decided it wasn't worth the effort and, instead of smiling, he took another satisfying bite of his croissant and looked smugly at Tony.

Tony laughed and took his picture. Tim set down his croissant and pulled out his own phone.

"Your turn, even if you're not going to be enjoying it as much as I am," Tim said.

Tony daintily picked up his breakfast bun and took a tiny bite. Tim took his picture. Then, they both finished their pastries and took their coffee with them as they left the café. Tim brushed the powdered sugar off his shirt, but he was quite happy with his decision for breakfast.

They headed out into Banff and walked around, looking at the shops and making note of some of the restaurants that looked like good choices for dinner on days when they didn't cook. They stopped at a place to get a quick bite for lunch but didn't linger there. There were more and more people around as they continued their trek. Finally, Tony declared that it was time for gift shops. There were plenty to choose from and they made a circuit of four or five.

They bought t-shirts for pretty much everyone. Tim found a solar-powered maple leaf that he bought for Tommy, hoping that he'd ask how it worked. Tony bought a hydroflask for Daniel. They both wanted to get some nice things for their sons who had pushed for this trip and sacrificed coming themselves. These were smaller items, but they had time. Tony also bought a keychain for Jo as he always did. Then, Tim bought a couple of bracelets for the twins, given their newfound interest in making jewelry. Tony bought Grace a necklace that said Daughter on it. Since most of the trip was supposed to be hiking, not going to cities, they weren't sure how often they'd be in gift shops.

They left the shops and decided it was time to get to a grocery store. They found one called the IGA. It was small but it had the essentials. They bought some cereal, pasta (of course), and some produce. They got a couple of frozen meals and fought over whether or not to buy any treats right then or to wait until they knew how much driving they'd be doing. (They bought treats.) Finally, they headed back to the café and bought some bread so that they could make sandwiches. They also bought the granola bars Tim had seen and a few other more substantial sweets like cocoa balls. Then, laden with bags, they decided to take the shuttle back up to their hotel. They walked to the stop for the route they'd been told when to the hotel and had to wait for a little while, but then, they caught the bus and were relieved to ride back up the hill. They lugged everything into the room and put the food away first. Then, they sat down on the couch.

"Well, it'll be an early end to the day, but that was good," Tony said.

"And it didn't rain," Tim added.

"But there are still clouds."

"We'll see something. It'll still be something we've never seen before," Tim said.

"Okay, okay. Lake Louise, tomorrow?"

"Yeah, and there's that teahouse of the six glaciers or something. We should do that hike."

"We'll have to get tea, you realize. Ducky would never forgive us if we didn't," Tony said.

Tim laughed. "You're right. Okay, so that's the plan for tomorrow. Now, what about dinner tonight?"

"I'll make you pasta. We got all the stuff for it, and we have to use it."

"Okay. Sounds good."

"And you can help if you promise not to ruin it."

"Ha. If that's the requirement, I don't know if that'll work."

"Oh, come on. It's not that hard."

Tim laughed and got up to join Tony. Tim was put in charge of the pasta which Tony instructed could not be mushy. Tony made the sauce, just a simple, quick bolognese, but it smelled amazing. Tim got the idea to take some of the rolls they'd bought and make them into garlic bread and so they had a full meal.

As the sun was setting, the clouds were still present, but it was a nice relaxing evening. Tim cleaned up dinner since Tony had done most of the cooking. Then, they decided to sit and just watch some TV.

Tim knew that they had things to talk about, but today had been nice. Nothing big and important, nothing fancy. Just walking around, some shopping and eating good food. And Delilah would be glad that they saved some money on meals.

"Well?" he asked Tony as they prepared for bed.

"Well, what?" Tony asked.

"What do you think? Successful day?"

"Yeah, I think so," Tony said. "Except for the clouds."

"We'll have good weather. Eventually."

"You sure about that?" Tony asked.

"Positive. And since I'm positive, you have to be, too."

"Is that the rule?"

"Yep."

Tony looked like he was deciding whether or not to debate that. Then, he smiled.

"Okay. But if you're wrong..."

Tim laughed. "What?"

"I don't know but it'll be something good."

Then, they both called home and took turns in the bathroom. Tim took the pullout while Tony got the bed.

They both went to sleep.