Chapter 1: Sort of Like Cher...
"Pim?"
"Well, it aint Santa Claus!" She replied with her trademark smirk. "Aren't you going to let me in?"
"Of course!" Phil shut the door behind her as she took of the backpack she was wearing. "How have you been? WHERE have you been?"
Before Pim could reply, she was mobbed by her nieces, nephew and Yoda.
"AUNT PIM!" T.J. shouted as he and his sisters hugged her and Yoda licked her face mercilessly.
Phil raised his eyebrows at Keely, who'd come up behind him. She returned the look. Thinking fast, he grabbed his wallet. "Sam, why don't you take your brother and sister out for pizza so I can have a chat with my darling little sister?"
Sam got his drift. "Sure, Dad. C'mon, guys."
When they'd left, Phil led his wife and sister into the kitchen. He and Pim sat down at the kitchen table while Keely made coffee.
"So, you two still seem to be the picture of domestic perfection," Pim said.
"We've been together since we were sixteen, Pim. What were expecting?" Phil asked.
"I dunno. Wally and the Beave maybe?"
He laughed and shook his head. "Pim, what's this really about? Why are you here?"
"I just need some place to crash for a week or so."
"What about Mom and Dad?"
"They're on vacation, remember?"
Phil slapped his forehead. "That's right! Visiting Grandma Mary in the future."
"So, can I stay?"
"I guess. But Pim, where have you been? I haven't seen you for two years. Last I heard, you were living in New York, working as a photographer for some teen magazine."
"I was but that got boring really quickly. You can only take so many pictures of boy bands and soap stars before it gets old, even if the pay is good. So when I got an offer to go to New Zealand and shoot some stuff for this independent surfing magazine, I took it. Since I was going to over there for awhile, I had to back out of my apartment lease and store most my stuff and Mom and Dad's."
"So you were in New Zealand all that time?"
She shook her head. "Nope, I was only there for about six months. After I was done with that, I decided to take some time off and bum around Europe for awhile. I did a few freelance things while I was there and ended up selling a lot of my pictures to a travel magazine based out of London. I hooked up with a friend of mine from college in Ireland and while I was staying with her just outside of Dublin, I got a call from a publisher I'd worked for back in NYC. She asked me if I'd like to go to Japan and to do some spreads for an upcoming feature in an anime magazine. So for the past about eight months, I've been living in Tokyo. The job ended last week."
"Hence the need for a place to stay, right?"
"Yeah, but it won't be for very long, Phil, I swear. I have a meeting with a new publisher in a couple of weeks back in New York."
"You're crazy, Pim, but you are my kid sister so the guest bedroom's yours for however long you need it."
Pim smiled the genuine smile she rarely showed to anyone. "Thanks, Phil. This really means a lot to me."
"Forget about it."
"Well, after an sixteen hour flight, I'm beat. I'm just going to take a shower and head to bed. Hopefully I can sleep off this hideous jet lag."
"Sure, Pim. See ya in the morning."
She picked up her backpack and headed up the stairs. A minute or so later, Phil could hear the shower.
Keely joined him at the table, two cups of coffee in hand. Sitting down next to him, she handed him one.
"It's really nice to see Pim again, Phil, even if it is out of the blue."
"Yeah. I know. The kids like having her around too." He smiled and shook his head. "I swear, you just can't get rid of that girl. She's sort of like Cher, you know, just when you think she's good and gone, she comes roaring back and surprises everyone."
"All you Diffys are like that. I remember very distinctly not being able to get rid of you when we first met. Not that I'd ever wanted to..." She leaned over and kissed him. "Although, I've never compared you to Cher."
"I sure hope not. I'd look horrible in those outfits she used to wear."
"Sonny, maybe, but never Cher."
Phil laughed.
"So it looks like it's just the two of us for dinner. What do you want to do?" She asked.
"We've got leftover Chinese food from the other night. How about that and a movie? The kids won't be home for awhile."
About an hour later, Sam, Jessie and T.J. came home to a quiet house. T.J. went into the kitchen to feed Yoda, Jessie took off for her room, and Sam headed to living room to retrieve her backpack. What she saw when she got there made her smile.
The coffee table was littered with empty white paper boxes and chopsticks; on the TV, Humphry Bogart was saying to Ingrid Bergman, "...the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans..." and her parents were asleep on the couch, wrapped up in each other's arms.
Sam slung her backpack over one shoulder, turned off the movie, quietly gathered the empty boxes, and spread a blanket over her folks.
