I felt like a kid again, sitting there, as Dad crossed his arms.
"I um...thought this was my box" I said lamely, referring to the one he had taken from me.
"Oh...so you went to Vet school?" he snided, and pointed to where Natalie had written 'Box of Vet school Books 1.' He told me emphatically "What's in these boxes is none of your business! You can't just go through people's things!"
"Dad..."
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Charlie's curiosity sometimes bordered on nosiness. When is he going to learn that people need to have their privacy?
"Natalie left her stuff here, thinking that it would be safe." I reminded him. I took it personally that her privacy had been violated.
"And because you told her that would be okay without asking me first!" Charlie snorted at me.
"She needed a place to store her things" I told him simply.
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"Yeah...nevermind the fact that this house is mine!" I retorted at Dad. "You seem to be forgetting that!"
"It's temporary!" Dad said firmly.
"But it's still my house!" I snarled. "Don't you understand?"
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"I didn't think you'd mind" I told Charlie. It was true.
"You should have asked!" he repeated.
"Asked?" the thought hadn't occurred to me.
"Yeah! I bought this house from you, remember?" Charlie glared at me. "At the asking price?"
"I know!"
"You keep acting like it's still yours!" he told me, while standing up. "B.P, you would have reamed me for doing the same thing!"
"B.P?"
"Before purchase!" Charlie huffed at being interrupted.
"I guess I would have" I conceded.
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"I guess?" I echoed Dad with frustration. Come on!
"Look, I'll ask next time, if you promise to stay out of Nat's stuff" He told me, but it sounded like he was saying it to calm me down. Dad used to do the same thing to Mom.
"Do you mean it?" I asked him doubtfully.
"Of course I do!" he insisted, and left the garage.
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Saturday came and I went with Alan to see a play. I had yet to find a good storage place for areasonable price.
"You're much prettier than the star of the show" He whispered during the second act.
"You're too sweet!" I told him and found myself smiling.
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Natalie looked wonderful in her sleek, black dress. Her brown hair hung loosely on her shoulders. I sometimes found myself watching her watch the show.
During intermission, we both got up to stretch our legs. At the area, where drinks and snacks were being sold, we ran into Art and his wife, Susan. They had been an extended vacation involving visiting their grandkids, and going on a cruise in the Caribbean. So, while Art knew of Natalie, he hadn't met her.
"Alan? How are ya?" he said, I could tell that he was shocked, having been his friend for so many years. He tried to hide it with a smile, as did his wife.
"Great! uh..this is Natalie" I introduced her.
"It's a pleasure." she put out her hand, and they each shook it.
"So. You're the reason why Alan seems so much chipper!" Art commented.
"How are you two enjoying the show?" Sue asked.
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"It's touching, yet thought provoking!" I commented. "A client of Alan's recommended it."
"My brother-in-law saw it with his wife." Art told us. He was a few inches shorter than Alan, and the wife was even shorter. Her short, curly hair style seemed to be able to withstand a wind tunnel given how the hairspray shone in the light of the chandeliers.
"How are the boys doing?" the wife asked.
"Very well, Sue!" Alan told her. "How are the kids?"
"Doing wonderfully, though I wished they lived closer" Sue bewailed slightly.
"I know the feeling" Alan said with true compassion. Don used to live and work far from home, so he understood.
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"How's your consulting firm doing?" Art asked me.
"Stan and I got two new clients last week" I told him.
"It's amazing how quickly you got out of retirement!" Art teased. Unlike me, he couldn't retire soon enough, and did so the minute he could.
"I wasn't quite ready for it" I said simply. I had retired only because Margaret had gotten sick. "And I love my work!"
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After a while the conversation turned towards when all their kids were little.
"Remember when we first went to Acapulco as a group? Don and A.J were toddlers." Art asked.
"Do I ever!" Alan exclaimed with a smile.
"Those two got into so much mischief!" Art shook his head.
"And that was just in the plane on the way over!" Alan laughed. "They both kept going around and saying boo! to all the passengers. "
I chuckled. One of my nieces had done something similar.
"Or how about when we'd take turns taking care of each other's kid to have romantic time?" Sue piped up, also referring to the trip. "I remember when we had Don for the evening...Lets just say I developed more respect for the parents of multiples."
A few minutes more of remembering the 'good old days', and intermission ended. My brother and sister could spend hours talking and remembering stuff about their kids. Like now, I usually didn't have much to contribute to such conversations.
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"Oh..I hope you didn't feel left out!" I apologized to her as we made our way back to our seats. It was easy to slip into memory lane, especially when it involved one or both of the boys
"Don't worry about it." she insisted. "You three go way back"
The next day, Sunday, Natalie used the yellow pages, to find and call possible storage places, while I worked on a big project. We were at her place. As usual, Layla jumped on top of some blueprints when I spread them out on the dining room table. Then, she lay down on the very spot I needed to look at.
"Go sleep somewhere else!" I scolded, picked her up, and then put her back on the floor. She made a few protesting mews, and started to groom herself for the umpteenth time.
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"So has Natalie found a new place to store her stuff yet, Charlie?" Amita asked me. She, Larry and I were at my house.
"No..." I shook my head.
"How are things with your father?" Larry asked me. I had told them a few days back about my fight with Dad.
"Not too bad..." I said with a sigh. We all sat in the living room. "If only he'd respect my ownership of this house!"
"Your father's owned this home for longer than you and Don have been alive. He maintained, repaired, and paid it off for all these years!" Larry told me. "It's going to take a while for him to adjust."
"But how long?" I asked impatiently. I was tired of Dad agreeing to things without asking me first.
"Who knows?" Larry shrugged.
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Some days later, I finally found a place to store my stuff for a good price.
"Thanks again Charlie!" I told him as we both carried stuff to Don's SUV the following weekend.
"No problem."
"Sorry about the misunderstanding" I apologized.
"It wasn't your fault" He put a box the back of the SUV. Don had lowered the back seats to make room.
"Here are a couple more" Don said
It took a while, but we finally got everything to the new storage place.
"Thanks for lending us your SUV" I told Don.
"No problem."
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"Finally!" I told Don when we were at the house alone after returning from the storage facility. Dad had gone home with Natalie.
"Good thing we used my SUV." Don added. He was right. It had saved us time and trips.
"What do you wanna do now?" I asked.
"Watch T.V?" Don shrugged.
"Okay" I turned it on.
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Tuesday came, and I decided to surprise Don at his office, with lunch. I felt that we needed some father/son time. When I got to his floor, I happily noticed that Charlie was there, though I irrationally kicked myself for not making another sandwich for him. Maybe I could give him a piece of mine?
Somehow, they didn't notice me, and were talking about Natalie.
"Do you think that dating Natalie is Dad's way of trying to feel younger?" Charlie asked. I couldn't believe it.
"Well, Groucho Marx did say that a man is as young as the woman he feels" Don commented with a half smile.
"Oh really?" I spoke up and they looked at me with wide eyes.
TBC