Happy Wednesday!
Thank you all so much for the lovely comments and reviews on the first chapter. I tried replying to all of them, so I'm sorry if I missed any of you. If you left an anon review, please know I appreciate you and you made me smile, too. Man, it feels good to be back.
This is a very, very short chapter (don't hate me), just to introduce our one and only Burt Hummel, aka the best father in the whole universe. I'm just setting up the pace for the story, I promise there will be longer chapters.
Once again, I have to thank Christine for being my wonderful beta.
I own nothing!
Enjoy.
It was very difficult getting used to retirement. One would think having lots of free time would be a blessing, an opportunity to enjoy your life in the way you couldn't when you were busy supporting and raising a family. Most retired people decided it was the perfect time to go on cruises or move to Florida. But Burt Hummel would rather drop dead already, instead of joining a single conga line in a floating hotel in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
He was a simple man. He enjoyed watching sports, having a beer with a friend in the local bar, and fixing cars. He'd always found time for that, even when he was working, so he wasn't really sure what to do with all the spare hours he had now.
The first couple of weeks after retiring, he would feel so restless, he would get into his truck and drive into Manhattan to visit his son. He would just show up at his apartment in the morning, offer to take him out for breakfast. The first few times, it was obvious Kurt was pleased to see him, but then he clearly became worried.
"Are you okay? Is there something you want to tell me?" He would ask, leaning across the table to grab his hand.
Burt was okay. He was just bored, bored enough to make the nine hour drive into Manhattan regularly. Kurt suggested he joined a club, or that he did exercise. He said maybe it wouldn't be so bad to travel a little, to see the world.
But again, Burt was a simple man. He had never been too inclined to see what else was out there. He had lived a nice life with a woman he loved – until she passed away when Kurt was little – and then raised a perfect son, all while working the same job for over thirty years.
"You deserve to have fun, to enjoy, to do things you always liked but never had time for," Kurt insisted, the previous night, after Burt's latest visit. "I'm sure once you get used to having more free time, you'll be glad for it"
So Burt decided to follow his son's advice, and planned a fishing trip. It had been a long time since he went away to his uncle's old cabin. Maybe it would be nice, to get out of the suburbs, get lost in nature, breathe fresh air. He could catch a big, juicy fish and cook it on the grill for dinner. He could drink beer next to a nice fire.
He woke up in his little hotel room at the same place he usually stayed in when he visited Kurt, and decided he would even make the drive back home to Ohio a little adventure. He would stop at different dinners, maybe he would even take a different route. He would see what was out there, as his son usually said to him. He would learn to live a little.
It was a lovely morning, the perfect weather for his drive. He got coffee at the little restaurant downstairs, and asked them to fill up his travel mug as well, for the road. He ate some bacon and made sandwiches in case he got hungry while he was driving. He went outside and asked for his truck to be brought over, refusing the help from the bell boy. He was a grown-ass man who could lift his own bag, thank you very much.
He watched as the valet parked the truck on the curb, and bent over to pick up the overnight bag when he felt a little tug in his chest.
Burt stopped mid-motion, tried to take a deep breath, but something was wrong. His arm hurt, his chest felt tight…
Something was wrong.
That was the last thing in his mind as he dropped to the ground and lost consciousness.
Short and not entirely sweet.
Just in case anyone is wondering, in this AU, Burt never dated/married Carole.
Thank you for reading and I'll see you on Saturday!
Love,
L.-