CHAPTER 26
TOUCHING WITH A TEN FOOT POLE
I turned but I was having trouble seeing because of the rain and glare of the street lamp. But then I made out his form and the cane. "Greg?" I started walking towards him.
"If you want, you can call me George." He was smiling.
We were less than six feet away from each other and I started to shiver. "If you expect me to keep you warm...then you'll have to come closer." He held out his arms. I walked into them and he embraced me and kissed the top of my head.
We were standing, getting soaked and I couldn't care less.
"Let's at least get out of the rain, ok?" he said.
We walked back to my hotel without talking. He stood in the lobby and looked around. I asked him, "I need to change, do you want to wait here or come up?"
"I'd prefer to come up. I don't like lobbies."
We went up to my room and I grabbed a towel for him. I went into the bathroom to use the toilet, when I came out he had taken off his shirt and jeans and was sitting in his boxers and t-shirt. I grabbed some clothes and went back into the bathroom. He sat on the bed, propped up at the headboard by pillows and was watching television. When I came out of the bathroom I was in sweat pants and a cotton shirt. My hair was still wet. I sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at him. It was so good to see him. His face had so many new lines, all etched by his life– his losses, his wins. I was feeling myself slip, slip back to that nine year old who couldn't do fractions.
"You look like a drowned rat. Come here." he patted the bed next to him.
"I'm really hungry." I propped myself up next to him, rubbed my tummy and smiled.
He nodded at the television, "This is a great movie," The Unforgiven" Let's get room service."
"You haven't seen me in 18 years and you want to watch,"The Unforgiven?"
"It's only another hour, are you going somewhere?" he asked.
"I'm going home tomorrow evening."
He looked upset, "Change your reservation, or are there other reputations out there that you have to ruin?"
"No, just yours." I said.
He grabbed the menu from the side drawer and handed it to me. "Cheeseburger, fries and diet coke." I told him. He picked up and ordered two cheeseburgers, two fries and a bottle of champagne.
"I'm curious about your new hips and breasts, must be those cheeseburgers."
"What? Hey, the men I know like the softer landing." I swatted my rounder hips.
"I guess I'll have to try it out and get back to you." He turned and gave me a very sly, sexy smile.
I threw myself back on the pillow and looked up, "What are you doing? What is going on here?" I asked him, I was getting mixed messages. We were bantering like friends and flirting like lovers.
"I think we should have sex and figure it out from there." he said casually. "Problem is, that if you expect me to do what George did on page 57, then I'm going to have to have a lot more booze." We both started laughing.
"Well, George was much younger then."
"Ouch." he grimaced.
There was a knock on the door and I got up to get the food. The waiter popped his head inside the door and saw Greg propped on the pillows in his boxers. I thought it was odd, but I didn't say anything. I brought the trays back to the bed.
"I think our waiter just made a Benjamin."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm sure the "Star" or "The National Enquirer" made our waiter an offer he couldn't refuse. The world will soon know that I was in your hotel room in my boxers. So I figure, if we're going to be blamed for having sex...let's give them something to talk about." he wiggled his eyebrows.
"You are really pushing the envelope tonight." I started eating my cheeseburger, "The last...(chew) thing you said ...(chew) to me eighteen years ago was that you didn't love me. Not exactly the way to romance a girl."
"Wow, I didn't know you had to be in love to have sex, I missed that Commandment."
"Greg, I can't sleep with you if you don't feel anything. I can't do it. If I open that wound, it won't heal again. Ever." I waited for him to say something, to tell me he did care, but he didn't say anything. I shook my head and exhaled, "Eat your cheeseburger and watch your movie." I smiled at him but inside I was crushed.
We talked a little about his parents, my travels, his job and then I asked him about his leg. He was matter of fact about it, no emotion or bitterness. At 1:30 a.m. I told him that I needed to get some sleep and so I was going to have to kick him out. He nodded his head yes and stood up and put on his still wet clothes. I walked to the door and opened it for him. He walked over, looked down at me and I gave him the biggest, bravest smile I could muster. He kissed me softly on my lips. I pulled away.
"Goodnight Greg."
"Goodnight Maggie May."
He was right about the tabloids, they had a photo of him leaving at 1:30 a.m. The headlines were, "George and Rachel Back Together Again?" No one could know how sad that headline made me.
Wilson saw House walk into the hospital lobby and joined him on the ride up in the elevator. "Well, how did it go?"
"I didn't nail her if that's what you're asking. We just talked and watched a movie. I had a chance but I couldn't bring myself to take advantage of it."
"Why?"
"She wouldn't go any further unless I told her I had feelings for her."
"Do you?"
"Yes, but I don't know what they are. Do I care about the nine year old? The twenty year old? The 38 year old? And is it love or guilt or lust or what? I don't know and I can't lie to her this time."
"Wow, that's almost noble of you. Sure you're Gregory House? Or are you a doppleganger?" he paused. "The problem is that you don't have very long to find out. The Literary Festival ends today."
"She goes home tonight." he said sadly.
"Then what are you doing here?" he asked.
House nodded, turned around and left the hospital. He drove to the campus, parked and looked to find a program and figure out where I was. He crossed the campus and reached the auditorium where the Literary Festival brochures were located. The brochure said I was on a panel at 9:30 a.m. It had started about a half hour ago. He located the room and made a beeline for it.
He walked into the room as I was discussing 'point of view.' He sat down in the back. After I was done answering the student's question I sat down. I looked around the room, spotted him and smiled. My smile must have been huge because everyone turned around to look and then they started to whisper. The whole room recognized Gregory House. He stood up, gave a bow and said, "I've come to find out if in your story, Rachel would have been willing to stay so that George could explore the reasons he sent her packing?"
"Well, Rachel might have stayed if she hadn't had certain deadlines, such as the Cambridge Fellowship or perhaps a business commitment. It would have also depended on whether George was willing to give her a sign that he wasn't just playing her to get in her pants."
The whole room looked back at Greg. "Well, assuming he could have played her say, last night, to get in her pants, but he didn't, wouldn't that be a sign?"
"I suppose, but I was thinking more like a verbal commitment. But that could be an interesting chapter in another book...if there was a sequel."
"Are you planning on writing a sequel?"
"It depends on George."
He smiled and then sat down. The entire room was smiling.
After the lecture, I picked up my stuff and went to the back where he was. "Lunch?" he asked.
"I think that would be a good start." I answered.
He held my hand as we walked out to the lobby and out of the building. Cell phone cameras were snapping right and left. Then the media saw us and the big cameras started clicking.
He nuzzled my ear and whispered, "Change your reservation and stay for a few more days."
"I drove here and I have to be back to Colorado by Wednesday because we're having a horse auction on Saturday and I have to help get ready."
He shook his head like he had heard wrong? "Did you say horse auction?"
"Didn't your parents tell you I own a horse ranch in Colorado?"
"We don't usually talk about you. I thought you were living in D.C.or New York."
"Why don't you come back with me? Come see my world." I asked, hoping he would come.
He gave me that sideways look of his that says, "I'm not sure about this." He thought about it and said, "I have to ask Cuddy if I can get the time off."
"Well, I need for you to let me know. If you come with me you can do some driving while I sleep and we can get back to Colorado sooner."
"I'll let you know by 2:00 pm, ok? What's your cell phone number?"
I gave him the number and went back to the festival for my next panel. At noon I
checked out of my room.
At 1:00 p.m. I received a call. "I've got a week off."
"That's great! I think we should leave tonight, when do you get off?"
"I'm off at 4:00pm and then I need to go home, get cleaned up and pack my bags."
"Uh...I only have room for one bag...pack jeans, underwear, a sweater and jacket. I have t-shirts and shirts at the ranch. I don't know where to wait for you. I don't have a room at the hotel, I checked out and I'm done at Princeton, so I guess I'll go shopping."
"You can come by and get the key to my apartment and wait for me there." He offered.
"Can I snoop while I'm there?" I teased.
"Only if I can snoop when I get to Colorado."
I chuckled, "I'm an open book, so it's a deal."
Around 2 pm I went to his place. I got nosey. Greg knew that I wouldn't be able to contain myself, so I figured he wouldn't have given me the key if I didn't have permission to snoop.
I found scrapbooks and photo albums with photos of Stacy. She was absolutely beautiful and it was at that moment that I accepted that he probably would never love me again. They looked happy in the photos and I looked at myself in the mirror, I was fair and blonde, she was dark and sophisticated. I was only 5'4" and she looked taller. In all the photos she was dressed impeccably. I was dressed like a ranch hand. I just felt inferior. I looked for any photos or things that he kept from our time together and I couldn't find any. The only thing I found was the photo taken of House and me when I was a child, the one when he put his hand on my head. It was buried at the bottom of a box of golf trophies. It was obviously in the, "Things that are dead to me" pile.
I resisted the urge to make his bed. His apartment was messy but not filthy. I loved seeing all the musical instruments lying around or hanging up. It was good to see that he was back playing music again. I started looking through the bookshelves. Most of the books were reference books or mysteries. There were also many that surprised me, like "A Confederacy of Dunces", "David Copperfield", "A Study in Scarlet", "The Sound and the Fury", "MacBeth"... and the list goes on. I looked in the night stand and found condoms, lubricant, toenail clippers and mints. In the bottom drawer I found books, my books, "Sherpa," "Busker," "Mama"s Table," and "My Back Against the Piano."
I autographed "My Back" – To Greg, I bet you could perform page 57 if you practiced. Love Always, Maggie May.
Underneath the books were magazines that contained my short stories. He even had the student folio with my first published story. I sat on the edge of the bed and asked myself what did this mean?
He got home a few minutes after 4:00 p.m. "Did you find anything?"
"Yes and no. Stacy was beautiful, you looked happy with her." I looked at him for a comment.
"Am I suppose to say something? She was beautiful and I had very happy times with her."
"Happier than we were?"
"No. Not happier, but she was what I needed at the time. I loved her."
I shook my head, I already knew this. It hurt, but I wasn't surprised.
"I didn't see any photos of us...did you throw them out?"
He chuckled. "You don't know where to look. He went up to the book shelf and took out what appeared to be a large reference book on Mt. Everest, but it was actually a box and inside the box were dozens of photos of us along with memorabilia. He pulled out a second reference book on Cambridge University, it was also a box with similar contents. I smiled at him and he gave me a quick hug.
"Did you think I had exorcized you, performed a ritual and burned everything that reminded me of you?"
"Maybe. Why the disguise then?"
"Well, let's just say Stacy wasn't excited about having the photos around, especially towards the end. She was sure that you had made me happier than she did. I was a little concerned that she might do something to them. She was pretty angry at the end."
"I see. Go get your shower and let's get going."
When he was done getting ready and packing, we unplugged some of the appliances and equipment and then locked up his apartment. He asked me, "Where's your car?"
I pointed across the street.
"Holy Mother of God. Sweet...Can I drive?"
"If you want, now you see why you could only bring one bag?"
"Yeah, small price to pay. Where's the keys?"
I threw him the keys. He was all smiles. "Man, what year is this?
"1958 Ferrari 250GT Berlinetta 'Tour de France'. The Coachwork was by Pinin Farina Scaglietti. " I said it like a machine. I got asked so often that I said it by rote.
"How much did this puppy cost you?"
"It was a present."
"A present?" He stopped in his tracks with his mouth open.
"My boyfriend's mother willed it to me when she died."
"Who was this boyfriend?"
"Gianni Ferrari."
He was very quiet. Then he looked at me, "Hard to compete with that."
"It's not a competition. I was close to his entire family. His mother and I really bonded, she thought I was good for Gianni. When I was around him he was happy, this car was her way of saying thanks."
He was roaring down the expressway. "Seems you make a lot of men happy. This must be worth a fortune, what did they insure it for?"
"$1.2 million dollars."
"What?" he backed off on the gas and started treating the car like a fragile glass object."
"Greg, it's just a car." I started laughing.
"At that price, it's a work of art. You really did go out and live your life didn't you? I saw that photo of you on the ladder at Everest. What in the hell were you thinking?"
"OH... Roger and Fred wanted me to do it."
"So you did it because two guys asked you to do it?"
"Yeah, I was young and single and up for just about anything. I wouldn't do it again, I've had enough of Everest."
"When I saw it, I went nuts. I tried to kill Tom but Wilson stopped me. Tom insinuated that you two had been together."
"Dr. Tom? Oh, no...I didn't go near him, I knew he just wanted to score with me to get to you. But you were jealous?"
"Nah, I just wanted to hit someone and he was convenient."
We pulled off at midnight and got a motel room. I showered and put on a t shirt over my panties and crawled into bed. Greg was already in bed watching a little television. I rolled over with my back to him. He turned off the television and then turned out the light. Then he spooned me. His hands went up my t-shirt to my breasts and I shuddered it felt so good. He was pressed up against me and I could feel that he was aroused.
"I thought we were going to wait...see where this was going before we got physical?"
"It's not fair to me to have you this close in a bed and not have sex."
"Then I'll go get another room." I started to get up and he grabbed my wrist.
"Don't get another room, I won't bother you. I'll do whatever it takes to make you comfortable."
I got in bed and turned to face him. "I want this too, I want your hands all over me, your mouth on mine, you inside me, but I'm still gun shy. I'm sorry, I want more than just sex and I want you to want more than sex too."
"Women." He rolled his eyes.
He reached over and in the light coming through the window, he kissed me. I turned over and he spooned me but this time his hands stayed away from my breasts and he went to sleep. I realized that I felt safe for the first time in a long time.
The next morning we left Rockford, Illinois and started the last long haul to Colorado. House drove us for the first four hours and then I took over just after Des Moines. I opened her up and let her rip. We were cruising at over 100 miles per hour and Housewas smiling.
"You're going to get a ticket."
"Probably, but I'll just pay it. You don't have a million dollar car and not drive it like it should be driven. Gianni and I used to race in the family Ferraris through Italy and he taught me how to handle a sports car. The Italian police never stopped us. They new the Ferraris and appreciated the beautiful cars so much that they would simply stand by and watch us. Sometimes they would block traffic so we could complete one of our races. It was fun... I never won, but I had a blast."
Greg hung on to the bar over the door and braced his leg. I got off onto a smaller interstate where there was virtually no traffic and took her up to 120 mph. I was very much in control and Greg was still holding on for dear life.
"Sweet..." He grinned.
"Do you want to drive it on this road? I'll pay your speeding ticket." I offered.
"I probably have some outstanding warrants for other speeding tickets, I don't think it's a good idea."
"Gregory House! You need to clear those up."
Luckily, I wasn't pulled over until I got close to home. We had made our run through Boulder and had driven through Estes Park. My ranch is southwest of Estes Park and there's a nice run of road between Estes Park and my ranch so I opened her up and within minutes there were flashing lights behind me.
Greg was shaking his head at me. "You almost made it."
"Oh, don't count me out so quickly."
The patrolman came up to my window, "Maggie, 121 miles per hour? Come on girl, I warned you to keep it under 100. Hey, are you having that auction this weekend?"
"Yeah Larry, are you coming? I'm going to have food and drink. Why don't you come?"
"I think I'll stop by for a few minutes, now keep it under 100 or I'll impound your car again..."
"Ok sweetie, see ya." He left and I turned and smiled to Greg.
"Have you slept with him?" Greg was amused at his attitude.
"Not yet." And I put the car in gear and took off. I kept it under 100 for the rest of the way. "But I did let him drive my car."
When we got home he whistled as we drove up. The ranch house is 5,500 square feet of modern log cabin. It has an open floor plan on the first floor. There's one guest bedroom and a full bathroom on the first floor and three more bedrooms and three full baths on the second floor. The living room has a 20 foot high ceiling and two large river-rock fireplaces. The Master Bedroom has a fireplace too with a large balcony overlooking the Mountain and meadow. The living room is huge and the kitchen opens up to the living room area. I thought the house was big but cozy.
(Readers - I once had someone tell me that they didn't think Maggie and Greg House should end up together in this story because there was too much water under the bridge -- what do you think? P.S. Thank you for continuing to read, we have about four more chapters.)