Chapter 4

Sandy couldn't get the dark man out of her mind either the night before after they had met or out of her mind now as she had prepared dinner.

She especially found it difficult to get over how much he had resembled her late husband and though she had dismissed stories she had heard about things occurring from "the other side," Sandy had to wonder if this was some kind of message Mike was sending her from somewhere in the beyond.

Sandy hadn't told her son about the dinner guest they were having that evening; she had simply told Tyler that one of their neighbors would be joining them.

He had shrugged it off, figuring it would be Janice or someone like that; it wasn't like Jan or one of the guys from school hadn't stayed for dinner before.

But when Sandy had Tyler answer the door while she was putting on the final touches for their dinner, his mouth fell open in shock when he saw Paul standing there.

"Oh…my….God!" the teenage boy had gasped. "You're…."

"Yeah," Paul finished, amused at Tyler's reaction. "Your mom invited me for dinner tonight. You must be Tyler."

"Uh…yeah, that's me. Come in; she's almost got stuff ready."

Sandy smiled as she peeked out of the kitchen. "Hi, Paul. Just make yourself comfortable; everything is almost ready."

"Smells great," he smiled at her. "Beats the hell out of microwave burritos."

"I certainly hope so," Sandy laughed before she went back to work.

Paul couldn't help but chuckle when he saw Tyler staring at him in disbelief, especially how blasé his mother had been about the whole thing.

"What's the matter, man?" he asked. "You look like you're seeing a ghost."

"I just can't believe you're here having dinner with my mom and me."

"Just another neighbor being social, dude. I don't get many chances for that."

"Still….wow. If Mom had any idea who you really were."

"Obviouslyyou do," Paul laughed again.

Tyler nodded. "A couple of friends and I watch you every week. We're fans, at least me and Janice are."

Paul perked up. "Janice, huh? From next door?"

"Yeah, we hang out a lot." Tyler didn't elaborate that it had been Janice that told him about Paul being a neighbor.

"She and Winona are good people," Paul nodded.

"You know them too?" Tyler wondered.

"Sure; Winona was one of the first people I met when I moved here a few years ago. Of course, it kind of started with Janice being nosy when I was moving in my stuff and Winona told her to quit staring."

Tyler laughed. "Oh yeah. She was doing that with Mom and me too."

Sandy brought in dinner, which was her famous taco casserole that Tyler loved, and set it on the table.

"So what are you boys discussing?" she asked politely, joining them at the table.

"Mom, Paul knows Miz Evans and Janice," Tyler grinned, scooping out a helping of the casserole before passing the pot to Paul.

"I think Winona pretty much knows everyone here," Sandy nodded. "She also introduced us to the Sloanes on the other side," she elaborated to Paul.

"Oh yeah, that nice older couple. Real quiet people; Mr. Sloane lends saves his newspapers for me sometimes just to have me catch up on stuff from when I wasn't here."

"I always wondered why Dick saved those papers," Sandy replied. "Now I know. I ran a few errands a couple of weeks ago for Evelyn when he was down with the flu. Tyler here also checks in with them sometimes just to make sure they're all right."

"So how do you guys like the place?" Paul asked.

"I think it's beautiful here," Sandy answered right away.

"It took a little while for me to get used to it," Tyler added, "but once I started knowing people, it's pretty cool."

"And to think you didn't want to leave Philadelphia," Sandy smiled at her son.

"Yeah, but that was before I started meeting all these cool people," Tyler said. "And I gotta admit I don't miss snow and cold that Philly has, either. Who would think I would be wearing T-shirts and shorts in January?"

"Amen to that, my man," Paul grinned, toasting Tyler with his glass of soda. "That's one of the down sides of my travels this time of the year. Freezing my ass off when we travel up North, especially Canada."

"I'm presuming you don't like winter much either," Tyler guessed.

"Not since being from here," Paul replied. "Of course, you'd think I would adjust to it being born in Hartford, but I've been here the majority of my life."

"Can't blame you," Tyler nodded. "But why do I get weird looks from people when I'm going around with no jacket when it's 65 degrees outside?"

"Down South here, that's chilly weather," Paul pointed out. "You and Mom here being Yankees for so long, that's a heat wave to you."

"That explains it," Sandy said, offering to refill his and Tyler's glasses. "Whatever the case, it's good to breathe fresh air all year round instead of furnace air four or five months out of the year."

She then looked over at the window she opened to air out the unit while she had been cooking.

"You're not cold, are you?" she asked Paul.

"Nope, perfectly comfortable. And you made a great dinner. Thanks."

Sandy glowed. "I'm glad you liked it. Tyler, would you like to have the honor of showing our neighbor here the rest of the place while I clean up?"

Tyler was elated. Does a bear shit in the woods?

"Sure!" he said enthusiastically before practically dragging a laughing Paul through their apartment. "Come on; we can check out my room first."

Sandy shook her head as they went off toward Tyler's bedroom, thinking she had never seen him act this way with any of their neighbors, not even Janice. What was so special about this one?

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While her son guided Paul through the apartment, Sandy loaded the dishwasher and cleaned up the kitchen and dining room, still wondering why Tyler was making such a fuss over the man.

She could only guess that perhaps it had been Paul's resemblance to Mike; even though Tyler had never really vocalized it over the last six years since his father's death, she knew deep down that he had missed Mike as much as Sandy herself had.

She had also found it flattering that Paul seemed to also be taking an interest in Tyler when he popped his head in a few minutes later.

"Hey, Mom, I'm going down to Paul's for a bit," he told her. "He wants to show me some of his stuff too. If Jesse calls or Janice comes over, tell them I'll be back in a bit."

Sandy nodded. "All right, but don't touch anything unless he tells you it's okay."

"Damn, Mom, I'm not a little kid," Tyler sighed, slightly annoyed.

"I know, but don't give Paul any trouble."

"I won't." He rolled his eyes. "I'll be back soon."