The Affair

12. Let's do this, now!

Saturday, April 18th 2020

2:45 PM

"Well, yeah Carly. Sam and I discussed it the other night. We think it's a good idea, don't you?"

"Freddie, I just don't know… I kind of like things the way they are. What do you think, Sam?"

"Honestly, I haven't made up my mind on what to do yet. Something's going to have to change. Fred and I did talk about it though. You don't think we should, Carly?"

"Come sit by me, Sam. Freddie, hand me those color swatches you brought in. I kind of like the kitchen colors the way they are, guys."

"Carly, you remember that Shelly repainted this room." Sam said while moving to sit next to Carly.

"Of course Sam, now I remember! This room looks horrible! Really awful! What color were you and Freddie thinking of?"

Fred's cell phone begins to ring… "Oh, hi mom… Sure, hold on a moment."

"Carly, mom got invited to do something. She thought we were at Sam's old place, and was going to drop off Larry. Shall I go pick him up, Carly?"

"Please, I'll do what I had planned for tomorrow this afternoon. That way I can help clean. See you guys here in two or three hours then. Shall I pick up Chinese?"

"Mom, yes, we'll be by to pick Larry up shortly, Thanks for babysitting."

Fred closed his phone. Sam walked Carly to the door, and gave her a hug, and returned to Fred.

"Fred, didn't you inherit this house from someone on your mom's side of your family?"

"Sure did, Sam."

"Um, how is it that she didn't move in here with you?"

"Well Sam, I told her the back yard had a serious tick infestation. She won't even come to visit. Want to come with?"

"Sure, I haven't seen your mom in a while."

Fred got Larry's car seat out of the trunk and in the back seat. For being such a nice day this afternoon, it was really looking stormy now. This is Seattle, so it's expected. He got a coat for himself and Sam then went to the spare bedroom for something for Larry. He found a coat that may still fit him in the clothes that Carly had left for him here. But it might not; the boy was growing like a weed.

Sam had changed out of her sun dress and into some sweats. It wasn't exactly sun dress weather any longer. The Bushwell building isn't much more than a fifteen minute drive from Fred's house. They parked downstairs in the parking area, and rode the elevator up to the eighth floor. Sam stopped at the door to the familiar Benson apartment, thinking of all the time she had spent in this building. After Carly had left, Spenser had moved into a smaller place as well. Then he met Mishy, and they had moved to the artist's colony in Albaquerqy, New Mexico.

Taking Sam's hand, Freddie said;

"Come on, I haven't been out of the fire escape in a long time."

They walked down the hallway to the window, opened it, and stepped onto the platform. It was windy, and beginning to rain.

"This was where it all started Freddie."

"You know, it's not really Sam. This is another one of those false starts we shared. If you think about it, we had quite a number of them. But this one was a big one, for me anyway. I don't know how many hours I sat and dreamed of you right here. I just wanted to hold you, ya know. Just hold you… We're gonna get drenched, let's get Larry."

"Damn it Fred, would you just get this over with! What did you do with it? I know you have it, Carly told me! Let's do this, now!"

"Ok Sam, I'm sorry. I just get so nervous, you know. All this shit that's behind us, all these mistakes have led us here. Right here, right now. I'm amazed that we've made it here. I would have bet we wouldn't, but here we are, standing out here in the middle of a friggin' rain storm. Look, I bought this for you six years, two months and eighteen days ago. Somewhere the box got broken, but I put it in this envelope, I didn't give up hope. I sure hope this is what you want. It's all I've wanted for as long as I can remember. So, here goes. I want to spend the rest of my time with you. I don't want to miss another moment being with you. Tell me that you love me, and that you'll marry me, and put this ring on your finger, Sam."

"Finally, now was that so hard Freddie?" She said putting the ring on her finger.

"Uh, well, will you?"

"Will I what Fred?"

"Marry me; will you marry me, Sam?"

"Chizz! King of the Dorks! Just how dense are you? Didn't I put the ring on, see?" she said pointing to the ring on her left hand.

"Yeah, well if I'm the King of the Dorks, look who's gonna be my Queen!"

"Crap, I didn't think of that! Another sacrifice I'm making for ya, nub. Now kiss me, tell me you love me and let's get Larry and get home. Carly's bringing Chinese and then she and I have a wedding to plan. And you just remember, Benson. You invite any of those weird buddy's of yours, they are so not coming dressed as Ulafoos from the planet Zortong. Got it? I'm official now, and mama's got her ways…"

And so it went. They ate Chinese, planned a backyard wedding, got married and made sure the heater in the hot tub was working. George fulfilled the stipulations in the will, inherited a load of doe and reunited with Roy. Carly and Larry moved into the Benson's Mother in Law apartment for a while. Carly didn't have to, but Sam had insisted. Carly was fairly well off now since George had paid her the ten percent of his estate for her marriage contract. After a year or so, Sam introduced Carly to a friend of Fred's. The pair hit it off. Soon there was another backyard wedding. Not long after, it seemed that Sam Benson and Carly Melson were in a competition to see who could have the most children. Carly won with twins, bringing her total to four. Sam stopped at three.

Freddie had conceded the fact that he didn't have much say in anything major that happened in his household. But, Sam was happy, and he had known what he was getting into from the beginning. Funny thing though, in all the Halloween photographs for a number of years, one of the kids was dressed as an Ulafoos from the planet Zortong…

Fini

The Affair

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