Chapter Five
**************
Ten minutes after hearing that Martin had might had fell in love with a woman he only knew for two weeks, Danny didn't spoken a single word to him or anyone, not even to the man who honked his horn and told Danny to hurry up because the light's green. From getting this silence treatment from his friend, when Danny got to Elena's driveway, parked the car, turned off the engine, and about to unbuckled his seat belt, Martin stopped Danny from doing that and asked him, "Danny, is anything okay?
Danny watched Elena cooking the beef on the stove at the kitchen window when Martin asked him that. After ignoring Martin and his question for about a few minutes, Danny caught a glimpse of Martin's face that was asking himself why he had just told Danny that he had might be in love in a girl and he shouldn't told him about it later. Danny saw that face, sighed to himself, and turned to Martin and told him the truth.
"Martin, I'm very sorry about that and everything's okay but Fitz, you had fallen in love in her in two weeks. Isn't that kind of…..?" Martin interrupted him by shaking his head when he heard that and in return, he said to him with a slight smile on his face, "Yeah, crazy, uh?" Danny looked at Martin strangely and said to him, "Yeah, that's crazy but Martin, are you pretty sure that you love this woman or this just a little fling?"
This time, Martin looked at Danny strangely when he asked him if he really love this woman or she's just a little fling of him and answered Danny's question, "No, Danny. I didn't have a little fling with her. I'm truly loving this woman and that will never change, not a little bit."
Danny just stared at Martin when he told him that and took a minute or two to think about it. During the thinking, Danny was doing the pros and cons of Martin's new love life. There are really no cons on this round but for the pros, from the look of his face when he was talking about her and the ways he had described her by telling him that the woman was smart, funny, kind, helpful to him, and very adventurous, it looked like that Martin's really in love with her and wanted to keep it that way and for Danny, he will soon had to figure out that this woman is the right one for his friend or just another heart-breaker that's out to do some damage.
Noticing that Elena and Sofie were looking at him and Martin from the kitchen window, waiting for them to get out of the car, into the house, and have some dinner before it gets cold, Danny smiled at that and turned to Martin who saw that too and right away, he said to him with the same smile on his face, "Well, Fitzy. Now that girls were telling to hurry up and get inside, we can do that and you can tell us more about this amazing girl of yours over tacos. How's that sound?"
Martin smiled at him and told him in return that he's okay with that and right away, Danny grinned at his friend while he unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door, and waited for Martin to do the same thing and get his bags out of the back seat. After getting the bags, together, Danny and Martin walked over to the front door, opened the door, and got inside the house where Elena and Sofie were waiting for them.
--
Sofie was waiting for them at the hallway and with her arms out, she ran over to Martin, got lifted up by him, and with a cute smile on her face, she asked him, "Hey, Martin. How's your trip?" In return, Martin smiled back at Sofie and told her that the trip was great and he's glad to be back. Sofie smiled at him when she heard that and before she can asked him if he brought anything back to New York for her, Elena walked into the hallway, and to Martin, she laughed at that while getting Sofie into her arms and putting her onto the floor and said to her daughter, "Okay, Sofie. That's enough and I'm pretty sure that Martin can give your gift later and now, let have some dinner before it gets cold." Sofie smiled at her mami when Elena told her that and said back to her, "Okay, mami but only if Martin can give me a clue about it."
Martin shook his head when she said that and squatted down to Sofie's level, patted her on the head, and told her that he'll give a clue at dinner. In return, Sofie smiled a cute one at him and told him that she's fine with it and with Elena; they walked to the dining room when Danny walked over to him and asked him if he really got a gift for Sofie? Martin shook his head when Danny asked him that and told him that he really had no gift for Sofie at all because he was very busy and he's pretty sure that he will find something in his bag for her. Danny smiled at his friend and joked to him, "Okay then but make sure that the gift was something that she'll understand and that Elena doesn't get mad at you." Martin smirked at him when Danny told him that and told him that's okay with him and right away, they walked to the dining room where Sofie and Elena were waiting for him and for the tacos to be eaten.
Halfway through the dinner, after eating their tacos, chatting about things, and Martin giving Sofie the only clue that the gift was small, Danny asked Martin about the new girl he met at Lake Tahoe. Elena put her taco down on her plate and with a smile on her face; she asked Martin, "Martin, you met a girl. What's her name?"
Blushing when Elena asked him that, Martin answered her question by saying to her, "Yeah, her name's Grace Cahill." Amazed by that, Elena asked him where he met her. In return, still blushing, Martin answered her question, "Well, I met on the plane on the way to Tahoe. We got seated next to each other, started talking, and boom, a friendship was born."
Danny smiled at that when he saw that look on Martin's face when he talks about her and Elena asked him about what she's does for a living. Martin smiled at them and told her that Grace's working in Washington as a forensic anthropologist. Danny got confused when Martin told them that Grace's from Washington that he asked him if she was from Washington, why she took a plane from New York. Martin thought it for a few seconds and then, he explained to Danny that Grace was visiting her sister in New York for a while before she went to Tahoe.
For the job description, Sofie got confused by those two words and asked the three adults, "what's that?" referring to that job that sounded foreign to her. Without a beat, Martin told her that a forensic anthropologist is a person who looks at human bodies that were burned, mummified, mutilated, and decomposed and the person's job is to restore the identity death has erased.
Sofie looked very confused by that, not understanding a single word that's coming out of Martin's mouth and so did Martin, who still had no idea what had came out of Grace's mouth when she told him about her job over their first dinner at Tahoe but he had tried to translate the most of it or not because those were only the few things about her career that she told him and it sounded like that had came out of an encyclopedia or something like that.
To not let that to keep going, Danny changed the topic and asked Martin, "Hey, Martin, got a picture of Grace with you?" Glad that Danny had asked him that because the pictures of Grace had been on his mind for hours, Martin told him sure, got his iPhone out, looked through the many pictures he took of Grace until he finds the right one, founded the one, and then, seconds later, he showed Danny and the girls a nice picture of the girl he loves.
In front of them was a picture of a pretty girl with chestnut brown hair in a ponytail, almond-shaped pale blue eyes, a long, slender nose, a nice slight smile on her fair skin and wearing only jeans with a t-shirt under her jacket and hiking boots standing on a rock in a forest which looked like it was taken place during a hiking trip. "Wow, she looked very nice in the picture, Martin." said Danny when he saw Grace in the picture. Martin smiled at that when Danny told him that she looked very nice and was ready to show another photo of her, he said to him, "yeah, I know. Here's another one." Martin pressed some keys and seconds later, he showed another one.
This time, instead of the previous picture, it was Grace but wearing a pretty v-neck black silk shirt, brown waves was framing her face, and the same, nice slight smile was still on her face at a restaurant. From that, Danny joked to him from that picture, Grace looked very out of Martin's league. Elena told Martin that he had founded a beautiful woman. Sofie told him that Grace looked like a little like Snow White. Martin continued blushing and smiling when the three of them were telling him that Grace looked like a great woman and told them thanks.
With a smile on her face, Elena said back to Martin, "No problem, Martin. I am very happy that you had found a nice girl and hoped that you will tell us more about her." Martin smiled back at Elena and said to her , "I'll do that." Elena smiled back at Martin when he told her that while gathering the dishes and asking Sofie if she like to help her clean the dishes while Danny and Martin can talk about things in the dining room. Sofie smiled at her mami when Elena asked her that, told her that she's okay with it, and right away, Elena and Sofie were back in the kitchen while Martin walked over to Danny, sat next to him, and showed him more pictures of Grace and talked about things that isn't allowed in front of the girls, only between them.
During those fifteen minutes they had before Elena and Sofie comes back from cleaning the dishes, Martin showed some truly beautiful pictures of Grace, him and Grace in various places like on their hiking trip, their trip to Napa, around Tahoe, and a few of them were in a hotel bedroom. After seeing those, Danny turned to Martin who was still smiling at those and asked him a question. "Sure, Danny. What's it?" "How many times you did it with you know, her?" asked Danny, referring the question toward sex. Without a beat and with a boyish smile on his face, Martin answered his question by telling him for the second week they were at Tahoe, everyday.
Danny looked at Martin strangely when he told him that he and Grace did It every day for a week and in return, Martin saw that and still showing a boyish smile, telling that it was worth it. After staring at each other, the both of them heard the girls' footsteps and knew that they had to end it. Before ending it, Danny told Martin that he's very proud of him that he had met a woman, fell in love with her, and now, happy while patting him on the back.
Martin smiled at him for telling him that and said to him, "Thank, man." Danny smiled at him some more when Sofie came in, walked to Martin, and asked him if he can show her his gift for her now. Martin smiled at her and told Sofie yes. Sofie gave him a cute smile when Martin grabbed her hand and leaded her to one of his bags, and gave Sofie her gift which is a piece of chocolate. With any gifts she got, Sofie was happy about it and gave Martin a hug while Danny and Elena watched it from the dining room. While watching them, Elena whispered to Danny, "What did you guys talk while Sofie and I were doing the dishes?" In return, Danny turned to his amazing girlfriend and said back to her, "Well, Martin showed some more pictures of her and I told that I'm happy that he had met Grace, fell in love with her, and right now and probably for a long time, a happy man."
