Annie and Auggie get out of the house for some fresh air and have an unexpected encounter with a long-time friend of Auggie's. The encounter could result in an interesting experience ... it could ... or not. One of the main reasons Annie and Auggie wanted to spend the weekend in Glencoe was to help his parents to get ready for Christmas, so they have a busy day ahead of them.
I appreciate your taking time to read my story. It's fun to share. And, I think I'm supposed to remind you that I have no association with Covert Affairs ... dad gummit! Enjoy ...
Chapter 11 - An Unexpected Encounter
Friday morning Annie and Auggie slept in until about seven thirty … well, Annie slept until seven thirty. Auggie woke about an hour earlier, but lay as still as he could and enjoyed the sounds of Annie sleeping. As he gradually woke up, Auggie realized that they were sleeping on their sides facing each other. He could feel her warm breath on his face. He couldn't resist gently touching her face and tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear. She shifted slightly and let out a soft, contented moan as she settled deeper into her pillow.
A self-satisfied smile spread across Auggie's face and he imagined a visual picture in his mind of the person snuggled beside him. He draped his arm around Annie and tried to doze a little longer. It didn't work.
When Annie finally awakened, she had the odd sensation that she was being watched. She opened her eyes and was met with Auggie's smiling face. She watched him curiously for a few seconds before she whispered, "Auggie? What are you doing and how long have you been awake?"
"What makes you think I'm doing anything?"
"Auuugeee," she countered.
"OK … I've been awake a while, and if you must know I was visualizing what you looked like curled up and sleeping so contentedly."
"Ohh ...," she said as she schooched closer to him for a morning kiss. "I'm sure your imagination is much more attractive than the reality of it all.
Annie rolled over and slid out of bed. On her way to the bathroom, Annie called over her shoulder, "You up for a run before breakfast?"
"That sounds great," he answered. "We've spent a lot of time in the house the last couple of days."
She washed her face and brushed her teeth, but before she dressed, Annie checked her weather app on her phone. Temperature was just above freezing at 35. "It's pretty chilly this morning," she called to Auggie. "We're gonna have to dress in layers. Did you bring gloves and ear muffs?"
Auggie came out of the bathroom wearing just his sleep pants. "Gloves, yes. No ear muffs … but I bet we can find a couple of knit hats to keep our ears warm." He walked to the chest of drawers that Annie had never seen him open. Auggie ran his hand down the front of the chest and squatted down to open the bottom drawer. After a couple of minutes of rummaging through its contents, he came up with two wool knitted caps and a couple of scarfs.
"I don't even know why I bother to pack when we come here," she laughed.
"What color are these?" Auggie asked.
"Dark red and grey. I'll take the red one," she said grabbing it. "Both scarves are grey."
They dressed for their run and went downstairs for a cup of coffee before they took off. Like last spring, they walked and jogged to the trail for a real run through the woods and along the creek. They used the time alone to talk about their trip to St. Louis. They had concerns for each other's safety.
"We'll be fine," Auggie assured her. "We can work the problem, whatever it is. You have to keep telling me everything you see, and I don't think that's a problem because it's practically second nature to you anyway. I just don't want for you to become distracted and forget to keep talking to me. We have the night vision camera and our crew back in Langley for back up."
"Mmm, and if I told you I'm a little concerned about your being out in the car alone with only a web cam and a tech team half a continent away for protection, you'd tell me I'm over-reacting, wouldn't' you?" Annie said softly.
Auggie grinned, slowed his pace and released his gently hold on Annie's elbow. He stopped, held up his hands, and with an ever widening grin said, "You forget about these."
Annie's face mirrored his bright smile. She swatted his left arm with her right hand and reminded him, "You are such a mess." He laughed, took her arm again and they continued walking toward the trial. As they approached the trail parking lot, Annie pulled the tether out of her pocket and handed one end to Auggie.
Auggie took a firm grasp of the loop and said, "No more talk about the mission, now. We're doing this to clear our heads. Agreed?"
"Agreed," Annie said, stopping and kissing him on the cheek.
"Good," he said. "Now, let's rock this trail."
"There are only a couple of cars in the lot today, so it looks like we won't have much company," she said walking to the big tree they always used for stretches.
As they started the run, Auggie teased her about keeping him on a short leash. He was tempted to drop the tether just to get a reaction from her, but decided against it, realizing he hadn't been paying attention and where they were on the trail. His sense of self-preservation took over and he'd wait until the end of the run for his few seconds of running free.
At the end of the run, they stretched again and started walking back to the Anderson home. Walking up the hill from the parking lot Auggie draped his left arm around Annie's shoulders and they chatted about what they would be doing to help Amanda and Fred get the house ready for Christmas. To the passersby they looked like any other affectionate young couple who'd come home for Thanksgiving.
Annie observed a young man who appeared to be about Auggie's age jogging toward them. As he approached closer, he broke into a smile and slowed down. "Auggie Anderson!" the man exclaimed.
Annie and Auggie stopped. The voice sounded vaguely familiar … extremely vague. He put on his brightest smile and said, "It sure is … and, you are?..."
The other runner looked perplexed. "You don't recognize me? It's Bob Henderson."
"Bob … of course," Auggie said putting the more mature voice with a hazy image of his fellow Eagle Scout and wrestling team mate. Auggie offered his right hand. Bob took his hand, shook it and pulled Auggie into a man hug.
Bob and Auggie stepped back from each other. "Auggie, man, I'm surprised you didn't recognize me. We haven't changed that much … maybe the sun was in your eyes."
Auggie took a half a second to catch his breath and decide how to proceed. This was a new one for him to handle … childhood friend who was unaware he was blinded serving his country. Annie distracted Bob by smiling at him and holding out her hand. "Hi, I'm Annie Walker."
Bob shook her hand and was genuinely warm when he said he was happy to meet her. Auggie decided there was no way to sugar coat what was coming next. "Uhh, Bob, I guess you didn't get the news about me. About four years ago I was serving in Iraq, and I was blinded in an explosion," Auggie said in an even tone. Even though it was a little more than four years after the explosion, at times it was surprisingly emotional to talk about.
Annie stepped sideways to stand just a little closer to Auggie and slipped her right hand into his left hand. She kept smiling at Bob, who had a stunned expression, and Auggie squeezed her hand.
"Man, Auggie I am so sorry I didn't know … I've been working in a law firm out of the West Coast since I finished at Northwestern. I don't know why Mom and Dad would have not told me that had happened."
Auggie wrinkled his brow in thought. "Well, maybe they haven't heard. And I'm out here without my white cane with Annie … you had no chance to recognize it." Auggie smiled and said a little sadly, "I guess it's a little bit of a compliment, because you didn't pick up on my blindness immediately."
"Well," Bob said, "nevertheless, I'm glad I ran into you. Let's try to get together before I go back to San Francisco."
"Annie and I will be at my mom and dad's until after lunch on Sunday. We're going to take a little road trip for a few days to give Annie the chance to see a little bit of our beautiful Midwestern scenery before we go back to D.C."
Bob said he would check with his wife, Jan, about their schedule and then give Auggie a call. "Are your parents still in the book?" he asked as he jogged off. Auggie nodded.
Annie and Auggie stood quietly for a few moments. Annie waved to Bob when he looked back as he jogged toward the trail. Auggie took a deep breath. "You handled that beautifully," Annie said, leaning into his left side and grasping his arm gently.
"Thanks, I was at a loss for words. Most of the people I knew before Iraq know what happened to me, and I know how to deal with people I meet as a blind man."
As he talked, Auggie moved his left arm around Annie's shoulders and she slipped her arm around him just above his waist, and they walked silently.
Amanda was making a fresh pot of coffee when she heard footsteps coming across the patio. The breakfast room door opened and Annie and Auggie slipped into the room. A few steps into the room, Annie stopped at the table and put Auggie's hand on the back of the chair where he usually sat.
"You two are kind of quiet," Amanda observed. "Everything OK?"
"Everything is fine, Mom," Auggie said shortly.
Amanda frowned questioningly at Annie, and Annie returned the frown by raising her eyebrows in an unspoken "we'll talk later."
"Well, then, the coffee will be ready in a few minutes. How about some scrambled eggs and cinnamon rolls for breakfast before we tackle the decorations?"
Auggie had time to pull himself together. "Mom, you know scrambled eggs is my specialty," Auggie said as he walked toward the refrigerator. "You enjoy your coffee. I'll do the eggs," and turning his head toward where he last heard Annie, "and I bet Ms. Walker here will help me by warming up the rolls."
"I can handle that," Annie said walking past Auggie and patting his back.
After the family had eaten breakfast, Amanda shooed Annie and Auggie off to get dressed for the busy day she had planned for them. After they had showered and were getting dressed, Auggie asked Annie, "Don't you think it's ironic that my mother is insisting that I help with decorations?"
Annie laughed at him and hit him with the sock she was getting ready to pull on. "You're trying to come up with a way to get out of this, aren't you? And, you're finding it a little harder to get out of something than work the problem of doing something you really WANT to do."
Auggie grinned sheepishly. "Busted. But I really do wonder how much help I'm going to be beyond carrying some boxes," he said shaking his head.
"Humor your mom. She loves having you home and I know you'll be a big help, because I'll make sure of it," Annie said teasingly.
"That's what frightens me."
"Liar. Nothing frightens you. I've seen you a little unnerved like this morning. But, frightened. Never." Annie said in a matter of fact tone as she stood up from tying her athletic shoes.
Auggie turned toward her, held out his arms and said, "Annie." She walked toward him, expecting an embrace. Instead, he gently grasped her arms and moved his hands up to her shoulders. Annie looked up into his face, not knowing what to expect. "Annie, today's not the day, but sometime … I don't know when … I will talk to you about my fears. You and my mom think I'm fearless. That would be foolish and I know it. Sometime we'll have that discussion." Then, he drew her into an embrace and kissed the top of her head as she nodded.
With just four people in the house, Auggie moved quickly descending the stairs. Annie hurried after him. They found no one on the main level and went to the basement to start carrying up the outside lights and decorations. Auggie would pick up a box or a tub, ask where it belonged and deposit it in the right room upstairs. Annie followed his lead, carrying lighter boxes of decorations and remembering to tell him what she'd added to each room. When all the boxes were upstairs, they both flopped into the family room leather sofa. "That was a combined weight and elliptical training session," Annie laughed.
"Yep, and this evening the process will be reversed, except the boxes will be lighter," Auggie reminded her.
Fred and Amanda returned upstairs. Fred asked Auggie to help him unpack the outside lights in the garage to get ready for the crew coming to put them up. Annie turned to Amanda and said, "Well, I guess you're stuck with me."
Amanda laughed. "I think we'll do just fine. The first thing I want to put up is the garland in the main hall, and we'll work from there."
They worked until early afternoon when the men came in from the garage to rummage through the refrigerator for a leftover turkey sandwich. Amanda and Annie decided to take a break for a snack, too. Fred looked in the foyer and walked through the dining room and back to the kitchen. "It's beautiful, Amanda," Fred said, "but it always is."
Annie turned from spreading mayo on bread and added, "It looks like something out of a holiday magazine. My mom would have loved to decorate like this, but between military housing and having to move so often, we had a nice, big tree and lots of fresh poinsettias when we were stationed where we could get them."
"It sounds lovely," Amanda said.
"Oh, it was," Annie said. "But not magnificent like this." Changing the subject, Annie asked how it was going with untangling the lights. Fred said having Auggie's extra pair of hands made it go quickly and everything was ready for the light crew.
Over lunch Amanda said the last thing they needed to do in the house was the smaller tree in the family room. "Tree in the family room?" Auggie asked.
"Yes. Family room tree," Amanda answered.
"Where? No one said anything about a tree in the family room last year, Auggie quizzed.
"In the northwest corner by the windows. It's a slim seven and a half foot tree. Not like the giant thing in the living room. Annie and I carried up the pieces and put it together just before you came in." Amanda explained.
"Mom, I know how much you love Christmas. But don't you think this is becoming excessive?" Auggie asked.
"Not at all. I love doing it and I have great help this year. I think we're starting a lovely new family tradition here, as long as national security doesn't interfere," Amanda countered.
Following Annie and his mother to the family room, Auggie let out a deep breath and whispered, "Oh, boy," to himself. Annie stepped back and slipped her hand in Auggie's and he knew she was getting ready to show him the tree.
First Annie described how she and Amanda had rearranged the corner of the room and repositioned the chairs. Auggie nodded and located the chair to the right of the tree with the side of his leg and then the back with his hand. He walked around the front of the chair with his right hand slightly extended, searching for the tree. When he located it, Auggie felt the branches and tried to gauge its width and height.
"The label on the box says it's seven and a half feet tall and it's the slim model. We have three tubs of ornaments to put on it," Annie explained. Auggie muttered "uh huh" and found the chair on the left side of the tree.
Auggie settled into the chair and asked Annie to scoot one of the ornament tubs a little closer to him. "I'm going to take this slow and carefully," Auggie said, "I don't want to break anything unpacking them."
"Don't worry about breaking anything," Amanda said walking into the room. "Most of them are fabric and wood ornaments. It's an Americana tree that I put up the year you went to Iraq."
Auggie grimaced, took the lid off the box and reached in gingerly to pick up the first ornament and unwrap it. Holding out the ornament to Annie, he said, "Looks like a stuffed star to me. I bet it's red, white and blue."
Annie took the ornament, picked up a hanger and said, "Show off."
"Mom?" Auggie asked, "how did you accumulate three boxes of Americana ornaments?"
"The Christmas you were overseas I decided to do the patriotic tree to remind the family to keep you in their prayers. I bought many of the ornaments at several of the local holiday craft fairs," she explained.
Auggie picked up another ornament, unwrapped it and announced, "Heart." Annie smiled and took it from him.
"Any comments about color or fabric design?" Annie asked.
"Nope … But, Mom, didn't you go a little overboard on the patriotic ornaments?"
Amanda smiled wistfully. "Not really. The next Christmas I was so sad because you wouldn't come, the daughters-in-law and many of my friends bought me more ornaments. It just grew from there. Last year, I put the word out that I had plenty of ornaments and didn't want to get a bigger tree."
Auggie lowered his head when his mother shared how sad she was the first Christmas he didn't come home. He kept it lowered for a time. "Mom?" Auggie said trying to get her to answer so he could determine where she was in the room.
"Yes, Auggie," she answered.
Auggie raised his head and turned to face her. "I am so sorry about not coming home that year. But I couldn't. I've never been as overwhelmed as I was that first Christmas after I lost my sight. I didn't realize how much I hurt you until now. Please accept my apologies."
"Oh, Auggie," Amanda said leaning down to give him a hug, "Just because I was sad you weren't here doesn't mean I didn't understand. You had just completed your rehab and were trying to get acclimated at work. I understood … but I still missed you."
Annie felt like she was eavesdropping on the conversation, but couldn't figure out how to gracefully leave the room without being obvious. So she started pulling ornaments out of one of the other boxes and continued decorating. When she pulled out the patriotic hand-painted angel, Annie let out a little gasp. "Wow, this is amazing."
"It is lovely, isn't it?" Amanda said as Annie reached for Auggie's hand and placed the angel in it. She described the elaborately painted wood angel that was designed to set atop the tree. Auggie's fingers inspected the decoration, smiled and handed her back to Annie. "One of my friends found her at a gallery and bought her for me in 2009. Freddie calls her Uncle Auggie's Guardian Angel. He says she makes sure he doesn't get hurt again."
Annie set the decoration on a side table and left the room to get the step stool out of the pantry. She placed the stool in front of the tree, picked up the angel, stepped up and tried to set the angel in her place of honor. She could stretch to the top of the tree, but she felt shaky and feared she could lose her balance. Amanda had left the room.
Annie looked down at Auggie carefully unwrapping tissue paper from the ornaments. "Auggie, I need help," she said.
"What can I do?"
"Come here and help me keep from losing my balance."
"OK. Where is here?"
Annie chuckled. "I'm on the step stool about at your one o'clock."
Auggie pushed the box of ornaments to the side and walked toward Annie with his right hand extended slightly in front of him. Annie reached down to squeeze his shoulder and Auggie raised his head to smile at her.
"That's what I need," Annie whispered, "a strong shoulder to lean on."
Auggie laughed and reached out to wrap his arm around Annie's waist to steady her. Annie stretched up on her tip toes and secured the angle to the tree top. "There, I think that will do," she said coming down from her toes.
"Ready to get down?" Auggie asked.
"Mmm Huh," she answered as she leaned on Auggie so she could step down. But before she could take the step, Auggie grasped her around her waist with both hands, picked her up and lowered her to the floor. Annie let out a little gasp and then laughed in surprise. Auggie set her down in front of him, hugged her and kissed the top of her head. Annie hugged him back and they stood in front of the partially decorated tree for several minutes in the embrace.
Amanda walked past the family room entrance and smiled at the tender scene. She smiled and thought, "Those two haven't admitted to themselves how much they love each other."
Annie finally leaned back, looked up into Auggie's face as she touched his cheek and whispered, "As much as I love this, it's not getting the tree decorated."
They released their embrace and went back to work after Auggie gave her one more kiss on her forehead.
About an hour and a half later the tree was trimmed and the room was tidied of all stray pieces of tissue paper and extra ornament hangers. Auggie took the ornament box back to the basement, and Annie dragged out the vacuum to pick up the lint and Christmas tree branch residue. The shades in the room were drawn and the sun had gone behind clouds, so the room was quite dark. Annie put away the vacuum, turned off the overhead light and turned on the tree lights, which were red, white and blue. She stood back from the tree admiring its warm glow.
She heard the door to the basement close and turned to see Auggie walking toward her. "Hey," she said to let him know where she was standing.
"Hey, yourself," he said holding out his hand, which she grasped and they let their fingers intertwine.
Giving his hand a gentle tug, Annie said, "Come here," as she walked toward the love seat that conveniently faced the tree. They snuggled in the loveseat and Annie described the tree along with the other decorations that Amanda had added to the room. Amanda overheard their conversation, and as much as she wanted to be a part of it, decided to give them the privacy she thought they needed.
The only noise in the house was the muffled sounds of the crew outside installing lights on the house. Amanda was relishing the warmth and happiness that surrounded Annie and Auggie. She stopped to enjoy the moment and be thankful for it. The phone rang, and the caller id indicated an unknown number. Amanda sighed, hoping it wasn't a marketer who had circumvented the no-call list.
"Is Auggie Anderson available?" a confident male voice asked.
"May I tell him who's calling?" Amanda asked in return, knowing if someone from his office was calling they would use his cell phone.
"Of course. This is Bob Henderson. Auggie and I wrestled together in high school."
As he spoke, Amanda started walking toward the family with the cordless receiver. "Just a moment, Bob," she said. "Auggie," she interrupted the conversation with Annie, "this is Bob Henderson for you."
Auggie turned toward his mother and made a face that made Amanda smile and shake her head. She lowered the receiver and held it against her side so she could whisper, "Play nice."
Amanda smiled at Annie as she handed the receiver to Auggie, who took a deep breath and put an artificial smile on his face. "Bob," he said enthusiastically, "what's happening?"
"I was hoping we could get together for dinner tomorrow night to … well … catch up. Would that work for you and your friend, Annie?"
"Oh, Bob, I'm afraid not. We're having an informal family thing tomorrow night. It's my mom's annual turkey tetrazzini night," Auggie chuckled.
"I understand," Bob said. "But, how about lunch? Will that work?"
"I think we can do lunch tomorrow," Auggie said. "Let me check with Annie."
Auggie held his hand over the receiver and asked Annie if she thought they could do lunch tomorrow. As she got up from the love seat, she patted his back, "Sure … it's fine with me, if you want to."
Auggie returned to the phone call. "That will be great, Bob. Where do you want to meet?"
"There's a nice little restaurant downtown called Vernon's on Vernon. Why don't we meet there about twelve forty-five?"
"Sure. Annie and I were there last summer. That sounds great. See you tomorrow."
"Annie?"
"What Auggie?" Annie asked as she repositioned an ornament on the tree.
"Do you mind ending this call? I've never used this receiver, and I don't know which is the end button."
Annie walked across the room, took the phone from him, studied it a couple of seconds and pressed the off button. "There are three buttons in the first row … big ones on the left and right and a little bitty one in the center," she explained. "The left button is talk, the right button is off, and the small one in the center is for flash," she said as she placed the phone back in his left hand and gently guided the index finger of his right hand over the phone's buttons.
Auggie concentrated on the phone's configuration for a few seconds, nodded and said, "Thanks. Sure would be easier if they were all alike."
Annie chuckled as she went to hang up the receiver. "Yeah, kinda like the debit card machines at grocery stores. If you'd decided to keep the Office of Congressional Affairs job, maybe you could have lobbied Congress for that."
"That would have been unethical," Auggie yelled back at her. "I would have been lobbying for personal gain."
"And the other lobbyists aren't?" she shot back sarcastically.
Auggie laughed again but with a changed tone asked Annie to come back to the family room. When he heard her footsteps come out of the hardwood foyer into the carpeted room, he patted the loveseat indicating he wanted her to sit beside him. When she curled up beside him, Auggie draped his arm around her and pulled her close.
Annie looked up into his face and smiled through a frown. "Is there something on your mind?"
"No. I just realized how nice it is to enjoy some calm, quiet time with you. I wanted to enjoy a few more minutes of it … of us … I guess I'm making a memory," he explained quietly.
"I understand," Annie said, leaning her head on his shoulder.
Amanda Anderson returned home from a quick run to the supermarket, stashed her few purchases and stepped into the family room doorway. She heard the young couple chatting quietly and could tell they both were relaxed and happy. She considered leaving the room, but the atmosphere had such a happy aura that she couldn't resist joining them for a moment.
"There you are," she said walking toward a chair that was angled toward the loveseat.
Auggie and Annie greeted her in unison with a "Hi." Then Auggie asked, "Did you go out?"
"Just to the market to get some filets for dinner … to go with the leftovers from yesterday. I thought both you and your dad would appreciate some real meat since we're doing the turkey tetrazzini tomorrow night," she teased. "The room looks lovely. Thank you, Annie, for finishing it for me and for cleaning up, too."
"You are so welcome," Annie replied. "But Auggie did more than his fair share of helping and toting boxes when we were finished."
"I know," Amanda said as she walked past Auggie and patted his shoulder. "I believe we need to have a celebratory glass of wine. Don't you think that's in order?"
When Fred came in from supervising the outside lighting crew, he laughed at the scene of his wife, son and Annie curled up in the family room enjoying their wine.
"I can't leave you three alone without having you break out a bottle of wine," he teased.
"Go freshen up and join us. We're just relaxing before dinner," Amanda suggested. "Are the outside lights ready to turn on?"
"We're ready to go. The timers are set to turn on at dusk. I think the only other thing this home needs to be ready for Christmas is some presents under the tree," Fred said leaving the room.
After dinner when the kitchen was cleaned up, Amanda said, "OK, I think it's time to check out the lights out front."
Annie went in the family room to grab her sweater, but Auggie continued sitting at the table. His expression was pensive. Annie was slipping her arms into the cardigan as she walked back into the breakfast rom. "Aren't you coming?" she asked Auggie.
"Well, rooms with a view and Christmas lights, no matter how well done, are sort of wasted on me."
"Even if we describe them? … Come on, Auggie. Your dad seems so proud of the lights … please come." Annie said giving his shoulder a tug.
"Ms. Walker, you are too persuasive. No wonder you're so good at what you do," he said as he stood up. Annie wrapped her arms around Auggie's left arm and they meandered down the foyer hall to the home's front entrance. The door was ajar, and they could hear Fred and Amanda exclaiming how beautiful the lights looked this year. The lights in the garland that surrounded the door glowed through the crack.
Annie opened the door and they stepped out to the front porch. "Whoa," Annie whispered, "this is about like the Griswald's in the movie. It's beautifully done, but Auggie … it's amazing."
Auggie smiled and shook his head as he took Annie's arm to walk across the yard. At the curb, Annie turned them around facing the house. Annie wasn't sure how to describe the scene. Over the past several months Auggie had shared with her casually about how his visual memory was fading. "Well, for starters," she said, "it's bright, happy and tasteful. White lights outline the roofline, the dormers on the third floor and all of the windows. Multi-color lights are on the two large spruce trees on the right side of the lawn as well as the topiary trees on either side of the entrance."
Auggie smiled and nodded, but then frowned in concentration as he tried to imagine what the house looked like. When he was a teenager, they decorated with multi-color lights along the roofline and a garland over the front door. Auggie called to his father, "Dad, did you drink some kind of special Christmas Kool-Aid? From what Annie's described, this is pretty spectacular."
Fred walked across the lawn to join Annie and Auggie. He stood beside Auggie to admire the house and explained, "Well, son, it's just hard not to add a little bit every year. Most of our neighbors do about the same kind of decorating, and we don't want to be the Grinchs on the block. Besides, the grandkids love it."
Auggie felt Annie shiver in her sweater. "We'd better get back inside. I don't think either of us is dressed for the cold Chicago night," he said as he started walking back toward the house with Annie.
Inside the house, Auggie whispered, "Mission accomplished."
"Yes, mission accomplished. Your parents just want you to be a part of everything that's going on. We needed to do that for them," Annie said giving him a hug. Then, they kissed. Amanda and Fred came in from outside and startled the lovers.
Amanda laughed, "Looks like I don't need to hang mistletoe this year. You two take your own wherever you go." Both Annie and Auggie flushed slightly in embarrassment.