(It Was Almost) The First Time in Forever
By Ginny
Ch. 3
I wake to sun streaming in the window. Apparently God answered the part of my prayer in which I asked for a quiet night. Rolling over I see Charlie is still sound asleep. It's a little after 7, the time my internal clock usually wakes me. His internal clock is set for a little after 9 but seeing that it's Sunday I will wake him in a little while to see if he's up to going to church. I press my hand to his forehead, he still feels a bit warm but he's also under the covers.
Twenty minutes later I step out of the shower to the smell of fresh coffee. I'm assuming my husband is awake as I know I didn't set the timer on the coffeemaker before I went to bed.
I find him in the kitchen, sitting at the island with a bowl of oatmeal, cup of coffee and the newspaper. The television under the cabinet is tuned to ACN, Poppy's channel as Ned calls it.
"Good morning," he calls over his shoulder as I come into the room.
"Morning, how do you feel?" I ask as I press a quick kiss to the back of his head on my way to the coffee.
"A little better, I think. I'm up to going to church but probably not much more than that," he admits.
"That works just fine, because we don't have any plans," I remind him.
An hour later we pull out of the driveway on our way to church. In the passenger's seat is my pouting husband. He's pouting because I'm in the driver's seat. In all honesty, Charlie doesn't drive very often. A driver picks him up in the late morning and deposits him back at the end of his long days. On the weekends we tend to relax and not go out too much. When we go out with Katie and the boys, we take her SUV. Add in his love of bourbon and the fact that he does not drink and drive, his opportunities to get behind the wheel are rather limited.
Katie and the boys are waiting for us when we get there. Beau has that look like he'd rather be anywhere else than at church with his family, but he will survive. Ned is excited to see his beloved Poppy. I'm guessing he picked out his own outfit this morning. He's wearing khaki cargo shorts, a white oxford shirt with the sleeves rolled up, black Chuck Taylors and a striped bow tie. He flies into Charlie's arms, proudly pointing out his tie. We file into the pew, Ned ends up between us. He's on his knees so he can see what's going on.
The service is good, sermon on change seems to be tailor made for us. By the look on Charlie's face, he feels the same way.
We mingle and talk to a few people after the benediction, much to Beau's dismay. He clearly has other plans for this gorgeous late Spring day. Ned on the other hand, clearly has no intention of letting go of his grandfather so we invite him to come home with us. He is delighted to say the least.
Charlie gets him settled in his booster seat we keep in my car while I go over some logistics with Katie. As I slip into the driver's seat I hear Charlie and Ned making grand plans for the today. Judging by Ned's ideas, I don't think there are enough hours in the day.
"Poppy can we swim?" Ned asks as I pull in the driveway.
"Swim, buddy it's too cold," Charlie answers as I put the car in park. He climbs out and opens Ned's door for him.
"Remember, Nana put the heater on yesterday," Ned reminds me. "It should be plenty warm," he adds as he takes Charlie's hand and leads him to the front porch.
"Thanks for that, honey," Charlie smirks in my direction.
While the boys go change into bathing suits and t-shirts, I find something for lunch. I grab a package of hot dogs out of the fridge and head out to turn the grill on. As it heats up I run and change. Shorts for me, I don't swim until July.
Ned and Charlie help me get lunch on the table. Ned tells us about the party his class is having in a few weeks for the end of the school year. He is finishing Kindergarten and can't wait to start first grade or what he refers to as "big school".
Charlie manages to use the "30 minute rule" to stall the inevitable, getting into the pool, which despite the heater is still pretty chilly.
"Time's up," Ned announces as he checks the watch we gave him for Christmas. Charlie's probably wishing her never taught Ned how to tell time.
Charlie pushes himself out of the deck chair with a heavy sigh, probably for my benefit. He jumps right in, knowing that's the only way he actually going to get in.
I watch for a little while as Charlie and Ned have a ball in the pool. I can't help but think how thrilled Ned will be when his Poppy has a lot more time to spend with him.
"Can you turn on the hot tub?" Charlie calls as he climbs out of the pool.
I turn it on and walk down the steps of the deck to the hot tub where the boys are warming up. Charlie holds out his hand to me and I step up and sit on the edge of the hot tub. It's nice and warm, unlike the pool which even Ned agrees was "a little cold".
By 2:30 Ned's little fingers resemble prunes so we convince him to get out and get dried off. I grab some towels from the laundry room for both of them. Charlie and Ned wrap themselves up and sit together on a lounge chair, playing games on Charlie's iPad.
Eventually it's clear Ned's doing the game playing and the only thing Charlie is doing it trying to stay awake. I go back inside to put on a pot of coffee as Charlie's going to need it soon. He spends a few hours every Sunday locked away in his office upstairs getting ready for the week ahead. Ned knows the drill and when he's with us on Sunday he'll go up with Charlie and hang out on the couch with a movie or a book while Charlie works.
"Time to get to work, buddy" Charlie announces to Ned as I poke my head outside and tell him that the coffee is ready.
Ned comes in the house and into the downstairs bathroom where he left his clothes earlier when he put on his bathing suit.
Charlie takes the cup of coffee I hold out to him, he kisses my cheek and heads up to change and get to work.
Ned appears a minute later, hair out of control, holding his damp suit in his hand. "Go hang that over the railing outside," I tell him as I pour myself a cup of coffee. He comes back in a minute later and we check out the progress I've made on his quilt. He's excited to see what I've done and asks a ton of questions.
"I should probably check on Poppy," Ned announces, his little voice completely serious. "Can I take up a drink?" he asks as he climbs off the chair.
"Sure, sweetie. Go look find what you want in the fridge, I'll be out in a minute."
"Nana, do you have clear soda?" Ned calls.
Clear soda? A smile comes across my face when I remember the reasoning behind his question. It involves a glass of red Kool-Aid and the rug in Charlie's office.
"There's Sprite on the door, honey," I call back as I turn off the light in the sewing room.
Ned heads upstairs with a can of Sprite, a book and the Frozen DVD. "Come check on us in a while, Nana," he calls over his shoulder. I laugh and assure him I will, I always do.
Half an hour later, as promised, I go up to check on my "boys".
Charlie is sitting with his bare feet on his desk and a yellow legal pad in his lap, his laptop is within reach as is his coffee mug. He changed into a pair of faded jeans and a plaid shirt he didn't bother to tuck in. My husband's looking pretty good. If Ned weren't here I might have stolen Charlie away from his work for a little while.
"Can you put the movie on?" Ned asks from the couch. Apparently he was reading his book and waiting for me to watch the movie with him. We snuggle together on the couch to watch. We've probably seen the movie half a dozen times but it's his favorite and I'm pretty fond of it too.
As Elsa and Anna get ready to open up the gates and the song "For the First Time in Forever" starts, I really listen to the lyrics. It's about the girls expanding their horizons, being around more people, starting to experience more of life. The exact opposite of what I want right now. I want my world to shrink a little. I want it to just be me and Charlie for a while, for the first time in forever.
Katie picks Ned up after dinner, which he "helped" Charlie cook. Few people realize that my husband is actually a great cook. He doesn't get a whole lot of time to do it but he does enjoy it. Ned certainly enjoys helping him.
After I walk Katie and Ned out to the car I head for the deck to water my newly planted flowers. Charlie comes out with a glass of bourbon and his other bad habit, a cigar. I say nothing. He hasn't had a drink since Friday night. As for the cigar, unless he's smoking them at work, it's his Sunday evening tradition to have one after dinner.
He sits at the table enjoying his drink and I think the view of me leaning over to pick up Ned's bathing suit which blew off the railing. He winks and as I pass him by he reaches out to grab my hand, pulling me into his lap.
Apparently we're both having the same idea this evening.
TBC