"Look, I said I'm sorry." Happy said as she walked with Toby towards the building entrance.
"I heard you." Toby told her as he stopped to enter his passcode and the door unlocked.
The pair along with one of Happy's agents stepped inside the lobby of the building.
"But you aren't going to forgive me?" Happy asked as he pushed the elevator button.
"Of course I will. I'm just a bit miffed at the moment. I'm trying to remember you have lived in the lap of luxury the last six years, so you've never known what it is like for someone to make it on their own, without great support." Toby told her as the door opened and they stepped into the car.
"I don't have a friend who was able to use one of my designs to impress a billionaire to buy it and offer me a cushy consultant fee." Toby explained. "I can't afford to throw four thousand dollars down on a suit for a ball like you could. Back when I gambled there were times I could, but stupid me just gambled more instead of investing that money." Toby sighed.
"Hey!" Happy said as she slapped his arm gently. "I'm not comparing us. I'm an engineer, remember? I take machines seriously. Your lack of concern for your car impacts me on a different level than most people. So maybe, I was a bit sharper with my tongue than I should have been. I'm sorry." Happy said just as the elevator came to a stop and the door opened. "But you really should think of a car like a person. The body is important, but so is the mind inside the body. Your car is under enormous stress and instead of being a psychologist and helping the car deal with the stress, you just keep writing prescriptions for the body. So the body looks good but the mind is failing."
"I can respect that." Toby smiled as they walked down the corridor.
They stopped in front of a door with a plaque on the outside.
"If you come to a decision and you are unsure of what to do…Ask yourself, will this harm me or someone else in any way? If the answer is no, then go for it. Regret is the true pain in life."
"Interesting thought." Happy smiled.
"Came with the apartment." Toby shrugged. "So I put it on the door, hoping it might help someone who passes by." Toby inserted his key and twisted it around. He smiled at Happy as he pushed the door open. His hand slipped inside and he flipped the light switch before pushing the door wide open.
Agent Evans walked in first followed by Happy and Toby stepped in and closed the door.
Happy's eyes saw the counter island with a couple of stools. A pizza box sat on top along with four bottles of Dr Shaz cola, with various levels of leftover soda. Happy saw the linoleum was slightly worn, easily two years overdue for being replaced. The top of the stove was moderately clean. The trashcan was half full. She noticed lots of plastic utensils in the trash.
She walked into the front room and the carpet was well worn as well. And in need of vacuuming, by almost a month. The couch was faded, definitely second hand, perhaps even found in the trash. The coffee table had chewed spots and a splintered backboard. Several more partially full bottles of Dr Shaz sat on the coffee table. Numerous stains in the wood, water and other substances. Happy hoped they were just food related.
There was an antique rocking chair which surprised Happy and her hands touched the old wood, clearly cared for a lot more than anything else she saw so far. She easily saw it was regularly cleaned and treated with a quality wood oil.
"Your Mom's?" Happy asked, her eyes a bit misty at her guess.
"Yes." Toby nodded as he just watched.
Happy gave him a slight smile even as she looked at a small curio shelf in the eyeview of the rocking chair. The shelf itself had a fine layer of dust. But the picture frame there was clean. It was a five by seven portrait of a woman. She clearly saw Toby's eyes in the woman. Her hand reached up and pulled the frame off the shelf. Her other hand reached out and touched the glass.
"Your Mom is very pretty. You got her eyes." Happy said. "She looks happy in this picture."
"She hated having her picture taken. The only picture I know of where she was smiling." Toby said softly. "I was lucky to catch it. She just read my acceptance letter to Harvard. She looked up at me and I snapped the picture. My Dad took one look at it, grunted and said "Something else I'll have to pay for." and walked out to go to the track. Probably my second favorite thing about being around your family, your Dad."
"I'm sorry Toby. That was very cruel of him." Happy said as she looked at him and then set the picture back exactly how he had it.
"He couldn't even see that most of my college was paid for." Toby shrugged. "What wasn't paid for by the scholarship I got, I paid for myself." Toby said as he stepped up to the shelf and looked at his Mom. "She told me to take her rocking chair and sell it to help pay for it. It had been in her family for three generations when she got it. I wasn't about to sell it, but I knew if I didn't do something with it, she would. So I told her I would when I got my dorm room assignment. She still thinks it was sold. When she is in one of her lucid phases and comes over I hide it in my bedroom closet."
"That's really sweet." Happy smiled. "Looks like you sit in it a lot."
"That's where I do my books." Toby nodded then pointed at the security box under it. "Mom rocked me in that chair many times."
Happy looked at his chest and frowned as she reached up towards him. Toby looked down and Happy flipped his nose.
"Gotch ya." Happy grinned real big and winked at Toby as it shocked him.
Toby grinned and then pulled out his phone and ordered a pizza.
Happy smiled as she turned to finish looking around.
His bathroom was clean and while his bedroom had a number of clothes on the floor and could stand a better cleaning at least the sheets & cover looked clean.
They sat at the counter island and drank a fresh Dr Shaz cola and ate a little of the pizza, laughing and joking. She knew she had to leave when she had reached up and used her thumb to wipe up a smudge of tomato sauce from his lips. The look they both had when she did that seemed to tell her that it had been too intimate and she should have used a napkin. She got up off the stool after wiping her fingers off.
"Thank you Toby, I really appreciate you letting me come over." Happy told him.
"Of course, if you're ready I'll take you home." Toby told her as he stood up.
"No, I'm going home in the SUV. I'll make a list of what your car needs and you bring it over next weekend and I'll get it road worthy again." Happy said.
Toby nodded before they hugged and then he walked them back out to the parking lot and watched them drive away.
Next morning, Saturday, July 9th 8:23 a.m.:
The sharp smell of wood polish and leather struck Paige as the door of the shoe store opened.
"Welcome to Willard's…" Fred said as he paused at the look on Paige's face. "Uh, my name is Fred. How can I help you?" Fred finally finished as Paige walked in with her agents.
"Who's Claire?" Paige demanded.
"Uh, can I ask what this is in regards to?" Fred asked apprehensively.
"It is in regards to her helping my sister with her boots yesterday." Paige told him.
"Umm, okay…Claire's back this way in our special footwear section." Fred pointed as he began walking ahead of Paige.
Fred nervously looked back over his shoulders several times as they walked through the store.
"Hey, um, Claire, this lady wanted to talk with you." Fred said as they arrived at Claire's desk.
"Can I help you?" Claire asked, looking up at Paige she was surprised at the anger on her face. She swallowed seeing two people dressed like the two agents who came in with Happy yesterday.
"Yeah, you can help me. You can use better discretion when you hit on your customers. Especially when she's my sister." Paige told her angrily.
"I'm sorry?" Claire blanched as Fred's eyes went wide and he turned and walked away.
"I know you're sorry, you don't have to state the obvious." Paige told her. "My little sister was in here yesterday for a pair of riding boots. And while I understand the situation, you didn't know she was underage, but you didn't have to make a full court press against her." Paige told her.
"Now wait a minute." Claire argued back.
"No, I will not wait a minute." Paige interrupted her. "You have absolutely no defense in what you did. This is a place of business, a place to buy shoes. It is not a single's lounge!" Paige said a bit louder. "As a woman you should know all the problems we go through being hit on when we're just trying to take care of what we need to do. And yet you are going to compound the problem by hitting on someone just trying to buy some boots. It's infuriating."
"Look, I apologized to your sister yesterday. I realized I was in the wrong. I don't need you in here making trouble for me." Claire told her.
"Oh, you think this is trouble? Girl, I'm about to lay you out on the floor." Paige told her as she pulled her engagement ring off.
"Mrs O'Brien." One agent said as he stepped up between them.
Paige glared at the agent and then back at Claire.
"You better count your blessings, but if you ever mess with my sister again you will regret it." Paige said before she turned and stormed out.
"Where have you been?" Happy asked as Paige walked into the main house.
"I went to set someone straight." Paige smiled.
Happy blushed.
"I wish you hadn't. It was already done and over." Happy said softly.
"No it wasn't. You were past the event but it wasn't done and over." Paige told her as she hugged her. "You are coming to an age that, if you haven't already, you'll start finding out how much guys hit on us as we just try and do the things we need to do. That woman should have known better and not been so forward with you."
"Thank you." Happy said softly before breaking their hug.
"You're my sister, I've always got your back." Paige grinned. "How's your bike coming?"
"Good, I'm going to work on putting the backend together today." Happy smiled. "Are you and Walter leaving to go on the rest of your trip?"
"Nope. After what happened the first time and then getting spied on in LA I'm happy to just stay home." Paige smiled as they walked into the dining room.
"Spied on?" Happy frowned.
"Yeah, one of the news agencies out there found out Walter and I were there. While I was enjoying the jacuzzi on the patio of the penthouse, one of the helicopters hovered out away from the property. Thankfully the penthouse had these garage door like privacy doors that could come down and block off the patio and the glass walls. It really cooled my enthusiasm for the place. I had actually been talking to Walter about trying to work a deal with Richard so we could live in the penthouse." Paige said with a mix between dreamy remembrance and irritation.
"Well that's a good thing. Would you have really done that? What about Scorpion?" Happy said as they both sat down for breakfast.
"We still would have built Scorpion. We're not giving up our dream. But for a few days, that penthouse was a dream come true." Paige smiled. "How was Toby's place?"
"Not bad overall. His car on the other hand. I told him I'd make a list and get all the stuff to make it road worthy next weekend. I can't believe it is still running to be honest." Happy grinned.
Paige laughed.
"That's a good thing then. I thought I might come out and watch you work on the bike if you don't mind." Paige smiled.
"I could probably use a hand." Happy grinned.
"A hand? And ruin these nails?" Paige said shocked while holding her hands up.
Happy laughed.
"Hey Dad." Walter said as he walked into Ralph's study.
"Walter, what's up my boy?" Ralph smiled.
"Since we're going to be here two more years for Paige to get her bachelor's degree, I wondered if you would have a problem, and if you think it would be a good idea to get a jacuzzi installed in the basement?" Walter asked.
"A jacuzzi?" Ralph frowned. "I don't have a problem with that. As for it being a good idea, what prompted this?"
Walter explained about the jacuzzi at Richard's mansion.
"Leave it to Richard to try to bribe you both." Ralph snorted. "If you want to have one installed Walter, that's fine with us." Ralph told him.
"I've been researching companies to install it and I think I found the one based on reviews and write ups for the company. They claim they can get it done in a single day. I'll see if they can come give me an estimate Tuesday, but I want someone to run some interference with Paige. Maybe Mom can take her to get their hair and nails done? I want to surprise her, so on the day they actually come out to work I'm going to plan on getting us a hotel room the night before, maybe go to New York. Sightsee a bit for a couple of days." Walter told him.
Ralph grinned.
"I'm sure Veronica would be happy to go out and get her hair and nails done with Paige so you can meet with the estimator. On the day the work is to be done I can have one of the domestics sit down there." Ralph nodded.
"Thanks Dad." Walter nodded. "That would help a lot."
"Let me know what days you want to go to New York and I'll make sure you have a room at the Ritz Carlton. But remember, you guys might still be a bit of news and create excitement when people realize who you are. And speaking of that." Ralph turned to his desk and grabbed a couple of letters. "I've got three studios wanting to do in-depth interviews with you both over what happened on the plane and how you guys survived." Ralph told him as he handed the letters to Walter.
Walter's brow furrowed as he took the letters and quickly read through them. Slowly he nodded as he held one out.
"Maybe we can do The View? I know Paige likes Sherri Shepherd. Do you think we can get it set up for a precise date?" Walter asked.
Ralph chuckled.
"You wound me." Ralph continued laughing. "You get the date figured out and I'll set it up. I'm sure I can get them to comp the entire trip as well."
"Well I have no problem with saving money." Walter grinned. "But we'll have to make sure they know we can't talk about the self-driving cars we're working on, if they bring it up. Hopefully they don't even know we're involved with that."
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!
LouBe - Glad you enjoyed it even if Happy was going through some difficult issues. Thank you, and Walter's happy as long as he's with Paige, the locale doesn't matter much to him. lol hehe Well it seems she toned down her "tude" a bit finally. lol Thanks, I'll accept all positive thoughts! hehe
Railman - Yeah, it was a difficult chapter. Paige couldn't leave it alone, she had to do something. I'm really enjoying the "new" Toby! Yeah, Ralph is definitely a family man. I tell you, it is difficult when the Muse is so quiet. It really shows how quiet it is now since the wife is gone. She loved to talk. lol Sometimes it was exhausting she talked so much. lol But she "got it honest" as they say. Back in 2003 we went down to Tennessee and spent several days with her one Aunt and visited with a few other family members in Georgia. When we left her Aunt's house I looked over at her as I drove and patted her knee. "Honey, I'll never say you talk too much again." And she laughed. Her Aunt, one morning, started telling us a story about something that happened. As she started to fix us breakfast. She kept going off on a tangent to give "backstory" into why certain things were happening. 2 hours in I excused myself to take a shower. She said "Go right ahead, you'll hear me in there." And she was right. LOL I get done so the wife took her shower. Meanwhile a full 4 hours later she goes, "I better quit telling this story and finish your breakfast or it's going to be lunch." LOL
Pearliegirl - Here's hoping! Been working on chapter 97 for 5 days and only got 1133 words so far. Not good! lol
To the Adventure! -Tim