Love From the Ashes Page 6

Rebecca took the last bite of her cold cereal and then put the bowl in the sink. She had gotten to the point to realize that it was silly to go all out in meals, when she was cooking for one. Cereal, suddenly, became her friend. She wasn’t able to deny that there were nights she dreaded staying home in an empty house, but sometimes it could be nice just to relax. However, on this night she was finding herself bored. With school, just starting, she couldn’t even take some time up by grading papers. She grabbed the remote and started to surf the channels; she didn’t find anything that appealed to her, but at least it was empty sound that filled the room. As she was settling into a rerun of I Love Lucy she heard her cell phone ring. She didn’t recognize the phone number, but she muted the television anyway. “Hello, this is Rebecca Parker.”

  “Hello Rebecca Parker, this is Thomas Campbell.” He laughed and she instantly ran her fingers through her hair. She had to snicker, because it wasn’t like he could see her through the phone.

  “Hi Thomas, I…” She was at a loss for words; she didn’t’ know what he could possibly need. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m doing well, and you?”

  She shook her head; she thought maybe she was dreaming. They had just seen each other; not much could have changed with either of them. “I’m doing well; thank you. Did you…” she paused for a moment. “I’m sorry; I’m just a little confused. Did you need something?”

  He laughed. “I was just calling to see when we could go out on that date.”

  If she would have been standing, she would have fallen. “Um…date?”

  “Yes; remember you agreed to go out to coffee with me?” She couldn’t hold back the laughter. “You find that funny?” He chuckled softly.

  “Not funny, but I don’t remember saying us going out for coffee was a date.”

  “Okay; have it your way. We do have a coffee get together to prepare for. When works best for you?”

  She didn’t have much of a social calendar, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell him that. “Let me see when I’m free.” She paused to add affect. “I can do either Friday or Saturday.”

  “Okay; then Friday it is. I don’t know many places here; do you have any suggestions?”

  “Well…there’s a place called The Apple Orchard; it has good coffee.”

  “How about food?”

  She thought she misunderstood him; who was talking about food? “I suppose if you’re hungry; you could get good food there.”

  He laughed again, causing her more confusion. “What I meant is…Friday night; would you want to get food too?”

  She wanted to scream with delight, but she played it coy. “I suppose I could eat supper.” She was barely making her words understandable. “I mean; supper would be nice.”

  “Great; so how about 6:00? I could pick you up.”

  “6:00 would be fine, but I’ll just meet you there.”

  “Okay; if you would rather.”

  She quickly gave him directions on how to get there and then she hung up. She couldn’t believe the evening was turning out the way it was. She thought she would be spending an uneventful night at home, yet she now had a lot to look forward to. Friday night couldn’t come soon enough

  Chapter 6

  Thomas looked at his watch; he told himself not to worry, she was going to show up. The week had gone by faster than he could have expected. He had multiple times considered calling Rebecca and telling her that he couldn’t make it. Once the evening was upon him, he was sure that he should have cancelled. He didn’t know what possessed him to make that phone call; he was in no condition to go out with another woman; friend, or otherwise. When he glanced at his watch again, he noticed that she was 15 minutes late and he wondered if she was standing him up. Part of him would have been relieved, but part of him was disappointed. When he thought for sure she wasn’t coming, he noticed her entering the restaurant. He watched as she made her way towards him; her expression was of the same ones he was experiencing. “Hi; I’m sorry I’m late.”

  “I didn’t think you were coming.”

  She chuckled. “I considered not, but I’m here.”

  He smiled. “I’m glad that you are.”

  She looked down at the menu; he watched her as she flipped through the pages. She seemed nervous and he knew that they would have plenty to talk about. “Do you know what you want?” The waitress, of about 20, asked as she approached their table.

  “Rebecca, do you know what you want?”

  “I’ll take the Beef Manhattan.”

  “I’ll take the same.” They handed their menus to the waitress and she looked at him. “What? That’s what I wanted.”

  “Sure it was;” she mumbled under her breath. He tried to ignore the fact that she was irritable. “So, where were we?”

  “You were about to tell me why you almost didn’t come.”

  She laughed. “I don’t think I was going to tell you that.”

  “Come on Rebecca; you can tell me.”

  Her face got red and he considered dropping it; however, something kept pushing him to keep at it. “Truthfully?”

  He smiled. “That would be nice.” He took a drink, and braced himself for what she was going to say.

  “I suppose I was a little taken aback by you calling this a date.”

  He nodded. He figured it was something like that. “That’s my fault. As long as we’re having a confession…I almost didn’t show up either.”

  Her eyes got big. “Really? Why?”

  “It’s been awhile since I have gone out with someone. I suppose I was nervous, and once I called it a date I couldn’t go back.”

  A polite smile crossed her face. “Frankly, I am glad you invited me out. Mainly because it stinks always staying home alone, but I’m not expecting anything other than a nice evening out with adult conversation.”

  “So, you’re saying just a friendly night out.”

  “Right; nothing more and nothing less.”

  It was perfect; he could enjoy a nice evening out with adult company. There was definitely nothing against that. “I would like that; we don’t have to make it awkward.”

  She let out a slow breath and smiled. “Exactly; so, let’s just enjoy the food and leave it at that. It will give us a chance to get to know each other. Tell me about you and your kids.”

  He smiled; he could talk about them all night. “First off, I have to say, that I am thrilled to announce that I have 3 girls that absolutely love the school. I think it’s actually going better than I could have ever hoped for.”

  “That’s great news; I absolutely adore Kari, in class. She’s a very bright girl.”

  “You can tell that, after one week?”

  “Call it intuition, but yes.”

  He laughed. “Well, I’m glad she has made a good impression. I only have one concern, as of right now.”

  “Is the concern with Kari? I hope it’s not with me being her teacher.”

  He laughed. “No, definitely not. It’s actually with my oldest, Bethany.”

  She frowned and sipped on her water. “What about Bethany?”

  “I just wish I could slow down the aging process.” He snickered. “That’s not going to happen.”

  “There are a lot of parents that would feel that way. Unfortunately you’re stuck with her getting older and wiser, beyond her years.”

  “That’s just the point. She thinks she knows more than me.”

  “I’m not a parent; so I can’t even pretend I understand, but isn’t that her job. I mean, she will be a teenager next year.”

  He groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

  Rebecca laughed. “You don’t mean that; surely you understand that it’s all a part of the growing up phase. She can’t be your little girl forever.”

  “Yeah; I hear ya. However, now I have to fight with her on this dance that the 8th grad has every year. I don’t know how I’m going to convince her she can’t go.”

  “Why would you want to? The 8th grade Christm
as dance is the highlight of their year. You wouldn’t want to deprive her of the experience; would you?” He just stared at her; he didn’t think anyone would understand his reasoning. “Besides, I chaperone every year; the kids have a ball. You play your cards right and you could chaperone too.”

  “Oh yeah; she would love that.”

  Rebecca smiled. “Well, maybe you’re right. The point is you need to let her explore her surroundings. She has to have wings to fly. I see that you are a great father Thomas, but maybe just a little overprotective.”

  “Just a little?” He chuckled. He knew he was overprotective, but he didn’t know how to change that. “When any of my kids have a problem with the decision I make, they tend to throw it in my face that their mother would do better.”

  “Even if Scarlett was still around, they would probably still do that. It’s a kid’s prerogative to pit one parent against the other.” Thomas had never really thought about that; she did have a point there. “So, it doesn’t have any basis on whether you’re a good parent or not. It’s just something they do.”

  “That makes sense.”

  She laughed. “After working with kids for 7 years, you learn to think like them.”

  “It’s been a stressful couple of weeks; I tend to let a lot of things look worse than they are.”

  “How are you handling the move? It can’t be easy. Yet, I only hear about the kids and their transition. Which don’t get me wrong, I understand, I was just curious how you are adjusting?”

  “I made this move, for two reasons. One, I was hoping it would help me get my mind off of all of the memories. Secondly, I thought it would be a help to the children. They love Cassie and Seth and when they offered to help watch them, it was a miracle. My parents, with the help of Scarlett’s parents, watched them when I was at work. They’re not getting any younger, and my hours were continuing to get longer. So, one night I was venting to Seth about my problems. Before I knew it, they had me moving to Dallas. Cassie would watch the children, whenever I needed her to. I didn’t feel I could pass up the offer.”

  “You’re happy with the arrangement?” Thomas only had to think briefly of that; it was working out great.

  “Cassie said she is able to keep an eye on the younger kids while working. I get the older ones from school; which I am trying faithfully not to be late again.” She smiled. “We then go pick them up from Cassie and go back to the Bed and Breakfast. However, tomorrow we can move into the new house. It’s worked out great.”

  “Hm…”

  Her voice trailed off and he wondered what she meant by that. “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  “No; what?”

  “I sense some hesitancy; like maybe there’s more to the story?”

  Thomas played around with his napkin and he bit his lip. There was more to the story, but he didn’t figure he was letting on. “You really are insightful; aren’t you?”

  She laughed and shrugged. “Just a guess.”

  He wasn’t expecting to voice his concerns, but she made it so easy to talk to her. “The station is requesting that I work more hours. This, would mean, that I wouldn’t be able to pick up the kids. Seth has said that he would pick them up, take them to his house, and then go back to the Bed and Breakfast. However, I hate to have to rely even more on them. It wouldn’t be right and I would feel badly about that. Outside of finding another caregiver, I don’t know that I have any more options. So, we’re stuck with this. I mean, I suppose they could ride the bus; but…”

  “Hm…” She spoke, interjecting her thoughts in midsentence.

  He laughed. “There you go again.”

  “Sorry; I just had a thought. I don’t know what you would think of it though. It might be too crazy.”

  “I’m willing to hear anything you have to say.’

  She paused for a moment; he saw the wheels turning in her head. “What about me?”

  He nearly choked on his coffee. “You?”

  “I have experience of watching kids; I love kids. I could go get the two younger ones from Cassie and you could pick them up from my house. This way you wouldn’t have to rely on Cassie and Seth.”

  He couldn’t tell if she was kidding or not. He started to laugh, but she didn’t join in. “I would have to rely on you; how is that better?” We barely know each other.”

  “I don’t know about that; I seemed to have learned a lot about you and your family this evening. There’s still plenty of time for me to talk about myself.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “It’s simple. I’m a sucker for helping out people and I love kids. You wouldn’t owe me anything.” He stared at her; still trying to judge if she was for real. “Just give it a shot; what do you have to lose?”

  “I suppose it could work out. We would have a lot of details to discuss.”

  “Of course.”

  “Well…” he sighed as he saw that she wasn’t joking. “On one condition. You have to tell me everything about yourself.” He was so engrossed in his conversation with her; he hadn’t noticed that the food had arrived. “You may proceed.” He took a bite of his food and smiled at her; he couldn’t believe he was considering it, but it could work.

  ____________________

  She was reeling at the fact that she had just offered to take care of his kids. It was scary, but also exciting. “There really isn’t anything you need to know about me.”

  “I don’t buy that. I’m about to entrust my kids lives with you. I need to know that you’re not a serial killer.”

  She laughed. “I promise you I’m not, but to ease your mind…” she paused for a moment and took a bite of her food. “I was born and raised in Dallas. You already know that I have an older brother, but I also had a twin.”

  “Had?” His interested look helped her to go on.

  “He died when we were 19.”

  “I’m sorry; how?”

  She looked away for a moment. She hadn’t confided in this much detail to anyone; even Seth. “Right out of high school he decided that he wanted to go into the Army. We were all very supportive of him, but I suppose I had a little bit of hostility.”

  “I don’t understand; why hostile?”

  “We were very close, like most twins are. It was always the plan that one day we would both go to the University and get our teaching degrees. Our senior year, he decided that he wanted to switch plans. We found out the weekend he was leaving. I saw him for Christmas and then he was gone.” She wiped away a tear. To her shock, Thomas reached out and grabbed her hand. She stared at their hands touching, but neither one pulled away. “It was hard, but I made it my mission to make sure that I got my education and did the things that we once were going to do.”

  “I can’t even imagine.”

  She looked at him and slowly pulled her hand away. “What do you mean you can’t imagine? You lost your wife; that has to have been even harder.”

  His expression remained thoughtful. “You were bound to your twin for 19 years.”

  “I never told anyone this story.”

  “Not even…” she shook her head to answer the question. “I’m glad you felt you could share. I’m assuming he died in active duty?”

  Rebecca slowly shook her head. “That’s the thing; we don’t know how he died. The first time we were told that he was killed when he walked in the path of a bomb. Then we were told that he wasn’t killed in fighting; his jeep went off a bridge. Then they said that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove what happened. There were supposedly no witnesses and so it ended up being a mystery. One that I could never figure out.”

  “What was his name?”

  “Robbie.” She looked down at her food and swirled the mashed potatoes around the plate. “I have to admit; it was nice talking about him. Thanks for listening.”

  “Anytime.”

  She smiled at that; it was nice talking to someone that would listen. “Anything else you want to hear about, before I pass the test?”r />
  He laughed. “You can tell me anything you want to, but for me to trust you…I don’t think so.”

  “Do you want me to give you my blood type; it’s A+. The good thing is you’re a police officer; you could do a background check.”

  “I don’t think that we’ll be necessary. I think that they’ll get along nicely with you.”

  “I could give you references; if you would like.”

  He looked like he was thinking. For a moment she thought he was going to take her up on it, but then he laughed. “We’ll just believe that I’ve already done all that. I would like to take you up on the offer. It was really nice of you; thank you.”

  “It is my pleasure.” They finished their food and laughed about the different stories she had about her past students. “You would be surprised with what they try to get away with.”

  “I can’t imagine anyone wanting to prank you. You aren’t like any teacher I had in school.”

  “Is that a good thing; or, bad thing?” She watched him. She knew that it was coming very close to flirting, but it was too late.

  “Believe me; it’s a very good thing.” He winked at her. He seemed almost more surprised than she was. She knew she was probably blushing, but she didn’t really care. “I could give you a few stories about my relationship with my children too.”

  “I’m sure you could.” She replied with a laugh. “You’ll have to give me some examples some time.”

  He nodded. “We’ll save that for another night.”

  She nearly jumped with excitement that he would consider going out again. “Right; it’s getting late.” She couldn’t believe that it was going on 8:30. They had been talking for nearly 2 ½ hours and she felt like she could talk for at least 2 ½ more.

  She reached for purse and he put out his hand. “I got the tab.”

  “That’s not necessary.” She pulled out some money, but he wasn’t paying attention. She jumped up and followed him to the cashier. “You don’t have to do this.”

  “I know, but I want to. I enjoyed myself; besides, the whole point was to pay you back for taking my kids to Cassie.”

  She rolled her eyes. She didn’t need payment for that. “I didn’t mind doing that; you definitely didn’t owe me dinner.”