A May-September Wedding (22 page)

Phyl pasted on
a smile and started changing for bed. "I'm very glad that we came,
then. I wasn't sure about it."

Lydia did get
up this time and came over to wrap her arms around her now
noticeably shorter mother. "I still miss him, Mum."

Phyl's tears
started to flow. "I do, too," she said, but she couldn't remember
what he looked like any more. Instead her thoughts were focused on
the frustrating older man next door who didn't seem to want to
accept what she was offering.

She crawled
into bed wracked with emotion. Guilt over her residual anger at
Harry, guilt that she didn't miss Harry as much as the kids did,
anger at Cal for refusing her, anger at herself for throwing
herself at him, longing for the touch of a man. No, not any man,
she wanted Cal, her beloved best friend who could excite her and
calm her down and make her laugh and make her long for his
touch.

She replayed
the evening and the kisses about sixty times before she was able to
calm down enough to try to see it from his perspective. She didn't
believe he was uninterested. The kisses had lasted too long and
were too tender, too passionate for her to believe that.

She thought
that with all the good memories here, he missed Brenda. But Brenda
had hinted in that last week before she died that Phyl would be a
good match for Cal and that she expected that Cal would remarry.
Well, I'll give him some more time, but I'm not giving up on
him.

Tim was
snoring softly as Cal changed for bed. Cal took out his swimsuit
for the last morning swim before heading home. He knew from
experience that emotional encounters like tonight's would mean an
early morning for him and if he didn't have everything laid out
he'd wake Tim when he stomped around.

What had
possessed Phyl to kiss him like that? The last tender kiss was so
incredibly powerful that he was still wound as tight as a violin
string. The last time he'd been kissed like that was, well, never,
really. Brenda had been a comfortable, willing and affirming but
somewhat reserved lover, so she never seemed to pour her whole
heart into a kiss like that.

How was he
going to pretend nothing had happened? He knew that as soon as he
saw her tomorrow he was going to be looking at her differently. He
had to convince her that they couldn't go any farther.

Then he
remembered how she had molded herself to him as she responded to
his kiss. Maybe a good swim tomorrow would help him to relieve the
tension.

Saturday morning dawned brightly and Cal rolled out of bed,
his head still spinning because his heart was telling him he was an
absolute fool not to take Phyl's offer. Other than sharing a bed
they might as well be married. It would make things much easier, in
fact to be living in the same house.
Married? Where had
that come from?
He pulled on his swim trunks
and headed down to the lake.

Phyl looked
out at the raft from the end of the dock and decided that it was
foolish to continue to avoid it. She should head over and make her
peace with her memories of Harry. She dove into the water wincing
slightly at the change in temperature then began a slow steady
crawl toward the raft.

Cal
overestimated his stamina, again. Fifty-six wasn't old, but some
days it felt like it. It was one thing to paddle a canoe for hours
but a fifteen minute swim was much more exhausting for him. With an
effort he heaved himself up onto the raft to catch his breath.

Phyl stopped
to tread water as she realized she wasn't alone. Then she berated
herself for attempting this sort of swim when she was alone and
gave thanks for the company. Looking up she saw Cal's lean frame as
he hauled himself up onto the raft. Her heart began to beat faster
and she resumed swimming.

Cal lay on his
back feeling the morning sun starting to warm him up. His breathing
slowed as his heart rate went back to something approaching normal,
when he heard a familiar voice close to his head say, "Come here
often, sailor?"

Trying not to
show his surprise, Cal turned over to see Phyl's head and shoulders
emerge as she propped herself up on the edge of the raft. "Only
when there might be a mermaid lurking about."

Phyl smiled
and forgot that she was here to remember Harry. She took in the
slicked back hair and broad muscular chest that she remembered
pressing against her last night. Licking her lips nervously, she
asked, "Did you sleep well?"

Cal inched
forward until he was nose to nose with her. "You know very well I
didn't, temptress." His gentle smile took the sting out of the
words. "I must have been hoping you'd come out here. I remembered
about you and Harry and the morning swims."

Phyl blushed
and felt annoyed rather than guilty. "I came out here because I
needed to get some of those memories out of my system." She dropped
back into the water with one hand on the raft. "You could help."
She gave him an inviting look.

Cal looked
into Phyl's beautiful blue eyes and rolled off the raft into the
water beside her. "I promised Brenda I'd try to help you. So what
do I need to do?"

Phyl held
Cal's gaze and said, playfully, "You need to put your left hand on
that handhold," pointing at a half metre long horizontal bar on the
side of the raft away from the beach.

Cal moved his
hand to the indicated place. "Now what needs doing?"

Phyl swam in
closer and put first one arm then the other around his neck. "The
next part is a bit tricky. You need to put your right arm around my
waist."

Cal drew Phyl
in until their noses were touching and their bodies were in full
contact. "Did I do that right?" Cal's breathing started to
accelerate and Phyl's matched his rhythm.

She moved
sinuously against him and purred, "Perfectly." She licked her lips
then said, "This is the hardest part, old man." She tilted her head
to invite a kiss. Cal groaned and let his heart win.

Phyl's lips
were soft and warm against his. He moved his right hand downward to
cup her bottom and lift her up into a better angle for kissing. She
moved one hand from his neck and began to explore his back muscles.
Breaking the kiss to catch her breath, she whispered, "Oh Cal. I
guess you aren't afraid of the hard parts after all."

As she
wriggled against him to get a better angle on the next kiss, he
said, "You don't seem to be afraid of the hard parts either."

She had been
moving in for another kiss but began to giggle as she figured out
what he meant. Stifling a full laugh against his shoulder, she
said, "That's awful, Cal Richardson."

"What? You
were the one who started talking about hard parts."

Phyl reached
down and tried to pinch Cal's bottom, but there wasn't anything but
smooth muscle to pinch. Using her left hand, she pulled his head
down to hers again, while her right hand continued to explore.

The kissing
lasted until the two of them began to get chilled. "I guess we need
to get back to the kids now."

Phyl sighed.
"I guess so." She fixed his gaze. "Are you going to give me any
nonsense about not kissing me again?"

Cal examined
his lovely neighbour's face and his gaze softened. "No, my love,
I'm not. But we're going to get a lot of raised eyebrows,
Phyl."

Phyl laid her
head on Cal's shoulder, enjoying the feel of his large capable hand
holding her bottom. "I guess you're right. Does this mean you're
courting me?"

Cal released
Phyl, reluctantly, and said, "Would you like me to? I mean do it up
properly with dancing and dates and everything?"

"Yes, I would.
At the big soccer tournament, all of the divorced soccer moms were
looking at you like you were a rabbit at a wolf convention. A few
of them even asked me how you were in bed." Phyl felt her temper
rising as she remembered all the whispers. "I want us to be seen as
a couple."

"Ah, so that's
what those looks at soccer registration were about. Yes, my dear
Phyllida, we will be seen as a couple." Cal started to shiver. "I
don't know about you, my dear, but I need to go towel off and warm
up."

They swam side
by side until they reached the shallows and Phyl took Cal's hand
underwater without thought. They were still holding hands when they
came out of the water. The girls were smiling ecstatically.

The drive home
was wonderful.

Lydia came
home from school to hear banging and crashing from the laundry
room. She crept down the stairs to the basement and heard her
mother muttering. "I'm going to kill him. So help me he's a dead
man the next time he comes near me. Just because some ignorant
volunteer at the high school thought he was my father. Wait 'til I
get my hands on him."

Lydia cleared
her throat. "Mum? Are you okay?"

Phyl looked up
in shock. Then tears started to form. "I'm fine."

"That's a two
dollar fine for lying, Mum." Lydia tried out her mother's stern
tones to see how they fit and held out her hand.

Phyl stopped
long enough to stare at her daughter, then silently reached into
her jeans and handed her a toonie.

"Is it
Cal?"

"Who else
could get me worked up like this?" Phyl began to shove unfolded
laundry into the sorting bins. "I mean, I thought we'd finally
gotten over the age thing. Then that ... that creature at the
school asked if I was his daughter."

"Is that
all?"

"Lydia, I knew
it wasn't going to be easy. But he's so aware of it all the time."
She sat down on the floor next to the dryer. "I'm sorry sweetie.
But it was so nice to be a real couple the last few weeks and go
out on real dates with him. And now this...this idiocy. And to top
it off he still wants me to look after Felicity while he goes off
to San Diego for the next four weeks to crawl all over some stupid
smelly ship."

"You promised
he could, Mum. And Felicity would be disappointed if she couldn't
stay with us. I know David or Elaine would take her, but ..."

Phyl stood up
to hug her daughter. "Felicity is going to stay with us, don't
worry. Just because I'm incensed with her short sighted pain in the
ass older than dirt father doesn't mean I don't love her."

Lydia looked
down at her mother's head resting on her shoulder. "You really love
him, don't you, Mum? Like you loved Dad."

Phyl wiped her
eyes. "Not exactly the same way, sweetheart, because it's the
second time around for me and I'm a bit more sure of what's
happening, but, yes. I love Cal as much as I loved Harry. As much
as I love you and Tim and Felicity. But I'm absolutely furious with
him right now."

Lydia just
hugged her mum harder and they stood there until Phyl could stand
on her own again.

"You did
what?" Felicity let her father have it with both barrels. "You
dumped her? Are you out of you mind?"

"It's for the
best." Cal was avoiding his daughter's gaze as he started to pack
his suitcase and garment bag.

"That's a load
of bullshit if I ever heard it, Dad!" She glared at him with a
fiery look. "And I am not going to watch my language. You're a
hypocrite. You keep saying that I should follow my heart and do the
things I love and you're not willing to take your own advice. Well,
have a wonderful time in San Diego. I hope it all goes wrong and
you're stuck there by yourself for six months. Write when you have
news."

Felicity
stormed out of the room leaving Cal wondering what hit him.

Obviously she
didn't understand what was going on. There were people laughing at
him. When they looked at him it was obvious they were thinking Phyl
was a trophy wife and he didn't have the strength to fight that all
the time. She'd eventually be embarrassed to be seen with him and
that would be the end of it.

No, he was
sticking to his guns. Better to end it now than wait until they'd
done something they couldn't undo.

He heard
Felicity shout, "Good bye jackass," up the stairs then heard a
heartfelt shout of "Jerk!" as the front door slammed. He looked out
the bedroom window to see her march over to Phyl's house wiping
tears from her face and get wrapped in a big hug at the front
door.

He felt so
hollow that if someone stuck a pin in him he'd go shooting around
the room, but that didn't matter. He was doing it for Phyl. She
couldn't possibly be happy with him long term.

He tried to
call from the airport in Chicago but the line was busy. By the time
he landed in San Diego it was well past midnight at home.

Phyl stayed
awake until two a.m. hoping and dreading that the phone would ring.
There was a brief text message on her cell that said he'd landed in
San Diego and that he'd call tomorrow. She didn't know whether that
was good or bad.

Cal was run
ragged on the first day and the first opportunity he got to call
home was at supper time. Lydia answered. "Hi Lydia. Can I speak to
Felicity or Phyl please?"

"Are you going
to apologize to them for being a jerk?"

"What?"

"You heard me.
Are you going to apologize?"

"I haven't
done anything that needs an apology." Cal was mulish.

"They're both
alive. That's all the information you get until you come to your
senses. Bye." Lydia hung up.

Cal looked at
his cell phone with the dial tone buzzing. What just happened?

"Lydia
Gertrude, that was unspeakably rude," Phyl chastised. "You have no
right to say those things to Cal."

"Maybe not, but someone has to say them. You've been crying
more than half the day and Felicity's a basket case. She asked to
see the guidance counsellor today and she's hiding in the spare
room and won't even talk to me. And Tim did what always does when
you're upset, he goes to his room and cranks his Xbox with the
headphones on. So I don't have a single normal person to talk to.
And it
is
all his fault." Phyl sat
down in astonishment as her daughter, her sensible Lydia, launched
into the tirade. "And don't you dare call him. It's his problem, he
gets to fix it."