The Long Way Home (16 page)

Charlotte went back to the kitchen she knew that she was in trouble if Jill showed up at all. She resolved to call her and tell her not to come. She decided to do it latter but Charlotte knew that she could not let it happen now if ever.

The Lion King was over and they all went to the kitchen where Charlotte had everything out and ready. For the next several hours they ate and laughed as Mike made a bigger mess on himself then the kids. When they were done there was fight between the kids and Mike. Mike wanted to see "Mary Poppins" and the kids wanted to see "Finding Nemo" Grey settle it by a vote. Mike lost two to one.

Then Grey and Charlotte cleaned up. After the movie they all put Mike to bed then they put the kids in bed. After Charlotte went to bed Grey went to sleep more content than he had in a long time.

Grey knew that this holiday he would at least be with those he loved and decided that he would make a serious effort to make his own family. He was excited for what the next few months had in store for him only because for first time in a long time there was some unknown in his future, some change and a promise of life not so lonely.

Thanksgiving came off with out a hitch and everyone loved it. After the diner Mike and Grey watched football with James to show him what is was all about. The two girls on the other hand sat and watched the boys make fun of them. Everyone was full and having a good time. Earlier Mike made a fire in the fireplace and for the first time Grey knew that he was where he wanted to be and that he loved these people. He decided right there and then that he was going to have a family and Mike's family was going to be a part of it too.

Soon Christmas Eve was upon them and Grey and Charlotte had prepared the huge diner that Grey had planned which came with a spiral cut ham and all the trimmings. Every one enjoyed the dinner and then all went to bed early and easily. Then Christmas day came and Grey got everyone a ton of gifts. That morning every one was woken up by the sound of the little ones knocking on the doors to wake them they all roused and went to the living room.

Grey played the perfect host as always and started by giving the present out as he found them under the tree. Mike was first Grey had got him the new Xbox 360.

"Oh man this is the coolest thing anyone ever got me. Thank you, I love you." Mike said as he held his gift.

"I knew that Charlotte would never get you one so I figure it was only fitting." Grey said with a wink over to Charlotte who was sulking less then happily in the corner. He artfully grabbed the next gift for Charlotte. He pulled out a relatively small box wrapped in gold paper and handed it to Charlotte who took it begrudgingly. Everyone was hopping that she would like it whatever it was. All waited till she opened the box. She took off the wrapping there was a small red jewelry box. She opened the box and there she pulled out a gold necklace with two gold hearts interwoven and on one heart it read Mike and the other it Charlotte with a diamond set in the cleft of each heart. Grey had to admit that it was a bit cheesy but he knew that she would love it. She stared at it for a moment then looked up at Grey who smiling at her.

"I knew that Mike would never get you one so figure it was only fitting." All Charlotte could manage was "Oh Grey..." she got up and gave him a hug. The rest of the morning was spent giving and receiving gifts and the living room was awash with wrapping paper and boxes. Mike had already set up his Xbox 360 playing Halo 2 with James in the living room. While Grey was helping Jessica put together her new Barbie Dream House that he got for her. Charlotte was in the kitchen making breakfast. Again Grey noticed that he was happier than ever.

Sooner than anyone wanted New Years Eve came and they had yet Charlotte and Grey had to plan, prep and cook the next banquet. More importantly Charlotte had to nail down when Grey would be coming to L.A. and how she was going to divert Jill. She had decided that she would not let her ruin Grey even though she was her best friend. Charlotte knew that Jill would come to L.A. now and there was nothing that she could do about it. She wondered if she could convince Grey not to come. But then she realized that would be fruitless as Grey would probably be going there both for business as well as to look for some he might fall in love with. She decided to as him about it in the kitchen while they were preparing the prime rib diner he had planned.

"Hey so when do you plan on coming to Los Angeles?" Charlotte said hoping that he would change his mind.

"I figured I would just go back with guys since I don't like being left behind. I just need to figure out how long I'm going to be there. But I guess that I will figure that out once I get there. I'm in no hurry and hey maybe I will meet some on there. That was Mike's idea. I agree with him there's not a lot of available women out here that I know. Then again I don't really know many people out here." Grey said as he chopped some vegetables.

"Oh, I see well that sounds like a good idea." Charlotte forgot that Grey had planed on talking to Mike she could have used him to plant the right idea in Grey's head. But she remembered that she was too afraid to tell Mike about Jill. She didn't know what to do. She did know one thing and that was that she needed to talk to Jill ASAP and talk her out of coming to L.A. She didn't think that she could do it but she knew that she had to do something other wise this was just going to go to hell.

They continued to make diner and talk of trivial things. The diner it self came out wonderfully while everyone ate Charlotte got more and more nervous only because she knew that she didn't know what to do. She was scared and she knew that somehow this was all going to go wrong.

That night they all had a count down. Mike was getting sleepy and the kids were running around with noise makers.

The next morning Grey booked all of their flights and they began to pack to go back to Los Angeles.

They all arrived at LAX without any real incident save Mike who while still in flight argued with a stewardess that he should be able to have a whole can of soda. When she did not give it to him he began to whine then he went up to the front and asked to speak to the Captain when this was denied him he became upset then was told that one more out bust and he would be detained at the next landing, at which post he decided that he would let it go and be the bigger person. What didn't help matters was the whole time Charlotte would randomly yell out "I don't know him!" and Mike would yell back "Yes you do!" Grey during the whole incident was a bit worried but Jessica assured that this sort of thing happens all the time when daddy gets tired. "Mommy says it's best to just pretend that he is not our daddy until we are in the car."

Grey ran his hand through his hair and was again in awe at the marvel of all that was Mike as they made their way to the rental car place.

They got to the house and for Grey the house brought back the memories he had of his father tugged at his composure he wished he could have his father back. From far away Grey thought the house looked the same but devoid of life.

They got it to the house and started to unpack the place was again full of the joy that only children could bring. The house keepers had kept it clean at least. Mike told Grey to go and take his old room. Mike had set it up as the guest room but the only real guest they ever had was Grey so it was like nothing really changed. Grey gathered his things and headed up to his room to unpack.

Charlotte at once went to the kitchen and got the cordless phone to call Jill. She decided to go to the back porch so as not to be heard. She pressed the preprogrammed speed dial number to call Jill. Charlotte had no idea what to do and did not know if Jill was even in L.A. yet she decided to at least try to convince Jill to not come and call this whole thing off. Jill's cell phone ran.

The holidays for Jill were normally spent alone or at some corporate party, invited by some client, the kinds of parties where everyone drank too much and hit on her or puked on her (she couldn't tell what was worse). But not now the whole time she spent with he new assistant planning preparing for their trip.

They spent most of the time shopping and getting to know each other. Actually they became fast friends Jill felling much younger Ruthie had a certain vitality that was contagious. When Christmas rolled around Ruthie invited her to upstate to visit her parents. Jill was reluctant at first but then was persuaded by Ruthie' pleading and reassurance that everything would be just fine. Jill found to her amazement that Ruthie's parents were much like her own caring but not prying and accepted her as the daughter they never had not Ruthie' boss. They gave her one of the guest bed rooms and made her feel at home.

The feeling was something that was nearly lost in Jill she hadn't felt this way in a long time and she longed for a family of her own.

Other than this the holidays went by rather fast for Jill being they normally didn't. This was only because she normally spent them alone at her place on the phone explaining to her parents why she wouldn't be there again.

Chapter Fourteen

Jill arrived in Los Angeles with Ruthie and they took up and a nice hotel on the corner of Hollywood and Highland.

They checked in and got to their rooms Jill got them rooms right next to each other so they could open the doors between and talk to one another.

“So we’re here what now I mean I don’t know anything about L.A.” Ruthie said as she examined her luggage. “I don’t know I think that I should call Charlotte and find out when she and Mike are going to be back in town. For now why don’t we just get settled and unpack after that I will call her and then we will take it from there.” Ruthie didn’t really like the feeling of being away from home during the holidays on top of the fact that she was still a little unclear as to what was going on. All she knew was that her boss and her new best friend needed her. So she was willing to endure anything even though it felt more like nothing.

Ruthie finished unpacking and then went next door to see what Jill was doing. Jill was already done with the unpacking and sitting on the edge of her bed with her cell phone in her hand staring at it.

“I think that you have to press the call button in order for it to work.” It was the only way Ruthie could break the awkwardness of it all.

So Jill called Charlotte and then set it up so that Jill would be in the house waiting for Grey when he arrived to Los Angeles.

Chapter Fifteen

Charlotte knew that she was setting them up and she knew that she promised herself that she would not allow it to happen. The only problem is that she leaked her plan to Mike and unfortunately he thought that it was the best idea ever.

Charlotte had just gotten off the phone with Jill and told her not to come to Los Angeles and that she should just go home. When she walked back into the house from the back porch she was encountered by Mike. “Who were you talking to?” inquired Mike. He knew that something was up because Charlotte would talk to any one about anything and would never be afraid to let Mike listen in. Not that he ever did it was always about something dumb and girly. Charlotte was a bit startled she knew that she should have checked to see if he was in the living room before she went back inside. She also knew that she had a hard time lying to her husband, or anyone for that matter. So she decided to tell him the whole story, and everything that had gone on at Grey’s house.

Mike’s response not was she was expecting. “You never told me. The
whole
time that we were in Montana you never told me. I would expect something like this from Grey or anyone really but you, you’re my wife and I thought that you loved me.” Mike sulked. Charlotte knew that she had to get him under control somehow or this would get ugly. “Well I didn’t think you would want them to be together. So after I set the whole thing up I chickened out. I just got off the phone with Jill and told her to go back to New York.” She said looking up at Mike. There was an odd pause. Then he said “Get her on the phone. Get her on the phone right now. And let me talk to her.”

So it was Mike who got her to come to the house and it was Mike who got Grey and her in the same place at the same time.

Chapter Sixteen

When Grey got off the plane into the LAX terminal he felt something he didn’t know what it was but he felt something. He looked around the terminal and it looked both familiar and foreign. He used to meet his father all the time in the LAX terminal. He could almost sense him around the next corner.

He decided to go straight over to Mike’s house and get settled in. He thought it would be best to rent a car, so he went over and got one.

By the time that he got to Mike’s it was around dinner time. He knocked on the door and he could hear the kids running around and laughing. He felt a happiness that he missed. The door opened and it was Charlotte. “Hello, I am sorry I didn’t call when I landed but I didn’t want to bother you”. Grey said smiling. “Oh, it’s really not a problem you know that”. Charlotte said looking down. Grey didn’t notice that she was avoiding eye contact. “Why don’t you got to your old room and put your bags away.” Grey entered the house and was attacked by the children. Mike came in. “Hey man how was your flight? I was wondering if you were ever going to show up. I am so happy that you’re here.” Mike said. Grey was trying to talk but he had James and Jessica crawling all over him. Finally he said “I was thinking that we should go to Disneyland tomorrow. I haven’t been there in so long, and I would love to take the kids.” “Sure if you are feeling up to it, I thought you may just want to relax for a bit while you are here.” Mike said. He went over and pike up Grey’s things and started for the bed room. He left them out side the door. Then he went back to the living room to relieve Grey from the children.