A Fool Stumbles Into Love Ch. 06

Tired, nervous, ill at ease, uncertain; Maureen would fix that first pot of morning coffee. Cal would be there. He'd expect her help.

Cal hit the sack, but sleep was an evil gnome, enticingly near but always minutes away. Why couldn't he get to sleep? Thoughts of his grandfather, his mother, Maureen kept churning through his muddled brain.

Jared never so much as asked a single question about Maureen. He acted like he'd known her longer and better than Cal did. He'd jumped at the chance to hand over rings he'd hoarded for forty years. Cal never even knew the damned rings existed until that night; yet the old man couldn't wait to see they'd get to Maureen. One would have thought his grandpa had picked Maureen out for him; saying here son, you should take this one. And how did he come to know Maureen's mom?

Cal was confused. He was a life long loner, an isolate, a lone wolf! Girls were like poison. Getting dates had become a lost cause long before he'd even graduated from high school. Yet this one appeared out of nowhere; like she was some Aphrodite, she just coasted in on this frothy wave, sat down at the bar, and said, 'here I am'.

It was an incredible set of circumstances. He had fallen for her; of course he'd fallen for her, she was this beautiful black haired green eyed big breasted, gorgeous fairy queen who just dropped in out of nowhere, grabbed a frog, and said, 'you're my prince'.

There was a lot that was very unsettling about the whole thing. It was like it was all staged! Was everybody playing a mean joke on him? Would he wake up in the morning and his grandpa, this wonderful girl, her mom, and all his friends be standing around laughing and yelling, 'gotcha?'

Cal rolled up and sat on the side of the bed. This couldn't be happening to him! He drove an old truck, wore wrinkled shirts, never had a real girlfriend, now he was going to marry the most magnificent girl he'd ever met! He checked the clock by the bed. It was 5:30.

He reached down for his pants, got out his cell phone and punched in Maureen's phone number. He let it ring. This was stupid he knew.

Maureen woke up, heard her cell phone ring. Who could that be? She walked over to her bureau and flipped open the lid. It was Cal! She spoke, "Cal?"

He answered from the other end, "Maureen, are you sure you love me?"

She was floored. He must be having a panic attack or something. She answered, "You're a real asshole aren't you. Of course I love you."

He rushed to talk, "I'm sorry. I got scared. I was afraid you might have changed your mind or something."

She quieted him down, "I haven't changed my mind. I love you very much. You're all I think about. Now go back to sleep." She hung up. She suddenly got very worried.

Cal felt better, but he knew wasn't getting any more sleep. He was too nervous.

Maggie gave him her paw. He scratched her head, "We're going to Maureen's today."

Maggie was pushing hard against him; she wanted to climb in bed with him. "OK" he said, he let her climb on the bed.

Andrea sat up, "Who was that?"

Maureen answered her mother, "That was Cal."

"What did he want?"

"He wanted to know if I still loved him."

Andrea pulled the covers down for her daughter, "This is all new to him. He gets all his confidence from you. Why don't you call him back, tell him to come over now. I'll sleep upstairs."

Maureen went back over and got her cell phone, "This is crazy." She punched in Cal's number. She'd get him; she needed him to be with her anyway.