Yellowstone Discovery

The next day I had dinner with the folks. Both my brothers and sister were there. Angie, my sister was now a freshman at a state university about thirty miles away. Mom cooked my favorite foods and everyone gave me presents. It was a great time. After dinner Angie got me alone and asked me what had happened with Debbie.

Angie and I being closest in age had always been close. I explained everything that had gone on this past year, all the frustrations of trying to maintain our relationship and then reaching my breaking point when she blew me off to go south for spring break.

"Dave, I know you wondered why I didn't care much for Debbie when you started seeing her." She said.

"I never told you that I knew Debbie's younger sister. Sarah. Not very well, but well enough to talk to. We were both in the same Multi-Parish Catholic Youth group our senior year. After you two started dating, I sat and talked to her at one of our meetings. I mentioned that I knew someone that was going out with her sister. I didn't tell her it was my brother."

"She had a lot to say about Debbie. I don't think she likes her much. According to her Debbie was selfish and self-centered. And with her looks she always got whatever she wanted. She said even back in high school she had at least two boyfriends dancing attendance on her at any one time. And she was always on the lookout for another. And as much as their parents tried to limit her social activities she still managed to get out frequently."

I thought about what she was telling me. Then I just shrugged and said sadly, "I don't know Angie, I didn't see that in her. All I know is that I loved her, and I think I still love her. But I just can't live like that. If she doesn't feel the same way about me that I feel about her then I guess it's best we each go our own way."

Angie gave me a hug and nothing more was said.

The following weekend Debbie's dad, Carl stopped at the house to see me. I took him for a tour of the house and the property showing him the half dozen projects I had in progress. He was amazed.

"You said you paid how much for this house?" He said.

When I told him he said. "Wow, if you get everything done and fixed up this place will be worth three, four times that."

He shook his head, "I can't believe you only just turned twenty-one. This is a great investment for someone twice your age."

He looked at me closely, "Dave, I want you to know I would have been proud to have you as a son-in-law. I have never met anyone who works as hard as you do at what you want."

A little uncomfortable I said, "Thanks Carl, but we never got to that point in our relationship."

Carl looked me right in the eye. "Maybe not Dave, but we could tell how you felt about Debbie. And I knew where she was the nights she said she was staying at a girlfriends. No, don't be uncomfortable about it. We always felt she was safe with you. I am just sorry it hasn't worked out."

I just shrugged and changed the subject. But as he went out the door, he said, "Not that it probably matters to you anymore, but she did call to say she got to Corpus Christi okay." Then he was gone.

For the next few months my routine hardly varied. Work at the plant, work on the house, do the occasional outside job. Spend a couple of hours in class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Play basketball at the YMCA Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. The only thing that changed was as the weather got warmer I started to work on outside projects. But I was pleased on how the house was coming along.

And I found the harder I worked the better I slept at night. If I lay awake at night I would think about Debbie and how much I missed her. And when I missed her I couldn't sleep. It was a vicious circle to be avoided. I did receive one more phone message from her after she returned from Texas. I deleted it as soon as I heard her voice.

About a month after spring break it was Debbie's birthday. I debated over it but I finally sent her a card. It was pretty generic and I simply signed it. I just wanted her to know I remembered. Then it was back to the grind.

It was close to noon on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend when I heard someone pounding on the front door. The plant was shutdown for all three days and I was hoping to finish one particular backyard project and I had been at it since before nine this morning. As I threw open the door I said somewhat testily, "Yes?"

Anything else I might have said died instantly in my throat. Standing there was Debbie. She was as beautiful as ever and still taking my breath away. Her eyes were open wide with an expression of shock on her face.

"I ... I rang the doorbell but I didn't get an answer." She practically stuttered.

Then she blurted out, "Dave, what's happened to you?"

"Huh?" Then I looked down at myself thinking 'what does she mean?"

I was standing there in ragged khaki cut-off's, work boots and no shirt. I had a carpenter's tool belt slung low around my hips. I was sweaty and covered with a thin layer of sawdust from the circular saw I had been running on and off all morning.

Then it occurred to me, Debbie hadn't seen me in six months. I knew I had lost ten or fifteen pounds since then. I had been working like a madman ever since I bought the house in January. And my efforts had doubled when she had run off on spring break. I rarely sat down to a real meal anymore and in fact food held little interest to me. What body fat I used to carry had pretty much disappeared. I knew from the way my clothes fit that I had lost a couple inches around my waist and gained it around my chest and shoulders.

And lately I had only been shaving every couple of days at most so I had a good two day growth going. I also got my hair cut shorter when the weather turned warm. Now that I thought about it I probably looked like I was living on the ragged edge.

I held the door open wide, "Come on in and let me turn the radio off."

I walked away from the door to the dining room and switched off the music. I walked back to where Debbie stood just inside the house. She looked a little uncomfortable as I studied her intently. She was wearing white short shorts, sandals and a tight pastel colored tank top. Her hair was in a pony tail and she had her sunglasses pushed up on top of her head. I noticed she was wearing the amethyst ring I had given her. She looked good. Just seeing her was giving me a lift.

"I'm sorry. I had the radio on while I was working in back and I didn't hear the doorbell. I guess I look kinda rough. I wasn't expecting company." I said sheepishly.

"No, you look good Dave. Just different is all. I just wanted to see how you were doing. Dad said he had stopped a while back and was quite impressed with the house. It looks big." She said as finally took her eyes off of me and looked around the living room.

"Would you like to take a tour?" I said smiling.

"You wouldn't mind?" She said somewhat timidly.

"Of course not, actually I'm kind of proud of how it's shaping up." I said as she started to follow me around.

"The house is just about two thousand square feet. Originally it had four bedrooms and two baths. I am reconfiguring it to have three bedrooms and three baths. Two full baths upstairs and one down. As you can see in the living room we are rebuilding the fireplace with field stone and that piece of oak barn beam leaning against the wall is going to be the mantle."

"The floors downstairs are all the original hardwood. After everything else is done I plan to have the floor refinished."

We walked through the dining area and I pointed to the blueprints on the kitchen table. "I had a builder friend draw up the design on how I wanted everything done. I figure it will take over a year to finish it."

I led her into the kitchen which was the only room that I had completed. It had all new appliances, marble countertops and new cabinets. "The kitchen is actually the only room that is one hundred per cent finished so far, right down to the paint." I said.

"It's beautiful." She said running her hands over the marble.

"Let's go upstairs before I show you the outside."

We walked up the steps and down the hallway. "The master bedroom looks over the backyard and has its own master bath. I've replaced the stool, sink, vanity and tub all ready. The floor still needs to be installed and the walls painted." I said as I led her past my queen size bed with an old country quilt spread over it.

I turned to look at her and saw her staring at the bedside stand. Next to the telephone and bedside lamp was a five by seven picture of her. It was one she had given me at Christmas. She finally dragged her eyes away and looked at the bathroom.

"Wow, a Jacuzzi tub!" She said.

"Yes." I ignored the obvious observation that it was big enough for two.

I then led her across the hall. "The end bedroom was so small I decided to divide it up. Part of it will combine with the closet in the master bedroom to make it big enough to be a walk in closet. The other half I am going to make into a full bath."

I showed her the other two bedrooms one completely empty, the other being used for my study. A hide-a-bed, desk, a couple of chairs, two full bookshelves and a small television were the only furnishings. We stepped away and stood at the top of the steps looking across an open ceiling with exposed beams at the living area which highlighted the size of the house.

Debbie put her hand on my arm and said, "Dave, this house is huge. What are you going to do with all this space?"

Looking at her I said slowly, "Well, when I bought it I didn't envision living in it alone."

When the implication sunk in, Debbie's face turned red and she pulled her hand away. Trying to defuse the awkward moment, I said, "Come, let me show you the back of the house and the garage."

I led her down the stairs through the dining area and out the sliding glass doors onto the partially completed deck.

"This is what I'm working on this week. The deck is about two hundred twenty square feet in two levels with steps down to the yard. It will be big enough for a gas grill, an outdoor table, chairs and even a hot tub. And I plan on having a privacy fence built to enclose about two thousand square feet of the yard. Big enough to put in a swimming pool someday."

I led her over to the garage which sat back about fifty feet from the house. "I know it's just a garage. A two and a half car garage but it has a large attic storage area. I plan to build a dormer room on the side towards the house and make a workshop up there. Anyway that's it except for the basement which also has enough space for a finished rec room."

Debbie looked slowly around at the garage, house and yard. "Well, Dave it's obvious you are proud of what you are doing here and I can see why. But how can you afford all this?"

I scratched my neck and smiled, "Well, I'm not paying for much labor. I do most of it or I exchange work with some of the other guys in the trades. And I get builders discounts on materials. And to be honest, I don't have much to spend money on except this house."

"I see." She said thoughtfully.

We chatted while we walked back along the driveway down to her car. "Dave, I want to thank you for the birthday card. It was sweet of you to remember." She said quietly.

I just smiled and nodded.

She started to get back into her car then stopped and looked me in the face. "Dave, mom and dad wanted me to ask if you would come over for dinner on Monday. Dad is going to barbecue. It will just be family and my sister's boyfriends probably."

I put my hands into my pockets and looked down at the ground thinking about it. Finally I looked up at her and said, "Wouldn't it be too awkward for you? To have me around I mean?"

"No Dave, it would mean a lot to me if you came. Please?" She said looking me in the eye.

"Sure I'll come. What time?"

With a big smile on her face she said, "About two, and bring the beer, okay?"

Smiling back at her I said. "Will do."

I watched her back out of the driveway and pull away. As I turned to go back into the house I realized I was smiling. In fact I had been smiling nearly the whole time she had been here.

On Memorial Day I got cleaned up and even shaved. I put on some decent shorts, a polo shirt and sandals, grabbed the case of beer out of the frig and headed over. Debbie met me warmly at the door and surprised me when she gave me a peck on the cheek. She held my hand as she led me through the house to the back patio. Her mom and dad greeted me like the son they never had. I had met her sisters the previous Christmas. Now she introduced me to her older sister's fiancée and her younger sister's boyfriend.

Debbie's older sister, Elizabeth was a more attractive version of her dad. She had just graduated from college in financial management. Her and her fiancé were getting married in the fall. Her younger sister Sarah was growing up to be a more studious version of Debbie. And to be honest more intelligent. Just as good looking but in a different way. She had just graduated from high school and had been accepted at a state college close to home. She was some kind of math whiz. She hadn't decided if she wanted to major in accounting or some kind of engineering.

We had a great time. Her dad and I talked at length about my house with her mother throwing in a comment every now and then. They were both very interested in how it was turning out. Debbie didn't say anything but her sisters listened intently and would throw in suggestions every now and then. Sarah and Debbie were helping with the food and every once in a while I would catch the two of them staring at me and whispering to each other.

After dinner, all of us sat around nursing a beer and visiting. I noticed there wasn't any discussion about spring break or Texas. I did ask Debbie if she had seen Josh at all this school year. We had fallen out of touch and I wondered how he was doing. She said she had seen him only once this past semester. But Miranda saw him occasionally and had even gone out with him a couple of times.

As it got later in the evening, I said it was probably time for me to get home. I thanked Carl and Angela for dinner, said my goodbyes to everyone else and started for the door. Debbie jumped up, went over and whispered something to her mother and said, "I'll walk you to the car."

She took my hand and we walked down to my car and stopped. She looked at me and said, "Dave can we talk for a few minutes? There's a little park just down the block. It has some picnic tables and no one will bother us."

Suspecting that this was probably coming when I was invited over for dinner I just nodded and we continued down the street. We chatted about little things until we finally came to the park. We sat down across from each other. We both stopped talking as Debbie fidgeted until she finally clasped her hands tightly together and looked at me.

"Dave, I want to apologize about what I did to you over spring break. It was wrong, I know it. I should have discussed it with you but I wanted to avoid a confrontation. Then after you wouldn't return my calls I thought I would write to you but I didn't know what to say."

"When I got the opportunity to go all I could think of was I only have two years of college left and this could be my last chance to do this. It was selfish, I know. I didn't think about how you would feel. I knew you would be unhappy with me but I didn't think you would cut me out of your life." She looked at me with tears in her eyes.

"I see. Well, you made a decision about what was important to you. I was hurt and disappointed but it told me where I stood." I said calmly.

I shrugged, "But it's over now and so are we. We can both move on."

She started crying openly, "But Dave, I don't want to break up with you. Please, I miss you and want to be with you."

"Break up with me? Debbie we were never going together. Every time I wanted to get close to you, you held me at arm's length. You made it clear that you valued your independence more than you valued our relationship. If you don't feel the same way that I feel about you then its best I accept that fact and get on with my life."

She looked down at her hands. "I know Dave. I ... I was afraid, afraid of making a commitment. I felt you were rushing me. The last few months without you has taught me a lot. I came to the realization that I do love you. And I hope you still love me."

I reached across the table and took her hands in mine. "Debbie, I never stopped loving you. I just found out I couldn't go on not being loved in return."

Debbie looked at me through her tears, "Can we... can we try again Dave?"

I thought about it for a few minutes but I knew instantly that it was what I wanted most in the world.

"I'm working nights, you are working days. It's going to be difficult to get together." I said.

"That doesn't matter Dave. Anything you want to do is fine with me." Debbie said hanging onto my hands.

"I think I can get out of working overtime on Saturday night. Let's plan on doing something Saturday or Saturday night, okay?"

"That would be great Dave." She said smiling and wiping the tears from her eyes.

That was the beginning of our reconciliation. Things started slowly the first couple of weeks but after that we became inseparable once again. During the week I was still totally absorbed with work and working on the house projects. But the weekends we spent together. I turned down as much weekend overtime as I could to make more time to be with her.

And the sex was great. Everything they say about makeup sex is true. It was better than it was before. Debbie started staying over on the weekends. I don't know what her mom and dad thought about that but I do know they were glad we were back together.

I got Debbie involved with picking out the paint, carpeting and curtains for the house. She also had a great eye for landscaping. She started coming over a couple a nights a week while I was at work to complete some project she was helping me on.

Once or twice I would come home from work to find her asleep in my bed. Needless to say those mornings she called in sick to work.

The summer was flying by. The car I had been driving for several years was starting to be a maintenance problem. I traded it in on an almost new conversion van. Several weekends toward the end of the summer Debbie and I would load it up and go camping along Lake Michigan. The last weekend before Debbie had to go back to school both of us took Friday off and headed up to Wilderness State Park for three days.

On Saturday we were laying on the beach letting the sun warm us after a brisk swim in Lake Michigan. As we lay there I gently started caressing her face and neck and kissing her ear. She turned and smiled at me, "My god Dave, didn't you get enough last night."

"I never get enough of you Debbie." I said.

"She rolled toward me and we lay face to face kissing each other tenderly.

"Debbie, will you marry me?" I said.

"What did you say?" She gasped pulling away from me.

I sat up and pulled out a box from our beach bag.

I opened it and held it in front of her. "I think you heard me, Debbie. Will you marry me?"

She sat up and looked at the three quarter caret engagement ring in the box. "My god Dave, it's beautiful!"

I took it out and put it on her finger. "Is that a 'yes'?"

"Yes, it's a yes Dave. I love you, I do!"

The rest of the trip we talked about getting married and being married. We both agreed that waiting until she was done with school was probably the best plan. So we decided to set a date the following summer probably late July or August. We both knew we wanted kids but thought it best to wait until Debbie got established into a career.