Getting It Right

"Well, that explains it. You look pretty amazing. Okay, I already said that, sorry..." I couldn't extract my size 12 fast enough.

"I appreciate the compliment," she demurred, dropping her eyes and blushing a little.

I turned to the girls, who were petting the dogs, and said, "Barb, Amy, there's a trail that follows the creek and runs around the property. Why don't you take the dogs for a walk, but stay on the trail, don't go in the woods. There's poison ivy around. And don't go in the creek when we're not around, okay?"

"Okay," they both answered, then Barb said, "come on Kody, Kayla, show us the trail," and off they went.

Hannah called after them, "Amy, no running. Remember what the doctor said."

"Yes, Mommy."

Then she turned to me, "Is the trail safe? I mean..."

"Yes, nothing to trip on. It's my running trail."

"Sorry, I just worry."

"l understand. Do you need some help bringing stuff in?"

"Oh yes. I hope you like what I made. I have a green bean casserole, baked potatoes, corn pudding, and a salad. We'll just need to heat everything up when the time is right."

"Sounds awesome. You went all out, and I love corn pudding."

Hannah asked, "Where is your girlfriend? I thought she was going to be here."

"Yes, well, Mara had to work."

After the girls had sufficient playtime in, I got my coals going, and we started prepping dinner.

When I put the steaks on the grill, Hannah called the girls in, "Come on Barb, Amy, go wash up; dinner in ten."

"They're great kids, very well behaved, and sweet as can be," I commented.

"Yes, they're terrific. After we lost Donald, I fell apart. Amy did too, but Barb, who was only eleven at the time, really hung in there, and helped both of us. She's strong like her dad."

After a wonderful meal, we settled on the rear deck with a couple beers while the girls went off to play with the dogs again. We sat and sipped our beers and watched the creek swirling and winding its way along the edge of the property.

"You have a wonderful place here, Trevor. It's like a park."

"Yes, I was very fortunate. My boss told me about it. A client owned it, and had this house built, but then decided they wanted a larger home and more land."

"I'm surprised at how big it is, I mean for just one person."

"Yes, it's certainly more than I need, but for the price, I couldn't beat it, and maybe someday..." I didn't finish, but I was going to say, maybe someday I'd have a family here.

Hannah finished for me, "Yes, you have room for a family, someday."

"How old are Barb and Amy?" I asked.

"Barb's 14 and Amy's 12...but what you're really asking is how old I am..."

"Well, no, but I was curious about that. I mean, with how old they are, I can't imagine how you are old enough to be their mother."

She blushed again, "Thank you, Trevor. I'm 37."

"Wow! I mean that in a good way. Honestly, when I first met you, I thought you were an older sister or young aunt or something."

"That's very flattering," she smiled, then looking intently at me, asked, "How old are you?"

"I'm 34."

"Older than I thought, too."

"Well, Hannah, I think you look amazing for your age. Actually, I think you look amazing for someone ten years younger."

She blushed a little and dropped her eyes, then met my gaze again, "Am I too old for you?"

"Not in the least."

"I guess that was a little forward..."

"Hannah, we can dance around this or be honest. I'll be honest. I'm very attracted to you."

"Trevor, what about your friend, Mara?"

"Yeah...Mara. Here's the thing - I like Mara, we get along well and all, but I don't have deep feelings for her...and, um, I have feelings for you that I can't explain, but I have them nonetheless."

"I know what you're saying. I...I have feelings for you, too...feelings I haven't had for anyone...since my husband."

"Then we should pursue this, don't you think?"

"Are you sure? I come with a lot of baggage."

"If you're talking about your daughters, I'm quite taken with them, too. And Kody and Kayla think they're the best thing since beef jerky," I replied, smiling.

She continued, "Well, I like you very much, and I don't understand it...this sudden attraction...and I'm not sure I trust my emotions. I mean, this hasn't happened before. If it's just an infatuation, I don't...I don't know...Trevor, I've been hurt before."

"I understand. And I'm cautious, too, maybe too cautious, sometimes. But I'd really like to see if we could go somewhere with this."

We continued to talk, getting acquainted, and at one point, I couldn't help myself. I stood and took Hannah's hand. She stood with me, turning her body towards me. I leaned forward to kiss her, and she met my waiting lips. We exchanged a soft, tender kiss. We heard giggling.

Hannah quickly separated and looked past my shoulder. Her daughters and the dogs had come around the side of the house. The dogs were smiling and panting, and the girls were grinning from ear to ear.

"Sneaky little ninjas," I said to the girls. They laughed and went back around the house with the dogs in tow.

Softly, Hannah said, "Well, I guess we have their seal of approval."

"Yeah, I think Kody and Kayla approve," I remarked.

"I meant...Oh, smart aleck!" Hannah laughed, smacking me on the shoulder.

"So what, now," she asked.

"So, now, I have to deal with Mara...hmmm...Mara. That's not going to be fun, but with the way I feel about you, I can't continue to see her. As for us, we date. We take our time, get to know each other," I answered.

"I like that; get to know each other...and take our time. I made the mistake once of rushing into something."

We called it an evening, gathered up the girls, and they headed home. If there had been room and Hannah had let them, the dogs would have gone, too. I set about cleaning up my grill, feeding the dogs and buttoning up for the night. As the sun set, I went on the back deck with a beer to watch the sun slip behind the trees. It was very peaceful, but I was all jittery inside; my heart was about to burst. I hadn't met a woman like Hannah in a long time, maybe never; not one as sweet, as beautiful, as soulful as her; certainly not one that I had such an instant attraction to. This was new territory for me. But then my thoughts turned to Mara, sweet Mara. Ughh! This was going to suck. I was sitting, gathering wool, when my boss called.

V. THE BREAK UP

"Yeah, I need you to come in early, Monday, before the clients. I want to talk about this build. These people are all over the place. We may want to pass on them."

"Yes, they've been difficult," I agreed, "but I think I can nail them down. We'll go over everything Monday morning. What time do you want me there?"

"Let's make it six o'clock."

"See you then."

I went and got another beer, sat and drank it as the sky went from twilight to the Milky Way glittering into view. I did live in a pretty nice spot, in a 'park' as Hannah had put it, and away from the city lights that would have spoiled this view.

Monday morning, my boss and I went over what I had, and what the clients were saying. We decided to see if I could get them on track by the end of the week, or we were going to pass on the job, something he loathes doing; but the last thing you want are clients who are constantly changing their minds, or can't make them up. It just leads to difficulties, to builds that never go right. And it doesn't matter how many change orders the clients are willing to pay for, you never get a clean build and it ends up eating into profits. And you end up with less than happy clients - not the best endorsement for future business. It's better to cut your losses early.

So the pressure was on me to make it work. I spent long hours working with the husband and wife. On the upside, it took my mind off Mara and the upcoming dilemma of dealing with her. But by Wednesday, I was at my wit's end. In the nicest way, I told them so, and that we had to make some decisions, agree on things, or we couldn't build a house for them. I figured they would go running to my boss or dump us entirely, but they came in Thursday morning, sat down, and started making some sensible decisions, agreeing on issues. We worked through the weekend. I had to call and cancel with Mara. But come Monday morning, we had what I thought was a workable plan. We all met and went over my preliminary drawings and computer mock-ups, and reached a tentative agreement. By Friday, my boss had the build priced out, and they signed the contract.

"Take some time off, Trevor. You did a helluva job on this."

"Thanks, Tom. I could use a few days."

I went home and called Mara. I hadn't talked to her since last Friday, when I called to let her know I had to work the weekend.

"Hi, Mara. Are you free tomorrow?"

"Have I ever charged you, sweetie?"

I laughed, "No, but you've taken it out of my hide a few times."

"Oh, you poor, abused boy. What are you doing, tonight?"

"Actually, I'm beat. How about we get together, tomorrow?"

"Okay, sweetie, what did you have in mind?"

"I thought we'd get together for lunch."

"Oh...okay, I'll see you then, lover."

"Bye, Mara."

I hung up, grabbed a beer and headed for the rear deck. It had been a long time since I had broken up with a girlfriend, and the last time didn't go so well. I was pretty sure this time would be no different.

Mara arrived a little before noon, and was dressed in a halter top and cut-offs. She looked pretty hot.

"Hi babe," she met me with a hug and a kiss, then greeted and petted Kody and Kayla.

"Hmm...that was a pretty lousy kiss."

"Sorry, um, why don't we eat. I made sandwiches and lemonade."

"Okay," she said, giving me the fish eye. She obviously sensed something was up.

I took our lunch to the picnic table on the back deck. We settled in to eat and talked about work. We'd both had busy weeks.

After finishing her sandwich, Mara took a big drink of lemonade, set her glass down, then looked at me, "What's going on, sweetie?"

"Hmm, yeah, well, I have to tell you something I don't want to..."

"You're not breaking up with me," she joked, laughing.

When I didn't immediately answer, she looked hard at me, "Trevor?"

"Mara...I've met someone..."

"The woman with the kids?"

"Yes, and..."

"And you're going to dump me for some old woman with kids?"

"She's not that old, and..."

"I don't care how old she is! What? So are you fucking her?" she snapped.

"No, I'm not, we haven't even...well, we kissed once, but..."

"But you want her instead of me?" she asked, harshly.

"Yes...I have feelings for her that...I've never had for you. I'm sor..."

"You're sorry, and I'm what, chopped liver. You have 'feelings' for her," she exclaimed, sarcastically, "and you toss me aside just like that! Huh?"

"Mara, I'm sorry, but I have never felt this way before. I don't feel this way about you. I like you but I..."

"But, but, but. Damn you, Trevor," she started crying, but became more bitter, "I gave you everything. I thought we had something special. I guess not..."

"Yes. Yes we did, but not like that. Not like I have with her..."

"And you expect me to believe you haven't slept with her."

"I haven't. I haven't slept with her."

"How do you know she's not a lousy lay..."

"Mara, that's not...Look, I can only say what I've said. I have fallen for this woman," I finished, tired of the arguing.

Mara took a napkin and wiped her eyes.

"I'm going to go. There's obviously no reason for me to stay. Thank you for lunch...you prick!"

She immediately stood and stormed through the house, grabbing her purse, and out the door. When she got in her car, she tore out, spraying gravel and swerving out of the drive.

I thought, "Well, that went well."

Choices - sometimes, even the right ones suck. And I knew this was the right one. I knew it in my heart of hearts. But still, in the back of my mind, was this little itch - "Careful, Trevor..."

"Screw that!" I argued with myself. I'd been careful, cautious, for too long.

After sitting on the front porch, drinking a beer and sulking about how things went with Mara, I decided to take the dogs for a run. When I got back, I called Hannah.

VI. FIRST DATE

"Trevor, hi. Are you okay? You don't sound too good."

"Yeah, well, I've been better. I just broke things off with Mara. It didn't go well."

"I'm sorry, but...I'm happy for us...I, I hope you are, that you have no regrets," she finished, softly.

"I'm happy for us, too, and absolutely no regrets. It just sucked, that's all."

"How are things otherwise? Did you finish with that difficult job?"

"Yes, the job wrapped up; everything went well in the end. I have a few days off, now. How are you guys doing?"

"We're good. The girls want to know when we're going to have a date? I told them we were going to start dating and they got pretty excited...We still are, aren't we?"

"Of course. Is there any possibility you can get off work for a couple days, say Monday and Tuesday? I know it's late notice..."

"Sure, it's no problem. I do real estate, and set my own hours. I don't have anything pressing until next Friday when I have clients coming in from out of town."

"How would you like to go camping?"

"That would be really nice. We haven't been camping since..." I heard her voice catch.

"Do you have a tent? I have one, but it won't sleep all four of us. I can pick one up..."

"No, we have a tent that sleeps four; well, it did when the girls were little."

"My tent will comfortably sleep two, if you don't mind sharing it with me; the girls and the dogs can share yours."

"I'm comfortable with that."

"Then let's get all our gear together and head out tomorrow, by noon if possible. I have a place I want to take you, and it's about two hours away."

"Sounds good. We have sleeping bags, lanterns, a camping stove, and so on."

"I'll be at your place around eight if that's okay. We'll sort through stuff, decide what to take, then go for provisions."

"Sounds wonderful. I'll let the girls know. They'll be ecstatic."

"Okay. See you in the morning."

That night, I loaded my canoe on the roof of my Suburban, and got my gear together and loaded up. Early in the morning, I headed to Hannah's. We got together, figured out what we were taking, and I checked all their gear, making sure their lanterns worked and that there were plenty of fuel canisters. They had the old style, butane lanterns with mantles. I put in new mantles, and we cleaned up their large ice chest and their sleeping bags. I took their larger camping stove.

When we were ready to load up, I asked about using the Explorer.

"Oh, I only use that for my job."

"Oh, okay."

So, we loaded up my Suburban with my third-row seat down, which was necessary to fit all our supplies, gear, ice chest and tents, and there wasn't room for the four of us and the dogs; so Amy and Kayla road with Hannah in her Impreza, and Barb and Kody rode with me.

We got to the campsite around 1:30, unpacked our lunch and ate.

"I thought we were going to a campground," Hannah remarked as we were eating. "This is so nice, very private, and right on this beautiful stream."

"Yes, this is actually on a client's property. They are snowbirds from upstate New York and are usually only here in the late fall and winter. I can use it anytime; all I have to do is call and let them know."

"Well that's wonderful."

"One of the perks of my job," I replied with a smile.

Barb spoke up, "Are we going canoeing?"

"Tomorrow, I'm going to take everybody out, one at a time. It's a two-man canoe, and I could probably handle the two of you together, but it will be easier, safer, and more enjoyable to go one at a time."

"So cool," Amy remarked.

"Are we doing anything, today," Barb asked.

"Barb, be patient," Hannah admonished.

I laughed, "That's fine. Yes, we're going for a hike. There's a trail that runs along the river. It's the same trail we'll use to portage the canoe back each time."

"Portage? What's that mean?" Amy asked.

"Well, that means we have to carry the canoe back up stream each time we make a trip down. The stream flows a little too fast to paddle back up, so you each get to help me carry it.

"Cool," Barb remarked.

Hannah looked and gave me a sweet smile. It lit me up inside.

After we finished eating, we set up camp, then headed out on our hike. It's about two miles, maybe more, but a pretty easy walk. And its beautiful, following the large stream as it tumbles and twists its way through the woods. It has a couple spots with small rapids, but they're manageable.

Late that evening, after our hike and making dinner from a stew I had in the freezer, which was a big hit, I built a small fire, and we roasted marshmallows. By 8:30, the girls were gassed, and we set them up for bed. I told them if they got up early enough, I would take them fishing before we went canoeing. They happily went to bed early. Kody and Kayla immediately joined them when they bedded down. Hannah and I sat by the fire and talked.

"So, you're a real estate agent?"

"Mm hmm. I was a stay-at-home mom, until my husband passed. I had gone to college, but never worked a regular job after I was married. I just did the fitness trainer part time while the girls were growing up. So, when I had to figure out how to support us, my girlfriend, Darlene, who is an agent, suggested it. She talked to her boss, and he hired me, sent me to real estate school, and that's what I do now."

"Has it been tough, financially, I mean?"

"No, we've been very fortunate that way. My husband had a good life insurance policy, and the company he worked for paid a sizeable death settlement; but I'm protective of that money, saving it for the future and for the girls' education."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that you didn't have to struggle. So, you're doing okay with the real estate? I know that can be an up and down thing."

"Yes, it took me four months before I made my first commission, but I'm doing pretty well, now...How about you? I'd like to get more of your story."

"Well, I moved here after my divorce, mainly to get away from everything where I lived when I was married - change of scenery, fresh start and all. And I found my current job, starting out as a carpenter. Then when my boss found out I could draw plans and design homes, he put me to work doing that, and he pays me a nice salary plus a commission on each build. In between, I do whatever he needs on the construction jobs, so I'm doing pretty well now. I lost everything in my divorce, and was starting over from scratch. In the last five years, I've been able to develop a good savings again, and live comfortably in the process."

"Trevor, I want to thank you for this. The girls are loving it...and so am I."

"Me too, me too. I can't tell you how much I am enjoying this. I am very...content, being here with you and the girls."

She reached and took my hand, "Thank you, Trevor. I never asked, do you have children?"

"No, thank goodness. I mean, it was fortunate that we didn't have children to go through that. My ex couldn't have children."

"Well, sorry, but you're right; it would have been much harder. Though you would make a great dad," she added with a warm smile.

"Thank you. Maybe I'll get that job in the future," I said, not hiding my wishes. I knew what I wanted. I didn't need six months of dating to determine that what I had in front of me was my future.

Hannah smiled, nodded then sat silent for a minute.

"The girls think the world of you, Trevor...and I do too, but..."

"We'll take it slow," I answered.

"Yes, thank you."

We called it a night and got ready for bed.

"You can go in the tent and change first," I offered.

"Thank you. It'll take a minute. I want to do a little sponge bath if I could?"