Lemonade and White Melons Ch. 04

A fresh bout of sobbing with her face buried in his shoulder wracked her for a minute before she could continue. "I was going to move out here and telecommute. I was going to do it after Christmas, but let myself get sidetracked. I was going back to New York after a couple weeks here and stall a little longer. Look where it's gotten me, look where it's gotten me!"

He held her and kissed her forehead. "There's lots of things I shoulda done differently. I should never have dropped out of college–twice. I've let myself get stuck, my life on eternal hold, and justified it by saying I needed to take care of Mom. Hell, all I did was hang out downstairs and hope she didn't set the house on fire. I'm useless. Fucking useless."

She looked into his eyes. "No, you're not. Don't ever say that. Mutti thought you were special, you made her so happy letting her help you with your writing, I've never seen her like this. You're special: I knew it the first time I set eyes on you. You're not useless, you're my future. I have a feeling sometimes: glimpses of the future. I'm going to move here today, and I'm going to be yours."

They went to the kitchen and Chris fixed a simple breakfast. They picked at their food, taking half an hour to finish. Another call, and more details: the two women were dead instantly on contact; a stroke the best likelihood. Time of death was around 4:35AM local time.

Anjie laid down on the couch and closed her eyes; Chris took the opportunity to run upstairs and check his e-mail. There was no last message after Anna's e-mail the day before: he created a new folder and put all her correspondence with him into it. He flipped through the pictures she sent him: the nature shots, the scenes of places she grew up, the crazy shots where she teased him. About to shut his computer down, he pulled up a translation site and looked up the wordZukunft.

After he closed the computer down, he checked her to see if she would be all right for a while without him. She was fast asleep, so he left her and went to the convenience store he'd worked for 13 years. It was the first day of his vacation, so giving two week's notice meant he was free immediately. The manager was puzzled, but started the separation paperwork without comment.

Next, we went over to the house he had lived his entire life. It was a three bedroom house: he shared a room with his three brothers from the day he returned from the hospital, his sisters shared a room and his parents had the master bedroom. When he was growing up, it seemed so huge, now it seemed tiny. Virgil and Fred were cutting drywall in the front yard.

"Hi Virgil, hi Freddie."

They returned his greetings. Virgil scratched his head: "How's it going, bro? Haven't seen much of you lately. New girlfriend?"

"Gotta be," Fred chimed in. "I can tell by the look on his face. Yup, he's getting laid."

Chris shook his head. "Just wanted to tell you I made a decision."

"Great," Virgil said, "What?"

"I'm moving out. Found a new place, gonna live across town."

"Where?"

"Old west Lawrence."

"Need some help?"

"Not right now. We can do it when you guys are done with the upstairs."

"Good. Are you all right, Chris? You look awful."

"It'll pass. Lost a good friend today."

"Oh."

Chris gathered a few more things from his dresser and closet, taking them out back to his truck. Some boxes were filled with his favorite books, others with mementos going back to high school. The posters on the wall from science fiction conventions and movies stayed where they were. The boxes were piled into the back of his truck; his bicycle went there as well and shortly he was driving across town.

Anjie was still asleep on a couch downstairs when he came in the back door, so he took his things upstairs and put them in the guest room he was inhabiting. He spent a long time looking at the hedges in the back yard, listening to his heart shift. There were echos as she ascended the stairs; he went to meet her in the hallway.

"I've made a decision," he said simply.

"Yes."

"I'll stay."

She smiled. "Knew you would. I saw Mutti in a dream I had just before I woke up."

"Oh? What it like?"

"She told me something. Something you already know." She gave him a kiss full on the lips that lasted a very long time; she released reluctantly. "I've got a request for you."

"Yes."

"From now on, call me Ahn-ge-la."

"All right." He gave her a deep kiss. "Ahn-ge-la."

"The family's starting to come in tomorrow: aunts and uncles and cousins. Some will be here in a few hours, definitely in the morning. You'll need to take your stuff out of the back bedroom."

"Sure. Where should I put it?"

She kissed him and looked at him as if he were stupid. "Do you have to ask?"

He got it after another moment's reflection. "No."

"Good. I'll help."

"After that, let's take a walk."

"Where?"

"Somewhere."

"Sounds good."

So they took a long walk down Massachusetts street after they moved his stuff from room to room, spending a couple hours at an antique bookstore. It was sunset before they started home: after having dinner at a brewpub, they got home and rearranged things in different rooms in preparation for company, then went to a local grocery store to resupply the pantry.

Their labors for the day ended, they repaired to the master bedroom. After taking a long shower together, they got into the four poster bed and slept in each other's arms, as they would do every night for the rest of their lives.