My Life's Playlist Ch. 04

"You've got too long a memory my friend."

"Probably because I spent most of my time sober, while you spent your first three years at UVA partying. Don't worry, I won't tell too many of your secrets."

"So, are you going to introduce me to Tor Edvardson? He's obviously fallen into bad company if he's hanging out with you. Hi, I'm Michael McGuire, Mike to my friends. Anything you want to know about the young Pippa, just ask." The two men shook hands. Mike looked behind to the people still waiting and said, "we'll catch up soon Pipster. Lee and I have big news!"

"Again! Geez Mikey, can't you find another hobby?" I gave him a hug and we walked away laughing.

We got settled back into the car and headed into Fairfax to meet Angie and Ted. Theo had obviously been storing up over an hour's worth of chatter and was anxious to get it all out at once. He asked Tor questions about everything from hockey to Sweden, to his favorite food. He filled him in on his friends and his favorite cartoons. Tor patiently answered his questions, and asked a few of his own. I just sat and listened.

Angie and Ted were waiting outside the restaurant, and once again when Ted saw Tor he got gob smacked. Theo grabbed Tor's hand and dragged him to his parents.

"Mommy, Daddy, Tor came with us to church and I went to big church and I was a good boy. Does that mean I can have dessert?"

"Tor, I'm Angie Adamson. Thank you for all you did for the boys Friday night. I'm still hearing about it, and Theo even talks about it too," she smiled and shook his hand. Angie is tall, blonde, green eyed, and one of the funniest people I know. She keeps Ted on his toes, which is always a good thing, and she has become like a big sister to me. She and Ted adore each other, and they are another hopeful example that you can marry your best friend, and still love them fifteen years later.

We went into the restaurant and enjoyed a leisurely brunch. Ted got over his awe of Tor enough to start playing big brother and asking lots of pointed questions of Tor. Angie and I caught up on each other's lives. When Tor excused himself to use the washroom she leaned over and said "so...?"

"So what?" I replied in my most innocent manner.

"Church and brunch with us. This must be serious. He seems too good to be true."

"That's what I'm afraid of Angie. Right now I can't really answer your question, but I promise you'll be the first to know."

"I'm holding you to that."

Tor came back and Theo crawled into his lap. He asked me for his blankie, and when Angie nodded yes, I handed it to him. The four of us continued to talk over our coffee, while Theo drifted off to sleep in Tor's lap. We paid our bill and Tor carried Theo to Ted and Angie's car, put him in his car seat and turned to face Angie and Ted.

"I had a great time with Theo today. He's a wonderful boy. You are very fortunate."

"Thank you," said Angie.

"Tor, good luck on the road games. Pip, we'll see you in the morning?" inquired Ted with a wink at me.

"Bye guys," I said. He helped me into his car, and we headed back to Old Towne.

"So what do you want to do now?" Tor inquired.

"It's your day off, so why don't you decide."

"I'd like to get out of this shirt and tie, and Axel needs to go out. Why don't we go to my house, I'll change and let him out, and we'll decide from there."

"I have an idea. After you change why don't we walk Axel and head back to my house so I can change. We can light a fire if you'd like and maybe watch the Redskin's game. Axel can come in to the house, Annie's parents bring their dog all the time. I can cook dinner or we could order in if you'd like."

"Sounds like an excellent plan," he replied, taking my hand.

That's how we ended up at my house, curled on the sofa in front of the fire and talking. We had gone to his house, and while he changed I looked at the pictures in his study. There were pictures of little blonde boys and girls, some obviously of he and his siblings, some of his nieces and nephews. Many featured a handsome couple that I assumed were his parents. I think my favorite might have been the one of him holding his godson in front the church on his christening day. It had been a sunny day, and obviously a little breezy because hair was blown away from his and the baby's face and his nephew's hand was patting his cheek. Hearing him enter the room I turned around. "They're lovely. It must be great to have siblings."

"Most of the time it is, though sometimes growing up it was less so," he chuckled.

"Were you lonely as an only child?"

"Sometimes, but my parents always made sure my friends were welcome and I seemed to be surrounded by kids my age. Are you ready? It hardly seems fair you've gotten to get out of your good clothes and I'm still sitting here in my dread pantyhose," I said rolling my eyes. He was wearing jeans, a blue and white snowflake patterned sweater, and navy turtleneck that made his eyes seem even darker. Once again, so not fair!

"Yes, let me put Axel on a lead and we'll go. Axel," he called. The large black dog came and sat patiently as Tor clipped on his lead. We headed out the red front door of his house. He told me he'd been working on renovating it when he could on the off season. The afternoon was still chilly, the temperature seemed to be 30 degrees color than the day before, and fall was definitely here.

When we got to my house I ran upstairs to change and Tor lit the fire that was already laid.. Axel and Beau spent a few minutes checking each other out, but Beau's dogness made him unafraid, and Axel's patience held out long enough for Beau to sniff him out. They both ended up hearthside, enjoying the warmth. I came down in my jeans, a long sleeve t-shirt, and my warmest socks. I hated wearing shoes when I was home, and avoided them at all costs.

"Sarcasm Society, like we need your support. Nice," Tor said, reading my t-shirt. He was up sitting with his legs stretched out on the couch and I curled up on the other end facing him as we proceeded to learn more about one another. He told me that his tooth had been chipped when his sister threw a marble at him as they argued about a game as children. A pick up hockey game as a teenager with no helmets broke his nose. His father's specialty was pediatric cardiac surgery, and his mom had played professionally until she met his dad. All of his grandparents were gone, but both his parents came from large families, and so he had tons of cousins, aunts, and uncles still in Sweden. The Royal Marines had been his branch of choice for his mandatory service, and in college he had studied economics. He liked to eat most things, except brussel sprouts and tomatoes. His favorite junk snack was chips and salsa and his favorite course was dessert, just like mine. I shared that I had broken my shoulder a couple of years ago when I tripped and fell walking Annie's parents dog, that my Dad had spent most of his life as a liaison between the Royal and U.S. Navy, my Mom stopped teaching after I was born, and that both of my parents were only children, so I had no cousins, aunts, or uncles. My dad's father had died before I was born, but had been in the Foreign Service, with his last posting being here in Washington D.C. at the British Embassy. My Grandmother Phillipa had loved it here so much she stayed on after he passed away, becoming the grand dame of a certain segment of British expats. She had also kept her country home in Cotswold and her apartment in London and would go there for the "Season". She was the daughter of an Earl, hence her courtesy title of Lady. Her dearest wish was for me to do a season in London and marry some nice Duke or Earl and live happily ever after producing the requisite heir and spare and performing good works. Unfortunately I had too much of my Grammy Fee in me so for once I dug my toes in and refused to something she wanted. Grammy Fee had been widowed shortly after my mother was born, and had worked as a cook for a prominent family here in Washington. She was feisty and stubborn and I loved her to death. All my grandparents were gone. I hated most green vegetables, but I ate everything else. My favorite junk food snack was Cheetos, and M-squared swore that when I died there would be no trouble identifying my body because I'd have fluorescent orange dust all over my fingers. Then he asked me a question that made me stop and think..."Why teaching?"

"So many kids hate school, especially history. I've always maintained they've had boring teachers. History is a story, and like any story if you tell it well, it's interesting. I love it when the kids who try to pretend they don't care get into a debate with someone in class. I also love it when I get e-mails from my former kids who have gone on to high school to tell me that they are studying something I went over and they still remember what I taught them. I've gotten some very nice thank you notes from students saying that I've helped them grow up or motivated them to believe in themselves as students. It certainly isn't for the money, I guess I just can't imagine doing anything else," I laughed. "Why hockey?"

Now it was Tor's turn to hesitate. "Every since I was little I've loved the feeling of being on skates, it's like flying. Figuring out where to shoot is like solving a puzzle. Like you, I just can't imagine doing anything else, but given my age, I won't be able to play at this level for much longer."

"So what will you do?" I asked.

"I haven't figured that out yet, probably something to do with hockey like coaching or management. I like the business end of it too." The clock on the mantel struck 2:00 so I turned on the game. I popped some popcorn and got us each a glass of water. Tor threw some more wood on the fire. When I came back to the couch Tor pulled me into his arms so I was leaning with my back against his chest and his arms around my waist. From this comfortable position I proceeded to watch my beloved Redskins get their butts kicked by the Colts, or at least that's the last thing I remember before I woke up as the clock struck 5:00. I am always slightly disoriented when I wake up from a nap, but this time it took me several minutes to reorient myself to my surroundings. Okay, I was in the den, lying on the couch in front of the fire with the TV tuned to the football game. I remembered that part. The part I was having trouble remembering was when exactly I ended up sprawled on top of Tor's chest. Not that it was uncomfortable, because it wasn't, just slightly embarrassing, and if I was truly being honest with myself, lust producing. From the slow, even motion of Tor's chest I ascertained that he was asleep himself, so I carefully rolled to my side and propped my head on my elbow so I could see his face. He looked so peaceful and I found my fingers being drawn irresistibly towards his face. Barely touching him I followed the line of his eyebrows, down his slightly crooked nose, to his cheekbone. His checks were slightly rough from where his beard had started to grow from this morning, but I found it only made him feel more masculine. Once again my brain was saying stop, but my hands would not obey. They went towards his ear lobe, around his chin, and then gently traced his lips with the tips of my fingers. I heard a quite sigh and felt Tor's hand move from around my waist, up my arm to grasp my wrist. His lips moved into a smile as he carefully kissed each finger tip and his eyes remained closed as he brushed his mouth back and forth against my palm. "Gott kvall, min sot ringa en," he said drowsily. I was going to have to get a Swedish/English dictionary if he was going to continue to throw phrases at me.

It was my turn to sigh as he drew me nearer to him, planting small kisses all over my face as he cupped it with his hands. He finally reached my lips. We started slow and gentle, but quickly heated up to passionate and fierce. The logical side of me was wondering how far to let this go, while the wild child side of me was trying to figure out if it was too early in the relationship to drag him upstairs in my room and hold him hostage for the rest of the night. I split the difference between the two sides and decided to just sink back and enjoy the moment. That moment was a lot shorter than expected because a minute later Axel started to bark and head to the front door. I know where he was headed because the bark startled me and I fell off the couch onto the rug, hitting my elbow on the coffee table on the way down.

"Ouch," I whined. Tor just sat up laughing, lifted me back onto the couch to sit next to him. He kissed my elbow, saying "hyra mig puss den det amt skapa det battre." As he was doing this I heard the Annie asking Axel his name and where he came from.

"Pippa," she called.

"In the den," I replied. Tor got up to put more wood on the fire. Annie came in asking "whose dog is this?"

"I'd like to introduce my dog Axel, and I am Tor Edvardson. You must be Dr. Annie Creagen. I've been looking forward to meeting you Dr. Creagen." he said, extending his hand to her. She took it and looked over at me with one eyebrow raised as she shook Tor's hand.

"Please call me Annie. Have you guys eaten yet?"

"No," I replied. "Shall I call and have some Thai delivered?"

"That would be great," said Annie. "I'm going to go upstairs and grab a shower while we wait for it to be delivered. Be good Pippa," she said laughingly as she went upstairs. While I made the call Tor took Axel out to the backyard. Beau of course had to follow. When they came back in, I put a bowl of water down for the dog, and he was non-plussed when Beau came up to drink beside him. Annie came back down and I opened a bottle of wine. We sat together in the den, talking, well mostly it was Annie and I talking. Tor just sat back and took it all in. I told Annie Mikey and Lee's news, and she laughed as hard as I did. She told me about her shift at the hospital, and said it had been a good weekend because all of her patients in the NICU had made it through the weekend. I don't know how she could stand it when one of her charges didn't make it, but she coped somehow. She once told me that she tried to think about her success, and like all NICU staff she loved to attend the yearly reunion of NICU "graduates" and staff.

The food arrived and Tor insisted on paying. The three of us moved to the dining room and continued our conversation as we ate. As we were finishing, Annie brought up my current least favorite topic.

"So Tor, do you know that Pipster is turning 30 on Friday?"

"Bite me Annster! You know I'm avoiding that topic at all costs!"

"She did tell me about it. Unfortunately I will be in New York playing against the Rangers. It is the last game on our road trip, and we do not return until late that night. If I may ask, why do you call each other Pipster and Annster?"

"That's easy," I replied. Neither of us have a sister, but we consider ourselves as close as sister so Pipster is short for Pippa sister and Annster is short for Annie sister. We also have our own conversational style called Pipnie, because we can follow what the other means, even if no one else listening can. It freaks our parents out." I was glad he had given me a way to divert the subject away from my birthday. We talked around the table and finished the bottle of wine. We were all startled when the clock struck 9:00.

"I didn't know it was so late and I have to be in for rounds at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow. Goodnight Pippa, Tor it was nice to meet you."

"Goodnight Annie. I hope you have a good week. It was nice to meet you too. I hope to see you again soon," he replied standing up and shaking her hand.

I started to clear the table and Tor helped me bring everything to the kitchen. In no time at all everything was tidy, and we were headed back to the den. Unfortunately I could no longer stifle my yawns, and I didn't think either of us was at the sleepover stage.

"Tor, this has been a really wonderful day, but I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open and the alarm will go off way too early tomorrow," I sighed, turning towards him.

"I agree," he said. "If you don't mind I'll try to call you when I can." He put his arms around me and pulled me to him.

"I'd really like that. I usually turn my phone on at 3:30 when school is over, so any time after that is fine." I stood on my tiptoes and wrapped my arms around his neck. All of a sudden my legs were off the floor and around his waist as he lifted me up so we could be face to face. He snapped his fingers at Axel and started kissing me goodnight, as he walked towards the front door. He set me on the second step and continued to say goodnight in the way I was really starting to appreciate. All too soon he pulled away. He took my hand and said "Adjo, min karlek, in kommer att sakna du." He pressed a kiss into my palm, turned and he and Axel walked out the door.

I so needed to get a Swedish/English dictionary.

Song 10
They say it's your birthday.
We're gonna have a good time.
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you.
"Birthday" - John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Monday came and I actually made it out of the house and to school without bumping into anyone. Theo was still chattering away about Friday's game. Ted just kept sneaking me inquiring looks. I just wore my mysterious Mona Lisa smile, hoping that it would deflect any questions. I wish. Katie started class by greeting me with "so Miss R-H how was the rest of your weekend?"

I answered "just fine," and moved right along with greeting the rest of my class. Ted overheard her and told her he needed to speak to her. Crap, he was going to find out about lunch on Saturday. I hadn't planned to tell him, but I knew that Katie had not kept the secret when he leered at me and said "So how was your soup on Saturday? Anything I ought to know?"

"I'm thinking of a finger that is between my pointer and my ring finger. Can you guess which one it is?" I hissed back to him hoping I was quiet enough that the students couldn't hear me.

"Temper, temper Miss Rhys-Hall," he laughed. Great, just great. If he knew, it would be too much to hope that M-squared wouldn't, and of course she did. I spent most of my morning planning giving her an update on my weekend. She, like Angie, wanted to know where I thought this whole thing was heading.

"I don't know M-squared, but if it continues on much longer, I'm going to need to invest in a Rosetta Stone program on Swedish."

"Well, it is your birthday on Friday."

"Thanks for the reminder. Let's keep in mind that someone in this conversation is not that far away from forty, and payback is hell."

"Yea, yea." Luckily the bell rang before she had time to say anything else. The rest of the day was nothing out of the ordinary. I taught, I laughed, I herded cats, I graded papers. The day was over before I knew it, and promptly at 3:31 Tor called. He and I talked about where he was (Atlanta) and what the prospects of them winning the game was (pretty good, but you never know). He asked about my day, and I asked about his flight up.

"So, did Katie tell the entire school she saw us together on Saturday?"

"Not the entire school, just Ted, which was just as effective."

Tor laughed. "You've seemed to survive the revelation."

"Yes, but wait until my parents talk to their church friends. That will lead to the Grand Inquisition Part 2," I replied.

"And this would be bad because...?"

I sighed. "It wouldn't. I'm just not sure I'm ready to tell all to my Mum yet, and that's what she'll want." I heard someone calling his name in the background.

"We are leaving to go to warm ups. Will you watch the game?"

"Probably, if there isn't anything more interesting on," I teased.

"I miss you. Adjo, min karlek."