My Sweet Canadian Girl Ch. 05

My Sweet Canadian Girl Ch. 05

By Masterbates13

This part picks up with Rick arriving back in Oregon for his graduation. I hope anyone that's still reading will enjoy this chapter too. Please remember to practice safe sex unlike my fictitious characters. Also, allow me to apologize up front for any grammatical errors I missed. Comments, good or bad, are always welcomed.

***

My plane touched down right on time. That meant my mother probably wouldn't be there yet. She was always running late, something that must have driven my father insane when they were together. I had time to gather my luggage and eat an over priced airport sandwich as I waited for her in the arrivals area. I saw her come rushing in looking around and smiled waiting for her eyes to find me.

"There's my college graduate son," she said hurrying over to hug me. My mother is just over five feet tall so I stooped down to hug her back. She has short dark hair that she dyes to keep the gray from showing and a few fine lines around her eyes. I worried about her living all by herself but she seemed content.

"Hi mom," I said. "It's good to see you again."

"It's been far too long," she agreed. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. "Where did you learn to smile like that?" she asked.

"From Cassie," I said right away.

"My God Rick I got the photo you sent of her. She's absolutely gorgeous. You didn't even bother to shave before getting your picture taken with her," she said frowning at the end.

"Yes mom I know," I said rolling my eyes.

"Well come on let's go. You can tell me more about her on the ride home. What's her family like?" she asked as we started walking.

I told mom about living with Cassie during the ride. She couldn't believe how sweet she sounded. When it came time to tell her about Cassie's family I mentioned meeting Marc and his family but left out the rest. She would have been angry if she knew someone didn't like her son. Mom asked me if I'd remembered to get her something for graduation when she noticed my watch and I told her it was a gift from Cassie. She stared at me in disbelief when I told her the story behind getting Cassie the professional artist's easel and painting supplies. I wasn't the man she remembered anymore, the one who was growing up to be his father's son.

My mother was anxious to meet Cassie. I told her we were planning to fly down for the Dodgers game this year though we might not be able to stay long with Cassie's work schedule. Mom didn't ask me about my work prospects in Vancouver, she just assumed I'd find something decent with my excellent grades. She knew I had some savings to live off for now and that what I had with Cassie was more important than any job. Sometime later in the year she'd try to come see us but she couldn't make any promises yet. Once I got back to Vancouver we'd convert Jana's old room to a guest room that could double as Cassie's art studio when we had no visitors.

"Anyone home?" I shouted when we got to my old house and unlocked the door.

"Go back to Canada!" Greg shouted from the kitchen.

"Don't worry I will soon enough. Mom's here with me," I reminded them in case they'd forgotten.

"Hello Judy, nice to see you again. You came a long way to watch us fools graduate," Greg said coming out to the front entrance.

"Hi Greg," she said. "I'm proud of all you boys. Rick told me how hard you all worked."

"The guys are in the living room," Greg said. "Can I get you a drink?" he asked my mom.

"I'm fine but thank you," she said as I led us inside.

"Hey guys I'm back for graduation as promised," I said. I noticed Anita was over and sitting very close to Miguel. She'd just finished her junior year and it was beginning to look like Miguel would be staying in Eugene for one more year.

"Hello boys," my mother said. "How's your mother doing Timothy?" she asked my old friend. Tim's mother had suffered from a serious illness recently but the worse was over.

"She's much better now," Tim said standing up to hug my mother. "Here sit down Judy," he added offering her his seat.

"Thank you Timothy," she said calling him the only name she knew him by. It took me forever to train her to call me Rick instead of Richard or Ricky so Tim was on his own.

"Who's your new friend Miguel?" my mom asked smiling at them.

"This is Anita," he said putting an arm around her. "Anita this is Rick's mom Judy."

"Nice to meet you," she said shyly. "I should go," she added almost instantly.

"Don't leave on our part," I said.

"She's worried about meeting my parents when they come in tomorrow," Miguel explained. "If you want to go I'll come with you."

"You'll both stay here. I just wanted to say hello to the boys," my mother said standing back up. "I'll see you all again tomorrow," she said as I walked her back out to her rental car.

Once my mother was gone my old roommates had all sorts of questions for me. They all wanted to know how living with Cassie was treating me and smiled when I said it was even much better than expected. Anita looked happiest out of all of them and asked me to write down Cassie's email address for her. She'd only met her that one night but she could tell even a mostly drunk Cassie was a special woman and she wanted to thank her for introducing her to Miguel. I told them about meeting her brother Marc and the day her parents discovered me too. They laughed at my description of Mr. Dumont and maybe I was exaggerating a bit but it wasn't far off from the truth.

I told them what Cassie's roommates were like too and the guys smiled at my descriptions of them. One after another they kept asking questions about what Vancouver was like to live in and I filled them in using the photos stored on my digital camera to show some of the sites I'd seen. Someday we'd have a house and they could all come visit to see for themselves. There was still plenty to do and I hadn't seen more than a small part of it myself yet. I think the thing I was most looking forward to was a camping trip with Cassie this summer. Anita asked me what I got Cassie for a graduation present when I told them my new watch was her gift to me. I explained my gift and the story behind it leaving them all smiling.

It was good to see all the guys again plus Miguel and Anita's relationship gave me good news to report back to Cassie but I would have preferred to be with her. Imagining what she might look like all dressed up for her graduation made my heart race. I was desperately hoping that her family would forget about me and enjoy the special day with her. I should have called her by now to let her know I made it to Oregon safely so I excused myself and ignored the whipping sounds Greg made as I went upstairs with my stuff. I wasn't whipped at all; I loved Cassie and wanted to talk to her. Cassie must have been expecting my call because she picked up on the first ring.

"Hello?" she said with excitement in her voice.

"Hello. Could I speak with Ms. Cassandra Dumont please?" I said trying to disguise my voice. I even mispronounced her last name with a hard T on purpose.

"Rick! We've got caller ID now remember?" she said giggling. It ruined the joke I wanted to play on her but it let me avoid answering the phone when her parents called so it was well worth it.

"Hi sweetie. I made it into town. Mom loved the picture of you and can't wait to meet you this summer. How are you doing?" I finished spilling out a mouthful.

"I'm fine but I miss you already," she said. "I can't wait to meet your parents too. Make sure to get lots of pictures tomorrow," she warned me for the hundredth time.

"I will don't worry," I said. "Are you busy?"

"Not really," she said. "Why?"

"I was thinking we could get on instant messenger for old times sake so were not tying up the phone lines," I said.

"I'm already logging in," she said and I could hear the smile in her voice.

"Okay I'll talk to you in a few minutes," I said. "I love you Cassie."

"I love you too... Dickie," she said whispering her pet name for me as she hung up.

I spent the next hour talking to Cassie online until the guys came to get me. Greg and Miguel hauled me away from the keyboard while Tim told Cassie they were taking me away. It was going to make her feel bad for hogging all my time while I had a chance to be with my friends again. Anita had followed them up and said she wanted to talk to Cassie so we could go downstairs and drink or whatever. Miguel tried to linger behind but she banished him from the room with the rest of us.

Downstairs we sat around the living room drinking and talking about our years together in that house. This one last week together was going to be it. I'd miss them a lot but my life was in Vancouver with Cassie now and they understood that. Greg still wasn't sure what he was going to do now that he was graduating. As he put it, when he started school four years ago actually getting his degree was low on his list of priorities and expectations. Miguel was already making plans to stay in Eugene for another year with Anita, just as I had guessed earlier. She lived in the dorms but they'd started to look for an off campus apartment. His degree was in computer science and he'd lined up a job maintaining one of the student computer labs on campus, Beside that there was some contract work he could do on the side. Tim wasn't sure what he wanted to do either. For most of our college days our plan had been to stick together after graduating. That all changed when I met Cassie. While he didn't resent her anymore, he was still trying to figure out what came next.

Anita came down nearly an hour later and said she had a wonderful time talking to Cassie. She'd invited her and Miguel up for a visit sometime and I said they were more than welcomed whenever they wanted to come. It would be nice to have some friends around and I was already planning some extra bedrooms for that house of ours so we'd always have room for a few more. Cassie had asked her to remind me to make sure my suit was ironed and the guys had a good laugh at my expense but I would have forgot otherwise. She was going to leave but Miguel convinced her to spend the night without having to do much arm-twisting.

Before going to bed I took out my suits to iron them. I decided to wear the plain black one tomorrow and got it ready. In the pants pocket I found a little card from Cassie and opened it to read it. She wished me a happy graduation, said she couldn't wait to see me again, and told me she loved me. At the end her reminder for me to get pictures tomorrow made me smile. What an amazing woman she was. How had she known I would pick the black suit? Reaching into the pocket of my other pants I found another identical card and burst out laughing. That night I fell asleep thinking of her and woke up doing the same.

The four of us got ready the next morning and Anita took some pictures of us together with my camera before she and Miguel left so she could get dressed at home. Greg was driving the rest of us to school with plans to meet up after the ceremony for more pictures. Before we left I gave Cassie a quick call telling her to have fun and told her I loved her again. Once we got there we split up to find our own sets of parents before the long assembly got underway. I found my parents and sister stood together with Susan in the middle to keep them separated. At the last minute dad's wife had to pull out for a business commitment so it was less awkward than it could have been.

"There he is," Susan called out smiling at me and already snapping a photo with her own camera.

"It's good to see you," I said hugging my sister. "Hi mom and dad."

"Looking good in your suit son," dad said smiling at me.

"Thanks dad," I said shaking his hand.

"He's so handsome," mom said wiping a tear away. "Stand with your sister and I'll get a picture for Cassie."

"Who's Cassie?" dad asked.

"I'll tell you about her later," I said not wanting to ruin the day with news of what I'd been up to.

We stood around taking pictures of every combination of the four of us. The last one with my parents and me was the trickiest but we made it through. They were amicable enough but I knew they'd rather not be together. If not for Susan and I, I don't think they'd ever talk to each other. I went to get in line and wait for my name to be called. My camera I left with my mother telling her to make sure to get a picture of the guys too.

During the long ceremony I found myself thinking of Cassie. I wish I could have been there on her special day, but she wouldn't let me miss my own graduation for anything. It would have been tedious without my thoughts of her but before I knew it my named was called and I walked up to receive my diploma. At the time it seemed like such a silly thing to miss being with Cassie for but afterwards I saw my parents and their smiles told me why it was so important to be here. After pictures with my friends we went our separate ways to celebrate with our parents. My father would be flying home in the morning so I had dinner with him that night while Susan kept mom company.

During the drive to the restaurant we talked about baseball. After their hot start the Dodgers had drifted back to the pack and were a few games out of first place now. Honestly they didn't have a great team this year but that wouldn't keep us from dreaming. If they could just get their pitching staff healthy again and the general manager picked up one more good hitter they could win the division. If not then as long as they beat the Giants we could live with it.

"Did you decide which job to take yet?" dad asked me as we sat down in the restaurant and ordered drinks. "Last time we talked you were excited about the place in Santa Monica."

"I turned them down," I said nervously.

"You did?" he said smiling. "I can't believe something better than that one came along."

"It did," I said.

"Where?" he asked.

"In Vancouver," I said as the butterflies in my stomach danced.

"In Canada?" he said in a surprised voice and I nodded. "Who are you working with there?"

"No one yet," I said.

"What are you talking about?" he asked looking even more puzzled than before.

"Remember that girl mom mentioned earlier?" I asked.

"Yeah... Cassie wasn't it? What about her?" he asked but his eyes went wide as he realized where I was going with this.

"She lives in Vancouver and I'm moving there to be with her. I'll find a job there soon enough. She's already working as a nurse," I said.

"Jesus Rick are you crazy? You're throwing away jobs most graduates would kill for and for what? To be with some woman from Canada," he said clearly disgusted.

"I'm not crazy dad I love her. She's the most amazing woman I've ever met," I said.

"Will you listen to yourself? There are women everywhere Rick. Where did you even meet this one?" he asked.

"On spring break," I said.

"Spring break? You're throwing your whole life away for a girl you've known for a few months," he said in disbelief.

"I'm not throwing anything away. I knew she was my life that first week," I said.

"Your mother already knew about this didn't she?" he asked suddenly. All I could do was nod. "I should have known she was behind something as stupid as this. Bring her down to live with you if you really want her but don't give up everything for a woman."

"Mom wasn't behind this but she's been supportive of me. I've been living there for the past three weeks and I'm going back as soon as I have everything in order here," I said.

"I want you to call that place in Santa Monica first thing Monday morning and tell them you've changed your mind," he said.

"No," I said.

"Just try it for a few weeks and see how it goes," he said ignoring me.

"No! Have you been listening to me at all?" I asked him. He looked at me but he couldn't see how much I loved her, that it was pointless to try convincing me to leave her.

"Rick this job is too goo..."

"Fuck the job dad! Fuck it! She means more to me than any job and I can't wait to get back to her," I said.

"Fair enough," he said looking as if he wished I had slapped him across the face instead. "Let's finish eating and get out of here I'm done trying to talk sense into you."

The rest of our dinner went by in silence. My high paying, high-pressure job had been his dream for me as much as it had been my own. He'd come around once he got to know Cassie but for now his disappointment was something I could bear. After dinner he drove me straight home. He handed me gift-wrapped box and grudgingly wished me good luck in Vancouver before speeding off. How could I expect him to understand? He might have been married three times, but I don't know if he's ever been in love.

Home hours before anyone else, I sat in the living room drinking alone. As hard as my father had taken it he hadn't said anything bad about Cassie. He was mad at me not her and that was something I could accept. I wasn't looking forward to telling her both our fathers hated me now. Some day he'd meet my sweet Canadian girl and then he'd understand. There were things in this world that were far more important than a great job and she was definitely one of them. I would have called Cassie but I knew she was out celebrating with her family while I was drinking by myself. Once I was back in her comforting arms I'd never have to feel lonely again.

Dinner the following night with my mother and sister should go much better. They knew about Cassie and were excited for me. Not even they knew what Cassie meant to me though but they'd find out when they finally got to meet her. I was trying to focus on the good times ahead but as I drank I kept thinking about my father's disgust and Mr. Dumont's hatred. Hours later I was bitter, tired, and still alone. Dragging myself upstairs I collapsed onto my old bed and passed out still wearing my suit.

The next day I woke up around nine and rolled over feeling ill. Served me right for drinking alone. I took off my suit and threw it on the floor for now before getting dressed in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. After relieving myself I winced as I went down the stairs. Thankfully someone had thought to brew coffee already. Filling an extra large mug I headed for the living room to see who was up. Tim was there watching highlights of yesterday's ballgames so I sat down next to him. We started talking about me moving for good next week since he'd be coming with me to bring the rental truck back.

Greg joined us about thirty minutes later but Miguel and Anita had already left to spend the day with his parents. Apparently she'd quickly gotten over her fear of being with them. None of us had anything to do this afternoon so it didn't take long for us to decide to watch the Dodgers versus the Giants on TV. Greg was normally out numbered far worse so he was happy to watch with just the two of us rooting against him. It still didn't stop us from making about a hundred Barry Bonds steroid jokes before the first pitch. The game was tied when Cassie called about halfway through but I didn't mind stepping away from it at all.

"Hi sweetie. Why are you whispering?" I asked her as I stepped into the kitchen for some privacy.

"I'm at my parents' house talking on my cell phone. We all came out here for a barbecue today," she said.

"How was graduation? Did your parents enjoy it?" I asked.

"It was fine I got pictures. You better have too," she said right away.

"My mother took plenty," I assured her.

"Well dad looked happy. He seems to think you won't be coming back," she said.

"It's too bad I'll have to disappoint him again then," I said making her giggle.

"You should have seen Jay's fiancee go to work. What a bitch she is. She kept asking me questions about you but only when dad was around. Mom said I was imaging it but she knew exactly what she was doing. I can't believe my brother is going to marry her next spring," Cassie said sounding angry and concerned for her brother at the same time.