Spirits in the Material World Pt. 11

"It would appear that I was otherwise distracted and failed to do so."

"Yeah, I could hear your 'distraction' even through your closed door." Maggie smiled broadly. "I had a good talk with David, too, although not quite as good a talk as you had with Alan. Robert was in the room with David, so he could not be as descriptive as I would have liked."

Rose pondered her daughter's words and mused on how the relationship dynamic between them had shifted since Thanksgiving. Maggie seemed to need Rose to be a good, experienced friend and less of an authoritarian parent than previously.

"Say, Mags, I have a question for you. What was with that 'Dad' stuff you were handing to Alan?"

Maggie smiled, wryly, and stated, "I was just trying to push the envelope a bit. You know, see how he would react to my calling him 'Dad' and such. I'm over 18, Mom, and he can't legally adopt me. I mean, I could request a name change if you and he end up getting married, but I think the more traditional way of changing my surname to Harrison will probably be the best way. If David and I end up together, I'll be able to call Alan 'Dad' any time and it won't be too freaky."

"IF that were to happen, I hope it's a long time off in the future. You both need to finish school and, preferably, get started in your careers."

"Right, Mom. I've got two more weeks to go with these mental midgets. I need my own coffee to get the day going. And, yes, I remember that I need to go to the office and inquire about transferring down to Middleburg." With that, Maggie arose and got on with her preparations.

Rose took a big slug of her coffee and got up to get a shower and get dressed. She did send a text to Alan before leaving the bed.

Rose: * Good Luck with giving your notice. I love you. *

Alan: * Thank you. Same to you. You have to give notice as well. I love you. I will call tonight. *

"I have such a nice, considerate boyfriend," Rose thought.

Rose showered and dressed and was ready to head out by 8:00 am. Maggie had already left to catch the bus to school, so Rose locked up and was soon on her way to work.

She tried to come up with a pleasant way of telling the bank management that she was leaving but seemed to struggle with the proper wording. With that course of action somewhat blocked, she remembered that she needed to "formally" accept the offer from the AgCU. Sending an email to all three of her interviewers, she gratefully accepted the employment offer to begin on the first Monday of January. Then she became distracted with actual work, as one of the tellers called in with a sick child, and the rest of the morning seemed to flash by.

Taking her lunch break, she decided to use her resources more effectively. She texted Alan.

Rose: * Alan, can you please call me? I need help with giving my notice *

After a couple of minutes, her phone rang with Alan's call.

"Alan, have you given your notice yet?" she inquired.

"Yes, Rose, I have. There hasn't been much of a response from management, yet. I do think that my wording could work for you as well. Would you like to hear it?"

"Oh, please, yes!"

"It is with sincere emotion... that I hereby tender... my resignation of employment... to be effective... no later than... the close of business... on Friday, 18 December." Alan paused periodically to allow Rose to write down his words.

"Ok, I've got it. What exactly is this 'sincere emotion' you reference?"

"I leave that up to the interpretation of the reader," Alan audibly smiled. "I have to get on with some stuff now, if I may. I love you, Rose, so very much."

"And I love you too, Alan, so very much. We'll talk tonight. 9 pm?"

"Sounds like an electronic date to me. Goodbye, Rose."

"Goodbye, Alan."

Rose hung up and turned to her computer to write and give her two weeks' notice to the bank manager. About an hour later, the manager asked Rose to come into his office.

"I take it you are not going to wait for the selection of the branch manager of Middleburg to be announced," he began.

"No, Brad, I saw the competition and knew I would be quickly eliminated, so I've found something else to do. It has nothing to do with the work here, but my new position is also in Middleburg and it's significantly closer to my new boyfriend."

"Ah, new love. Can't beat that for a reason to change. You'll also probably need the Saturdays off between now and your last day?"

"Yes, please, I need to find a place to live down there."

"Can I ask you to hold off on your last day until the 23^rd? I also will need your input on who to replace you."

"As long as you can give me the two Saturdays off, sure, I can stay through the 23^rd."

"Thank you, Rose. I'm going to miss you, but I'm all for people improving their lot. I hope this new position will be an improvement for you."

"Thank you, Brad. Yes, I'm pretty sure it will be an improvement if only to be closer to my boyfriend."

The rest of Rose's workday was mundane, and she felt as though a great burden had been lifted from her psyche as she left work that day.

* * * * *

Tom and Julie were gearing up for "dead week", that week between the unofficial end of classes and the final exams. Sure, their classes would meet at their regular times, but the week was going to be mostly reviews and preparation for the exams. With the slight easing of expectations for the week, the two were much more intentional about scheduling their "together" time. Being the senior lab TA, Tom was scheduled to work Tuesday through Friday from 6:30 to 9:00 pm each day. Julie promised to be present for all of Tom's scheduled time, just in case the "kissing bandit" returned.

Monday night after supper they were in Tom's room, reading at opposite ends of Tom's bed with their sock-covered feet touching the other's. Not playing "footsie", per se, just comforting in the touch of the other. Tom's cell rang with Alan's ringtone at the same time as Julie's rang with a call from Maggie. Julie got up and strode to the far corner of the dorm room to have her conversation and to give Tom the illusion of some space.

"Yeah, Mags, what's up?"

"Jules, I'm worried that I'm messing up with David. He surprised me on Friday by sneaking home for the weekend, and then we had a pretty big argument on Saturday morning. We seemed to get through it and talked some, then I just seemed to push a "hot" button with him and he got upset with me again. We made up a bit, but I may have screwed things up again by freaking out about his not texting me when he got to school. What am I doing wrong? I don't want to lose him."

"Magpie, slow down. Catch your breath. Now, he surprised you on Friday?"

Maggie related the events of the weekend starting with David's surprising her by coming home for the weekend and ending with the texting fiasco of late Sunday.

"Ok, sweetie, you called me so I'm guessing you want to know what I really think, right? I'm not going to blow hot air up your skirt just to make you feel better. If you want something sugarcoated, have a donut."

"No, Jules, I want to know what you think. You and Tom seem to be so together on the same page all the time, and I want the same with Davey."

"Well, Mags, Tom and I are here together. We see each other almost every day. You and David are physically distant and that can make things really hard. Not impossible, just hard. Do you trust him? Do you think he's a 'player'? 'Cause I don't. But I think he's as new to a relationship as you are."

The sisters continued to talk about their relationships with the Harrison boys, and after about fifteen minutes Maggie felt a lot better about things. Julie advised her to pick one small thing to share and explore with David each night. Allowing their relationship to grow as much as the distance would permit.

Tom's discussion with Alan was a bit different.

"Tom, I'd like your opinion about something," Alan began.

This was something new. Alan seldom sought out Tom's opinion, and Tom's heart grew warm at the trust being imparted by his dad.

Alan continued, "Rose was offered and accepted the position at the AgCU here in Middleburg, and now she's got to find a place for her and Maggie to live."

"Why not just have them move in with us?" Tom asked.

"On the surface, that can look like a good idea, but let's dig into it a bit. We have the holiday break coming up starting towards the end of next week, and you'll be home for almost four weeks, right? What would be the sleeping arrangements?"

"Rose with you, David in his room, Julie and I in mine, ... oh. What to do about Maggie?"

"Right. It's mostly the breaks that have me concerned, but our house is just not quite right for the six of us for an extended time."

Tom was thinking quickly and had a brainstorm.

"Well, we have the rough-ins down in the basement for a sink and a toilet, right? Maybe we could get David to surrender his art studio space and build out a bedroom and a half-bath. Julie and I could camp out down there and give my room to Maggie. I'm pretty sure David and I could help you get a couple of rooms built down there before Christmas."

"Thank you, Tom. That may just be the solution we could not find ourselves. Let me think on this some more and talk with some people. I'm not really comfortable with the electrical or plumbing stuff, but we know people who are. Maybe we can get their help in this. Yes, thank you, son. Is everything all right? Did you two have a nice night at the hotel?"

The two of them shared what they could about the weekend just passed, and they agreed to talk again on Friday night once Tom's lab shift was completed.

Tom's suggestion of adding a bedroom and a half-bath in the basement seemed to have merit, but Alan wanted some other opinions. He needed to get buy-in from David as it was David's "studio" which would be a likely casualty of the construction. Alan needed Rose to continue looking for her own space, just in case they could not swing a bedroom/bathroom combination. Alan needed to start writing much of this down so that things did not slip between the cracks. But, first of all, Alan needed to talk with Rose.

"Alan, you're early again. Not that I'm complaining, mind you," Rose stated.

"I know, but I had a great desire to hear your mellifluous tones and wished to share something with you. Have you found a place to live down here yet?"

"No, and I have not really begun to look yet. I'm getting my last two Saturdays at the bank off from work so I may come down there and hunt. I had to promise to work through the 23^rd, though, to get the Saturdays off."

"That seems like a fair trade-off," Alan commented. "How did your boss take your resignation notification?"

"I think Brad took it fairly well. It's not like there isn't personnel turnover in the banking industry. Although it is usually at levels lower than the branch management team. I did not tell him what I was going to be doing, only that I was moving to be close to my boyfriend in Middleburg."

Alan smiled at that last statement, then decided to mess with Rose a little. "Oh, so you've got a boyfriend who lives down here? Are you planning to shack up with him then?"

Rose halfway expected something like this from Alan, and she decided to play along and see how far she could take this.

"Well, he's a really good fuck and he's not half-bad at eating pussy too. Sometimes he seems a little restrained in his outlook though. He claims to be untrainable, but I think his previous girlfriend was making great strides with training him. Still, he could benefit from a bit more instruction. I'm worried that so much time may have elapsed between girlfriends that he may have forgotten some key lessons, like being sure to put the toilet seat down."

Alan did not see the humor in her words. He felt like Rose was slighting Laura's memory and his response was extremely sharp. "He sounds like a somewhat decent guy. I hope the two of you will be very happy together, Rose. Good luck with him. Bye." And Alan disconnected the call. He didn't turn his phone off although that thought had crossed his mind. He just waited. After ten minutes, Rose had still not called him back. Now he was irritated. He put his phone on to charge and descended to the media room.

Rose was PISSED OFF! And she was scared. Any sane man will tell you that a woman who is both angry and frightened is very difficult to deal with. All she was doing was playing along with his joke. Oh, so he can dish it out but he can't take it? Fuck him! She was terrified at the realization that she had been depending on Alan for so much of her future happiness. Then she was right back into the anger. She vacillated between the anger and the terror for about fifteen minutes before Maggie came tapping on Rose's bedroom door.

"Mom? What happened? Are you alright?" Maggie asked, tremulously.

"No," Rose sobbed, which brought Maggie into the room and onto the bed.

"Mom, what happened? Is anyone hurt?"

"No, nothing like that," Rose sniffled. "Alan just hung up on me rather abruptly when I was playing along with a joke he was making. He hasn't called me back. He hasn't texted anything."

"What did he say, Mom?"

"I hope the two of you will be very happy together. Good luck with him. Bye."

"Ummm, that sounds a bit out of context to me. A bit more back story, please?"

Rose related the conversation as best she could recall it, realizing that she had not answered Alan's question. She could now see that he could easily have taken her words in an unintended manner. But he should know that he was her boyfriend.

"Mom, what was that stuff about a long time between girlfriends?" Maggie asked.

"I was just being funny about how sometimes men backslide."

"Maybe, but can't you see how he might take you calling Laura his girlfriend and him being between girlfriends trivializes her life and death? You KNOW they all have unresolved issues about Laura's death, despite how they try to hide it or gloss over it."

"Oh, god! What have I done?" Rose grabbed her phone and dialed Alan. It rang and rang and finally rolled over to voicemail. "Alan!? I'm sorry! Please call me back! I'll answer if you call." To Maggie, Rose related, "it did not immediately go to voicemail, so he did not turn it off, but he did not answer either. So now Rose waited. After fifteen minutes and still Alan had not called back, she sent a text message.

Rose: * Alan, I'm sorry. Please call me, no matter what time *

For his part, Alan was watching 'Love, Actually'. It had become a favorite holiday movie for the whole family, and Liam Neeson's part had become especially applicable and poignant in Alan's life. Eventually, the movie ended and he turned off the DVD player and the TV and just sat in the dark.

Laura manifested before his eyes, slowly fading in, a very sad expression on her face and spectral tears welling in her eyes.

"Alan, my beloved one."

"Laura, my lost love. Why can't I let you go?"

"We promised to be true until death parted us. Little did we realize it would require both of our deaths. But it is not your time, so don't even go there. You are my one true love, Alan. But I am not your only love, Alan. You are experiencing the thorns that inherently come with a rose. She would not be who she is without the thorns which are pricking you now. You just must be careful when handling a rose, especially that one."

"It was too soon for you to be taken from us, Laura."

"Says you. It was right on time, we just did not know it. 'Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit'."

"Always have to have the last word, don't you?"

"Yes. I love you, Alan. You know what you must do, and the time is coming very soon. Go, my love, call her. Reach out to her. I love you." And Laura disappeared, like a soap bubble popping.

"Yes, dear."

* * * * *

David and Maggie talked that evening and Maggie started to apply Julie's suggestion of picking one thing to share. That Monday it was about how she felt about having to leave Centreville High School. David tried to apply the active listening skills he had been taught, and Maggie felt much better about their relationship after the call. She wrapped up her side of things with, "I'm so very sorry, David, about being so worried about you. I hope you can see it was all based on my concern for your wellbeing and not anything about distrust."

"Yeah, Magpie, I get it. It was just coming across as your being extremely clingy and that was so unlike what my experience of you was. We'll keep talking every evening, and I am truly looking forward to taking you to your dance next Friday. I would say more but Robert is listening hard to my end of this conversation and it's Miranda's job to fuel his imagination and dreams, not mine. I love you, Maggie. Play nicely with those less gifted than you. We'll talk again tomorrow?"

"Only if you call me, Davey. I love you too. Sweet dreams!"

* * * * *

It was late when Alan pulled himself up the stairs to his bedroom. He saw the message light flashing on his phone, but he just wasn't ready to deal with that yet. He stripped down to his shorts and added a t-shirt, then went to brush and flush before bed. He sat down, heavily, on his bed and reached for his phone. One missed call, one new text message. He wasn't sure which had arrived first, so he read the text message first.

"Please call her, no matter what time. Hmmph. No way to be sure it wasn't Maggie sending that message, though. Guess I'd better listen to the voicemail," Alan thought.

He heard the anguish in Rose's voicemail message, and he felt bad for causing that. Then he thought, "I didn't cause her anguish. I may have contributed, but I did not cause it." He looked over at the clock which showed 11:40 pm. Exhaling heavily, he debated calling her. Deciding, he called her phone.

"Alan? I'm so sorry, my love."

"What are you sorry about, Rose? I'm the one who ended our earlier call."

"I gave you cause, Alan. I made it sound like I had someone else. I did not answer your question. I did not consider your feelings when I disrespected Laura. I'm so sorry for all of this. Please, please forgive me!" she pleaded.

"Rose, why do you think we have these issues over the phone and not in person?" Alan asked.

"Perhaps for the same reason that Maggie and David have been having issues -- in that voice-only communications are insufficient. Things are better when there are visuals to go along with the audible, but even then, in-person and face-to-face communications are the absolute best."

"Wow. It sounds like you've given this some thought. Your points are excellently made. I am sorry, too. I started the teasing about your other boyfriend."

"Thank you, kind sir. May I now attempt to address your unanswered question from earlier? Yes, I'd love to 'shack up' with my boyfriend down there, that boyfriend being YOU! But we've already discussed the logistical issues involved. Has something changed?"

"I was talking with Tom earlier tonight, before our brouhaha, and he threw out for consideration the possibility of cannibalizing David's art studio in the basement and building out a bedroom and half-bath down there. He was even volunteering for him and Julie to occupy that space during holiday times when everyone was home. That way David keeps his room and Maggie may have the front bedroom which was Tom's."

"<sniff> <sniff> And where do I get to lay my head?" Rose asked, obviously teasing.

"You, dear heart, get the awesome privilege of sharing my bed. I'll even make some room for you in the dresser and the closet."

"Oooh, I must be extra-special then, huh?"

"Indeed you are, Rosalie. Indeed you are. Now the monkey is on my back to get some information about permits and such as well as getting the materials we will need. Tom and David can help me with the actual construction, as we all will be here leading up to Christmas. So, right now, I think you can table the plans to look for an apartment or a house to rent."