Stormwatch - A Party of Four

"That would be interesting. Ok, shoes off." Josh didn't ask why, but he still took off his ancient but comfortable western boots now on their third sole. Veronica didn't tell him why she wanted his shoes off, her primary concern was that she didn't know his level of skill and she didn't want her feet crushed under those boots.

"Do you mind if we start with a country waltz? I'm most comfortable with that."

"Sure," she smiled, still not knowing what to expect. Soon that familiar three-quarter time rhythm accompanied by a steel guitar announced their first dance, and so did the lyrics. He took Veronica in his arms with confidence, and they danced to that sweet Ann Murray hit "Could I have This Dance." She was happy to discover that Josh was actually very good at this, "So perfect," she purred as he led them in their very first dance together. She didn't listen to the words of the song, she was paying attention to the tempo and his foot movements because she was in "instructor mode" and Veronica was happy to find that Josh was doing quite well.

The twins stood guard over their Barbie empire in the middle of the floor as they watched their "Unka Josh" and this unknown woman dance around them. Soon their arm crossed and the pouting girls began to call "Hey! That's mommy's dance!"

~~~~~*~~~~~

Dr. Adrianna Roberts and Dr. Paul Jarecki returned to their home after a day of Christmas shopping for the twins, their arms overflowing with bags and boxes for Christmas where Andi and Paul could properly spoil their girls. Paul is a tall, gangly man with a large nose, deep set eyes, sandy hair and a goatee. Andi is short, barely four foot eleven, dark blond hair, and like her sister-in-law Macy, very pregnant. "That's Josh's jeep outside," said Paul, "You go see what they're up to while I stash the goodies."

Andi held the back door open for her husband whose arms were loaded with purchases then followed him in, her pregnant belly leading the way. The sound of Frank Sinatra singing The Way You Look Tonight echoed through a house that normally radiates nothing but Christmas music from Halloween to New Year's Day. They found the kitchen empty, so Paul hurried up the back steps, secured their purchases in a cabinet safe from tiny hands, then came back downstairs on the front staircase because the music seemed to be coming from the library.

He found Andi and Macy in the library, but he also found Josh and a beautiful blond woman dancing in their socks to the Sinatra tune while the twins danced in the middle of the wide-open floor trying to mimic their moves. The library is a large room in the house that has been numerous things over the century and a half that the house has been standing, but the discovery of the sprung floor returned the library to its original function as a dance floor. What Paul, Andi, and Macy was watching was clearly a dance lesson because the blond was giving Josh hints and pointers as they danced. Finally, as the song ended Josh and the blond embraced and kissed then Josh declared, "Break time!"

"You did awesome honey!" exclaimed the blond. "See? I told you, if you can two-step, you can foxtrot." She bent and hugged the twins, "You did great too!"

"They dance your dance mommy!" cried one of the girls when she noticed her mom standing at the edge of the dance floor.

"My dance?"

"Uh huh!" cried the other as they sprinted to their mommy, "your dance with poppa!"

Macy smiled, "They started out waltzing and these two got all excited and said "that's mommy's dance!"

"They identified that?" Andi was shocked. When she and Paul got married a year ago, she had never really danced, but she fell in love with a waltz so they practiced dancing the waltz over and over. Mostly country waltzes but they danced to the Christmas Waltz at their wedding reception on Christmas Eve. As she lifted Sandy, the other twin Madeline danced around her counting "One two three One two three One two three..."

"I guess they do remember," chuckled Paul. "You must be Josh's date from Friday. How are you doing Ronnie?"

"Doctor Jarecki? You're Paul?" gasped Veronica. She never made the connection between the Doctor that she had fished with and Josh's buddy Paul.

As they shook hands Andi stepped up and said "Hi, I'm Andi Jarecki, did you find the gift I left for you under the pillow?"

Veronica hugged Andi and said, "Oh yes! thank you so much, and I put it..." Veronica paused and rolled her eyes skyward to think for a moment, "he put it to good use. I'm Veronica van Köster by the way."

Andi invited Josh and Veronica to join them for coffee. They settled down in the breakfast nook of Paul and Andi's kitchen, a kitchen which is the size of a large America living room, and they sorted out introductions. "Paul, Andi," started Josh, "Veronica is the executive assistant to my boss's boss and now I find out, she was a Black Velvet girl with Reverend Macy. She lives right across the park from you, it's a straight line from your front door to the park gazebo to her house."

"Oh, Ok," said Andi, "Was that you helping her shovel out the driveway last Friday?"

"Yes he did!" smiled Veronica as she put an arm around her lover and kissed his cheek

He then put an arm around Veronica and said, "Veronica, this is Paul and Andi's daughters Madeline and Sandy, and their soon to be son Joshua."

"DANNY!" shrieked the twins. Sandy looked at Josh with a fierce glare and shook her tiny finger at him, "How many times I have to tell you his name is DANNY!"

Andi held Sandy back while Madeline climbed on Paul's lap and demanded that he spank Josh. Andi shook her head and said to Josh and said in an exhausted voice, "You just love stirring the pot, don't you." By this time Veronica was laughing so hard she could barely catch her breath, her melodious laugh filled the room. Andi turned to Veronica and said, "Dear, if you're dating this guy, this is what you're going to have to put up with. If you ever need support, we're just a block or two away."

"Josh calls you his little Cupid," said Veronica which brought a laugh from Macy.

"Now I need to know how you know my husband," Andi almost growled.

"A couple of years ago. I had just bought the house in town here and was fishing down in Zoar valley, and he showed me his favorite fishing spot," she said cheerfully.

Before Paul could respond, Josh hugged Veronica from behind and said, "no, he showed you MY favorite fishing spot, he's never revealed his favorite spot to anybody." To emphasize that, Paul smiled and shook his head no.

"Not even me," said Andi glaring at Paul. "At least you could have sold her a car."

"I did!" grinned Paul, "A Lincoln Navigator."

"Then all is forgiven," said Andi as she kissed her husband who along with being a doctor is the CEO of a chain of ten car dealerships throughout New York State. A position he inherited from his father.

"What beautiful girls," sighed Veronica, "How long have you been married?"

"One year come Christmas Eve," smiled Andi as the twins slipped off of her lap and went to bother their "Unka Josh."

"It's quite a story," said Macy who was sitting in the bay window seat looking for signs of her tardy husband. He was bringing dinner.

"Oh?" smiled Veronica.

Paul took a deep breath, "Andi and her girls came out to Springville from Denver to vacation at a B&B and visit with a friend, but they got turned around in that blizzard back in early December last year. They ended up on Trevette road and went in the ditch by Hirsh's farm. I was up the road at my cabin when the county Sheriff's called to see if I could help. I took them in and we were stuck in the cabin till Sunday morning and... ah..."

Andi took Paul's had and placed it on her belly, their son was due within a week. "We fell in love and made it permanent."

While Andi and Paul kissed, Sandy who was sitting on Veronica's knee continued the story, "We got a dog and cut a Christmas tree and fed chickens!"

Her sister on Josh's knee added, "we rode a tractor with sleigh bells and wheels This Big!" she said with her hands spread as wide as possible.

"Sleigh bells?" Veronica asked.

"Tire chains," said Paul. "These two think tire chains sound like sleigh bells."

"That's quite a story," said Josh turning to Veronica, "but it doesn't sound believable."

"You booger!" she said swatting him. She leaned toward Andi, "Your story is sweet and romantic, but it seems to be going around," she added with a sidelong glance to Josh who pretended to be embarrassed.

"Ok, ok," admitted Josh, "We've been kind of eying each other for the past year, and we got caught in last week's blizzard and spent four days together stuck in the building at work, and we've been together since."

"Eying you?" Veronica asked innocently. Then in a lusty growl she said "Buddy, I've been stalking you!" Josh actually looked shocked at her statement, so she added, "Yes, you dummy. Do you think I let Terri sit in my office yammering for hours because she's entertaining? I was hoping to hear about you!"

Josh fell silent and as Andi, Macy, and Veronica chattered about their experiences in the western New York weather. Josh pondered what she said, she was stalking me? Her comment was completely unexpected, here she was a beauty queen, a fashion model, a university graduate with an MBA, a member of the business world upper echelon. And here he was, a knuckle dragging Fred Flintstone who was lucky enough to avoid falling out of the sky when his plane got hit, a community college associates degree in computer science, a low-level manager whose only business claim to fame is that his few subordinates haven't misunderstood his directions and caused a customer uprising. He needs to have a talk with Veronica before she makes a horrible mistake.

After chatting with Andi and Paul and securing the use of their library for practice, Josh and Veronica begged off Chinese take-out with the Jarecki family and headed out to Worzil's just a couple of blocks up the street. Just as they said their goodbyes and stepped down the porch as a new Ford Bronco pulled into the driveway. A slim Asian girl stepped out from the driver side, and a short, dark-haired man with several bags stepped out from the passenger side.

"Josh!" cried the Asian girl and she was about to hug Josh when she stopped and looked back and forth between Veronica and Josh. "Awww shit, you're off the market, aren't cha. Fuck... you sure are."

"What are you whining about?" asked Josh in a gruff but humorous tone as he hugged her anyway, "are you thinking about trading up?"

The man stepped up next to her, looked between Josh and Veronica and said "Yeah, it looks like he is off the market, how ya doin' buddy?"

"Doing fine, this is Veronica van Köster. Veronica, this is John, Paul's brother and Macy's husband, and the innocent little thing here is Ye-jin Carlson, she's the twin's governess."

Veronica shook hands with John and Ye-jin, to each she said "Call me Ronnie, I work with Josh."

"Ye has to watch her mouth around the twins so she vents outside," explained Josh.

John just chuckled and said, "We'd love to talk, but we don't want dinner to get cold," as he held up a large sack from a local Chinese take-out.

"Gotta go," said Ye-jin, then she quickly hugged Veronica. "We have to talk. I'm here all day, almost every day," she said nodding her head toward Josh.

"Ok!" laughed Veronica as they walked up the driveway. "I live right over there," she said as she pointed to her house.

"No really!" called Ye-jin from the doorway. "I'm serious, call me!" then the twins yanked her in the house.

"Let's walk, it's only a couple of blocks," said Josh. The couple walked hand in hand in the winter early evening darkness, the snow gently falling and only seen in the shine of the streetlights. It seemed like every house in the neighborhood was lit up with Christmas lights, all except Veronica's house which looked like a dark corner in the festival of lights.

"What's the story between you and Ye-jin?" Veronica finally asked. She couldn't believe it but she was jealous of that Asian twenty something.

"She's been here about nine months, she's dating the kid from the feed store, and makes me glad that she's never met Terri." Seeing Veronica's questioning look he continued. "I don't need Terri picking up even worse language." When Veronica stopped laughing he continued, "She's a Culinary Institute trained chef and made a living cooking on large yachts until she cooked for Paul and Andi and they hired her away from the tropics. I met her a couple of years ago when her folks were up here, they summer at Paul's cabin when the tourist season slows down."

Veronica knew about yacht owners and their chefs, Paul didn't make any friends stealing a good chef. "I hope it wasn't some friend that Paul hired her away from."

"Actually she was on his yacht, he just upped her pay scale and moved her to the snow belt."

"Paul and Andi have a yacht?"

"A yacht, a couple of sailboats, a house in Jupiter Florida, a house in Melbourne Florida, and a house here." He winked at Veronica and said, "The only thing better than having a boat..." and they completed the adage in unison, "...is having a friend with a boat!"

The snow on the ground twinkled as they walked reflecting the street lights and the Christmas lights. Every streetlamp was decorated with a pine garland wrapped around the pole and a wreath around the faux gas lamp at the top. The houses were outlined with colored lights and lawns were covered with displays. "I've lived here for a few years, and I've never walked at night... I don't think I've really noticed the Christmas lights..." then she added sadly, "I'm usually working at home or I'm at the office or the gym and by the time I get home the Christmas lights are mostly off."

"I thought you'd be dining at the finest spots in the area with Anthony and Marjorie and investors," said Josh. "You know, selling the concept of Andelon.com to CEOs and their ilk... I don't mean to imply you were hired for your looks..."

"Why do you think I was hired?" she asked.

"To be honest? I think Anthony hired you as kind of a trojan horse. You meet investors with Anthony and the VPs and your looks distract them and all the while you're looking for flaws in their plans, landmines, traps, scams, cons, that kind of thing."

"That's a part of it," she smiled. "With my background in modeling and the pageants I'm sure many think I was hired for my looks, but you know Anthony... he believes he has a God given talent for hiring the right person for the job. I'm good at what I do, and I do what ever it takes Anthony's and Marjorie's businesses a success. I have done what you've described. When those dinners don't happen my dates have all been with spread sheets." She slipped a little on the icy sidewalk and clung to Josh's arm tighter and when they got past the ice she still clung tight. "This place we're going, what's it like?"

"Worzils? It's an old school neighborhood pub that you used to find in every neighborhood in western New York. Simple food, cold beer, and working-class folks unwinding after a long hard day."

"Mmmm," she purred, "It sounds perfect, so it's not a high-class establishment like the Ellicott Manor?" The Ellicott Manor is the place that Josh took her on their tobogganing date and serenaded her with a barbershop quartet.

"I don't know how to tell you this, but they're the same kind of place, in fact Worzil's may be a step up," he said as they approached a small bar that was built in what was once a residential house. He held the door open for her as she entered. "Here at Worzil's all three of the neon beer signs are working."

It was warm and humid inside Worzil's, most of the lighting was provided by illuminated beer signs. On the only clock visible every number is a 5. The clock advertised a brewery long out of business and the ad on the clock said, "Welcome to Somewhere." The squared U-shaped bar that dominated the room was populated by a few bar flies along the back side so they could see people as they entered, there were small booths lining the walls, a shuffleboard bowling machine was being played by a couple of young guys, and the sound of an air hockey game could be heard coming from the back room. The smell of beer, pizza, and Buffalo style chicken wings filled the air. A skinny Asian man in his fifties wearing comically thick glasses manned the bar, he saw Josh walk in with Veronica on his arm and actually looked surprised. "Josh!" he called. "Nice! Usually, the arresting officer isn't this pretty," He held his hand out to Veronica. "I'm Ayato Tanaka."

"Ronnie," she said before Josh could introduce her, "and he caught me."

"Hold on to this one Josh," grinned Ayato, "this one's a big step up from that lumberjack you used to date."

"She wasn't a lumberjack," said Josh withering under Veronica's questioning look, "she was the belt operator at the sawmill."

Just then a tough looking woman in her mid-fifties with graying brunette hair and an intimidating look came up and said "Ooo, who's the prom queen Josh?"

"Julissa Tanaka, this is Veronica van Köster..." Julissa was Caucasian so Ronnie guessed that they were husband and wife.

Before he could complete the introduction the woman said "van Köster? Royalty? Well, la-tee-da! We should break out the clean silverware! Honey? Do we have any of that left?"

"I think I can find some," grinned Ayato as he drew a beer.

"Listen sweetie," Julissa said in a stage whisper to Veronica, "I hope you brought some money with you, because this dumbass is notoriously cheap." She jerked a thumb in Josh's direction.

"You're killing me here Julissa," muttered Josh. "I knew we should have gone to McDonalds."

"What and die of their empty calories?" demanded Julissa. "We got plenty of empty calories right here. What'll ya have to drink sweetie?"

Veronica smiled, "I'll have what he's having."

"It's your funeral toots, staying for dinner Josh?"

"Yeah Jules, we'll have the beef on weck."

"That sounds interesting," said Veronica, I've never tried that."

"Seriously?" asked Julissa as she turned on a heel. "Find a seat, I'll try to find you."

All of the booths were empty so Josh and Veronica sat in a booth by the front window where they could watch the light snow fall and observe the Christmas lights in the village. Josh looked like he was terrified of the next thing that Veronica would say. As he sat silently berating himself for bringing this beauty queen to a local 'gin mill' Julissa walked up to the table and placed two pints of light amber nectar in front of the couple. "Damnit" he said to himself, "I could have ordered her some wine, a Vodka Collins, or something from a craft brewery. I'm such a dolt."

"What's this?" Veronica took a cautious sip and her eyes opened wide in delight. "Jenny!" and she actually began to quaff the lager. When she set her pint down a good third of it was gone. "Oh God how I miss this stuff." Josh was shocked, Genesee, known as Jenny, is a local beer that is an acquired taste. Veronica leaned forward and in a conspiratorial tone of voice said, "If I drank as much of this as I would like, I'd end up looking like that guy," and she pointed to one of the bar flies at the end of the bar. The fellow had a prominent beer gut.

"Ol' Stash? I didn't think you chewed on cigars."

"Not chew, but I don't mind a nice maduro on occasion."

Josh was stunned. "You smoke cigars and drink cheap beer?"

"Not cheap beer, but I really like Genesee; it just happens to be highly affordable." She smiled as a fond memory surfaced. "Whenever I had a pageant or a photoshoot nearby my dad would show up with a six pack and as soon as the job or the pageant was over, we'd go to a park or some other place and drink those beers... what... You look surprised. I had been starving myself for weeks beforehand." She took another sip of her beer, "there's no better way to break a fast where I'm from."