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Sunday, January 17
"Margaret, darling, may I please have some words with you?" Maeve asked.
Maggie looked a little surprised but allowed Mrs. Johnson to lead her a few steps down the hall. Rose was curious, but the call of Nature could not be ignored, and she hurried into the Ladies' room.
"What did you wish to talk about, Mrs. Johnson?"
In reply, Maeve pulled Maggie into a firm hug and whispered in her ear, "Thank you so much! Thank you for being the right person in the right place at the right time for Jack and I."
Still confused, Maggie hesitantly responded, "You're welcome? I'm the one who should be thanking you and Mr. Johnson."
"Oh, no, dear. After observing David picking you up from work yesterday, Jack was wonderfully attentive in a way he had not... uh, maybe that's enough detail." Maeve flushed a little at her inadvertent oversharing. "Just, thank you. Sometimes it takes a child to lead us." Rose arrived with Mary and Susan on her heels, and the five proceeded to the Fellowship Hall where their men awaited with coffee for their ladies.
Maggie accepted the cup offered by David and slipped her right hand into his left. Jack and Maeve, observing the younger couple, did the same. Susan and Mary just watched with interest, but Rose hugged Alan to her side and was thoughtfully quiet.
"So, David, I'm surprised to see you here today. When do your classes resume?" Gil Larsen asked politely.
"With tomorrow being a federal holiday, my first class is at 9 AM on Tuesday. I'm heading to school tomorrow afternoon, Mr. Larsen. And before you ask, no, I have not yet begun to pack up my stuff. However, much of the non-clothing items never got unpacked over the holiday break, so I don't have to pack up everything I'm taking back to school. I'm planning to start the laundry this afternoon, though."
Gil smiled his approval and gave Maggie a commiserating look. She was trying to keep the sad expressions from her face, but they crept in from time to time. She did not wish to think about day-to-day life without David immediately present. She clasped David's hand even tighter, and David took notice.
"We'll see you all in the worship center," David addressed the group of adults. "Would you please excuse us?" At Alan's nod, David led Maggie to return their mugs and then out into the halls of the church. "Come on, Magpie. I know just the place to go." He led her to a closet near the Sunday School classrooms and, seeing no observers, led her inside and closed the door. There was enough room for the two of them to stand with a little space, not that they needed or wanted any. She looked around and saw perhaps two dozen goodly-sized hand puppets on the shelves.
"Puppets?" she asked.
"Yeah, I used to be part of the Puppet Ministry back in high school." David gently clasped her head in his hands and brought his mouth to hers. Keeping his tongue in his mouth, he stroked her lips with his until she stopped quivering and relaxed enough to enjoy him. "I love you, Mags. While I'm doing my laundry this afternoon, would you please help me come up with a schedule of weekends back here with you? I've gotten so spoiled having you in my bed every night. Those narrow twin beds at school are going to suck so badly."
"Yes, Davey, my love. Your time management leaves a bit to be desired. Maybe helping you with a schedule will help me with my nerves."
"Yeah, I've noticed your tension. I'm coming home as often as I can, to you and for you. I know we're going to miss the hell out of each other. Phone calls, Zoom calls, and texting won't really be enough, but it will have to do."
Conscious they were at church, they limited their actions to gentle kissing and nose rubbing. Maggie adored the gentle, affectionate touches that David shared with her. They were inside the closet for a good ten minutes before the bell rang to dismiss Sunday School.
"That's our cue to skiddoo, Magpie. Let me go first, okay?"
David cautiously opened the door to see Alan and Rose leaning against the opposite wall of the hallway, arms crossed, and looking amused. He tugged on Maggie's hand and she stumbled slightly as she spied her mother. David closed the closet door as Rose and Alan headed to the worship space with Maggie between them. Sheepishly, David followed a few paces behind. He had thought his special place was a secret, but no longer. Worship that morning seemed interminable for both Maggie and David.
After a lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup made creamy with some milk, Rose confirmed David's plan to depart after lunch on Monday.
"Yes, momma," and tiny tears sprang unbidden to her eyes at his words, "that will give me the morning to finalize the packing and loading of my stuff. Why do you ask?"
"Well," and she looked over at Alan who was watching with interest, "I just thought you needed to be sure there was space in your Jeep for Maggie to ride shotgun with you." Maggie's eyes grew wide with delight at the prospect.
"Say what? How would she get back here? I know she's not working. That's pretty clever of Mr. Johnson to be closed on Mondays so as to avoid the four federal holidays designated for Mondays."
"True, but I also have the day off. As you say, it's a federal holiday. And I believe your father is not working as well." Alan gave a little start as he had not truly realized that he was getting a holiday so soon after starting. 'Why had Gil not said anything?' he wondered. Rose continued, "I thought we'd caravan and help you get your stuff into your room then go out and have a nice meal together before coming back and bringing Magpie with us."
Maggie gave a small squeal of joy and squeezed his hand tightly at the prospect of some unexpected time together. David smiled fatuously at his girlfriend and replied, "I will be certain there is space for her. Come on, Magpie, help me get the laundry going?" They took their dirty dishes to the kitchen on their way to the basement laundry area. Once out of parental view, Maggie grabbed him.
"Oh, Davey! We get a few more hours together! Aren't you excited?"
Rubbing noses with her, David grinned and responded, "Any time I can spend with you is exciting to me, Magpie. Let's get the laundry going first, please."
With the clothes washing, he quickly retrieved the calendar from the kitchen and they perused the coming months. David's spring semester would have a one-week break from March 15-19, and he had planned to use some of that time to visit Tom and Julie and re-tour the State University campus. He could not yet know what the coursework requirements would be, so they would have to be somewhat flexible. But he made little stars on six of the Fridays between then and the second week of May when his final exams would be held.
"Let's start with that as a plan and we'll see what the coursework and weather dictates, okay, Magpie?"
Maggie's eyes were starting to brim with her tears as the reality of his departure and subsequent absence from her day-to-day life loomed. Then she pounded, not entirely gently, on his left shoulder. "See what a girl you've turned me into, David?! This is why I never had a boyfriend while in school!" And she snatched the calendar from his hands and practically flew up the stairs, sobbing quietly. David was nonplussed at her actions. 'WTF?' he thought. He did not know whether to chase after her or give her some space.
Rose and Alan were reclining together in the media room, not watching anything but just relaxing together. They heard Maggie scamper up the stairs to the bedrooms. Because the media room was right below her bedroom, they heard the door slam and could faintly hear her crying.
"Oh, God, what is it now?" Rose wondered aloud. Alan could only shake his head, ruefully, in response. "Let me go see what's wrong," Rose commented, and she slowly mounted the stairs after her youngest. Rose stopped in the bathroom to dampen a washcloth before she rapped on Maggie's bedroom door. Not hearing a rejection, she opened the door to find Maggie face-down on a pillow and crying softly. Rose stepped into the room and gently closed the door.
"Oh, sweetie, what's the matter?" she asked the sobbing girl.
"David's leaving tomorrow! I'm all mixed up. I don't want him to go! I've been so happy with him beside me." Her words devolved into a series of sobs and mumbles.
Rose sat beside Maggie on the bed and gently stroked the girl's hair and just let her purge of the emotions which were overwhelming her. "Oh, my daughter, my daughter. You still have so much more to learn. He will come back here, for you. I suspect it will be much more often than he did this past fall. He loves you so much he cannot see straight at times. I know. I've been watching him. But he's so good for you, dear heart. Just as you are so good for him."
Maggie raised her head from the pillow and reached for the washcloth. Wiping the tears from her face, Maggie rolled to face Rose, and then sat up. Rose pulled her in closely and rocked Maggie. "We haven't made time to do this since Thanksgiving, have we? That's my fault, Mags. Well, mine and Alan's. Do you want to talk about not being able to see straight? That's what Alan does to me. I've got to find a better balance. I may need your help in doing that."
"My help?" Maggie asked, tremulously.
"Well, I'd feel a bit odd asking Alan. Julie's with Tom, and David's going to be away. It's down to you, sweet cheeks."
"Okay, Mom. I'll do it." Maggie sniffed back her tears and put a brave face on for her mother.
"What else is troubling you?" Rose probed.
"Being with David has turned me into such a girl! I'm weepy, I'm clingy, I'm all over the place."
"Hmm. Where are you in your cycle?"
Maggie looked down at the calendar she had grabbed from David. She remembered her period had started on the 2nd, and she counted and her eyes widened in alarm.
"I'm ovulating?"
Rose's eyes widened in shared concern, and she swallowed hard before continuing.
"Do we need to be concerned about anything?"
"No, Mom. David's been rubbered up since last Wednesday. Oh my god! He's been tracking my cycle better than I've been! I'd wondered why he was doing that. It should have been so obvious to me!"
"And that says to me that he loves you. I think part of your issue is that your father has not been part of your life and you've not observed a couple's daily interactions. To protect yourself, you've made this hard shell around you, keeping others out, even me and your sister. You met David on Thanksgiving, and he's fit into your life so well, seamlessly almost. That's a shock to your system that you're just realizing, I think."
"I owe him an apology, don't I?"
"It probably wouldn't hurt, Magpie. Clean up your face and go talk with him."
= = =
At supper that evening, Maggie seemed a little clingier than usual, at least from David's perspective. He would certainly miss being with his girlfriend every day (and night), but he was confident that he would be home enough in the coming months. Besides, they would be riding together the next day, extending their couple's time together. He had availed himself of the time when she was occupied to complete his packing, and almost everything was staged by the door to the garage. Almost everything.
Helping to clear the table, he pulled Maggie aside and kissed her in front of their parents. It wasn't toe-curlingly passionate, but it was sincere and heartfelt. Rose and Alan looked on, smiling, knowingly. They were surprised when David reached into the cabinet for a serving bowl to amplify his phone, and he led her down the hall to the living room.
"Davey?" she questioned.
"I have a playlist I'd like to dance to with you, Magpie."
He started it up and Orleans' 'Dance With Me' started out the musical set. The entire playlist was comprised of ballads from the 1970s. Maggie had not heard many of these songs and she turned her head to rest on his chest below his chin. She hugged him close and breathed him in, trying to create a memory strong enough to suffice their time apart. Alan and Rose appeared in the doorway about halfway through the playlist, but did not join the younger pair. But Alan did have something he wished to do before they all went to bed that evening, so he just stood there, watching and holding Rose from behind.
When the playlist ended, Alan stepped forward and up to the fireplace mantle, and intoned, "Rescinding Executive Order AJH2020-01, I hereby commend this piece of artwork back into your care, David. However, I would like it returned when you are done at the Art Institute in May." He handed David's beautiful and moving portrait of Laura to his son. While David was staging the picture with his things at the door to the garage, Alan then looked at the now empty place on the wall and sighed, shifting his eyes to the right to rest upon the small urn which held part of Laura's ashes.
"Come to bed, my love," Rose beckoned him, reaching up to turn his head and his attention back to her. She was determined to become the focus of his attention going forward and to provide the emotional support her man needed. She led him by the hand, pausing at the bottom of the stairs to allow him to kiss Maggie goodnight on the forehead and to hug David. Tugging on his hand, Rose took and led Alan up the stairs to their room.
"That sounds like a really good idea, don't you think, Davey?" Maggie suggested.
"Let me make sure the lights are all off and the doors are locked first, and then I'll be right up," David answered.
= = =
Monday, January 18
The early morning sunlight flickered across Maggie's face as she lay wrapped around David. She rubbed first her nose, then her eyes. Both efforts were unsuccessful in batting the sunshine away. Her auburn hair had grown a bit since her school dance, and it seemed drawn to David's mouth as he slept. A couple of tendrils teased his nose and he sneezed them away, waking both himself and his girlfriend. Her green eyes met with his blue ones and smiles crossed their faces as her mouth approached his.
"Magpie, stop! I've got dragon breath this morning," he tried to forestall her oral lock on him.
"So what?" She continued to kiss him, teasing his mouth with her tongue until he succumbed. "Eww! You weren't kidding about the dragon breath. Go brush and floss and I'll be here waiting for you."
David grumbled slightly while rolling out of bed. His morning wood wasn't poking out, yet, but it was quite evident to Maggie's happy gaze. He wobbled slightly out the door to the bathroom where he addressed his hygiene needs with alacrity. He had to take an extra few minutes to purge his bladder, but he quickly returned to her bed where she lay smack dab in the middle. She was wearing absolutely nothing and looking quite pleased to do so. Before he could climb onto the bed, she handed him a condom in its wrapper, declaring, "Come on, lover. Fuck me really good. Give me enough to hold me over until you return to my bed."
This attitude shift on her part surprised and pleased David greatly. Being the gentleman he was, he felt obliged to accede to her request for the physical coupling.
= = =
With everything staged by the door to the garage, it was quick work to get David packed into the Jeep. He made certain there was nothing in the front passenger area to impede Maggie. Lunch was eaten and everyone was ready for the two-car procession to David's school. Lists, both physical and mental, had been checked and rechecked. It was time to get their show on the road.
David opened the door for Maggie and closed it once she was seated and had kissed him. Giving Alan and Rose a wave and a salute, he got in the driver's side and spent a minute syncing his phone with the car's audio system. David led the way to the four-lane highway with their parents following at a discrete distance with Rose driving her Subaru.
"David, I enjoyed that Spotify playlist you crafted for us for last night. Would you mind sharing that with me?" Maggie requested. "There were a lot of songs on it that I'd never heard before, let alone never heard of."
"Sure, Mags. I call it my 'Highlander' playlist. Here, you can share it with your account." He handed her his phone and she quickly navigated to the app and shared the playlist with her account.
"Why do you call it your 'Highlander' playlist?"
David laughed at his cleverness, then informed her that on the list there was only one song per artist. "There can be only one," he intoned. "There are a number of one-hit wonders on it, plus some others where I had to make the hard decision of which song to include. Like the first one, 'Dance With Me' by Orleans. That was just to get you into the swing of things, not that you needed much convincing."
"How long did you work on building that playlist?"
"Off and on for the past week. Maybe five or six hours in total. I wrapped things up after you had bolted upstairs with the calendar." He was quiet for a minute as Maggie reflected on the previous day's happenings. "You seemed in a much better place this morning," he commented. "Is there anything you wish to share?"
"Mom and I spoke after my little meltdown and I admit I'd been acting stupidly. You're coming back to me in a few weeks, right?" After getting his affirmation, she continued. "I love you, David Michael Harrison. I'm going to try really hard to be worthy of your love for me. I need to grow up a bit more, especially with you not being around every day. I'm also truly sorry for hitting you."
David smiled and nodded his head in acceptance of her apology. "And you complete me, Margaret Kathleen Lawson. You make me want to be a much better person than I have been. Robert commented on it before we parted in December. Since accepting you into my life, I'm a much easier person to get along with. I had not realized that I'd become somewhat difficult with others. Nobody had called me out on it because very few had any experience with me before I went to school last August. I guess it had something to do with my mom's passing. By the way, I'm going to change one of my classes to Psych 100. I need to do some serious self-analysis." They drove on, enjoying the music and each other's company.
The conversation in the trailing car was a little different between the parents.
"Alan, now that I have your attention, I would like to discuss some things I've noticed recently. I'm not saying, 'We need to talk', but I have some concerns," Rose launched her opening salvo across his bow.
"Okaay," Alan drew out the words. "What's on your mind, Rosalie?"
"First off, I've noticed some times in the last two weeks where you shut yourself away from everybody. You may not have noticed it, but Maggie and I have been giving you a wide berth whenever you disappear into your 'Man Cave'. I've noticed that even David has left you alone at those times. What's that all about? It wouldn't have anything to do with an overdue discussion with my father, would it?"
Alan chucked, mirthlessly, and replied, "No, it has nothing to do with your folks, love. I've resisted being promoted to managing project managers, preferring to remain in the trenches with the ones actually doing the work. But this new position Gil has me in, the project director, seems to be a stretch for me some days. He understated many of the challenges I would be facing with a couple of the less-experienced PMs. I suspect they were placed in those roles because there was nobody else to do it, and now they don't know how to ask to be relieved of the burden. Either that, or they prove that the Peter Principle is alive and well."
Rose furrowed her brows while keeping her focus on the road. "The Peter Principle? What's that?"
