Teed Off Ch. 03

It was easy to tell the ladies were impressed too. For the first few minutes we all walked around simply drifting and looking around. I had my camera clicking away and the girls would use their smartphones to take some snaps. Janet seemed particularly taken with it, since it was so completely different from our last trip here. After a few minutes of letting us wander, our guide herded us back into a group and continued our tour covering the various and beautiful details of the church.

We finished our tour in the education center where he showed us what the church would look like when completed. There was even a video on Youtube where they put together an aerial view of the building and virtually created the completed structure showing the completed exterior. It will be amazing.

He escorted us to the museum store and said for us to call when we were ready for our afternoon tour of some other buildings in town that Gaudi did; primarily Casa Batlló and La Pedrera. Inside the museum store we browsed around for a while. Rachel picked up a really pretty ring in one of the colorful tiled styles used inside the church. Meredith picked out a beautiful cross in the style that tops the towers. I picked up several DVDs and books to learn more about the building and a couple of Christmas ornaments. Janet picked up a very pretty sterling silver ring with purple and mauve colored enamel encircling it. The entire ring was nearly an inch wide, with lots of color. None of those items were over $100.

I gladly paid for everything, and we went outside to look again at all the details in the Nativity façade. We had been outside for a while when I noticed Janet seemed particularly drawn to her ring that we purchased, so I asked her about it.

She said, "oh, I don't know. Most people will probably look at it and not think much of it. It's not perfectly symmetrical or even perfectly round, but when I see all the many colors and some of the imperfections, I'm reminded of the last time you and I were here. There wasn't much to look at except those eight towers. All I really remember is a bunch of scaffolding. I had no idea that it could ever become something this extraordinarily beautiful."

It was my turn. I said, "Maybe for some things, it takes a while to see the beauty that they will become. Even though Gaudi knew it wouldn't be completed in his lifetime, he knew that with a lot of work, it would eventually be something great. Never perfect while he was alive, but still beautiful while all the work was still going on. I think a lot of marriages, like some buildings, have their rough spots identified and corrected quickly. Maybe, some marriages, like ours, require a lifetime of work and construction, like this building, to create something truly beautiful."

There, that was it, that was the best I could do.

When she looked up at me, she had tears in her eyes, and she pulled me into her. I held her for a few minutes and the she reached up to pull me in for a gentle kiss, which soon became a bit more eager, and then turned into a more passionate, needy kiss.

When we stopped and opened our eyes, she looked up at me and I saw THAT smoldering smile that I saw in Paris over 20 years ago. I knew what was about to happen and welcomed it. We started walking towards the exit, and by the time we cleared the gate, we were practically running towards the cab stand. We gave the cabbie the address and texted the girls, telling them to take the afternoon tour without us.

We were necking like teenagers in the back seat of that car. She broke from me for a moment and asked, "Do you want me to put on the lingerie I bought in Paris?"

I replied, "Hell yes..." I think there was a brief look of disappointment on her face. I'm guessing it was because, like me, she didn't really want to take the time to put it on when we were both so eager at the moment.

I continued, "...and often. But not right now."

All she said was, "good answer." and she attacked me with kisses again.

When we finally, finally got to our apartment, I tossed the cabbie a 50 Euro note, figuring the fare must be less than that and not really wanting to take the time to negotiate or wait for change. As we ran into our building, our cabbie was laughing and telling us, "pressa, pressa", hurry, hurry. We needed no additional encouragement. We were practically naked by the time the elevator deposited us on our floor. Only our underwear remained and was soon discarded on the floor on our way to her bedroom.

Then we proceeded to spend the afternoon making new passion filled memories. Janet was energetic that afternoon, and every time I wasn't sure if I could go another round, she made sure that I did.

It was almost early evening, and we were enjoying just laying by each other when she asked, "Don't you think we should go and get something to eat?"

I responded with a smile, "I've been eating quite a bit this afternoon, and am quite content."

She punched me a little with that comment, "Yes, and you've done that very well, but I really mean shouldn't we eat dinner with our daughters. You know we only have one more night after tonight here."

"Well, I should hope that at the age of 22, should they need to, they could figure out how to go and get something on their own. There is even a McDonald's and Hard Rock Café here. But... I believe you are right. We should probably find them and feed them."

Janet teased me by saying, "Who knows, if you and I stay in bed a little longer, maybe they'll find a couple of cute guys to take them out."

That got me moving. I started to follow her to the shower, but she wouldn't let me. "Nope. If you come with me, we'll never make it. But if you are really good tonight, we can shower together in the morning."

As I was turning to leave, she could see that my body liked that idea.

The girls knew exactly why we were absent this afternoon and only teased us a little. Rachel said, "We wanted to make sure you old geezers had a chance to catch a good nap, so we left you alone. What do you think Meredith? Do you think they had a good nap?"

To which Meredith replied, "Oh I'm sure they made it to the bed, but I don't know how much napping was going on. How about it guys, was it "hard" not "coming" this afternoon? Cough, cough. I mean, not going on the tour?"

See what I mean? It could have been worse. Silently, I'm sure they were thrilled.

Heading back to the apartment, Janet asked the girls if either of them knew if we had any fruit left in the kitchen for breakfast tomorrow. The girls weren't sure, so she asked if I would get out at a nearby grocery and grab a little for the morning.

Obviously, I was a little disappointed in this, but I do love trying to please my ladies, so I said, "No problem. Just drop me off here."

It didn't really take me long to pick up some berries and yogurt to go with the bread I would get in the morning. I couldn't have been more than about 10 or 15 minutes behind them. After putting the items in the fridge, I saw the girls relaxing in the living area starting a movie on Netflix.

"Your mother isn't watching with you?"

They shook their heads, "No. She said she wanted to read and rest. You must have really worn her out today, Daddy."

Getting bolder in their old age, I see. "Careful young lady."

"Sorry Daddy."

Then I smiled at her and said, "It could have been the other way around."

"Uuuuhg. Daddy. TMI."

I laughed to myself and went to get ready for bed, even if it was just to sleep. I changed clothes and gently knocked on Janet's door. There was no answer. "Damn, she really must be asleep," I thought. Then I eased open the door. The bedside lamp was on, but Janet wasn't in bed. There was a note on my pillow. All it said was, "Upstairs."

So I eased back out of the bedroom and up the stairs to the terrace. When I opened the door, the privacy shades were down around the pergola and two candles were lit inside. As I entered the closed off area, Janet stood and I could see her wearing the velvet gown and robe I purchased for her at Aubade in Paris.

"You liiike?"

She was gorgeous. Elegant. Beautiful.

"Me like!" I said.

I removed the robe and then thoroughly enjoyed slowly removing the matching gown; kissing her skin as I followed the receding gown ever so slowly down towards the ground. We blew out the candles and enjoyed ourselves for a long time on the roof of the apartment, in the open with only the shades providing any privacy. I cannot imagine this ever happening in the past. Once we had settled down, she wrapped herself in the blanket she had brought with her and we headed downstairs to bed to sleep.

________________

I had no interest in hurrying out of bed in the morning. We were awake and resting next to each other simply enjoying the closeness. Janet had the ring on that we purchased for her yesterday and had her hand up in the air admiring the ring.

She asked me, "Tim, you know I have fairly decent hearing, right?"

Hmmmph. I grunted. "Oh, I know. Your elephantine hearing and memory have bitten me in the ass many times."

She elbowed me and said, "I told you I'm working on that. If I bite you in the ass now, it'll be for a much more fun reason, I promise.

"You said something yesterday, and I know I heard you clearly, but I really need to understand the meaning. Okay?" she asked.

"Sure babe. What's up?"

"You said, 'Maybe, some marriages, like ours, require a lifetime of work and construction, like this building, to create something truly beautiful.' "

I had a fairly decent idea where this was going, and I was ready to embrace it.

"You didn't use the past tense. You said, 'like ours.' As in present tense - on going. What did you mean by that?'

"I meant exactly what it sounded like. If we are both working to build up our marriage, it would be truly beautiful. I believe that our marriage was beautiful for a while."

She whispered, hoping against hope for the right answer to the next question. "So, if we are both willing to work, then we could be married?"

"Yes. Forever and ever."

She climbed on top of me and buried her face in my neck. No words were spoken. After a few minutes, I could hear and feel a gentle weeping. "I love you, my husband. You have no idea what this means to me, what you mean to me.

"I love you, my wife. And yes, I do know, because I feel the same way."

We stayed like that for several more minutes, then she rolled off to the side with her head propped on her elbow and her other hand drawing on my chest.

"I do have, what I hope, is some good news to add to this joyous occasion."

"Oh really, what is that?"

"I bet $500 dollars on you to win the tournament when we were in Scotland."

"Oh, how did that work out for you?"

She slapped my arm. "Quite well, thank you. At 1000 to 1, that's $500,000. Fools. They didn't know a sure thing like I did."

"Well, I think you and Neil were the only ones. I was usually just wet and scared shitless most of the time I was out there."

"Well it didn't show. For some reason every time you really needed to hit a big shot, you were always smiling, or even laughing."

Huh. I grunted. "Well, I'll tell you why someday. Today may not be the day for that story." I was remembering the imagined wet t-shirt fight.

"OK. I'll let that slide for now, but that's not really the good news. Guess what's the good news, or at least I hope you think it's good news."

"OK. I'll bite, what is the good news?"

"When we went to meet Meredith, I didn't fly with Rachel. I sent her down to stay with Meredith, and then caught a later flight."

"Oh, really. Why?"

"I was doing something there I didn't want them to know about, yet. I was interviewing for a job."

"What?!"

"Hang on. Let me get it out first. I could see how happy Meredith was in Knoxville, and then when Rachel mentioned UT as a possible option for grad school, I knew the writing was on the wall. Also, I've plateaued at Walgreens. I don't think I'll ever make VP there. I've been too hard on too many people.

Even if things with us didn't work out, or if we couldn't even get along, I wanted to be close to the girls. So, I thought if both of the girls were going to be down in Knoxville that maybe it's a good time for me to make a change too.

"I've got 30 years with Walgreens, so I'm fully vested in their retirement plan. Also, after working with my counselor, I think I presented myself as a much better candidate to what will hopefully be my future employer.

"It's Covenant Health system in Knoxville. I interviewed with them for the director of pharmacology procurement position before we came to Scotland. They sent me a text the morning we went to the D'Orsay museum. They want to make me an offer. I guess I got a little too anxious that day. Sorry about that.

"So, when I get back, I'll hear their offer and then, I hope, you and I can talk about it."

I was really happy with this turn of events. Really, really happy, but I needed to have just a spot of fun.

"Congratulations. I know they are picking the right person."

"Thanks, Tim."

"I'm sure Ken will have a room ready for you in no time."

She slapped my arm, again. "I wasn't planning on staying at his place. I was hoping to stay wherever you are."

"Well, you are welcome wherever I am, but I think we'll have to find some nicer diggs for you. We can't have a director sleeping in my little one-bedroom shack."

"And why not! If it's good enough for The Senior Open champion, why isn't it good enough for me?"

Hmmm. This is new. Maybe she's changed more than I thought. "Do you know why I got that place, Janet? Why I was so happy when Ken offered to let me stay there?"

"Sure. It's low maintenance. It let you spend your free time on what you wanted to do, not keeping up a big house and yard. I get it."

"Wouldn't you be miserable there? Don't get me wrong, I want you there with me. Wow, two weeks ago, who would have thought I would be saying that? But for now, I want to be THERE, at Ken's. You and me. There. You're telling me that you are ok with that?"

"Yes. I'm ok with that. We probably won't stay there forever, but if we do, I can live with that if it means I get to live with you. When I told you how much we enjoyed our time that evening at the farm with Ken, when he tried to convince Rachel to come, I meant it.

"Meredith is already there. He has plenty of room for Rachel. Your sister lives 25 minutes away. Why would we need a big house?"

I was dumbstruck. Unexpected doesn't being to describe this turn of events.

I replied, "I'm sure there's plenty of details we need to work out, but if you can live with that, I think it's fantastic. I'm just floored. That's all."

"I understand why. I do. Don't worry about it. For the foreseeable future if you are there, then I'm there. We'll just be downsized. Besides, if we aren't spending as much time cleaning, then we have more time for fooling around. You might need a bigger hot water tank."

She said this while getting out of the bed. "Oh, why's that?" I asked.

"Because, I'll bet it has a 40-gallon tank and if you are soaping me up in the shower, we might run out of warm water before I'm finished with you. Want to practice?"

I did.

We then proceeded to enjoy each other in the shower, as promised to me yesterday. We had been in there a while when she said, "I know you've noticed something different about me, but you haven't said a word."

"Well, I think from the numerous times I've gone down on you in the last 18 or so hours, yes, I like you shaved very much."

"You have the model in Aubade to thank for that. It was pretty obvious that she was shaved. As I said the other day, I'm getting a lot more grey hair, and not just on my head. I was trim before we came to Scotland, but after seeing the model, I decide to go totally smooth and see how it goes."

"Well, you won't get any complaints from me, either way, but yes, I like it very much. You are still a sexy lady."

"Love must truly be blind, but if my appearance makes you happy, that's enough for me."

I kissed her to let her know how happy her appearance was making me right now. I'm sure me poking her all over the place with my manhood, was a good indication too.

______

A little later there was a conversation I did need to have with Janet, and she probably wouldn't like it.

"Janet, on my way home to Knoxville, there is something I need to do, and you probably aren't going to like it."

"Oh? That sounds ominous. What's up?"

"You know before we went to Paris, we weren't exactly best friends right. Oh, I know that you were working to improve our relationship, but I wasn't exactly helping. Well, before you showed up in Scotland, I was starting to develop a relationship, and I feel like I really need to say goodbye in person."

Janet's demeanor changed from one of playfulness to concern. "It's with that girl from the bar, right?"

"Well, I don't know that I would actually call her a girl, but if you mean Maggie, who sat with us, helped us and stood out in the rain with the rest of you Thursday through Sunday, then, yes, that Maggie."

"Wow, you are a little defensive there. Anything I should be worried about?"

"No. You know me. I'm a one-woman man."

"And I am a one-man woman."

"I know. Our relationship hadn't become physical yet. If you hadn't shown up in Scotland, then I would be making plans to go back there right now and see if something could develop between us. But you did show up, and I'm glad you did. I'm really looking forward to our lives together now."

Janet said, "Why do I feel like there is a 'but' coming."

"Because there is. 'But' I think she was feeling the same way. So, if I go back without saying anything... I don't know. It doesn't feel right. I'm only planning on stopping by and telling her that you and I are getting remarried and that I hope she finds someone to make her happy."

"You can't do that over the phone?"

"If you were her, would you want to be called and told something like that over the phone, or would you prefer me to be a man and tell you in person?"

She paused at that, because she knew the answer. "I know, and you are right. You are doing the right thing. I don't like it, but I know it's what needs to be done."

"You know you can trust me to do this, right?"

"Oh, I know I can trust you. That isn't it at all. I don't know... I really don't know how I feel about it except for unhappy. But it's what needs to be done, so you have my support."

"Thanks, love. I appreciate it."

"Can you give me a kiss as a thank you?"

"Oh, you bet I can." and then I proceeded to give and get a very nice, long, enjoyable kiss."

We enjoyed our last day in Barcelona and I shipped them back to America on Tuesday. I was sad to let Rachel go because I knew it would be a while until we could see her again, but I was happy thinking that if Janet was in Knoxville, then she would likely be there soon also.

I flew out to Frankfurt, Germany for the rest of the week, and then to Milan, Italy for a few days. I met the people who would be providing freight services for us in eastern Europe and the air freight for us to the middle east and India. If we do decide to open a small office in the U.K., then we will be well prepared.

Janet had returned to Chicago, and she and I talked for a few minutes every day. One evening we talked longer after she had gotten her offer from her potential new job. It was only slightly less than what she was currently making, but Knoxville is a lot cheaper than Chicago, and she really liked the people she interviewed with. Also, she could start pulling from her Walgreens retirement in six years, when she turns 58, even if she is still working at Covenant. Wow.