The Humper Game Pt. 07 Ch. 02

"This was perfect for us. We know Pete and Tammy came up with the idea, but you and Mary were the ones doing the work. Something like that resort, well, we might have used the pool a little, and we would have used the gym. I don't play golf, and Ellen really doesn't either, so that would have been a waste. Mostly, the other 'amenities' they advertise aren't things that would attract us. Pete and Tammy said you wanted to send us there, as a bigger gift, but for us it wouldn't have been—and I know I would have been conscious of the expense every minute.

"Eating dinner with all of you, and other meals occasionally with you, has been just wonderful. I suppose we would have enjoyed the food, if the restaurant really is that good, but the atmosphere just isn't fun for us, day after day, three meals a day. I don't mind making our bed, either. We weren't disturbed by blaring TVs, and we didn't really disturb anyone with our own activities. I trust. Thank you so much for inviting us to stay with you. It's been a wonderful honeymoon." Well, Pete's and Tammy's parents were all wonderful people, and had made it that way for us.

Mia said, "Above and beyond all the good you've done Pete and Tammy, we loved having you staying with us. Having you there was no more work for me than having Pete and Tammy there last summer, at all. I expect they'll move back in there now. But getting to know you two has been a joy, for all of us. We all hope you'll keep in touch."

We left her, and went through security. Eventually we got on the plane, and eventually we arrived. Kelly picked us up and again had dinner ready for us. We told her about the week, about visiting Scott and Martha and meeting Lynda, about Pete's parents and Tammy's, about Jenny's parents too. Jet lag—and nights a little short—had us yawning awfully early. We went to bed hours early, and for a wonder we slept, after a little, um, aerobic exercise when we first lay down.

There was one moment earlier, though, as we sat eating dinner with Kelly, that I didn't understand and never did figure out. We had been talking about how perfect—for us—this honeymoon had been, in much the same terms we had used earlier with other people. In fact, I had alluded to Aunt Sally's little story about their own honeymoon, and that might have been the trouble. At any rate, we had agreed that it seemed that a lot of people seemed to need activities to fill their time, but for us the wonderful thing had just been having time together without a lot of activities to distract us. Even our regular routine: we had run most mornings out in the road, and practiced taekwondo and gymnastics moves some, but meal preparation and cleanup and other housekeeping had been minimal.

I happened to glance at Kelly, and just for a moment she looked stricken. Desolate. She wasn't ready to burst into tears, but I thought it was kind of like that. To myself, I roundly cursed my selfishness and thoughtlessness, that day, Thanksgiving Friday. Ellen had made her request, and all my brain had had room for was wanting her. I'd told Kelly it was a bad idea for her to watch, and why, but if I'd really thought for two seconds I would have insisted she go away. She already was attracted to me, and that had given her entirely too much material for imagining in detail my making love to her instead. Not that it had been a good example even of that!

Anyway, I found myself saying, "Kelly, you be patient and keep your focus on doing what's in front of you now. One of these days, the right man will come along—the right man for you!—and you'll have everything you need." I didn't plan this out, or anything, and I had no idea where it came from.

Both of the girls stared at me in surprise, but I knew they were surprised at different things. To Kelly it had seemed that I was reading her mind, seeing that she was wishing it could have been her on that honeymoon with me. Ellen, on the other hand, knew that I just wasn't given to trying to comfort people with empty assurances like that, how very much I disapproved of it in principle—it seemed to me thoroughly dishonest, when I had no knowledge of and no control over future events. And maybe that was all it had been, wanting to comfort Kelly in her moment of grief—but to me it had felt like I knew it was true, and that it was what she needed to hear. Somehow.

The moment had passed. Kelly asked something else about our week, and Ellen answered. I thought Ellen saw what I'd said as a non sequitur and forgot it. As for me, it bothered me a lot, for a while. I hadn't seen anything or heard anything, but I wondered whether this was the kind of thing Ellen had been dealing with for months now. More than a year. If it was, I didn't blame her for being unhappy about it. Still, maybe it was just empty words after all, and my feelings were trying to justify my actions to me. I wished I could really think so.

Revision: 8/13/2019