Wednesday, January 03, 2007

California Here We Come!

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Sometime during the night Adam had set the alarm for 7:00 so we would have plenty of time to get ready to go to California. The logical part of my brain knew that was the wise thing to do, however the sleepy and tired part didn’t agree. And unfortunately they didn’t have time to argue about it.

After my shower I felt remarkably well I thought as I dried off. I smiled as I remembered last night, Adam and I together. The first time we had made love it was quick and passionate, serving to slake our immediate thirsts for each other but only briefly. The next time we literally made love for hours, slowly with lingering kisses and caresses, letting the intensity build and build, until we could no longer control it.

I had never had a night like that. I have had good sex before, even great sex, but not like that. Never so…loving? Yes, I decided that is what made the difference. It wasn’t just sex, it was lovemaking.

My body felt relaxed and supple this morning, and I decided I was eager to get things done. First off was the packing!

Lissa had washed everything from my trip to Italy, bless her heart, so having clean clothes wasn’t really a problem, I would have to do one load this morning, of things for Adam and myself I decided. I didn’t want to pack dirty clothes for him. I started going around the room and picked up all our discarded clothes from last night and found the torn off button lying on the floor. Or rather my foot found it when I stepped on it.

I was hopping around on one foot and holding the other when Adam came out of the bathroom and stood there, watching me with a puzzled look on his face. I held the offending button up to him and the puzzled look quickly turned to a smirk.

“Uh huh, that’ll teach you!” he laughed. And then, evidently feeling a little bit guilty he added, “Are you alright love?”

“Yes,” I answered tersely and then, “I’m sorry I ripped the button off of your shirt. I’ll sew it back on for you.”

He was chuckling harder then, and he said, “Hm, we’ll see. Maybe I could kiss your foot and make it feel better?” he offered.

For a moment I thought about that and wished we had time. I finally laughed and told him, “No, I need to get some things into the washer so we can get packed. Can you handle making breakfast so I can do that?”

His head lifted in a “What me?” kind of look and for a half a second, I thought he was serious, but then I saw the corners of his mouth lifted up in that little teasing smile he has.

“Yes love, I think I can manage that!” he told me, heading off to the kitchen while I finished gathering clothes. I went out to the living room and found his jacket and hung it and his pants up, trying futilely to smooth out the wrinkles. As I looked at the shirt, I realized it had torn the fabric of the shirt itself when I ripped the button off! Man, I wondered, how hard did I pull?

The shirt had a label on it that said ‘Dry Clean Only’ which made me start looking at the rest of his clothes, but everything else was washable. I laid it on a shelf in the closet and figured we could worry about it later. I decided that I was going to have to do two loads; I wasn’t putting my delicate undies in with our jeans. I gathered up all the clothes and headed off to the utility room to start the wash.

Adam was cooking an omelet and browning some sausage, trying to use up the eggs and sausage that was left, which was practical I thought with a smile. I put my undies in on a short cycle and came back and asked Adam if I could make the toast.

“I can handle that, why don’t you get those timers out and start programming them?”

“Good idea,” I said and headed back into the utility room to find them. I heard the phone ringing and Adam answered it. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but when he was done he came back into the kitchen where I was sitting, reading the instruction booklet for the timers.

“That was your parents,” he said and I inwardly raised an eyebrow. Whatever they wanted they felt okay talking to Adam about it, which was a good thing.

“Oh, what did they need?”

“They wanted to tell us that your cousin has agreed to come and stay at the house while we are gone and your mom said that she would go out and buy groceries for him, so don’t worry about it. And she said to tell you that she means that!” he told me, pointing a finger at me in emphasis.

I had totally forgotten about Bobby, but I was glad they hadn’t. I know they are so worried about me, probably us actually I thought with a grin. I am glad about that I realized, yes, definitely happy. I nodded my head, watching Adam spreading butter on the toast and serving the omelet and sausages up. It all looked and smelled wonderful and I realized I was hungry.

After he had set the plates on the table, he poured us both some coffee and grabbed the cream for me out of the fridge before sitting down. I already had one of the timers programmed and it wouldn’t take long after that. But since Bobby was going to stay here, I asked Adam if he really thought that was necessary?

“You’re probably right. Let’s call your dad after we eat and see what he thinks. Oh, and we had better contact the detectives and let them know that someone will be staying in the house, or else they might arrest poor Bobby!”

I sat there staring in consternation at my plate of delicious looking food and thought about all the things left to do and not having enough time to do them. Well, okay enough time, but just barely probably. I mentally shrugged and took a bite of my omelet and was amazed at how good it was.

“What ever did you put in this?” I asked. “It is delicious Adam, really.”

He grinned and said, “It’s my mom’s secret recipe. Sorry, I could tell you but I’d have to kill you if I did!”

I was staring at him incredulously, mouth hanging open a mile. I couldn’t believe he wouldn’t tell me! I was partly just outraged, and partly amused.

“Really,” he said, “But tell you what. When you meet her later, you ask her. She’ll tell you, I promise!”

I wondered what the hell could be so secretive and then thought about the things that I had in my kitchen that he could have added. I shook my head bemusedly and took a bite of the sausage, but Adam could tell I was still perplexed and wasn’t saying anything.

I took another bite of the omelet and decided the secret lie more in the texture than flavor, at least I think. Very fluffy, but there was definitely a hint of something… mm, exotic. Adam was watching me chew that bite of omelet with an amused look on his face, but I could tell he still wasn’t going to tell me.

Something else was occurring to me however; Adam not only enjoyed eating food, I think he liked to cook as well. He was certainly comfortable doing it and seemed very adept too. I sat there playing with my fork distractedly, thinking about this new facet to Adam’s personality.

“You like cooking, don’t you?” I asked him.

“Well yes, but it was sort of a survival tactic when I was growing up. You see, I’ve always liked to eat and when we were in some of the more unusual places when I was growing up, finding a way to make something palatable out of odd ingredients was a must. Mom and Dad were always immersed in whatever disease or problem was the cause of the month and my sister followed along with them. So, Aidan and I were sort of left to fend for ourselves. One of us had to learn to get a bite together, and since Aidan seemed more interested in the actual eating than the fixing, it logically fell on me.” He told me this with sort of a far-off look in his eye, as if he was right back there, in those far-off places.

“But you discovered you liked cooking I’ll bet?” I asked him, trying to get a picture of Adam as a young man or adolescent, fixing the family meals. Meal time was always important to Adam, I had already realized that. I had just thought it was because he was always hungry, but now I wasn’t so sure.

He loved it when we had meals with other people, Lissa or my parents. I instinctively knew that it was a time of communication, or connection for him. I can only guess that was not the typical family dinner as he was growing up. He never wanted to eat on the run; he wanted everyone to sit down together, to share the meal. It was very touching and in this day and age, pretty unusual.

“Yes, I took right to it actually. Finding ways to make tuber vegetables and peanuts appealing was at first a challenge, and then became an obsession,” he told me, smiling faintly. “I learned from cooks all over the world actually, African, Thai, Brazilian, where ever we were I learned about the foods of that region. It wasn’t really hard and it was interesting and fun. Now, I tend to do most of my own cooking, at least when I’m at home. It is relaxing to me,” he finished with a shrug.

“Adam, your parents and your sisters’ lives are so different than yours, I mean, they see horrendous things I imagine, and your brother is in rather a staid profession compared to you. How did you become an actor?”

“Aidan’s life is as much of a fantasy as my own really; he just lives it in history rather than film. And for me, it was all about the fantasy—finding an escape from the painful reality of everyday life. Seeing my parents, and then Angelica working 20 hours a day to try to save the lives of people who were living in hopeless circumstances, well, after awhile you need to escape it if you aren’t going to embrace it, you know?” He paused for a moment, taking a bite of his sausage and chewing it, maybe while thinking about what to say next.

“I couldn’t embrace it; it hurt me too much to watch it. Not only the people who were dying or even simply struggling to live, but my parents and Angelica too. They gave all of themselves to it, still do actually. I needed a way to escape. So I went to university and on a whim I joined the drama program. It turned out that I was good at it. It’s all history from there,” he said with a smile, spreading his hands wide.

Watching him talk about all of this I somehow didn’t really believe it was that simple. Adam is so grounded and the longer I’m with him, the more I see how important family is to him. So many people growing up as he had would be just the opposite of him—aloof, alone even when they were with a group of people. But not Adam; not when he was with people he cares about. He gives his whole heart and I had seen him do it repeatedly, even with all with the people who were important to me.

And yet, I have seen traces of the other type of person too. Adam’s reaction to people when he is ‘Adam the movie star’ I mean. That other persona, this is where it comes from I realized; pulling himself back from a situation so as not to be hurt. He only lets a small portion of himself be seen—it’s a polite and very nice portion true, but not who he really is.

My heart ached for him right then, for the young man or adolescent who had to depend only on himself most of the time, plus had the care of a younger sibling as well. Not because his parents weren’t caring and loving individuals, but because they cared so much for others. You can’t exactly fault them for that, but on the other hand, you can’t applaud them either.

I took one more bite of my breakfast and realized I’d eaten most of it and hadn’t paid much attention to it. I pushed my plate away; I’d had enough I decided. I tried to think of a way to lighten the somber mood right now and all I could think of was how much I loved him and how very important he was to me. How loving and giving he had been to me and my family. I owed him so much, not just for being here to help—I owed him for helping me to discover my heart, that I could love someone. How on earth do you thank someone for that, I wondered.

“Adam,” I said, reaching across the table to capture his hand. It had been idly fiddling with his knife and he looked up at me when I placed my hand over his. His eyes held a dark and smoky look, as if focused inwardly. I opened my mouth to start to say something else, and then closed it again. What do I say I wondered as I looked at him? There was pain there, I could tell, but how could I help, what could I say that would make it better?

“Adam,” I said again, “You have made such a difference in my life, I can’t even possibly tell you how much. You opened my heart and it’s made me want and need things, things that I have never let myself need and want before. You have created a world where I feel safe and cared for; safe to express myself, to let myself be loved as well as loving in return. Your generosity, of your time and spirit has made all the difference in the world to me. I cannot possibly thank you enough for that. For the first time since I was very young I feel that I’m ready to let go of my fears and my pain, of the disappointments that I carry around. Those are all things that I imposed on my own heart and mind; you’ve shown me that I needn’t do that any longer. What else can I tell you except that I love you?”

“That you want to always be with me?” he asked quietly. I wasn’t sure how to take that, was it a proposal or what? My mind was reeling for a moment and it was all I could do not to let that show on my face. And I realized how much I did want to be with him.

One day at a time, he had told me. That’s how I would take it.
“Yes, I want to be with you Adam. I feel miserable at the prospect of not being with you actually, even though I know that there will be times when we won’t be together.”

“Not too often if I’ve any say in the matter,” he told me. “You brighten my whole world Sarah; you have opened my heart again as well you know.” He reached across the table and cupped my face with his warm hand, lightly caressing my cheek with his thumb. His eyes never left mine and I felt breathless for a moment, lost in him, in that place that he takes me to with him. It’s a place where only Adam and I exist, like we are alone in the whole world, except that it is a good feeling, the best actually. It’s not scary or lonely, I don’t feel isolated or bereft; instead I feel like the sun is shining on us, I feel warm and happy; I feel complete.

I reached up and pulled his hand from my cheek and kissed it, kissed the warm palm and the long and tender fingers and then I held it in both of my hands, trying to show him how much I cared.

The washer cycle came to an end then, the soft ding pulling my attention away from Adam for a moment and I realized that we needed to get busy with the things that were still waiting to be done. Adam nodded at me and we pulled our hands apart then, each of us intent on getting on with the tasks at hand. I stood up and headed into the utility room and Adam started gathering our breakfast plates to load into the dishwasher, but in some small, almost imperceptible way we were still together.

I threw the load into the dryer and set it on ‘Delicates’ before pushing the start button. I heard the dryer start it’s tumbling process and I started the second load into the washer. I walked back into the kitchen, where Adam was still standing at the sink rinsing plates and cups. I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him, pressing my cheek against his warm and familiar back. I savored that contact, just for a moment before letting him go and heading towards the dining room on my way back to the bedroom to get busy packing. As I left the kitchen, I turned to look at him and he was watching me. His face was lit up, his eyes sparking. Not quite a smile, something deeper. I shared that look for a moment, acknowledging it and turned to be on my way.

I pulled our bags out and found another one that belonged to Adam that he hadn’t even opened. It just held more clothes, but I was curious about it. He came into the bedroom a minute later and I asked him about it.

“I wasn’t sure how long I would be here, or what I would need. And, if I would have a chance to go home before going on to Dallas, so I tried to cover all the bases,” he told me. He unzipped that bag again and grabbed his suit out of the closet, hooking it into the bag and then zipping it back up again, before setting it on the floor. “And at any rate, you are not supposed to be lifting things; this is way too heavy Sarah. Please ask me for help next time.”

I sighed in exasperation and managed to nod my head. Truthfully, I had totally forgotten about the lifting thing since I was feeling so much better.

Most of what would go into the other bag was in the washer, so there wasn’t too much to do for him. I focused on getting things ready to pack into my bag, pulling things from drawers before staring into the closet.

“Adam, what do I need to take with me? I mean, like the kind of clothes?”

“Mostly comfortable clothes really. I mean, there will be probably be at least one nice dinner with Mom and Dad, so you’ll want something nice for that but otherwise it will all be informal.”

What about when the boys are around? Will we be doing anything that will require certain clothes?”

“No, I don’t think so. Just, uh, just dress comfortable, okay?”

I pursed my lips together and rolled my eyes. Men, I thought, could they possibly be more uninformative? “Okay Adam, lets take this one question at a time,” I started, trying to remain patient. “The ‘something nice’, would that be like the dress I wore in Italy or here last night? Or something different?”

I watched him grin then, although he tried to hide it by turning away. “Um, probably not as fancy as either, but still something nice,” he said, his back still turned away from me. I picked up a pillow then, prepared to launch it at him in my frustration. Then I realized he could see me in the mirror and had been playing the situation. I dropped the pillow and crossed my arms over my chest, my foot tapping rapidly up and down. I was scowling at him when he started to laugh out right, which didn’t help him any. He turned around to face me then and I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Being a bit of a naughty little prat now, aren’t we?” he said, walking around the bed to where I defiantly stood my ground. But I was having a hard time maintaining an air of agitation; he was just so damned sexy.

He came up to me and swept me up into his arms, and then laid me down on the still unmade bed, Then he laid next to me and scooping my hips up firmly against him and brought his mouth to mine in a very passionate and lingering kiss. Suddenly, all my irritation just sort of lifted away, all I was thinking about was Adam pressed so solidly against me, making me aware of every hard inch of his body.

I started working at the buttons of his jeans and I felt him kick the bags off the bed and then heard them tumble to the floor. I didn’t even think about the mess that had just been made, all I wanted was him inside me, now.

I had his jeans unbuttoned and was trying to tug them down as he was working on the zipper of mine. We were both working at shoving our jeans down around our ankles as he entered me.

I gasped out his name and wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him to me. It didn’t take long for the passion to overwhelm us both and soon we were sobbing out each others name and shuddering with the powerful release we gave one another.

He rolled off of me and we both lay there, our breathing ragged and quick. Our hands and fingers were entwined, and I couldn’t have told you whose hand was whose. I turned my head to face him and found him staring at me, wearing a huge grin.

“Well, that took up a whole 5 minutes of our time,” I said, grinning right back at him. “Pretty good actually. I’m impressed!”

“Nothing like a morning shag to get the day started right!” Adam giggled.

“Shag? What in the world is a shag?”

“Well you know, what we just did? That was a shag.” He grinned shamelessly at me and I could feel pride oozing from him.

Shag indeed! Another British colloquialism I imagined.

I started laughing then, I really couldn’t help it. He just gets these looks on his face, like a child who is just bursting with pride about something wonderful they did. That is exactly the look he was wearing I decided. So what, he’s proud of himself because he managed to get me back into bed? Yeah, like that was really a hard thing to do!
My uproarious laughing had brought his look of smug pride to a halt though and I almost felt bad as I looked at him. Instead I struggled to my feet, trying to step back into my jeans, since I had managed to only get one leg off when we were rolling around on the bed.

Adam got to his feet as well, pulling his jeans back up and fastening them while watching me. He was quiet, watching me intently as if trying to determine if he had really made me mad.

I couldn’t stand it any longer and said, “Okay, I surrender. It was pretty good, shag or no shag! Now, help me decide what to pack, after we pick all this up that is!”

The sun was shining for him again, I could tell as he bent down to start picking up the bags and various bits of clothing off of the floor and laying them on the bed. I started sorting through them, folding them and placing them into piles, ready to be put into the bad. I heard the dryer buzzer go off then and went out to gather the things out of it and put the heavy clothes in to dry.

I came back into the bedroom carrying an armload of undies and saw that Adam was in the closet, looking through my clothes. He came out carrying a couple of different dresses that I guess he thought would be appropriate to bring. I liked both of them; one was a bit more formal than the other though. The red one was actually the second dress I took to Italy with me and had never worn. It was off one shoulder and the bodice and skirt wrapped around. It flared wide at the hem and was very feminine and I know it looked good on me. The other was a little less formal, but I still loved the idea of bringing it too.

It was a deep gold, almost caramel colored in fact and it went really well with my hair. It was crocheted, with a liner underneath the body of it and the sleeves were open, so even though it was crocheted, it wasn’t too hot. It was short, just above my knees and straight, and the neckline scooped wide and low in the front. I always wear it with some really funky brass and copper jewelry, so it will be fun to take.

“I’ll bring them both, just in case,” I told him, already looking for the undies to go with the red dress. “You think they would be okay?”

Yes, I like them both a great deal. Do you have a swimming suit love? You might want to bring that,” he told me, watching my dig through the lingerie chest.

At the amazed look on my face is smiled and reminded me, “It’s warmer there, and the pool is heated. I guarantee the boys will want to swim as Tamara doesn’t have a pool.”

I went over to the dresser and started digging through a drawer to see if I had a decent suit to bring with me. I love to swim and do a lot of it, except for this past summer when I hadn’t swum at all. At the end of last summer I promised myself I would invest in a couple new suits, but I hadn’t done that yet. I pulled out a suit that was the color of orange sherbet and decided it would have to do. It was one piece, but it had cut-aways at the waist on each side and made me look pretty curvy, actually maybe too curvy I thought with a frown. Then I remembered the 6 pounds I had lost and decided it might not be too bad. But is any woman every really happy with herself in a swimsuit? I think not!

We got everything packed except for the things that were in the dryer and they would be out in another 15 minutes or so. Adam called the detectives to let them know about Bobby and got that all squared away. It was also decided that the timer’s would be unnecessary now, so I put them away. Adam called Tamara and let her know that we were coming in tonight and she said she and the boys would be there waiting to pick us up. Wow, it was happening, they would all be there and as I thought about it, my stomach started doing flip-flops. I couldn’t believe how nervous I was about this.

This was Adam’s ex-wife and his sons and parents. Suppose they hate me I worried? I mean, just because Adam is so nice doesn’t mean they will be. They might resent me, or think I’m too fat or something. I suddenly wished the 6 pounds were 20.

He and Tamara were still such good friends too. How will I handle that? He talks to her as much as he talks to the boys. What didn’t occur to me was that every time he talked to her, he was talking about the boys, but that thought finally started to penetrate my panic-stricken brain. I stood there rubbing my clammy hands nervously up and down my legs when I realized that Adam was talking to me.

“Sarah,” he was saying. “Sarah,” this time in a sing-song voice. “Earth to Sarah? Tamara would like to know if you would rather go to dinner this evening or have something at home.”

“I—uh, I hadn’t even thought about that actually. What do you usually do when you come home?” I asked, trying to stall for time to get my thoughts a little more organized. A thought occurred to me. “Adam, will your parents be there as well?”

“Yes, Mom and Dad are there already. How about dinner at Tamara’s? That will be more relaxing I think.”

I nodded my head in acceptance and I vaguely was aware of him telling that to Tamara and discussing food choices. I heard the dryer buzzer then and escaped to pull the clothes out.

I pulled the warm clothes out of the dryer and headed into the bedroom to start folding them so I could get them into the suitcase. It was almost 10:00 I noted from the clock in the bedroom and I decided we were doing okay on time and I told myself to just relax!

I got the clothes folded and tucked into the bags, and finished adding my toiletries to my bag before zipping it closed. I gathered my camera and the charger for my cell phone and tucked them into the carry on I would take, along with my ID and stuff. I then stuck my purse into the big bag and I realized I hadn’t packed any shoes.

Geez Sarah, where is your brain?
I was standing in the closet, looking at shoes and trying to decide which pairs to bring when Adam found me.

“Love, your parents are here,” he told me, a concerned look on his face.

I shook my head and wondered what else I was going to have to deal with. Adam put his finger under my chin and tipped it up for a quick kiss. “They brought the groceries over for Bobby. Your mom just wanted to get them all put away and stuff.”

He looked at me again for a moment and said, “Sarah, what’s wrong? Are you in pain or not feeling well?”

“I-I’m feeling fine. It’s just something silly. Don’t worry about it,” I told him, intending to head out to the kitchen where I could hear mom putting things away.

“Hey, tell me what’s wrong. You can’t convince me there isn’t something.”

I stood there for a moment, worrying my lower lip with my teeth and shifting from one foot to the other. I tried to decide how stupid it would sound, telling him I was nervous.

In that spectacularly unnerving way he has, he told me, “Would you believe that Tamara is nervous? She said she was worried that you wouldn’t like her.”

My gaze narrowed as I looked at him, trying to figure out if that was true or not. Why would Tamara be nervous to meet me I wondered?

“Adam, why on earth would she be nervous to meet me?”

“Oh I don’t know, I suppose because I have talked so much about you that she must think by now that you walk on water, maybe some silly little reason like that?”

“WHAT?” I practically screamed. “You haven’t?”

“No,” he said, chuckling now. I finally smiled and he knew it would be okay then. “Well, maybe just a little! It’s only just that she wants me to be happy and she doesn’t want you worrying about our relationship, Tamara’s and mine I mean. It will be okay, all of it, I promise you. She is very nice and so are you. Now, was that like your problem?”

I nodded my head and admitted that had been the problem. He rested his forehead against mine for a moment and I could sense that he was smiling. “It will all be okay, I promise. Now, off you go to the kitchen while I finish here,” he told me, patting my fanny to shoo me out of the room.

I tossed an indignant look over my shoulder at him, but he only laughed and so did I.

I found mom in the kitchen, finishing putting things away. She was storing the empty grocery bags under the kitchen sink when she looked up and me and smiled. She came over to me and hugged me. “Alright Sweetpea, what’s wrong?”

She hadn’t called my by that pet name in years and it made me smile. It was somehow comforting and I hugged her back tightly. “I’m nervous Mom. Terribly nervous.”

“Well, I understand that, but I really think things will be fine you know. You’re a good person and if I know Adam at all, they will be too. Relax a little, okay?”

I swallowed hard and found myself nodding my head for what seemed like the 100th time today. Easier said than done, I thought.

“C’mon,” she said, putting her arm around me and guiding me out to the living room where Dad and Adam stood talking.

“We have to be going now,” Dad said, opening the front door. “Bobby will come over this evening and we’ll meet him here. Where will the garage door opener be?”

“I’ll leave it on the kitchen counter,” I said. “We’ll just close the door manually when we leave.”

“Alright,” dad said hugging me before he stepped out onto the porch. Mom quickly did the same thing and then Adam and I were waving to them as they drove off.

We went back into the house and I walked into the bedroom, trying to figure out what to wear on the plane. Now that I knew that everyone was going to be there this evening, I wanted to make a good impression. I opened the closet door and stared at its offerings, trying to find something that I thought was appropriate, but nothing jumped out at me.

“What are you doing?” Adam asked. He was putting his second bag back into the closet and I wondered why.

“I’m trying to decide what to wear for the trip. Why are you putting your bag back in here?”

“I’m not taking it with me, I won’t need it. And what’s wrong with what you have on?” he asked, eyeing my jeans and sweater.

“I just thought I’d put something a little nicer on, you know?” I answered while I was moving clothes around on the rods.

Adam just looked at me then, but he obviously realized it was important to me, so he didn’t say anything else except, “Okay.”

I finally changed into the black outfit that I had worn to Venezia. It was comfortable and would travel well I thought, smoothing the tunic down over my hips. I added the jewelry and put on a little makeup and decided I was as good as I was going to get.




It was almost noon by then and Adam was carrying the bags out to the car, via the house. I forgot that I needed to put fresh sheets on Derek’s bed, so I did that quickly and scribbled out a quick note to let Bobby know which room to stay in along with our thanks and contact numbers.

Adam had brought the garage door opener into the kitchen and sat it on the counter as I looked around one final time to make sure we hadn’t left anything on by accident. Adam grabbed my hand in his; mine felt icy compared to his warm one and the next thing I knew, Adam was pulling the car out of the garage and I hit the switch to close the door and ran and hopped in.

We looked around and couldn’t see any car that looked like it was waiting for us, but we took off anyway, heading towards the airport. It was a quick and uneventful trip and if the police stopped anyone we certainly didn’t see it.

We got the car checked in and headed to the ticket counter, but we were still over two hours early so we headed to the bar and had a drink while we waited. I had to keep myself from downing the whole margarita at once. That’s all I needed I thought wryly, show up drunk!

California, here we come!

23 comments:

Hope said...

Good Morning Everyone,

Life sort of gets back to normal today and I'm anxious to get the story back on track, I hope you are too.

It was really a drag to be off of work for the holiday closedown and be sick most of it! I'm feeling much better, but getting up was terrible today! LOL

I hope everyone had a good holiday, even though so many of you were sick as well. Again, I appreciated all your kind words and thoughts.

Life is starting to change a bit for Sarah and Adam. California will bring them so new knowledge of themselves and their relationship. It will also present them with a new challenge. I hope everyone will enjoy...

Anonymous said...

Hope---Hapy New Year! I'm so excited about Adam and Sarah's trip to California! I just hope things go well for them.
Yours is the first thing I read every morning (I know---you post three times a week, but I LOVE reading the comments, too!), and I'm never disappointed.
I'm waiting patiently for Friday....

Anonymous said...

Hi Hope!
Back to the grind here at my University as well. What an early and pleasantly long post to great me when I arrived. Thank you! It is so much to see Sarah and Adam's relationship evolving...almost hard to believe it is fiction! I wish you and everybody (including Sarah and Adam) a joyous and wonderful New Year! Kristin

Anonymous said...

Hi Hope - Happy New Year! Glad to hear you are feeling better!
Today's entry was great. I love seeing their relationship evolve and I can hardly wait to see that CA brings to it. Keeping my fingers crossed for a pleasant visit to CA. Don't make the challenge to difficult for them! Thanks for the awesome, long post! Rene

Anonymous said...

I loved this one Hope, it seems very realistic that Sarah would be nervous, especially of Tamara. I can't help but wonder if Tamara is going to be a real bitch and that is the complication...

Just wondering!

Gina

Anonymous said...

Morning all. Mom, the kiddos go back tomorrow! School district decided that they needed another in service day.They just had two at the begining of the school break! It is no wonder our kids learn nothing. Jeez. Ok back to the story. Well written as always. Proud to call you snookers. Lynne

Hope said...

It's snookie Lynne!

I'm sure my grandsons are doing their best to drive you nuts, and everyone, they are REALLY talented at it!

Still coughing a lot today, but managing so far.

Catrina, Kristin, Rene and Gina, thanks so much for the nice comments. Sometimes I worry that as we delve into their personal lives it will be boring, so I hope that it doesn't.

Anonymous said...

Hi Hope and Lynne and everyone who might be hanging around.

I'm intrigued too about what the challenges might be. Oh I don't want Tamara to be mean! Maybe the boys won't like Sarah or his parents. Just too much to speculate about. Hope, you are so ingenius, you have us all hooked.

Anonymous said...

You guys should check out www.theshut-in.com. It's a pretty good new blog.

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year!

Oh, I'm getting really excited Hope, I think something gonna be happening soon.

One of the things I like best about this story is the way that Adam and Sarah both can just have a good time. The humor is so much fun, like in the last blog about Adam being hungry (or not). I laughed so hard when I read that.

Hope, you are awesome!

Anonymous said...

So, some new information about Adam! He can cook, now that's a man I could love. But his childhood sounds sort of sad really. I don't think I'll like his parents!

Hope, he and Sarah just seem so real! Are you sure you aren't writing an auto-biography? LOL

Anonymous said...

Great entry Hope, I like the stuff about Adam. It makes it much better when we actually feel like we know who the characters are. I like knowing as much as possible and I don't think it's boring at all.

Keep up the great work.

amy d

Anonymous said...

Hi Hope!
This was well worth the wait. I know I've told you several times, ok a bunch, but I just love this story. I love learning new things about the characters. You are a wonderful writer, keep it up!

Anonymous said...

Yes, I love this story too Sandy. Bravo Hope, this rocks. It's the best blog on the web!

Anonymous said...

Yay! I just love how playful and fun Adam and Sarah are together. It's like they've known each other a long time.

Catrina, I know you said this is the first blog you read but, in my case, it's the last one I read. I love to save the BEST for last! :-) And, yes, I come back daily to read the comments too.

I was almost positive Adam was about to propose there for a minute. I can picture them both living in that great house in California, happily ever after. Can't wait to see what the next "challenge" is.

Again, thanks so much, Hope! Glad you're feeling better.

Anonymous said...

I just hope that Adam is right and that tamara IS nice. Men can be so naive sometimes it's pitiful. Just because she is nice to him doesn't mean that she will be to Sarah.

Hope, you've got me so wrapped up in this story that sometimes it's all I can think about! LOL

p/s Aren't I silly?

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year Hope, Lynne, and all! As usual, another awesome entry.

I love the playfulness and teasing between Adam and Sarah. To me that makes the relationship seem so real and it shows how comfortable they are together.

Waiting anixously for Friday's entry!

Becky

Anonymous said...

Hope, I got all choked up when Adam was talking about his past and Sarah was reacting to it. Then when she wrapped her arms around him when he at the sink and they looked at each other, I started crying. I don't know how you manage to make me feel what those two are feeling, but I do. I get a little breathless or feel like I'm watching something private and poignant.

Thank you so much.

Anonymous said...

hey, just found your blog from v or maybe e?

i love this and have lots of reading to do. i think this is going to be my favorite blog though. i like the concept of a story more than just a blog.

Anonymous said...

Good Morning Ladies,

I hope everyone had a nice holiday. Hope, I saw that you were pretty sick, glad you are better now.

I really enjoyed this one, I especially liked the by play in the bedroom. But boy, Adam really has it bad for that woman. You better get them married soon.

Val said...

Hope,

I missed you over the holiday. I'm so sorry you spent the whole thing ill. The entry today is fabulous, and I can't wait til tomorrow for the next one! Keep up the good work, girl. I'm hooked!

Anonymous said...

hello, i really like your blog and hope all is okay. I was checking to see if anything new had been posted.

I realize that you do this for your own pleasure, and I hope that you find some time soon to allow us the opportunity to share in your creativity.

Hope said...

Thank you anonymous for your compliment.

This blog/story finished in April of 2007. I have a web site with a new story on it, plus this one is still there and a story by another author and a message board. The web site is: http://www.hopesjourneys.com

I hope to see you there!