All That Blooms in Spring - Part I
Love blossoms in an unexpected situation
Wow! I was humbled to receive over fifty private messages looking for the missing chapter. As I answered back to many, the plan was to pull it from LIT for a time, post it on my pay sites, and then re-introduce it here in the proper order. However, both of the sites I'm using are back under construction, and you have to look at my bio on this site, if you have interest, because we're not allowed to mention them within a story. Regardless, the response to the missing chapter overwhelmed me, so I decided 'why be a party pooper? Give the people what they want!' LOL! This time, I've submitted ALL chapters on the same day and time.
Excuse the artistic license regarding the medical profession. I'm aware exactly where I made things up, and even how they work in the real world.
Thanks to Neuroparenthetical and Legio_Patria_Nostra, for their contributions and ideas, along with three other valued beta readers. This was definitely a team effort!
Relax; it's only a story, people.
I should have been more on guard. I should have asked more questions, and at the very least been suspicious. When Jackie, my wife of seven years, told me about a quickly-thrown-together camping trip with our friends, something seemed off. Mostly, she seemed way too excited about doing something she really didn't care for all that much - not to mention it was February as this impromptu trip was being planned. In the California Sequoias, even at lower elevations, it would be cold. Instead, I, Peter Townsend, just went along with it. The thing was, I'd never had any cause to mistrust or be 'on guard.'
Jackie and I had met in college. Both of us had been focusing our studies in the software industry, and had often found ourselves sitting right next to each other in calculus. I'd been centered on a career as a software architect, and she, robotics. We'd barely spoken to each other in class, despite our proximity. It had been when I'd placed an ad on the student math blog for a tutor that things had gotten interesting.
I'd set a date and time to meet in the cafeteria, and who had walked up but Jackie? We'd laughed and giggled and had a few coffees, and I'd explained some of the problems I'd been encountering. The equations hadn't been my hang-up, but rather the analysis. In reality, Jackie would end up using the complex calculation more in her field, but I'd still wanted to understand what was being taught.
Jackie and I had quickly become friends. As a couple of nerds, we'd also started going out together as friends. I wouldn't have said we fell in love that first year. The following term, I'd been back to school for only three weeks when both of my parents had died in a car crash. As an only child, I'd taken it about as badly as a person could. Jackie had been there with me, and had helped me get through my depression. In fact, she'd spent so much time with me that her studies had started to suffer. In the months leading up to Christmas, that year, I'd fallen hard for that wonderful woman. She'd been a great listener, and had continued to be our entire time together, but in those early days it had been the thing I'd needed most - along with her patience.
The hopeless days, though, had been the ones that brought us together physically. Jackie had held me sometimes, and we'd gently rocked or swayed for minutes or sometimes as long as an hour. I'd begun to feel not just safe, but familiar in her arms. One night, around the beginning of December, as we'd begun to pull away from each other, we'd looked into each other's eyes, and that had led to
the kiss
, as we'd come to call it. Two days after, we'd spent the night making passionate, desperate love.
The rest of our time in college, had probably been similar to that of millions of others who'd had a whirlwind romance that had led to engagement that had led to marriage. Jackie had always made me feel safe, loved, and as if I was the most important person in her world. I'd done everything I could think of to make her feel the same way about and around me.
The following year had been our final year at school. My new roommate, Todd, had been a decent guy and easy to get along with. His major had been analytical data engineer, so we hadn't had any classes in common. He'd taken to Jackie too, but in a good way. I'd never seen anything untoward or cringe worthy between them. Todd had, though, interjected himself not once, but twice when some guys had been bothering Jackie - right place, right time. That had made Jackie his friend as well. After graduation, Todd had moved to San Diego for a strong job offering.
Jackie and I had then moved to San Jose, and had begun our careers in Silicon Valley, both at different, well-known companies. We'd kept in touch with Todd via email, and less than a year later, we'd been happy to hear that he'd found a woman named Alise that he'd fallen in love with. I couldn't get the time off for the wedding, and Jackie had been quite bummed about it.
Two years later, Jackie and I had been doing very well in our careers, and, thanks to a careful lifestyle, we'd saved enough to start seriously hunting for a real home. We'd found one on the southern end of Mountain View with plenty of room to begin starting a family. We'd made good friends with Jeff and Amber, who lived five houses down our street. In those first six months, we'd gotten close enough to spend at least some part of most weekends together. Jackie had really taken to Amber, and often Jeff and I had just sat with our microbrews and studied the pair, laughing and carrying on.
Eight months after we'd moved, we'd heard from Todd. He'd told us that he and Alise were moving to the bay area. Jackie had been beside herself. We'd hooked them up with our realtor, and she had found them a great home just ten minutes away in Cupertino. Our new friends and old friends had quickly coalesced around us into a genuine sextuple. Either Saturday or Sunday each week, we'd be at one house or the other, barbecuing and having a blast. Other times, we'd enjoy shared interests. Hiking, boating, and even bowling - which isn't very popular on the west coast - had all been on the activities menu.
In general, life hadn't been good; it had been great! Todd, Jeff and I had gotten along splendidly. The girls, even with the dreaded odd number three, had been surprisingly awesome together, with very little drama. If there'd been any sort of chink in the friendship armor, I'd have to say it had been the familiarity that blossomed between everyone in our group. I'm probably in a small percentage of men, but I'd always gotten uncomfortable whenever Amber or Alise flirted with me.
Jeff had a thirty-five foot catamaran that he'd purchased with his father. When his 'pops' had started using it less, we'd picked up the slack. I used to call it the 'yacht' because it had been - and still was - the biggest boat I'd ever been on. All of the ladies had worn very revealing swimwear whenever we'd been out the water for a day. A few times all three had popped their tops before diving off the deck when we'd been anchored in a semi-private alcove. All of those things I'd disregarded or at least swept aside, in part because everything else in my life had been so perfect. The guys had never gotten 'handsy' with anyone except their own respective wives. Of course, they'd looked and made lewd comments. I'd allowed myself to get in on that action too, over time. The wives had always taken them in stride, and had even reciprocated, leaving us all laughing our guts out. Still, I'd have to say that I was the most conservative person in our group. I'd had all I'd ever wanted in Jackie.
We'd been camping three times prior to that strange early-March trip. Once, we'd been off Highway 1, just south of the Monterey Peninsula. The other two times, we'd gone to the base of the sequoias. Both Jackie and Amber had breathing issues at higher altitudes, but we'd still traveled on one of the camping days up to see the big trees. We'd become quite organized. Jackie and I always brought the cooking supplies and a four-burner propane stove. Jeff and Amber had the extra backpacks for hiking. Todd and Alise owned three double air mattresses and extra tarps. Like most things we'd done together, our times in the wilderness had been fun and easy.
Two days after I'd been told about our impromptu trip, I came home from work to find Alise and Todd, along with Amber, sitting in our living room, drinking wine and chatting. That was nothing new; in fact, it was absolutely normal. The fact that they all went silent upon my entrance was not normal.
The looks on their faces also told a story. Whatever they'd been discussing, they didn't want me knowing. Not only did I pick up on their discomfort immediately, I also called them out.
"Hey, guys," I said sheepishly. "You want me to take off and come back in?"
My wife's face turned red, and no matter how she tried to hide it, the expression she wore told me she wished for that very thing or at least that I hadn't shown up half an hour early. In my head, I quickly did the math on my birthday and our anniversary. No, that wasn't it. One had just occurred and the other was months away.
"No. NO!" Jackie replied after a pause. "Of course not. We were just talking about our camping trip." Jackie wears a lie on her mug like an orange construction vest, so that much, at least, I knew was the truth.
"What's up?" I answered lightheartedly. "You guys planning to get rid of me and dump my body for the mountain lions?" I was getting nervous. The pause that followed made me wonder if I'd guessed right on the first attempt.
Todd broke the awkward silence. "It's all good brah," he said with a smile. "You just surprised us is all. We're trying to decide if we should camp in the same place as last time, or try this new spot three miles further up the mountain. Here, take a look at the brochure I printed off."
I took the pamphlet from him, but I only sort of scanned it. Something was off. I studied each face, and decided that Amber looked the guiltiest. I just had no idea about what, and why she'd feel the worst. I handed the brochure back to Todd and nonchalantly replied, "I don't care which one." Then I left the room to go change.
When I returned a few minutes later, our company had gone - fled, was more like it. I looked at Jackie, with a raised eyebrow. For the first time in our relationship, I found myself mistrusting her, and the feeling wrenched my gut.
"What was that all about?" I asked in a more accusatory tone than I'd intended.
She blushed. "Nothing, it..." Jackie stopped mid-sentence, seeing the misery in my gaze. "Okay! Okay, we were discussing accommodations, really. But without spoiling anything, there might be a bit of a surprise involved. I don't want to ruin it. Please."
