Monday morning, Dec 7, 2020
The first thing we did when we awoke was check the box office receipts. 'Second Chances' had gone down but was still nearly triple the second rated movie, $149,482,397. Dani's four-percent -- nearly another six-million dollars!
The rest of our week was relatively routine. Well, I might add to that a bit and mention that our 'routine' love life had become fuckin' awesome! Twenty-nine-year married couples are not supposed to be having the kind of love life that Dani and I were having. Those visions of Dani and Mark, and me and Jenny were damned powerful aphrodisiacs, for both of us. We've both been on fire and damned thankful that the kids are out of the house.
The back of the couch, kitchen counters, and Dani's knees have all taken a beating. Hell, even the hard, kitchen floor became a victim Wednesday morning.
I am not going to go into detail on those 'encounters', it would take several chapters, use your imagination.
Dani spent a lot of time on the phone and texting with Jenny too, probably a lot more than I knew about since I was at the store most of the day. Funny, how she'd be giggling with Jenny over texts one minute, and the next, climbing all over her hapless husband. Not that the said hapless husband was complaining, mind you.
Anyway, hard as it may be to believe, there were other things in our lives besides sex, such as; When Troy, the school superintendent, called. He had a list of six names of kids that the math teacher had suggested for beginning calculus, and four others for tutoring. Dani's excitement was through the roof!
She began making calls to parents, introducing herself and explaining the reason for her call, either the tutoring or the calculus. One by one, I listened as she explained the reason for her call, then, 'Yes, I am the one in the movie,' and shortly after, 'thank you.' That's paraphrased a bit, but virtually every call had some variation of those comments. In the end, usually after a return call, all four of the tutoring students were going to sign up and four of the calc students. Dani was ecstatic, and called our attorney to put together an agreement, starting the week of January third. She'd already found her calc textbooks online and ordered ten, just in case she added more kids later, a little over three-hundred dollars, while the tutoring kids will bring their own.
Thursday afternoon, we had a bit of a surprise, a delivery truck backed up in our driveway. I was at work and Dani called me asking if I knew what it was. "No freakin' idea," I told her, so she told me she'd find out and let me know.
I'd have offered to run home but the store was busy, it always happens before Christmas, not that I was complaining about that either. I've always loved the days before Christmas in the store, and my favorite is the toy aisle that we do for every Christmas. Every. Single. Toy. Made in AMERICA! Cars, trucks, tractors of all types, farm implements, every single one metal and with a lifetime warranty from our store. If it breaks, bring it back with the receipt, and we'll replace it or refund the money if we can't. If you're curious how many we've taken back over the years - three, fourteen years and three toys returned. Know how many people buy the toys? Hell of a lot, that's how many. I wouldn't even hazard a guess how many toys we've sold over the years
.
Dani called me back a little over an hour later, "You won't believe what was just unloaded," she told me, leaving her statement hanging
"Ookay, you going to tell me what it was?" I asked her.
She chuckled, "A... no, I think you'll have to wait till you get home."
Aahhh! I was planning to go shopping after work. It's Dani's fiftieth birthday Monday and we've been planning a dinner for Saturday so that Jodi could make it, coming home from Pullman. "I'll be a little late," I told her, "something I have to pick up at the store." I'd ordered her gift and wanted to pick it up.
"It'll be waiting when you get home," she said, "I don't think you'll miss it, not for long anyway."
That was how she left it, a total mystery. I guess turnabout is fair play, I think she'll be a little surprised with her birthday gift too.
It was half an hour after closing when the store finally cleared out, and I knew this would be typical until after Christmas, probably even more so as it got closer. I stopped at the mall and picked up Dani's present, beautiful! They offered to wrap it but I like to wrap my own presents, it makes them seem more personal.
Dani was right, it was hard to miss as soon as I walked in the house, a beautiful, hand-made walnut dining table and eight matching chairs set up in our dining room. Mark, our financial guru, had sent it, made by his late wife Jan, Janelle.
She showed me the note that he'd sent along with it, in a flowing hand-written script,
'Robert and Daniella, I cannot thank you enough for the gift you have given me, not only my most wonderful night since Jan's passing, but the freedom I now feel, the freedom to 'enjoy' once again. Jan will always be a huge part of my life but I realize now that my life may go on. The table and chairs were Jan's most prized creations, and I am happy to have finally found a home for them. One of my clients is another woodworking artisan who was most happy to finish the chairs. The remainder of her creations and 'shop' will be donated to Wounded Warriors, her favorite charity.'
'On a more personal note, Kelly, my assistant, is coming to dinner this coming Friday night.
Mark.'
"Wow," I told Dani, "sounds like Mark has made a turnaround."
"I hope so," she said, "he's a good person."
I smiled, "Good in more ways than one, huh."
She smacked me in the arm.
Dani picked out a Thank You card and hand-wrote a note,
'Mark, at your house was my pleasure, I should be thanking you. And the dining set, we will cherish it forever as a reminder of both you and Jan. I am attaching a note to the bottom of the table so our family will always know from where it came, Thank you so much for the gift! PS, my husband enjoyed that night as well. We're happy to hear about your dinner with Kelly, here's hoping it works out for you both. XOXO, Dani'
Then she wrote out the short note explaining the origin of the table and securely taped it to the bottom of the leaf.