The dog nudged my hand with his wet nose. When I moved it, he whined then jumped up so both of his paws were on my side of the bed. He started to bark as soon as my eyes opened.
"Ok, ok, I'm up. Give me a minute and I'll take you out." I told him but then turned to Joan's side of the bed, hoping she'd take him; but I was alone.
I threw the sheets aside and followed the dog to the backdoor. I let him out and out of habit checked to make sure the gate was closed. It was closed and the latch was pulled tight, before going back into the house I looked over the other side of the deck. The umbrella for the patio table was up and on the table was a bright green table cloth, plates and service for four. A big vase of freshly cut hydrangeas sat in the middle of the table.
"I told you Cora must have met some one. She'll be here in two hours for lunch. Good thing you're up, she's bringing Geoffrey over for us to meet. Are you taking a shower?"
I nodded. "How long have you been up?" I asked as I turned toward Joan. She was wearing a short skirt and t-shirt. She was barefooted and her hair was pulled back into her usual ponytail. Her smile was clean, quick and as disarming as a compliment.
"I forgot to reset the alarm so it went off at five o'clock. I got up at five thirty. I've been through my workout and just got off the phone with Cora. Geoffrey's an accountant at her work and I guess they've been dating for a while."
I walked past Joan and through the doorway into the kitchen. Coffee was already brewed so I poured myself a cup. Joan never stopped talking about Cora and her new boyfriend. I caught that they had been dating since she started her internship. They continued to see each other after she was hired full time. He was a midlevel accountant from a nice family in Michigan.
"He makes a good living and he loves her. She thinks he's the one." Joan said with an air of expectation.
I wrested my mind from thoughts of dark hands holding and kneading Joan's big white, breasts and planted it where I stood, in the kitchen where Joan was telling me how to act for our daughter. It's, Funny that she didn't have to tell me how to act last night.
I listened to Joan, smiling through the entire list of does and don't. "Don't ask questions like your firing off a bullet list. Don't judge him by how he eats."
"I'm not going to judge him on how he eats." I calmly protested.
"Yes you will. You always say that you can tell everything about a person from how he sits at the table and eats." Joan shot back.
"I'll keep it to myself." I said, thinking the issue was over, but I was wrong.
"No, you won't, you'll make a face when he picks up his fork with his fist or uses his knife to push his peas onto his spoon or ..."
"Why is he using his spoon to eat peas?" I countered. Joan took my humor as a direct challenge, so I put my hands up and told her that I wouldn't even watch him eat. Then I turned on my heel and went back upstairs.
Like a drunk with a hidden bottle I went first to my office and opened the email account. Her story of yesterday's tryst with Kevin was not in the list. I felt let down and confused. Somewhere in the back of my head, sanity told me that disappointment was the wrong emotion. I tried to shove it all out of my mind as I shut down the computer and started my shower.
Once I had my pants and shoes on I went down stairs and refilled my coffee. Joan was nowhere to be seen. I checked the living room and basement. I went out onto the deck and just as I turned to go back I saw her on the other side of the forsythia, standing against the house. She was in such a position that only a person looking for her would have found her. No doubt she would have seen her pursuer first; but not me, I learned to search quietly.
Going through the garage and out the side door I was able to stand quietly next to the house and listen to Joan's conversation.
"But, I didn't have time. I know I promised. I'll send it on Sunday." Joan said to into her phone. She sounded frantic.
There was a short pause then, "Ok, I'm sorry I know I promised. I'll write the letter and make sure it's up first thing tomorrow morning. I'll stay home from Mass if I have to. Please, I'm sorry. It will only be two days late."
Joan was close to tears as she pleaded with her caller. I'm sure if Joan was alone she would have been begging for extra consideration. "I didn't do it on purpose, I ran out of time. I didn't mean for it to be late." Joan whined.
After a long pause, she said, "I'll do whatever you want. My daughter Cora is coming over with her boyfriend to meet us. They'll be here until early afternoon. I'll do whatever you want after they leave. I promise."
After Joan stopped pleading, she began nodding her head. Was she in trouble at work? If she's pleading like that, it must be serious. I backed away from the corner and went through the side door of the garage and back into the house.
A few minutes later, Joan came into the kitchen from the patio. She was staring at the ground with a worried look on her face.
"Is everything OK?" I asked genuinely concerned.
Joan looked up and for a moment stared at me then suddenly blurted, "Yeah, everything's fine. Just a small misunderstanding at work, I may have to work tomorrow morning, just some paper work that was left. Its no big deal."
Joan shrugged her shoulders and walked passed me to the kitchen. "The quiches are finished and the pastries are done. Would you get the wine?"
I looked at her in disbelief. "Wine? Wine for brunch? What the hell have we become?"
"Ed, it's not every day that a daughter brings home a young man to meet her parents. He's taken by Cora and the very least we can do is make sure he understands the good choice he's made."
I nodded and helped set the table. A few minutes later the door bell rang and I opened it for my beautiful daughter and a tall, soft looking man who appeared to be in his mid to late twenties.