What We Were

Chapter 6: Part 3

I thanked my mom with a peck on the cheek followed by one of her big hugs complete with swaying, and began walking out of my warmed house to the icy street. As I left the house, I realized I forgot something so I turned around to go back inside. When I looked through the window I saw something that warmed the inside of my chest. There was mom doing the dishes alone. Then in came none other than my dad, swaying to music by himself. I won’t ever forget what I saw through that frosted window that night.

As my mom was scrubbing the dishes dad came up behind her, slowly turned up the music on the radio. Surprised, she turned around and started smiling instantly. I could see her turning around and wrapping her arms around dad’s neck and laughing with him as the sweet softness of Ben E. King played in the kitchen. The window fogged up so I wiped it and kept observing. I had no idea my dad had such game. He started twirling her around slowly and whispering the words to the song in her ear. I heard her laugh through the frozen window in front of me and I smiled at them. I hadn’t seen them like this in a long time. He leaned down, took her face in his hands, and kissed her gently. I was mesmerized at the little happiness in that low lit kitchen.

I then decided to not disturb them in there. I took my backpack and my stuff and brought it back through Julie’s quiet peaceful house. I noticed there was an extra car in the drive way, her parents must’ve gotten home already. As I walked in the front door I set down my bags and changed into my pajamas.

Pat was up in the kitchen, making a midnight snack. As I came in around the corner and flicked the lights on, he dropped the Oreo package and threw his hands up in the air.

“I WASN’T GONNA DO IT LAURA; I just wanted to look at them! I promise! I know my cholesterol…”

Then when he saw me he stopped and blinked a few times.

“Whatever you do… don’t tell Laura you saw anything.”

“Sure thing Pat, sure thing.”

With that, he continued snacking and pulling food out of the fridge.

That was Pat for you, more concerned with Oreos then me showing up in his kitchen in the middle of the night.

Tiptoeing up the stairs, I quickly got a thick blanket out of the closet to set out on the living room couch. But, before I could get back down the stairs I saw a sleepy Julie, eyes squinted, wrapped in a big blanket, shuffling feet, hair-all-a-mess Julie. Dropping the blanket on the stair railing, we moved toward each other in the middle of the hallway. She immediately pulled me in to a big warm hug. God she was so cute with her sleepy half closed eyes looking up at me. I bopped her nose lightly and heard her let out a whispered giggle.

Without warning she wrapped her small intricate hand to the nape of my neck, pulling me down into a deep, relieving kiss. I had no idea how much I had missed her kisses. Her lips, her mouth, her body, her hair between my fingers, her eyelashes fluttering against my face…I had missed it all, and I was glad to have her all back.

I pulled away to take a deep breath because I was honestly almost panting, but she didn’t seem to mind. “So…” I started, “I take it you feel better?”