Read Online Things Worth Remembering by Jackina Stark - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jackina Stark
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farther into him so he’ll know how glad I am he’s there, and in response his arm draws me even closer to him. We do this on nights we don’t make love, and I can’t say which is more pleasurable.
He is asleep before either of us has the energy to say anything else.
Luke’s hand is warm in mine.
I’ve been holding that hand a very long time now. We were married twenty-four years ago in June, only a few months after Clay introduced us.
Each year Clay and Rebecca hosted a series of Christmas parties or receptions for the schools in the district. The Friday night of the elementary party, they invited Luke. Luke was twenty-four and, having earned an MBA, just beginning his job with an accounting firm in Indianapolis.
Clay invited his nephew for two primary reasons. One, his boys, fourteen and thirteen, were tired of smiling at hundreds of teachers and administrators but thought they might endure one more party if their hero, Luke, would come and play pool with them. Two, Clay wanted Luke to meet me. He said later that Luke had been too busy too long to nurture a serious relationship, but now that school and job hunting were behind him, he should have time to think of matters of the heart.
I had come to the party with Paula and her fiancé, but somehow they disappeared while I was putting away my coat. I had just stepped into the beautifully decorated living room, about to join the two rowdy male sixth-grade teachers standing in the far corner of the room, laughing about something, when Clay called my name.
“Kennedy,” he said, “I’m glad you’re here.”
“I’m glad to be here,” I said, giving him my aren’t-you-glad-you-hired-me smile.
“I’ve sent my daughter to the basement to rescue my nephew. My sons think he is their personal property, but they’re going to have to share him a few minutes, because I intend for him to meet you.”
I could hardly believe Dr. Laswell was taking time away from rooms full of guests to focus on me at all, much less to say such a thing. He wanted his nephew to meet me ?
And then the nephew appeared, as handsome as Clay Las-well, but younger—fourteen years younger, I later learned. It would be an understatement to say the introduction was awkward. I felt like everyone in the room had stopped what they were doing and saying to look at us. But when Luke Laswell shook my hand, it was warm and unaccountably comfortable, and I was happy I had worn the black velvet dress Paula coveted, and I was more than a little disappointed when two boys came up from the basement to drag Luke back to their lair.
Later that evening, after I had been as outgoing and gracious as I could stand, I felt the need to escape the crowd, and I stepped into the study off the main hallway. I was drawn to the quiet of an empty room and the warmth of a four-log fire. I stood watching the flames, glad to be out of the fray momentarily, when I heard, “There you are.”
I turned and saw Luke standing in the doorway.
“You caught me,” I said.
“I’ve interrupted your peace.”
“Are you in need of peace? Come in. This room is lovely. I haven’t had the nerve to go down to the basement. I’ve wondered if it’s reserved for family, off limits to guests.”
“As a matter of fact, several of your peers have made their way down there. That’s how I managed to make my getaway. The boys are beating their former sixth-grade teachers at pool.”
“Well, now I know I’m not going down there.”
It was clear that neither of us wanted to be anywhere but where we were. We sat on the sofa and began to really introduce ourselves. When people came to the doorway and peeked into the room, they saw us talking quietly but intently, and they invariably chose to go away. We were invariably glad.
Before Luke was discovered by one of the boys and dragged away again and before I found my coat and thanked the Las-wells for a wonderful evening, Luke and I had made plans for the following night. We spent
He is asleep before either of us has the energy to say anything else.
Luke’s hand is warm in mine.
I’ve been holding that hand a very long time now. We were married twenty-four years ago in June, only a few months after Clay introduced us.
Each year Clay and Rebecca hosted a series of Christmas parties or receptions for the schools in the district. The Friday night of the elementary party, they invited Luke. Luke was twenty-four and, having earned an MBA, just beginning his job with an accounting firm in Indianapolis.
Clay invited his nephew for two primary reasons. One, his boys, fourteen and thirteen, were tired of smiling at hundreds of teachers and administrators but thought they might endure one more party if their hero, Luke, would come and play pool with them. Two, Clay wanted Luke to meet me. He said later that Luke had been too busy too long to nurture a serious relationship, but now that school and job hunting were behind him, he should have time to think of matters of the heart.
I had come to the party with Paula and her fiancé, but somehow they disappeared while I was putting away my coat. I had just stepped into the beautifully decorated living room, about to join the two rowdy male sixth-grade teachers standing in the far corner of the room, laughing about something, when Clay called my name.
“Kennedy,” he said, “I’m glad you’re here.”
“I’m glad to be here,” I said, giving him my aren’t-you-glad-you-hired-me smile.
“I’ve sent my daughter to the basement to rescue my nephew. My sons think he is their personal property, but they’re going to have to share him a few minutes, because I intend for him to meet you.”
I could hardly believe Dr. Laswell was taking time away from rooms full of guests to focus on me at all, much less to say such a thing. He wanted his nephew to meet me ?
And then the nephew appeared, as handsome as Clay Las-well, but younger—fourteen years younger, I later learned. It would be an understatement to say the introduction was awkward. I felt like everyone in the room had stopped what they were doing and saying to look at us. But when Luke Laswell shook my hand, it was warm and unaccountably comfortable, and I was happy I had worn the black velvet dress Paula coveted, and I was more than a little disappointed when two boys came up from the basement to drag Luke back to their lair.
Later that evening, after I had been as outgoing and gracious as I could stand, I felt the need to escape the crowd, and I stepped into the study off the main hallway. I was drawn to the quiet of an empty room and the warmth of a four-log fire. I stood watching the flames, glad to be out of the fray momentarily, when I heard, “There you are.”
I turned and saw Luke standing in the doorway.
“You caught me,” I said.
“I’ve interrupted your peace.”
“Are you in need of peace? Come in. This room is lovely. I haven’t had the nerve to go down to the basement. I’ve wondered if it’s reserved for family, off limits to guests.”
“As a matter of fact, several of your peers have made their way down there. That’s how I managed to make my getaway. The boys are beating their former sixth-grade teachers at pool.”
“Well, now I know I’m not going down there.”
It was clear that neither of us wanted to be anywhere but where we were. We sat on the sofa and began to really introduce ourselves. When people came to the doorway and peeked into the room, they saw us talking quietly but intently, and they invariably chose to go away. We were invariably glad.
Before Luke was discovered by one of the boys and dragged away again and before I found my coat and thanked the Las-wells for a wonderful evening, Luke and I had made plans for the following night. We spent
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