Simply Friends (3) Hmm,” Ted said, sipping his coffee, relishing its quiet, rich taste. “I wish I’d asked you earlier about buying a house. Kim why does your restaurant have the best coffee?” “We want everything to be right,” she said. “I’m glad you like it.” “Where’s that house?” “Just outside Demoines. A little place set off the street, quiet, secluded with a lot of trees. “Show me?” “Sure. You want to go tomorrow? I’ll get the key.” Ted thought about the work on his desk, the brief that needed finishing, the calls that needed returning. He sighed wearily. “Tomorrow is fine with me.” “You seem preoccupied. Are you sure about tomorrow?” “I am sure,” he said. “The papers can wait. Besides my head needs clearing. Lets go see the house.” Ted took his check and stretched to his six foot height. “Right now I’m tired. Judge Mather was a pain today and that defense attorney. Yikes the things I do for my country. I’m going home to watch a rerun of the Chicago game. But first I’ve got to stop by and get some cat litter.” “Yes,” Kim teased, “your country and your cat, the things that matter.” “Sometimes to hell with both of them,” he said. “I really need a house now. After Leslie left me well it’s just time for something that is a better investment.” Ted still smarted from the way his marriage with Leslie had ended. It wasn’t so much Leslie’s fault, he thought. She just decided it wasn’t what she wanted and she certainly didn’t begrudge him the girls but there was something in Ted’s head that said he had failed if only in this one thing. If money was tight sometimes and he had to budget carefully, it was still true that there was one thing Ted had not done well. He had gone against everyone’s advice and married Leslie and now he was left with the painful scars. Yes he liked to work and it was what got him this far. He supposed that he couldn’t have his cake and eat it, too. Or maybe Leslie had just been the wrong woman. One thing was sure. Kim’s restaurant made the best coffee, cherry pie, and steak. And Kim gave the best advice. He wished he would listen more often. “Okay so are we driving together or am I following you out there?” Ted wanted to know as he signed the receipt and got ready to go home to his small one bedroom apartment. “Well why don’t you just follow me. After we take a look at the house I’ve got to go get supplies and it’s in a different direction than you are otherwise I’d drive you home.” “No worries, Kim,” he said as they walked toward the restaurant entrance. Ted stopped for a moment and looked at the fountain gurgling quietly. “I need to drop by the law library anyway on the way back and I prefer to go in the evening.” “Fraud cases?” she asked. Ted nodded. “There’s a case going to trial and I need to read some decisions. After that I have to write my brief and proof my own work.” “Ted it sounds like you need a house so you can just relax and do all that work.” “Yes, I know. And Snooty needs a place to run around. Give me a call you have my cell phone number.” “Yes, I do.” Ted jingled his keys and turned to exit as a large group of people surged into the foyer, laughing and talking. He had to smile. Kim’s Cafe was the congregational hall for life’s sad and happy moments. He remembered sitting in the back of the restaurant in tears the day Leslie left him. This group with fresh-faced college students and a few young children reminded him of his own youth and his sweet little girls. He said goodbye to Kim and walked into the balmy spring afternoon to continue his day. Sometimes the hardest thing about not being married to Leslie was the fact that his girls were not with him. It might not have been so bad if Leslie and he hadn’t had children. But they had two young girls, Andrea and Melanie, and right now he missed them. He would see them this weekend. Leslie had agreed to drop them off on the way out to see some friends. “Friends of ours?” he had asked tentatively. “No. We have a wedding to go to and then we’re going to go do some hiking.” “Sounds like fun. I’ll take the girls out for ice-cream and we’ll go to a movie and then maybe to the park on Sunday.” “Are you still working so many hours?” “Many more hours than I should, probably. But I like it. Love it is more like it. And you?” “No, I just work for a paralegal. After all that work and all that money I decided I didn’t want to do this all the time. It’s a good tradeoff though. Alex is an accountant and he doesn’t bring work home with him. I didn’t like that part the bringing work home part.” “I’m glad your happy, Leslie.” “Are you happy, Ted?” “Sure I am. Tell me what the girls are interested in now. Princesses? Barbies?” “Barbies. They’ll be glad to see you. Melanie has your picture in her room. She has your birthday card you sent her in September. “She seems to be our bright intelligent one. She’ll be the lawyer, Ted. She is friendly with Alex but she’d much rather be with you.” Ted hadn’t thought of this aspect of the separation. It made his heart clench to think of one of his daughters missing him. “Maybe when she’s older she can come and live with me. Right now she should be with her sister and get her schooling taken care of. Maybe for the summer.” “We’ll talk, Ted. The girls might like coming to stay with you for the summer.” If Melanie and Andrea were coming for the summer then Ted definitely needed a house. He looked forward to seeing the small structure that Kim recommended. Somehow when Kim recommended things they usually went right. Ted had loved the idea of being an attorney from the moment he was thirteen years old and he had read the stirring speeches of John marshal in the trial of a land owner. The language had been so high and lofty but the ideals were reasonable. The hard scrabble life of the patriots going from circuit court to circuit court settling land disputes, writing letters and making decisions had intrigued him. Now these days things were more centralized but those early days had grabbed his attention. It had been the spark ignited by a history teacher that had furthered his ambition to go to law school. Oh how he had longed to do something special for his country. Being an attorney for the country seemed like a good thing to do. The pay wasn’t bad, but first he had to go to law school. He had enjoyed the classes, the work, while others complained as people will always do he had silently relished in the long hours in the libraries, the red eyes at night, working too hard on too little sleep. Sometimes he still did that but as he had gotten older he had developed a routine of sorts; he knew how to find the information he wanted without exerting quite as much energy. He loved his work. His work had saved him those first rough days after his marriage had fallen apart. It would be nice to find a place where he could enjoy it even more. Kim met Ted out in front of the brown, clapboard house on a wide lawn with no fence, just a dirt pathway winding up through the flowers to a raised front porch, a wooden veranda with a screened in area. “A swing would look very nice there,” Ted said, already seeing the improvements he could make to the place. “I could put up some wrought iron awnings, maybe paint the trim a nice white color, and hang some trellises for some plants.” “I didn’t’ know you were an artist,” Kim said, seeing the wheels turning in Ted’s head. “Somewhat of one,” he replied, lost in his own thoughts for a moment. Kim eyed Ted discretely, seeing the excitement in his eyes. “Let’s go inside so you can imagine what you’ll do with the rest of it,” she said. “It sounds like we already have a sale.” The inside was magnificent. Ted saw it and loved it. The wooden floors, the paneled walls, a light, cheery color, the open spaces on the walls. “I don’t’ like a cluttered wall” he said. “I like these open spaces.” “What would you put on them?” “My landscape portraits that I haven’t put up yet. Leslie didn’t like them. She thought they were too somber. I think they’re peaceful.” He saw the dark wood bookcases built into the walls, he saw a reading lamp, several reading lamps. He saw a man’s castle, or perhaps it was Ted’s castle, a mixture of simple art and letters, some cheerfulness sprinkled in for affect. He saw a warm, gentle place to relax after the battlefield of the U.S. district courts and the politics of his world. He continued through the hallway to the bedroom, and then directly across from the bedroom to the small nook with the plate glass window stretching along the entire east end of the house. He stood by the window and looked out. A magnificent wooded forest met his eye, a clearing, the outline and shadow of another house. He stood entranced for a moment, awash in the gentle colors of the forest, the wind softly moving the branches. If he closed his eyes he might see deer or birds fluttering through the forest. If you could fall in love with a house, then Ted Hamilton was in love. It had his name on it. He could imagine sitting here in the alcove looking out the window at the life before him. He could imagine himself sitting on the porch swing enjoying the summer cool evenings, the hot lazy days. He could imagine curling up on a leather sofa in the living room or he could imagine one room as his library. It all seemed right. But now he had to go back and do some final research and get ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow was an early day. The contemplation of the house would be a pleasant thing. He would look forward to it with delight. “Oh, Kim,” he breathed quietly. “It’s perfect.” Kim smiled. If Ted knew anything about comfort, this was the place. This house was already starting to heal his broken heart. Kim knew this place would nourish him. It had already started to do that. Together they walked back to their cars. “Thank you for recommending this place,” he said getting into his car and turning to face her. “I really hope they will sell it to me. It’s perfect.” It isn’t often that one finds the perfect place and things go right. Ted did things that perhaps his colleagues didn’t. He watched his credit, he saved his money, he lived simply. His livelihood supported him but he had made some wise investments and so it was with a sense of accomplishment that he signed the papers for his new home three months later and hired the moving van to help transport his existence to this gentle place. He felt content here. He could spread out, read through his books on his desk, write in peace. He was glad he had found it. Summer came and Melanie and Andrea came to stay with him for two months. Kim helped Ted entertain them. They went to the park, they had picnics. Ted had learned one valuable lesson. He learned to devote time to his children and his work. He was determined not to make the same mistake as he had done with his x wife. He learned to spend mornings in his library and afternoons and cool of the evenings with his girls. The girls contented themselves with watching movies in the morning knowing their father would spend time with them in the afternoon. Together they explored the plant life of the wooded forest that separated this house from the house across the clearing, a house he learned belonged to John and Vivien Matheson. The exhaustion he experienced after a week in the courts seemed to flea in the face of his two little girls with their smiling blue eyes. Melanie was the intelligent one, Leslie had been right. She was the one who could sit and play with her toys for hours by herself. Andrea was the social butterfly the one who needed the most attention, like her mother, her father thought sadly. But Andrea was a joy to him. She didn’t’ ask questions about why her parents had split up. Melanie asked questions. If Ted had a favorite daughter it was Melanie though he did love them both equally. They were different and it was in this new home that he explored their personalities and loved them more deeply when they flew back to New York to be with their mother. Kim saw him come into the restaurant on Thursday, four days after they flew back to New York. He flopped wearily down at his regular table. Debbie came and lit the candle that sat on his table. She looked up at him. He seemed easy, a little subdued. “Good evening, Mr. Hamilton,” she said. “You look a little weary.” “Court does that,” he said, smiling a little. What he didn’t’ say was that there was a lingering sadness left by the emptiness of the house. Kim came and sat across from him. She reached out and touched Ted's hands, his warm fingers opened to encompass her’s. She caught his eye and nodded in understanding. “Empty nest syndrome,” she said quietly. “Those girls really get to you.” Ted Hamilton nodded. “I’ll be alright. I’m already planning for them to come over the holidays if they like. Oh Kim I do miss them.” “I know you do, Ted. Those girls will keep you sane,” she said quietly. “Because of them you won’t spend your entire lifetime behind your desk.” The assistant U.S. attorney laughed, his face lighted up, Kim’s heart clenched to see his eyes light up. He squeezed her hands. “Kim why do you always say the right thing?” “I am sure I will not always say the right thing, Ted. It’s just that I know about working too hard and too much. I own a restaurant. You are starting to attain some fame in your own right. You are a good man. You are learning.” Kim got up. “I’ll be back and we’ll have dessert together. I need a break. I’d like to spend it with you.” Ted nodded. He sat back and let the warmth of this place envelop him. He could feel his head clearing and the sadness lifting. The house, the restaurant,
Copyright © 2008 Shelley J Alongi |