Loose Ends

Chapter 46

Ashley woke up feeling excited. Today her dad had promised to take her out driving for a couple of hours and she couldn't wait. When she went into the kitchen she found that only her dad was up.

"Morning, Ash," he greeted her from the kitchen table, where he was eating a cream cheese slathered bagel.

"Hey, dad." She opened the cupboard to take out a bowl and then grabbed down her favorite cereal to join him at the table. "So how was date night?"

"Good. We went to see a movie." Ashley poured milk over her cereal.

"Think you guys will be getting re-hitched anytime soon?" She set the milk down and took a bite of her cereal as she gave her dad an inquisitive look. George sighed.

"Not as soon as I'd like, to be honest."

"What do you mean?"

"I screwed up, Ash, big time. Even though your mom and I have rebuilt our friendship quite a bit and still care about each other, it's gonna take time before I can get her to fall in love with me again. In love enough to say 'I do'. Again," he explained with a forlorn edge to his voice as he took a drink from his glass of orange juice. Ashley gave him a sympathetic look.

"Well, you got her to fall in love with you once so I'm sure you can do it again," she reassured him. George chuckled.

"Thanks, princess." They continued eating in companionable silence for several minutes. "So you wanna head out after you finish?" Ashley eagerly nodded and then finished eating with gusto, anxious to get behind the wheel. Their breakfast completed, they headed out the door and George drove them to the high school.

At the Boykewich residence, Ben was wide awake, too busy mentally rehearsing his speech to his dad about why he and Adrian should get married to sleep in any longer. He showered and got dressed on autopilot, his mind focused on trying to figure out what reasons his dad might come up with for why this was a bad idea. He found his dad and Betty at the breakfast table enjoying French toast and scrambled eggs. Betty greeted him with a smile.

"Good morning, Ben. How'd you sleep last night?"

"Morning, Betty. Good, thanks," he responded, taking a seat and fixing his own plate. Seeing Betty had initially weakened his resolve to talk to his dad that morning but he reasoned that Betty would be affected too so there was no sense putting it off any longer. "Hey, dad?"

"Yeah, son?" Leo replied, facing his direction as he took a sip of his coffee.

"I want to talk to you about something."

"And what's that?" Leo set his mug down and gave Ben his undivided attention.

"Why Adrian and I should get married." Leo's brows rose in surprise and he was momentarily at a loss for words.

At the Bowmans there had been no shortage of voices, as Tom was in the mood to tease Grace.

"You know you can't make out whiff Grant at church. Will you be able to contwoll yurselves?" he asked her cheekily as she finished fixing her hair in the mirror.

"I told you, Tom. Grant and I don't just make out," she replied, giving her brother an irritated look. "We do a lot of talking too," she assured him. Tom rolled his eyes.

"Den why are you always making out on da couch when he's here?" Grace sighed with defeat.

"Because we like making out too. Happy?"

"Yep," Tom said triumphantly. Kathleen's head appeared around the corner.

"Tom, stop harassing your sister," she said to him, having overheard the last little bit of their conversation. She then looked in Grace's direction. "And don't be too long. Breakfast is getting cold." Kathleen headed back downstairs with Tom in tow as Grace finished clipping her hair back the way she wanted and then dashed to her room to retrieve her Bible and a sweater. She joined her mom and brother at the table and they joined hands and bowed their heads as Kathleen said a prayer. "Lord, we thank you for blessing us with another day and we ask that you help us see opportunities this day to share your word with others. We thank you for this food that nourishes our bodies and for continually watching over our family through all the trials life and our own decisions throw our way. We ask that you help us be encouraged and strengthened by the worship service and teachings we will experience with our fellow believers this morning and it's in your son's name we pray, Amen."