Eric's Parting Gift Ch. 04

I smiled.

My peripheral vision saw someone coming and I looked to my left. It was Mike and Sue. They were smiling wide smiles.

Sue couldn't wait. She said, "We have a gift for you!"

"A gift?" Sarah asked.

Mike said, "We decided that boat trip was so much fun we bought tickets for tomorrow too. We'll go to a different island."

"What's our surprise?" Cheryl asked.

"We bought tickets for you, too!" The boat captain just made more money. We smiled and thanked Mike and Sue.

"Why buy us tickets too?" Sarah asked.

"The tickets cost thirty-five a piece. I'd pay five hundred to see what I saw today. If I live to be a hundred I will never forget that boat trip!"

Cheryl asked, "Did Angie get a ticket too?"

"Sue answered, "No. Tomorrow I want to take her place."

"Who's place?" Angie said as she and Franklyn walked up.

"Yours!" Sarah said. "Sue wants us to go on the boat trip tomorrow so she can take your place on the net."

"Well, we can all go. Franklyn bought us all tickets for tomorrow!"

We all laughed and laughed hard. Franklyn got a strange look on his face.

I answered his unasked question. "There are seven of us. Mike bought five tickets. You bought seven. I think we have enough."

"Oh. Well, it'll work out somehow. Can we eat? I'm hungry."

The dining room was full and we stood waiting. As a table cleared Mike got an idea. He stepped forward and announced, "There is another boat trip tomorrow. I have five tickets I don't need. I promise you a trip you will never forget!" No one moved.

"How many of you were on the trip today?" I asked. A dozen hands went up. "Was it exciting and fun?" Nods and a few "Yeah's. "We loved it so much we're going again tomorrow!"

"I'll take two!" A man yelled.

Mike said, "Sold. Now I have three and they go as a package."

"I'll take all three." The man was the man married to Helen. He had not been on the boat but had figured they ought to go on the next ride.

While we ate the men who bought the tickets came back with their money. There was a sign put up that the boat trip had sold out.

Near the end of dinner Sarah and Cheryl went to the bathroom. Three other women from other tables followed them in. There were gone a while and all of them came back together.

When they sat back down Sarah said, "You may not believe what just happened."

"What?" Angie asked.

"Three women followed Cheryl and I into the bathroom and they want to know if they can join us on the net tomorrow!"

"I want something on the trip tomorrow. I didn't see a camera on the boat today. I don't want one tomorrow either. If someone wants to bring a camera we aren't going. I don't want someone a week or a year from now telling me they saw me or Sarah or Cheryl, Sue or Angie fucking on the internet."

"Agreed!" Everyone said.

"We need to have someone at the boat before anyone get on board. We need more than someone's word they don't have a camera. We need to check."

"I'll be there at the butt crack of dawn!" Mike said.

"I didn't know you even knew Dawn." Sue said. We laughed and Sue kissed Mike.

"I'll bring you food while you're on watch," Sue volunteered.

We ate. After the dessert we sat and talked. The manager that had lent me the propane torch came by and said that if we were interested he would have sand chairs moved by a fire pit out on the beach and he would have it lit and snacks delivered. We accepted his offer and left the dining room.

The chairs were already set up, The fire was burning and drinks and snacks were waiting for us. We knew where to sit because the man had them bring the drinks we always ordered. Three Diet Cokes for the three of us. Two Margarita's for Mike and Sue. A beer for Franklyn and a white wine for Angie. I sat and took a drink.

"You never drink alcohol?" Franklyn asked.

"Almost never. I had some moonshine back in sixty-four when I was stationed in Biloxi. I think that was the last time. No. I had a sip or two of a Margarita a few summers ago."

Cheryl said, "I get stupid when I drink. I don't like me stupid, so I quit. Not a drop anymore. I'm glad Nick doesn't drink. If he did, I wouldn't want to kiss him as much as I do."

"I never developed at taste for it."

We sat in the quiet for a while. The fire made soft noises, the surf made a rhythmic noise in the background and we were quiet. I noticed Mike fidgeting. It lasted about five minutes.

"Can I have everyone's attention?" Mike stood. He was next to Sue sitting in a sand chair. "I have something to say to Sue and I want all of you to hear me, be my witness and kick my ass if I ever try to go back on what I say."

He took a deep breath. Sarah took my hand and Cheryl sat in my lap.

"Nick introduced me to a new way of thinking. Imagine, thinking more about Sue's happiness and needs than my own. I tossed out my favorite Grateful Dead t-shirt. It was a symbol. Since then I have tossed other things I know Sue didn't like or didn't love."

Another deep breath.

"When we get home I want you to go through all my clothes, all my books, magazines, crap and you can sell it, give it away or burn it. We will go shopping and you will dress me so that every time I get dressed you'll like what I have on. I've started shaving twice a day. I make the public commitment to you that I made two days ago in my head. Your happiness and well being are more important to me than anything else in my life. I choose to love you every moment of the rest of your life."

He sat down. No one moved. We looked at Sue. She was crying.

"Sue?" I said.

"I have been so worried for two days. Mike has been different. Distracted. Not his old self. I thought he had fallen for Sarah or Cheryl or Angie and was leaving me. When he stood up here by the fire I thought he was about to humiliate me by telling all of you he was leaving me! I was crying before he said anything. Now look at what he has done! Oh Mike! I was willing to live with you and love you with the Grateful Dead and your books and toys. You want to give me more? I accept."

She paused.

"On one condition. You let me give you the same gift. Toss out anything you don't want to see me wear. I'll never buy anything to wear without you agreeing. I will dress to please you, cook to please you, live with you first. I love aqua!"

They kissed and we clapped. Sarah leaned to me and said, "You make people want your kind of love."

I smiled. We watched the fire as it dwindled. Franklyn stood and said, "I won't give as good a speech as Mike but I want you all to know our relationship has changed too. Angie and I haven't had the best marriage and this trip was for us to decide to stay together or split up. When Nick pulled that Hawaiian shirt out of Angie's bag I thought, "That is the final straw. I'm done." Then I watched Mike and Sue and Angie and I realized my life has been about me. Every day of the forty-seven years I've been alive have been about me. I've been in my head for two days, like Mike. I watched Angie mix it with Cheryl and Sarah today and I realized that I'm lucky. Angie is beautiful and could be with damn near any man. She chose me. It is about time I make a public declaration: Angie, you are more important to me than I am! Toss anything of mine you don't like. Pick my clothes. Your happiness is what I'm all about."

"Wait! Don't sit back down." Angie got up and stood next to Franklyn. "I've got something to say to you. Starting now, I live to have you be happy. You want me in bikini panties, I'll love wearing them. You want me to dress a certain way, I'll do it! Toss out the fru-fru stuff from our house. It was my house and now it's our house. I choose to love you!"

They kissed and we clapped.

Sarah looked at me and squeezed my hand. "What?"

"I want to speak."

"Then do."

"I love each of you. This is our first vacation together. The day after I became Nick's we went to my house and tossed all the things he didn't like. Within two more days Cheryl was in our house and bed. I wondered how important I was. I wondered if I was just a pussy for him to fuck. Nick has changed everything in his life to love and care for Cheryl and me. Right now a contractor is remodeling our bathroom so we can shower together. He brought us on vacation so we didn't have to put up with the dust and mess of remodeling. He thinks of us all day every day. His first wife died over five years ago. I watched him suffer that loss and saw him live alone for a long time. When my husband died he took me in immediately. When Nick takes you in, he takes you in all the way in. He loves me. He loves Cheryl. I am honored that he chooses me. I choose him and I freely give him my life. I know a secret about each of you as well. Nick loves you. He loves you Mike as if you have always been his brother. And you Franklyn. He loves Angie and Sue with the same commitment to your happiness as he has for Cheryl and me. If anything ever happens and you need him, Nick is there. Nick, I love you. There is no more to say."

Sue looked at me, with Cheryl in my lap and now Sarah too. She said, "I love all three of you. I am honored even to know you."

A tall thin man dressed in white stepped close to the fire. "We are about to stop service for the night. May I get you anything? More wood for the fire? Drinks?"

I looked and my watch read almost one in the morning. "Thank you Sir, but no. We are all going to bed. We have a big day tomorrow."

We hugged and kissed good-night and all of us went to our rooms. Tomorrow promised to be a big day.