June 24,25 2019

She met Brose at the airport. He had only his carry on so they got out of the airport quickly. They drove along the coast to a little town North of Crow Harbour. They stopped and picked up a few groceries and settled into their accommodations. The cottage had a balcony that overlooked a dramatic rocky shore.

Bobbie was buzzing and couldn’t really think about anything but pouncing on Brose. She pushed him down on the couch and straddled him and they began to kiss. He held her face then moved his hands around her back. Next he moved his hands down her back to cup her rear and found no panties. “My, what a naughty girl.” He whispered.

They didn’t eat Sunday night; they stayed in bed.

Monday they got up and had coffee on the deck and watched the seagulls swirl and swoop into the ocean.

“This is a nice spot Bobbie, I could really get used to it.”

“Really? The views are even better, at the motel.”

“I can’t imagine you living at a motel. It’s such a public place.”

“Oh, you have to come visit. It’s a really nice setup and the guests hardly bother me at all. Not that we’ve had that many guests. We were victims of a conspiracy campaign. We’re just now, bouncing back.”

“The internet is not a forgiving medium. I have to watch everything I say and do and keep a really low profile. It’s exhausting.”

“Well, maybe you can put on dark glasses and a hat and we can play tourist today.”

They got ready and drove into the small community. They went to a yarn store for Bobbie. Brose said the multicoloured yarn was very inspiring. Then they stopped for lunch. They sat at a table on the balcony overlooking the small harbour.

“A table at a restaurant like this, back home, with this view, would be so exclusive you’d never even get a reservation. What a treat.”

They had fresh fish and chips and a nice cold beer.

“When the kids were little we used to take day trips and visit local museums. There’s a pretty cool one not too far away.”

Brose smiled at the thought of Bobbie’s young sons enjoying museums. They drove along the coast a little and pulled into a big parking lot and an old wooden lumber mill. Brose looked up. “Why are the buckets set up along the ridge line of the roof?”

“A long time ago sparks from the steam engine, on the train that ran close by, ignited the roof and burnt the building down. The owner rebuilt and made a deal with the train engineer. The engineer would toot his horn as he approached and the guys in the lumber mill would pull a rope connected to the buckets, and rainwater would wet the roof and save it from the sparks.”

“That’s pretty ingenious. There must have been other fires started by steam engine trains too. I wonder if they started many forest fires?”

They went into the building and Bobbie pointed out the big steam engine from one of the trains. It was powered by a water tube boiler and attached to a crank shaft and ran the length of the building. It powered the lumber mill and ran a lathe and in a separate room, there was a bathtub with a sign that said baths for 5 cents.

“So the boiler would heat the water to make steam to run the engine that powered all the equipment and they even sold the hot water. That’s good!”

Bobbie wandered away and poked around the gift shop while Brose continued to explore the museum.

Eventually he came out and met Bobbie at the car. “Did you know that was a Scotch Boiler powering that engine. It’s unusual to see one here, they were used on big steam ships. They made barrels in there too; barrels were important and contained all kinds of goods for shipping, not to mention rum. Lets get some rum for this evening.”

They stopped at the liquor store, then bought some fresh fish from a little shack on the wharf. They stopped for a few more supplies and made their way back to the cottage.

“I got the stuff to make Mojitos. Go out on the deck and I’ll bring you one.” First she unpacked the fish and arranged it with some fresh spinach in pockets of parchment paper. She would finish seasoning it later so she put it in the fridge. She was making Haddock en Papillote. She mixed the drinks and took them outside.

Brose thanked her for the drink and looked up from his phone. “What do you suppose a place like this would cost. Do you think I could buy this?”

“This is a nice place to visit but would you want to be out of the way like this all the time? It’s not even on a particularly nice beach. If it’s nice tomorrow I know a white sand beach that’s deserted and we can walk for miles.”

Bobbie went back in the house and finished preparing dinner. They dined al fresco and when they finished they sat watching the sunset.

“That was a pretty great day Bobbie.”

“It was kind of a regular day Brose, I mean I enjoyed spending it with you but I just consider this real life.”

“We are so different Bobbie, a day spent eating fresh seafood, visiting quirky shops and museums with some one I… care for? I feel like I’m in a movie.”

“I guess I can’t imagine your life either. What if we have a quiet night. We both brought books, we’ll spend the evening reading and go to bed early like regular folks.”

Tuesday morning Bobbie woke up with her head resting on Brose’s chest and her leg thrown over his. She relaxed for a moment then thought oh God, I used to sleep on Alex this way. She carefully got up, looked out the window and tried to shake it off.

“Everything OK, Kid?”

Bobbie turned. “I just had a few kinks to work out.”

“Well why don’t you relax and I’ll make us some breakfast. You can catch up with some of your friends.”

Bobbie grabbed her laptop and lay back down. She heard Ambrose humming as he cooked. Alex used to do that. She took her laptop and sat on the deck and tried to clear her head. She was thinking this couldn’t work, it is too soon. Honestly, Ambrose was one of her biggest unknowns. She never regretted being with Alex but she always wondered how it be if she ended up with Ambrose. This was her chance to find out. Her relationship with Alex was good. It stands to reason good relationships would be similar. She needed to talk to Trixie. She was more experienced with different romantic relationships.

They ate and Brose tidied while Bobbie prepared for their beach trip. She packed carrot’s and hummus and some cut up cheese and pepperoni and a cleaned box of strawberries.

They drove along the coast and came around to a cape. It wasn’t an official beach so they parked by the side of the road. There was nobody around so they climbed over the guard rail and headed towards the water. Bobbie thought she heard something and turned around. She saw something moving in the ditch and started. Brose went over and looked. “It’s a kitten.”

Bobbie joined him and saw a small bedraggled fuzzy black kitten. “I think he’s an orphan I’m going to pick him up.”

“You’ll probably get ringworm.”

Bobbie carried the kitten to the beach and spread out a towel. She put a little water in shallow dish on the edge of the towel in the shade of the big beach bag. She put the kitten on the towel and said. “We’ll let him have a little rest and some water and he might go home. Let’s go on our walk.”

They walked a couple of miles along a pure white beach. The sun was bright overhead and the intense blue of the water was startling. Brose couldn’t get over how cold the water was and when they returned to their chairs, the kitten was sleeping. They ate their snack and Bobbie dug around and found a facecloth. She lined one of the larger, empty containers and placed the kitten in. He rolled on his back, stretched and his toes just touched the sides of the open container.

“That’s pretty cute.” Said Brose, looking down. I guess we’re going to keep him.”

“Yes. He can come with us to the airport then I’ll drop by a vet and get him checked out. You can call me when you get home.”

Bobbie arrived back at the motel with a little black kitten, a cat carrier, new litter box, litter, some expensive kitten food, eye drops, ear drops and some penicillin.

Johnny showed up right after she arrived. “So I called Jamie and he’s good with playing the festival, we’ll need to meetup and practice a little and decide on a play list…. Wh’acha got there?”

The kitten was sleeping on his back in his facecloth lined Tupperware and woke and stretched.

“He’s a cutie Bobbie. Is it a stray? Does he need any medicine? It looks like he has mites in his ears.”

“These drops are for his ears and these are for his eyes. After he gets all the drops we can feed him and after we feed him we give him a dropper with 2ccs of penicillin.”

“Hey little buddy these will make you feel better.” Johnny had the both the ear drops and the eye drops administered before the kitten knew what happened. He moved over and put them in the fridge. He’s sick now, when he gets a little better, he won’t take the medicine as well.

“Thanks Johnny, I’ll call you tomorrow when he needs his drops”

Her phone started to ring.

“I have to take this, we’ll touch base with Jamie tomorrow.”

Johnny waved and left.

Bobbie answered the phone. “Hi Brose.”

“Hi Bobbie, I made it home. I miss you and the little one already.”

“Ha ha, the kitten is fine, Johnny is playing nursemaid to him.”

“I see. Is Johnny there?”

“Not now. Johnny, Jamie and I are reviving the old act for the Tubing Festival on the weekend.”

“I see. I would love to see that. I may regret this but how about I come back to Crow Harbour, stay with you at the motel, see your show and leave Sunday? Monday is a national holiday so I have to be back in Cap City then.”

“Really, people come in and out of my apartment all the time so it’s not very private and the festival is so exposed, there might be press there. I’d love to have you, are you sure?”

“I’m sure, I’ll see you Thursday. I love you Bobbie.”

“I love you too Brose.”

Bobbie sat back and cradled the phone. This is crazy she thought. She looked at the groggy kitten and said. “Ambrose loves us.”