Thurs Sep 5

Bobbie’s eyes snapped awake before 6:00. She fell asleep thinking about Trixie; she was excited to see her. She slid carefully out of bed and into the bathroom where she pulled on some jeans and a nice top. She crept out and was glad Townes was still sleeping. He and Johnny had stayed up late, solving all the problems around property development and drinking gin and tonic. She eyed the empty gin bottle on the island. She went and got some water and found a couple painkillers and went back in the bedroom and left them on the bedside table. Then she grabbed her purse and went to the restaurant. Mark was there. It was that special time when Mark was getting things ready, nobody else was there and the lights in the restaurant were off. It wasn’t the first time she came down to talk to him in the early morning and she realized she hadn’t done it in a while. “Mark, I’m thinking of having a big family gathering tomorrow. I’m not sure what’s on the menu but I guess it’ll be barbecue and salads.

“Do you think I can get things ready during my work day or are we going to need overtime.”

“So. About that overtime; are you busy tomorrow night? It just occurred to me I could have the party in SPOKES.”

“Rose and Brit have a mixer with their professors so I’m available. And I can ask Gina, For the salads and the fries and stuff.”

“Great I can use the bar too, maybe we’ll ask Lockland. I still need to get the cut of his jib so to speak.

“It’s just a heads up, I guess it’ll be bratwurst and burgers and salads and fries.”

“I’ve been working on a fresh tomato soup for the lunch menu, just try this.”

“That’s delicious, I can picture a really yummy sourdough, grilled cheese sandwich and fresh tomato soup as a lunch special. I’ve got a few things to do. I’ll be in touch about the party. “

It was 8:30 and Bobbie took a coffee and a couple fresh biscuit sandwiches with her. She drove into Crow Hbr., to her mom’s place and went in the back door. Her mom was up, putting on coffee. “Hi Mom I was up early and have some stuff to do in town so I thought I’d come in and say hi.”

“Well, Hello dear, what a nice surprise.”

Bobbie sat in the kitchen, offered her mom one of the sandwiches and started eating her breakfast. “So, Trixie is coming to town tonight and I thought I’d have a Friday night dinner tomorrow, at the restaurant for her. Do you think you can come?”

“Can I bring Dean and Linda and Lorne? We were going to play bridge.”

“Sure, I’m going to call Jamie and Jarrod too. Gary’s bringing Stewart and Donald because they’ve never seen my place. Will and Quinn are coming too, Will is in town.”

“OK, it sounds like a good crowd. Will we be meeting your new beau?”

That’s another reason to have the get together.

Bobbie left her mom’s and went drove down to the trendy shopping district. She drove past Johnny’s old shop and it hadn’t change much. She stopped the expensive shoe store. She knew they would have what she wanted. She left with a pair of men’s 300-dollar Italian leather slip on loafers.

It was about almost noon when she got home. She went upstairs. She sensed that Townes was up and in the theatre room and went in. “I got you a present.”

“What’s this?”

“It’s the softest ever pair of shoes and I think they’ll feel like pillows on your feet and not hurt your blisters.”

He took the box. “Um, you don’t have to buy my clothes. I would never wear something like this.”

She sat back and noticed his discarded band aids in the table. She picked them up and thew them in the waste basket.

She must have made a sound when she did it because Townes looked defensive. “What was that about? Are you angry because I won’t wear the shoes?

She turned and looked at him. “It’s not about that; it’s just the band aids. I lived with three men for about 20 years and they all left band aids around the house and it’s always been a pet peeve. You couldn’t know that.” He was still looking grumpy so she sat down. “I want to tell you a story about the Lion with a thorn in is paw and the bunny.”

“I don’t think it was a bunny in that story….”

“Shush! This is my story. Anyway, so there was this bunny and she was the cutest bunny ever. She had the fluffiest tail and her fur almost glowed in the sun and she had the softest ears too. She was much loved by everyone in her community. This bunny was hopping though the forest and she herd some soft whimpering so she went over to see what was going on. There was a lion who had a thorn in his paw. The bunny said. “Hello fierce lion can I help you? “

He was inconsolable. “Nobody can help me. I have this thorn in my paw and it will never get better.”

“Well fierce loin, let me see.” And she took his giant paw really gently and used her perfect white teeth to carefully remove the thorn.

The lion flexed his paw, smiled and looked at her. He picked her up and ripped her throat out. “Sorry, Bunny I’m still just a fierce lion.”

“That’s a terrible story.”

“Yes, it is. Like I said, I lived with lions for almost 20 years and at one point or another they all wanted to rip my throat out but they didn’t. And they now protect me fiercely. They learned that if I help them, they thank me and give me kisses. She stood and walked to the bedroom and flopped on the bed.

After a while, Townes followed her and saw her there, on her side, with her back to him and he sat down. “Thanks for the soft shoes, Bobbie, I’ll try them on.” He bent down and kissed the back of her neck. “I’m going for a shower now, you could come with me, I’ll wash your back. If my band aids fall off, I’ll pick them up.”

Bobbie rolled over. “Band aids in the shower? Oh, the horror! She smiled and stood up and hugged him. “You have your shower; I’m going to put a coat of paint on our pump-house for Johnny.”

She went out to the kitchen and got out the sub sandwiches Mark had thoughtfully sent up and cut one in half for herself. She put a note on the wrapping of one for Towns that said I’ll be back soon, with a happy face. She took the one on a gluten free bun, for Johnny and headed down to do her painting.

Johnny was glad to get the sandwich. “So, how’s Townes; we were up pretty late. He seemed pretty drunk by the time I left.”

“And you weren’t?”

“I guess so. It was just one of those nights. We went out to your deck and watched the stars.”

“I’ll get a coat of orange on the shed and then I have to get ready to go to Greg’s place. Trixie is home. Has she been in touch?”

“Ya, I’m not going anywhere after I’m done here. I need sleep.”

“I’m having a family dinner tomorrow night in SPOKES, will we see you there with your guitar?”

“Absolutely, that’s when I can see Trixie.”

She went back and Townes was napping in the theatre room and Bobbie had a quick shower. Townes must have gotten ready while she was in the shower, because after she dressed, he was in the kitchen.

Townes had beige docker style pants a light blue fitted knit top and he was wearing the new shoes with no socks. He had a slight sunburn from working outside. “You look like an Italian race car driver on vacation.”

“The shoes feel great.” Thank you, Honey Bunny.” And he gave her two kisses on her cheek and sat down.

“You are a quick study.”

“I love that linen dress; it shows off your jewellery so well. You are very classy. What time are we expected at Trixie’s?

“We should leave in just over an hour.” She moved toward him and he pulled her down on the couch to straddle him.

He pushed her dress up around her hips and found she wasn’t wearing anything under it. He closed his eyes and whispered. “Oh my, this is so hot.”

After dinner, Bobbie, Townes, Trixie and Greg sat in the conservatory chatting. Townes was overtired and mostly just relaxing on a couch with his arm around Bobbie. When the topic came around to Johnny, Trixie asked. “So, how is Johnny?”

Bobbie moved a little forward on the couch. “Johnny is burning the candle at both ends. He’s a carpenter by day and partier at night. I think it caught up to him. He and Townes were up to hear the birds this morning and they drank all my good gin.”

Greg laughed. “Is there such a thing as good gin?”

Townes perked up. “It was pretty good last night.” And everyone chuckled. “Seriously you’ve got to hand it to Johnny; he rolled with the punk bands in the 80’s and still has the energy and capital to build his dream now. I’m inspired to build a condo on some land in Oceanbright.”

Trixie nodded. “Johnny has always been smart about money. He used to send his aunt money to poke away in a mutual fund, for him every month. Money for that homestead he’s building is a textbook example of the power of compound interest.”

When Bobbie and Townes got up to leave Trixie pulled Bobbie aside. “Townes is helping Johnny build his house and he’s building a condo development here? What have you done with my irresponsible, cowboy, playboy?”