Dennis

The rest of the trip in Florida was one that I don’t think I will ever forget. We took the next day and instead of taking Jessica and Sarah back to Link, we decided to spend the day out. It was strange to be in such a situation. I hadn’t spent the day with a woman in years, unless I counted my secretary Peggy. It was not something that I would have thought I would have enjoyed, but I did.

The season was right to pick oranges and we spent the morning doing that. I of course had never done such a thing, I don’t even remember seeing an orange tree in all of my years, but the orchard was fun. I know that it was because of who was there with me, but there was a big part of it that I didn’t understand. While we had time alone for a while after the girls were dropped off, Kendra didn’t invite me up. We had spent the last two days together and I wanted the invite into the apartment, but instead I got a kiss on the cheek and a goodbye, with a promise to talk soon.

Talk soon? What the hell was I supposed to do with that? It occurred to me that this was too casual. I was the king of casual, had been for a long time. I was like that before her and after her, but I couldn’t be casual with Kendra. We had never been able to be that way and nothing had changed. It was because I didn’t want it to be all up in the air. She had to know how I felt. How I really felt so that we could move to the next stage. The idea had once terrified me, but not now, not with her. With her I knew that everything was going to be okay. All I had to do was to make sure that we were on the same page or more specifically that she was with me. I knew what I wanted. Kendra may need some help in that area.

I went home and fixed my work schedule with Peggy through the week. A few things had to be changed around, but I made sure that the weekend was going to be open. I was going to take her away and make her forget about everything but us. Then she would see how great we were together. I no longer needed the convincing. I knew that it was going to work perfectly. It was us after all.

***

After getting Kendra to agree to take the weekend off and go with me, there was a lot of press about our time upstate. Since becoming deemed most eligible bachelor in the city, pictures were constantly being taken of me. I didn’t keep up with all of it. I didn’t keep up with it until Kendra called me upset. She had a meeting with her boss later in the day about it. There were questions as to why we flew and why the girls were not brought back immediately. The argument had been reported as well and like Kendra had feared, the father was trying to make it like it was the girl’s fault.

I hated that my life and status had influenced hers in such a negative way. The job meant a lot to her and I worried that she wouldn’t want to be seen anymore with me. My life was not my own half of the time and things like this was part of it. I wanted fame in football, but I got instead a scandalous love life that Kendra was now getting dragged into. I couldn’t say that I felt very good about it all because I really didn’t.

When I picked her up Friday, I was first surprised that she came, but that she was so calm about everything. Since the incident, she had been put on paid leave. I didn’t know if that meant she had lost her job or not. When I asked about it, Kendra told me that she didn’t want to talk about it.

“I know how much that job means to you Kendra. I thought you would want to talk about it.”

“I just want to have a good weekend. I have been dealing with all of the red tape this week. I need some time away from it all. There isn’t much I can do besides worry about it anyways. Whatever is supposed to happen, will.”

“I don’t know how you can be so calm about everything. I would be a wreck. I have been a wreck worried that you are going to get in trouble.” I couldn’t believe that my fears had been reassured and were true. That was the hardest thing to get through in my head. How was this all going to work now? Did she blame me and more importantly, was there anything that I could do or would that just make it worse?

“I learned a long time ago that sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. When I lost you, I knew that there was really nothing I could do, so I had to let it go eventually or it would have eaten me up inside.”

“I didn’t know that it affected you like that. I guess I didn’t do a whole lot of thinking before I left. I was mad that you didn’t want to come with me.”

“It’s fine. We were both so young. You don’t find your soulmate when you are in high school. It is just a myth.”

“I found mine.”

She smiled and looked away. Kendra didn’t even ask where we were going, just that she was happy to put the city behind her.

“You always did say the sweetest things Dennis.”

“And you always talk like it is just words. I mean what I say Kendra and the more time I spend with you the more I realize what a mistake I made. If I could go back and change one thing, it would be that.”

“There is nothing to go back and change. A lot has happened since then that was supposed to happen. You were supposed to take over your father’s business. I was supposed to get my license in social work and move to the city. That was wat was supposed to happen, so we shouldn’t regret anything. It all happened for a reason.”

“I don’t want to see it that way. I think about what could have been different if I had stayed. I knew that I wasn’t going to make it playing ball. It was a silly dream and it kept me from you. I can’t think of anything good that came out of it.”

She just scoffed, telling me that from what she had read, there were many good points in my life. “They are all over the paper. I just never thought I would be one of them.”

“That was the best day of my life. Just being with you again is better than doing anything, anywhere with anyone else. Can’t you see that?”

I made her turn to me because I wanted her to look into my eyes and to really believe and understand what I was saying. Maybe I wasn’t saying it to well as it sounded in my head. In my head, it all made perfect sense.

“I see that you are looking at me like you need a kiss.”

Kendra moved to kiss me and I wondered while she was doing it if that was her way of shutting me up. I had done it myself in the past to her and it really did work well. After a moment I couldn’t think anymore and I had a feeling that it worked rather well for her too.

She pulled away and smiled at me innocently. I knew then that she had done that exact thing for a reason.

“I just want to know that you are mine, Kendra and that no matter what. We don’t let this ever change. I don’t want to live without you in my life. We both have done it, but I am always better with you beside me.”

“I have always been yours Dennis. You know that.”

I pulled her to me and partially on my lap. It was all that I needed to hear, it really was. As long as I was going to have Kendra in my life, nothing else really mattered. I wanted her to know that I loved her and the best way was for me to show her. She had said more than once that words were just words. She wanted actions.

The car stopped and neither one of us realized it until the driver was opening the back door for us. I waited for her to climb off of my lap and get out before I got out as well. We were back at the air strip and I asked her then, where did she want to go. I had no idea where that would be, but I wasn’t expecting what she said.

“How about we go to Egypt?”

I looked at her a little strange. “Why there?”

Kendra shrugged her shoulders like why not. “Does there have to be a reason? I want to see the pyramids. Always have, but I never figured I would be able to. You wouldn’t believe what flights run out that way. Then you have to travel with a man because of all of the rules over there. I just think that would be the perfect place to go.”

I wasn’t going to argue with her reasoning. I would have never guessed there, but like everything else, Kendra has always been different. I think if she would have told me that she wanted to go to Paris or somewhere like that, than I would have wondered. But no, Kendra wanted Egypt so that was where we were going. When I first got the idea, I was going to pick the place, make it romantic, plan everything, but Kendra lived on the fly and I wanted her to be happy. I am glad that I asked her because there is no way that I would have ever picked such a place like that.

The weekend was everything I had hoped for and more. At the end of the day, all I really wanted was to make sure that Kendra was happy. She didn’t make any promises, something she seemed reluctant to do, but she did tell me that she loved me again. I don’t know why, but the very words cut at my core. I never wanted it to end, but reality set back in and we had to go back to Miami. This time though, I was bound and determined to make sure that we didn’t backtrack again. It was going to be different because now we were together and I wasn’t ever going to lose her again. Kendra was mine and she was always going to be mine.