Here at Last (35 page)

"Both my parents are great," he said.

"Do you miss them when you're in Chicago?"

"
H
e's
usually
too busy to miss anyone,"
Bernard said, standing in the doorway with Hannah behind him
.
“She had to
use
the bathroom,” he whispered, and they continued down the hallway.

Michelle showed up with the water. “I’m really glad to see you getting away,
"
she told him. “Sophia, you must be a positive influence on our son.”

“She is.”
Nicholas smiled as he
hoisted his suitcase up onto a nearby table and unzipped it
.

Michelle
watched her son
. "
You know
that
I worry about you.
"
S
he sounded concerned.

Nicholas
turned to her and
put his arm around her shoulders
,
pulling
her close
. "I know."

Michelle
looked
at
me. "We've tried to get Nicholas to move down to Florida, but he says
that
he
’s
settled in Chicago and doesn't want to take Hannah away from
her
friends.
”

I nodded and smiled.
"I can understand
that
."

Looking down at Michelle, Nicholas said,
"Mom, I really appreciate you and
Dad
taking care of Hannah
while we’re away
."

“That’s alright,
Dear
. Y
ou know we don't get to see her enough
as it is. W
e were
glad
you
asked. By the way," she
tilted
her head to
one
side,
"
w
here
are
you two going?"

Nicholas smiled, and I shrugged.

Michelle
looked at me and
laughed. "Y
ou don't know?"

I shook my head. "No. We agreed that we needed a vacation, and Nicholas offered
to plan i
t together or surprise me. I opted for the
surprise
. He told
me
to pack for warm and balmy, and that's all I know," I
laughed
.

"That's very trusting of you!" she said, and Nicholas
chuckled
.

Hannah
called
for her dad
, and t
he three of us walked out of the bedroom and into the living room.
She
was excited to show her father
a snail that she had found on a rock
in the backyard
.
Nicholas could tell that she was
getting tired
and decided to put her down for her nap.
She asked me to come, too.
About ten minutes
later, we emerge
d
from her room
. Then,
we
joined his parents in the living room where they were drinking iced tea and
relishing
another perfect Florida day.

Nicholas and I sat beside one another on the sofa, and his parents
had settled
in
to
plush chairs
across from us
.
They
filled Nicholas in on
news of
various family members. They also
asked what I did, and I explained that I set up physics labs and
conducted
research for number of different clients. Bernard
expressed
hi
s love for science and learning
and seemed excited by what I did. Then, the questions became a little more personal, and I discover
ed
the extent to which Nicholas had discussed me with his parents.

"
W
hen did you two meet
?" Michelle asked.

"A
little over
two years ago," we both answered.

"In Chicago?" Bernard asked.

"Yes," I replied. "Nic
holas and I ran into each other o
ne day."

"Literally," he added
, smiling at me
.

Michelle
looked at us curiously.
“That’s quite a way to meet!” she laughed.

"It was actually quite sweet," I said, glancing over Nicholas. "I had gone out to
pick up
a late lunch and was bringing it back
to work
. It was cold
outside,
and I had
tucked my chin
down in
to
the top of
my coat
and wasn’t
watching where I was going.
As it turned out,
Nicholas
had just left my
building
and wasn’t looking, either
, and we ran into each other."

"Poor Sophia
was carrying a cup of hot tea
when I
walked
into her,
and it
spilled over her hand
and all over her scarf and coat
."

“
Really?
” Bernard
asked
, intrigued.

Michelle and Bernard seemed
quite interested in
the story
of how we met
, and I couldn't understand why.

I continued. "Nicholas suggested that we go inside the lobby of my building. My scarf was soaked
with
tea, and I took it off and tossed it onto
a
table
so
that
I could wipe off my
coat
. Somehow,
the scarf
slipped into Nicholas's briefcase, and he called me later that evening
to tell
me that he had it.
When I
went to pick it u
p at his house t
he next morning, he'd washed it for me."

Nicholas
put his hand on my knee
and smiled
at me
. "They know about my quest for
the
perfect woman."

Michelle laughed, and Bernard fidgeted with his drink.

"Yes," she said.
“
When we asked him after college
why he wasn't really dating, he said that he was trying to conjure the perfect woman. He
already
knew what she look
ed
like, sound
ed
like, and move
d
lik
e. It
wa
s
all
very clear in his mind,
"
she
gazed
over at him
warmly
.

"Of course," Bernard started, "I told
him
there
’
s no such thing as
a
perfect woman." He
looked a little sheepishly at
his wife. "No offense intended."

"None taken," she
chuckled
. "You can imagine our surprise when Nicholas told us that he
’
d found you."

"I was just as surprised
when
I found him," I told her. "I was beginning to think that he was a phantom."

Michelle looked a little confused.

I glanced over
at
Nicholas
, who
shook his head.
“They don’t know,” he said.

"I dreamed of Nicholas three times the year before
we
met," I
told them
.

"You're kidding," Bernard said.

“I’m quite serious,” I assured.

"
That’s
got
to be one for the record books!" h
e said.

“I’m sure it is,” Nicholas said. “I’m still trying to understand it.”

Intrigued, Michelle asked,
"So you
recognized
each
other right away?"

"More or less," Nicholas said. He reached
out
and held my
hand. "Sophia knew me
but didn't say anything until I pressed her on it. I knew
that
I recognized her but
didn’t remember
why
until
last February
."

"
But you haven’t
been dating that long
, have you
?"
Michelle asked,
looking
flummoxed
.

Nicholas shook his head. "Mom, we didn't stay in touch. I was still getting over Rachel.
A
few months after
I
realized
why
Sophia
looked so familiar
, we ran into each other, but s
he
’d
just
lost someone. It was a while before she was ready
…
."
he trailed off
looking at me tenderly.

"Nicholas doesn't give himself enough credit
,” I told them
.
“
After I met him, I didn't see him for almost a year
-
and
-
a
-
half
until I
ran into him
at
a local
bereavement group. He's the one
who got me through all of that,
"
I squeezed his hand.

Bernard didn't know to make of it and just
nodded
. Michelle shook her head. "
W
hen
something
is
so obvious, you
just
can't ignore
it,
"
she said.

Nicholas smiled tenderly at his mother.

“Our biggest challenge,” I began, “has been the timing of everything.
When I was ready
to date
, Nicholas wasn't. When Nicholas was ready, I wasn't. It's taken us a while to get to a place where we could actually try to
build a relationship
together."

Nicholas
looked at me and back at his parents
. "We've been taking it slow with Hannah. Sophia
’s only come
over
for dinner a few times in
the last
three
weeks."

Michelle nodded. "I think that
's wise. You need to figure out what you want to do with each other before involving the child."

We agreed.

Bernard
checked his watch and
excused himself to turn on the sprinklers, and Nicholas offered to help
him
. Given that we would be here
for
such a short time,
I knew that
he wanted to
help his parents in
whatever
way
he could
–
particularly since they
would be
watching Hannah while we
’d be
away
.

When they left the room, Michelle looked at me
warmly
. "Sophia,
” she asked,
“
can you tell me how my son is doing?"

I looked at her little quizzically.

"When we talk
on
the phone, he says he's fine.
Of course,
Ly
dia
’s
busy with her
own
family,
and
she doesn't give us very much information.
”

“
I
see
.
”

“W
e
came up and spent some time with him
after Rachel di
e
d,
and he was really struggling.
I think it
wa
s
hard for him to discuss it
over the phone
.
We know that being a single father has been tough for him. How is Nicholas coping?” she asked.