Gifted a Second Chance at Life

Chapter 8

Callie stopped and waited when Marked turned into her parents’ driveway. She laughed as she watched Jimmy open the front door and hold it for her father, John, as he slowly limped out the door in his orthopedic boot. Callie waved as she pulled around to the side of the house and parked in the short drive that led to her cottage behind the main house. She grabbed her bag from the seat beside her and jogged back to the front of the house. Callie started laughing when she saw the exchange between Mark and Jimmy.

Mark refused to get out of the vehicle and was speaking to Jimmy through a two-inch opening in the window. Jimmy was slowly shaking his head as John laughed. Mark was doing his best to hide the amount of Christmas decorations purchased earlier in the day. All of which Jimmy would be in charge of putting them where they belonged.

“Ah! There she is!” Mark laughed as he saw Callie round the corner of the house. “Callie said we bought too many decorations, but I say you can never have enough, especially when they are pink and purple. Some of them even have glitter.”

“I never said you bought too many decorations. I said that Jimmy would be mad at you for buying so many. There is a world of difference there,” Callie giggled as Jimmy put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her.

Maya yelled from the backseat, “I want to show Uncle Jimmy and Grandpa what we got!”

Mark grinned, “As the princess wishes. Jimmy, you have to take a couple of steps back so I can open my door.”

Jimmy stepped back, pulling Callie with him and making her laugh. Mark shook his head at his friend as he and Rosemary exited the SUV. John moved to stand beside Rosemary as she opened the backdoor to take Maya from her safety seat. John’s eyes grew wide as he saw the back seat beside his granddaughter and peered into the back to see even more decorations.

“Wow,” John whispered.

“Um-hu,” Rosemary replied, lifting Maya from her seat and holding her. She whispered to John, “I will explain later.”

John gave her a quizzical look and said nothing. He grinned as he saw Mark open the back door so Jimmy could peer into the seat where Maya had been. Jimmy’s eyes grew wide as he looked into the back of the SUV. He groaned as the full realization of the amount of decorations hit him. It would keep him busy for hours, if not days, to put everything in its place. Knowing that Maya would be directing him would mean the process would potentially take much longer.

“How?!” Jimmy asked in disbelief. “How did you find this many pink and purple ornaments? I didn’t even know they made them in those colors, much less this many different kinds,” Jimmy said as he looked in some of the shopping bags in the backseat. “This is going to take a while.”

Mark chuckled, “It will take a while. That is why I have two bags of food from the lodge in the back. It should be plenty to keep you fueled all day and probably even tomorrow.”

“Do you think I could get a sample of that before we get started on putting this stuff up?” Jimmy smirked.

“Only if you can talk Callie into taking the food to the kitchen while you and I unload my car and put all the decorations in the living room to be sorted,” Mark said as he opened the back hatch.

“OK,” Jimmy grudgingly agreed. “But I do it under protest. You could have at least warned me about all this,” Jimmy said, waving his arms and gesturing at the many boxes and bags in the SUV.

“I did warn you,” Mark said with a grin as he handed the bags of food to Callie. “I sent you and your dad pictures of most of it. I wanted to keep a few things a secret to surprise you.”

Callie took the bags from the lodge and said, “You two have fun with this. We are going inside to unpack all this on the kitchen island so we can all graze at the gourmet buffet for the rest of the day.”

“Were you trying to rhyme all that?” Mark asked.

“No,” Callie giggled. “It just happens once in a while. I can blame it on my teaching. Young kids like it when things rhyme. It can help them remember things.”

Mark smiled as he watched Callie walk inside with her parents and daughter. He did not avert his gaze until after they were safely inside. Mark turned to see Jimmy grinning at him with his arms folded across his chest.

“What?” Mark asked.

“You are still head-over-heels in love with my little sister,” Jimmy quietly said. “I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell her about your crush back when she first started dating Mitch. That would have saved everyone a lot of trouble.”

“What do you mean by that?” Mark asked as he began to hand Jimmy shopping backs from the back of the SUV.

“I mean, Callie is living in Mom and Dad’s guest house with my niece because she had to divorce Mitch,” Jimmy scowled. “Callie and you could have had a long-distance thing until she graduated school and then moved back here. Right now, you two would be living in the lodge, Callie would be teaching at the school here in town, and Maya would be your daughter, not that dirtbag Callie married.”

“I thought you liked Mitch,” Mark inquired as he collected bags to carry inside.

“I did, but things changed. Now, I hope I never see him again,” Jimmy huffed.

“And you’re not going to tell me what happened to make you feel that way, are you?” Mark asked as he turned to enter the house.

“No. I promised I wouldn’t,” Jimmy said as he stopped walking. “Mark, promise me something.”

Mark turned to look at his friend and stepped back to him. He sighed and said, “What?”

“Promise me that you will be patient and gentle with Callie. It is up to Callie to tell you why she and Mitch divorced. But I can say that she needs to be handled with kid gloves. Right now, I’m not even sure she could handle any of the teasing that we used to do to her when she still lived at home.”

“I promise. I want nothing but the best for Callie. That’s all I’ve ever wanted, even back when she was just your little sister and not the gorgeous redhead I had a crush on,” Mark said with a crooked grin. “Now, let’s get this stuff inside so you can eat. We both know you’re hungry even if you and your dad had lunch.”

-

Callie placed the take-out bags from the lodge on the kitchen island and began to unpack them. Rosemary sat Maya on one of the stools at the island and helped the little girl remove her coat. John was looking at the food containers piling up on the counter and shook his head.

“I hope you told Mark he did not need to do this,” John sighed.

“I did,” Rosemary smiled as she hung her coat on a hook by the back door with Maya’s. “Callie and Maya seem to have this under control. Why don’t you come to the bedroom and help me change into something more comfortable? I will explain all this while I change.”

“Only if Callie doesn’t need our help,” John said.

“I can handle this. I think getting into the stash of paper plates and plastic utensils might be the best idea so we can take it easy after we watch Jimmy put up the decorations,” Callie smiled. “That means Maya can help me set the table without fear of breaking anything.”

“Then come, my love! Join me in the boudoir!” Rosemary called out dramatically as she took John’s hand and slowly led him out of the room, careful of his injured ankle.

“Grandma and Grandpa are silly sometimes,” Maya giggled.

“They are, and that is the way they should be,” Callie said, giving Maya a cookie as she heard Mark and Jimmy come into the house, dropping off bags and going back out. “Make sure to eat that cookie. You will have a lot of hard work telling Uncle Jimmy how you want the decorations to look.”

-

Rosemary locked the bedroom door behind her as John hobbled to the bed to put his leg up. She turned and smiled at him as she collected her thoughts and decided where to start.

Rosemary smiled as she began, “I want you to know that Mark insisted on buying most of the decorations. We got some of them in the holiday section, but we also went through home decor. Mark bought everything that Maya liked. He is going to absolutely spoil her rotten.”

John chuckled as he watched his wife jump from one foot to the other as she pulled off her boots. He said, “From what Jimmy said, Mark has had a crush on Callie since they were all in high school.”

“That would explain part of why he was doting on Maya and insisting that Callie have lunch with us at the lodge,” Rosemary grinned as she shimmied out of her jeans and slipped on a pair of lounge pants. "I hate to meddle, but I would not be opposed to helping them spend more time together. Mark did not say anything, but he made it clear that he is deeply in love with our daughter.”

“I know you are a masterful matchmaker, but maybe we should just let nature take its course on this one,” John said. “Callie has been through a lot when it comes to relationships. Maybe we should just let Mark and Callie do this on their own.”

“Fine,” Rosemary relented as she pulled on a loose T-shirt. “Maybe you’re right about this one. I will behave myself and try not to be a matchmaker.”

“Good,” John said as he got to his feet. “Let’s go to the kitchen, so I can see what goodies Mark brought for us. The thought of the lodge restaurant makes me a little jealous of you.”

“Come on,” Rosemary said, reaching for his hand as they walked to the door. “You won’t be disappointed. I swear the chef outdid herself today.”

John and Rosemary walked down the hall and into the living room, where Mark and Jimmy were depositing the last of the bags and boxes. John stopped and looked at the mountain that covered the coffee table and a substantial area around it.

“I know we have all had lunch, but we might all want to have a snack before we start on this. We will need all the extra energy we can get to tackle this one,” John suggested.

“I was already planning on that,” Jimmy grinned. “To the kitchen!”

They laughed as they followed Jimmy into the kitchen. Callie had just finished taking everything out of the bags and was folding them to put in the pantry for later use. She smiled at her family as they entered the room.

“It took you long enough,” Callie laughed. “Surely there weren’t that many decorations in Mark’s car.”

“There were,” Jimmy said as he picked up a paper plate and filled it. “We are eating, and then we are decorating. That includes you, little sister.”

Callie laughed,” You’re bossy, but I wouldn’t miss it. Are you staying to help, Mark?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Mark smiled.