I Am Jack's Life Ch. 15

"Too many for just one cent," I said with a chuckle.

Abby smiled.

My mother came back and poured the last of that bottle into my and Abby's glasses.

"Trying to get us sloshed before we have to wake up at six am and fly out?" I said with a smirk.

It was weird to drink in front of my mother, but she's the one who had uncorked the bottle.

My mother just smiled, "It'll help you actually get some sleep. I never could get any before a long flight," she said.

She sat down and picked up her own glass, which was still half full. "You know, at first I was a bit concerned you kids were doing this. I mean, gosh, it was only yesterday you kids were going to prom, and just a couple of days before that your father was teaching you to drive," she said, staring into the red liquid. She always got that look in her eye when she talked about dad. It'd been nearly five years now, but that didn't matter, the look was always there.

Abby spoke up, "Didn't Jack run over the trash can?"

I blushed, and my mother chuckled, "Yes, he did, but his father just ran out of the car, picked it up and got back in, pretty soon they were driving down the street just as easy as you please."

Abby grinned and looked over at me out of the corner of her eye.

She'd cut her hair short for easier management. Overnight she'd gone from long auburn hair she'd been growing out since our junior year, back to the shorter just off her shoulders length it'd been when we first met. I met her eye and grinned back.

My mother gave a heavy sigh again and said, "And now you kids are off to Europe after graduating college. Kim is married and has a baby on the way... It all happens so fast. What happened to the five awkward teenagers gathered on my front lawn for Junior prom pictures?"

"Only I was awkward, Mom, the girls were the picture of poise," I said and took a sip of my wine

Both my mother and Abby just laughed.

"Oh you all were, in your own different ways, but you all grew up; handsome and beautiful young adults on the cusp of life," she said.

"Aw, Ellen, that was very poetic," Abby said. She sounded sincere.

My mother smiled at her and reach over and covered Abby's hand with hers. My mother was fifty, and Abby was just barely twenty-three; but they seemed to me to be not so far apart. I wondered where I would be at fifty. It felt very far away. But then, twenty-one had seemed far away at fifteen; and now that had passed in the blink of an eye.

"You know, Jack's father and I did something like this when he graduated college. Oh not Europe, but we took a road trip up to Alaska that summer. It was amazing. The best summer of my life. That's why I'm glad you kids are doing this. As frightened as I am of my baby flying half way around the world, I know you two will have a wonderful time."

Abby smiled at her, "Were you guys married then?" she asked.

My mother smirked, "Nope, we weren't even dating, he was just my best friend."

I frowned a little, "Didn't dad propose to you in Anchorage?"

My mother's eyes twinkled at me, "Yes. Yes he did." she said.

Abby blushed. So did I.

"That reminds me," she said and stood up, "was going to give this to you years ago, and then again at graduation, but I held off. I'm glad I did, because it seems the perfect thing to give you now." she walked over to her small writing desk and got a small box. She brought it back to the table and opened it up.

Inside was my father's pocket watch.

They'd bought it on that Alaska trip out of a little five and dime store he and my mother had found. It wasn't fancy, but the outside was engraved with a sand dollar design. I got crazy choked up at the sight of it. I hadn't seen it in years.

"I bought this for your father on that trip. When he'd lost his watch the previous day fishing in a river. I want you to have it. For luck." she said and pressed it into my hand.

"Mom, I..." I had no words.

I glanced up at Abby and her eyes were glistening on the edges. She picked up her wine glass and drained the last of it. I got up and wrapped my arms tight around my mother.

"I shouldn't take this," I said after we let go of each other, "I'd hate to lose it."

My mother shook her head, "Nonsense, it's a luck gift. Just keep it with you and everything will be fine," she forced a smile.

I smiled back and held the watch tight in my hand.

She covered my hand with hers and gave it a little squeeze, and then got up, "Alright you kids, to bed. We all have to get up ungodly early in the morning to get you guys off!" she clapped her hands together.

We got up, finished the dishes quickly, and went to bed.

#

"Yeah, we're definitely lost," I said.

I looked at the road sign. I think it might have been in German. Which was disconcerting, considering I'd thought we should have been in Belgium.

Abby moved the rocks that were holding down our map on the hood of the car we'd rented in Paris two days ago and bent over to more closely examine the roads.

She was wearing just a tank top and a pair of cut off shorts, and her long tan legs extended out behind her to her sandals. She absently chewed on her lower lip as she considered the map. It was a bright summer day, the weather was just about perfect, and there wasn't a cloud in sight.

"Well, I'll make lunch then," I said after she didn't respond for a minute.

"M'kay. I call dibs on the last of that cheese we got, the good stuff from Paris," she said without looking up.

"'That' cheese? You mean my cheese? That I bought for me?" I clarified, opening the trunk (or, the 'boot' as they called it here) and getting out the small cooler we'd picked up when we decided to rent a car to drive to Denmark.

Abby just looked over and gave a wicked grin, peering at me over the tops of her sunglasses, "The cheese. It's The cheese. Group expedition cheese, purchased for the intended purpose of nourishment to famished travelers," she said. "Of which I am one. So yeah. I call dibs."

I just chuckled and shook my head. Sometimes it was really obvious she'd grown up with lawyers.

We were three weeks into our trip. We'd spent three days in London, then took a train up to see the highlands and Edinburgh. Then we'd stayed a couple of nights in Inverses after taking a boat tour of Loch Ness, then we'd taken a bus back to Wales, which Abby had insisted was the actual location of Sherwood forest. I wasn't sure I believed her, but it was a fun few days. Then we were back to London. We went to a play at the Globe (Henry the IV part I, that was awesome) and took a ferry over the channel to Belgium. We'd hung out a couple of days and then taken another train to Paris. Four days of art museums and bistros and we'd decided that we should probably head north and see northern Europe before fall set in (we were Californians after all. When it dips below 70, we get cold) and swing south to spend fall on the Mediterranean. We'd been taking trains, buses, and boats everywhere, so we (okay, Me, it was me) got the crazy idea to rent a car and drive up there at our own pace.

It was the middle of day two on the road, and we were either in Germany, or Belgium, or maybe Switzerland. I was positive we were still in Europe. Probably.

So far it had been an amazing trip.

I made sandwiches with The cheese, splitting it evenly between them, and came around to the front of the car and handed her one. She inspected it for cheese and then smirked, biting into it.

As she chewed, she said, "Okay, so I think we're still on the right road, we're just farther than I thought we were. I think that town..." she pointed at the road sign that was probably in German, "is this one." She pointed at a dot on the map half way through Germany.

"How did we get that far though?"

"Because lead foot, you keep going 'Miles Per Hour' when the road signs are all in 'Kilometers Per Hour'." she said, swallowing her sandwich.

"Ah." I took a bite. That was damn good cheese, how come they didn't have cheese this good in the states?

"You are such a California driver." She laughed.

"Hey now, Pot, kettle, black. I seem to recall you introducing those Parisians to the idea of a 'rolling stop' on our way out of Paris," I said defensively.

"Those totally didn't look like stop signs," she said with a huff.

She folded up the map and hopped up to sit on the hood of our car. She looked out over the green farmland. It was gorgeous here.

She dusted crumbs off her hands and then gave a familiar sigh.

"Camera?" I said.

"Camera," she answered.

I slowed down my lunch. We'd be here a while now.

She hopped down and crawled into the car. I was afforded a very nice look at her toned behind and legs as she extended herself into the back seat from the front. She retrieved her camera equipment and came back out. She started setting up her tripod and camera.

I'd brought along a bag of clothes, some toiletries, a global cell phone for emergencies, and a pretty decent camera. But other than that I was pretty lean.

Abby had one bag that was nearly identical to mine; clothes, toiletries, cell phone, plus a couple of other things girls brought. And she'd brought along a camera bag.

Abby's camera was top of the line. She'd have to tell you the specs, I don't remember, she constantly buys new ones, and I don't remember what she'd brought on that trip. But it was a nice one, and she had light meters and all kinds of fancy gadgets to go with it, plus half a dozen lenses.

I finished up my lunch leisurely while she did her thing, taking what were probably going to be some awesome panoramic shots, plus one of me leaning against the hood of our rental car solo, and then she set up the timer and ran over to pose with me. We did that a lot. You get pretty good at timing ten seconds, and waving at just the right moment.

We packed up again and rolled on.

Even though there hadn't been a cloud in the skies at lunch. It was pissing rain by the time we got to the village we'd planned on seeking lodging in that night. There was a single bed and breakfast listed in the travel book we'd used. We figured that it would be pretty safe since it was so out of the way.

Obviously, they were full. Of course we got soaked just running between the cat and the office as well.

"Okay," I said, as we quickly hopped back in the car. "I think he said there is a hostel we can stay at just up the road about five kilometers."

"Your German is that good?" she asked wringing water out of her hair.

"No, but I recognized 'five' and 'kilometer'. He was speaking English, just with a thick accent," I said.

Rain pounded off of the car like someone was spraying a fire hose at it.

"Okay, lets just go," she said. She was starting to shiver. She was still in her tank top and shorts. They had both gotten completely soaked. I couldn't help notice the color of her bra was green.

I started up the car again and we pulled out slowly again into the darkening sky.

Five kilometers turned out to be closer to fifteen, but we finally found the place I was pretty sure the old guy had been talking about. It at least had a 'vacancy' sign in the window, which was good enough.

I ran in to check, and they did in fact have a single room available. Without any other questions I took it.

We had to pull the car around to the side, but it was still a good twenty feet between the door and the car. Abby insisted that we not leave anything (especially her camera bag) in the car, so we made the trip laden down with our bags, and the cooler. There was no running in the slick mud. By the time she got the door open. We were both drenched to the bone.

She opened up the room and turned on the light.

I suppose I should have been grateful there was electricity.

The room was tiny. I mean, I'm pretty sure Abby had closets that were bigger. There was a single twin sized mattress that took up the whole of one wall and stuck halfway out into the room. I'm not kidding, a twin bed took up half the room. There was no bed frame, and the mattress and box springs were flat on the ground. The carpet was probably not brown prior to World War I, but now it was pretty much the color of the mud outside. There was a door to a bathroom which I could reach from the standing outside the room.

"How much did you pay for this?" Abby asked incredulously as she stepped inside.

"As long as there's hot water in that shower I don't care, it was worth it," I said, and scooted in behind her to shut the door to the elements. The single light bulb in the ceiling dimmed and flickered when I shut the door.

Abby just looked up at it then down at the bed.

"It's all they had," I said, trying to defend my purchase.

She just shook her head and started to chuckle, "It's fine. Thanks for getting it." she said after a moment and set her stuff down.

I loved that about her. Anna or even Kimmy would still be complaining. Abby just accepted things at face value.

"Want the shower first?" I offered.

"Am I the guinea pig then?" she said turning around with a smirk. I had to grab her elbow and ease her off so she didn't bump into me as she turned, the conditions were pretty tight. "Sorry," she said and looked down at my chest.

Yeah, my tee shirt was thoroughly soaked too. I'm pretty sure she got just as much of an eyeful of me as I was of her.

We adjusted our spacing, and I steadied myself by putting a hand on the ceiling for balance. I couldn't even straighten out my elbow more than half way.

She opened the bathroom door an just laughed. There was a toilet, and a 'shower'. The 'shower' was a small tub about the size of the seat on an office chair, and a pipe coming out of the wall. Every tile was framed with rust and mildew. The bathroom probably was only three feet by four feet total in square footage. The ceiling was even lower. I probably wouldn't be able to stand up straight.

I chuckled too.

"Our European adventure," I said.

That's what we said when something would go wrong, to remind ourselves it was only temporary and we could laugh about it once we were home.

She giggled and said, "Move, I need to get my things out of my bag, there's no room to bring it in there to change," I nodded, and we adjusted positions again, shuffling things around. There was no way to avoid bumping into each other with three bags and a cooler taking up floor space that wasn't the bed. I didn't want to set the bags on the bed because they were wet... you get the idea.

We played our little dance and she stepped into the bathroom and shut the door.

The water came on with a rumble that shook the walls, and after a second, I heard Abby exclaim, "Yes! It's hot!"

I gave a little cheer too.

I started readjusting the bags on the floor to give us some more floor space. I had just finished piling all of the bags in ascending order of fragility, which meant the camera bag was on top, when Abby shrieked from the bathroom. It was maybe two minutes after the water had come on.

I jerked open the door to see what happened and there was Abby, shampoo still in her face and in her eyes, trying desperately to shut the water off. "It's cold! It's cold!" she shrieked again and found the knob.

"Well, okay then..." I said, and looked away from her nakedness. Luckily (or unfortunately?) her back had been to the door, so all I'd seen was her naked butt.

"Close the door pervert!" she yelled at me.

I shut the door.

A few seconds later, the water came back on and the pipes rattled once more in the walls. Abby gasped loudly. She quickly finished her shower in what I imagine was a pretty cold experience.

About two minutes later she came out, a towel tight around her body, and dropped her PJs on the floor. They impacted with a wet slopping sound.

"The tub leaks," was all she said. Her face was unhappy.

I looked away so she couldn't see me bite my lip to hold back laughter.

She looked at the way I had stacked up our bags, and her clothing bag was on the bottom. She just sighed.

"Can you get my bag out so I can get out something to sleep in at least?" her tone was quite annoyed, so I didn't argue. It took some maneuvering, and she had to stand back so I didn't bump into her. I managed to pull a dry shirt and pair of panties out for her, but I couldn't really get to the rest of her clean clothes.

"That's fine," she said and took them.

I turned around and she was starting to shiver. Her hair was still wet and clung to her neck and face in dark red tendrils.

"You should, uhm, dry your hair off. I don't think it's helping with the chill," I offered helpfully.

"There's only the one towel and right now it's covering the nakedness," she said, and pulled her panties on up and under the towel. I looked away politely Though now she had a dilemma. Pull the tee shirt on over her wet hair, or take the towel off to dry her hair with me standing there.

"Turn around," she said, glaring at me.

I turned around.

"Abby, I've seen you in your black bikini, I think the only thing I haven't seen of your boobs is the color of your nipples," I said, still unable to keep the amusement out of my voice.

"Well let's let somethings be a mystery shall we?" she replied testily. I could hear and feel her drying her hair off as the towel occasionally smacked me in the back of the head.

I bit my lip again.

She dropped the towel on my head. "Alright Don Juan, it's safe," she said with no attempt to hide her annoyance.

I turned back around again. She'd pulled the tee shirt on and was standing there in white cotton panties and a fitted green shirt. Abby's breasts were not as large as Anna's, but they were much larger than Kimmy's. They stretched the shirt tightly and her nipples were very prominent with how cold she was.

I looked back up and she was glaring at me.

"Well," I said, blushing and clearing my throat, "Now I know the shape at least." I said with a mostly straight face.

She pursed her lips together and punched me in the shoulder.

I laughed, but so did she.

"Your turn," I said and made a little twirling motion with my finger.

She rolled her eyes and turned around. I took off my wet shirt and hung it on the door knob. I peeled out of my wet jeans and hung those up too. My boxers were damp, so I pulled them off too and hung them next to my jeans. I pulled out a clean pair from my bag and tugged them in place. There was no point in getting anything else out, so I just zipped up my bag and said, "Safe."

She turned back around and I caught her staring at my chest. I was not the skinny kid I'd been at sixteen anymore. I had taken up exercising at Stanford as a way to spend time with Anna and I'd kept it up even after we'd broken up. I was six-one and a hundred and eighty five pounds of lean definition. I wasn't massive, but I wasn't chubby or skinny either. I'm pretty sure Abby gulped, which made me feel pretty good, nice to not be the only one staring.

"You want the wall or the aisle," I asked, nodding toward the bed.

"The aisle," she croaked out. She turned away, but I could see her blushing. We hadn't shared a bed since the evening of drunken debauchery after Kimmy's wedding - and that had hardly counted. That was on a queen sized bed with king sized hangovers. This was a tiny twin bed and no booze.

"It's cool, we'll sleep with our backs to each other. Frankly I'm tired enough I'll just take the floor if it'll make you more comfortable," I said, trying to keep my tone light and friendly.

"Don't be stupid. We've slept in the same bed before. We've known each other for years. We're adults," she said. I noticed her voice cracked slightly on the word 'adults'.