Ping Pong Summer

And then then the unlikely possibility hit her that the money he seemed to have could be...ill-gotten. What if he was...what? Some kind of drug dealer? Or maybe an embezzler?

On the verge of going crazy, Rachel laughed when the sound of the word 'embezzler' struck her as funny.

"Why are you laughing, Aunt Rachel? It isn't funny!" Tommy told her as he continued to sob.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I...I was just thinking of something. That's all."

As his body shook, Rachel felt helpless, and then out of nowhere he reached up and put his arms around her neck and buried his face in the crook of it.

"I love you," he told her out of nowhere.

"I...I love you, too, Tommy," he told her.

He squeezed her tight as he said, "I just really want you to be my mom...and I...I want to have a dad and a real family and..."

When he broke down and lost it, Rachel couldn't stop her own tears from falling. He was too young to understand she couldn't just up and decide to fall in love and marry someone she barely knew because her nephew liked him. And yet, as she sat there trying not to really start cry, her arms around the person she loved most, she had to admit she wasn't or hadn't been willing to give Zach any kind of real chance. And it was suddenly clear the only real reason was their difference in age.

She reached for the box of tissues on her nightstand and offered them to Tommy.

"Here. You first," she said trying to smile.

He grabbed a couple then cleared his nose as Rachel took one and dabbed her eyes.

"Tell you what," she said as they let go of one another.

He grabbed another tissue and rubbed his eyes before looking up at her.

"I'll...I'll do my best to give Zach...a chance."

Tommy's entire countenance changed, his eyes opening wider with a hint of smile coming with it.

"But I'm not making any promises, okay?"

Tommy was almost smiling now as he nodded his head.

"Okay?" his Aunt Rachel said again.

"Okay," the boy told her before putting his arms around her again.

"Aunt Rachel?" he said.

"Uh-huh."

"Is it okay if...from now on...

He let go again then looked up at her and asked his question with so much sincerity it nearly made her tears turn to all-out crying.

"Can I call you 'mom' from now on?"

Somehow she managed not to cry as she looked back at him.

"I would love that, sweetheart."

Tommy finally smiled a real smile then hugged her one more time.

As he did, he said, "I love you, Mom."

She cradled his head and told him, "I love you, too, Son."

Rachel couldn't be sure, but her...son...seemed to be satisfied—or at least better—and she felt more sure of that when he jumped up and said, "So can I play video games?"

She smiled then told him, "Yes, but only for a little while."

They ate dinner late that evening, and Tommy was in bed by 10 o'clock while his...mom...sat up and forced herself to think. And as she thought she also forced herself to confront the hard questions that were troubling her. Like why the age difference was such a big deal to her. Were Zach flighty, poorly-educated, coarse, rude, or anything else along those minds, she knew she'd have no interest in him regardless of age.

But he was none of those things. In fact, he was pretty much the antithesis of each of those qualities in every way.

It was a little after midnight when she was finally tired enough to fall asleep. Before drifting off, she had two last thoughts for the day. The first was her promise to her son to at least give this much-younger man a fair opportunity to... To what? To win her heart, maybe? And the second was that were he to be someone she might possibly want to become involved with, she promised herself she wouldn't let age be the sole reason for not doing so.

When she woke up the following morning, Rachel was thrilled that Tommy was up already. She desperately needed to go for a long, hard run, and try and continue clearing her head.

When he said good morning, it set the tone for the day.

"Morning, Mom!" he said happily as she walked into the kitchen.

She kissed him on the cheek then said, "You have no idea how happy it makes me when you call me that."

"Well, you are my mom," he told her.

She smiled and said, "Yes, I am, huh?" before kissing the top of his head.

Tommy ate some Honey Nut Cheerios as his mom sipped a cup of coffee. Once it had worked its magic, she let Tommy know she'd be going out for a run.

"Okay. I'll get my phone," he told her. He dialed her number from his room and smiled when he saw her face.

His voice over the phone merged with his actual voice as he came back downstairs and found his mom.

"Hi, there," she said.

"Hi."

"Okay. You know the drill, right?"

"Yep!" he told her as they hugged again. "Keep the door locked and let you know immediately if anything seems out of place."

"Perfect!" she told him. "Okay. I believe I'm outta here."

"Have a good run, Mom!" he told her, causing her to smile happily.

She'd gone about two miles when, unbeknownst to her, there was a knock on the door. Tommy got up and went to look though the same place his mom had and when he saw Zach he forgot all about the rules.

"Zach!" he said as he opened the door and flung it open.

"Hey there, dude!" the older man said.

"You wanna come in?"

"No, I don't think that's such a good idea. I'm assuming your Aunt Rachel is out running or something so..."

"She'll be back in, like...half an hour or so," the boy told him.

"That's okay. I just brought these by for her," Zach said before producing a bouquet of white roses he'd been holding behind his back. There was also a card with her name on it, and Zach handed both to Tommy.

"Can you just give these to her for me?"

"Sure!" Tommy told him.

"All right. Then I'll uh...I'll be going then."

"Okay," Tommy said, not sure what else to say before adding, "I'll make sure she gets these. I promise."

"You're a good man, Tommy," Zach told him.

That made the boy smile happily.

"See you later?" Zach said.

"See you later!" Tommy said as his new hero walked away.

Tommy set both of things on the kitchen counter then went to sit back down. Only then did he hear his mom's voice.

"Tommy! Answer me! What's going on?"

He grabbed the phone and saw the frantic look on her face. She'd heard a voice but had no idea whose it was.

"Sorry, Mom. Someone was at the door."

"And you let them in?" she said ready to unload on him for 'putting his life in danger'.

"It was Zach," he told her matter of factly.

Just the mention of that name caused his mom to stop running.

"What? Zach was there?" she asked as she breathed in deeply.

"Uh-huh. He left some stuff for you."

"What kind of...stuff?" she asked.

"Hold on," Tommy said.

Rachel didn't watch because he wasn't keeping the phone still as he walked. She waited until it steadied up then looked again.

"Like this," he said as the flowers and card came into view.

"Oh, my...goodness," she said as she started running again.

"Do you like them?" he asked, not understanding the significance or the meaning.

"Um...yes. They're beautiful," she told him as she headed straight for home. "I'll be back in about ten more minutes, okay?"

"Okay," her son said nonchalantly as he went back to the couch.

Rachel pushed herself as hard as she could to compensate for the distance she was giving up. She ran the last mile and a half in under eleven minutes and got a mild endorphin high from it just before she got home.

But the real high, the thing that was pushing her to get home, was laying on the kitchen counter.

Tommy got up and followed her to show her where the flowers were as though she might have forgotten.

She hugged him and thanked him then asked if Zach said anything else.

"Uh-uh. Just that these were for you."

"Okay," she said as she picked up the card.

She slid a nail under the flap and could tell there was more than just a card inside. It was some sort of newspaper article she set aside while she read what was on the card.

It was an apology card, and along with the Hallmark verse, were a few lines from Zach.

"Dear Rachel, I'm not exactly sure what to say or just how to say it. All I know is I want you to know that I have no intention of ever hurting you (or Tommy), and if you can forgive me for whatever I may have done to upset you, I will be forever grateful. And if there's any way you could at least consider giving me a second chance, I promise you I'll do my best to be someone you'd enjoy spending time with. And lastly, I can't change how you feel about things like our difference in age, but again, I want you know it makes no difference to me. I like you, Rachel. A lot. Maybe even more than 'a lot'. So please accept these flowers and the card with that in mind. And I enclosed some information I think will help you understand a little more about me.

I remain—hopefully yours?

Zach"

"You're smiling, Mom!" Tommy said as he watched her put the card down.

"I guess I am, huh?" she told him.

She picked up the news clipping and unfolded it. The title made her gasp, then when she noticed the photo of Zack and a beautiful young woman, her hands began shaking as she sat down to read it.

The title read: "Seattle-area Socialite Killed by Drunk Driver Three Months After Storybook Wedding to College Sweetheart."

The next thing she focused on was a wedding photo of Zach and this gorgeous girl whose name was Stephanie Andrews, the daughter of a very wealthy family that lived out on Bainbridge Island.

Rachel read in horror as the article described the events of the night she killed then felt ill once she understood what happened and how eerily similar it had been to the accident that claimed her husband, sister, and brother-in-law.

Zack had been driving when they were hit broadside by someone with a blood alcohol content of 0.32%, four times the legal limit.

She finished the rest of the article, but nothing else stuck with her. She flipped it over and saw another handwritten note taped to the back.

"I had no idea who Stephanie was when I met her, and she had no intention of telling me because money didn't matter to either one of us. I fell in love with her for who she was, not what she had. The condo I live in was briefly ours: a gift from her parents. A gift I would have never dreamed of asking for and one I'd have traded in an instant to have her back. I offered to let them have it when she was killed, but they insisted I keep it because that's what Stephanie would have wanted. There's more to the story, but I'll keep that private unless you decide to allow me to see you again. Which, by the way, I am very much hoping for. Zach."

"Why are you crying, Mom?" she head Tommy say, bringing her back to reality.

"Sorry, buddy. I've just kind of been on an emotional roller coaster lately."

"What does that mean?" he asked.

She smiled, pulled him close, then said, "It means I think I may owe someone an apology."

She pulled back, smiled again, then told her son, "And maybe a second chance."

"Someone like...Zach?" he asked, his eyes wide with hope.

"Ummm. I believe that's his name," she told him as she tried to smile.

Rachel not only didn't cry, she laughed when Tommy turned around and did some kind of goofy thing where he swung his arms in big circles like helicopter blades while hollering, "Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!" all the way to the couch.

Rachel showered then had something to eat as she continued thinking about this new revelation. Zach hadn't gotten any older, and she certainly hadn't gotten any younger. But there was now this bond between them. A bond that was formed once she realized he'd endured the same kind of horror that she had, and not just the loss of the person he loved but a loss caused in an almost identical way.

After brushing her teeth and collecting her thoughts, she picked up her phone to call him then realized she didn't have his number. Under normal circumstances that would have been the end of it, but this whole...relationship...was anything but normal.

"Tommy? You wanna go somewhere with me?" his mom asked.

She heard the sound of the video controller being tossed aside after the game was paused followed by the sound of his footsteps.

"Where are we going?"

When they pulled into Zach's neighborhood, Tommy's face lit up. When his mom parked next to Tommy's car he asked if he could go to the door.

She'd brought one of the flowers with her along with a handwritten note. She was planning on having Tommy deliver them, so she handed them both to him and said, "Sure. Just give these to Zach, okay?"

She sat there watching her boy walk up the steps holding the single rose in one hand and the note in the other. Before he got to the door it opened, and although she couldn't hear them, she could tell what was going on.

"Tommy. What's going on?" Zach said as the boy thrust both things at him at once.

"My mom asked me to give these to you," he told him.

Zach took them then looked up and saw her in the car. She was smiling and that made Zach smile back.

"Here. Can you hold the flower for me?" Zach asked as he looked at the note.

"Sure!" he said, taking it to allow Zach to read.

He smiled when he saw a series of hand-drawn hearts around the text which read:

"Dear Zach. I can't tell you how heartbroken I was for you knowing you suffered the most horrible of losses. I am truly sorry. I'm also sorry for the way I acted. I can only tell you you were right. The age difference scares me. A lot. But I now realize that having survived, for all practical purposes, the same thing I did, you are not just any 28-year old. This kind of thing forces us to...mature...very quickly. In spite of your own personal tragedy, you've remained pleasant, kind, and thoughtful. So, what I'm trying to say is, if you can forgive me, I'm ready to give you that second chance. Will you let me? Love, Rachel."

Zach hadn't so much as teared up since they laid his wife to rest at the cemetery on Bainbridge Island, but he was glassy eyed as he looked out at her car.

"Tommy? Would you go tell your Aunt Rachel I said 'yes' for me?"

The boy spun around immediately, and as he ran away, he said, "She's my mom!"

He watched this older woman he was falling in love with smile happily then get out of her car. He was blinking fast and hard, and Rachel was wiping her eyes with her fingertips as she came up the walkway with her son.

"Hi, there," Zach said as he smiled at her.

"Hi," Rachel said sweetly, a happy smile on her face. "Can we maybe...start over?"

"I'd like that," he told her as he stepped aside to let them both come in.

Tommy went in first then Zach reached out and gently took Rachel's arm.

"What?" she asked, still smiling happily.

"This," Zach said as he leaned in close and softly kissed her for the first time.

"Oh," she said very quietly when he pulled away a second or two later.

She smiled again then told him, "I think I like the way you start over."

By the time they got inside, Tommy was standing in front of Zach's television and DVD player.

"Sorry, big guy. I don't have a video game console."

"What's this?" the boy asked as he held up a DVD that said 'Olympic finals 2015'.

"Oh. That's just a video of our last match against China in Beijing."

"Seriously?" Rachel said. "I wanna see!"

"Me, too!" Tommy said as he handed the DVD to Zach.

"Well, okay then," he said realizing this was a fait accompli.

Within seconds, both she and Tommy were caught up in the violent, dizzying back-and-forth volleys involving Zach and a Chinese player.

"This is just like Forest Gump!" Tommy called out much too loudly.

This time, Rachel only laughed as Zach took her hand and watched with them.

"Spoiler alert. We lost," he told them.

"I'm just...flabbergasted," Rachel said as she tried to imagine even being able to hit the ball let alone slamming it back onto the table the way Zach did time after time.

By the time the match ended, Tommy was so absorbed in it he was completely shocked when he turned around and saw Zach's arm around his mom.

"Come up here, buddy!" his mom said.

She slid over to let him in between them and this time he didn't fight sitting in the middle.

Zach and his mom leaned in and 'squeezed' him until he started laughing.

"Hey, I noticed you're calling this beautiful woman your mom now," Zach said after Tommy stopped cracking up.

"She is my mom," he told him matter of factly.

"That's right. And this handsome guy is my son," Rachel said as she hugged him and kissed his cheek.

Tommy was slightly embarrassed, but mostly he was eating it up.

Then he surprised them both by saying, "Now I just need a dad."

He looked up at Zach then said, "Like you!"

Zach smiled, put his arm around the boy then said, "You know what? It's a little early to tell, but I have a good feeling about this."

He looked over at Rachel who smiled back. She was so happy she felt like she might burst and leaned over across her son to let the man she was falling in love with kiss her, partly because she wanted to and partly to let her son know his plan had worked.

"Eewww!" Tommy said even though he loved seeing them kiss—just not inches in front of his face.

"What? Is kissing gross?" his mom asked before grabbing him and kissing his cheeks like she did when he was little.

"Is this gross? How about this? Or what about this?" she said as she kissed away while Tommy howled.

Tommy was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe, and Zach knew this was what he wanted. It was what he'd always wanted but had begun to believe he'd never have.

He joined in and tickled the boy who would later call him 'dad' as the three of them fell off the couch and laughed and played as though they'd always been a family. Then again, from that day on, they were a family as Zach and Rachel spent every spare moment together.

Zach forced himself to wait a respectable three months before proposing to the beautiful, older woman he'd known he loved from the first time he saw her, and she said 'yes' without hesitation when he asked her with Tommy sitting next to her, smiling the whole time.

She'd also agreed to move in with him and sell her home the following week as they began planning their wedding to take place on the one-year anniversary of the day they'd met at the YMCA.

Rachel later learned that her fiancé had more than just a nice condominium. He'd also unwillingly inherited a substantial amount of money from his late wife that his former in-laws absolutely refused to take and invested it in several properties. He renovated them then sold them only to buy more and continued to do so.

What she also didn't know (and made her love him even more) was that he gave away a ton of money in small doses doing things for people who couldn't do for themselves. His favorites were paying for things like eye exams and glasses or braces for children in need. As it turned out, there were hundreds of children he'd helped over the years.

He had several people he trusted on the lookout for opportunities like that, and once the needs were verified he gave anonymously with only one request. A photo of the child in their new glasses or braces or whatever it was he'd done for them.

But the most touching thing was how Zach had a kind of private Make a Wish Foundation of his own wherein he granted final requests for terminally children without ever taking credit for doing so.

Because both of them had had storybook weddings, it was an easy call to have their second (and last) wedding be very simple and take place at the very spot where they'd first said hello. The younger girl who'd been so jealous was no longer there, but the people who mattered most were—especially Tommy Daugherty-Curtis who dropped his given middle name and became Tommy Daugherty-Curtis Jarvis, a mouthful to be sure, not long after his mom became Mrs. Rachel Jarvis.