Enjoying the Weekend Cont.

After picking up Mike and Juli we headed to the country. We came upon a cabin of sorts with a large barn. After getting out of the SUV, Mike was at the barn door opening it up. After a few minutes I heard an engine revving. Mike shoots out the door on a four wheeler.
I went into the barn and there sat 6 four wheelers. Couple of them were older than the others, but they all ran. I may not be too bright, but this day was going to be spent cruising the country side. I hadn't been on one of these for years.

I enjoyed the day. About 2:00 we stopped for some lunch. Carly showed me some trails that went through some of the mountainside. There was some beautiful scenery. I was glad that I had brought my camera with me. I think Carly's Dad got tired of waiting for me while I stopped and took pictures. I took several of her family. I can't wait to download them and see what they look like bigger than 2x2 inches.
When we got back into town we stopped at the local diner. Amy, one of Carly's best friends was there. Obviously, I was introduced as Carly's fiance. This was the first time that we had told anyone outside of either family that we were engaged. It felt strange. I'm not sure why.
Dinner was good. I love the small town diners. They seem to be the most friendly and taste great. It was a good day and I was very tired.
Carly and I postponed our run for 9:00 AM. I am not so sure that I wanted to get up then.
Surprisingly to me, I was up and ready to go running at 8:30. Again, Carly set a pretty good pace. She seemed to move slower however. She must be sore from yesterday's riding. It felt good stretch those muscles.
"Carly, would you mind if we walked and talked for awhile?"
"Sure, Brian, something wrong?"
"Not really. I just know that neither of us are where we want to be in regards to working. We both have a desire to be in school. Would you mind if we made some tentative plans that at least get us heading in that direction? We probably better set a date, hadn't we?"
"I've been thinking about that myself. I'd like to get married in July. That gives us about 3 months to plan. I always thought that I wanted a big fancy wedding, but I don't want that any more. I feel the smaller the better. If you don't mind, I'd love to have my grandpa marry us."
"He can do that? Well that takes care of one thing. That is pretty cool."
"Brian, I'd also like to get married in Jackson, which is about 30 miles from here. I know that is going to be a long haul for your family. I would however consider getting married closer to your family if you'd rather."
"I've never considered really where I want to get married, but I believe that it's our day and we should get married where we want to. Jackson would be fine with me." I got a kiss for that one. I need to make more comments like that, if that's the reaction the I get.
"I really want Sully to be at our wedding. Do you think he'll come, Brain?"
"When we get back home we had better make a visit to the park. Let's go on Tuesday and steal his bench.
"When we got here on Thursday I called Mom and asked if we could go visit her next week. We can leave on Thursday afternoon. We should be able to leave work early. She was okay with that."
"Brian, I haven't asked, I thought you would tell me when you were ready, but I don't want walk into this visit blind. What happened that was so bad that caused you to leave home and talk very little to your family?"
"To think about it now it seems quite trivial, but I said and did somethings that were really stupid. When I left I never got around to saying I'm sorry to anyone. The longer I wait to go back the harder it seems to be to go back.
"The basic story is this. The last couple of years I have been working at the store and keeping it going. I have an older brother, an older sister, and a younger brother. We were at Mom's house one night talking about the store. My older brother Sandy, my sister Jamie, and Mom were talking about the store. I don't remember what exactly, but it became apparent that those three assumed I wanted to run the store. They sat and discussed it like I wasn't even there. They also started listing things that they saw wrong with the store. Then they started directing that list to me and telling me how I was going to fix it. It was at that point I blew. I remember telling them 3 things: That staying at the store was not my life's ambition. There were other things that I wanted to do with my life. Second, was that if I wasn't running the store to their standards they could come and take over. And the third thing and for which I most regret is I told them all to go to...well that warm place that is suppose to never freeze over. I packed most of what I needed and left. They tried to convince me to stay. I drove to the city that night and stayed in a hotel for 3 nights, rented an apartment and found a job at Seaver's."
"I've talked to and emailed my Mom, but I haven't spoken to any of my siblings since. Mom told me that they asked her to forward my emails to them, but I haven't heard from any of them. Sandy took a few days off work to manage the store. Mom jumped in, too, until they found someone to manage the store. I know Mom works there a few hours a week. She does it to keep busy mostly. She gets paid a portion of the profit each month."
"What are you going to do when you see your family again?"
"I've already talked to Mom. She's told me that I don't need to apologize to her and she understands. I told her that I need to apologize if not to her for her, but for me. I honestly don't know about Sandy and Jamie. I've got a few days to think it through.
"Carly, I need to know if you'll feel comfortable meeting my Mom even with all this."
"I don't know Brian. It's not what I imagined it would be to meet my future in-laws. Let's talk about that later."
We held hands and walked more in silence.
It was 10:30 before we got back to the house and cleaned up for the day. I had brought my laptop computer with me. I decided to download the pictures I had taken before.
"Melinda, do you have a Walgreen's or another store in town I can send my pictures to to get developed?"
"Yeah, Brian we've got a Walgreen's in the middle of town."
I told Carly to meet me in Mike's bedroom, but to be sneaky about it. When she came up I showed her the pictures of the day before. I deleted several pics and sent the rest to be developed. I even sent the pictures that were taken the night I proposed.
Carly and I left under the premise that Carly wanted to go to the arcade. We did go and play some games. We didn't want to lie. I had picked 4 pictures and the picture of Carly that I took just before I proposed. Carly helped me pick out frames and wrapping paper for them.
Carly knew the librarian pretty well, so we asked to if we could use a table and some scissors. We must have looked funny. How often do you see someone wrapping presents at the library.
We went back to the diner. Carly told me to sit down and that she would order. When she came to sit down she was carrying the two biggest root beer floats I have ever seen. It was mostly ice cream with a little root beer. The ice cream was the hard ice cream, not that wimpy soft serve stuff. A few minutes later a waitress brought a mug of root beer to add to our floats if we needed it.
"Brian, I'd like to get married on August 3, in Jackson."
"What happened to July?" I smiled.
"August 3rd feels better." She smiled in return. "I'd still like to get married in Jackson. The also have a reception center there. We could have something here. I really don't want anything fancy. However, I think I want some dancing to be involved. We can go on our honeymoon and then have an open house in Apple Valley a week later."
"Maybe we're not going on a honeymoon." I tried to keep a serious look about me, but it only lasted until Carly looked at me with those big brown eyes. "I'm only kidding, I'm only kidding." I wanted to cry.
It was then she piped up and said, "I know." and flashed her pearly whites at me. Oh I hate when she does that. She gets me every time with that look. Just wait the next time she uses that look again she'll be serious and I think she's be kidding. That would be my luck.