Much to Tom's surprise, it was Gail who started a conversation he
had been rehearsing all day. Tom never expected this conversation
so soon. He figured maybe when they were back at home for a few
days, so he was taken aback and unready for such serious talk. But,
Gail brought it up. Tom, I need to tell you how sorry I am for the
way I acted the past few days. I didn't know what hit me but I had
a lot of time to think about it and realize I'm jealous. Remember
how during the summer my dad and mother always took a week off on
their boat by themselves? Mom always said it was a great time for
them. It was as though they had run away. That's the way I've been
feeling that we should run away once in a while Yes, but you ruined
that for them one year when they had their boat on Block Island,
You did get jealous, and made believe it was just a day trip to
surprise them. We took the ferry from the mainland and joined them
with the three kids. I think it was a shock to them, but they
really made us feel comfortable and we stayed aboard with them for
a few days. Tom, that was a long time ago and we only had the two
boys at the time and my father was always glad to spend time with
them. Gail, we ruined their runaways after that year. They never
went off without some of their kids, relatives or friends with
them. Tom continued. Somehow or other there were always people with
them except when they took that cruise for their twenty-fifth
anniversary. Mom was a little disappointed by the ship, I think she
had a more luxurious type in mind. It was February and the weather
was awful. Just remember what a disaster that cruise turned out to
be? Yes, they could have died when that rogue wave hit the ship
they were really lucky. But they had a good time anyway. In a way
I'm still jealous. We just had our twenty-fifth and couldn't get
away. Too much paperwork to get the boys registered for college,
and it costs a ton of money. Allison's parochial school tuition is
not much, but she will be graduating soon, and we'll have another
college kid to worry about. I think we'll never be able to afford a
real vacation. We don't have a real life of our own anymore.
Remember when we used to go down to Second Beach in Newport, spend
the days on the rocks, and run through the surf. We sure didn't
have a care in the world. How did we get bogged down with all this
responsibility? Good question, answered Gail, We were teenagers and
now we're grown-ups. We got married, we both worked hard, bought
our house, had kids, bought cars, made the house bigger, the kids
got sick from time to time, I had an operation, and we had to take
care of all those animals. And our circle of friends kept getting
larger. Then there are our families, you know how close I am with
my sisters and brother. You only have your brother who we don't see
too often, his two children will probably be getting married soon,
and our extended family will just keep getting larger. Gail, we are
still working hard, maybe harder since the boys started college.
It's not family responsibility that comes between us. You're
forgetting that your high-powered job not only keeps you away from
home a lot, and you really work more hours a day than I do. Also
you make so much more money than I do that you are the main
breadwinner. Not that I'm complaining, but sometimes it just seems
as though it doesn't matter if I work or not. Tom, you're wrong
It's your income that puts us over the top. We seem to spend every
cent I earn, and it's your earnings that give us a really good
life. I realized how important your income was when you were sick
last year and couldn't work for six months. Sick? I wasn't 'sick' I
had a 'little' stroke.' That is worse than just being sick. I don't
know if or when it could happen again, and it changes the way I
think about things. Life is so tenuous. We never know what will
come next. Before we know it, both our
General
Imprint: |
X Libris
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
March 2010 |
First published: |
March 2010 |
Authors: |
Rose Epstein
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 19mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Sewn / Cloth over boards / With dust jacket
|
Pages: |
274 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-4500-2829-5 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
Genre fiction >
Sagas
|
LSN: |
1-4500-2829-2 |
Barcode: |
9781450028295 |
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!