Chapter Six Driving to the pier, both Jason and Sophie were quiet.

Then all of a sudden they would start talking over each other. Nervous laughter filled the car. Sophie was driving slowly to soak up all the time she could with Jason. It was almost 8:30 p.m. when they arrived at the pier. Getting out of the car, Jason went to the trunk and took out his sea bag. In it was enough clothes, shaving gear, magazines, paper to write letters for a 6 week cruise. He always packed more than he was told to, as you never know. Sophie held onto Jason as he hugged her. He whispered to her, "Sophie, I am falling for you. I will miss you every second of the next 744 hours. I can't wait to stand here, in this very spot and see you waiting for me. Will you be here waiting for me Sophie?" Sophie couldn't help it, she started to gently sob into his shoulder. She pulled back to look at him and said, "Yes, I will be here waiting for you to come back. I'm falling for you too." With that said, Jason kissed her gently and told her that he would be back soon. He also told her not to watch him walk away. He was afraid it would hurt her too much and he didn't want her to feel any pain. "Okay, I won't watch." Sophie said as she nervously played with her car keys. "I'll see you soon!" She said as he turned to leave. She got into her car and quickly turned it around so the rear was facing the pier. She figured that it was safe as she couldn't really twist her body around to watch him leave. Then she caught a glimpse of another couple saying good bye in her rear view mirror and as they broke apart from their embrace, she saw Jason's back retreating to the pier. Tears of sadness ran slowly down her cheeks into her hair. She wiped them away impatiently and put the car in first gear. Driving slowly off of the base she thought about the return of her sailor. At work the next day, Sophie told Marla that Jason had left for a cruise and wouldn't be back until almost Christmas. "That's just wrong." Marla remarked "He's going to miss Thanksgiving??!!" "They serve turkey on the ship for Thanksgiving, Marla. I thought that I would make him a Thanksgiving feast when he returns though. Do you think that's a good idea? Do you think he would like it?" Marla just stared at Sophie for a minute and then said "Girl, you are falling for this boy, aren't you?" "Wait. Back up. It's not falling for, you are gone!" Sophie realized that Marla was right. She had fallen hard for Jason and missed him terribly. "Yes, I have fallen for him. I haven't known him for very long, but I feel like I have known him forever. Have you ever felt that for a man?" Marla just replied with a simple, "No." Shaking her head, she turned back to the drive-through tubes and opened the lanes as 9 a.m. was upon them and the line was long for a Monday in the middle of the month. Sophie sat down in her office and turned to her computer. Waiting for her email program to load up she composed a letter to Jason in her head. Hi Jason, it's me Sophie. Wait, that's stupid. Hi Jason! How are you doing? I've been really busy here at work... Sophie realized that her phone was ringing. "Hello?" "Hi Sophie, it's Jason. How are you doing this morning?" Sophie almost dropped the phone when she heard Jason's voice across the phone lines. "I'm doing better now Jason. How did you get a chance to call me?" Jason told her that he was in the office and through with his job for the time being. "My boss let me use the land line to call you as he saw me moping around. He told me that I had a sad face on and wanted to cheer me up." Jason laughed as he told her this. "Can you imagine a Sr. Chief telling me that I had a sad face?" Sophie laughed as she tried to imagine Jason at work. "Are you sitting at a desk or are you standing at a phone?" Jason replied, "I'm sitting at a desk. I only have a few minutes. I wanted to call you and to tell you that I miss you already. I couldn't really sleep last night as I missed you and I was thinking of you. I dreamt about you when I did sleep and they were good dreams. How did you sleep?" Sophie told him. "I didn't really sleep at all Jase. I was too lonely thinking of you walking down the pier and going onto the ship. Is this how it will be every time I drop you off for a cruise?" Jason was surprised. He hadn't really thought that Sophie felt that way about their relationship yet. He thought that they were made for each other and one

day they would be married and have kids. He didn't think that Sophie was thinking that way too. It surprised him, but it made him extremely happy and suddenly he wanted to burst through the phone with all the feelings he was trying to convey to her. "Sophie, I have to run back to work. I know you must be busy as well. Keep busy honey. I will talk to you soon, okay? I miss you." Sophie heard the word and it threw her for a loop. She wanted to say so many things since he said that word, but no concrete words came out. "Jason, I will see you soon. I will think of you constantly and miss you every second of every minute." "Bye" Jason said and he was gone. She thought about the phone call as she hung up the phone. "He called me honey. Wow!! That was the first time he did that." She turned back to her computer where her email program was waiting for her. Instead of typing an email to Jason though, she just stared into space, right into Charlie's office. "Sophie, are you alright?" Charlie had magically appeared in one of the chairs across from Sophie. "I'm fine Charlie, how are you?" "Sophie, I'm really worried about you lately. Even though you are keeping up with your customers and your work is as perfect as always, you are staring into space a lot. If you want to talk, I'm here, okay?" Sophie looked at Charlie and replied, "Thanks Charlie. I'm fine. The guy I have been dating left this morning. He's a sailor and will be gone for a while." Charlie's face registered surprise then shock. "I had no idea you were dating anyone, much less a sailor. When did this happen?" Sophie felt very uncomfortable talking to Charlie about her personal life. "A while ago, Charlie." Elise, seeing Charlie sitting in Sophie's office and Sophie looking her way, buzzed her on the phone. "Excuse me Charlie, I have to get this." Charlie rose and left the office, slowly working her way back to her own space. "Thanks girl, I owe you one!" Sophie told Elise when she picked up the phone. Driving home that night, Sophie thought about what Charlie had said to her. Not the actual words so much as the expressions on her face. Sometimes Charlie was a real pain to work with. Usually she kept her nose out of Sophie's life, but lately she was butting in and it made Sophie feel smothered. "Charlie isn't my mom." she thought pulling into the lot in front her of her building. Parking next to Jason's truck, Sophie got out and walked to the door. Grabbing the mail from the box, reading it as she walked, she didn't notice the flowers on the doorstep until she was almost stepping on them. They were in a huge green basket. Dozens of daisies in all different colors. Sophie smiled and shrieked with glee. Swooping down she picked up the basket and took it inside. There was a card attached and without even reading it she knew the flowers were from Jason. He must have ordered these before he left and told them to deliver them today, she decided. Opening the card she smiled. "Sophie, I hope these cheer you up for the next few days. I'm thinking of you and wanted to give you these in person. I will bring you some when I return." It looked like Jason had written the card himself, what a nice touch. Sophie couldn't believe how lucky she was to have found someone like Jason. At a Halloween party, no less! It still amazed her at how close she came to not going that night. Her life had changed in just 2 weeks of knowing Jason. Putting the flowers in a vase, she thought about what to fix for dinner. Dinner for one wasn't her choice, she missed having someone to talk to while she ate. Jason's presence was missing from every corner of her apartment. He took up the rooms with his personality and his voice. It seemed so empty without him. Sophie took the flowers to the living room, picked up the phone and listened for voice mail messages. There were none. Going upstairs to change, she decided to write Jason an email about her day. Booting up her laptop she changed to jeans and a t-shirt, grabbed the laptop and made her way downstairs to the living room. As she looked at her flowers on the table, she was filled with good thoughts of Jason and smiled as she typed. Hitting send made her feel accomplished. Looking up at the clock she was shocked to see it was nearly 9 p.m. She had typed him a long email for almost an hour! Telling him all about her day and how much she missed him took up a lot of room. As the days passed, Sophie felt herself getting used to Jason not being around. She didn't jump every time the phone rang, hoping it was him, she had stopped crying at night missing

him. They had been dating for only 2 weeks when he left and he didn't even pressure her for sex. He was just a really good kisser. He was the first guy that didn't want just sex, he wanted to get to know her as a person, to be friends with her first. She knew that he was into her though, she could tell as he held her before going home each night. He never asked to stay or for her to stay with him. He cared for her as a person, not just as a woman. It made her feel warm inside knowing that he respected her and was falling in love with her for the right reasons. The reasons that she was always hoping a man would have with her, but never did. "Jason," she thought to herself on day 9 of his being away, "could be Mr. Right." The thought startled her for a minute, then filled her with peace. In the few emails he had sent her, she could tell that he was busy, but thinking of her when he could. That made her feel even closer to him. She had sent him a long, handwritten letter yesterday, trying to describe her feelings for him even though they hadn't known each other for very long. He had explained to her that it could be over a week before he received the letter. The next day she received an email from Jason telling her that he had gotten her first letter. She did what he asked and put a number one on the envelope, right under her return address. That way he would be sure that he was reading them in the order she wrote them. Thanksgiving week arrived and Sophie was invited to eat with her parents and sister if she wanted. Sam was driving to Nags Head, NC, where her parents lived now. Sophie wasn't sure if she should go or not. Stacey, Marla and Elise had talked her into staying here for a change. They were going to have a girls only Thanksgiving. Turkey, ham, stuffing, potatoes, brownies, movies and pajamas. Sounded good to Sophie and as she picked up the phone to call her mom with the news, she was filled with sadness that Jason was missing his first Thanksgiving with her. "Hopefully there will be others. I will just have to make him a huge feast when he gets home. That will help him forget the awful food they must give him on the ship." To Sophie nothing was better than turkey and ham for Thanksgiving, it was one of the traditions that she had kept as an adult. "Hi mom, dad, it's Sophie. Just wanted to tell you that I will not be with y'all this year for Thanksgiving. I'm spending it with friends. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving and weekend. Bye!" Sophie was so relieved when she heard the voice mail pick up and after leaving that message she felt a weight lifted from her shoulders. Sophie was in charge of making the brownies and mashed potatoes. The girls were gathering at her townhouse as she had the biggest collection of DVD's and the biggest tv. She didn't mind as she needed company in her house, it just felt very lonely. Getting up Wednesday morning, the 26th of November, she made a mental shopping list. Brownie mix, potatoes, cranberry sauce, popcorn, soda, beer, wine coolers. Everyone was staying the night as they didn't have to work until 10 a.m. on Friday. The bank decided to let the staff have a late morning arrival. They had never done this before and everyone was excited about being the first at doing it. Of course the customers had a real problem with it as it was traditionally known as "Black Friday" in the retail world. The one day a year that the retailers across the USA could make enough profit to get them in the black again. It was the official start of the Christmas shopping season. Sophie didn't really think that one hour would make a difference in the fine art of Christmas shopping. "Good grief!" she thought as she was told about the complaining people by Charlie that morning. "I guess they have to bitch about something, Charlie. I wouldn't think that one hour would really matter, considering that most of them shop online!" Sophie was right on that point. Most of their customers were in the higher tax bracket, high class people. They did not go to the stores the day after Thanksgiving and wait in a line for 2 hours. They went online in their fancy upscale dens and pointed, clicked and shopped that way. Thinking of Christmas shopping made Sophie realize she need to buy for her parents, Sam and most importantly Jason. She already had one gift each for her friends tucked away in the closet, wrapped and waiting for Christmas Eve. That's when the girls gathered at Marla's apartment, drank cider and exchanged gifts. She still had to buy another gift for each of them. Grocery shopping after work that day, Sophie was glad that they had closed early. The

customers weren't happy with that change either. They had put signs up at Halloween warning the customers that they were closing at 3 p.m. the day before Thanksgiving and not opening until 10 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving. No bank had done this before and Sunrise was hoping to be the first out of the gate. They were striving to make the bank employees more like a family by giving them things. Shirts, picnics in the summer and now the schedule changes. Sophie hummed "Jingle Bells" under her breath as she stood in the checkout line. Carrying the bags to her car, she was filled with happiness for spending the night with her friends. They hadn't seen much of her since Jason arrived in her life and they needed to get back in touch as friends. Stirring the batter for the brownies, Sophie thought of what she would make Jason for Thanksgiving. She had picked up a few extra things today so she could get ahead of the game when he came home. All she would have to do is get another ham and she was ready for his feast. "Does he like ham?" she wondered. "I will just ask him in the next email what he ate when he was living at home for Thanksgiving. That will give me a good idea." Taking the brownies out of the oven and placing them on the counter to cool, she started to peel the potatoes. Sophie baked her mashed potatoes in the oven. Marla was bringing the turkey over in a few hours to get it all prepped. Elise and Stacey were bringing their food over the next day around 10 a.m. or so. They weren't planning on eating until one or so. Didn't really matter as they weren't going anywhere. Elise was bringing over "Legally Blonde 2" to watch. Sophie didn't have that one yet, she had seen it in the theater over the summer with Stacey and really liked it. Baking mashed potatoes was one of the few things that her mom had taught her to do in the kitchen. Her mom really didn't cook, her dad did most of the cooking. When he was gone, Sophie did the majority of the cooking. After the potatoes were golden brown, she took them out of the oven to cool and put the brownies in a container. Reading the paper Sophie caught up on the news around her. She was getting hungry but didn't really feel like cooking anything, so she just got some pasta salad she had made over the weekend and ate that. Once the potatoes were cool enough she put them in the fridge, she could just warm them in the oven, during the last hour that the turkey was roasting.