Lomax Family Ch. 8 We're Moving

Mike and Lucy Lomax finally found and bought their new home; a small two story only blocks from Andy and Holly. There was no pool, but the house had a large yard and they could certainly put in a pool later if they wanted to do so.

The front door opened into the hall and to the right was the elevated front living room that they thought was charming and unique.

There was an eat-in kitchen, but no dining room. Since they didn't really care for formal entertaining, this was not an issue for Mike and Lucy.

Also on the ground floor was the master bedroom; an en suite bathroom that was also accessible from the nursery. There was a second full bath for the guests. Upstairs were two more bedrooms and a bathroom, but the the time being they did not even worry about decorating them. In fact, for the moment they were using them for storage and Mike's exercise machine.

Mike had been encouraging Lucy to give up her career in journalism so that they could have more time together and on the hope that she might conceive in the next two or three years. His working hours were much shorter than hers. Now that they had their own place they had definitely changed their views about waiting five years more to start a family. 

Lucy knew that Mike sincerely believed she should write another book and it would be much easier if she wasn't working full time. Her first published book had been a thinly veiled semi-biographical fiction that was completely based on her father. It was titled "My Dad's a Kook". Her father, Josh Burb, never even seemed to know it was about him.  She loved him but his behavior had always been so random and mystifying at times that she had grown up knowing that she could get affection from her father--when he was not distracted with grandiose ideas and schemes--but her mother was the one she could count on. Like the time he showed up at her wedding where everyone was dressed formally wearing a pair of sloppy cargo pants and a sport shirt. Or when he quite his respectable day job to work as a DJ at the Club Dante when she was in high school. He wore shiny pants, a scarf around his neck and tight shirts that were unbuttoned halfway down. It was embarrassing at the time. 

The book had sold quite well and so now she gave up her job at the newspaper and began to work seriously on her writing, trying to complete a certain number of pages each morning.Sometimes, when Mike was at work and she got writer’s block or was just a little lonesome and bored, she’d go over to the Good Eats Café and talk with her father-in-law, Larry Max. He was becoming more of a father to her than Josh was. The food there was delicious—just like the meals Larry Max had cooked when they all lived at the big house—and she was getting in the habit of having a late lunch there every day. She liked the warm atmosphere of the little restaurant and, when it wasn’t too busy in the late afternoon, she sometimes brought her notes and sat at a table in the corner and wrote. It was a good place to people-watch too, and that was important to her writing.

Of course, Lucy wrote at home, too. Often at night while Mike got online and gave financial advice, she sat in the living room and wrestled with her muse. Mike was the one to go to for financial advice since he was at the top of the heap now in the business field, and he was making quite a bit of money as an online advisor. The helicoptor still picked him up four days a week and took him to his office in the big city, then returned him to their new home at 6 pm. The neighbors hated the noise, but they were impressed with his obvious importance, so they didn’t complain too much.For some reason Lucy had found that she could not seem to write as well on the computer as she did by hand. 
 

As for their free time, Mike and Lucy still loved gaming and were very competitive with each other.

With more time now for just traipsing about Pleasantview and Bluewater Village Lucy frequently went shopping for clothes or books and then always ended the morning or afternoon with a visit to the cafe. Occasionally she ran into not only friends, but family members while she was out and about. She had been checking out the latest sale at Amelia's Closet when two of her in-laws walked in, Andy and Holly. She was happy to see Holly especially; they'd become close when they were all living at the big house. Of course Andy and Holly were still living there with the twins. It was crazy how they hadn't seen each other much since Mike and Lucy moved to the new house, but they were so busy with their babies they didn't get out very often. When she and Holly began to reminisce about their university days, they suddenly remembered the school cheer and--feeling like schoolgirls again for a moment--they lost all propriety and did the cheer right there in the store. Andy just kept going through the clothing racks pretending they were complete strangers to him. That just made them laugh even more.

Mentioning that she'd probably be having lunch at the Good Eats Cafe, Lucy asked if they could join her. They had a new live-in nanny and so she hoped they would, but they had just finished a late breakfast of pancakes cooked by Holly so they weren't hungry at all and, in fact, were headed to the mini-mall. They had recently finished redoing some of the rooms at the house, even knocking out walls, and needed to get a few last items for decor. 

So Lucy went on to the cafe and speculated that if she didn't start eating at home a little more she would lose what cooking abilities she had. Holly had been the one who cooked most of the meals when they were all living together, and Lucy had done the dishes and cleaned up things, but her long hours had kept her from doing much cooking.The meal at the cafe was enjoyable as always and she could see that the service was getting better as Larry Max learned the restaurant business the hard way, but she determined that she would start working on her culinary skills at home. She loved visiting with her father-in-law but, after all, he had things to do."Maybe eating there two or three times a week would be okay instead of almost every day," she admitted. But she knew that going there and writing at that little corner table was just one of those guilty pleasures that was hard to give up. Maybe she could learn to enjoy the library just as much, but she doubted it. If only there was friendly book store in town with plenty of seating and a coffee bar. "Oh, well," she thought, "The thing for me to do now is to get back to that oven and see if I can make something to eat without burning it."

Next update: Author's Note "There's Been a Slight Hitch"

Author's note on Chelsea Lomax HERE

The Lomax Family Ch. 9 Elle's Gallery

 

Lomax Family Ch 4 Pt 2 Mike and Lucy Back in Pleasantview

When Mike was dressed to go to the Burb's home he went downstairs, wound the grandfather clock and fed the fish.

Larry Max came out of his new downstairs bedroom cuffing the sleeves of his red shirt. He’d paired it with dress khakis and looked very nice. Mike had just put on clean khaki shorts and a muscle shirt. It was extremely hot that day and the party was outdoors. Larry Max had to go straight to work from the party, though.

“Is your mom meeting us over there?” he asked Mike.

“No.”

“Well, do we need to pick her up then?”

“No. I didn’t ask her—I don’t want to see her and I’m sure not going to have her around Lucy.”

“Son,” Larry Max said quietly, “Your mom is not like this most of the time; I thought you realized that. I went with her to take Andy to the University; I talk on the phone with her probably once a week and I often run into her in town. We get along fine—no arguing, no cross words at all. It’s only when she comes over here to get into mischief that she acts like another person. That’s what I meant when I said I was worried about her sanity.”

“Oh, no I didn’t realize, how could I? That’s why she kept asking what I was talking about, I guess.”

“When did you talk to her?”

“Earlier this morning,” Mike was a little ashamed, “I told her off about the stupid garbage trick. She didn’t act crazy, just upset, she even asked me to put you on the phone. I suppose I acted like a kid.”

“Do you want me to call her for you and see if she can make it today?” Larry Max asked him.

“No. Until we know what is going on in her head, I frankly don’t want her around my future in-laws. Nor do I want her around Lucy at this point.”

“Okay. I understand.”

When they arrived at the Burb house, Lucy’s mother Katharine was waiting for them at the front gate. She was very friendly and warm. Lucy’s dad was evidently in the backyard already.

Of course Mike already knew both of them, but Katharine introduced herself to Larry Max and they spoke about the day, the coming wedding and other things as they walked around to the little gazebo out back.

Mike and Lucy hadn’t seen each other in days and quickly cuddled up on a bench on the back deck. Lucy had twin sisters and one of them, Karen, giggled at them as she walked by on her way to the pool. At some point the couple went over to talk with her parents and his father, who apologized for having to leave to go to his job so soon. No one really noticed that Katharine Burb’s eyes lingered on Larry Max as he left.

After Larry Max left, Lucy went over to sit next to Mike and the twins came over from the pool. Now, Mike had met Lucy’s little sisters before and he thought they were cute and agreeable little girls; always smiling or giggling and playing with their toys. Mike had a younger sister, Chelsea, so he figured he knew how little girls were.

When Karen sat down everyone happened to be discussing ecology in general and she jumped into the subject. Going on about how the planet was being trashed and no one cared—her words and phrases indicated that she was quoting someone—she would make a face every time anyone else ventured to give a different opinion or ask what she considered a stupid question. The general tone of her rant was that these were the facts and anyone who couldn’t see that was an idiot. Mike got worried when Kirstie joined them, thinking she might begin to spout invective, too. Were these kids really only seven? But Kirstie stayed silent with a gentle expression on her face. Nothing seemed to bother her. Not so, Karen, who was really getting wound up. When Mike looked at her parents to see if they were upset by this tirade, he was mildly shocked to see them smiling fondly at the little minx. As Mike looked at the girls seated across from him he couldn’t help thinking they were like night and day.  Lucy just watched her sister and didn’t say anything.  At this point, Karen, in an effort to describe how moronic some people were about this subject, blew a raspberry at no one in particular--Phbbbt!

Mike had a sudden frightening picture of Lucy delivering twin girls who grew to be precocious seven-year-olds.  He was reading “The Cat in the Hat” to them when one piped up,

“Daddy, get with the program--if you believe that phony baloney you must have a hole in your head! Why don’t you read us a classic that is relevant and stimulating, like ‘The Bell Jar’ or ‘Catcher in the Rye’?”  And the other twin wrinkled her pert little nose and stuck her tongue out at him.  Almost the worst part in his hideous daydream was that Lucy then said,

“Oh, honey, aren’t they sweet? And so bright, too!” 

As Karen kept up her critical monologue, Mike was actually starting to feel physically unwell. He might be coming down with something. 

Just then his sweet and shy Lucy, sitting right next to him, opened her mouth and a veritable torrent of angry words spilled out, aimed at Karen. Mike was alarmed at this abrupt change; Lucy looked like a demented shrew as she berated her sister. The kind of shrew that would be waiting with a rolling pin in her hand if her husband returned home late one night.

“Here I brought my future husband and his father over here to meet our family and what did you do? You plopped down here with the adults, basically uninvited, and went on and on about current affairs like you were some television commentator.  And if anyone dared to disagree with you, you were crabby and rude! I’m only glad that Mr. Lomax had already left. To top that; Mom and Dad just sat there and practically applauded and--don’t you dare hold your nose while I’m talking, you little brat! Why are you so obnoxious today?”

At these remarks Karen seemed to calm down and managed to look perplexed,

“What did I do? I was just telling everyone what my teacher told us the other day, that’s all.” 

Then she said dismissively, “Oh, you’re just so touchy, Lucy.”

Josh roused himself at last saying,

“Now girls, behave. Karen, I’ll have to talk to you later and explain what good manners mean. Lucy, you shouldn’t call your little sister a brat. Apologize to Lucy, Karen.”

 Karen heaved a big sigh of resignation like she was bored with it all and said petulantly,

“I’m sorry! Sheesh!”

“Lucy?” Josh prompted, “Please say you’re sorry to Karen.”

“I’m so sorry you’re such a brat, Karen.”

Karen crossed her eyes and thumbed her nose at her sister.

Now it was Josh’s turn to sigh.

They all decided to take a dip in the pool and it seemed to help cool tempers as well as bodies.  Lucy had returned to her tranquil self right away and to Mike’s relief her pretty face went back to normal just as quickly.  He’d seen her annoyed, he’d seen her angry, but this had been quite an escalation. More like rage on its way to fury.

Little Kirstie was still pleasant and still silent. Possibly she knew from past experience that it was the safest thing for her to do. 

“Well that was certainly interesting,” Mike said as he and Lucy were saying goodbye.

“Do you want to cancel the wedding?” Lucy asked glumly, only half-kidding.

Mike laughed, “No, I don’t want to cancel the wedding! I love you and I can’t wait to marry you, Babe. I have to admit for a while there I was thinking of having an emergency vasectomy though.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Lucy bit her lip, “I mean she’s not usually like that.”

“I’m kidding, right.”

But Mike hoped he would have no bad dreams tonight about demonic children who made hideous faces at him while they subjected him to hours of talk radio.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following week Larry Max had been thinking about what Mike suggested; that he should get out a little more.  So when he had a day off from the restaurant on Wednesday, he decided to go to Bluewater Village and check out Galaxy Arcades. If he had time, he might also visit Club Dante.

The arcade was nice but not many people were there. He played some pinball, but decided he could do that at home and headed over to the club next. That was a little livelier. He met Dylan Ottomas, the oldest of the Ottomas children, who owned the place. He was surprised to learn the D.J. was Josh Burb; his son’s future father-in-law.  He’d had no idea that was where the man worked. When Dylan found out Larry Max played the guitar he asked him to play a set.  Josh joined in on bass. He was like another person here at the Club compared to the very quiet man Larry Max met at the Burb home. There were only a couple women and only one who looked interesting.

“Not that one,” Dylan said in a low voice when Larry Max noticed the brunette in the blue blouse, “She’s Bella Cullen and she’s married. Her old man is not only possessive, but real scary; believe me.”

“Thanks for the heads up; I’m sure not interested in married women.”

Larry Max was about to ask Dylan why this Cullen guy, if he was so jealous, didn’t keep her at home nights but he decided he lived in a glass house and he’d leave it alone.

He did not meet any new women that night, but he had made a friend in Dylan. When he got home Mike was still up and they played SSX3 for a while.  It wasn’t life in the fast lane, but he guessed meeting women would probably take time. He really wouldn’t know. He’d started dating Jenny at fifteen and their parents had signed for them to get married at seventeen. Jenny had been expecting Mike.  Neither of them had ever dated anyone else, but he knew Jenny was definitely making up for lost time.

At last the day of the wedding was upon them. Everyone was dressed formally, except for Mr. Burb. Unaccountably he showed up wearing something suitable for a day at the beach. Mike for some time had suspected that his new father-in-law was not the sharpest crayon in the box. He always seemed to be going the opposite direction of everyone else; as though he never got the word in time.

At one point, right after the ceremony, Mike’s father had turned his back and moved away from the others, but Mike knew it was because he was a little tearful. They were here at the home they’d had for many years, but Jenny was no longer there and three of the kids were at University. But Larry Max soon recovered and joined everyone else.

When Lucy walked across the lawn in her wedding gown Mike thought she had never looked more beautiful. For the moment he forgot all about obstreperous children and wives with rolling pins because he knew he'd never been happier in his life.

Although he didn’t realize it at the time, Mike found out later there was a wedding crasher. Benjamin Long was walking by as the ceremony began and decided to join everyone. Mike and Lucy did not know him from Adam, but Larry Max told them later that the man lived on the other side of town by the Fergusons. Mr. Long definitely seemed to have a good time and was at least dressed more appropriately than Josh. Amazingly, the twins were on their best behavior that day and looked like adorable angels. Mike decided that was probably why people had kids; they saw a sweet looking baby or child and thought yahoo, let’s have one of those right away. Never knowing that the baby they conceived could someday be telling them they must have rocks in their heads.  It was scary.

This evening Mike, although he had other things on his mind, could not help but notice how Katharine’s eyes followed his father around. She looked at Larry Max like it was a hot day (which it was) and he was an ice cream cone, Mike decided. Larry Max did look very handsome that day, but he seemed oblivious to her admiring glances. Mike just hoped Lucy didn’t notice—or Mr. Burb. Fortunately, Mr. Burb never seemed to notice much that went on around him.

Mike and Lucy spent their wedding night in the “new” bedroom upstairs in the Lomax house. Mike couldn’t even get a couple days off from his new job. But they hoped to take a belated honeymoon on Twikkii Island when their new jobs, vacation days and salary got sorted out. Lucy didn’t mind, she just wanted to be Mike’s wife and be with him, wherever he was.

Next blog update: Sim State U Ch. 4 Melanie and Lori's Place Pt. 1

 

For next installment on the Lomax family go HERE

For news on Jenny Lomax go HERE