“How was school today?” Richard asked, setting his briefcase on the table.
“It was really interesting today. Not so much the classes, but what I’m finding out about people.”
Richard looked at Cory, his eyebrows rising.
“They are interesting, aren’t they?”
“Yeah, you know? I just met Kevin yesterday and in two days I feel that I know him already.”
“That’s a little quick, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, but Kevin let me look inside him. He wasn’t afraid to talk to me.”
“He’s that bold one, right?” Richard asked.
“That’s him, but I don’t think it’s just him being bold anymore. He just seems, I don’t know, just, comfortable around people.”
“Well, invite him over for dinner some night. I think I’d like to meet him.”
Richard was a little leery and he knew why he was. He was protecting Cory. In this short week he could feel his attachment to this boy grow. He knew that real friendships took time, but teenagers don’t necessarily get to pick their friends like adults do. They’re thrown together at school. Adults get to pick their friends. They have a choice, teenagers don’t.
“It seems so different here. Back in Plymouth, I wouldn’t dare ask anyone over. But now – I don’t know – now it just seems okay. I mean now I really want to.”
Richard instantly saw it. Cory had hidden his life away in Plymouth. He had put it on hold for three years. But in this short week, Cory had started looking at the world around him and was opening up to it. Cory was letting someone into his life again. This is what being a parent is about, helping their children grow and eventually face the world on their own. Cory had started that journey and Richard smiled to himself. Richard now knew that he had made the right decision. Cory was making him whole again too.
“It’s a done deal then. Find out what evening is good for him, and I’ll make my special lasagna.”
“Okay. I’ll ask him tomorrow.” Cory paused. “You know? This is almost like having Mike back.”
“Have you written to him lately?”
“No. I should though. So much has happened to me.”
“Yeah, it sure has,” Richard sighed, “and to me too.”
Cory returned to his room to finish his homework. He didn’t have much, but he had to keep to the promise that he had made to himself. School was now important.
After he closed his Geometry book for the evening, he sat and looked around his room. This was his place now. This is where he belonged.
He grabbed a blank sheet of paper and started writing. He told Mike everything, how his dad had abused him, threw him out that night, finding Richard, finding a new home, finding a new school, finding new friends, Kevin, everything. He told Mike how he really felt about Kevin. Cory had a tear cross his cheek as he had just put his life on 8 pieces of paper. Again he looked around his room, and smiled.
It was Friday, the last day of Cory’s first week at his new school. He couldn’t help but dream about how things had so quickly changed. He felt good.
Kevin met him at his locker just before the bell for his first class, and they started walking together.
“Hey. Richard wants to meet you. You know, dinner some time,” Cory said as they walked.
“Who’s Richard?”
“Oh, I’ve never told you. He’s sort of my foster dad.”
Kevin stopped.
“Foster dad?”
“Yeah, my real dad and I didn’t get along so well, and I started living with Richard a week ago. That’s kinda why I’m here now and not back in Plymouth.”
Cory hated what he had just done. He didn’t actually lie to Kevin, but he knew that by leaving out a lot of it, he wasn’t really being honest and truthful with him.
“So this Richard took you in, huh?”
“Kinda like that, yeah.”
“Have you known him long?”
“No, not long but the story is very long and we don’t have time right now.”
Kevin again turned to look at Cory. Just then the bell rang. They had a minute left.
When lunch time finally arrived, Cory made his way to the cafeteria. He grabbed a tray and started into the line to get his lunch. He glanced over to where his empty table would be, but it wasn’t empty. Kevin was sitting there, and he was watching him as he went through the line.
After getting what vaguely looked like a hamburger, he made his way over to where Kevin was waiting for him. As he sat down, he caught that sparkle. Kevin was obviously glad to see him again.
“Hey! You’re here before me this time,” Cory remarked.
“Yeah, we didn’t finish our conversation this morning.”
Cory panicked. He knew that he had not told Kevin about why he was here and not in Plymouth. He picked up his hamburger, waiting for the mountain to shake and crush his world. He wasn’t ready to lay it all out to Kevin yet.
“What day and what time?”
“Huh?”
“Yeah, what day and what time do you want me over for dinner?”
“Oh, ah, what’s good for you?”
“I’m kinda booked this weekend. I’ve got homework to do tonight cuz tomorrow night I’m supposed to take Brandy out to a movie. I won’t have time to do any homework then. And Sunday is family day. We usually plan Sunday as a family.”
“How about next weekend then?”
“Well, I’d kinda like to meet this Richard guy. How about we plan on sometime during the week? I can bring my homework with me and we can do ours together, you know, just sorta hang out for the evening. How’s that sound?”
Cory was ecstatic. He thought of Kevin, and him being in his room together, alone, just hanging out like friends do.
“Well, how about Wednesday night then?”
“Done. Oh, where do you live? I don’t have a bike so I hope it’s not far.”
“It’s about two miles from here. We can always ride the bus.”
“Ah, I can make a mile or two. We’ll walk, okay?”
“It’s a date.” Cory laughed out.
Kevin shot a look up at Cory.
‘Oops,’ Cory thought. “Sorry. I just meant Wednesday’s the date that you’ll get to meet Richard.”
“Okay,” Kevin grinned.
“Who’s Brandy?” Cory asked after a short pause.
“Just someone who I’ve dated a couple of times.”
“But you said that you don’t have a girlfriend?” Cory questioned.
“I don’t. She likes going to movies and so do I, so we sometimes go together.”
“She’s a friend then?”
“Not close, but we know each other.”
Cory didn’t understand.
“But you said the word ‘date?”
“Oh, you could call it that, I suppose. That’s just a word though that people throw around. Oh, she might call it a date, and other guys think we’re dating, but it’s more casual than that.”
Cory had already known that Kevin was straight, and he sure seemed so casual around girls. He’s obviously waiting for someone special to come along. But he knows just about everyone in the school, so he’s got to have seen someone who he wants for his girlfriend. Cory’s head reeled.
“Hey, dipshit. You gonna finish that ‘hamburger’ I guess they call it?”
“Nah, you want it?” Cory had lost his appetite.
“That’s okay. I want to make it through the day alive,” Kevin laughed.
Wednesday was drawing near and Cory was getting excited. He had only one more day to wait until Kevin was in his home. Yes, Cory was really beginning to call Richard’s house his home. He felt it. It wasn’t just a word.
After finishing his homework early Tuesday evening, he walked downstairs to the kitchen. Richard was there, making some kind of salad.
“What’s for dinner?” Cory asked.
Richard turned around to look at Cory.
“Nothing if I have to cook.”
“Huh?”
“You’re making dinner tonight.” Richard grinned.
“But I don’t know how to make dinner.” Cory pleaded.
“Of course you do. What have you been doing for the last three years?”
Cory remembered his lonely evenings back in Plymouth. He had to fix something for himself every night to eat. Just about everything came from a box or a can though, so all he had to do was to know how to heat it on the stove.
“But that wasn’t really cooking. That was just heating.”
“Well, you got that hard part learned already. You could turn on the stove without burning the house down. That’s quite an accomplishment for a 15 year old.”
“Hey, I’m almost 16.”
“Okay. Okay, so now it’s time that you learned how to select your dinner food a little differently.”
“What do I have to do?”
“Well, the first thing is to realize that you can’t rely on chips and soda. You need other things in you. You’re growing and that takes fuel, real fuel.”
“So what have you got planned for me to do?”
“I don’t have anything planned. It’s going to be your choice tonight.”
“But I still don’t know what to do. What do you want me to cook?” Cory pleaded.
“Okay. I’ve chosen a couple of things for you to choose from. You can make a meatloaf if you want. There’s hamburger thawed in the refrigerator. Or, you can grill some chicken breasts. I also have some pork chops thawed, if you’d like”
“I think I’d like to try grilling. You have to teach me though. I’ve never used a gas grill before.”
“Okay. Chicken it is. But Cory, you forgot something.”
“Huh?”
“Cory, you should have asked me if that’s what I wanted too.”
“Oh. Sorry. Is chicken okay?”
“Perfect. Now, come on outside and I’ll show you what you have to do.”
This little scene hit Cory just then. It was exactly what he thought a ‘home’ should be like, a family doing things together. He remembered what Kevin had said about his Sundays. It was his family day.
Richard showed Cory how to light the grill and had to emphasize how to do it safely. Once the chicken breasts were on, Cory turned to Richard but stopped in thought for a moment. Finally he asked.
“What do you normally do on Sundays?”
“Oh, nothing much. Sometimes I work at home. I don’t go out much. I read a lot.”
“Have you ever thought of making Sundays a special day, you know, something that you could look forward to?”
Richard started remembering the Sundays that he and his wife would spend together. They always included his daughter. Those were happy times.
“They used to be, but not lately. There’s just me here, so I guess I used my time to work.”
“Would you like to? I mean make Sundays a special day.”
“Yeah, I liked it when my family was still here, but then I’ve been alone for a while.”
They both stood quiet for a while.
“Richard?”
“Yes.”
“You have me now.”
Richard turned toward Cory, his eyes beginning to fog. He walked up to him and put his arm over his shoulder, saying nothing right away, composing himself.
“Would you like that Cory, making Sundays our day?” he finally asked.
Cory looked at Richard.
“Yeah, very much so. It’s a family thing, you know? I think I’d like that.”
Richard nodded, unable to speak, wanting this so much. The word ‘family’ sounded so good to him.
And to Cory.
After dinner, Richard started planning the dinner with Kevin for the following evening. His special lasagna really wasn’t his. He’d gotten the recipe off of the Food Network site on the internet. It was one of Emeril Lagasse’s, but it was so good that he had adopted it as his own with only slight modifications. He would have to be home early tomorrow, as Emeril’s (now his) recipe would take hours to follow. He’d have just a salad and garlic bread to finish out the meal.
Just then he turned to Cory, who was finishing wiping down the counter.
“Cory?”
“Yeah?”
Cory turned around to face Richard.
“Let’s go out tonight.”
“But, we just had dinner.”
“No. I don’t mean going out to dinner. Let’s go shopping.”
Richard thought of the Food Network on his computer.
“But we don’t need anything. I have my new clothes, and you went food shopping yesterday, unless you need anything for tomorrow.”
“No. I have everything. I just need to pick up some French bread tomorrow so it’s still fresh.”
“Well, what then?”
“Just a surprise.”
“I hate surprises.”
“You’ll like this one,” Richard said, grinning.
“Alright. Let me finish here and then we can go.”
They got into Richard’s car and were off to the city, Cory very skeptical and his face showed it. He hated surprises. For him they’d always meant something bad.
Richard pulled the car into the parking lot of Best Buy. It was his favorite place for electronics.
“What’s this? You have a good TV.”
“I know, but I’m looking for something else.”
Cory was trying to think of just what Richard wanted.
“Cory? Okay, I’ll tell you.” Richard said as they walked toward the front entrance. “I need a new computer. Some of the programs that I use at home are just too much for the old processer. So, I’m upgrading.”
Cory looked at Richard. Now he was okay. He hated surprises, and this wasn’t going to be a surprise anymore.
“Cool.”
As they walked the aisles looking at the different computers, Richard spotted one that had the newest processer he was looking for. It had all the memory that he would need for now and also came with the new flat screen monitor that had just been introduced. This was a top of the line machine. He just needed a good sound system to go with it.
Cory was excited about what Richard was looking at. He knew what that machine represented. It was Richard’s freedom when he was at home, and Cory thought he might get Richard’s old computer, if he asked properly with dignity. Cory had already decided to plead and beg.
After they had purchased the computer and sound system, they headed over toward the CD section.
“Why don’t you pick out a couple of albums for yourself, Cory. You can have some music to play on my new computer when you’re home.
Cory looked at Richard. He never went into Richard’s office. Now he’d have to turn the sound way up so he could hear it in the family room where he hung out.
Once home and the car parked in the garage, Cory helped Richard carry the equipment into the house and headed for Richard’s study. The box that Cory was carrying was unwieldy.