Hello,
This series is to be read following "A Thanksgiving Surprise" and "A December to Remember" If you haven't read either of those two stories, you won't know the history of these characters and probably won't enjoy the story as much. I know it has been a long time since "A December to Remember Ch. 03". I apologize for the delay as I was dealing with some pretty serious life issues and I am finally in a good place to continue writing again. The last chapter in a December to Remember felt like it had a rushed ending to me and I'm not really interested in continuing that part of the series at this point. Even though I didn't get to share the ideas I had with Sofia and Isabella in Cozumel... someday hopefully I'll be able to go back to that part of the series and finish it off with another chapter or two. I am more interested in progressing the story of the lives of these characters and not so much as to what happens on the rest of their trip to Cozumel. What I have for you instead is "A Place to Call Home" which is a one or two chapter additional series taking place a few years after" A December to Remember" when Matty has been working for about 1.5 years after graduation. After this chapter, I plan to do one more chapter of a similar size to finish this series completely. I may add some small chapters to the Cozumel storyline and then release the entire anthology as one story but I haven't decided that yet. Hope you enjoy! Comments are always appreciated!
Thanks,
Nick54321
All things considered, life was grand. I graduated about a year and a half ago with my double major in Engineering and Business. I had now been working at an international Engineering Firm that had a regional HQ in our area. I started in an entry level engineering position right out of school but after 6 months, and some company restructuring, I was offered the job of Senior Project Manager. It was a well-paying job for someone with only 6 months of experience and offered substantial opportunities to grow within the company. I was surprised, but jumped at the opportunity that presented itself. The three ladies of the house were not surprised at all and told me I'd be running that place within the year. My drop dead gorgeous blonde sister Cassie and our equally beautiful brunette girlfriend Rachel were all living in a waterfront century home in The Muskokas.
This home was once the crown jewel of the area but has not had the benefit of proper care over the years allowing us to purchase the expansive property for a reasonable price (with some assistance of course from my mother Sara). My mother was also living with us, enjoying early
early
retirement life and had her own wing of the house that she too called home. It was
our home
. The four of us had created an unbreakable bond built on respect, passion, and love. I think our trip to Cozumel is what cemented our relationship. While the four of us are always up for keeping things exciting and maybe adding in a partner or...three, we are a family unit of four that essentially functions as one. We cannot and will not falter. Cassie and Rachel are two years into their private practice with an ever-expanding client base. They were both thriving in the medical field and had picked up on the business side of things pretty quickly albeit with a
little
help from me. Life had settled down and we were like a newly redesigned well-oiled machine. After living through the nightmare of the death of my father, and then finding out about his infidelity, the four of us were finally in a permanent positive place. This home was where we would spend the rest of our lives together. We were putting down roots, starting over, building a
family
again. I couldn't help but think these next years would be the best years of my life.
*** A PLACE TO CALL HOME -- CH. 01***
CRACK! THUMP! I was woken from my sleep by two loud sounds that I couldn't quite put my mind on in my half-asleep state. I flipped open the shutters on my window next to my bed and was blinded by the summer sunshine pouring in.
"Gah..." I grunted as I quickly rolled away from the light and off the side of the bed. I threw on my house coat and then I heard a third loud sound that caused me to stop dead in my tracks. It was a woman screaming. I quickly rushed downstairs to find the source of the noise. I hit the main floor foyer before I heard what sounded like pouring liquid coming from the basement accompanied by sounds of despair. I ran downstairs to a sight that I would have never thought I would see. My sister Cassie was standing with her back to me, in cut-off jeans and a white tank top. Her hands were on her cheeks framing her face with a wrench in one hand and a rag in the other. Her hair was up in a ponytail...she had been working and was breathing heavily. She was looking back and forth between a 4" diameter 4 foot septic pipe that had dropped to the floor and the mounting flange that it had been attached to moments before.
"Morning Cass...doing some plumbing are we?" I asked as I brought over an old pail to catch the sludge coming out of the broken end of the pipe. Cassie jumped at the sound of my voice and quickly turned to look at me. I could see there was a look of confusion in her eyes as to what just happened with the sewage pipe.
"Uh....yeah I guess," Cassie laughed as she came over to give me a quick peck on the lips.
"Not going too well... But I'm doing better than our girl over there," Cassie finished as she nodded in the other direction. I looked over and was caught off guard at the sight of Rachel dry heaving over the top of another bucket.
"The...the smell is awful," croaked Rachel as she looked up at us.
"Hey babe," she finished and flashed somewhat of a smile at me. Sure it smelled a little bad down there but nowhere near as bad as Rachel was making it out to be. It was just your typical run of the mill usual septic smell. Luckily it didn't appear that either girl had actually gotten any on them.
"Trying to replace the pipe by yourselves were you?" I inquired knowing full well that the girls were trying to help out with their share of the house repairs. I had a passion for home renovation / remodeling that I must have somehow picked up from my Aunt Joan who was an interior designer and contractor. The leaking septic pipe was a fairly new issue that was a reasonably quick fix once the parts arrived. It was definitely easier for two individuals to hold the weight of the pipe while it is unbolted and swapped out with the new one. I guess the parts had arrived and the girls thought they would tackle it themselves.
"While I appreciate you ladies helping out, why don't you let me take it from here?" I threw off my house coat and was only in my sleep pants without a shirt on. I began to lift the new pipe into position and used one of the hangers to hold it in place while I bolted the new pipe onto the run.