The Peter Charles - 18. Chapter 18

Morning routine established with the boys. Scott and Travis had breakfast this morning, we took our coffee and headed to work. “You’re awful quiet this morning, what are you thinking about?”

“What Peter said last night about missing Adam. I miss all of those boys. Glen, there has to be a way they could become our sons. I know it would be a house full, but there would be a lot of love as well. We can bring the boys in tomorrow to shop for Nicky's birthday gifts.”

“We’ll have to bring the truck and car.”

“That’s okay, with Terry’s help at work, I’ll be okay.”

Tuesday was a snap, Terry and I were almost finished by lunch time. I showed Terry how the record room worked, we call it the vault. Then it was lunch time. “Terry, come with us for lunch. We eat at the Jewish Deli on the corner. That’s where our lunch came from yesterday.” We stopped and picked up Glen, of course we heard, get me a corned beef.

Walking into Stella’s with a new person is always an experience. “Kevin, who is he?"

“An intern at my company."

“Is he Jewish?”

“I think he’s Jewish?” There was no denying that Terry was a good looking man. Stella is always looking for a husband for her daughter, Amy, who is a good looking young woman.

We sat down at our usual table, “Terry, this is the deli that made the sandwiches I brought.”

I looked up and here comes Amy with a big smile and a cup of chicken soup. “Hello, I’m Amy and I’ll be your waitress today. This is a welcome gift from the owner.”

I heard Glen say, ‘my mother and me’. It was obvious that Amy found Terry attractive.

We placed our orders, I don’t think she heard Glen and I. She hadn’t taken her eyes from Terry.

“Terry, I think you have found a new friend. To bad you aren’t Jewish, her mother is looking for a Jewish man.”

“I’m part Jewish. My mother is Jewish, my dad is English.” I looked at Glen and smiled. Amy brought us our lunch, it was a good thing she knew us, I had pastrami and Glen had corned beef, not what we ordered but close enough. Glen and I exchanged half of a sandwich.

“Amy, are you still going back east for college?”

“Yes, my mom has been setting me up with young men from the University here to try and change my mind. She doesn’t realize that she is the reason I want to leave. They are afraid of what may happen if I go back East and I want to go there to gain some freedom.”

“You could still go to college here and have freedom. I take it your mom owns this deli?”

“Yes, and I work here.”

“When you’re in college you won’t be able to work here and study. So you’ll have some independence.”

“I’d listen to Terry, Amy, he goes to the University and finds it to be a good school.” I thought, is Glen playing match maker.

“You know my mom, there aren’t that many Jewish boys around and now she is starting on older men.”

“Why do you say that? Terry is Jewish and your mom hasn't found him yet. I’m sure there are more.” Definitely, Glen is playing match maker.

Amy hung around for a second. I looked at Glen, he had a smile on his face. “What”

“What is this thing about Jewish match makers?”

“Well, she’s a pretty girl, smart and charming, so why should she depend on her mother, she needed help and here sits this handsome young man. So why not?” I looked at Terry, he was blushing. Maybe Glen’s match making was right on.

“Mom, said she was making fresh soup and this was the end of the pot.” She set a cup of chicken soup before Glen and I.

I started to laugh, Glen looked at me and then he started to laugh. Terry wasn’t paying attention, he was looking at Amy. We heard, “Do you think you can show me around town tonight?”

We decided to eat our lunch as if we were there alone, just the two of us. “I wonder what Stella is going to say to us when we pay the bill.”

When we went to pay, Terry was still talking to Amy. “Kevin, is he really Jewish?”

“He told us his mother is Jewish but his father isn’t.”

The smile on Stella’s face indicate that she was planning something. Glen added to it. “He’s going to the University in town here.”

So I added, “He’s very smart, wants to be a mathematics teacher, university level. He’ll need his doctorate for that.”

The more we talked about Terry, the bigger her smile got. We paid for our lunch, including Terry’s. “Stella, just tell him I went back to work, he knows where.”

Walking back, “I didn’t know you were so into fixing other people up with dates.”

“Self preservation” I looked at him as if to say ‘what’. “Well you work with him, he’s attractive, smart and I see him as competition. So I’ll get him interested in Amy and I still have you.”

Now I laughed, “You’re just handing me a line.”

“I know, he appears to be a nice kid and Amy is a nice girl, so why not push a little.”

He was right, Amy was a nice kid, or woman was more like it, if Terry is straight why not play match maker. We heard someone calling our name. When we looked back, Terry was running to catch up. “I didn’t know you left. Amy said you were gone when I was getting ready to leave. Her mother said you paid for my lunch.”

“Look Terry, we want to know two things, first, is Amy going to show you the town and second, are you having dinner at her home tonight?”

He looked like a child with his hand caught in a candy bag, “Yes, but how did you know?”

“We heard a conversation between two people who had just noticed each other”

“And we think it’s just fine, Amy is a very beautiful young lady and if you get her to change her mind about going to school out East, her parents will build a shrine to you.”

Glen went into his Dad’s store, Terry and I continue to my office. “Terry, if we stop on the second floor we can pick up this morning’s transactions. We have time so we can start on them.”

We finished including the transactions we picked up after lunch. Between the two of us, it wasn’t much of a problem. Terry had his clearance to the second floor and the file room, so when we were finished, I let him file the slips.

For the first time. I waited for Glen at his store, I had enough time to walk to the store before he’d head to the car park. “Hi Dad, where is he?”

“In the back, unloading a shipment we just received. Go help him.”

“Only if you promise to get rid of those moldy hot dogs.” He laughed, “You know that the boys believed you and didn’t want to eat.”

I headed to the back. Glen was bent over a box and didn’t see me. I went behind him and grabbed him while saying, “This is a hold up, give me what I want.”

He spun around and gave me what I wanted. “You know you can’t sneak up on me, I smelled your cologne and I’d recognize that voice no matter where we were. Why are you here?”

“Finished early, won’t happen a lot but I think I have found next years summer replacement. Terry is fast and very accurate. It’s too bad he wants to be a math teacher, he would be a whiz at my job.”

“Hey, a three month vacation isn’t bad. Didn’t you say you wanted to work for a few years more.”

“Yep, I’m looking forward to next summer. You’ll need to get Dad to give you time off.”

“I think that’s going to be easy. Mom said she forgot how nice it was to work with Dad. With Nicky being with us, she’ll be alone during the day, so I think she’ll be ready to pitch in at the store. Dad, I’m leaving. I’ll finish unpacking this last box tomorrow.”

On the way out, Dad gave us a hug. I smiled as Glen and I walked to the car park. “Isn’t that Father Damian leaving your building?”