The following night, Nick and Piper headed over to Sailor and Rob’s house for dinner. Her sister lived in a ranch-style home in one of the happy pockets of Boca Del Sol. Piper considered her neighborhood to be a happy pocket, because none of the wealthy, impatient types like the old woman in the drugstore lived there. Instead, the neighborhood was occupied by people of the middle or upper middle class, who had far less money and much more patience than some of their wealthier Boca Del Sol counterparts. Piper liked the neighborhood. It reminded her of the one in which she grew up in Orange Bay.
She and Nick followed Rob inside and into their oversized kitchen. The kitchen featured maple cabinets, granite countertops, and the latest in stainless steel appliances. Like the larger room in which it was situated, it was painted in warm yellow and camel hues. Five bar height swivel chairs butted against the center island, so Piper and Nick each sat down on one of those. Rob headed towards the oven and checked its contents.
“Baked ziti,” he said. “Sailor made a killer baked ziti for you guys and it should be ready in about twenty minutes.”
“Sounds great,” Nick said. “Her ziti is awesome. That’s perfect.”
“I’ll second that!” Piper added. She could smell the delicious aroma of baked ziti in the air. Her stomach could too, as it growled to let her know.
Sailor came out of a back bedroom and joined them. “Anyone want a drink? Beer, wine, soda, bottled water?”
“I’ll have a bottled water,” Piper answered.
“I’ll take a soda,” Nick added. “Thanks!”
Sailor pulled the drinks from the refrigerator and distributed them. “Anyone for a game of corn hole?”
“Sure,” Piper answered. She and Nick followed Sailor and Rob to their back patio where they had set up two corn hole platforms at opposite ends of one another.
“Where are your kids?” Piper asked.
“Showering or getting dressed. They should be out here in a few minutes,” she answered. Sailor had two twin daughters who were three years old and a boy who was two. Piper hoped that she and Nick would one day be blessed with children. Her sister’s kids were adorable.
In the corner of the room, Piper noticed the old wooden rocking chair. The rocking chair was the same one her mother used to rock her when she was a baby and to read to her when she was a young child. Many memories were formed in that rocking chair. Good memories.
“Nick and Piper, it will be you two versus us,” Rob said. “So, Nick, you and I will be on this side and the girls will be on the other.”
Nick grabbed a few bean bags and took a few practice shots into the hole of the wooden corn hole platform in front of him. Rob followed, doing the same thing before the women took their shots.
“These stands seem too far apart,” Sailor said. “This should be much easier.”
“No, my dear. Regulation corn hole. The stands stay where they are,” her husband answered as he took another practice shot, which sailed through the air before landing directly in the hole.
“Hope you’re taking notes,” he said with a smile.
“Of course,” Nick answered.
When the group finished with their practice shots, the games began. They played several rounds of corn hole both before and after eating the baked ziti that Sailor had prepared for them. Sailor’s three kids had joined the group just before dinner and were now playing hide and seek in the back yard.
The lot upon which the home was built was large and oddly shaped, featuring both an oversized back yard and an oversized side yard. It was an unusual yard, given the other smaller and more square yards in the neighborhood. Sailor and Rob had fenced it in just after they bought the house, adding a thick, bushy hedge on the outside for extra privacy. A colorful assortment of well-placed and well-tended Hibiscus trees and bushes, foxtail palms, and crotons had been planted in the yard and were flourishing. Outdoor lights in several colors shone against the landscape and the grass, which was plush and unnaturally green. “Fertilizer and rain are a landscaper’s best friend in Florida,” Rob said. His landscaping background was an asset to the family.
After a while, Piper and Sailor decided to call it quits, while Nick and Rob played another handful of rounds against one another. One would win, so the other called for a rematch. Then the other would win, while the first called for a rematch. And so on. Competitive souls can never be happy until the game has been called in their favor.
The women sat down on chairs on the patio.
“You know I was kidding, Piper.”
“About what?”
“Being an atheist,” Sailor quipped.
“Why would you kid about something like that?”
“Because it was funny watching you get all emotional. You’re funny about that kind of stuff. I hope you know that. People say you and Nick are born again Christians.”
“People are right. We are.”
“Oh,” Sailor responded. “That explains it.”
“Explains what?”
“Your preachiness and your fear of the bottle.”
“I just don’t like drinking, Sailor. You shouldn’t judge me. I’ve stopped judging you. I don’t care that you drink. I figured one of us would probably be a drinker since Dad said it skips a generation. And Uncle Sully.”
“Well, I don’t drink like Grandpa, and I definitely don’t drink like Uncle Sully. I just drink with my friends on social occasions. I don’t want to be like Uncle Sully either, Piper, not in front of the kids.”
“That’s good,” Piper said.
Piper looked over at Sailor’s kids and felt her stomach churn. Why had the Lord blessed Sailor with children so early in her marriage? Why were she and Nick having such a hard time getting pregnant? What had she done to the Lord to deserve such difficulties? She tried to stop judging people. Tried hard. Maybe she was being punished for failing. Tears formed in her eyes, which she quickly wiped off so as not to be noticed. She hid her pain from everyone, even Nick.