Dreams, Memories & Keys

Chapter 4 - Waiting for Sally

Greg and Susan left Alan and Cindy's house in Oakland after sharing a meal with them at what normally would be considered dinnertime in most households. The Gaffneys made it a point to eat early that evening, in part because they hoped Cindy's practice contractions would progress into actual labor overnight; and also, because they had plans to take their children, Olivia and Noah, over to Cindy's parent's house to spend the night.

This time, Susan drove, directing her car to another neighborhood not all that far away where she was renting a house for a year. She pulled up in front of it and parked in the driveway. Greg looked curiously at the front of the house before getting out.

"Does it seem strange to you to be here?" she wondered.

This house was originally owned by Ruth and Reuben, Greg's estranged first wife and her second husband. They bought the house not long after they married, back when Alan was still a student at UC Berkley. They were still living here when Ruth died an untimely death roughly three years ago. Since then, Reuben, who had become a friend of the family, moved to Boston, where he was originally from, leaving the house empty. He had attempted to rent it unsuccessfully, until the family had need of it, prompting Greg and Susan to offer to rent the house for a year, which they did. Reuben took all his household things with him when he moved, but he left the furniture. That meant, the house was still furnished, and in some ways looked very similar to the way it did the last time Greg visited this place, around the time Ruth died. This was his first trip back to this house since then. Even though he and Susan spent some time there that morning with Matt, Ashley, Aaron and Rita, this evening they expected to have the house to themselves. That made being here feel very different.

"A little," Greg admitted. "It doesn't look all that different from the outside."

"Reuben has a gardener taking care of it," Susan explained.

"Probably a good investment," Greg remarked.

"In a place like this, with property values as high as they are and constantly going up, it definitely is," Susan agreed. "Shall we get out?"

"Of course."

Greg carried their larger bags into the house earlier that morning. This evening, they carried in everything else. Susan had a key, so they let themselves in.

"Hi Mom," Matt met them in the living room.

"Hi," Susan replied in surprise, putting down the things in her arms to hug her son. "You're back already? I thought you were going house hunting tonight."

"We did. We were running out of daylight though and everyone was getting hungry, so we came back. I'm studying," Matt told her, gesturing to an end table where his tablet sat open and blinking, displaying the text he was reading.

"Did you have any luck?" Greg asked.

"Yes and no. We're trying to get an idea what is available and where, and how far the different neighborhoods might be from Davis and here. We think that since for this fall, I only need to be here Tuesdays through Thursdays, and they have to be on campus in Davis every day, we should probably live someplace closer to Davis and away from the Bay Area. The traffic is just too crazy around here," Matt remarked.

"That much is definitely true. But it's not too bad if you only have to make one round trip a week," Susan suggested.

"No, it isn't. Especially since, in between I can stay here. Given that, we've ruled Vallejo out, and probably western Fairfield too. We're planning to concentrate on Vacaville the next time we find the time to look," Matt shared.

"Do you have any idea when that might be?" Greg asked.

"Probably not for a week or two," Matt told them with a shrug.