WE GATHER TOGETHER by Edward L. Woodyard

We Gather Together Chapter Eight

Drew McCulloch instinctively applied his brakes when the stoplight changed from yellow to red, even though he was still in a daze. He became transfixed, staring through the windshield of his vintage Mustang while he waited for the light to change green. Maybe he needed another cup of coffee to snap out of it. Maybe it was the suit pants. Had he put on weight since he bought that suit? It didn't really matter; the gray worsted was still itchy.

Maybe it was the jacket? Maybe not. He was used to wearing a jacket. He may not have always worn one to work, but he did on special occasions or out to dinner. He always wore his blazer at Thanksgiving. That was tradition.

Maybe he had tied his necktie too tight. He loosened his striped silk repp at the collar and glanced up at the stoplight. It was still red.

He couldn't help but feel a bit out of it. Maybe he needed to turn on the radio.

It was already on. Led Zeppelin was playing "Whole Lotta Love." Had he gone deaf? He'd usually be doing a frantic Jimmy Page air guitar behind the wheel as soon as he heard the opening riff.

Drew continued to gaze through the windshield, failing to notice that the stoplight had turned green thirty seconds ago. An older woman driver behind him honked her horn, then drove around him on the right, giving him a stern look. He waved to her and mouthed, "Sorry."

He put his car in gear and checked the traffic again. Just as he started through the intersection, the light changed to yellow. He normally would have gone through it, but he saw a Castlebury police car on patrol. It didn't matter that he knew most of the cops in town; he wasn't going to chance it. He applied his brakes again, turned up the radio and began singing while he waited for the stoplight to turn green again.

"'You've been cooling. And baby I've been drooling. All the good times, baby. I've been misusing. A-way, way down inside . . .'"

Drew was alert now and focused. He smiled to himself; what he had needed was to get the Led out. Led Zeppelin always reminded him of Scott.

Before any driver behind him could honk another horn, he drove through the intersection on the green light. It would take another ten minutes to get to New Fordham and home. He would then tell Cara what had happened at the Worldwide meeting earlier that morning. He didn't want to text her, but needed to tell her in person. Their lives were about to change, almost as much as they had when they first met.

Drew liked to tell people that he met Cara at college. That statement was true, but it was five years after Drew had graduated from Madison College. He had willingly followed Scott's path of higher education, entering there as a freshman when Scott was a junior. They shared the three hours of driving time to and from college, as well as the car itself while it was on campus, which was made easier when Drew pledged Scott's fraternity. The car wasn't Scott's Corvette, but their mother's old Jeep Grand Cherokee which she had traded in on a new one. Their father had advised that the Corvette was safer in the garage at home, especially after Doug Lundgren's accident.

Drew wasn't driving either car when he met Cara. He had bought himself a vintage dynasty green '65 Mustang convertible as a present to himself. The weather for that June weekend had been forecast as sunny and mild, so he welcomed being able to drive it with the top down through the wooded back roads of upstate New York to his fifth-year college reunion.

Drew was then well into his mid-twenties and was working at the printing plant. Scott had left the company by then, quitting when Sam had named Drew executive vice president instead of Scott. Sam, not Scott, had made that decision about Scott's future, but Scott had also forced Sam to choose because of Scott's inattention to daily management of the company and his persistent drinking at the office. While Drew was glad to assume the leadership and all the duties and responsibilities that the position demanded, Drew now wanted something beyond a classic car and a steady job to happen in his life. He wanted someone with whom he could share his hopes and dreams. He was ready for a wife.

Drew hadn't really dated since college, except for hanging out with old high school friends who still lived in Castlebury. They'd go to a couple of the local bars or drive to rock concerts in Manhattan or on Long Island. His high school girlfriend had married a guy she met in college in Texas and she had stayed there. The women he knew now were more like friends than girlfriends. The hookups were too comfortable and matter-of-fact. Even though he was looking around and playing the field, he couldn't be himself while still living at home. He felt uncomfortable taking a woman into his bedroom for an overnight visit. It wasn't that his mother would necessarily disapprove of his entertaining the ladies, as she euphemistically called it; however, Drew felt it would be a sign of disrespect to his mother if she saw a woman sneak out of the house at sunrise in the morning. Drew didn't care that the rules of society and decorum had changed to allow him to have women in his bedroom at home; he wasn't going to put his mother in an awkward situation of having to go against her own upbringing and sense of civility. It was simpler if he stayed out all night and came home in the morning, when no questions would be asked or explanations be required.

While at his fifth-year class reunion, Drew reminisced with several fraternity brothers at a cocktail reception under a large tent on the football field where he had been a running back with his brother, which was before Scott left the team and the campus. Standing on a faded twenty-yard chalk line, Drew kept looking over at one of the women offering hot hors d'oeuvres to the returning alums. She was dark-haired, poised, confident, and stunning. She had a radiant smile and a very evident ease with people. Drew couldn't take his eyes off of her, causing him to sidestep small talk with his former classmates about their business successes, latest financial investments, tropical vacations and high-rise apartments, as well as let him ignore gossip about who was getting married, who was in graduate school or who had decided to come out as gay.

When Drew reached over to retrieve a canapé off her tray, his green eyes met her light brown ones. They both held the look. As with most stand-off negotiations, Drew was aware that whoever spoke first would lose the face-off, but he couldn't stand it any longer. His anxiety forced him to comment, "If we had kids, their eyes would probably be hazel, a combination of your brown eyes and my green."

Her response was quick, "If we had kids, they would probably know how to impress someone they're trying to pick up by using a better line than their father just did."

Drew was dumbstruck by her response as she walked away from him, but not without her looking back at Drew again while he ate his marinated mozzarella. He smiled to himself. He had seen her name tag and got the information he wanted. Her name was Cara Messina.

Ultimately, Drew had been right. At the time their daughter Courtney was born, the first thing Drew and Cara noticed was that her eyes were indeed hazel.