"Mrs. Williams," he said with a small nod of his head, his fawn-colored hat in his hands, "I am MacNeal Holmes. As you may know, I have purchased your...father's old place, bought it at the auction, lovely home, fine piece of land, well cared for. My property adjoins. We were neighbors." Yes," said Caroline, incredulous, "I was told." She felt acid rising in her throat as the man stood before her, obviously hoping to be invited in."Well, miss, excuse me, ma'am," Holmes said as calmly as he could,. I am sure she thought that at any moment, I would have enough of this humiliation and kick Mike out. The thought really did occur to me, but I had come this far, and I was also incredibly stubborn at times.My daughter Emily laughed, chuckled, smirked, and also played with her phone and tried to pretend to be disinterested. I knew she was hanging on every word. I knew she was trying to think about whether or not I was scamming Mike. She probably assumed I was, but on the off-chance I wasn’t,. .." The tickets are cheaper," he winks, as he interrupts me.Pinching his ribs, "Yes, the tickets are cheaper." We laugh and settle quietly against each other, as the movie flick begins. We were watching the movie, are enjoying the banter of the hero and his damsel in distress. The film progresses as I feel his hand toying in my hair, and we munch on popcorn and drink our cold drink. I feel at peace with him. Though only a few couples are in the area with us, we are the only ones at the top. A. "You and Dad are super close, I know that ithurts." Yeah, but now Mom may be losing her job, and she's applying forProfessorships all over the county. I've been looking at the envelopesof letters she is getting from those colleges, she is applying toschools in the South...." Where they don't have ice hockey programs." Yeah, and my friends are here, and Joan is here."I try my absolute best to maintain a 'poker face' about Joan. I thinkthe Donster could do so much better, but he has been.