When we pulled into the Chauvin's old stone driveway she was all smiles and giggles. I swore I would never understand why women get so excited about m...eting their boyfriend's friends or family. We quickly walked to the door, Stacie moving as fast as her high heeled sandals would take her. It seemed that I was the one in for a surprise. Sandra answered the door with "Happy Thanksgiving" wishes and kissed Stacie's cheeks like they were old friends. She was dressed only slightly more. For months we had separated and drank our second cups alone. That morning we both stayed at the breakfast table. ‘What are your plans for today,’ she asked pleasantly. ‘None really,’ I said. ‘I may go to that new plant nursery on the freeway. What are your plans?’ ‘I need to return some items to the store then get some items to return next week. The usual.’ She had just made a joke on herself on what used to be a pet peeve of mine. That morning I found it humorous and surprisingly endearing. . . Karen Hayward!” He joked. “It’s a good thing you don’t have a very good aim. You almost hit me with that ornament.”“You’ve got good reflexes,” she laughed. “I never did like that statue.”“Imagine if she did like eating pussy, then we would have had some quick thinking to do.”“We owe Wendy a great big thank you that will likely take a long time to repay.”“I agree with you. It took me a long time to find you again, and I wasn’t about to give you up so easily, besides, you’re too hard to. Joel must have noticed that I wasn't paying much attention to what he was saying, for he said "Well, nice to see you again", and wandered off, leaving me alone. I sipped my drink as I wracked my brain trying to remember the name of the guy who had just walked in. Oh yes, Dennis something-or-other. He looked pretty much just the same, except that he wasn't the scrawny kid he'd been in High School.It was funny how many of the guys who had looked mature in school now looked downright old. Dennis,.