Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 15:08:58 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mickey S <njmcmick@yahoo.com>
Subject: Second Wind, Chapter 17

If you are under age, or live in an area where reading stories that include
sex between males is illegal, or if you're not into this type of story,
please leave. This is a story of love between two men. As such there is
some sex but it is really more about their relationship.  If you're looking
for a more sexual story, I've written a few of those. Ask me. If you're
into romance, I hope this story pleases you.

I'd like to thank my friends in the Nifty Six for their support and
encouragement, especially Tim for his advice and his editing
assistance. The author retains all rights.  No reproductions are allowed
without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at
NJMcMick@yahoo.com.

Chapter Seventeen

Ben

Monday night I felt tired when I got to Angelo's. The week had just begun,
but with Christmas on Saturday it promised to be a long one. I'd spent a
couple of hours after work at the mall, which wouldn't have been necessary
if I hadn't left my shopping until the last minute. I managed to get gifts
for Dad and Lori, so it was a good start. When I got home I nuked a frozen
dinner and let Lula out for a few minutes, then changed and headed for the
bowling alley. By the time I'd finished bowling I was exhausted. At
Angelo's, I collapsed into the booth across from Joey and took a long sip
from my beer bottle.

"You look beat, Ben. Rough day?"

"Yeah, Joey. Christmas snuck up on me this year." Just like every
year. "I'd never get through it if I had a family as big as yours."

"Oh, it's not so bad if you pace yourself. We figure Christmas is for the
kids so my brothers and I haven't exchanged gifts in years. I only have to
shop for my parents and my nieces and nephews. And I like to get Donna
Marie and my sisters-in-law a little something, too."

"So that's like twenty people instead of twenty-four? I've only got four,
plus you and Becky and I'm frazzled."

"It's no big deal. During the year whenever I see something I think someone
would like I buy it and set it aside. Then I start shopping in earnest for
the rest of the family sometime in the fall, so by Thanksgiving I'm pretty
much done."

"Thanksgiving? I don't even think about Christmas until way past then."

"Yeah, I've noticed, Ben. You do tend to put things off. I've just got a
few more things I want to pick up for you and I'll be finished."

"Me? I thought we decided on the bracelets for each other. What do you
mean, a few more things?"

We'd had a long talk about what to get each other. We wanted it to be
special but not too obvious, so Joey's family wouldn't notice. Matching
rings or earrings were out and Joey already wore a neck chain with a
crucifix, so we decided on simple gold chains for our wrists.

"Well, that's our real present to each other, but I want to get you a few
smaller things." It was a sweet thought, but that meant I had even more
shopping to do now. "Do you still think you'll have time to go toy shopping
Wednesday?"

"No problem, Joey. I want to get lots of stuff for Connor."

"You know you don't have to do that. He gets so many gifts from everyone in
the family."

"I know, but I've never had a kid to shop for before. I want to do it."

"Are you sure you'll get everything done?"

"Yeah, I know what I'm getting everyone, it's just a question of doing
it. I'm off Friday so I'll finish up then."

"Shopping on Christmas Eve? That's really going down to the wire."

"I'm not as bad as I sound. I always go into the city to have dinner with
my father on Christmas Eve so I'm used to finishing my shopping then."

Joey's face fell. "You're going to be in New York Friday night?"

"Yeah, what's the problem?"

"Well, I was kind of hoping you'd come to midnight Mass with me."

"Joey, you know I don't go to church."

"On Sundays, sure, but this is Christmas. Besides, we're both going to be
tied up with family on Saturday, so I was hoping we could at least see each
other Friday night. Plus, I think Mom is starting to warm up to you. It
wouldn't hurt to score a few brownie points with her."

I really didn't want to go to church but I hated to disappoint him. And God
knows I could use all the help I could get with his mother. I knew I could
be home from the city in plenty of time, but still...

"I'll think about it, babe, but don't count on it."

"What have you got against church? You used to be into it. Didn't you say
you were an altar boy when you were a kid? Don't tell me some priest
molested you."

"No, nothing like that. Maybe if that had happened I would have stayed with
the Church, depending on the priest, of course."

"Ben, you may be a slut but I don't think even you would do a priest."

I laughed. "You're right, Joey, especially when I was that age. Someday
I'll tell you all about my falling out with the Church but it's not a
Christmas story. Later."

"Okay, but I'll hold you to that. And think about Friday. I'd really like
to be with you then, even if just for a few minutes in church."

Joey

For some reason Ben seemed uncomfortable talking about church so I changed
the subject. Maybe he was just tired. Christmas season always gave me an
energy boost but I knew it affected some people the opposite way. We talked
about bowling for a while but when we finished our beer I decided not to
have a second and to call it a night. Ben was fading and I didn't want to
keep him out late.

I left work a little early on Tuesday and drove out to the adult bookstore
on Route 10. I'd been past the place a thousand times but had never been
inside. I wanted to get a few gag gifts for Ben to prove I wasn't the naïve
kid he thought I was. As I got out of the car I was overcome with
paranoia. I was sure that every car passing on the highway was someone I
knew and by the weekend everyone in my family would know I'd been to the
porn store. I hurried into the building, keeping my head down and turned
away from the road. There were only a few customers in the place and I
didn't recognize anyone.

I wandered around the store, amazed at the assortment of merchandise. Some
of it was silly, some very erotic. And some just confusing. Maybe I was
naïve after all because I couldn't figure out what some of the stuff was. I
didn't have any idea what I wanted to get Ben. The guy behind the counter
seemed to be checking me out so I thought that he might be gay. I got up my
courage and asked him to suggest something funny for a guy who referred to
himself as a slut. He pointed out an enormous dildo that was supposedly
made from a porn star, although I couldn't imagine anyone was that big. I
decided that it was so outrageous that Ben would know right away it was a
gag, so I bought it.

After paying for my purchase, I stuck my head through a doorway into the
back and saw a few guys loitering in a hall lined with booths. From the
signs I guessed that was where the videos were shown. A door opened toward
the back and a cute little naked butt backed out. It was attached to a
young guy with his pants around his knees. He quickly slid through the
doorway into the next booth. Just as the door closed he turned slightly and
I caught his face in profile. Chad! I turned and rushed to the front door,
not wanting to run into Chad in a place like that.

All the way home I wondered what he was doing there. I mean, I knew what
went on there. Not only had I spent many an evening listening to Ben and
Becky discuss the trashier side of local gay life, I'd often heard my
brothers talk about guys who got blowjobs at that store. Not that they'd
ever been there for that; I was sure they were just passing on gossip
they'd heard. I'd known since the first time I met Chad and he came on to
me in the men's room at the club that he was probably more of a slut than
Ben had ever been, but I was still surprised to see him there. Maybe he and
Paul had broken up. That thought pleased me. I didn't usually like thinking
about bad things happening to people, but after the way Paul had hurt Ben
he deserved a little unhappiness.

Wednesday after work I picked up Connor and went over to Ben's. Becky had
agreed to baby-sit and fix dinner while I took Ben to Toys-R-Us. He went a
bit overboard on the toy shopping but I couldn't stop him. In my family I
was known as the out-of-control Santa so who was I to talk? When we got
back to the house, Glenn had arrived and was playing with Connor in the
family room. I had gifts for both Becky and Glenn in the car and I was
going to go out and get them, but Ben pulled me aside and explained that he
hadn't bought them anything yet, so we weren't going to be exchanging
presents with them until next week. I should have guessed.

By Christmas Eve there was barely room to move in my bedroom. Wrapped
presents were piled everywhere. Several of them were for Ben and I spent
some time in late afternoon sneaking them out to the van. The rest would go
downstairs in the morning so I had to get Ben's out of the house by
then. Anthony and Gina and the kids came over for the traditional baccala
dinner. Cod wasn't my favorite fish but Mom always did an amazing job on
it. I wasn't quite in the festive mood, though. I still didn't know if Ben
was going to midnight Mass. Just after I put Connor to bed, he called with
the news that he had just left his father's apartment for the train home
and would meet me at St. Vincent's. I perked up now that I had something to
look forward to.

A little after ten-thirty we all started getting bundled up to leave for
church. The temperature had been dropping all day and it had clouded
up. The weatherman had said there was an outside chance for a white
Christmas. I was hoping for a light dusting because any more than that and
the whole family would spend Christmas day plowing. Pop was staying home
with Connor. There was very little chance he'd stay awake thorough the
service even if he wanted to go. My nephew Tony chose to ride with Mom and
me rather than be squeezed into the back seat of his parents' car with his
two sisters. We were getting buckled in when Tony noticed all of the
presents in the back.

"Wow, Uncle Joey, look at all the loot. Are any of these for me?"

"Hands off! No peeking." I didn't want him to notice that most of the gifts
had Ben's name on them.

"Joey, how much shopping did you do? Your room is full and you have more
here in the car?"

"We have a pretty big family, in case you haven't noticed, Ma. And my room
isn't all that big."

"You spend too much on everybody. You should be saving for Connor's college
education."

I rolled my eyes. "Ma, he's only eighteen months old. I think I have plenty
of time to get ready for college." Tony was stifling a laugh in the
backseat, trying not to be rude to his grandmother.

When we got to St. Vincent's I dropped Mom and Tony off and found a place
to park less than a block far away. When I walked back, I saw my family
gathered in the cold to the right of the front door. To my delight, Ben was
there talking to Tony. It was freezing and people were going in so we
didn't hang around very long. As we crowded through the doors I noticed the
frown on Mom's face.

"You didn't tell me he was going to be here," she whispered, loud enough
for everyone to hear.

"I invited him but I just found out a little while ago he was able to make
it. What's the big deal?" I whispered back, much more softly.

"Well, do you really think he belongs here?"

"I don't think the roof's gonna fall in on us, if that's what you're
worried about." So much for the idea of Mom warming up to Ben.

Ben

I took the train into the city late Friday morning. At Penn Station I
caught a cab to Rockefeller Center. I had to see the tree before I did my
shopping on Fifth Avenue. As I looked up at it across the skating rink I
thought how nice it would be to have Joey and Connor with me. Next year I'd
bring them. Connor would love it and I'd love experiencing it with Joey. I
walked over to Fifth Avenue and got down to business. I could have gone to
most of the same shops at the Short Hills Mall, but Fifth Avenue was more
festive. Besides, Dad lived only a few blocks away.

I hadn't seen him since early fall. We weren't very close, obviously. There
were no problems between us, but we didn't have much in common. He had
moved into the city when I was nine and he was always working before that
so I didn't see that much of him while I was growing up. I guess we had
never had a chance to bond. And even though Lori was near my age, I didn't
have much in common with her either. If she had been more like Becky, maybe
we could have had a fun relationship, but I had the feeling that she was
pretty much like what Mother had been at that age.

Dad and I talked on the phone every week or so, but I hadn't told him about
Joey. I figured big news like that should be delivered in
person. Apparently, Dad and I had that in common, anyway, because when I
got to their townhouse and saw Lori I realized he had withheld some news
himself.

"Surprise, Ben! You're going to have a baby sister in early May."

"Wow! That is a surprise. Congratulations, Lori, Dad." I was stunned. I was
just starting to get used to the idea of being a stepfather of sorts to
Connor. Now I was going to have to learn how to be a big brother. Dad and
Lori were ecstatic. All of the conversation over cocktails (Perrier for
Lori) was about the baby and the new nursery they were having decorated
upstairs. I couldn't help but wonder if Dad had been that excited when
Mother was pregnant with me. Over dinner they finally wound down and I had
a chance to tell them my news.

"I'm glad you've found someone, son, and I hope it works out for you. Is
this Joe another father-figure type?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I know I was a pretty poor father. I wasn't ever there for you. I
always assumed that was what you were looking for in Paul, a substitute
father."

"I never really looked at him quite that way, but maybe he was that, a
little anyway. But Joey is nothing like Paul. You wouldn't believe how
different he is." I told them all about Joey, his family, and finally about
Connor.

"It sounds like you're getting lots of practice with babies, Ben. You'll be
a pro by the time Courtney is born."

"Courtney?"

"That's Lori's name for the baby this week. Don't get used to it. She'll go
through lots more before May. So when are we going to meet this Joey? You
sound pretty taken with him."

"Soon, Dad. After the holidays we'll have to get together. And I'm more
than taken with Joey. I'm in love with him."

Dad and Lori were going to midnight Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, so I
left them to get ready. Just talking about Joey over dinner had made me
miss him so much that I called him in the cab and told him I'd meet him at
church. When I got off the train in Madison I decided to leave the car in
the station parking lot and walk to St. Vincent's. It was only a few blocks
up the hill and I might not find a place to park any nearer anyway. Before
I'd gone a block I wished I'd driven. It was so much colder in the suburbs
than it had been in the city. I was freezing by the time I got to the
church and was relieved to see Joey's family already there. Joey joined us
in a minute and we went inside.

Mrs. Napoli's comments on the way in made it clear that she wasn't feeling
any kinder toward me. Joey sat between us in the pew. I hadn't been to
church since college, but as soon as the service started it felt like weeks
instead of years. Although I'd never been in St. Vincent's, it felt like
home. The Church does a pretty good job at indoctrination. When Joey got up
for communion, I remained seated.

"You're not taking communion?"

I shook my head. "I haven't been to confession in years."

"Why am I not surprised?" Mrs. Napoli muttered as she squeezed past
me. Somehow I didn't think I was earning any brownie points.

Joey

On the way back to my seat after communion I scanned the crowd for the rest
of my family. I knew that everyone, with the probable exception of John and
Vinnie, would be there. I saw Donna Marie, Sal and the kids across from
where Ben, Mom and I were sitting, but that was about it. When the service
ended I saw the others as we were inching our way toward the door. Everyone
was waiting outside. Ben hung back as I greeted them all. It was late and
freezing so we didn't talk long. As our crowd was breaking up I was hoping
to get a minute alone with Ben.

"Where'd you park, Ben?"

"Down at the train station. I walked up."

"We'll give you a ride back. It's too cold to walk."

"Why don't you go ahead with your friend, Joey? I'll get a ride with Donna
Marie." I was both relieved and disappointed by Mom's suggestion. She was
being very rude to Ben, but that meant I could have a few minutes alone
with him. I said goodnight to the others and led Ben to the car.

"I'm really sorry about Mom, Ben. I thought she was getting better."

"That's okay, Joey. I know it's important to you, but she doesn't really
bother me that much. I just became aware of a more pressing problem,
though."

"What's that?" I didn't like the sound of that.

"Your nephew, the one who looks a lot like you, the one who was just
talking to Sal."

"That would be James, Vinnie's oldest. What's the problem with him? I don't
think he even looked at you."

"Yeah, he did. When we first walked out the door he was staring at me, but
when I looked back he averted his eyes. He's the kid who saw us kissing at
the nursery. He knows, Joey."

"No way! If he'd said anything to Vinnie you know I would have heard about
it. You've gotta be mistaken."

"I wish I was, but I'm sure it was him. He looked familiar at the time and
now I know why. He was at your house on Thanksgiving."

I unlocked the car and we got in. I still didn't want to believe it was
James. If it was him, why hadn't he said anything?

"I'll try to talk to him tomorrow, Ben. Maybe it was him but he didn't
realize we were kissing. Maybe he thought we were just goofing around."

"Maybe." Ben didn't sound at all like he believed that. I didn't either but
I didn't know what else to think.

I drove him down to the train station lot and parked next to his car. I
knew James was a potential problem but I didn't want to think about it. It
was late and we both had a long day tomorrow. I just wanted to enjoy the
moment with Ben. I turned sideways in the driver's seat and smiled at him.

"Merry Christmas, Ben."

"Merry Christmas, Joey." He smiled back at me. He leaned across the console
and kissed me. I put my hands on either side of his head and pulled him
closer, drawing him into a long passionate kiss.

"Have a great time at your mother's tomorrow, Ben. Give her my best."

"You have a great time, too, but you don't have to say anything to your
mother for me. She'll probably prefer it that way." He smiled again.

"Oh, she'll get over it, sooner or later."

"Yeah, keep dreaming. I'm not holding my breath. Goodnight, Joey. See you
Sunday."

"Goodnight, babe. Sunday."

I was up early and as usual Mom was hard at work in the kitchen, except she
was already working on dinner. We had a quick breakfast and went into the
living room to open our gifts. With just the three of us we never made too
big a fuss over it, but most of the presents were for Connor. He had no
idea what was going on but he had a good time anyway. I think he probably
would have been just as happy playing with the wrapping paper as with his
toys, though.

Afterwards, I went back into the kitchen with Mom and she put me to
work. I'd always loved to cook and Mom had taught me everything, so we
worked well together. She wouldn't let me near the brachiolona, though. Her
recipe for the stuffed pork roast was one of the few secrets she kept from
me. Around noon I heard loud voices in the front of the house and a minute
later Rita came into the kitchen. That meant Vinnie's family had
arrived. When Donna Marie walked in a few minutes later the women
practically pushed me out of the kitchen. I joined the growing crowd in the
living room. Pop was in his recliner and Sal and Vinnie were on the couch
talking to him. The little kids were on the floor watching TV. Over near
the tree James was on the floor playing with Connor No one was paying any
attention so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity. I went over
and squatted next to him. He only gave me a quick glance, then looked back
at Connor.

"Hey, Uncle Joey. Connor was just showing me some of his presents."

"Yeah, like he has a clue what's going on. Um, James, can I talk to you for
a minute?"

He put his head down and looked away. He seemed very uncomfortable.

"About what?"

"My friend Ben said he saw you at the nursery when I was helping him pick
out a tree last week but you ran off. I think maybe you saw something you
didn't understand and I wanted to explain."

Now he was definitely uncomfortable. His eyes jumped all around the room
and he looked panicky.

"Uh, I didn't see anything, Uncle Joey, I just realized I was gonna be late
getting back to school so I had to go."

"Hey, what are you two whispering about over there? You can't keep secrets
in this family, you know." James nearly jumped out of his skin.

I turned and Vinnie was halfway across the room. "James and I were just
playing with Connor, Vin."

"James, why don't you go give your grandfather a hand in the cellar? He
just went down to get some of his homemade wine."

"Uh, sure, Dad." He jumped up and was across the room like a shot. Vinnie
looked after him, shaking his head.

"Weird kid. He's always been a quiet one but ever since puberty he's been
so moody."

"It's hormones, Vinnie. We all went through it."

"Don't I remember. But I went kind of wild for a few years. He's just the
opposite. Usually he's all excited about Christmas but the past week or so
I don't think I've heard him say two words. Weird. I suppose I shouldn't
complain, though. At least he never gets into any kind of trouble."

"Yeah, he's a good kid, Vin."

Just then John and Carla arrived with their brood so I pushed thoughts of
James out of my mind. I had no idea what was going on in his head but
apparently he wasn't talking to Vinnie so I didn't have anything to worry
about, for now at least. He seemed really bothered by the whole thing so
I'd have to sit down with him for a talk after the holidays. It looked like
I was going to have lots of talks after the holidays. I'd been putting it
off for a while, but the time was drawing near. But today, it was Christmas
and a time to party.

Ben

Mother, Sam and I had our usual quiet holiday at the house in Short
Hills. While Mother generally favored catered parties, Christmas was the
one dinner she insisted on cooking herself. We opened our gifts in the
living room and then Mother went to the kitchen while Sam and I settled in
the den. He mixed a couple of martinis.

"So how is everything going with Joey, Ben? He seems to be a fine young
man. And a great cook, too. You've got yourself quite a catch there."

"He's doing great, Sam. We're doing great. I'm really crazy about him."

"Good. I like him quite a lot. He seems to be good for you, too."

"He is. And since you've brought up the subject, I wanted to ask you about
this change in attitude of yours. I know you like me, but I've always had
the feeling that my being gay made you a bit uncomfortable. Not that you
had a real problem with it, but maybe you would just prefer to ignore it."

"I'll admit that when I was first seeing your mother I wasn't very
comfortable with you being gay. Of course, you were in college and I didn't
see much of you so it took a while before I got to know you. By the time
things had gotten serious between Gale and me, you were seeing Paul so I
think for a long while my feelings about you being gay were tied in to my
feelings about Paul."

"Paul? What's he got to do with it?"

"I suppose I can tell you now. I never liked Paul very much. I didn't like
his attitude toward you, the way he treated you. No one else seemed to
mind, so I kept my mouth shut. But I always thought he took you for granted
and never appreciated what a great person you were."

Wow! I never expected anything like that from Sam. He'd always been polite
and respectful toward me, though a bit distant. But he apparently had
strong positive feelings about me as an individual, not just as my mother's
son. And he liked Joey, too.

Mother stuck her head into the room to announce that dinner was ready. Over
dinner, I broke the news about Dad and Lori. Mother was quiet for a few
minutes while she thought about it.

"Well, let's hope he gets it right this time."

"He wasn't that bad a father, you know."

"I know that he loved you, but he just wasn't very grown up and didn't seem
to know how to show it. Maybe he's finally grown up, although marrying a
woman half his age wasn't a great indication of that. But I'm happy for
them. I hope it works out for all three of them."

"Speaking of babies, you guys have got to meet Connor. He's such a
fantastic kid. You'll love him. I really went overboard shopping for him
for Christmas."

Mother looked at me with a bemused look on her face. "Your father taking
another stab at parenthood and you with a baby. Two things I never thought
I'd see."

Joey

Sunday I slept in for a change. The family holiday had worn me out. I even
skipped church, although since I'd gone Friday night I didn't feel too
guilty. Around noon I packed a cooler with leftovers and put it in the
van. Then Connor and I went over to Ben's house for another Christmas. We
spent an hour on the floor of the family room opening gifts. Ben knew I
liked reading mysteries and he got me a whole series of books about a gay
journalist detective. He liked seventies soul music and I'd found a few
greatest hits-type cds. We each bought the other some clothing as well. He
was blown away by the dildo I'd bought him.

"I know I'm a slut of a bottom, but even I might have a problem taking
this, Joey."

"Bottom? That's what Becky called you a while back. She said you could
explain what that meant better than she could."

Ben explained that while he was pretty reciprocal in most sexual
activities, when it came to making love he much preferred being on the
receiving end. From the few times we'd done that I knew that he liked it
and I wanted to know more about what he liked, but I'd never gotten around
to asking.

"So then you're exclusively a bottom? Haven't you ever tried it the other
way?"

"Oh sure, in college I topped a few times. It was okay, but I like getting
fucked so much more. And that worked out fine with Paul because he's a
total top. And you seem to like that, too."

"Yeah, I do, but I wasn't sure how this was supposed to work. I was
wondering if maybe we were supposed to switch around."

"Do you think you'd like to try switching, Joey?"

"I don't know. I feel like I should try everything, that I want to
experience everything with you. If you let me make love to you then I
should let you make love to me. I never had any kind of fantasies about
being on the receiving end and I'm not really sure it would work, though. I
mean, it looks like it would hurt. But I think I should at least try it
sometime. What do you think?"

"I think that as long as we both enjoy it when you make love to me then you
don't have to worry about whether things are 'equal' between us. But if you
really want to try being on the bottom, I don't have a problem with
that. You have such a beautiful ass that even this bottom boy has had some
top thoughts about you now and then. I'd be happy to oblige you in whatever
you want."

"I do think I'd like to try it but there's no rush. We'll try it sometime
when it feels right."

I heated up the food I'd brought over and we had an informal second
Christmas dinner. We played with Connor for a while afterward and then put
him to bed for his nap. Then we retired to Ben's bed for a little fun. I
made slow passionate love to him. Knowing now that this was the way he
wanted it, that I didn't have to be worried about reciprocating, made me so
much more relaxed. I got to do what felt right to me and I enjoyed it more
than ever. From Ben's reaction, he seemed to have a pretty good time, too.

We cuddled for a long time as we came down from our orgasmic high. I think
maybe we both dozed off for a few minutes. Holding Ben in my arms just felt
so good, so right. We talked at length about our family holidays. Ben told
me about his father's surprise and dinner at his mother's. I told him about
my family gathering.

"Did you get a chance to talk to James?"

"I started to but we got interrupted. I definitely had the impression that
he didn't want to talk about it, though. I can't begin to guess what he
thinking, but he hasn't said anything to anyone else so far."

"Maybe he can't accept it and doesn't want to have to deal with it. Lots of
times family members prefer to live in denial, even when it's right in
front of them."

"Could be, but I'm still going to try to talk to him after the
holidays. It's obviously bothering him. It looks like I'll be talking to
everyone soon. Maybe I should just call a big family meeting."

"You know your family better than I do, but I think I'd rather take them on
a couple at a time. All of them at once would intimidate the hell out of
me."

"You're probably right about coming out gradually, though once I start the
word will spread in about two seconds. I think I should start with my
parents, although that means waiting a while longer."

"Starting to procrastinate, Joey?"

"You know me better than that, Ben. You're the professional
procrastinator. But since my brothers and sister and I chipped in to give
my parents a trip to Italy, I'm going to have to wait until they get back."

"I forgot about that. When are they leaving?"

"January 6. They'll be gone ten days. It's not the best time of year,
weather-wise, but it's the best time for Pop to be away from the business."

"It's still a very nice vacation. Both of your parents were born in Italy,
weren't they?"

"Yeah, but their families came here when they were little and they've never
been back. They've got lots of family over there they've never met so it
should be a wonderful time for them. I'd love to go there sometime,
myself."

"No reason we couldn't go, Joey. I'd love to see Italy."

"Don't tempt me. A romantic vacation with you would be heaven. But having
my parents away will be like a vacation for us, too. We'll be able to spend
a lot more time together without them wondering about it."

"So who's going to watch Connor while your mother is away? You still have
to go to work."

"It's the slowest time of year for the nursery so I can get away with only
working part-time. Between all of the women in the family I'll patch
together coverage for Connor."

"Maybe my mother could help. She wants to meet Connor anyway. While she's
quite different from your mother, she did a pretty good job raising me."

"That's an idea. Or how about this? You could take a day off from work and
watch him. You might even get to change your first diaper."

"I think we'd better save that as a last resort, Joey."


To be continued...