The Sauna Part 224

“How’s it going, babe? Cherie’s finally up and we’re making some lunch. Wanna take a break and join us?” he asked, kissing my neck and completely distracting me.

“Yeah, maybe this will all make more sense after some food and normal conversation” I sighed.

“Is there anything I can do to help out?” he offered, peering over my shoulder.

“No, not right now. I just hate legal jargon” I explained, closing the email for the moment.

We went downstairs and joined Cherie and Jim who were making tuna sandwiches and a fruit salad. I replenished my coffee and sat down at the table and Jon made me a sandwich while I helped myself to some salad. We chatted while we ate lunch and I was surprised at how hungry I was.

I was beginning to get anxious as I hadn’t started packing and it was already past one o’clock. Jon and Jim had decided to go into town and look at snowmobiles as they’d gotten to talking about them and now Jon wanted a new toy. Cherie was staying with me and I figured I could finish the contracts when we arrived in Europe as Jon’s laptop was with the guys and his gear. I just needed to finish the outline and send it off to the lawyer and then I could concentrate on what I needed to pack.

“We’ll be in town, so call me if there’s anything you need me to pick up before we get back. I’ll grab something for dinner” Jon said as he and Jim got ready to leave.

“Pizza?” I smirked.

“It’ll be the last decent one we’ll have for a while” Jon said sheepishly.

“Okay, I suppose you’re right about that” I admitted as I kissed him goodbye.

“We’ll get a veggie pizza too, Cher, don’t worry” Jim whispered, kissing her tenderly.

Cherie cleaned up the kitchen while I finished the outline for the RFP’s. I was anticipating that I’d get quite a few pretty soon. I’d thought of a few more additional details I wanted while we were eating lunch and I edited my draft to include them. We’d be focusing on two major themes for the charities we’d be funding: housing and mental health services, with a three year start-up grant available for trauma services. I shot off the email to the lawyer and told him I’d get back to him in a day or two on the other requests he had sent me and I saved everything to my flash drive before I shut down.

Jon had laid out three huge suitcases and a carry-on bag for me on the bed and I smiled when I saw the note he had left.

Remember, they have stores in Europe too~ Jon

I laughed as I read it and shared it with Cherie as she looked at the three suitcases we had available. I threw in my bathrobe and slippers and my favorite black boots along with a couple pair of jeans and some skirts. Cherie took it all out and began folding it neatly and I handed the rest of the shirts, tops and sweaters to her with a grin. I tucked the flash drive into my carry-on so I wouldn’t forget it and I began packing a few items of jewelry I wanted to bring.

“What are you wearing on the plane tomorrow?” Cherie asked as she saw me digging through one of the drawers.

“Jeans and a blouse, my long sweater and my short boots. Shit, I forgot the socks” I muttered as I opened another drawer and threw in a week’s worth.

“Underwear and a bra?” she prompted, eyeing me uncertainly.

“Sure” I grinned as I tossed her a bra and five or six pairs of panties just in case.

I grabbed a few tank tops and a jacket or two for good measure and a couple more skirts from Tienda Ho. I pulled out a couple of leather halters with fringe and I grabbed Jon’s leather shirt from the closet. Cherie raised her eyebrows and I smiled as I folded it lovingly and handed it to her.

“Because I just like it” I admitted.

“You should bring a raincoat” she suggested and I hurried downstairs to get one and remembered my cape and a shawl.

“Trish, these suitcases are getting rather full” she said, looking dismayed.

“There isn’t much more, but I need a few fancy dresses and they’ll be crushed in here. Let me go find the garment bag” I said as I flew down the hall and located it in another closet.

I added my address book and a few personal items into the carry-on and held up some dresses and Cherie gave her opinion. We managed to get them into the garment bag and I moved the raincoat and cape in there too. The rest would go in the carry-on in the morning along with Jon’s shaving kit and my make-up. I grabbed my favorite perfume and added it in and looked through the closets one final time.

“Dammit! The cookies” I wailed, just now remembering I’d wanted to bake Jon some cookies to take along as a surprise.

Cherie looked at me like I was crazy as I dragged her downstairs and started pulling ingredients out of the shelves. I had her start measuring while I turned on the oven and started the mixing and I prayed that I remembered what Richie had taught me when he made chocolate chip cookies for us. I began to relax once they were in the oven and I made a fresh pot of coffee while we waited for them to bake. It was almost four-thirty when the phone rang just as I took the last batch out to cool.

“We’ll be leaving in a few minutes, babe. Is there anything else you need me to pick up on the way home?” Jon’s voice said as I answered the phone.

“Nope, I think I’m good. Or good enough, anyway” I giggled. “Did you buy a snowmobile?” I asked, never doubting for a moment that he’d bought one.

“Yeah, wait ‘till you ride this thing, darlin’. It’s a blast! We test drove a couple, but this one was the most comfortable. Jim’s gonna ride it home, but what size do you wear? I’ve gotta pick out a snowsuit for you so we can take it out tonight after dinner” he told me excitedly.

I told him my sizes and he repeated them to the saleswoman who was writing it down. The house smelled like cookies and I frantically hunted around in the cupboards until I found some Febreze and motioned to Cherie to start spraying it everywhere.

“Okay, looks like we’re all set. Jim should be there in about twenty minutes. I’ll get the pizzas and be home shortly. I love you, baby” he said as he hung up the phone.

“C’mon, we gotta get these cookies outside to cool off faster. They’re on their way” I said in a panic as we gathered the racks and put them out on the front porch and waited for Jim to arrive.

I heard the whine of the snowmobile about twenty minutes later as we were bringing the cookies back in the house. I had almost gotten them packed up in tins when Jim came through the door and called us to come out and look. Cherie went out and I packaged the remaining cookies in the tins and washed and dried off the evidence before they came back in the house. I ran upstairs with my surprise and buried the tins in between layers of clothes when I heard Jim calling me.

“Trish? Aren’t you coming out to see the new toy?” Jim called as they came back inside.

“I’ll see it later. I just had some last minute things to finish” I called down the stairs.

Jon arrived with the pizza shortly after five and we sat down to eat after he’d showed me the snowmobile. It was a cute little thing and I liked the bright colors and the matching snowsuits he’d gotten. We wolfed down our dinner as he was anxious to take me out for a short ride before we settled in for the night. Our flight was leaving at seven tomorrow morning and we’d have to be up early to get to the airport and check in.

The snowsuits went over our regular clothing and they were actually quite warm and fairly comfy. We had gloves and goggles and helmets and I felt a little like the Pillsbury dough boy by the time we were suited up and ready to ride. At least I’d be warm enough. Jim snapped a few photos to show Richie and we took off. Cherie was shaking her head and telling Jim there was no way she was going on “that contraption”.

Jon took off slowly and he didn’t go very fast as we were pretty unfamiliar with the whole thing, not to mention our own property. The salesperson had warned him to take it easy until he knew where the trails were and he’d scared him with horror stories of people being beheaded when they ran into chicken wire fences they didn’t know were there. Despite our cautious approach, I had to admit it was fun and we got a good look at what we called our backyard. It was a fair amount of property, but it was mostly uphill and I decided I liked seeing it from the back of a snowmobile, at least at this time of year. I could hike in the summer.

We didn’t stay out late and we were back at the house by seven-thirty. Jon told Jim to have fun with it while we were away and he tossed him the keys. We scrambled to get out of the snowsuits and said a hurried goodnight and Jim promised to put out the snack for the cats before he went to bed. He was driving us to the airport in the morning so he wouldn’t be up late himself.