Exchange Student Returns Home

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Chapter 20

Day 10 Part 1

Brandon's POV I got up around 9 am and I wanted to sleep longer. Yesterday was another long day and really wiped my out emotionally. If I didn't have a date this morning, I would've slept another 2 hours.

After many attempts, I decide on an outfit. I wear my Klemen BALLAST V sandals which can be worn with or without socks. I decide without. They cost me over €150.00 (That's in Euros) but I love `em. My shirt is a light gray button down short sleeve shirt made by Sandro. (€120.00) and I'm wearing Officine Generale's Navy Blue Fisherman Cotton-Twill Shorts. (Only about €93.00) What can I say? I look good.

I show up at Jennifer's house with two minutes to spare. In my hands I have a dozen yellow roses and a single pink rose with baby's breath. I ring the doorbell and Jennifer's mom answers the door.

"Good morning, Mrs. Pierce, I'm Brandon Davenport and I am here to see Jennifer."

Her face lights up. "Oh Brandon, come in, come in. Jennifer will be right down."

Before she can say anything else, I hand her the pink rose. "I offer you this pink rose as a symbol of grace and elegance and a token of admiration and appreciation. At least that's what they told me at the florist."

She chuckles and accepts the rose and smells it. "Thank you, Brandon. It is very beautiful and very thoughtful of you. Your mother raised you right."

No POV Jennifer came into the room and saw her mom giving this guy, who she assumed was Brandon, a hug. "Mom?" she said. She realized that this handsome, well mannered teen was Brandon. He seamed so different, well dressed and confident. Her mom turned around and she saw that Brandon had given her a beautiful pink rose. She also noticed that there was a bundle of yellow roses too.

Brandon looked at Jennifer and it was as if she had the face of an angel. He even thought he saw a glow around her too. He was mesmerized by her beauty. The beauty that comes from inside and warms the room. She looks at the roses and then he looks at them and realizes that he should give them to her.

"The yellow rose symbolizes friendship and care. Like the warm sunflower, gifting the yellow rose to a friend conveys warmth and affection. It is my hope that we may always be good friends." I hand the roses to her and she covers her mouth and takes a moment to speak.

"Oh my gosh!" She says. "These are so beautiful! I love them." She smells them and smiles. She uses her free hand and gives me a side hug and kisses my cheek. "You are so thoughtful and sweet. Thank you, Brandon."

Her mom invites us to sit on the couch as she takes the roses and says that she is going to put them in water.

"It was really nice to talk to you on the phone yesterday. I've been looking forward to seeing you today and catching up." Jennifer says.

Brandon's POV "Yeah, me too." I say. "I've been so busy with my family since I got home that I haven't been able to see any of my old friends. Actually, you are the first person I wanted see. It was worth the wait because you look stunning."

Jennifer turns a little red. "If you wanted to talk about stunning, you should look in the mirror. Going to France must have agreed with you because, like, Wow! I could tell that you were more confidant and mature when I talked with you on the phone, but it didn't prepare me to see you. I love your hair, your skin is so tan and your clothes are amazing." She feels my shirt. "Is this really a `Sandro'?"

Just then, Mrs. Pierce enters the room with the roses in a vase and puts them in the middle of the table. Jennifer takes one of the roses out and gives it a smell. I can tell she loves it. "I'm going to take this with me. Just let me grab our lunch and we can be on our way."

Jennifer goes into the kitchen and brings out a picnic basket and a blanket to lay on. She still has the rose in her hand and I offer to carry the blanket. She tells her mom that we'll be back later. We walk towards the door and I stop and turn around. Mrs. Pierce is right behind us and I take her hand and tell her that it was a pleasure to meet her. She coos a little and tells me that I am a proper gentleman. I tell her that her kindness is exceeded only by her beauty. She really coos this time, then she tells us that we should get going and pushes us out the door.

"Wow!" Jennifer says to me. "You really made an impression on my mom. I can tell she really likes you.

We go to the park and I lay out the blanket on the grass, in the shade near the creek. I also brought the Martinelli's Apple Cider and the two glasses Mom gave me to use. Jennifer gets out a little relish tray with carrots, peppeoncinis, olives and alike.

"So tell me about France. How long did it take to speak French? What was the host family like and tell me about the culture." Jennifer does like to ask a lot of questions all at once.

I start. "I lived with a wonderful family with the last name, Leroux. They had two boys. One was Andres and he was about my age. His brother, Sébastien was about 14 or the same age Luke was. I loved this family and I miss them dearly. They took me in and loved me like a member of the family. Andres was an exchange student the previous year in California so he could speak English and help me interpret words I didn't know. He helped me so much in so many ways that I am in debt to him for ever."

Jennifer get out a couple paper plates, some chips, onion dip and offers me some. "Wow, that is so cool! I'm glad that you got a good host family. Then she said, "So what do you think you learned the most this last year?"

I look into her big blue eyes and I start to well up. "My life totally changed. I became a much better person than I was and I learned what was the most important things in this World are. I ah, um..." A tear falls down my right cheek and I wipe it off. "I'm sorry. I'm just emotional when I talk about this."

She scoots over next to me and places her hand on my knee. "Don't be. I'm pleased that you want to confide in me your feelings. Please go on. No judgment from me." She then sniffs the rose I gave her.

"Okay, but I have to back up and explain some things to you first. Remember, you said that you won't judge me." She nods her head.

Okay here it goes. I'm just going to lay it all out on the line. "Jennifer, when we were in 10th grade, I had the biggest crush on you. We had classes together and were friends. I thought you were the prettiest girl in the whole school. Not just that, but smart and kind too. I really liked you but I was afraid to ask you out or try to take things further than just friends. Then when your aunt died, I wanted to comfort you and I had the courage to give you a hug. I told you that I had notes in the classes we had together and if you came over to my house, I'd let you borrow them. I thought that if we just had some time to ourselves, things would happen on their own. I heard that you liked bowling so I asked you if you'd like to go. Do you remember that?"

Jennifer pats my knee and says, "I do. Just so you know, I thought you were cute and I kinda liked you too. I thought it was very thoughtful of you to give my a hug when my aunt died. It was so sweet and I felt closer to you. I was happy that you had invited me to come over for the notes, but really, I wanted to spend some time with you. I was really happy when you invited me to go bowling. I thought it would be our first date. Then when you let your little brother come along, I figured that you just wanted to be friends. After that, you acted weird and were grumpy all the time. I hardly saw you after that. What happened?"

"Luke happened." I take a big breath. "Lately he had been a pain in my rear. He would go through my stuff and take things without asking. He even lost one of my ear buds. He bugged me so much. Then when I finally had the courage to ask you to do something with me, he invited himself and manipulated me into letting him go. Then he wouldn't let me have any time with you and used up my money. I was so mad at him. Everything he had done over the last 6 months was added onto what he did that afternoon. That night, I told him what I thought of him."

I pause and don't say anything for a moment. I look down and pull on a thread on the blanket. Without looking up, I said, "I said some mean-horrible things to him. Horrible, horrible things and the worst part about it is that I didn't care. I hurt him bad and I didn't care. I felt justified. We never really talked again after that except like, Move!' or Where's Mom?'"

I take a carrot stick and dip it in the dip, look at it and put it down on the plate. I'm still not looking at her. "He even told me that he hated me. Everything changed after that. He changed and I changed. He stayed away from me and I stayed away from him."

By now, she had removed her hand from my leg. "Is this when you decided to be an exchange student?" She asks me.

"Pretty much. I needed a change in my life. I lacked focus and direction. I saw a poster, advertisement or something about being an exchange student. I had taken a couple of years of French in school and I loved the sound of the language. I studied up on France and I really wanted to go there. I had more focus and was happier. My parents agreed to let me go my senior year and I was ready for a change of scenery. Change of scenery meaning not being around Luke. He was pretty happy about me leaving too."

I pick up the carrot stick and eat it. I have a few chips and some dip. She handed me a bottle of water and I took a few sips.

"So," she says. "You said that your life totally changed for the better in France. So what brought this about?"

"It was mostly because of the Leroux Family, and the French culture. The French people are very demonstrative and loving with their families and friends. When I first arrived, I was greeted with hugs and kisses on both cheeks, from the whole family. This included the teenage boys. I was quite uncomfortable but I committed to engaging in the culture. Little did I know that they were holding back because I was an American. Normally, they all including the teenagers would have kissed me on the lips too."

Jennifer was taking a sip of water at the time and started choking on it when I said that. "What! Really? I don't even kiss my grandma on the lips." She hesitates for a moment. "So, did you adjust to the culture?" She asks rather slyly.

"Well, ah, um, the short answer is, Yes. But remember, I was there for a year and somethings took longer to adjust to than others. I also wanted to immerse myself into French culture. We Americans have a lot of hangups that hinder us in having, how should I say, having closer relationships with those we love. We build these barriers around us. Some of them are instilled in us while others we build ourselves. There the family unit is built on affection, love, trust and honesty. There are no secrets between them. People don't judge like here. I think we worry too much about what others might be thinking, that it deprives us of the kinds of relationships we can have."

Jennifer had started plating up lunch. We already had some chips, and she got out her mom's potato salad that I have had before. So good! She added ham sandwiches and handed a plate to me. I first dug into the potato salad. Just as I remembered.

"I'm sorry Jennifer." I said apologetically. "I've just been talking about myself this whole time. I would like to know how you have been doing."

"Ha ha," she laughed. "I'm fine. Now back to your story. This is very interesting and I would like to here the rest of it. Please go on."

I take a bite of sandwich which is almost as good as the potato salad. As we are talking, we are having lunch.

"Andres' relationship with his brother Sébastien, was truly amazing. Sébastien was the most important thing in the world to Andres and he showed it too. They were happy to see each other and when they were apart and returned, they hugged and kissed. Nothing sexual at all. True brotherly love. Often several times a day. In the whole year, I never saw or heard them ever say anything negative about the other. The only thing I remember them arguing about was that Andres had told me that Sébastien was the best brother in the world. Sébastien then disagreed stating that it was Andres that held that title. They agreed to disagree." We laugh.

"I talked to Andres many times about his relationship with his brother and how toxic my relationship was with Luke. He listened and never judged me. Over time, I realized just how wrong I was in the way I treated Luke. I was a horrible big brother. I longed to have the same relationship with Luke, like Andres had with Sébastien. It was more than that too. He showed me by example how to treat everybody. He loved his parents and would do anything for them. I had a good relationship with my parents, but he showed me that it could be more. He helped me understand that I was a good person and that I just had done rotten things. Sébastien told me that maybe Luke just wanted to spend time with me any way he could. He said that he would act that way if Andres would have ignored him. So, I was in control of what I did next. When I came home, I was ready to make things right with Luke. I would take as much time, as it would take for him to forgive me. He was my only brother and I loved him."

I put my sandwich down. I remember how I felt when I came home. I hated how I had treated Luke. I also remembered how he forgave me and loved me now. The tears are now flowing down my cheeks and I am chocked up. Jennifer scoots over to me and places one hand on my back and takes my hand with the other.

Jennifer take my moment of silence to ask a question. "When I talked with you yesterday, you said that you and Luke have gotten super close since you have been back. So I guess he forgave you."

"Yes. He still had hostility towards me the day I came home, but I was pleasant to him. I gave him a quick hug when I first saw him to let him know that I missed him. He didn't return the hug, but that was okay. I figured it would take weeks or more for him to come around. I just didn't want him hating me anymore."

"Anyway, that night I was talking to Mom about how my life had changed in France and how I wanted to be a better person, a better son and a better brother. I told her how awful I was to Luke and how sorry I was. I cried like a baby in my Mother's arms. I asked her, `Mom? How do I let him know how I feel about him? How do I gain his trust? I know I don't deserve it. I have caused him such unhappiness. I just love him so much and want him to be happy. Will he accept me? Will he ever forgive me?'"

"Then unbeknownst to me, Luke was in the hallway listening to everything I had just said. I heard a voice that said, `Why don't you just ask me? Did you really mean what you said? --- Were you sincere?' I had never been more sure about anything in my life. I pleaded with him to forgive me and I would go to the ends of the Earth to prove to him that I was sincere. I told him that I loved him so very much and that I wanted to be brothers again. We embraced right then and there. Much more than a simple hug, but one overdue filled with brotherly love. I cried and he cried. I wasted so much time with him all those years. He did forgive me, but it took a while for him to forget and trust me again. He now knows that I am sincere, I am repentant, I can be trusted and most of all, he knows that I truly love him. I know that I have been forgiven and that he truly loves me too."

Jennifer leans in and gives me a kiss on the cheek. "That is the most wonderful story I have ever heard. You really do love your brother don't you?"

I look into her blue eyes. "Yes I do. With all my heart. He is my best friend and he brings out the best in me."

I then let her talk about what she did this past year. I apologized for taking up so much time just about me. She told me that she was glad I did and loved hearing about it. We did have that bottle of Martinelli's Apple Cider. We even had a toast about new beginnings. It was so much fun just talking to her. I had laid down on the blanket and when she laid beside me, I raised my arm and she slid under it. She put her head on my shoulder and I pulled her up kinda tight then I kissed her on the top of her head. Her arm went around my chest and she held me.

"This is so peaceful here in the park." I said to Jennifer. "It's always been a favorite place of mine to think and ponder."

She tilts her head up so she can look at me. "So, what are you thinking about right now?"

I sit up on an elbow, I smile, and say, "Oh I was thinking about how beautiful your lips look and how much I would love to press them against mine, ma chérie."

I then give her a tender chaste kiss on those puffy luscious lips. I pull up about two inches and judge her reaction. She reaches her arm up around my neck and brings me back down and gives me a tender kiss in return. We then deepen the kiss and fight for dominance. Somehow I end up on my back with her on top of me. We kiss for another couple of minutes but we keep it rather simple. I really do cherish and respect her and won't do anything to jeopardize that. She returns to her original position with her head on my shoulder and her arm across my chest. I hold that hand, hold her tight with the other arm and kiss the top of her head. She must use strawberry shampoo and it smells wonderful. I give her head another kiss and then rest my head on top of hers.

She sighs. "I could just stay here like this all day.... I'm glad you called me. You really are a good guy, Brandon Davenport." She leaned up and kissed me on the cheek. "So does this mean you're my boyfriend?"

I sit up and I'm sure I blushed too. "Man! You don't beat around the bush, do you?" I chuckle for a second and then I get very serious. I put my hand on her cheek. "Nothing would make me happier right now as long... Jennifer? Will you give me the honor of being my girlfriend?"

She pulls me down to her face and gives me the most loving kiss I have had in my life. It was pure magic. "Does that answer your question?" She asks.

"Loud and clear!" I say and give her another kiss. Just then, my phone buzzes in my pocket. I see it is from Luke. I apologize to Jennifer and tell her that I have to take this.

"Hey little bro. What's up?" I say into the phone.

"Brandon, I'm really really sorry to disturb you, but Mom and Dad aren't here and I need to get to the hospital. Grayson called and said that Jake isn't doing well and they think he had a stroke. Can you please pick me up...I'm really worried about Jake. Grayson sounded horrible and I need to be there for him..."

"Luke. I'll be there as soon as I can. Just try not to worry until we know more. He is receiving the best care possible. I'm leaving right now. I love you."

Jennifer is already gathering up all the picnic stuff. She heard enough to know we need to leave. "I'm sorry Jennifer." Before I can say more, she says, "Your brother needs you right now and it is okay. Would you like me to go with you?"

"You are so sweet; thank you." I give her a quick kiss. "That'll save me time from having to drop you off. Are you ready?" She says that she is and soon we are off.

When we get to the house, I see that Luke is standing outside waiting for me. I pull in and Luke is coming towards my door. I get out and he runs into my arms. He is really shaking and I hold him tight. After a minute of me holding him, his breathing slows down and is no longer shaking.

"Thanks for coming, Brandon, I feel a lot better knowing you are here with me. I love you so much."

I place my forehead on his and look into his eyes. I wipe away the tear that fell on his right cheek and I said, "I'll always be here for you Luke. I love you with all my heart." I then kiss his forehead. He kisses my cheek and I kiss his other. Then a quick kiss on the lips and back into the hug, but just for an instant."

"Go ahead and get in the back seat. I have someone with me." I tell Luke.

He looks at the car but can't tell who is in the front seat. "Who is it?"

"You'll find out." I say as I get in.

Once I'm back in the car, I notice that Jennifer has tears running down her cheeks. I reach over and place my hand on her shoulder. I ask out of concern, "What wrong? Are you okay?"

She nods. "That was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. You two really do love each other."

When Luke got into the back seat, he recognized that it was Jennifer in the car. He sees that she is crying. Then he sees the picnic basket and blanket. He realized that he must have interrupted a date.

"Oh no! I've done it again." Luke said to me. "I am so sorry Brandon. You guys were probably on a date and I got in the way again. I feel horrible. Please forgive me."

Before I drive away, I turn around in the seat to look at Luke. I place my hand on his leg. "Luke! It's okay, really. We were ready to go, but I would've come anyway. You are my brother and needed me. You will never, ever be a burden to me. Plus, you know I love Grayson and Jake too. I'd do anything for them. No put your seat belt on and let's go."

Jennifer is holding my hand as we are driving to the hospital. I let Luke out at the entrance so he can go in while I park the car. As we are walking towards the entrance, we have our arms around each other and Jennifer asks who Grayson and Jake are. I explain to her that Grayson is Luke's best friend and Jake is Grayson's boyfriend. Also that Jake was beaten up by his brother's friends just because he was gay. I have to sit down on a nearby bench. I get choked up, but speak anyway.

"They almost killed him and now the doctors think that he might have had a stroke or something." Tears are falling down my cheeks and Jennifer puts her around my shoulder.

"This is so unfair!" I say. "Jake is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. Grayson is like a brother to me and he is really hurting too. He was there for Luke while I was in France, and I am forever in his debt."

Jennifer takes a tissue out of her purse and gives it to me. "Go ahead and let it out Sweetie so you can be strong for the boys." She kisses my cheek, "You are just so amazing."

I hold onto Jennifer and she is so sweet. I'm so glad I called her yesterday. I compose myself, "Thank you Jennifer. You are the one that is amazing. I'm ready to go in now."

I walk into the waiting room while holding Jennifer's hand and I see that Luke is with Grayson. Grayson sees me and he rushes over and we embrace. "Thank you for being here, Brandon. It means so much to me."

"I'll always be here for you." I say. "You're like a little brother to me and I love you. You know that."

He pulls away, "Yeah, I know that and I love you too, big brother."

He then looks at Jennifer and I haven't introduced them to each other yet. Grayson Paulson, this is my girlfriend Jennifer Pierce."

Grayson extends his hand and Jennifer dismisses it and gives him a hug. He looked surprised at first, then he hugged her back. I could tell they hugged a little tighter. She then kissed him on the cheek and said, "Nice to meet you." We all giggled at that. Then in a more somber tone, she told him that she prays that all will be well with his boyfriend.

I then notice that Dr. Heiner has entered the room. I point in his direction and we all go towards the doctor to get the update. Grayson's dad, who was sitting down came over to his son and put his arm around him not knowing what the doctor was going to say.

"Jacob is resting right now." Jake's dad says. "There was another smaller blood clot that broke loose and Jacob did have a minor stroke. We were here when it happened and were able to fix it before it caused permanent injury. We are confidant that he'll make a full recovery. He will have to stay here for awhile to heal and to make sure there aren't any more clots or injuries."

Dr. Heiner then puts his arm around Grayson. "He's going to be fine, son. I can see that you really care for him and I am glad you two have found each other. I have sent David off to live with his mother and I am going to cut back my hours. I'm going to be the father that I should have been with him. You are a fine young man, Grayson. I shouldn't do this, but I'm going to take you to see him. I know his doctor." He smiles and still having his arm around Grayson, he guides him behind the big doors.

Luke then goes in search for a vending machine. Mr. Paulson comes over to me and I introduce Jennifer to him as my girlfriend. He takes her hand and tilts his head. "Would that be Jennifer Pierce; Barbara's daughter?"

"Well, yes I am. Do you know my mother?" She asks him.

Mr. Paulson smiles widely. "Oh I know your mother very well. She is one of the nicest people I have ever met. You see, we were in high school together and she played the flute and I played the trombone. She was our first female drum major we had and she did a great job. Come to find out, we had the same birthday so we'd always wish each other `Happy Birthday' when we saw each other. It was our thing. She was very pretty, smart and popular. I was just a band geek who spent his lunches playing chess with the chess team. We walked in different circles, yet she always was kind to me and made it a point to talk to me and ask how I was doing."

Jennifer smiles at him. "Wow! You have your mother's smile. That smile that could light up a room. I can definitely tell you are her daughter. Brandon?" He looks at me. "Hold on to this one because she is a keeper."

His smile becomes more subdued. "So how is Barbara doing? I was very sad when I learned your dad was killed in Iraq. He was a really great human being and loved his country."

I didn't know that her father had died in the war. I knew he wasn't around but I didn't know why. I put my arm around her and hold her. I said, "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"It's okay, Brandon." She said. "It was about 5 years ago and I'm okay talking about him. He gave me more love in those 13 years than most kids get in a life time. He was the best dad and cherished my mom to no end. I try to live my life that would honor him."

She turns to Mr. Paulson. "So, yes. My mom is doing well and she is my best friend. She serves the community and is on the board of Easter Seals. You should visit her. I'm sure she would love to see you. Are you married, Mr. Paulson?"

He hesitates, so I interject. "Grayson's mom was killed a couple of years ago. She was killed by a drunk driver."

"Oh my gosh!" Jennifer says and takes Mr. Paulson into a hug. "That is so horrible! I am so sorry... Poor Grayson!"

When they separated, I could see tears in Mr. Paulson's eyes. He says, "Thank you. You are very kind like your mother. It's been hard on Grayson but we have each other. As you know, it never goes away, but it does get easier. He also has wonderful friends like Luke and Brandon." He puts his hand on my shoulder.

I can almost see a light bulb turn on above Jennifer's head. "You really should see my mom. I'm sure she would love to see you. I'll be going to College soon and she really could use a close friend. She has been so involved in my life, that I worry about her when I leave. How does tomorrow sound?"

Mr. Paulson gets the biggest smile on his face. He asks me, "Does she always get her way?"

"I'm not sure, Mr. Paulson, but I hope so. It sounds like a wonderful idea, don't you think?"

"I do." He says. "But Grayson is my priority right now and I need to be here for him. If things are well with Jake, and Grayson is okay with it, I would love to see Barbara."

"Great!" I say. "Just make sure when you meet her, you give her some roses. I know for a fact that she loves them."

Just then I see Grayson come through the doors. He has a huge smile on his face. Luke has returned and stands next to me. Out of habit, I put my arm around him. It's a good habit to have. Grayson comes in and hugs his dad. His dad leaves his arm around his son and Grayson gives us an update.

"Jake is doing great. Well maybe not great but his going to be okay. He looks great, ah, well not great. He looks horrible but he looks wonderful to me. He held my hand and smiled and brightened up the whole room. He whispered those three beautiful words and warmed my soul. His dad said that he needed to rest and that I could come in and spend all day with him tomorrow. He said that he knew that if I was there, Jake would heal faster."

He turns to his dad. "Dad? Can you bring me down around ten in the morning? I'm the only one that can be with him, so maybe you could find something to do for the rest of the day."

Mr. Paulson smiles widely and looks at Jennifer. "Yes, I think I can find something to do. Maybe I can have lunch with an old friend."

"Great!" Jennifer says. "I'll have her ready at noon. You can pick her up then. Brandon will text you our address."

She is bold. I look at my watch. "Well look at the time. I better get Jennifer home before her mother sends out the Search and Rescue."

I then ask Mr. Paulson if he can take Luke home with him so I can take Jennifer home. He says that he'd be happy to and thinks they are ready to leave. I tell Luke that I will see him at home in a while and give him a hug. Then I kiss both cheeks and one on the lips and I tell him that I love him. He says that he loves me too. Jenn gives him a hug and Luke gives me the thumbs up behind her back.

As we are going to the car, Jennifer has the biggest smile on her face. I say, "What?"

She says. "It's just so sweet how much you love your brother. You kissed him on the lips in public and neither of you were embarrassed. It's like you don't care what other people are thinking."

I stop and look at her in those beautiful blue eyes. "I don't care what other's are thinking. When you love someone, you tell them and you show it." I then lift her chin and give her a passionate public kiss.

"You have me convinced." Jennifer said as she patted my cheek.

I drove her home and she invited me in to introduce me to her mother. "We've already met." I said.

"Not properly." She said. Now I was confused.

We walked in and her mother was right there. She must have seen us drive up. "Mom?" Jenn said, "I would like you to meet my boyfriend, Brandon Davenport."

Mrs. Pierce presses her hands together under chin and squealed. "Oh yes! I was so hoping that you two would hit it off. I can tell that Brandon is a good, decent young man and he'll be good to you. Now come here, you two."

She takes us both into her arms and gives us both a kiss on the cheek. I resist the urge to kiss her back. After she lets us go, Jennifer tells her to sit down because she had another surprise for her.

She begins. "Today I met Brandon's sweet brother Luke and his best friend Grayson at the hospital today. Grayson's boyfriend Jake, was beaten up by his brother's bigoted friends and was in bad shape. Brandon cares for Grayson like a brother. Are you with me so far?" She asks her mother.

"I think so. Go on." Jenn's mom says.

"Grayson's dad was there to support his son. They have such a special relationship. Anyway, Grayson introduced me to his dad and his dad asked if I was your daughter. He then said, `You have your mother's smile. That smile that could light up a room. I can definitely tell you are her daughter.' I said that I was and he asked how you were."

"Really?" Mrs. Pierce said. I could tell that the gears in her mind were spinning. "Tell me who he is."

"I will give you a clue. You two went to the same high school together and was in the band when you were the drum major." Now she is toying with her mother. I'm thinking, "Just tell her!"

"That could be a lot of people, Sweetie. Give me another clue.

Jenn smirks. "Let's just say that I know when his birthday is."

"Why do you know when his birthday is?" Mrs. Pierce asks her daughter.

"Because it's the same day as yours, Mom."

Mrs. Pierce's eyes get really wide. "Paul? You met Paul Paulson today? He was such a sweet guy and I really liked him. How is he? I remember he had a son so this must be Grayson. Grayson Paulson. I saw Paul at our last high school reunion about eight years ago and I met his sweet wife. How is she?"

Jennifer got real quiet all of a sudden. "Mom, she was killed a few years back by a drunk driver.

"Oh my goodness!" Mrs. Pierce said. "Poor Paul...Poor Grayson. That is so sad. Your dad died to protect this nation and is a hero, but to be taken out by a drunk driver? That's horrible!"

Then she asks, "How is he holding up? You said it was a few years ago?"

"He is doing well. He has devoted his life to supporting his son and is a wonderful loving father. He did ask about you and said that he would love to visit you sometime."

Jennifer stands us up and her mom tells her. "That sounds wonderful. I'd love to reconnect with Paul."

"Good!" She says and grabs my hand. "I've set it all up and he'll pick you up for lunch tomorrow at noon. Wear something nice."

Jennifer then drags me outside and I can hear her mother say, "Wait a minute young lady-" We don't stop until we're at my car.

"Don't worry, Brandon. She'll do it and have a great time. I just have to give her a little nudge."