Finding Tomorrow

Their 40th wedding anniversary was both a date to remember and a new beginning.

"You awake?” Janet asked, nudging her hubby.

“I am now,” Bill said, searching for the alarm clock. “What time is it?”

“Do you know what today is?” She asked, giving him a quick hug..

“Saturday? Or have they changed the calendar?”

“Funny boy. Quit teasing me. You know it’s our fortieth anniversary.”

Bill didn’t know. This happened every year. He counted on Janet’s reminder, usually not at three in the morning. “Happy Anniversary, darling.” He traded kisses and snuggled back down in bed. “Go to sleep. We'll celebrate in the morning..”

“No time for that now. We’ve got to get up if we’re going to have time to enjoy being there.” Janet got up and started throwing on clothes.

Bill, still half asleep, accepted shirt and trousers thrown at him. “You’ve dreamed up some fun?”

“Do you remember our first date? That quaint little out of the way restaurant in Manchester?” Janet kept talking while Bill put himself together. “Remember the owner and his wife that said we looked like we were made for each other? I dreamed about that last night. It’s an omen. We’ve been married forty years and we've never gone back there, have we?”

Bill thought he was tracking the one sided conversation pretty well until she’d flung that question at him. “We ended up there because our first destination had a road closed sign stopping us.”

“Fate. It turned out to be one of the most romantic days of my life. Your shirt is inside out.”

“Got it.” Bill liked going with the flow where his wife was concerned. She was always thinking of ways to keep their romance alive. He flipped his shirt right side out and donned it. “Think we can find the place? It’s been forty years.”

They were out the door and into their RAV within minutes, both reminiscing about other remember when’s until, many hours later, the car stopped on its own. Bill lurched it into the nearest gas station.

“What's wrong with it?” Janet stretched her legs. "At least you're retired with no job worries."

"Might have to find a place to stay." Bill studied a road sign. “Well, we found Manchester.”

"Do you know where the ‘What’s At Steak?’ restaurant is located?" Janet asked an old man fiddling at the front of the station.

“Tore her down. Put up another Enterprise novelty home in its place. Got a for sale sticker on her right now. Grandson’s the realtor. Here’s one of his cards.”

“Fate strikes again,” Bill mused.

Janet wasn’t having any of it. “There’s a reason we were brought here. Give the son a call. Maybe he'll let us stay there while the car gets fixed.”

“I wonder what a Novelty House is?” Bill dug out his cellphone and dialed anyway.

“All right. Meet you there.” Bill turned to his wife. “I had to stop him trying to talk me into buying or we’d be standing here forever. Ed Ward will pick us up.”

Janet unrolled her window to get a better look. “Why, it is one of those ‘Tiny Homes’ like we've been looking at. How cute..”

“Large yard to make up for it.” Bill got out when Janet did.

“It’s not one Tiny House, we cleared the whole run down business district. Community center included. You’d be living next to neighbors with the same ideals as you have.” Ed had pounced on them with sales talk firmly in place

“I want to see inside,” Janet said, “Then we’ll talk, Ed.”

“Righto,” Bill shook Ed’s hand, patted him on the shoulder and said, “You can wait in your car. We’ll meet you there.”

“Well, are you going to carry me over the threshold or stand there?” Janet laughed.

“We stand on hallowed ground.” Bill surprised himself. “Close your eyes.” He knelt before her, took her hand in his and proposed.

“Yes, I'll marry you anytime, honey.” She was starry eyed as he ushered her inside.

“Where’s the bedroom?” Bill chuckled, looking around. Everything was in easy reach. Nice. He was always misplacing things. Now that the kids were gone, they’d talked about downsizing, even begun garage sales.

Janet had a twinkle in her eye. “We could buy several of these and lease them out if we sold our home. Steady income.”

“The land around the Tiny Home is large enough for you to add on, with approval of your neighbors, of course.” Ed appeared like magic, standing in the front doorway. “How you folks doing?”

Silence. They’d been enjoying their privacy. The feeling of closeness in this Tiny House was amazing. The notice on the inside of the front door said there was an option to rent by the month for those needing to see how a Tiny Home would fit.

“I get it. I tell you what. There’s Mom and Pop. You already met Gramp's. He’s the only one stayed at the old homestead. Ask my parents how it is here. Maybe you'd like to rent for awhile first.”

The couple had Janet in shock at the first sight of them. They were the owners of the restaurant. The first words out of Mom’s lips were “What a nice couple. You two look perfect together.”

Getting remarried in the park nearby was more than a success. Family, new and old friends attended.

“It’s been a very moving experience.” Bill laughed. They were still in the Tiny Home and loving it as Ed called, saying he’d sold their old one. They could buy their dream home and have money to burn.

“Are you awake?” Janet asked.

“What? Another adventure?” Bill asked back. "What time is it?" Their new bed was extra comfy. He didn't want to leave it, but for her he would.

“Half past kissing time and time to kiss again. What an anniversary present." Janet kissed him soundly. "Go to sleep. We'll talk about our add on hobby room in the morning.”

"What hobby?"