"Goodbye, Old Love" Jeff had barely felt his feet touch the ground the entire walk home. He wasn't even sure how he made it back--every single cell in his body had been tingling with pure, unadulterated elation and he was sure he must have floated the whole way. She had said yes. Ginger had said yes! The last hour was still little more than a blur to him; things had happened so fast that the details were beginning to run together in his mind. But he knew that even if fifty years from now he would never again remember what shirt he had been wearing today, or the color of the walls in WREQ's lobby, or whether he had driven or raced on foot to see Ginger at the studio, he would never be able to forget the way she kissed him when she accepted his proposal, or the look on her face when she finally breathed the word "yes." He couldn't wait to tell his family. Linda would be the first to congratulate him, of course. Over time she had become their biggest cheerleader, though one would have never guessed she would be by the way she had first reacted to the news that he was dating her best friend--she hadn't exactly been overjoyed. Hank, on the other hand, had been a little more supportive, though it had taken him a while to overcome the shock of learning who Jeff's new girlfriend was. He would surely be bursting with advice to give his baby brother now, and Jeff did have to admit--he was more than a little anxious to receive some. And then there was his mother. Jeff felt his shoulders tighten involuntarily. It wasn't that he wasn't looking forward to telling his mother--she loved Ginger, he was sure of that. But he also knew how she was going to react. She would tell him they were rushing into this, that they were much too young to get married and they should wait a while longer. Of course, she would do this all in her own one-of-a-kind way, by using every euphemism known to man in order to avoid giving him advice in as straightforward a way as possible. He smiled to himself and shook his head. On second thought, maybe he should wait to tell her--at least a few more days until he and Ginger had had a chance to let the euphoria of the moment sink in, and they had gone ahead with at least some of the preparations. He made a mental note to talk to Ginger about signing up for Father Dreher's marriage classes. His mother would be sure to remind him of those, and it might put her mind at ease to know that he had had enough foresight to think of it before she told him. The house was quiet when he came in, just as he'd expected. He knew he'd have the house to himself for a few more hours yet until Hank, Linda, and his mother all came home from work, and Sarah's last class didn't get out until the late afternoon. He tossed his fedora and gloves haphazardly into the couch and with a grin he just couldn't wipe off even if he tried, he marched into the kitchen. "Jeff!" "Sarah!" The door had nearly hit him square in the face when she swung the door open. He had never been so grateful for being blessed with quick reflexes. He smiled sheepishly and stepped aside to let her pass. "Sorry, I should have watched where I'm going," he said. "My mind was somewhere else for a moment there." She said nothing, just nodding and letting out a small laugh. There hadn't been many moments like this when they were alone--not since she and Hank had gotten married anyway--and in a way, Jeff was thankful for that. It had made things a lot less complicated than they needed to be. But when they did find themselves alone, there was an uneasy silence between them, one that neither dared to acknowledge though each knew the other must have noticed it. "You did look a little distracted just now," she finally said. She hadn't moved from the door, and realizing she wouldn't, Jeff went ahead and walked through to head for the icebox. "Well, I..." He caught a glance of her as he placed back the milk bottle and stopped himself from continuing his sentence. He wasn't really sure why he had stopped--goodness knows everything in him was bursting with the happy news--but something about the way she was looking at him made him pause. He took a gulp of the milk and wiped off his milk mustache with a sleeve. "You're home early," he said. "I skipped my last class." She came to the table and sat down with him, nervously twisting the strand of pearls at her neck. "I don't know, Jeff, honestly, sometimes I wonder what I'm still doing in school. I mean, I'm certainly not going to go out and get a job after graduation. By that time, Hank and I will probably be starting a family, and-" She glanced up at him for a moment then looked back down. "I-I'm sorry, does that bother you when I talk about that?" Jeff wasn't sure what she meant at first, and slowly it came to him. "No... No, of course not! Anyways, it's about time you two made me an uncle..." He hadn't meant for his laugh to sound so awkward, but it did, and suddenly he felt his brain go numb trying to fumble for words. "I-I meant..." "I know what you meant," she said. She was still avoiding his eyes, and Jeff wasn't sure if he had offended her somehow. Why did things always have to be this uncomfortable between them? At that moment there was nothing more he wanted than to have things be the way they once were with her--before the war, before he had gotten confused and lost his way, before he had made the mistake of going after the one thing that meant more than anything to his brother. Ginger had put things back in their place again. She had shown him what it was to be in love--truly in love--but even she had not been able to take away the awkwardness between him and Sarah. No one would be able to take that away, Jeff realized, but the two of them. Finally he spoke, not even sure how he found his voice. "Ginger and I are getting married." There was an unmistakable flash of surprise in her eyes, and but it faded away so quickly that Jeff wondered for a moment if he had just imagined it. "Congratulations..." Her voice trembled when she said the word, and after a while she got up and came around to where he sat and embraced him. It felt strange to be holding her again. It had felt so natural once, but that seemed like a lifetime ago now. He had been a different person then--they all had. "This... is a little sud-" "Sudden... I know," Jeff said, laughing softly. When he looked up, he noticed that she was no longer avoiding his eyes. "But it just feels so right. I don't know how to explain it, but... but it just does... Besides, Ginger and I, well, we don't exactly do things in the way most people do." "Well that's true," she said, and he thought he saw a corner of her mouth go up in a smile. He couldn't help but smile himself. "I guess that's a little too obvious, isn't it?" She nodded and laughed, then spoke again. "Jeff, I... I am happy for you--I hope you know that." "I do, Sarah. Thank you." "And I'm... I'm sorry. About what I said before." Jeff wrinkled his brow. "When?" The kitchen light glinted off her pearl necklace when she played with it. "When I first found out you and Ginger were dating. I was out of line, Jeff. I know that, and... I'm sorry." Jeff shrugged to put her at ease. "That was such a long time ago," he said. "And you weren't exactly the only one who said something at the time." "I guess... I guess I was just a little surprised that you had found someone so quickly." She laughed nervously. "Maybe it hurt my ego to think that you could get over me just like that." "Sarah-" "No, it's all right, Jeff... I know I had no right to expect you to pine away after me after-" "Sarah, that's not how it was... I-I mean, it wasn't like we never meant anything. I don't want you to think that." She looked surprised when he said that. Maybe she hadn't known what to believe all this time. "But things work out the way they're supposed to." It was something his mother had told him over and over, but he realized he didn't understand that until just now. "You and I--it just wasn't going to work out. I think deep down we both knew that." She nodded without saying anything. Jeff wondered if he had said the wrong thing--the last thing he wanted was to hurt her. "You love her... don't you?" Jeff felt his mouth form a smile--the mere mention of Ginger was enough to do that. "Yeah," he said softly, "yeah, I do..." "I didn't think it would last at first," she said. "I couldn't help thinking about how different you two were-" Jeff chuckled. "I don't suppose you were the only one who thought that." "But then I saw how you were together That night that you came home from the dance contest, and you had this--this glow... I saw how you looked at each other, and it was like there wasn't anyone else in the room but you two. And that's when I realized that this was for real. That's when I realized how wrong I was." She smiled shyly and paused, as if trying to gather her thoughts. "She's a lucky woman, Jeff." He smiled. "No... I'm the lucky one." "Mother, it's all right, I'll get it!" Jeff breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Ginger's voice--instead of her mother's--at the door. It was always such an ordeal facing Mrs. Szabo, and at the moment he just wanted to see his fiancee without having to face the inquisition. "Honey, what are you doing here? I thought-" He picked her up and kissed her before she could finish her sentence, swinging her around and doing his best to draw out the moment for as long as possible. When he finally set her down, she smiled back up at him, her cheeks flushed and her breath shallow. "Mmm, not that I'm complaining, but what was that greeting for?" He kissed her eyelids and pressed his forehead to hers. "Just because you're you." "Because I'm me?" She giggled in his arms. "I guess I'll keep doing more of the same then." He pulled away slightly and took her face in his hands. "Ginger," he murmured, "in case I haven't told you in the last few seconds... I love you..." "I love you too." Home| Kyle| Tammy| History| Transcripts| Quotes| Milestones| Episodes| Pictures| Fanfic| Links| Email List