The Calm After The Storm (Exposed Part 4)

Bill stayed down in Oklahoma at his cousins for close to a month. There was sporadic contact of a few stolen moments of phone calls.

Bill got word that electric service had been restored. So he and his wife headed back to Ms. and arrived, just in time for Rita to hit. Electric and phones were out for another week.
Having experienced Katrina affected Bill in ways I couldn't begin to fathom, and I couldn't understand.
All I knew was he seemed to have grown distant. He was jerk on the phone, I hung up on him. It was then the calm after the storm settled in. I had written him off.I figured if he was still taking care of the wife,then he was a player in my book. I did not know about the glitch for his inheritance or the fact that he had been having chest pains for a month.

I did not see his actions as honourable regarding a wife who made him miserable with her drinking. I saw it as weakness. I judged him as someone who didn't mean a word he said, a player. My German heritage kicked in with the stubborness. I wouldn't call or contact him online. I kept telling myself he was just a diversion to pass the boredon of living alone.
He finally called 2 weeks later and apologized.
I accepted his apology, but to me the ground rules had changed.

He started tentatively talking about meeting face to face. I basically yessed him to death, I didn't think it would ever happen. He asked me if I had ever been to Tn. We were online and he had me pull up the page for Dollywood. Next we were looking at rental cabins. Then he switched gears and started looking at houses and condos in Pigeon Forge. He kept asking my opinion, asking what I liked, what did I want? All the time I'm thinking, who cares? This is a waste of my time. A trip will never happen, and neither will our buying a place together happen.
He has a wife. I still technically had a husband too, although we were seperated, we weren't divorced formally yet.
One day he calls me from the hospital. He wanted me to pull up rental cabins. I do and we decide which one I can call and reserve. Then I made reservations for a flight into Asheville, NC where he would pick me up from the airport because I no longer drive since my stroke.
The night before my flight, he is still in the hospital, I'm questioning him if he will be out in time to meet me in Tn. He assures me he will.
My flight got in around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, we were meeting at baggage.
I was nervous. Really nervous, everyones words of caution were pounding in my head. Plus, I still didn't know if he'd make the drive from Ms. to Tn. after being released from getting a stent put in his heart.
My plane landed in Asheville without a problem. I was hurrying to baggage. I saw him sitting there and felt a jolt. That increased the nervousness and I was fighting to be cool. Didn't want to appear too eager. I took a deep breath as his back was to me and then I saw my baggage coming along on the belt. I walked over to grab it and a arm reached out and got it. I turned and saw his face for the first time. I had never seen such blue eyes or such a handsome guy. He leaned down and kissed my cheek and said hello.
My heart felt like it was soaring right out of my chest. I reached for the gym bag that I had packed. I insisted I could carry it. It was big and akward, but I managed. We walked out to his truck. He presented me with a bouquet of red mini carnations.
Well that racked up some serious change in the bank account of love, for sure. Kaching!We stayed the first two nights in Asheville and one of those nights was Halloween which we spent in a downtown club. Then we headed over to Pigeon Forge, Tn where we had our stay for a magical week.