Randi

He wasn't sure if that was appropriate, hokey, or downright silly, but that's what he went with.

When Randi read his reply, she couldn't stop smiling, and felt an old familiar warmth radiate through her body beginning in a place that was suddenly quite wet as she replied.

"Take it the wrong way? Hmmm. How should I take that, David?"

She too, added some smiley faces then continued.

"I agree wholeheartedly with everything you wrote—except the part about blaming you! We are very much simpatico regarding politics, and I too, had the most amazing time since my sweet husband was taken from me. It's funny, but I felt hopeful again today for the first time since I learned he'd been killed. And that is directly because of you, David. So...thank you for that.

Lastly, I not only don't want you to promise you won't talk to me (all night?) again. I'll only be upset if you don't call!"

Again it was signed, "Love, Randi."

Feeling like a kid in a candy store he couldn't stop his fingers from typing:

"Would it be okay if I called you? If so, what would be a good time?"

Randi's heart was racing when she read his text before replying.

"Anytime is okay, but I put Chloe to bed around 8pm my time. But seriously—anytime is okay!"

There was no 'Love, Randi' this time, but that didn't stop Eaton from feeling what he was feeling—whatever that was.

He tried to lay down again and managed to get close to a dream state but never did fall asleep. He kept looking at the clock waiting for it to hit 9pm his time then waited a few extra minutes just in case.

Randi picked up on the first ring, and Eaton could almost 'see' her smiling and that made him wonder if she might be willing to FaceTime with him.

"Hi!" she said excitedly. "That was perfect timing. I just got Chloe to sleep."

"Wonderful!" Eaton told her. "Listen, would you be interested in maybe doing a video call?"

"I'd love to!" she said without hesitation. She'd brushed her hair and put on a bit of makeup in the unlikely event he wanted to do just this, but she had no intention of letting him know that.

Seconds later they were talking and looking at one another.

"So...hi," Eaton told her with a genuine smile.

"Yes. Hi. It's nice to finally 'meet' you!" Randi said as she smiled back at him.

Even on the phone she looked beautiful. Her eyes were a bright green set against her long, dark hair, and her skin was as flawless as her smile. And that face was simply gorgeous.

"You look great," he said feeling a bit silly for saying it even though it was the truth.

"Well, thank you very much," she said, still smiling happily. "And may I say you're even more handsome than in your pictures."

Eaton thanked her then said, "Thank you for saying that, and I can't believe how much I enjoy talking to you."

"I know. It's like I'm so...hungry for this kind of conversation then you show up and feed me a seven-course meal."

"I'm not exactly gourmet food, but thank you for saying that, too. And let me say I feel exactly the same way only I was going to use 'dying of thirst' as my analogy with your words slaking it."

Randi didn't reply. She just kept smiling at him.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Yes. Yes, it is. For once, everything in my life feels okay again."

Eaton understood what she meant and all he added was a very short reply.

"Same here, and feeling okay feels really good."

It was just after midnight when Randi insisted he lay down and get some sleep.

"I can't be the cause of you falling asleep at the wheel," she told him.

"No. You're right. I do need to get some sleep. I don't want to, but I do need to," he admitted.

"Yeah. I wish we could talk all night again," she said very sweetly.

"Same here, but I guess that'll have to wait."

"I know you're excited about spending time with your daughter, so if we can't talk again until you get here, I'll understand," she told him.

Not sure if he was being put off, he said, "If I'm taking up too much of your time, then yes, we can wait."

"No. It's not that, David. I love talking to you. I just don't want you to feel like you have to spend all your time on the phone with me. That's all."

He almost didn't say it, but before he could stop himself he was saying, "Randi, there's nothing I'd rather do with my time than talk to you."

He saw the pleased look on her face and felt better. She smiled again then told him, "That's how I feel, too. I just thought perhaps our conversations were maybe just some kind of Ayn-Rand-love-fest."

"I do admire her," Eaton said.

"Me, too," Randi told him.

She hesitated then said, "I've kind of been thinking of you as my John Galt."

Eaton smiled happily then said, "If you'll be my Dagny Taggart, I'm happy to be your John Galt. And hey, you already know who I am and where I live so there's no need to ask, right?"

Randi laughed then said, "I have that in decorative letters in my living room above the television."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. It says, 'Who is John Galt?' in ten-inch letters."

"Ha! Well, now you know!" he said obviously referring to himself.

"I do," she said very sweetly. "Gee, I wonder if the railroad runs from Billings to Seattle?"

The implication that she was in charge of Taggart Transcontinental, the railroad line made famous in Rand's most well-know work, Atlas Shrugged, made them both laugh.

"Well, goodnight...Dagny," Eaton said.

Randi smiled happily and said just as sweetly as before, "Goodnight, John Galt. And sweet dreams."

"You, too," he said before they each 'goodbye' one more time.

Eaton set his phone down, exhaled loudly then said to himself, "What in the world is going on here?"

It was then he realized he hadn't heard from Molly in...how long? He checked his messages on'Messenger' and saw one from her.

He read through it and realized he had no interest whatsoever in even meeting her. And yet he felt obligated to at least spend an hour or two with her reminiscing about the good old days. That was until he got to the paragraph where she started unloading on the current president, his administration, and Republicans in general.

Eaton disliked Republicans almost as much as Democrats but for very different reasons. He'd been no fan of 'Dubbya' or Obama, and while he didn't vote for the 'pussy-grabbing Orange Man' he also hadn't voted for the pathological liar who'd been secretary of state and recklessly endangered our national security. He'd written in the name of a Kentucky senator he admired knowing there was no chance in hell he'd be elected.

For now, he was hoping the economy would continue to strengthen without getting us into WWIII with China over North Korea. Beyond that, it was the never-ending swinging of the pendulum that went Left and Right every few voting cycles. Unfortunately, it never swung his way.

He smiled when he thought, "Or Randi's way."

Molly let him know she was very passionate about politics then transitioned into her beliefs by bashing the living daylights out of the New York billionaire for undoing all of the 'wonderful things' her president had done for the country.

Her next-to-last final comment was exactly the way Randi had portrayed her mom.

"The good news is that with you being a university professor, I already know where you stand. So that just makes me all the more excited about getting together with you! I hope this isn't too forward, but I'd love to make dinner for us the night you get in or shortly thereafter. And well, if you'd care to stay even...later...that would be even nicer!"

The last line surprised him, and on some level, really bothered him. He was no prude by any means, but considering how they barely knew one another, that was just way over the top, at least as far as he was concerned.

"In case you're wondering, I'm more than a little anxious to spend some time with you, David. I uh, I guess you could call me 'a sure thing'. Wink, wink."

She put a bunch of hearts and red-lip emojis after it then signed it, "Love, Molly."

"Wow," he said as he closed his laptop, suddenly aware he was now completely limp.

He was too tired to think about it right then, but he wasn't too tired to lay down and close his eyes and imagine seeing Randi's face again. And after just a few seconds of doing so, his tired body responded and within minutes was demanding another release without regard to the short amount of time that had passed since his last.

There was no envisioning anything sexual. All it took was 'seeing' Randi's pretty face and that beautiful smile. Okay, he did imagine her telling him she not only wanted to kiss him but desperately needed to do so. And the moment their lips 'met' he sprang another huge leak at least as large as the one in the shower with only a minimal amount of 'self-manipulation'.

Spent and throughly exhausted, Eaton slept soundly until his alarm woke him at 8am.

"One more day," he told himself as yawned and stretched.

He arrived on campus refreshed and ready for his last day. He'd already informed his department chair of his plans which included taking at least the next semester off and possibly an entire year. He had the right to take a sabbatical so that wasn't a problem. Anything longer than a year, however, and he could lose his teaching position in spite of being tenured.

And that's when he remembered he'd been so busy thinking about Randi he'd forgotten all about his dad and his daughter. The thought of his father laying in bed slowly wasting away as his body failed him was very hard to take, so he chose to put it off until he could be there to try and help, and chose instead to focus on work and Mac's arrival.

It was time for his first class so his personal affairs would have to wait. He was pleasantly busy the entire day, and before he knew it he was shaking hands with the two other professors he'd miss during his lengthy time off.

As he drove home it hit him how few friends he had at the university after all the years he'd spent there teaching and doing research and publishing scholarly papers. He knew his personal beliefs came with a personal cost, but it was a tradeoff he gladly accepted. Now that Mac was grown and Ruby was...gone...was there anything really holding him in Billings, Montana, other than his house and a job he was more than a little tired of?

Eaton smiled when he pulled into the driveway and saw the best surprise he could imagine. The unknown vehicle parked there had to be Mac's rental car. Between her early arrival and his very enjoyable chats with Randi, David Eaton was a very happy man for the first time since Ruby was alive. No, that wasn't true. Because of the time he'd spent talking with Randi, this would be the second such time.

He pulled into the garage, shut off the car, and flung open the door of the house.

"Mac?" he called out.

"Daddy!!!" she called back as she ran to him.

They hugged for the longest time and both of them had the beginnings of tears welling up in their eyes by the time they let go.

"I'm so glad you're home!" he told her.

"I'm so glad to be home!" she said before pulling away.

Eaton looked up a saw a very clean-cut-looking young man standing there smiling at him.

"Oh. Dad? This is my boyfriend, Zack Chamberlain. Zack, this is my father, Professor David Eaton."

"David," he said to the younger man as he held out his hand.

"Pleased to finally meet you, sir. McKenna talks about you all the time. And I'm very sorry for your loss."

"Well, thank you," Eaton told him. "Come on. Let's go sit down and get acquainted, shall we?"

For the next few hours, David Eaton forgot all about Randi and even Ruby as he and Mac and her new beau talked non-stop until around 11pm, and that included making and eating dinner.

He couldn't believe, and yet he could believe, what a great guy Zack was. He was smart, thoughtful, and very level-headed, and it was fairly obvious he was in love with his daughter. Oh, and like Mac, he was also a fellow Libertarian.

Eaton knew for sure a little after that when Zack asked for a moment of his time after Mac went upstairs. After a brief set up, Zack formally asked for Eaton's blessing to marry his only daughter.

"Well, I have to say I was very impressed before this, but your stock just shot up to a whole new level, Zack," he told him. "And yes, you have my blessing."

The younger man thanked him and shook his hand then said, "I promise I won't start calling you 'Dad'."

Eaton laughed then said, "You better ask Mac, though, before you start counting your chickens."

Zack laughed too, then showed him the ring he'd planned to give her. It was small, but then Zack was still young and poor, and he knew Mac wouldn't care what it was if she really loved him.

And fifteen minutes later the shriek he heard from his daughter, one floor above him, told him she did.

"Daddy! Daddy!" she hollered as she flew down the stairs, her left hand extended with the wrist bent down.

It took her a few seconds to find him, but when she did, he held out his arms and swept her up like he used to many years ago.

"Did you know?" she asked as he set her down after spinning her around once.

"I did," he said with a smile. "But only a few minutes ago."

Her dad smiled then said, "I thought he'd wait and ask you at a nice restaurant or some romantic place, but then I realized you're both graduate students living on a budget so...."

He stopped talking then just said, "I'm so happy for you, Mac. I really am."

After that no one could sleep and it was nearly 3am before Eaton finally said, "I'm not much for pulling all-nighters so I really need to get some shuteye."

"Oh, Dad. I'm so sorry!" Mac said when she realized what time it was.

"It's okay. I realized a while back when I tried doing this recently that I'm not as young as I feel."

"What? Were you researching something for a paper?" his daughter asked.

"No. Nothing like that," he said hoping she wouldn't ask anything else.

"Dad? Did you maybe...have a date?" Mac asked, her eyebrows raised high in hopeful anticipation.

Some kind of facial twitch must have betrayed him, because she started smiling then said, "I knew it! You did go out, didn't you? Who is she? Do I know her?"

"Mac? I didn't go out with anyone."

He debated bringing it up, but knew she wouldn't let it go so he gave a little more hoping it would mollify her for a while, at least.

"It's someone from back home. We talked on the phone for several hours, and before I knew it, I'd been up all night."

"Oh, wait. Is it that woman you went to high school with?" Mac asked as she started the probe.

"I went to school with a lot of girls, honey," he told her.

"Yes, but I noticed you had a couple of new friends on Facebook, and one of them is your age."

"Seriously? You noticed that?" her father asked.

"Oh, yeah. I noticed. I worry about you so I check things like that. And may I say she's very pretty."

He could tell Mac was searching for something in her brain before she said, "Molly! That's her name. It's Molly, isn't it?"

Relieved not to have to mention Randi, her dad said, knowing he wasn't telling the whole truth, "Yes. She and I did go to high school together and we are friends on Facebook."

"You sly old fox, you!" Mac said. "Okay. Good to know. You may now go to bed and get your beauty sleep, kind sir! Not that you need it, of course."

Zack hadn't said a word. He'd just sat there taking it all in.

"Good night, sir," he said as Eaton got up to leave.

"Good night—son," he said with a wink.

Before he walked away, Mac said, "Dad? I just want you to know that I want you to be happy. No matter who it's with. Okay?"

"Thanks, honey. That means a lot to me. And now...goodnight to you both and congratulations!"

Eaton was exhausted but just the thought of talking with Randi had him so...what did the kids say? Oh, right. Jazzed. Or was that from ten years ago? Regardless, he found himself unable to sleep again, and at six he got back up and made himself a pot of coffee then went to check messages—something he'd purposely avoided since Mac got home.

He owed Molly a reply, but didn't have the mental energy for it, so he opened the one from Randi—one he hadn't expected but loved reading.

"I know I said I wouldn't bother you, or at least I think I did. I've been so 'foggy-brained' since we started talking, everything has been a pleasant jumble! Anyway, I was just thinking about you—again—and I kind of assumed your daughter was home. If so, I'm hoping you had a wonderful visit with her and her new beau. If you want to talk about it (or anything else) I'm ready, willing, and able to chat. Love, Randi."

Eaton happily tapped out a quick reply sharing the good news of his daughter's engagement with this amazing young woman.

He got a reply back almost immediately and realized she was either up very early or hadn't been able to sleep.

"That is SO wonderful, David! I know you must be feeling all kinds of emotions but mostly pride and happiness. Zack sounds like a remarkable guy, and that, too, must make you feel very good about the way you and your wife raised your daughter. If I was there, I would give you a big congratulatory hug!

I hope you have a wonderful visit with her and your new son-in-law to be. Oh, and in case I haven't mentioned it recently (as in the last 12-24 hours) I can't wait to finally meet you, David! Love, Randi."

Eaton double-checked his itinerary again then sent Randi the details on his arrival along with some other information.

"I'm very excited to meet you, too, Randi. But I believe your mom is planning on picking me up at the airport, and I don't think I should tell her not to. And for the record, she let her political colors fly in the last email she sent me, so now I know what you were talking about. Since she's your mother, you can say whatever you like about her. I, on the other hand, need to be more circumspect, so I'll just say I found her comments to be very...passionate. How was that for diplomacy?"

He added some smiley faces then went on.

"I also don't want to add fuel to the fire, as it were, by spending time with you and avoiding her. However, I can no longer imagine going 'home' and not spending time with you or spending much with her. If you have any ideas on how to soften or mitigate that I'd love to hear them."

He thought about it for a moment then closed with, "Love, David" then hit 'send'.

Two minutes later he got a reply.

"I...loved...the way you signed your last text, David."

She put some blushing emojis after that then wrote, "My mom is going to react the way she'll react. I can't predict how that will look, but as much as I dearly love her, I, too, very much want to spend time with you. So as long as she and you haven't made any kind of commitment other than 'getting together' I'm not going to worry about that, and I don't think you need to, either. I'll be counting the days and then the hours until you arrive, David. Have a wonderful day! Love...back, Randi."

He was smiling happily and...hard as a rock again when he heard Zack walk in.

"Good morning, sir," he said as he nodded to the coffee pot and asked, "May I?"

"Oh. Of course. How'd you sleep, and good morning to you, too."

"Great," he replied as he poured himself a cup.

"You know you and Mac are welcome to stay in the same bedroom, right?" he told Zack.

"We uh, we kind of made a commitment to each other to, you know, um...wait."

"Really?" Eaton said. "As a father I'm thrilled to hear you say that. As a fellow male, I'm more than a little surprised."

"It's not a religious thing, we just have this belief that waiting will make things more special. Or at least we hope it will."

"Wow. Your stock just set another new record with me, Zack!"