Sunsets (Read 10,239 times)

[Kpatch]

FIESTA KEY BEACH

Philip and Chloe continued sculpting their sandcastle by the water’s edge.

Philip: That was the last vacation we ever took with Sami and Lucas.
Chloe [sarcastically]: I wonder why.
Philip: You know what was fun?
Chloe: Tell me!
Philip: The year your sister came and lived with us.
Chloe: Are you serious? That was a disaster.
Philip: No it wasn’t. Your sister was a hoot.
Chloe: Wipe that smirk off your face young man!
Philip: I don’t think I ever laughed as much as I did that year Joy stayed with us.
Chloe: Worst mistake of my life.
Philip: Well we couldn’t say no.
Chloe: No, I guess we couldn’t. She wanted to get away from Nancy for a while. I could definitely relate to that. I just had no idea what a horrible influence you’d be on her.
Philip: She was a teenager. I just wanted to broaden her horizons.
Chloe: By introducing her to Tampa’s red light district?
Philip: Come on, I just wanted to show her the area. Buy her a drink. I had no way of knowing she’d get a job as a lap dancer.
Chloe: Jeez. Nancy and Craig would have killed me if they ever found out. Joy holds it over my head to this day.
Philip: We got her back on track, didn’t we? Convinced her to go back home and enroll in Salem U. She ended up at M.I.T. Became a biologist.
Chloe: She sure studied enough of the male anatomy. Including yours.
Philip: Only from afar.
Chloe: She had a major crush on you, you know.
Philip: Jealous?
Chloe: Should I be?
Philip: No sweetie. Unlike my sibling, your sister knew I was off limits. She knew enough not to mess with your man.
Chloe: And those other guys?
Philip: She was just sowing her wild oats is all. It’s a rite of passage.
Chloe: Out of all our siblings, I would say I liked your brother the best.
Philip: Austin?
Chloe: No, I never got to know Austin very well.
Philip: Lucas?
Chloe: Definitely not.
Philip: Oh, you mean Bo.
Chloe: One of my favorite summers ever was one when we went sailing with Bo, Hope, Belle, and Shawn. Summer of 2020.
Philip: That was kind of weird.
Chloe: No it wasn’t. It was fabulous. Belle and I had so much fun catching up. We hadn’t spent that much time together since we were teenagers. The two of us had always talked about what it would be like when we were grown up and had our own families, and there we were, living our childhood dreams.
Philip: Uh huh.
Chloe: You had fun. I know you did. You and Bo, Shawn and Wesley, all taking turns at the helm of the Fancy Face. Me, Faith, Belle, Claire, Hope and Ciara, going on shopping excursions in the Cayman Islands.
Philip: Uh huh.
Chloe: What? You loved it!
Philip: It was a little weird for me.
Chloe: Why? What was weird?
Philip: I’d been married to Belle once, and I thought that Claire was my daughter. It just felt a little awkward, like I was torn between two families.
Chloe: Oh? You never told me that before.
Philip: It was hard to put into words. I always felt uneasy watching Shawn with Claire. It always stung a little bit to just be Uncle Philip to her.
Chloe: You did act like a proud papa the day Claire got married.
Philip: That was a special day.
Chloe: You’ve always kept a special place in your heart for Claire.
Philip: There are some things that you just don’t get over, you know? Some feelings that never go away.
Chloe: Are you saying you wished you and Belle stayed married.
Philip stopped what he was doing and faced Chloe.
Philip: Never. Not for one day of my life did I ever wish I was married to anyone but you. I told you years ago that you were my dream come true.
Chloe: Okay. Just checking.
Philip: Are you being insecure now?
Chloe: No. Just fishing for a compliment.
Philip: Come here.
Philip kissed Chloe.


To be continued ...

[MrsM]

Awwwww...

[DancingDays]

I never thought about how awkward a family reunion/get-together might be for them - on BOTH sides!!! Too funny!!

[fluffysmom]

Loved the tales of Joy's wild year in Tampa. She was definitely a handful. LOL at Chloe saying that Lucas was definitely not her favorite of Philip's brothers. I liked hearing about Philip continuing to care for Claire.

[djm]

LOL at Joy as a teenager, and the summer on the boat. So great that Philip still cares for Claire as a daughter. She is one lucky girl to have two guys looking out for her. Thanks for the extra chapter Kpatch.

[Kpatch]

FIESTA KEY BEACH

Philip: You know what vacations were my favorites?
Chloe: Um. Class trip to Puerto Rico?
Philip: Hardly.
Chloe: The cruise around the world the kids gave us as a gift when you retired?
Philip: That was fun. That was the first vacation we ever took by ourselves, just the two of us. But that wasn’t my favorite. My favorite vacations were the ones we took to Disney World as a family.
Chloe: Those season passes were the best investment we ever made.
Philip: Even the hour or so drive to Disney World was memorable.
Chloe: The four of us singing songs in the car.
Philip: Counting the number of Illinois license plates.
Chloe: Playing “I Spy.”
Philip: You know that one time I told you about when my father had business in Florida and he took me and mom to Orlando with him?
Chloe: Yes.
Philip: Did I tell you my parents had a nanny take me to see Disney World?
Chloe: They didn’t go with you?
Philip: Nope.
Chloe: Oh Philip, that’s so sad.
Philip: That’s why it was so important to me to give our kids our time, make meaningful memories as a family, spend time together, not send them to camp.
Chloe: I think you accomplished your goal.
Philip smiled.
Chloe: What are you smiling about?
Philip: Just thinking about Faith.
Chloe: Daddy’s little princess.
Philip: Our first trip to Disney is when Faith’s "princess" obsession began.
Chloe: As soon as she took one look at Cinderella’s Castle, her whole world changed.
Philip: Did it ever! That girl never did anything halfway, even at 9 years old. You know, I think she really believed she was royalty for a while.
Chloe: Well, you did call her “princess” ever since she was a baby.
Philip: She decided that there was more to it than just a nickname. She made everyone else call her princess for an entire year.
Chloe: That girl went through so many phases. Tomboy, princess, lesbian, southern belle.
Philip: She still loves Disney World today. She won’t admit it, but I know that it’s the reason she moved Titan’s worldwide headquarters to Orlando when she took over as CEO.
Chloe: Titan and Disney have done quite a bit of co-branding over the years.
Philip: Now, Wes was a different story. I worried a lot about his lack of motivation. He was a little apathetic during his formative years.
Chloe: He went through so much during the first two years of his life. I think he subliminally wanted the rest of his childhood to be drama-free.
Philip: The only thing he wanted was a pomeranian.
Chloe: He loved Bandit so much. We all did.
Philip: Yeah, but I don’t think it was healthy that Bandit was his best friend. The kid was too much of a loner.
Chloe: Until we put up that hoop out back and you taught him to play basketball.
Philip: Ah, he was a natural at sports.
Chloe: Just like you were.
Philip: It helped get him out of his shell, gave him outside interests, friends, purpose.
Chloe: And then Emma came along and gave him a new purpose.
Philip: His first love.
Chloe: And his last.
Philip: She sure knew how to motivate him. I don’t think he’d be the head of the Psychology Department at the University of Florida today if she didn’t push him so hard.
Chloe: She was a good influence on him. But so were you, Philip.
Philip got a far-away look in his eye.
Philip: I’m really proud of the job we did raising our children.
Chloe: They turned out okay, didn’t they?
Philip: Yeah, they did.


To be continued ...

[MrsM]

Sounds like they had a great childhood!!

[djm]

Love that they had such a great childhood. The move sure paid off for the family.

[André DiMera]

This wasa really sweet chapter! I loved Philip and Chloe's recollections of all of their vacations. Plus, it sounds like the kids have had a great childhood!

This is an awesome story, jkjpatch! Thanks for sharing!

[fluffysmom]

LOL at the class trip to Puerto Rico being anyone's favorite trip. I really liked hearing about all of the family trips. It's really cool that Faith is the CEO of Titan and that she moved the headquarters to Florida. Moving to Florida was perfect for their family.

[gapeach]

Can't wait for the grandchildren to start arriving. Girl, you have done an AWESOME job with this story.

[Kpatch]

Thanks bunches! That means a lot to me!

Does anyone have a guess how long Philip and Chloe have been married in this story? It's their anniversary. Anyone know which one?

[djm]

I am going to guess 40th.

[Kpatch]

You will find out the answer in Chapter 23.

[Kpatch]

TWO WEEKS EARLIER

Faith [on the phone]: What are we gonna do for Mom and Dad’s anniversary?
Wesley: I don’t know. Why?
Faith: Because, it’s a milestone. I want to do something special for them.
Wesley: Hmm, I know that Dad was interested in getting the next generation iHologram.
Faith: He can buy that for himself. I want to get them something personal, something for both of them.
Wesley: How about a year-long cruise around the world?
Faith: We gave them that when Dad retired.
Wesley: So? It’s a big world. I’m sure they haven’t seen everything yet.
Faith: Forget it. You’re no help.
Wesley: Hey! I’m trying.
Faith: This needs a woman’s touch. Ooh! I just thought of the exact right person to call. I’ll talk to you later.
Faith hangs up with Wesley and dials a number. A woman picks up.

Faith: Aunt Nicole? Hi, it’s Faith.
Nicole: Hey Cutie! How’s my favorite niece?
Faith. I’m good, Aunt Nicole, how are you?
Nicole: Just peachy. You still owe me dinner, you know.
Faith: I haven’t forgotten. We really have to get together soon and catch up. I miss you.
Nicole: Aw, me too honey. So what’s up?
Faith: I need a good idea.
Nicole: For what?
Faith: Mom and Dad’s anniversary. It’s a big one.
Nicole: Oh, that’s right. It is! I was there when they got married. Just me, Brady, and your brother. Wow, time flies.
Faith: I’m racking my brain, trying to come up with something special to get them. I was hoping you might have some ideas.
Nicole: Hmmm, let me think.
Nicole has a couple of flashbacks.


***Flashback 1***
SALEM CITY PARK, PHILIP AND CHLOE’S WEDDING

Father Matt: Is there anything you’d like to say to each other before we continue?
Philip: I’ve got a lot to say.
Brady [looking at his watch]: Nicole and me need to be in California by tomorrow night. We’ve got tickets to a Manilow concert.
Philip [laughing]: I’ll try to be brief.
Nicole: Don’t listen to Brady, Philip. You take your time. This is the moment you’ve both been waiting a long time for.


***Flashback 2***
WESLEY’S FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY
 
Nicole: So, everything good?
Chloe: Everything is perfect.
Nicole: Even though ...
Chloe: Even though what?
Nicole: I don’t know. You and Philip were separated and he was with another woman. I would be a little skeeved out by that.
Chloe: Nicole! … Actually, Philip and I have been talking about renewing our vows.

***End of Flashbacks***

Nicole: Oh my god. I have the perfect gift idea!
Faith: Tell me!


To be continued...