Fall In Love (A Paragon Vanguard Short Story)

[Paragon Vanguard]

Michael Summers sat at his kitchen table staring out at the many colors that Fall had brought to the trees in his backyard. His coffee was still warm, though he was halfway through his large mug. It was good coffee, dark roast with two spoons of raw sugar and a dash of creamer. Mornings of the weekend were his favorite times. He could do without all the festivals and the holidays and the large gatherings, that always seemed to bring some kind of trouble. He did live in the suburbs right outside of Paragon City, the city of heroes as some called it. He was Paragon Vanguard, when he wasn't professor Summers at the university. He did feel an obligation to help people. 
But today. This morning, he only felt a desire to sit back, put his slippered feet up on another chair, and watch the leaves fall from the trees in his backyard. 

"Samantha sent a text, she says she wont be here for Fall break," Kathy Summers called from the other room. 

Michael heard, but said nothing to that. She was senior at NYU, and worked a job as a hospital tech when she was not in class. He already figured that she would not be coming home for such a short break. Figured it, and decided he would not let it get to him. True, he could fly to see her, and be there in a short amount of time, but he would not. He would not fly to her, and he would not let it put him in a bad mood as it had in the past. 

"Did you hear," Kathy asked, coming into the kitchen. She was in her work out clothes, having run some amount of miles and now walking in. 

"I heard," Michael said, and took a sip from his coffee. 

"Don't you start getting yourself all down over this honey," she began, with a smile.

Michael just waved it off, as she came around the table and sat on his lap, looking out at the backyard as well. 

"I have accepted that she is grown, dear," he said, a slight smile on his face. 

"Good, because you have a wife that is still here, and is madly in love with you!"

Michael chuckled at that, because it was her way of fussing at him. They had been married now for 24 years, and she knew him better than anyone else did. She knew him better than he did. 

"And you have a husband madly in love with you," he said, looking her over as she looked out the sliding glass. Her hair was graying, but still had some of the brown tent to it. She was in good shape, and he felt that she worked hard at it because she was married to a man that did not seem to age very much. She had nothing to worry about, he was indeed in love with her. He would be until the day she died, and as far as he knew, forever after. His worry was never her aging, it was him not aging. Not very fast anyway. 

"So is Paragon Vanguard going to the city this weekend, and make sure everyone behaves," Kathy asked, looking to the big man with a smile on her face. 

"I don't know, is Kathy Summers going to be home for movies and hot chocolate?"

"She will," Kathy said. 
"Then he will," Michael said, before the two kissed. Still with passion, still with desire. 

It was fall, it was fall and he was in love. 

 

 

                                                                       The End

Edited October 15, 2022 by Paragon Vanguard