Joe poured the beer into the chilled mug and handed it over. The sun was gentle and warm, and there was an dazzling view of the

Rockies in the distance. The glass was received and the plate was passed to Joe with a heaping picnic dinner on it.

"I'm not sure I'm ready for all this after that great appetizer!" he joked.

"Well, why don't we wait then? It doesn't need to be eaten just yet. I have to admit, after sharing my life story with you, I'm ready for

yours...with the pictures you have!" The plate was set aside for the time being.

Joe scooted his lawn chair closer and pulled over his backpack. Thrust inside was a small old-school photo album. Crossing his leg,

he placed the album on it and leaned to the side so his dinner company could see it clearly. "Well, I just tucked a few important pictures

in this to tell the tale. Thanks for asking me to bring it. It was cathartic in a way to pool through those albums and

come up with..."

"Under 20 pictures," came the smiled response.

"Yeah, choosing under 20 pictures, that was a challenge…." Joe grinned. "But it was a good idea, and you did very well modeling

that with yours."

She put her head back against the webbed fabric of the lounge chair and turned her face towards his, with another smile. " A

colleague taught that to me. We both wanted to get to know one another, and she suggested this technique. It

made us fast friends. I'm glad you like it."

"I do," Joe nodded. "I hope that it will do the same for us. Fast friends..."

She looked him in the eyes and smiled "Yes," with a nod.

Feeling he was getting a little distracted, he turned to the first page.

It was a family picture with himself and his parents and grandparents, and he reminisced about his childhood, the pet in the

foreground, and his memories of growing up in the Eastern part of the US before a move West as a teenager.

One more photo of that teenager playing guitar for a school talent show and the stories shifted to college and early life in the

USPS, explaining the family tradition.

"Who is that?" the finger pointed to the beautiful face of his ex-wife.

"That is the woman who stole my heart and…"

"Stomped that sucker flat?"

Joe looked startled and then when he saw the sympathetic eyes staring back at him, he shook his head and chuckled. "You nailed it!"

Her head tilted to the side, while Joe paused, and she said earnestly," You don't have to share the details. But I am willing to hear

anything you care to tell."

Joe looked off into the distance and squinted at the mountain range, swiftly getting covered as evening clouds sailed across the view.

He looked back at her, snapped the book shut and said, "How about after that great meal that you served up?" Joe stood up, offered

his hand, helped the lady from her chaise, and they headed over to the covered table to enjoy their picnic dinner.

Once the meal was done, they never made it back to the lounge chairs. They sat at that table, and Joe turned page after page

recounting some of the details of his disappointing marriage. But then the pictures came to two pages filled with a freckled face boy.

"I was crazy about him. It truly didn't matter that he wasn't mine biologically. He was mine in heart, soul and spirit. We just…

connected. And while his mom was often distracted, and later I found out by whom, Ollie was my solace.' Joe sighed, running his

finger across the prints of Oliver growing up. "He missed his mom often. He didn't ask many questions. When she finally left for

good, it was traumatic. We both headed into some counseling, but Oliver didn't take to it. He was having trouble really verbalizing. I

should have insisted he stick with it because eventually he would leave in search of answers he thought I was hiding from him."

"Were you? Hiding answers?" she asked.

"No, but I was withholding some heartache that he wasn't ready to bear." Joe looked off into the misty mountains in the distance.

"But I should have tried harder."

There was a long silence and the sound of a train in the distance. His companion turned to stare back and regard Joe's pensive

profile, his eyes lost in the past. She cleared her throat and said, "Did anything hurt him as much as his mother leaving?"

Joe didn't answer for a minute. And then he turned and flashed a smile. " How'd you know? Yeah, he was hurt that I left the USPS.

He never asked me why. I think he just made some assumptions. But that was the best way for me to earn enough money to put him

through college. Right after that, before I could really explain all the benefits, he took off. Shut down and 15 painful years of silence

began. I went back East and tried to keep in touch, but he wouldn't budge. Ollie could be pretty stubborn."

"I imagine that that was possibly more painful than Eva leaving."

"Right again. You have a lot of insight for someone just hearing this for the first time," Joe regarded her carefully. " I guess that's the

counselor in you."

She shrugged her shoulders." I promised not to psychoanalyze you and I'm not. But I guess I can't leave the training

behind when I'm listening to someone's pain. You listened really well to mine, by the way."

Joe nodded slowly and turned the pages. His smile broadened." I got the answers to my prayers though. Even when Oliver sent back

every letter unopened, and I kept them, I just knew that one day I would give them again to him, and we would reconcile. I hung on to

that hope. And God sent an angel to intercede. An angel named Shane."

"Shane? Isn't that the woman Oliver is engaged to? Shane?"

"That's right. Here she is with Oliver and two other colleagues at the DLO in Denver." Joe always enjoyed looking at these pictures

he had managed to get one day when they were all having a discussion about the upcoming Dorman wedding.

"Wow, she is so beautiful. And I like the way that Oliver is looking at her."

Joe pointed to another photo. " I had a lot of pictures from this camping trip, but I only brought you one. But here they are, all

bundled up when the 3 of us took an overnight at El Dorado Canyon. Some day I'll tell you the pre-tale that lead up to this camping

trip."

"So, Joe, how was Shane an angel? Other than looking like one….?"

She leaned in and took a long sip on some hot cocoa from the thermos Joe had handed her.

Joe folded his hands and leaned in as well. "When I tried to come back into Oliver's life, Shane took a huge part in encouraging him

to do so. He was suspicious of my motives. But I was actually trying to help him. Shane was instrumental in Oliver and me

reconnecting, and she continued to insist he spend time with me and get to know me again. In the process, I got to know her and was

impressed with her insights, and her way with my son." Joe laughed out loud. "She is definitely in tune with Oliver and the way his

mind and the way his heart works."

She looked down at the picture of the 3 of them at the Dorman wedding,(mentally noting how handsome Joe looked in a tux) and the

picture of Oliver and Shane as a couple. It was puzzling that the usually well dressed Oliver was wearing a strangely garish green

tie….? and Shane was in a gorgeous red gown. "It seems she is definitely in love with him too, from the look she is giving in this

picture…..This porch swing picture is cute, too."

"That's a story for another day. I mean date." Joe smiled. "If you're willing. I have lots of tales to tell. And I want to hear more from

you. Was our date a success from your perspective?"

"Well, we did learn a good bit about one another. I'm not scared off." She held up her mug. "How about you?"

Joe hesitated, grabbed his beer and they clinked their mugs together. "Here's to not being scared off... Hey, did

I mention I brought my guitar?"