{Our episode title is also a great song by Simon and Garfunkel.—tmw.}
After granting his girlfriend's request, Peter Talbot sat quietly for a long time.
He was definitely in love with Karen Yuletide, and couldn't picture spending the rest of his life without her.
While Peter knew Karen had strong feelings for him too, the fact that she still had reservations about becoming a werelioness because of the leonine belief in being polygamous (having more than one sex partner although otherwise staying faithful to whoever they married) was why she had yet to make a final decision on the issue of becoming a were, let alone becoming his, and why Peter had yet to propose to her.
Yet it was just about all Karen could do to get Peter out of his thoughts and back to the conversation at hand.
"Peter!" she finally yelled, playfully throwing a french fry in the air and making sure it crossed his field of vision before landing on his plate. "I asked you a question."
"Sorry. My mind's on other things. What was it?"
"Your parents won't mind me spending the night?"
"No. I'll call ahead if it eases your conscious, but we have a guest room that's hardly ever used." Besides they, and I, practically consider you family as it is, Peter silently added to himself.
"Where were you just now, anyway?" wondered Karen.
"I was just thinking. What makes you think this Dieter Wilhelm would want to kill Jenny Harper after all the work he's put in to trying to get her back to Alabama?"
"The police suspect the henchmen have orders to kill Harry Jenkins the first chance they get," said Karen, not knowing that the first man to arrive in Moon Lake was arrested but committed 'suicide by cop' to prevent answering any questions concerning his boss, "but we can't rule out the possibility. There have been plenty of instances where the crazed suitor decided if they couldn't have the one they wanted, then no one could."
"I see," said Peter, thinking over what she said.
Then he looked at Karen and smiled as he took her hand in his. "Don't worry. There is no way I shall ever let anything happen to you," he promised her. I'll kill Dieter Wilhelm myself if necessary before I let that happen!
MEANWHILE...
It had been a great dinner, and Eric Anderson said so.
Repeatedly.
"I've had your tuna casserole before Mrs. Stovall, but I just cannot believe the taste for seafood I've developed since becoming a were-merman. I'd swear this one tastes better than the last."
"Well, I wasn't much of a seafood lover myself before becoming a were-mermaid, but you will find your your palette is now more wide open than ever before," she told him. "You'll still like everything you did before joining were society, but personally, I still can't stand sushi," she whispered to him as an aside, which made the others gathered around the dinner table chuckle.
"I'll leave the sushi debate to more knowledgeable experts, but I'm glad that doesn't rule out chicken fried steak," admitted Eric. "That was the first meal Julie and I shared together, and I'd hate to have to give that up," he said, holding her hand again.
Then Eric grew silent.
"Is something wrong dearest?" asked Julie, growing concerned.
"I just looked up at your wall clock and realized what time it was," said Eric, seeing that it was approaching 7 pm.
"Don't worry honey. We can Skype before bed as usual, and we'll have tomorrow together. After all, we still have to practice our dance moves some more before the Halloween party Saturday night," pointed out Julie.
"Just remember what I told you earlier in the pool Eric," began Mister Stovall. "It's okay to miss the one you love," he said, reaching out to hold his wife's hand, "but you can overcome the longing and do what needs to be done during the day once you focus and concentrate hard enough."
"But I don't want to go," realized Eric, holding Julie's hand tighter. "What we have now is something I've wondered about a lot in my short life, and now that I finally have it in you..."
"I love you too Eric," said Julie, before gently kissing him on the lips, "and we have all our tomorrows to come," she added, before briefly placing his hand on the single pearl necklace she proudly wore.
"I'll walk you to the corner, if it's okay with my folks," promised Julie, to which her parents simply nodded in agreement, before they said good night to their daughter's beau.
As Julie led Eric into the living room to gather his things, Martin Stovall leaned toward his wife and whispered, "Eric really has it bad for our daughter, doesn't he?"
"At least as much as Julie's in love with Eric," agreed Melissa, watching the young couple put an arm around each other as they walked out the front door after Julie turned the porch light on.
"And at least as much as I'm in love with you," she added, before taking her husband's hand in hers and leaning her head on his shoulder.