Paul was drinking a cup of the magic elixir we’d discovered in Cuba. It was the equivalent of espresso, with a sugar foam to make it palatable. It had enough caffeine to wake the dead, so it woke me up just fine. There were cinnamon rolls on the counter, so Paul and I had to finish them off.
It was now time to go face the horde that had descended on us for the holiday.
◊◊◊
I walked into Our House and witnessed the chaos. The football games hadn’t started yet, so the guys were off in a corner. I suspected from their laughter they might be imbibing.
“David!” I heard a squeal and turned in time to catch my cousin Elizabeth, or ‘El’ as she preferred to be called, as she launched herself at me.
She was followed by two boys I hadn’t met before. One appeared to be her age and the other a little older. With one glance, it was clear that they were Tami’s brothers.
“Who might you two be?” I asked.
The elder was a serious young man.
“I’m Jason Spalding the Third, and this is my brother, Braden. Tami’s our sister.”
“When you were on the ice planet, was it really cold?” Braden asked.
I felt a slight headache coming on. I put a smile on, and the three of us found a table so I could be grilled about
Mom had made the call to do the lunch version of Thanksgiving in case others had to be somewhere for the late afternoon meal.
El decided that she would hang out with me, so the two of us roamed the restaurant to find my girlfriend. Brook was talking to her grandmother.
“Hello, David,” Brook’s grandma, Grace, said.
Brook was surprised we knew each other. I reminded her that we’d met at her grandmother’s birthday party at her house. We’d talked for a while, and I’d found her to have a great sense of humor. El got bored and went to find Tami’s brothers. I saw that the buffet was open, and Tami was helping her siblings not to be pigs.
I took Brook around, and we tried to talk to everyone. We ended up being the last ones to eat. We filled our plates and sat with Ian and Ava, her parents.
“I figured you’d be watching football,” I said to Ian.
“Not really a fan,” he admitted.
“We should do this every year. This is much better than having to get up and cook all morning,” Ava said.
“I’m sure that’s what my mom thinks.”
“I’m looking forward to coming out to LA over Christmas,” Ian said.
Brook winced. Someone had forgotten to tell her boyfriend that parental units were coming with her.
“You do have enough bedrooms for us?” Ava asked.
“I believe there are six. If it gets too crowded, I can always bunk with Brook.”
Ian closed his eyes to try to not think about what I’d said. I was sure they knew that Brook and I planned to be together. Brook jabbed me in the ribs to show her displeasure.
“I’m sure it won’t come to that,” Ava said, not missing a beat.
“She’s not too old to have a tracker implanted, is she?” Ian asked.
The expression on Brook’s face was priceless. For some reason, I got jabbed again for her dad’s remarks.
“Have you ever been surfing?” I asked to change the topic.
“No. Your dad told me that you’re teaching him. I might want to try that out,” Ian said.
“His dad is teaching David to play golf,” Brook innocently offered.
The look of delight on Ian’s face made me cringe. It was bad enough I had to act like I could play golf for my J-drama. Then I had an idea. I would have to get Caryn to schedule tee times and pay for my dad and Ian to play golf the whole time. That would keep the dads busy. Yes, I assumed my parents would also be there. It would be best that I confirm that at some point.
I’d intentionally had Caryn rent a bigger house so we’d have space for people to come to visit. I would bet she told my parents, and they planned to take full advantage. To be honest, if it were me, I wouldn’t let my son and his girlfriend have free rein of a house for Christmas break, either. Their presence would also prevent us from throwing any wild parties.
“We’ll have to play a few rounds when we go to California.”
“I’m sure David would love to,” my now-dead-to-me girlfriend said.
“It’ll depend on my schedule. I’m there to work, after all.”
“Maybe David doesn’t want to play golf,” Ava tried.
“Oh, look. I need to go to talk to someone,” I said, and left the three of them amused.
I found Mac pouting. Against my better judgment, I decided to find out what the problem was.
“What’s wrong, Princess?” I asked.
“Mom and Dad said no horse. Ms. Zoe has to sell Bolt. Mom and Dad said, ‘no,’” she repeated.
I knew better than to try to fix this.
“Sometimes, things don’t go our way,” I tried.
“You fix it,” Mac implored.
