by Cee, DW
Audrey was definitely shyer than the imp in Jake’s arms because while Audrey was deciding whether or not she wanted to court Max’s attention, Ellie adamantly called out, “No!” and she jumped into Max’s arms instead. I had to shake my head at this attention-monger. It was always all about her, and she wanted no one displacing her.
“I love you, Elizabeth,” Max whispered and kissed her on the forehead. She draped her arms around Max’s neck and flirted with him. Totally smitten, Max put both arms around her and embraced her while kissing her a few more times on the side of her head. The sentimental picture these two made was so endearing, it brought a smile to everyone’s face.
“Guess what?” Sarah said to Emily.
“You’re pregnant, too?” I answered for Emily.
“Dear God! NO‼! I can barely handle Audrey.” Sarah shook her head. “Charlie is interviewing with a firm right near here, and if he gets the job, we’ll be neighbors.”
Emily let out a slight yelp and hugged her best friend. “That would be so fantastic. We can see each other regularly, then.”
“Yup! Even if it’s a demotion, I told Charlie to take the job. We were so lonely out in Timbuktu by ourselves. I need to be near family and friends.”
“Ellie,” Josh called out. “You want to go to the dunk tank with us?” Laney and Josh joined us and greeted the Abner family.
My niece wasn’t convinced that being with Josh was a more beneficial position until she saw James holding Laney’s hand and walking to the other side of the tent. She jumped into Josh’s arms and the happy foursome went to dunk their uncle Nick.
“Who are those beautiful people?”
Emily looked pleased to see the happy couple. “You know Josh, Max’s brother, and the girl next to him is Jake’s cousin, Laney.”
“They make such an attractive couple.” Sarah was still staring at them.
I was positively giddy for Josh! “They do, don’t they?” I agreed.
“But,” my brother butted in, “they are not a couple. Just friends.”
“Shame.” Sarah answered, clucking her tongue.
“That Audrey’s darling, too,” I said after leaving the two happy families, “and she’s going to give our Ellie a little competition when they’re a bit older.”
“Babe, you’ve gotta get up awfully early to one up our Elizabeth. She’s a force to reckon with right now. She’s gonna give Jake hell when she turns about fourteen, I predict.”
We both laughed.
“Kate, you’re back,” I announced mid-laugh, very surprised to see her at James and Ellie’s birthday party of all places.
Donovan made a quick beeline over to us, and he greeted her with a semi hug and a cool kiss to her cheek. “You had a comfortable flight back?”
“Yes,” she answered in her beautiful voice.
“What brings you back to LA so soon?” Maybe that wasn’t the most sensitive thing to say.
“I told Emily and Jake that I would be back for their babies’ birthday party, plus there’s a bit of unfinished business here.”
Weirdly, we all stared at Donovan. He looked a little self-conscious.
“I think they’re about ready to cut the cake and sing happy birthday,” I announced. “Why don’t we all walk over towards that very real looking giraffe and panda bear.”
We all sang happy birthday, clapped for the twins, and took paparazzi-like pictures. James and Ellie loved it. Unfortunately, the joie de vivre ended the moment the candles got extinguished. We were fast approaching 6 o’clock and the twins lost it at the same time. They both wailed uncontrollably, and Jake and Emily had to take them in the house to calm them down from party overload.
“I guess the party’s over,” I whispered to Max.
“Babe,” Max said hesitantly, while we started walking towards his car. “I’ve decided to go on the summer trip.”
“Okay…” I knew he was going, but it was still a bummer to know that he would not be with me for an entire month. I know I’m acting stupid by being bummed out, but no matter how I looked at it, it bummed me out!
“There are two groups going. The first group is leaving on your birthday in June, and the next group is leaving in July. I want to spend your birthday with you, and I want to see Emily and Jake’s new baby before I leave. Then, I’ll be back just in time to start my last year of med school.”
“All right. Sounds like a plan.”
“Since I’m not leaving till July, I thought maybe we could start looking for a place to live, and I’d get settled with you before the trip begins? What do ya think?”
“I’d love for us to start looking for a place together. When does your lease end?”
“In June, but if we find something we like, I’d like to start living together right away. I’ll just pay rent at both places for a few months.”
“All right!” I answered with a huge grin. I was doing my happy dance, again.
“Shall we go have dinner and plan for our future?”
“Let’s!”
April 25, 2013 Everything’s Shot
So the three-ring circus (three being the operative word) continued with us going apartment hunting while the rest of the family attended a golf tournament. I was getting dressed, super excited that my man was coming to take me to look for our future “home,” when I got the freakin’ spoiler for the entire month.
“Gem, I’ve got a bit of bad news.”
Crap. Now what? I had no idea what this bad news was going to be, and I really didn’t want to hear about it, but I guess I had to ask.
“Okay. I’m ready to hear the bad news.”
“Hannah is coming with us...apartment hunting.”
What the freakin’ hell! Why the hell was she coming apartment hunting with us? It’s not like she was going to live with us!
“I’m sorry, Gem. I know what’s going through your mind right now, but it’s not what you’re thinking.”
“What’s going through my mind right now?”
“You’re wondering why the hell she’s coming apartment hunting with us when she’s not going to live with us. Am I right?” He started laughing.
“Yes, mind reader. So why will your ex-girlfriend be apartment hunting with your current girlfriend? This sounds like some sick reality TV show.”
Max laughed even harder. “She wants to get a place of her own now that she has a job and she’s not sure where to look. When I told her that I was apartment hunting with you, she asked if it would be possible to tag along. And since she doesn’t have a car yet, she literally has to tag along.”
Shit! This Hannah was reminding me of gum stuck to the bottom of your shoes. Unknowingly, it comes upon you, annoyingly, it follows you every step of the way, and unfortunately, you’re never able to get rid of it completely.
“I’m on my way to pick up Hannah, and then I’ll come pick you up.”
“The three of us riding on your bike together? Who gets to spoon you?” I asked sarcastically.
“Ha ha ha. Very funny. If you don’t lose the bad attitude, you may have to ride in the backseat while Hannah gets shotgun.”
I was just about to tell him that he can go shove his comment up his ass, when he cut me off and told me he loved me. Loser that I am, those three words made it all better.
Sooner than expected, Max was at my door, showing me how much he loved me with a tongue-filled kiss. “Hello, Gem. You ready to find a home for us for the next year?”
“Yep!” I said with a huge grin. After I kissed him a bit longer with the door WIDE open—just in case any looky-loo was interested in looky-looing—we walked hand in hand towards Max’s car. Every step we got closer to his car, I expected Hannah to get out of the front seat, say hello, and move back. But nooooo! She just stayed sitting, waved hello from the front seat, and had no thoughts of moving back. BITCH! BITCH‼ BITCH!!! This was NOT going to be a fun morning.
“Babe.” Max tried to appease me
with a pleading voice. He knew I was pissed. “Don’t make a big deal out of this. Please?”
I looked at him to say, “Really?” But he gave me such a desperate look that I sucked back what I was about to say, and sat in the backseat like a good little girl.
“Hi Jane,” Hannah said enthusiastically.
“Hey Hannah,” I said unenthusiastically. I felt like a moron sitting back here while my boyfriend sat next to his ex-girlfriend.
Hannah kept asking Max questions that pertained to their past life, and I had no way of jumping into their conversation. The bitch was purposely leaving me out. Do I fight back and play the same stupid game, or do I act mature and keep my mouth shut?
Deciding to be the bigger person, I took out my phone and gave Max directions to some of the buildings I’d bookmarked. I wanted to look at apartments in the downtown area, and I possibly considered putting a down payment on one if we really liked it. I had so much money saved up since all I’d been doing till now was mooching off my parents’ real estate investments. Every building I wanted to visit, party pooper up in the front seat lamented, “Oh that looks too expensive for me to rent.” I knew she was purposely raining on my parade. I let it go the first few times, but now I was pissed.
“Pull over! I want to look at this building.” I didn’t care what the hell Hannah wanted or not wanted. She could stay in the car. This was the building I was going to look at.
The first unit we saw was a bit small. The sales guy said it was a one-bedroom loft, but it was small enough to be a studio. After living in New York City for so long, I preferred big open floor plans to matchbox-sized rooms. The second one was a two bedroom and it was nice, but I asked him to take us up to the top floor because I wanted to see what the penthouse looked like.
“Uh Jane,” Max called. “I don’t know if we can afford the penthouse.” Of course we couldn’t afford the penthouse, but could a girl not look and dream?
I didn’t answer Max. Rather, I just followed the sales guy up to the top floor. The penthouse had a wonderful view of downtown LA, and on a clear day, I could possibly even see Catalina Island. It was more than spacious enough for the two of us. And there were enough rooms for each to have an office and go study or work without bothering one another. I also loved the open floor plan and modern kitchen that already came equipped with every appliance. I could see us living here, having a life here, possibly even having a family here during the early years.
But all those dreams shriveled up into thin air when Max dryly commented, “You want to discuss this before you fall in love with an apartment we can’t afford?”
“What’s there to discuss? We’re just looking.”
“You know this place is not for rent. I thought we talked about getting a place together.”
“We are getting a place together. What does it matter whether we rent or buy?”
“Jane, I don’t have the finances to buy a place, and even if I did have the money, I have no desire to buy anything right now.”
I know he didn’t exactly add the words “with you,” in between “anything” and “right now,” but with the snarky tone he gave me, he might as well have said those words. That really hurt my feelings. Max really hurt my feelings. It was bad enough that Hannah was right next to Max listening to this conversation, but it was worse knowing that Max only wanted something temporary with me. It really, really hurt to know that he was not looking into the future at all.
“Okay,” I said, void of all emotions, “let’s go.”
The rest of the afternoon was spent basically looking for apartments for Max...and Hannah. It was almost as though they were moving in together, rather than us moving in together. They both seem to be in accord with what they wanted in an apartment. I kept my mouth shut, and stopped talking the rest of the afternoon. And, I purposely sat in the backseat every time we got in the car.
“Jane, you going to pick up your phone?” I had been in such deep thought, I didn’t even hear my phone ring till Max called attention to it.
“Hello?”
“Jane, are you with Max?”
“Yes Dad, I am. Did you need to talk to him?”
“No, Sweetheart. I just wanted to invite you and Max over to dinner at the club. The golf tournament is over and we are all at the lounge right now, but will be having dinner in about an hour. Would you two like to join us? I’ll reserve two more seats for our party if you’d like to join.”
Having dinner with Max was not in my plans—as of about two hours ago. “I don’t know, Dad. I’ll think about it and call you back.”
As soon as I got off the phone, I went back to silent mode. Max wasn’t doing as much talking to the current girlfriend as he was to the former girlfriend, so I figured I was safe from inviting him to dinner. I was counting down the number of freeway exits till we got to my house. Obviously, he was planning on spending more time with his ex because he was dropping me off first. Whatever! At this point in the day, I didn’t care.
“Hello Dr. Reid.” Max’s greeting caught my attention. “Yes, we’re almost home. Um...no, Jane didn’t mention dinner.”
Shoot! Why did Dad have to call Max? I was almost home.
“Yes, Sir. We will be there soon,” was all I heard, as he ended the call.
“Are you going somewhere?” Hannah, the I-act-so-sweet-but-I’m-really-a-conniving-bitch, asked.
“Jane’s dad invited us to have dinner with everyone who was at the golf tournament.”
“Isn’t that where Josh and Garret went this morning? Can I join all of you for dinner, too?”
I didn’t know how I held back all the four letter words that flipped through my head like a Rolodex out of control, but I did. Since I hadn’t said a word both times my dad called, I continued to stay silent and let Max figure this one out. Next thing I saw, he redialed my dad’s number.
“Dr. Reid, would it be all right if a friend joined for dinner as well?”
A friend? Seriously? Did he actually refer to this woman as a friend?
“Yes, Sir. Thank you.” And just like that, I was not only having dinner with a man whom I didn’t want to have dinner with, but also with his ex-girlfriend. Too soon, the two friendly exes carried their own conversation again. I didn’t know whether to seethe inside or to cry.
“What’s with the long face, Janey?” Nick was the first person I came across as soon as Max dropped me off. Actually, it was more like a Tom Cruise Mission Impossible stunt out of a moving car at the valet area, than a drop-off.
“Don’t ask! I’m not good company right now.”
“Are you ever?” He said and started laughing, till he saw the scowl on my face. He soon just ran away.
“I see your disposition is about as sunny as mine,” Donovan said while plopping in the seat next to me. “What’s the matter, my vixen?”
I looked over at Max and Hannah walking in.
“Trouble in the Garden of Eden?”
“I think I’ve decided to become a nun,” I declared.
“Lead the way because I think I’m going to become a monk,” he added and watched Kate walking in with a gaggle of men behind her.
“What’s she doing here?” She was the second to the last person I expected to see. The last, of course, was Hannah.
“Perhaps she’s here to stake a claim just like your friend over there.” He pointed with his head towards Hannah.
“I think I need a drink. What do you want? First round on the Reid tab.”
“A shot. We’ll both start with a shot of tequila, then move on to the stronger stuff. Can you hold your liquor, Vixen?”
“I can...”
“All righty then...let’s start!”
Donovan and I were feeling mighty buzzed by the time our families all assembled in the room. They had been at the awards ceremony, where apparently, Laney cleaned house.
“I thought she wasn’t playing this year.”
“She wasn’t, bu
t your Uncle Henry’s team almost folded with two players coming down with food poisoning. On a side note, let me say, I think your uncle poisoned his teammates, himself. Of course, Delaney had to step in at the eleventh hour, and she brought a ringer with her.”
“Who’s the ringer?”
He did the head pointing again.
“What’s he doing here? Doesn’t Nolan live in Hawaii?”
“Part of his cush gig at the resort is to travel and experience other resort golf courses. What kind of lame-ass company offers those kinds of incentives?”
I cracked up. “You’re just jealous you can’t work for that kind of lame-ass company. Instead you work sixty+ hours a week making people like my grandfather, rich. You’re the lame ass!”