by Anna Albo
“I had a helper with dinner,” Janet said. “And Jennie, you and Grace have your own chili because you’re both so special.”
Jennie turned to me. She insisted on sitting next to me, her big blue eyes wide with amazement. “You hate ground-up meat too?”
I had to be careful here. Kids this age were so impressionable, and for me to even begin to explain being a vegetarian might spark Jennie to want to become one just because she liked me, and I couldn’t have that. If she wanted to make a personal decision when she was older, that was her business, but the last thing I needed was Renee mad at me.
“No, I don’t like it.”
“Me neither. It’s gross.”
“Your Uncle Jason’s girlfriend doesn’t eat any meat,” Ted said as if he couldn’t remember my name, which was entirely possible. “She’s a vegetarian. At least she does eat, unlike his last girlfriend who liked to starve herself. Can’t find a normal one, son?”
Jason blinked and ignored his dad.
“You don’t eat any meat?” Jennie asked.
Crap. “No, I don’t. But I used to.”
“Why don’t you eat meat?” Lucy asked, getting in on the act.
“I don’t really like it. Some people don’t like apples, I don’t like meat.” That seemed like an appropriate answer.
“Oh, I like apples,” Jennie said with authority.
“Me too,” Lucy said. “Sometimes we have them with peanut butter, but we can’t bring them to school because some kids are allergic.”
“That Laura was unbelievable,” Ted said to no one in particular. He seemed to remember her name. “Always picking at her food. Drove me crazy. People are starving in Africa, and she’s starving herself here for no good reason.”
Jason’s jaw tightened but he remained silent.
“I like peanut butter,” I said, trying to break the suffocating tension that was building. “Have you ever had a peanut butter and banana sandwich?”
Both girls’ eyes popped out of their sockets like I’d shown them the most amazing magic trick. “Banana and peanut butter sandwich?” Lucy turned to her mom. “That sounds yummy! Can I have that for lunch tomorrow?”
“Me too,” Jennie said.
“Yes, you can have that for lunch once we buy some bananas,” Renee said. “I thought you both hated bananas.”
“Remember when she thought she was pregnant?”
I gasped, too late to catch myself. Jason slowly turned to face his father who was either oblivious or tyrannical, I didn’t know which.
“She got your mom so worked up, thinking there’d be another grandchild,” Ted said, shaking his head.
“Dad, do you want to talk about this later?”
Ted didn’t miss a beat. “I was just making conversation.”
“Really?” he asked sarcastically. “That’s what you call making conversation?”
“What about a pickle and peanut butter sandwich?” Jennie asked.
I was half-listening to her and to Jason and his dad. “Sure, Jennie. That sounds good.”
“Is Laura a secret? You were going to marry that dumb broad. Does this one not know about her?” he said, pointing to me.
“Dad!” Renee said. “You know we don’t use that language in front of the girls.”
“You are unbelievable,” Jason said. How did he stay calm?
“No, she was unbelievable.” He turned to me. “Wasn’t until he was in Afghanistan that she had the balls to tell him she was banging one of his friends.”
Renee stood up and grabbed her daughters. “We are leaving,” she announced. “Mom, thanks for having us.”
“Where are you going?” Ted asked.
“I warned you, Dad. If you can’t behave around my kids, we aren’t staying. This is why we don’t come here anymore. Okay, girls, get your jackets. Time to go home.”
“But we didn’t have dessert,” Lucy protested.
“We’ll get something on the way home.”
“Can Grace come?”
“Not tonight. Let’s go.”
“Now everyone is overreacting,” Ted said, attempting to rise. His two beers at dinner were starting to catch up with him, compounded with whatever else he’d snuck in earlier. And I thought he was actually sober.
“Grace, it was nice meeting you,” Renee said, ignoring her dad. “Mom, Jay, we’ll talk later.” With that she ushered the kids out the door and was gone.
“Whatever,” Ted said and stumbled into the living room. He collapsed into a chair, grabbed the remote, flipped on the television, and started smoking nonstop.
I didn’t know what to do. I looked over at Janet who solemnly stood and started taking plates from the table. I saw that tears had welled up in her eyes but she now kept her back to me. Jason was still sitting at the table, trying to absorb the last two minutes. Mechanically, I stood and started clearing the table. Nobody spoke, and after a moment, Janet quietly excused herself and disappeared down the hall to her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.
I threw out the unfinished food and put away leftovers. Jason snapped out of his trance and loaded the dishwasher. Minutes had passed and not a word had been uttered. I felt uncomfortable and bad for him.
“She wasn’t pregnant,” Jason finally said.
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t care.”
“He’s an asshole,” Jason said loud enough for his dad to hear, but Ted didn’t take notice as he puffed away.
“He wants to press your buttons. It’s all right.”
“I wasn’t keeping Laura a secret.”
“It’s okay, I promise. Forget about it. I don’t want to know,” I said, even though it was eating me up inside. I wanted to know every detail about her.
“I know my mom wants to see the kids, and this is what he does.”
I’d never seen Jason so defeated. “I have an idea. Let’s clean up for your mom so she doesn’t have a mess, then let’s go out. You can take me for some more sightseeing. We’ll forget all about tonight.”
He nodded. “Great idea. I can’t wait to get the hell out of here.”
CHAPTER 17
I woke up early the next morning. I hated these early mornings. Instead of getting up and facing whatever was going to greet me, I snuggled in closer to Jason. He responded by pulling me to him. His eyes fluttered open and he planted a kiss on my lips.
“What time is it?” he asked, his voice hoarse from sleep.
“About six.”
He groaned. “Why are we up so early?”
“I can’t sleep.”
“Then we’ve got to solve this problem. I’ve heard a hot shower does the trick.”
“I think it’s a warm bath, but I’m willing to try anything.”
Sneaking around under his parents’ noses was kind of fun. We took a shower, retreated to our room, and got back into bed. I loved the way he felt on top of me, inside of me. His touch made my skin tingle. I couldn’t get enough of him and I wanted him all the time.
“You’re amazing at this,” I said, breathless and totally spent.
“Thanks. Now I’m going back to sleep.”
BY THE TIME WE WOKE up a second time, it was nearly noon and the house was empty. We went out for breakfast at a local diner that served it all day, then returned home to find Janet acting like nothing had happened the night before. If she didn’t want to go there, why should we?
This was the night I’d finally meet Jason’s friends. I was nervous. I started getting ready early in the afternoon. First we were meeting two of his couple friends for dinner before going to a birthday party after that. A mess of thoughts ran through my head. What if they didn’t like me? What if I didn’t fit in? What if I had to live up to Laura?
“How many times are you going to change?” Jason asked, his face marred in confusion. He was lying on our bed and flipping through an automotive magazine. “I think you’ve gone through everything you brought. The first outfit was fine. This is really causal.”
“Okay, so this dress is too much.” I had on my black flower print dress, my favorite. I twirled around a few times.
“Yes, we aren’t going to church.”
I frowned.
I settled on a pair of blue jeans and a fitted pink knit sweater Anita gave me for my birthday. It showed off my assets without being a wench. I glanced at my watch. I had taken two hours to get ready! I had become one of those women who took hours primping. How had I allowed that to happen? I usually had it all put together in forty-five minutes or less, and that included a shower, hair, and makeup. I’d spent more than an hour selecting an outfit.
“Are these army friends?” I asked as we drove through rain-soaked Chicago streets.
“No, they are my high school buddies. Jack is married to Brenda and Tyson is engaged to Wendy.”
I wasn’t sure why Jason felt a need to tell me their marital statuses. I already felt like a twelve-year-old hanging out with the adults. “And whose birthday party are we going to afterwards?”
“Kyle. He’s turning twenty-eight.”
“Single, married, engaged, or widowed?”
“What?”
“Never mind.” My own personal inside joke.
His friends wanted me to have authentic deep-dish pizza, and the brown brick pizza place was packed. With my hand in his, Jason expertly navigated us through the waiting patrons to a table at the back where four people were already seated. One woman jumped up and threw her arms around Jason.
“It’s been ages! How the hell are you, McCarthy?”
“Pretty good. Guys, I’d like you to meet Grace.”
Jason introduced us. Brenda was the hugger. Tyson was the short one, but I could tell immediately he was full of personality which made up for Wendy, who seemed a little shy. My first impression of Jack was that he was a practical guy with a great sense of humor.
“Grace, I’ve been looking forward to meeting you,” Brenda said, her green eyes smiling with delight. “I couldn’t wait to meet the girl who swept this guy off his feet.”
“You didn’t just say that, did you?” Jason asked with a laugh.
“I did, and we are all very happy to see that you’ve finally met a nice girl.”
Hmm, so much for worrying about replacing Laura. Clearly, she hadn’t fit in well with this crowd.
“Did you just insult yourself?” Tyson asked Brenda.
“What do you mean?”
“If I remember correctly, you dated Jason first. In fact, you were madly in love with the guy.”
“Oh, please. That was high school. Jack’s always been my number one,” she said, placing a peck on his cheek.
“Grace, I think you should know something about your boyfriend,” Tyson said, leaning across the table to get a little closer since he was the furthest from me. “Every single girl in high school loved him. He was a football star, so the girls followed him around everywhere he went, including Miss Brenda. He doesn’t do anything for me, but all the girls thought he was pretty hot shit.”
“All the girls went out with us in hopes of getting to him,” Jack added.
“Then aren’t you lucky you were my friends,” Jason pointed out.
The mood was light, and I loved it and all of Jason’s friends.
“So tell us a bit about yourself, Grace. We know a little, but we need to see if we like you or not. It’s not easy to get our seal of approval,” Brenda said, tongue in cheek.
“We didn’t approve of the last one, and look where that got him,” Tyson said.
“Ty, don’t make me come over there,” Jason said jokingly.
Tyson started to laugh. “Yeah, I’m scared.”
“Guys, I’d like to get an answer so stop interrupting. Okay, Grace, spill the details,” Brenda said.
“I don’t know what to tell you. I’m a student at the University of Minnesota. I’m graduating this spring and I’ve been accepted to law school in the fall.”
Everyone’s eyes bugged out. Was I showing off? Had I just blown it with his friends?
“Holy shit, Jay, you’ve hit a homerun with this one.”
Jason sighed. “Guys, give it a rest.”
“Loo-loo, that’s what I call his ex,” Brenda said, “liked ponies and butterflies and her ambition in life was to marry rich.”
“And she was successful,” Tyson added.
The expression on my face must have said it all. The way they spoke about Laura astonished me, and the fact that Jason didn’t get angry or upset was even more surprising. From my few days in Chicago I’d ascertained that Laura was vain, frivolous, and dim-witted. Quite the trifecta.
“Are we ordering?” Jason asked. The edge in his voice was blooming.
“We ordered,” they said in unison—well, except for Wendy. She was clearly the quiet type.
I had a momentary flash of panic. He probably hadn’t told them I was a vegetarian. Crap, I’d have to tell them now, and then they might think I was difficult or high maintenance. I could choke down some pepperoni; it wouldn’t kill me, but would they respect me later when they found out I hadn’t said anything?
“Sorry to be a pain, but I’m a vegetarian,” I said with a small smile.
“So am I,” Wendy said. She spoke! “We ordered two vegetarian pizzas.”
My face beamed. I wouldn’t be an outcast. “Oh, good.”
“Yeah, Grace hates it when my meat touches her vegetables,” Jason said, trying to hold back a chuckle.
The table erupted in laughter.
“I am never going to live that down, am I?”
“Nope. Never.”
“That sounds a bit raunchy. Do tell,” Brenda said.
“It was all pretty harmless. I took Gracie out on our first real date to a pizza joint and she offered to have the same pizza with me as long as the meat didn’t touch her vegetables.”
“That’s so cute,” Brenda said. “Look at the way Jason beams when he tells that story.”
Jason rolled his eyes.
“He’s in love,” she added.
Mercifully, a server arrived and took our drink orders, and moments later the pizzas arrived. I had to admit it was cheesy delicious, and by the time we were finished, my jeans barely fit. The next destination was Kyle’s party. It couldn’t possibly be any worse than Anita’s unless in some twist of evil fate Laura was there. I shuddered at the possibility.
“I love your friends,” I said to Jason on the drive there. “Wendy’s a little quiet, but everyone else is great.”
“Brenda and Tyson could use muzzles.”
“Was Laura really that bad?” The minute the words left my mouth I regretted them . . . sort of.
“No, she wasn’t that bad,” he said defensively. “She’s not perfect, no one is. She was the pretty girl in school and I was the jock. We started dating. I did love her, I’m not going to lie about it. She liked to look good and she liked expensive things. That doesn’t make her some soulless bitch.”
Materialistic, yes. Shallow, a gold-digger, and stupid? Possibly yes, yes, and yes. “I shouldn’t have said that, but can you blame me? No one really has a nice thing to say about her.”
“That’s because Brenda was always jealous of her. Laura didn’t like her and the feelings were mutual. As for my dad, he doesn’t have a nice thing to say about anyone. Why are we talking about her anyway?” The irritation in his voice was so heavy that I didn’t know what to make of it. He’d taken all the ribbing about her well, for the most part, but now he felt a need to be her protector and I wasn’t sure if I was angry, jealous, or both.
“Fine, I’m dropping the subject. Sorry I said anything.”
Silence hung in the car until we arrived to the party. Annoyed with him, I stuck with Brenda who introduced me to all their friends. While I liked everyone I met, for the first time my age made me feel out of place. Most of the people in the room were in their late twenties and I was obviously the youngest. One person even asked if I was twenty-one before handing me a beer. Half the roo
m was married, many of those couples had kids and careers, and here I was about to graduate from university. A baby compared to them.
“I think you’re great for Jason,” Brenda said, interrupting my thoughts. “After Laura, he was a mess. She must have been great in bed because other than her looks, she was completely vacuous. He was the pretty boy on her arm until her sugar daddy came along. And then to dump him while he was deployed? Disgusting.”
“Do you think they keep in touch?”
Brenda brushed her mass of curly light brown locks over her shoulder and shrugged. “I don’t think so. I don’t think she’d risk losing her rich husband. Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know. He got really defensive about her in the car on our way over here.”
“He’s smitten with you. As for her, I think he defends her because no one liked her, and he feels a need to prove to us that she wasn’t totally a bitch and that he didn’t use poor judgment when he asked her to marry him. You knew about that, right?”
“Yes.”
“Things happen for a reason. If she didn’t dump his poor ass, he would have never met you. Don’t doubt him or his feelings for you.”
“Thanks, Brenda.”
“All right, enough talk about Loo-loo. Let’s have a good time.”
His friends were good people, but why did it still feel like Laura had a special place in Jason’s heart?
CHAPTER 18
“How was Chicago?”
I gave Anita the complete rundown Monday afternoon while we ate lunch between classes.
“His dad is a dick, but you got the lowdown on his ex.”
“Pretty much, I guess. I kind of wish I hadn’t.”
“Well, I got some news this morning. I was going to text you, but since I knew I’d see you, I didn’t bother. Can you believe Northwestern doesn’t want me in their law school?”
“What a disgrace! They don’t know what they’re missing. But seriously, I bet that sucks a bit. I’m sorry to hear that.”