*******
A few minutes later James walked into the kitchen. When Jamie heard the doors swing closed, she turned and looked at him. “You look pretty rough,” she said, eyeing him with concern. “Did you not sleep well?”
He rubbed one big hand across his face, then looked her in the eyes. “I slept on the couch in your game room. Lisa was asleep in my arms, and I was reluctant to wake her up. I ended up falling asleep myself.” He paused for a second, wondering what she was thinking. “I’m sorry. That was not my intentions.”
“It’s okay James,” she said with a grin, patting him on the shoulder. “You’re alright. You’ve fallen asleep like that before, and that explains why you haven’t shaved yet.”
“You’re the second one to mention my needing to shave. Do I look funny with hair or something?” he asked, trying hard not to laugh.
“We’re just not use to it. You always shave,” Jamie said with an answering grin.
“Speaking of that, do I have any clean clothes here. Lisa said I might. I’d really like to take a shower without going home, if you don’t mind.”
“Yes. Over the dryer in the laundry room. You can use mine and Carl’s bathroom,” Jamie said, turning back to the chore of getting breakfast cooked and Thanksgiving dinner started. “You can borrow a couple of Carl’s razors. There in the cabinet with the towels.”
“Thanks.” James turned and headed toward the laundry room. By the time he reentered the kitchen, Lisa had made it back down. “You look a lot more awake than I feel, Tiger.”
“I slept really well, thank you very much,” she said giving him a big grin. “That’s the best I’ve slept in a long time.”
He just grinned at her. “You’re welcome. Now I’m going to go take a shower.”
“Yeah, that should help you wake up a little bit.” She couldn’t seem to wipe the big cheesy grin off her face.
He leaned down and stole a kiss before he turned to leave. She couldn’t help herself. She was feeling really spunky this morning. When he turned his back on her, she smacked him right on the butt.
His head popped up, and he turned back to look at her. His eyes were huge. That was definitely new, but lately their whole relationship had been new. He just grinned at her and shook his head as he walked out of the room.
About ten to fifteen minutes after James had left the room, Lisa found his clean underwear lying on the floor. “Hey Mom, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
She wasn’t thinking when she walked into the bathroom. Now she realized she should have hollered through the door. He was already out of the shower, and was drying his head. He still had the towel over his face when he asked, “Tiger, why are you in here?”
She just stood leaning against the door. She knew she should feel embarrassed, but she couldn’t seem to find it in herself to do it. She enjoyed looking at him too much. “How did you know it was me?”
“I can feel you staring at me. So, let’s just say, it bettered have been you. Now, why are you in here?”
“You dropped your clean underwear. I was just intending to bring them in here. I didn’t realize you could shave so fast. I really wasn’t trying to get a show, but if you want to give me one, I’d hate to be rude,” she said, her voice husky with desire.
He had moved on to drying his back, and didn’t seem all that concerned with how much of him she could see. “Years of practice, Tiger. Now, put them on the counter, and go back to the kitchen.”
“Are you sure? I promise, I’ll just watch. I won’t touch.” The tone in her voice implied she’d be willing to do a lot more, if he wanted her to.
“Yeah, but I will.” He was nearly growling, “Now get out of here.”
“You’re no fun,” she said, pretending to pout.
“I can be lots of fun, but it has to wait till we’re married. So, unless you’re ready to reconsider, out.”
*******
When James’ parents showed up, his mom had brought enough salad and homemade rolls for about fifty people. She had also brought a couple of cheesecakes to go with the pumpkin pies Jamie had made.
After James had carried it all in, and sat it down on the counter, she walked over and hugged him around the middle. She wasn’t a very tall woman, and barely came to his shoulder.
This was the first time she had been in the Townsend’s house in a long while, and when her eyes fell on the table, she stood there speechless for a few seconds. The table was about twelve feet long and about six feet wide, built of solid oak. “That is one huge table. Where did they get it?”
James wrapped his arms around his mom, and squeezed her tight for a second, and chuckled. “Carl had it built several years ago. They used to have three average size kitchen tables. But Jamie wanted them all to be able to sit at the same table, so Carl had it built for an anniversary present one year.”
“That’s sweet. I wish we could have given you brothers and sisters. I’m truly grateful you had this huge, wonderful family to grow up with. It makes me feel like you were less deprived.” She looked like she was about to cry.
“Mom, I never felt deprived,” he said, leaning down, and kissing her on the head.
“So, with you and Lisa having a baby on the way, have they thought about what they’re going to do when they start getting more grandchildren. Luke and Mindi will probably start having children in a couple of years.”
“Well, I doubt Luke and Mindi wait that long. She wants to start immediately, and Luke tends to have trouble telling her no. And I know Carl and Jamie. They’ll think of something. They won’t give up their Thursday evening, family meals.”
Lisa had overheard that part about Luke and Mindi, and laid her hand on James’ arm. “You could say he caved last month. I take it Mindi forgot to give you a big kiss. Something you said is what done it.”
“They’re going to start immediately?”
“Well, it was actually a compromise. He asked her to give him six months. She said she was happy with that.”
Upon hearing that, Mindi walked over and pulled his head down, and kissed him on the cheek. “Yeah. I owe you a big thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” James shook his head. “Girl, you’re a mess.”
“Yeah, I love you too, you big teddy bear.”
“Hey, this one’s mine. That one’s yours,” Luke said with a grin, wrapping his arms around Mindi.
James looked down at Lisa, and stopped breathing. He really wanted to tell her. But he wasn’t sure he was ready yet. The look in her eyes made him think she knew what he was thinking. That made him wonder again, why she wouldn’t tell him first if that was what she wanted. There he went again, over thinking it. He shook his head, and asked, “Is it about time to eat?”
*******
When they finally sat down and started eating, James’ parents seemed a little dazed by the chaos. It took them a few minutes to join in with the chatter around the table. After a while, Mr. Sullivan looked up at James. “Is it always like this?” he asked, trying to hold in a laugh. He still seemed a little dazed.
“Yes. Sometimes it’s even louder. Wait till Zane gets going.” James smirked, looking up the table at the man in question. “And he will get going.”
Seemingly on cue, Zane looked back down the table at him. “So, James, did you make it home last night?” he asked, doing his best to look innocent. James would bet, Zane had guessed last night he wouldn’t make it home.
“No, Zane, I didn’t,” James said, doing his best to hold back a chuckle. He was used to Zane’s brand of teasing, and knew the best way to deal with it was just to ride the storm out.
“Yeah, you and Lisa looked really cozy. I figured you’d fall asleep.”
“Drop it, Zane,” Lisa said, tossing a piece of bread at him. She had flushed pink, but there was humor in her voice.
“Hey! No food fighting. You’ll have James’ parents convinced your dad and I have raised a pack of wild animals. They’ll be worried about their grandchild.”
<
br /> “Food fighting? Do you really have food fights?” Mrs. Sullivan had an almost gleeful look on her face. Lisa could tell by that look, she really liked the idea of a food fight. She decided right then, before the meal was over, she’d make sure to start one for her. That was, if someone else hadn’t started one first.
Carl looked up at her. “It’s been known to happen.”
“Been known to happen?” Luke asked with a smirk. “The average is two or three a year, and if I’m remembering correctly, there’s only been one this year.”
“So,” Jenny said, with a mischievous look in her eye, “what you’re saying, is we’re due for one?”
“Something like that,” Luke said, and just grinned back at her.
“Not yet,” Michael, another one of the younger brothers, cried, “I’m not done eating yet.”
Alex, who was always more interested in eating his food than throwing it, looked over at his younger brother, and said “It might be time to move if you want to keep eating. I’m going over to the bar.” The two pushed back from the table, and made it to the safety of the kitchen area seconds before the food started flying.
With mashed potatoes being everybody’s favorite food to throw, it was the first thing to go flying across the table. At one point, potatoes went flying toward the bar where Alex and Michael were standing. Alex managed to duck just in time to miss being hit in the face. Un-phased, he just went back to eating like nothing had happened.
He was well accustomed to the chaos of being a member of the Townsend family. Being fifteen, he had already been through several of their food fights. He had gotten quite good at dodging flying food early. He had developed the opinion, at a young age, that food was to eat, not throw.
His mom figured his feelings on the matter were due to the fact that he never could seem to get full. He ate more than any of his older brothers ever did. She was sure he was well on his way to being the biggest of all the Townsend men. She wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up as big as Mark.
By the time Jamie called an end to it, there was mashed potatoes on the windows and floor, along with green beans, stuffing and pieces of roll. The kitchen looked like some kind of strange war zone.
Mrs. Sullivan looked like she had just had the time of her life. “You guys are crazy,” she said, trying to pull mashed potatoes out of her hair. “This is wonderful. Is everything this much fun around here?” she asked with a laugh.
Jamie just grinned at the other woman. “With sixteen kids, it was bound to happen. At times, I feel like I have no control.” She paused for a moment, then with a very dry tone, added, “And then, there are the times, I know I have no control. Zane’s been in control of everything for several years now. I think it started when he was about twelve. I’m not entirely sure how that happened.”
*******
Later that day, Mark and Abby showed up to visit for a little while, along with Jake, who came in not too long after them. Mark had managed to talk Jenny into playing ping pong with him. But she said only if he could get two more people to play with them. He knew she was trying to avoid being caught in the room with him by herself for very long. He was okay with that. He was just happy she was willing to spend some time with him doing something other than work.
The first person he thought to ask was his sister. She immediately said yes, because she knew how much Mark wanted time with Jenny. She figured if that was what it was going to take, she was willing to help. The second Abby agreed to play, Alex jumped up. “I’ll be the fourth.”
That just made Mark grin. He knew for a fact Abby had a crush on Alex. Now he was wondering if he had one on her.
They had decided to play girls against boys. They had been playing for a while, and were now on their third game, when Abby looked up and asked, “Where did everybody else go?”
“Who knows.” After a second thought, Alex added, “Hey. I wonder if they’re going to play football. Dad said something about it earlier. Abby, you want to go with me to find out?”
“Yeah, sure,” she said blushing, unable to fight a grin just the same.
Jenny stood and watched as the two of them walked out the door together. “Well, there goes our chaperons.”
“Yeah, I know,” Mark said, his voice coming from right beside her.
She realized her mistake too late. He had already walked to her end of the table. She didn’t even bother to try and run. She really didn’t want to anyway. She just let him wrap his arms around her and bring their mouths together.
*******
Alex had been right. They were dividing up into teams when they got outside. Alex and Abby ended up on opposite sides. By the time they were actually getting ready to start playing Jenny and Mark had made it outside to join in and ended up on opposite sides too.
They had been playing for about thirty minutes. Everybody was having a good time. Everybody was laughing and teasing. James couldn’t seem to stop himself from pestering Jenny, and Mark had to fight laughing every time. A couple of times Zane even took a shot at Alex and Abby. That was until he realized Abby got really embarrassed every time he said something. Zane was ornery, but he wasn’t mean. He was actually tender hearted and ended up letting off after only two or three cracks at them. Besides that, every time Abby got embarrassed, Alex looked like he was about ready to try his hand at beating the crap out of him.
The game was really close, with Jenny and Alex’s side just one touchdown up. Alex had the ball, and was headed for the goal line when Abby tried to intercept him to grab his flag. She ended up running into him. They went done in a tangle of legs. Alex tried to flip them in the air, so he would land on the bottom, but he had too much momentum, and they kept rolling and ended up rolling into James’ legs. When James fell he took down Jenny and Mindi. Somehow, in the middle of all the tangle of arms and legs, Mindi managed to nail James right in the face with her work boot. Hard.
When James stood up, he had a bloody nose and a gash over his right eye.
When Jake looked up, and seen the blood running down James’ face, he took off in a run toward him. It had only taken him a couple of seconds to reach him.
Jake Longworth was one of their friends from school who had recently moved back down from Springfield, and was working as a nurse in the ER. He had just recently started openly dating Teresa, another one of the Townsend girls. She was eight years younger than him, and he had been determined to wait till she was eighteen, but he’d given in not too long after her seventeenth birthday. He was a lot like Luke. He had trouble telling Teresa no.
Once he looked in James’ eyes he looked at the cut. “Man, you’re going to have to have stitches in that. I don’t think your nose is broken though.”
“It’ll stop bleeding. I’ll be fine,” James said, trying to wave him off.
“It’s gaping too much. You have to have stitches,” Jake said on a sigh. “Somebody go get Lisa.”
“Why are you sending for Lisa?” James just looked put out. He already knew why Jake wanted Lisa. She was the only one who could argue him into submission, and Jake knew it.
“You may not listen to me, but she will,” Jake said, giving him a smug look. James just snarled and yanked his t-shirt off over his head and held it to his eye.
“Oh, yeah. That’s brilliant,” Mindi said with a dry tone, trying to swallow the guilt of kicking him, even thought it had been an accident. “Now you’re going to freeze to death.”
James just gave her an amused look. “It’s not that cold out here.”
Sure enough, when Lisa got outside, she just glared at him until he shut up and got in the car.
By the time they got back from the ER, his face was swollen, and he looked pretty rough.
“You look like you went one to many rounds with a prize fighter. And it looks like the prize fighter won,” Zane said with a chuckle.
“No. He just went one round with a size ten work boot and the work boot won. I’m so sorry,” Mindi said, following him across the room, whe
re he went to sit down. “Do you want me to get you some ice.”
“Mindi, it’s not your fault. It was an accident. I’ll be fine. As long as Lisa still wants to look at me. I may not be as pretty as I was,” he said, giving her a big grin.
Lisa walked over and sat down on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You’re still just as beautiful to me as you ever were. You always will be.”
She heard Zane groan and mumble, “She still needs to get her eyes checked. People in love are so sappy.” She ended up holding her breath, waiting to see if James was going to acknowledge what Zane had said. He didn’t.
Chapter 15 – Saturday, December 8
Lisa looked down at the bouquet in her hand, wishing she were making her own wedding flowers right now. It wasn’t that she resented Mindi was getting married before her. She loved her sister, and she knew how much she and Luke loved each other. She just wished she could feel as certain that James loved her as Mindi was that Luke loved her.
Mindi looked up at her sister in time to see the look of pain wash across her face. “Sis, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, trying to give her sister a smile.
Mindi shook her head. She hadn’t missed the single tear that had slid down Lisa’s cheek.
“What’s wrong, Lisa? And don’t tell me nothing.”
“I don’t know how much more I can take. All I want is to be married to the man. I love him so much.” Lisa had started to cry for real now. The tears were streaming down her face, and she looked absolutely miserable. “Why can’t he get it? Maybe I should just give in, and pray for the best.”
Mindi sat there, torn between the advice she knew she needed to give her, and the advice she wanted to give her. She hated seeing her sister so miserable, and she knew how James truly felt about her.
Oh, Baby! (The Townsends Book 2) Page 13