by D. D. Prince
I couldn’t read Spencer’s reaction. He was holding his face blank.
“Mom always gets things for these dinners. Everyone wears them for kicks,” I said, blushing.
“Oh,” Mom looked up at him. “It’s not mandatory…”
“Shee-it, matchin’ slippers?” My dad was coming into the kitchen in his pajama pants and a white wife beater, his hair all messed up.
Dad was thick like Phil, also bearded, and with a bit of a beer belly.
“We ain’t wearin’ matchin’ slippers, woman,” Dad said, leaning over and kissing Mom’s cheek.
“Good morning,” Mom greeted brightly. “Hoppy Easter!”
Dad stared at her with the slippers in her hand.
“And, yes, you are.” Her eyes went razor sharp.
Dad curled his lip and looked at Spencer. “Phillip Griffin. You can call me Phillip, or if you like… Griff. Good to meet you. You met my wife, I see. Yeah, and I do have balls. It’s just that she keeps ‘em in her handbag.” He held his hand out.
Spencer grinned and shook his hand. “Good to meet you, sir. Spencer Valentine.”
Dad looked at me. “She make you wear those ridiculous ears?”
“I like them,” I said with a shrug.
Dad rolled his eyes, then reached out and hugged me, lifting me off the floor. “Happy Easter, little girl.”
“Happy Easter, Dad.”
The front door flew open and there was my brother.
“Hoppy Easter!” he bellowed.
Mom screamed excitedly and ran over.
“Surprise!” Phil shouted. He had two big bags filled with Easter candy as well as his gym bag, that he set on the floor. He picked Mom up off the floor and kissed her loudly on the cheek.
Mom was on top of the world all morning as I peeled vegetables with her. About two hours later, the family members began to trickle in.
Spencer seemed totally comfortable with my family. Every single male had on those slippers (Spencer included) and all the men sat in the living room watching sports.
***
We were in the kitchen, prepping food, and Aunt Christine was fanning herself over how good-looking Spencer was.
Aunt Rachel looked at me with a serious face. “So, he’s in a motorcycle gang?”
“Club,” I corrected.
“And does he have a job?” Aunt Rachel asked.
“Yes, several.”
She rolled her eyes as if I’d said he was a struggling actor or a budding entrepreneur.
“No, really. He designs motorcycles. He and his brother have a wait list for their custom bikes. He sells motorcycles from Valentine Motors. He also designs skateboard skins and got a licensing deal for those with some big skateboard company. He’s partner in his dad’s businesses, too, the three brothers and the dad all own not only the motorcycle dealership but also a bar and a repair garage.”
She raised her eyebrows at me. “I just want you to be careful. Be with a good guy who will take good care of you.”
“He’s amazing, Aunt Rach,” I said. “Seriously. He’s like a fire- breathing dragon if anyone even looks at me the wrong way.”
She chewed her lip.
“But yet the minute he looks at me, that fire melts away. He’s so sweet and gentle with me. Honest. You have nothing to worry about.”
“We just love you so much,” Aunt Rachel broke down in tears and we wound up in a group hug with her, me, Mom and Aunt Chris.
They were worried about me after Joe. I couldn’t blame them. I could see by their faces how affected they were. Especially Mom.
“I’m good. Honest,” I whispered. “Better than good. I was losing myself. But, he’s bringing me back to life. Back to feeling like me.”
“I have to go fix my face,” Aunt Rachel said and hurried off to the bathroom. Mom went to the Kleenex and she and Aunt Christine wiped their eyes.
My two female cousins were setting the tables in the dining room.
I went out to help.
When I got back into the kitchen fifteen minutes or so later, Mom, Aunt Rachel, and Aunt Christine were in a huddle, giggling.
“What?” I tried to squirm into their huddle.
Mom went red-faced. “Oh nothing.”
“What?” I pushed. “Not fair to leave me out of the jokes!”
“Magnums?” Aunt Christine whispered. “Those are for the extra-well endowed, aren’t they?”
“Mom!” I snapped.
“Sorry,” Mom said, not looking at me, then slapped Aunt Chris’s arm. I rolled my eyes. The doorbell rang, and I went to answer it to get away from that clutch of cackling hens and greeted Mrs. Shubert, who arrived with a big tin of bunny-head cookies with candy eyes.
She sat with us in the kitchen, drinking tea and chatting (not about well-endowed bikers, that’s for sure), while we cooked.
***
I popped my head into the family room where Spencer, Phil, Dad, Uncle Rick, Uncle Ben, one of my male cousins Ron, and my cousin Heather’s husband (Dirk), were sitting, watching some sportscaster, all of them with their feet either up on recliners or on the coffee table. Every single one of them wearing the exact same pair of slippers. I cracked a smile at the sight.
Dirk had a bit of a scowl pointed at me. I ignored it, initially confused about what that was about, but then it dawned, and I had suspicions. Dirk the jerk.
“Anyone need another coffee?” I asked the room of men.
“It five o’clock yet?” Dad perked up.
“I think it’s ten after one,” I said.
“Then beer,” Dad said. “It’s a holiday. We puttin’ out any snacks?”
“I’ll grab some,” I said.
I looked at Spencer, looking to see if he was all right or uncomfortable in any way. He smiled warmly at me.
“You need any help?” he asked.
I went to open my mouth to answer when Aunt Rachel popped her head in. “No men in the kitchen!”
“Apparently not.” I shrugged and followed her.
No wonder the men sat on their butts all day long while we busted our humps doing the dinner, the dishes, the table setting, etc. My family didn’t allow the men in the kitchen when it was a holiday. A ridiculous tradition.
Spencer got huge brownie points by offering to help, though, especially once Mrs. Shubert heard that. She requested to sit beside him during dinner.
Two of my cousins had kids so there were five kids total here today, and just before dinner, which we served early, me, Spencer, Phil, and the adult cousins snuck out back with bags of chocolate eggs and plastic eggs filled with jelly beans and M&Ms that we hid all over my parents’ big back yard.
Dirk cornered me in the back of the yard. “What happened to Joe?”
I startled. “We broke up.” And I glared at him for not even whispering.
Dirk and Heather lived about two hours away. And Heather and I weren’t super close, she was ten years older than me, but I was pretty sure her mom (Aunt Christine), would’ve told her what happened to me. Dirk always cornered Joe at family gatherings, barely let anyone else talk to him. It was like he had a bro-crush or something. I always thought it was weird and Joe used to get a little annoyed by it because he couldn’t seem to even carry on a conversation with anyone else without Dirk acting almost possessive of him.
“Liked him,” he grumbled.
Yep, I’d suspected this when I got the dirty look earlier.
I shrugged, “Sorry to disappoint you,” and shoved three pink plastic eggs under the planter that bordered the fence. “He’s single, but you’re not. At least you’ve got memories of all your special time together.”
“Real funny,” he grumbled. “Phil said this guy’s a biker,” he muttered judgmentally.
“Yep,” I said, feeling my temper rise.
“Pff.” Dirk folded his arms.
Spencer and Phil moved toward me. Spencer had a look of concern on his face. He was probably reading Dirk’s body language.
�
��’Sup, Dirk?” Phil said.
“Nothin’ much,” Dirk replied, looking at me instead of my brother.
“You givin’ my sister a hassle for somethin’?”
“Nope.”
“Hope not,” Phil muttered, more than a thread of threat in his voice.
Dirk looked embarrassed.
Dirk was a bit of a dick, but it had never been aimed at me before.
Spencer was looking down his nose at Dirk. Antagonism was beginning to roll off him as it was evident that Dirk had been caught doing something.
Dirk walked into the house and left us to finish.
Phil followed.
I smiled at Spencer brightly. “Hi.”
“Hi,” he said cautiously and put his arms around me.
“My family’s dinner parties are a bit crazy.”
He shook his head. “Got nothin’ on mine so far.”
“No, well the MC is the exception.”
“Even the rest of my family,” he said as he shook his head. “Got a huge family on Dad’s side. Huge brood. Crazy meddling aunts. Some cousins’re awesome, some aren’t. It’s good, though, havin’ a big family. Always havin’ big holiday meals and birthday parties and loads of kids and food ‘n shit. I love it.”
“Small on your mother’s side?”
“She don’t stay in touch with anyone on her side. I don’t deal with her, so… Dad’s family and the MC. Got plenty.”
“Well, now you got more,” I said. “Mom and Phil are ready to adopt you. I can’t get a read off Dad yet, but---”’
“He invited me to go fishing in a few weeks.”
“So, there’s Dad’s vote.” I beamed.
“Dinner’s ready!” Aunt Christine called out. It was just me and Spencer in the back yard now.
We went inside, kicked our shoes off, put our slippers back on, and joined my family for dinner.
And while we ate dinner and Mrs. Shubert regaled the table with stories of when she dated a man with a motorcycle before Mr. Shubert, I decided I was going to plan a surprise party for his birthday next weekend. Just something at the clubhouse. Food, fun, laughter, like he just said he enjoyed. I know that his sister said he didn’t like his birthday, but we loved having a reason for a party in our group and I was excited at the idea of surprising him. He’d just talked about how awesome family birthday parties and dinners were.
I never did get more of the lowdown on Spencer from Jojo last night, but really, I didn’t want it. I preferred to discover everything about Spencer organically.
I was thinking it’d be the MC, me, Ella, Jenna, Andie, and Deanna. Jojo would be back in NYC so she’d miss it, but we could have a great time. Maybe I could help Spencer like his birthday.
Heather’s husband Dirk was quiet and sullen and seemed to be avoiding looking at me during the meal. My brother’s face was red when we got to the table, which suggested he’d likely just told Dirk off. Phil had probably told Dirk why Joe was no longer in the picture. I tried to ignore it, but it made the meal not want to go down very well.
Mom noticed and kept asking if I was feeling okay. Spencer held my hand under the table and his fingers skated over my fingers. I caught him eyeing Dirk with distaste. I had a feeling he’d figured it out, too.
He did eat two plates of food and two slices of pie, so my Mom and aunts were thrilled. Mom talked about sending home leftovers with different bags for each of us and I pooled them together and this made her go pink-faced, finding out Spencer and I had been staying at my brothers before the weekend.
“That’s okay, we’re driving Phil to the airport on our way out of here, Mom. I’ll take leftovers to Phil’s.”
“Oh. Enough for you and Spencer?” she pressed. It was just her and I by the fridge in this conversation. “This didn’t just start this weekend?”
“Well, he’s sticking kind of close. Those Wyld Jackals got pushy with me about a drug debt of Joe’s, so I paid them, and he was pissed and decided to stick close so that they wouldn’t try to bug me again. He’s been trying to get me to give him a shot, but I’ve been resistant. I stopped resisting.”
Mom’s face went shocked.
“Don’t worry about the other MC. I’ll be okay. He won’t let anything happen.” I slid another container of food into the fridge.
She blinked in surprise.
“You okay?” I asked. “Sorry. Don’t stress Mom. I---"
“You volunteered information,” she said, like it was akin to me telling her the secret recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken.
I frowned.
“Information that might upset me or stress me out.”
“Sorry, I---” I started.
“No!” She pointed aggressively. I reared back in reaction.
“Don’t you apologize. This is what you need to do. Talk to us. Talk to your family about things going wrong or right in your life, not keep all your problems to yourself. Lean on us. Let us help you. Even if I can’t always help you, I can listen.”
“Oh-k-kay,” I whispered.
“I know you don’t like to share, and I think part of that’s because when you were little and had that stutter, being excited or being anxious made you stutter worse, so you always tried to hold things in so that you wouldn’t stutter.”
I blinked at her and chewed my lip.
“But it’s made you so closed off. And I worry more about what you wouldn’t be telling me than what you do tell me, so tell me. Okay?”
I nodded, sucking on my lower lip.
“Sunshine?” Spencer was in the doorway. Oh shit. He’d heard all of that. I turned to look at him.
“We good to go? I got something to deal with at the club. Not an emergency, but sooner would be better.”
“Oh? What about the Easter egg hunt?” Mom asked, but she had on an ‘Awe’ face, likely at the ‘Sunshine’.
Spencer looked at me pointedly.
“Do we need to go now? If we do, we can. Or you could leave me and come back for me? If you need me with you---”
His eyes warmed. “We’re good for a bit. Don’t worry.”
“Plus, you have to give Spencer his Easter basket,” Mom said.
Spencer smiled.
“Yes, Pippa did you a basket. It’s up in my room. You should take him up and give it to him.” Mom tapped my bottom. “Scoot, you two. I’ll finish this.”
The kitchen was all cleaned with help of all the women, but Mom and I had been the last two, putting the last of the leftovers away, trying to make room in the packed-solid fridge.
I grabbed Spencer’s hand and we walked upstairs to Mom and Dad’s room. I closed the door behind us and gestured to her dresser, where the big basket I’d snuck up to put together earlier sat.
I got on my tiptoes and put my arms around his neck, kissing him. “Did you just make that club thing up to save me from my mother?”
“Guilty.”
“You’re amazing, Spencer Valentine.” I kissed him.
He poked one of my rabbit ears. I caught my reflection in the mirror over Mom’s dresser and giggled at my bunny ears headband. I then took it off and put it on his head. He cocked an eyebrow at me and I broke up laughing.
He wiggled his nose like a bunny and I threw my arms around him and buried my face into his chest, cracking up.
I could fall in love with him. I really could.
I might.
“Wait, I need my phone. Gotta take a pic.” I reached for my phone in my front pocket.
“Nope.” He grabbed my hands and pinned them behind my back and kissed me.
“All right, all right.”
He released my hands and took the headband off and put it back on my head.
“So, here. I got Mom to shop for it but it’s all from me. I gave her a list. Your sister told me you liked Butterfingers.”
He poked through the big basket. There was a teddy bear in a pleather jacket with pleather spiked bracelets and a bandana on his head. There was also a giant Butterfinger egg, a bunch of
mini butterfingers, and the whole basket was filled with cinnamon-flavored candy and several packages of Big Red cinnamon gum. Mom just guessed on those ones; I hadn’t told her. There was also a big hollow chocolate bunny in it.
And as Mom did every year, there was also a new spin toothbrush in there, too. She always got every single person at Easter dinner one of those for after we gorged ourselves on Easter chocolate.
“Thanks, baby,” he said, with a smile. “This is sweet.”
“You’re welcome. The toothbrush is from Mom. We all get them every Easter. And Halloween.”
“Got something for you, too, actually,” he said.
“Oh yeah?”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out something sparkly.
“It ain’t flashy or expensive. Just had to buy it for you, though.”
It was a long silver necklace with a silver circle on it. I reached for the pendant and saw that on the circle was an engraved happy-face sun and the words “You are my Sunshine”.
“Oh wow,” I got teary-eyed. “You just outdid me. By like, loads.”
“Do you like it?” he asked. And then he flipped it over. On the back, it said, “My Only Sunshine.”
Oh wow.
“When did you get this for me?”
“Day after that night I first kissed you. Saw it in a jewelry store I went into for a new watch battery. Didn’t know when I’d get to give it to you, but knew it’d happen. Glad I brought it today.”
“I love it. Thank you.”
He unfastened the clasp. I lifted my hair and he fastened it around my neck, then kissed my neck. I kissed his chin and then his lips came to mine.
While he kissed me, I put the bunny headband back on his head and tried to get my phone out of my pocket.
He tackled me to my parents’ bed. “No pictures!”
I reached for his underarms and started tickling him, meaning he immediately released me.
“No tickling!” He pointed sternly, sitting on the edge of the bed.
I climbed onto his lap, straddling him with a huge smile on my face.
“Thank you again. I love the necklace. And thank you for coming today. And for… all of it.”
“All of it?” he asked, hands running up and down my back.