by Rebecca Day
“So, don’t scratch it!” Miles announced the punch line, and he and Sam burst out in raucous laughter.
Wyatt and Janie stood in the doorway, taking in the scene. Miles and Sam were in the hospital room, half-buried under piles of breakfast food. Waffles, pancakes, bacon, biscuits, eggs, and a host of other breakfast dishes were strewn around on every flat surface.
“What on earth,” Wyatt started.
“Daddy!” Sam opened her arms, and Wyatt quickly took two long strides towards her and gave her a bear hug.
“How’s my princess?”
“Stuffed. Keiko came in at six this morning and brought all of this. Even grandpa couldn’t make a dent in it.”
“She really outdid herself on the waffles,” Miles said, grabbing a slice of bacon.
Janie took a step into the room. “Well, I for one could go for some pancakes.”
“Of course, my dear,” Miles said standing and gesturing towards his chair. “Be my guest. Take my seat.”
Miles decided to take a stroll around the hospital while Wyatt and Janie ate a hearty breakfast, and Sam regaled them with all the exciting events of the night. She explained that the nurses didn’t leave her alone for a moment, constantly checking her blood pressure and temperature. When the nurses weren’t bothering her, the odd beeping noises from all the machines kept her up.
“There’s no way anyone can get better in a hospital,” she declared.
Janie smiled at Sam’s mood. She couldn’t stop talking, voicing just how much she enjoyed her time at the hospital as if it was a great adventure. “Well, I hope you got better here, in any case,” Janie said.
“Oh, I’m great. I don’t know why I’m still here.”
Wyatt looked up from his breakfast, concerned. “You mean you haven’t seen a doctor, yet today?”
“They told me that Uncle Doc would come and see me first thing this morning.”
Wyatt looked at his watch.
“That probably means around nine this morning. That’s usually when the work day starts,” Janie said, gently.
Wyatt grunted.
“There he is,” Sam announced, gleefully.
Doc walked in the room wearing jeans and a golf shirt. Wyatt opened his mouth, but Doc cut him, lifting his hand up as if to stop him.
“I’m seeing Sam first, Wyatt. I’m not even in my work clothes, yet, if you haven’t noticed.” Wyatt opened his mouth, but Doc cut him off, again. “And I know she’s my niece, and I love her. So, I called repeatedly through the night, and got reports on her status.”
Wyatt grunted, which Janie assumed was grudging approval.
“How’s my sweetie?” Doc asked, turning his attention to Sam.
“I’m ready to go surfing,” she said with bravado.
Doc checked her eyes and some vital signs. “okay. Here’s the story.” Wyatt and Janie leaned forward in their seats, but Doc spoke directly to Sam. “You are fine. You were very lucky, young lady. Head trauma is no laughing matter. But I repeat: you are fine. However, I want you take it easy the next two weeks. No surfing and no swimming for the next two weeks, and for the rest of your activities, take it slow.”
Sam whined in complaint.
“It won’t do you any harm to watch some TV or play video games like normal kids,” Doc teased. “Oh, I have an idea: You could read a book.”
Sam punched Doc in the arm. “Uncle Doc!”
“But here’s the good news, and I think you’re going to like it. One: you can get out of here, now. I already signed you out. So, your Dad can take you whenever you want. Second – and I think you’ll like this even more – you can go ahead with that little party you had planned for this evening.”
“Uncle Doc!” Sam hugged Doc, and Doc returned it, enthusiastically.
“Hey, since I’m coming, too, I don’t want it cancelled,” Doc said. “That’s about my only social life planned for this month.” He turned around and winked at Janie.
Janie wondered at the truth of it. How many good-looking, nice doctors had trouble with their social lives? There was definitely an untold story with sweet, serious Doc, Janie thought.
Wyatt got Sam ready to leave while Doc and Janie picked up the detritus from the morning’s breakfast feast. “You’ve been great, Doc,” Janie told him.
“It was nothing. I didn’t do much. Thank goodness it wasn’t serious and I didn’t have to do much. How are you two doing?” Doc glanced over at Wyatt.
“Us two? What do you mean?”
“You and Wyatt.”
“Me and Wyatt?”
“Well, Wyatt keeps looking over at you like you’re a three-inch thick T-bone, which he normally finds irresistible. And every time you move a muscle, he jumps. So, I just assumed something was going on.”
Janie felt herself go completely scarlet. She imagined that her face had turned a deep, guilty red. She willed herself to stop blushing, but it seemed to make it worse. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she squeaked. “I don’t pretend to understand your brother in the least.” Well, the last part was honest enough.
Doc smirked. “Uh huh.”
Thankfully, Doc let the matter drop, and they took Sam home. During the car ride, Sam talked a mile a minute. She rehashed the party from start to finish and got promises from Janie that everything would be ready.
“The decorations are already up,” Janie assured her. “Most of the party platters are finished. We just have a few dishes to prepare, and we have more than enough time for that.”
Sam seemed satisfied with that, but they continued discussing the preparations until they arrived home and opened the door to the house.
“Wow, clean!” Sam shouted. She ran around the house, eyeing the clean bathroom, mirrors, and surfaces. Janie brought her outside, and watched Sam revel at the decorations, tables, and cleared space for dancing. “It’s perfect! Thank you so much Janie.”
Janie and Sam walked back to the house to prepare some food for the party. They walked arm-in-arm, both supremely happy.
Sam shooed Wyatt out of the kitchen so that they could get to work. “I’m leaving, I’m leaving,” he said. “I was just getting a cup of coffee.
Janie pulled out ingredients from the refrigerator. As she turned to put a bag of carrots on the corner of the counter, Sam grabbed her around the waist. “Thank you so much Janie. This is always how I dreamed having a mom would be. I wish you could stay here forever.”
Janie felt overwhelmed with emotion. She vaguely heard Wyatt open the screen door and let it close behind him. But her attention was focused on Sam, who she hugged back.
“I love being with you, Sam. I’m so glad I can be a part of your party, and I know that I will always keep in touch with you and be a part of your life, if you want me to.”
Sam nestled closer into the embrace. “Promise?” she asked, her voice muffled.
“Promise,” Janie answered, firmly. “Nobody can stop me.”
Janie gave a Sam a last squeeze. “But I have something more important to talk about.”
“What’s that?” Sam asked, wiping a teary eye.
“We’ve got onion dip, guacamole, Ranch dressing, and Salsa. Do we want Artichoke Jalapeño dip, too?”
“Absolutely!”
“Great because I don’t want to waste these artichoke hearts I bought.” Janie messed up Sam’s hair. “Let’s get to work.”
Wyatt said “I don’t know” at least a thousand times during the day. Various people were setting tables, moving chairs, hooking up sound systems and wanted to know where to put them all. Well, Wyatt didn’t know. He didn’t know where to put the appetizers, either. Or if they were holding off on putting out the main dishes on the buffet table until later. And for sure, he didn’t know if they were having a dessert table or what the dance playlist was. In fact, he didn’t know anything as far as the party was concerned.
Janie and Sam had been in deep discussion and busy with bustling activity all day. They ran around like chic
kens with their heads cut off. Wyatt wasn’t sure exactly what they were doing, but they looked happy doing it, and they looked like they would kill him if he asked again what they were doing. He made the fatal error of asking them twice, and they nearly stabbed him with a paring knife for daring to bother them.
What they didn’t do themselves, they ordered others to do. Wyatt had never seen Keiko move so fast as when she was told unceremoniously to move a giant punch bowl (filled to the brim with punch) to a different table. Taking her orders in the kitchen, Keiko ran like the wind with total resolve. Slapping the screen door aside, her muumuu flapping in the wind, she hit the punch bowl in less than four seconds, picked up the bowl with superhuman strength and moved it the requisite foot and a half. Mission accomplished, she ran back to the kitchen to get more orders.
After most of the hubbub ended, and the majority of helpers went home, Wyatt stood at the kitchen counter, sneaking tortilla chips and guacamole into his mouth. Janie and Sam had gone upstairs to get ready. They had been up there for 45 minutes, and Wyatt was hard-pressed to figure out what exactly they had to do to get ready for a Sixth Grader’s party.
“That look’s good, big brother.” Virgil appeared at his side and grabbed a chip. He dipped it into the guacamole and scooped up a large mound of the green sauce.
“Oh, yum, hors d’oeuvres,” Morgan, appearing from nowhere, chimed in, taking some for himself. Doc walked in on Morgan’s heels.
“I don’t know if we’re supposed to eat this stuff,” Wyatt said, doubtfully.
“Jackpot!” Virgil plopped a plate down in front of them. “Pizza rolls,” he said between mouthfuls.
Doc, Virgil, and Morgan each ate pizza rolls three at a time. They sped up as they watched the snack food supply dwindle. “Ah, hell,” Wyatt muttered and grabbed a handful.
“Where are the girls?” asked Morgan.
“Upstairs, doing whatever to get ready.”
“Makeup,” Morgan said, knowingly.
“Hair,” Doc added.
“Lacy bra,” chimed in Virgil.
“Hey!” Wyatt snapped.
“I mean in Janie’s case,” Virgil said quickly.
Wyatt’s mouth grew tight and his eyes shot daggers at Virgil.
Virgil swallowed an overly large bit of a pizza roll. “Did I say ‘lacy bra’? I meant ‘face in law.’ It’s a legal matter that was on my mind.”
“Good save, Virg.” Doc applauded him.
Morgan quickly changed the subject. “We’re here to pick up Miles.”
“Good,” said Wyatt. “Get him out of here before he embarrasses someone. What do you have planned?”
“We’re taking him to play laser tag. He’s always said he wanted to give it a try,” Doc explained.
“He doesn’t know he’s going, yet, of course. But we have plans to carry him out of here forcefully, if he doesn’t want to comply.” Virgil flexed his impressive muscles to highlight his point.
“You might as well get him now before Janie and Sam get wind of it.”
Wyatt’s three brothers went upstairs. He could hear some stomping around and perhaps somebody being thrown against the wall. After a couple of minutes, the three came downstairs carrying a shouting Miles over their heads.
“Sure, it took three of you to get me, but I dare you – dare you – to take me on one at a time. I may be long in the tooth, but I will take any of you.”
“We love you, too, Miles,” Virgil, said, holding Miles’s shoulders above him.
“We going to have a great time,” Doc added, holding his legs.
“Hey, why did I get stuck holding up this part of him?” asked a coughing and sputtering Morgan.
“Ha!” Miles yelled, triumphantly. “Serves you right. If I can’t fight you, I might as well use toxic gas on you!”
Wyatt quickly opened the screen door for them to carry Miles out. He could hear them arguing all the way to Virgil’s car. But finally, they drove off, and peace and quiet settled on the house.
Miles sat at the kitchen table and picked up the newspaper. Since he couldn’t do anything useful, he might as well relax, he thought.
It wasn’t long before Janie and Sam walked down the stairs. Sam was wearing a peach colored, floral sun dress with white pumps that had a slight heel. Her hair had been styled so that it fell in loose ringlets around her head.
Wyatt wolf-whistled at her. “Aren’t you a vision of loveliness.” Wyatt went to her.
“Don’t hug me,” she ordered. “You’ll mess me up.”
“Well, goodness, I wouldn’t want to do that.”
“Wait until you see Janie. She’s a knockout.”
Wyatt didn’t have to wait long to test her assertion. Janie came down the stairs and Wyatt felt the wind knocked out of him. She was wearing a white dress, which showed off her tanned, bare shoulders. The dress hugged her body tightly and then flared out to a wide skirt, which ended just above her knees. On her feet, she wore strappy gold sandals with an impossibly high heel. He noticed that her toes were newly painted in the reddest of red. She let her hair fall naturally down her back in a sleek wave. Little diamond earrings sparkled and drew attention to her vibrant skin, enhanced with only a slight amount of makeup.
Wyatt swallowed hard. It was difficult not to go to her and kiss her. He never saw a more beautiful woman, and he never felt so attracted to a woman before. Wyatt found that he had been staring at her for a long time. Janie looked back at him, questioningly, but it was Sam who broke the silence.
“Isn’t she pretty, Dad?”
“Huh? No, not pretty. Beautiful. She’s beautiful.” Wyatt continued to stare at her.
“I told you he would think you’re beautiful.”
“I think it’s time to check on your party. You should have some guests arriving soon.” Janie walked around Wyatt and took Sam’s hand to go outside.
Wyatt watched them leave and couldn’t help but notice that Janie looked as good going as she did coming.
“Wow, you two are the hottest chicks I have ever seen!” James approached them in his usual attire of shorts and a t-shirt. He volunteered to be the DJ for the evening, and he sure looked the part.
“It looks like you dressed up, too,” Janie teased.
“Hey, I’ll have you know this is a designer t-shirt.”
“You look cool, Uncle James.”
“Ah, thanks, kid. You look fantastic.” He moved to hug her, but she stopped him.
“Don’t hug me. You’ll mess me up.”
“No problem. I’ll get the music started.”
The sun began to set, and the twinkle lights were turned on. The music started, and the party really began. When the first guest arrived, Janie pushed Sam to greet her friend. Quickly, Janie melted into the background, adept at making sure the party moved along. Kids danced, ate, and had a great time. When Keiko arrived, she instituted some games that brought the kids even closer, and it was obvious that the party was a big success.
While Janie straightened up the dessert table, which had been ravaged by hungry tweens, James came to visit her and grab some brownies.
“Looks like it’s a big success.”
“Not yet,” Janie said, offering him a cream puff. James took it gladly.
“Oh, no? What will make it a success.”
“Sam has been practically ignoring Cody. The moment she lets her guard down, then it will be a success.”
“Cody? The surfer kid she hangs out with?”
“The one and the same.”
“She likes him? I mean, likes him? Holy crap.”
“Yep.”
“Does Wyatt know?”
“Nope. But it’s just puppy love. Don’t worry about it.”
“I don’t want to be here when Wyatt finds out.”
“Don’t worry. Here, eat another brownie. Besides, Wyatt hasn’t bothered to show his face this evening.”
“Oh. Well, he came out a while ago, but Sam gave him such a look that he decided it was bes
t to stay inside so as to not embarrass her.”
Janie was impressed with Wyatt’s maturity. It must have been hard for him to reach the point where Sam thought he was embarrassing. It was something that all parents went through. She remembered it well growing up. She and her friends hated to have their parents around. In Wyatt’s case, he realized that Sam loved her, but he was willing to give her some space when she needed it. The party was only an exception. Usually, Sam couldn’t get enough of her dad. Once again, Janie had to admit that Wyatt was a wonderful father.
About an hour later, guests started leaving. Janie, Keiko, and James emptied the courtyard of food and dishes.
“I’ll bring back the guys tomorrow to finish cleaning up the mess out here,” James said.
“That’s great, James. I’m wiped out. I’m just going to do a once-over on the kitchen, and then I’m going to bed. Thank you for all your help.” Janie kissed James on the cheek and waved goodbye, watching him drive away in his small SUV.
She found Wyatt in the kitchen, already busy with the dishes.
“Sit, and I’ll do the clean-up,” he said without looking up. Janie didn’t argue. She sat at the kitchen table and sighed. It had been a long night but well worth it. She slipped off her strappy sandals and massaged her feet. She moaned. It sure felt good to rub them. The sandals were pretty but not the smartest shoes to stand in for five and a half hours, she thought, taking stock of an angry looking blister.
Sam burst into the house, screaming. “He kissed me! He kissed me!” She intermittedly jumped up and down and hugged Janie. “He kissed me!”
“Who kissed you,” Wyatt barked, alarmed.
“He did?” Janie asked, delighted, ignoring Wyatt.
“Yes. He waited until everybody else left and then he said goodbye, and he kissed me!” She jumped up and down again.
Wyatt fumed. “Samantha Jean Templeton, you tell me this instant who kissed you!”
“Cody. Cody kissed me.”
“The surfer kid? Keiko’s grandson?”
“Yes!”