Dex
Chapter 33
MLM Tactical Group
Dexter: Mayday, Mayday, Mayday.
Preston: A little dramatic, even for you, don’t you think?
Dexter: The girls started calling Lanie Momma, and she freaked the fuck out. She hasn’t come out of her bathroom in over an hour.
Julia: Really? She hasn’t called me. I’ll try her now.
Trevor: I’m sure she just needs to process, that’s all.
Julia: Ok, so she isn’t exactly answering.
Dexter: What do you mean exactly?
Julia: I mean, she is sending me to voicemail, repeatedly.
Dexter: Fuck.
Julia: We knew she was due for a freak-out, ok. Maybe this is it, but you have to remain calm, we will all help you out. Miss Rosa is so invested she might fly down and marry you guys herself.
Preston: Who is Miss Rosa?
Dexter: Focus, Preston.
Julia: Seriously, Dexter, she has been doing so good, but you know she still has some things she has to work out before she thinks she can ever fully be whole. My guess is someone calling her Momma is bringing up all kinds of scary shit for her, not to mention the fact that it probably reminds her she can never have any biological children of her own. That was really important to her at one time.
Dexter: I feel like I’m losing control.
Trevor: I’ll be there in half an hour.
Julia: You have to stay calm. Let her do what she feels she needs to do, no matter what. We will work around whatever hair-brained scheme is cooking in that pretty little head of hers.
Dexter: Ok, thanks, Julia.
Julia: For the record, I want this for her. I want you for her, you make her happy, Dex. That is what is important to me. She just has to get to the same conclusion in her own time.
Dexter: Thanks, Jules.
Julia: Just keep making her happy, that’s all I ask.
Dexter: Always.
It’s been three hours and Lanie still has not come out of her room. Julia keeps checking in, letting me know she hasn’t heard from her either. I think that is what has us both concerned the most.
Trevor has come and gone, there wasn’t much he could do for me, so I sent him home. The kids are all in bed, I’m pacing my room wishing I knew what to do.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, scaring the shit out of me. Hastily, I reach for it to answer. “Hi, Julia,” I say with a sigh. I know Lanes wouldn’t call me from the next room, but I’m on edge.
“Hey,” she is subdued, not a great sign for me, “Lanie is going to talk to you early in the morning. She is going to come home for Thanksgiving. I want to give you a heads up so you can react calmly. I bought her a ticket so she will fly instead of drive. She won’t be here forever.”
I sink down onto my bed, deflated.
“Dex, she is just confused. It’s been a strange year for her, but I promise you, she will come back.”
“I would have gotten her a ticket,” seems like a strange thing to say, but it’s all that comes out.
“Dex, it isn’t about the money. Lanie could have bought the ticket, she is just too frugal to spend the money. I bought it, knowing she wouldn’t be able to let it go to waste. You’re going to have to support her, help her make Tate understand. I’ll talk to her the second she lands and report back to you. She didn’t say much on the phone. I’m sure I’ll get it out of her on the drive back to the mountain.”
Sighing, my voice thick with emotion, I tell Julia, “I’ll do my best.”
An hour later, I’m lying in my bed staring at my ceiling when a soft knock comes from the doorway.
“Lanie? You don’t have to knock, come in.” I tell her, waving her over with one hand, lifting the covers for her with the other.
She doesn’t move and doesn’t look at me.
“You’re going back to Vermont, aren’t you?” I say, slowly lowering the covers back to the bed. This catches her by surprise and she finally lifts her head.
“Just for a few days, I’ll be back on Monday. I’m leaving early in the morning, but don’t worry, I’ll make sure I talk to Tate myself before I go. I’ll make him understand I’ll be back on Monday.” Her voice is soft, and her head bowed once again.
“For how long, Lanie? How long will you be back for?” I know it’s a shitty thing to say to her, she is vulnerable right now, but I’m hurting too. I’m scared to death something so innocent is what is going to take her from us.
“Dexter, that’s not fair. I never made any promises to you or anyone else. I’m doing the best I can. I feel like I’m drowning and I can’t break the surface. I just need a few days at home to sort things out,” she explains.
“I was hoping this was becoming your home too, Lanie.” I lie back down on my pillow, trying to keep the bitterness from my voice. “We will drive you to the airport whenever you are ready.”
She doesn’t say anything, and when I look up, she has gone back to her room.
“Fuck,” I yell to an empty room.
This morning was brutal. An awkwardness settled over me and Lanie that had never been there before. I fucking hated it.
As promised, she spoke to Tate, in private, and I was surprised when there were no tears from him. Tate sat in the back of the car the entire way to the airport, chatting happily away with her.
Lanie’s departure is quick. She gives all the kids kisses, giving me one on the cheek while never making eye contact.
On the way home, I check the rearview mirror to see Tate smiling. “What are you thinking about, buddy?” And how do I get some of that happiness?
“What kind of cookies Mimi’s going to make me,” he smiles. “Lanie is going to bring them back, just for me.” Suddenly serious, he says, “Don’t worry, Dad. She is coming back. She didn’t take our family picture with her, she showed me. She said wherever she was living, she’d always take that with her. So, see, she will be back. She made all the pies last night and told me all the food is ready to be cooked so we can still have everyone over tomorrow.”
Completely shocked, I ask, “What do you mean, Tate? What food?”
He smiles. “Lanie said you might be mad. She stayed up last night to make four different kinds of pie and got all the food ready. She said she left instructions on everything, and all you have to do is turn the oven on.”
I’m speechless.
Tate starts talking away again in the backseat, but I only hear bits and pieces. My mind is on the woman boarding a plane right now headed for Vermont.
We walk in through the front door and I hear Trevor and Preston. Rolling my eyes, I follow their voices to the family room where some college football game is on. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Hi to you too,” says Trevor. In a kinder voice, he says, “Jules texted, said you might need some help getting ready for tomorrow.”
Tate comes running in behind me, almost knocking a lamp off the table he collided with. “Hi, uncle Trevor, Hi Preston. Nope, we don’t need help. Lanie made everything last night.” They both look from Tate to me.
I shake my head. “I don’t know, Tate says she told him it's all done, just needs to be put in the oven, I haven’t had a chance to check.”
Preston jumps over the back of the couch, running for the kitchen. “Holy shit, she did. Score!” He yells, “I was not looking forward to peeling freaking potatoes today.”
We all laugh, but I don’t feel the humor. For the next few hours the guys make small talk all around me. I stare blankly at the television.
Sitting on my couch, the very one Lanie often comments on, my phone rings. It’s Julia. “Hi, Jules...”
She cuts me off, “I don’t have long,” she says, “we just got to my house, Lanie is in the bathroom. All I can tell you is to get your ass on a plane now. She is going to need you if she is going to do what I think she is.”
My heart starts racing, and I feel sick. “What do you mean, Julia? What is she going to do?”
&nbs
p; “I don’t have time to explain. A plane, now, bring the whole damn family, my parents will help. Just get here, asap. Go straight to my parent's house, you can all stay there.”
I’m looking at Trevor when Julia hangs up on me. There is something seriously wrong with this girl.
“Preston,” I yell, not realizing he had reentered the room, “anyone using your mom’s plane right now?” I’ve never called in favors like this before, so Preston and Trevor's concerned looks are warranted.
“Not that I know of, what’s going on?” Preston asks, looking all around the room.
“We are all going to Vermont,” I inform him, “well, the kids and I have to go to Vermont, if you guys want to come, we need to leave as soon as possible,” I tell their shocked faces.
“Okay, dude. I’ll call my mom right now and see how fast we can get the plane up and running. You coming too, Trev?” Preston asks.
Looking at him for the first time since I said we are going to Vermont, I notice he seems a little pale.
“Trevor? What’s up, man?” I ask, walking closer to him.
“What? Oh, nothing. No, sorry, I can’t. I can’t go to Vermont right now. I’ve got some things at work. I can’t leave at the moment.” He is lying, Preston and I both know it, and it worries me. Trevor is the most honest guy I know.
“Does this have anything to do with Julia?” I ask.
He rakes a hand through his hair and swears under his breath. I’ve got my answer.
“No,” he says, “maybe? I have too much shit in my life, she has her own too. We are just friends, but I do have something I can’t leave right now.” I’m not sure I have ever seen Trevor appear so unhinged.
“Are you alright?” I ask him. “Is something happening with your dad and all his…stuff?”
Turning his back on me, he says, “Drop it, Dex, alright? Just drop it. Come on, let's get the kids packed up. You’ll need an entire plane for all their crap.” He isn’t wrong, who knew little people required so much shit?
“Plane is all set, it’ll be ready to leave in an hour,” Preston informs me.
“Thanks, buddy, I owe you.” He ignores me, saying he’ll be back soon.
Two hours later, I’m sitting on a private plane with Tate, Sara, Harper, Preston, Sylvie, Easton, Shepherd, Cooper, and Ashton. Jesus, I hope Julia knew what she was getting when she said to bring everyone.
“Thanks, Julia.” I hear Preston say, one of the perks of a private plane, I guess.
“Why were you talking to Julia?” I ask.
“Dex, you know I love you, but if you think I’m going to sit in a car driving old mountain roads looking at cow pastures for two-plus hours after this plane ride, you’ve lost your God-damned mind. Somehow, Julia got permission for a chopper to land at their local hospital and will have rental cars waiting there for us.”
“Preston Westbrook,” I hear Sylvie scold. “That’s a bit excessive, don’t you think?”
“No way, Mom. Not the way Cooper is prone to getting car sick in the mountains. I looked this town up, it is seriously in the middle of nowhere. If he was in the car for two hours, he would definitely hurl.” Sylvie tsks him but doesn’t complain further. I’m not about to complain either since that means we will arrive much earlier than planned.
“Does that mean Julia knows to expect all of us too?” I ask him.
“It does. Her parents are setting us all up. She said it might be tight, but we can all make do for a couple of days.”
“Maybe it’ll be like camping,” Tate says happily, “that would be so awesome.”
“Yeah, awesome,” Preston grumbles, always the pansy.
Less than two hours later, I’m walking through the McDowell’s front door, making all the introductions. Sylvie and Mimi (who I now have to call Mimi) are in the kitchen with Tate and the girls. All of the Westbrook boys, Mr. McDowell, who I can now call Pete, and I are in their large great-room that looks over the small ski mountain.
“Alright, son,” Pete starts, “last I heard, our Lanie was staying with you for Thanksgiving, then all of a sudden, she is at Julia’s, and you’re all on some fancy plane chasing after her. Do I have any need to take out the shotgun again?” Preston and Cooper, who are squished together in a double chair, throw their heads back and laugh.
“He isn’t joking,” I tell them, and Preston’s eyes light up with mischief. “Don’t start, Pres. I mean it. No, sir, it wasn’t my doing.” I pinch the back of my neck, peering down. “Everything was great, then we were having dinner, and the girls started calling her Momma.” Pete nods his head, solemnly.
“I see, and shortly after, she was running for home. Is that it?” Pete questions me.
“That’s about it, sir.”
He leans back in his rocker, putting a hand through his hair. Looking around the room and into the kitchen, Pete takes stock of everyone in his home.
“To be honest, I’m not sure how she is going to react to us being here. If Julia hadn’t told me to get my ass on a plane, I would have let her have her space. It would have killed me, but I would have given it to her.”
“Mhm, I do believe Julia made the right call. It’s about time we knock some sense into that girl.” Pete smiles at me and hope fills my chest. These may be Lanie’s people, but they are my allies. The thought makes me laugh.
Walking towards the kitchen at the back of the great room, I hear Tate talking with Mimi and Sylvie. I pause, pretending to look at the pictures lining the walls, but the smile Mimi gives me tells me I’m not fooling anyone.
“Mimi, why does Lanie call you Mimi, is that your name?”
She laughs at such an innocent yet direct question. Grabbing the stool across from Tate, she takes a seat, motioning for Sylvie to choose the one next to him. I notice they have the girls set up in the portable highchairs with some crackers. Two grandmothers in their glory.
“No, handsome, my name is Maxine, but you know, I met Lanie when she was just a bit older than you. I don’t know how much Lanie has told you, but she didn’t have the easiest of childhoods. When she was young, Pawpaw and I just decided she needed to have some people in her life to count on. I had called my grandmother Mimi, so I chose to have Lanie call me that as well. I wasn’t her mother, you see, but any chance I got, I liked to show her what a mother could be. I wanted her to have a familial feeling with us, so I guess that’s why we always had these nicknames.”
“If Lanie had wanted to call you mom, would you have let her?” Tate asks, surprising us all.
Mimi raises her head in question, and I motion for her to answer honestly. Tate has had a rough go, but he has always had the guys and me. Maybe some insight from Mimi will help him.
“Hoo-we, that’s a tough question right there, little man,” I laugh as Mimi uses the nickname Lanie so often uses. I wonder if Lanie has any idea just how much of Mimi she really has inside her. “It’s tricky because even though Lanie’s mom wasn’t always good to her, she was still around.”
“Not like my mom,” Tate states, and I suck in a breath.
Preston’s brother, Easton, comes up beside me, putting a hand on my shoulder. He obviously just heard Tate’s words too.
“My mom isn’t nice at all. She doesn’t love me like Lanie does. She doesn’t even like me very much.” All the air I was holding in is now suffocating me, but I can’t walk away.
“You know what, Tate? Lanie’s mom didn’t much like her either; perhaps that’s why the two of you get along so well. I’m glad that you have your Dad and Nanna Sylvie here and all those boys out there watching out for you, though. Lanie only had us when her mother allowed it, I have to imagine it was pretty lonely for her sometimes.”
“I was lonely before Lanie came to live with us too.”
I cannot believe he is so comfortable with Mimi. It makes me realize how she was able to get so close to Lanie all those years ago. It’s an innate skill she has so obviously handed down to Lanie.
“I bet that was hard for you. You
know, Lanie told me you didn’t talk for a while. Lanie probably doesn’t remember, but there was a short time where she didn’t speak much either. It’s one of the reasons I’m so happy she found you. It took Lanie many, many years to understand the true meaning of family because it’s different for everyone. Did you know that?”
“Lanie didn’t talk either?” is all Tate can focus on.
Mimi gives him a sad smile and pats his hand. Looking at me, I see the sadness wash over her face. “She was about ten when something scary happened to her. She didn’t talk for a couple of months after that, but do you know what I did? I showed her love. As she got older, I taught her that it was okay to choose your family. I think that’s an important lesson for you too, handsome. Lanie’s mom was not good for her; it’s taken Lanie many, many years to fully understand what having a family really means. I’m willing to bet you’ve had a big part in showing her what family should be.” Mimi is still holding Tate’s hand.
I see Sylvie wiping a stray tear before speaking. “Tate, you know everything your mom said to you?”
“Yes, Nanna Sylvie,” he says sadly.
“None of that was true, you know that, right? Your mom has some issues, but they have absolutely nothing to do with you. You’re an amazing kid that anyone would be lucky to have as a son.” Sylvie tells him.
Tate interrupts, “I know, Lanie told me, a lot,” he laughs. “I wish Lanie could be my mom,” he says sadly, “but I don’t think she wants to be mine.”
I hear a loud gasp, and I turn my head to see the last person I was expecting tonight. Glancing around the room, I realize everyone had gone silent, all of us eavesdropping on Mimi and Tate’s conversation.
Lanie
Chapter 34
Tate wishes I were his mom. Me.
Dex tries to speak, but like the first day I met him, I hold up my hand to shut him up. I had just stopped by to give Mimi the pies I made earlier, but running into Dex and all the Westbrook’s almost had me pissing my pants. Maybe I’ll be mad later, but right now, my only priority is Tate.
Cross My Heart: A Waverley-Cay Novel Page 24