by DW Cee
An early dinner—reserved.
Gift—purchased.
Buffer companions—confirmed!
All that was left was to go have one dinner and get everyone on good terms again.
“Are you sure about this? We can still back out, you know.” Max, Garret, and Josh all asked this question in some form during the ride to the restaurant.
“I can’t remember the last time we celebrated Mother’s Day with Mom.” Josh added. “This’ll be really interesting. You have any other previously knocked-up girls showing up to this dinner, Max?”
My boyfriend actually laughed at his brother, even though he poked at a sore spot. “I have nothing else to hide from my girlfriend, anymore. She owns my heart, soul and body, now.”
If Max’s two brothers weren’t in the car with us, I would’ve forced Max to pull over and the car would’ve done a jalopy on the side of the road. But since I couldn’t do that, I just gave him a sinful smile, full of promises for later.
The two brothers rolled their eyes. “Jane,” Garret addressed me, “I can promise you that not once was my brother this sickeningly in love with anyone—not even Emily.”
“Garret,” I addressed him just as seriously, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard such beautiful words.”
I was seriously going to give Max some lovin’ tonight!
“Who are all coming?” Josh wondered.
“Did you invite Laney?” Garret wondered back.
“Hell no! Why would I scare her off even before she’s decided she’s in love with me?”
“In love with you?” Garret wondered even louder. “Bro’, you can’t even get a date with her.”
Now this was a cute scene where the three brothers joined forces, aiding and abetting. Max began. “Have you used your Davis charm and asked her out? You know she’s leaving soon.”
“I’ve tried, but she’s held me at an arm’s distance. I wish she’d hold me with her long, sexy-ass legs, instead.” The men chuckled. I didn’t know whether to feel offended for Laney, or try aiding and abetting Josh along with my boyfriend.
“How about I set up a double-date as soon as Laney is out of school? I think she’s been quite busy studying for finals, finishing up papers, and setting up home in London. I haven’t seen much of her these days.”
“You’re the bomb, Sis! I knew you’d pull through for me.” Josh kissed me on the cheek. “When Laney gets to know me, she’s bound to fall madly in love with me. Who the hell can resist the Davis charm?”
“Damn right!” Garret added.
“Damn straight!” Max agreed.
The sheer amount of machismo in this car made me laugh.
We revisited that little French bistro where I first met Mr. and Mrs. Davis. Are you all wondering why I still call them Mr. and Mrs.? I have no freakin’ clue what their names are. And no one’s clued me in, plus I suppose I never asked.
“What are your parents’ names?”
The three men howled.
“What the hell’s so funny?”
“Mavis and Davis,” Max spoke between wiping off tears of hilarity.
“Seriously? Mavis Davis and Davis Davis???” I too started tearing from the joke. “Either you’re all pulling my leg or someone above has a sense of humor.”
“Our paternal grandparents had a great sense of humor and thought if Dad had the same first and last name, he’d have an easier time remembering and spelling. Then my grandfather told us that he knew Mom was the one, when her name was only a few spaces down the alphabet chart from Dad’s.” Josh continued the crazy explanation.
“What a hoot. Mavis and Davis...I guess I’ll stick to Mr. and Mrs.”
“Yeah. Good thinking, Babe. I don’t know that they’ll be happy if you brought up their names in the middle of dinner.”
We arrived at the bistro and soon after, my brother, Nick and Evie came one after another. To Josh’s delight—or chagrin?—Laney was with Doug. I couldn’t gauge Josh’s reaction since he beelined to my cousin.
“Josh filled me in somewhat on the Davis details. I thought the more ammo, the better,” my sweet younger brother explained. “Jake and Emily were going to join us as well, but both kids have the sniffles and are cranky. They send good karma in their stead.”
I love my family!
“Hello Jane,” I heard Max’s mom call out from behind.
I whipped around to a solemn face—a face that displayed penance over her past sins. Feeling sorry for her, and being in a brief state of insanity, I gave Mrs. Davis a hug and wished her a Happy Mother’s Day. That hug stopped everyone in their tracks. They all looked over to us. That hug may possibly have been the reason why our evening turned out to be a surprisingly pleasurable one.
The dinner started awkward and everyone broke off into their own conversations, with Mr. and Mrs. Davis keeping quiet. It didn’t go unnoticed in my eyes that they didn’t bring Hannah with them. I don’t know what happened there, but I wasn’t one to complain.
“Have you seen the homes your sons purchased?” I asked both parents in hopes of getting them into the conversation.
They shook their heads no, and judging by the glance Max’s mom gave her sons, it wouldn’t have surprised me if she had no idea that her sons were now home owners.
“We all bought a very small home, not too far from Jane’s parents’ place and we’ll be moving in soon.” Max offered this info by way of apology.
“When do you move in?” Max’s dad asked. “Do you boys need any help? Do you have enough money? Your mother and I are able to help financially if you need it.” This generous offer sounded similar to an apology as well. It made me wonder if instead of emotional love and support, the only way the Davises knew how to support their sons was financially. Perhaps this was their way of showing love.
“We’re all doing well, thanks to Josh and his expertise with the stock market. It’s a very small, starter home and we got a good deal, so we thought it’d make a wise investment.” This was about as loquacious as I’d seen Max get with his parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Davis looked over at Josh and cracked a proud smile. It was weird to see them smile since I had never seen one on their faces before.
“So, does that mean you are staying around for your residency? You’re not moving far away?”
“Though there are no guarantees, I’m pretty sure I’m staying. I’ve been told by Jane’s uncle and brother that if I keep Jane in line, they will consider keeping me at the hospital.” Max actually cracked a joke at the Davis family dinner table, and his parents actually cracked a smile, again! Wonders never ceased.
“Can we come see your new place?” Mr. Davis asked, cautiously.
All three boys looked at one another, not only gauging each other’s reactions but almost expecting Ashton Kutcher to pop out of the restaurant walls to tell them that they were being punked. It was sad on the one hand to see such doubt and vacillation about the sincerity of one’s own parents, but what was happening tonight was progress.
The pause was longer than necessary so I jumped in. “Why don’t we do a drive by tonight, then you can help us on moving day. I don’t think we mentioned that I’m moving in with Max. Your son, in his machismo way, told me that I could bum off of his generosity. I’ll be his ‘little woman.’” I saw a smile bordering on laughter, again! I patted myself on the back.
“I’m glad you’ll be close to Max,” his mother patted my hand. “You’re good for him.”
I whispered, still loudly enough for everyone to hear, “Your eldest has no idea that I can’t cook, I don’t clean, and I also don’t plan to be his ‘little woman.’”
Max’s mom cracked up—and cracked up loudly. “Max has always been quietly aggressive, turned obstinately aggressive, when he doesn’t get what he wants.”
“Oh my gosh!” I agreed, “You are dead-on in that assessment.”
“And Garret has been the doer among the three boys. His dad and I always called him a man of action. He saw, he
assessed, he conquered.” There was, once again, that look of pride in both parents’ eyes for all three boys. “And our youngest was the peacemaker. He always supported his brothers, never coveted any of their belongings or accomplishments, but equally matched their success in all ways. We are proud of and lucky to have three boys who practically raised themselves.” I think I may have seen a slight reddening of Mavis Davis’ eyes, but that left as quickly as it came.
Tonight’s understated word—SHOCKING! We all kept quiet, eyeballs roving from person to person, wanting to see if anyone could explain what was going on. Were Max’s parents drunk? Were they playing some sick game? Or were they now realizing that they’d missed out on having a relationship with three fantastic young men? I think and hope it’s the latter.
“Thank you,” were the last words I heard from Davis and Mavis before they got in their car after seeing their boys’ new homes in the dark, from the outside.
“Thank you,” were also the last words I heard from my boyfriend before he curled into me and fell asleep on my bed. Life was working out okay for us. If I had to look at the big picture, characters in the life of Max and Jane were taking shape, becoming clearer and sharper. Like opening night of a play, everybody knew their lines, clothes and makeup were done, and each stood in place, waiting for his or her cue to start. Was this the beginning of my standing ovation, or was I also waiting to be punked?!?
May 16, 2013 Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend
Since I promised Josh a double date with Laney, I needed to get one on our calendar, and fast. But with all our crazy schedules, it wasn’t easy to pin down a date. Max had no real opinion on my plan, Josh was willing to go out on any night, and Laney...well Laney came along because I guilted her into coming along. I told her how uncool she was being, declining ALL of Josh’s invitations. Plus, I had Max talk to her and tell her that we wanted to spend some time with her before she left for London. That did the trick. She could decline my invitation, but saying no to Max was another story.
“I bought us four tickets to see the opera, Cinderella, and we have a dinner reservation at the brasserie next door.”
“That sounds utterly dreadful. Why don’t we do something that’ll allow those two to talk?”
“Shit! Why didn’t you say something sooner? These tickets cost me a fortune.”
“Have Josh reimburse you. We’re doing this for his sake.” My boyfriend was so not helpful in this matchmaking situation.
“I can’t ask him to pay me back. That’s so cheesy.”
By this point, I’d lost Max to his textbook. I searched the internet for something fun to do and found nothing interesting.
“Hey Emily. I have a quandary.” Against my boyfriend’s will, I forced him off my bed and over to Emily’s house, so we could see if she had any bright ideas.
“What’s the quagmire?” She laughed at her own lame witticism.
I explained what I’d done and she didn’t appear overjoyed with any of my choices. “I don’t think Laney likes Josh in that way. Why encourage him? He’ll be mightily disappointed when she leaves.”
“But she hasn’t gotten to know him. She may grow to like him if she gives him a chance.” Max chuckled at Emily’s doubtful look.
“How about if your brother and I take those tickets off your hands, or...you can invite us to go with you instead of Laney and Josh. You know how much I like opera.” She gave me a wink, which I found utterly disturbing. Emily had more of a coquettish side than I imagined. I supposed she had many charms, not made aware to the likes of me.
“Just give Emily the tickets. I don’t want to go see an opera. Emily would have to drag me to those things because I would protest so much. There were many promises made, which went unfulfilled, back when we were dating, Ms. Logan.”
Emily only laughed at my boyfriend. “There were no promises made—only threats if you didn’t go with me.”
“I remember a time when you said we would...”
“All righty...!” I cut off the walk down the yellow brick road. “This isn’t about you two in the past. It’s about Laney and Josh in the future.”
“A dead future,” Emily tried to whisper, but we all heard loud and clear.
The door opened and in walked Jake. “Hello, Beloved. How was your day?” He gave her a sickeningly sweet kiss and somehow held her around her massive waist. “Kids down?”
“Oh yes. They were especially active today, so they were asleep even before Mr. Blue Fish appeared in the book.”
“I’m going to go see the kids and change.”
“Okay. I’ll have dinner ready.”
“What are you guys doing here?” He finally noticed us. “Stick around, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” After a pat on the back for Max and a squeeze on the shoulder for me, Jake went off to adore his sleeping kids.
“What got the kids so tired today?” Max asked.
“I took the kids to the park, and there was a little league t-ball game going on and the twins were mesmerized. After the game ended and the field cleared, James started running the bases and Ellie followed. I lost count of the number of time they ran around the field. Once we got home, they practically fell asleep during their bath, and they hardly ate dinner. They were knocked out by the time I reached the top of the steps.”
“That must have been exhausting for you.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t easy giving sleepy children a bath.”
As those two droned on about daily minutiae, I had the most brilliant idea! I took out my phone and started an email.
To: Jake Reid, Nick Reid, Doug Reid, Delaney Reid, Samantha Reid, Robert Reid, Henry Reid, Roland Ascot, Max Davis, Garret Davis, Josh Davis, Donovan Taylor, Becky Fritz, Al Fritz,
Cc: Emily Reid, Sandra Reid, Barbara Reid, Estelle Reid Ascot
From: Jane Reid
Subject: Reids vs. The Others, Baseball Game!
You all up for a baseball game this weekend? It’ll be us Reids against the world! Dust off your old cleats, buy some new baseball pants and let’s play ball. Reply all so we know how the team will be formed. The Others—you need a few more players.
Sent! What a fantastic idea this was. We’d use my parents’ backyard as the baseball field and there was no chance The Others could beat us. We Reids all played baseball and softball.
Soon a flurry of email exchanges began.
To: Jane Reid, et al
Cc: Bee Taylor
From: Donovan Taylor
Subject: Baseball
You do know I’m an excellent baller? Game on! I’ve included my cousin Bee (yes, yes, Jane. I know she’s technically my aunt—whatever...) in this email chain. She’s in as well.
To: Jane Reid, et al
From: Roland Ascot
Subject: Who am I
Am I a Reid or am I an other?
To: Roland Ascot, et al
From: Jane Reid
Subject: Don’t be silly
Of course you are a REID! You are with us, Gimpy!
To: Jane Reid, et al
From: Max Davis
Subject: Why are we emailing when we are sitting next to one another?
My beautiful Gem, what’s the winning prize? Also, we are still 2 players short.
To: Max Davis, et al
From: Jane Reid
Subject: Prize
Loser buys dinner?
To: Jane Reid, et al