“Thank you, Mom,” I said, sliding my hand up to grab hers.
We finished dinner, and I got kicked out of the kitchen as my family cleaned for us. As dessert was brought out, my palms started to sweat. It was just about showtime. I snuck a peek at Mia. She was leaning over the counter, checking out the goodies Clare had brought over, and talking about school. Since Clare was a high school teacher, she was always interested in Mia’s recent return to college.
“It’s good! I’m still a bit rusty. I feel ancient, but it’s only a few classes and two semesters, so I think I’ll survive.”
“You are not ancient!” I reminded her.
She’d finally stopped punishing herself and enrolled back in school to get her teaching credential. It had been a decision that was all hers, and I couldn’t be prouder. Of course, now that she was one step closer to her dream, she was starting to look to me to start pursuing my own.
I only had one at the moment, and I thought it was time to start living it.
Just as I was opening my mouth to make an announcement, asking everyone to gather in the living room, Clare yelped and then cursed.
“Oh, shit!” she cried.
“Mommy said a bad word!” Ollie said, which caused an uproar of laughter.
Clare turned, and I caught what all the commotion was about. She’d managed to spill her entire glass of wine down the front of her ivory-colored blouse, and it was now running down her pants onto the floor. I turned around immediately.
“My top!” she whined, shaking her arm in an attempt to whisk away some of the moisture.
Logan immediately stepped in front of her, blocking her view from the rest of the room. The men in the room immediately began chuckling.
“What are you doing?” she barked.
“Your blouse is now see-through, babe,” he said with a touch of amusement.
“Oh my God,” she muttered in horror.
Picking up a towel off the counter, I took several steps backward until I was in arm’s reach of Logan and handed it to him. The other women in the room helped clean up around her, and Mia took her upstairs to find something else to wear.
I looked around and huffed.
Okay, so that didn’t go exactly as planned, but there is still time.
After about twenty minutes, the women finally descended. Looking less stressed, Clare was now dressed in a pair of Mia’s jeans and a dark brown sweater without a speck of wine anywhere.
“I need chocolate!” Clare announced as soon as she hit the bottom step, which got an encouraging agreement from everyone else in the house.
Soon, everyone was grabbing dessert plates and digging into the platter of cookies and brownies and cutting slices of Mom’s homemade banana cream pie.
I guessed I would begin my plans after dessert. That was fine.
I helped myself to a brownie and sat down next to Mia, who was snacking on a cookie and speaking to Declan about his latest project. My foot tapped nervously as I waited for everyone to finish.
How long did it take to eat a dessert?
Of course, after everyone finished, another round of dishes had to be done.
Can’t do anything when there are dirty dishes in the sink.
That would surely end the world.
Once that was all done, I finally made my announcement. “Hey, guys, could I get everyone into the living room for a minute?”
They all gave me strange looks, and a few grabbed extra cookies as they went, but I managed to get all the adults and children seated quickly. Mia thankfully sat by herself in a chair, which made my life a bit easier.
“Thank you guys so much for coming. It really means a lot to Mia and me. This home has really become the embodiment of our new life together, and—”
“Oh, shoot,” Leah said suddenly. “Lily’s got a diaper situation, and wow, it’s, um…awful. Can we pause this for about five minutes while I go take care of this?”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I nodded as she got up and took off for the office, grabbing the diaper bag as she went.
This was not my day—at all.
They all stared up at me expectantly.
“Well, just talk among yourselves!” I said, waving my hands.
I walked into the kitchen for a breather. I heard Liv and Mia continue their earlier conversation about going to the farmers’ market next week, and Clare joined in that she wanted to go as well.
Declan followed me into the kitchen, grabbing a couple of more cookies. He said, “It’s for the kids,” and then he turned as he was about to walk back out. “Hey, man, you okay? You seem a bit tense.”
I turned around, and he must have read something in my expression. Maybe it was because he’d been in my shoes before because his eyes suddenly went wide.
“Oh! You’re gonna…oh! Here? Okay. Shit. And we keep interrupting. Yeah, that sucks. Okay, uh…I’ll go make Leah hurry up.”
He dashed out of the kitchen, and within a few moments, Leah was flying back into the living room, flashing me a huge grin as she found her seat. I took a deep breath and came back into the room.
“Okay, so what I was saying was, Mia and I really appreciate each and every one of you, which is why I wanted all of you to be here.”
I hadn’t even turned to her. My hand had barely made a single twitch to move to my pocket when Logan’s cell phone went off.
“Motherfucker,” I cursed under my breath.
And now, I was cursing in front of my widowed mother.
Awesome day.
“Sorry! I’ve got to take this. It’s the hospital.”
I waved him off, and he dashed into the office for privacy. Two minutes later, he returned. He broke the news that there was an emergency at the hospital, and he’d been called in. Clare rushed into action and offered to drive him. Within minutes, they’d kissed everyone and rushed out the door with the kids. Mostly everyone followed their leave, and soon, Mia and I were left with Declan and Leah, who are both dragging their feet.
Leah gave me an apologetic hug as I shook my head.
“It’s okay,” I whispered in her ear. “There’s always the Super Bowl.”
~Mia~
I bent down and picked up the pillow off the floor. I placed it back on the couch, fluffing it as I did. Next, I refolded the blanket the kids had pulled down to make a fort in the dining room, and I draped it over the arm of the chair. Stepping back, I admired our cozy little living room. Looking back, I remembered what it looked like when I’d first moved in—a couch covered in plastic and a pile of wood flooring. Now, it was warm and inviting and more than I could have ever imagined. I’d never imagined this house becoming my home in so many ways.