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The Loveboat
Love, exciting and new
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Once the guests started to arrive, things got nuts fast. Grandma Bea was the first to arrive. Her arrival was met with a flurry of children running downstairs to get their hug and kiss and a piece of candy out of the pocket of her cardigan. Next about 15 families of cousins arrived. To be completely honest, I didn’t know all of their cousins, but I got to hug every last one of them. I must have shown my engagement ring to about 300 people in the first 15 minutes. Finally, Jarrod and Trevor arrived. Jarrod took one look at me and burst out laughing.
“Cleo, honey, what did you do to your chin?” Jarrod whispered in my ear. “Well, baby, you need to have him sit in a chair or lie on the bed, cause how are you gonna explain a carpet burn there?”
“Shut up!” I said slugging him in the arm. “You are one sick pig, you know that?”
He and Trevor moved through the crowd laughing at me. I watched as they went up the stairs to the kitchen, they were probably heading into the family room where Isaac and Zac were holding court. I hurried over to the fireplace to check out my face in the mirror over the mantle and was horrified. The scrape on my chin did look like a carpet burn. I was appalled to think that maybe others were thinking the same thing as Jarrod. I leaned my head against the mantle. Sometimes, it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed.
“Cleo, honey, what is that shirt you have on?” I heard my mother ask me. Taylor had invited my parents? This was just going to be a lovely, lovely evening.
“Um, it’s Taylor's.” I said smoothing it down.
“And your jeans, they are far too long.” She said tucking a stray hair back behind my ear. “You look like an orphan.”
“The jeans are Taylor's too.” I said smiling at my father as he moved across the room.
“Why you can’t wear you own clothes.” My mother said rolling her eyes.
“Hey, princess.” My dad said as he hugged me tight. “What did you do to your chin?”
“I was messing around and I fell and hit it.” I said as he tipped my chin up so he could take a closer look at the scrape.
“Hmm… Open your mouth.” He ordered. I complied and soon he was tugging on my teeth. “Well, at least none of you teeth are loose. Cleo, you need to be more careful.”
“Cleo, where is Diana?” My mother asked looking around the room.
“Umm, I think she must be up in the kitchen.” I answered shrugging, looking longingly at Taylor standing by the front door talking to some of the guys from the old neighborhood, Ray and Judd.
“Did anything I taught you ever sink in?” My mother asked exasperated. “You go up there and help her. This is her party; she should be mingling. You can take care of the food.”
“Okay.” I said slinking across the room. I loved my parents. I had made peace with them, but sometimes my mother was still her old self. Appearances were much more important than what was real. And she did have a point. All of Diana’s family and friends were here and she was in the kitchen preparing dinner. I’d relieve her; actually, it would be relief to me too. “Diana, why don’t you go downstairs? I can take over here.”
“Oh Cleo, you don’t mind do you?” She asked.
“Not at all, really, all I have to do is take the stuff out of the oven and make sure the relish trays are filled, right? You already did all the hard stuff.” She nodded positively. “Well, then you go down and entertain your guests.”
“Your mother sent you up here, didn’t she?” Diana asked her eyes narrowing. She had that look again, that look that said she would find out the truth.
“Yes, she did.” I said. “But, she’s right, you should be enjoying this party.”
“But don’t you want to go be with Taylor?” She asked untying her apron.
“I’ve got a lifetime to be with Taylor, you have tonight to be with your guests.” I said taking the apron out of her hands and pointing to the stairs into the living room.
“Okay, but can you to keep an eye on the kids in the family room?” She asked. I looked and saw that most of the young cousins had congregated in front of the television. Zoë’s current favorite video was playing. The older kids were gathered around the pool table and the poker table. Zac seemed to be winning the latest hand of poker.
“Sure, no problem.” I said smiling as Zac claimed what looked to be a very sizable pile of Jarrod’s poker chips. He gamely rolled the wooden match in his mouth back and forth over his lips. It was a true talent. But quickly, I found that I didn’t have time to notice anything more. I was literally running up and down the stairs, taking baked macaroni and cheese out of the oven, sticking apple cobblers into the oven, cutting more brownies, running out to the garage to get more soda’s, refilling the relish trays. I was running like crazy. It felt like we were on tour again and it was the final hour before the show.
Finally, everything seemed to be in order and I sat down for a moment. I was munching on a carrot stick when a beautiful girl with deep red hair came up the stairs followed closely by Taylor. “Hi Cleo.” She said smiling.
“Hi,” I said not quite sure who this girl was. She could be one of their seemingly endless parade of cousins or she could be pretty much anyone else in the world. But, one thing for sure, she was tall and very, very curvy.
“Jessica got lost,” Taylor explained. Ah yes, the physical therapy assistant. She really, really did clean up nicely. She had on a short, blue, plaid skirt with a tight, blue, baby doll t-shirt, a total contrast to the baggy t-shirt and sweats she’d had on at the hospital. “She doesn’t know Tulsa very well.”
“Well, Zac will be thrilled to see you.” I said smiling. I watched as Taylor led her into the family room and up to the poker table. Zac was glowering at the players gathered around the table, putting on his best poker face. When Taylor called his name, he looked up reluctantly and then jumped out of his chair, falling to the ground, his cards flying. I don’t know what she said to him, but he nodded grimly and gathered himself up off the floor. Soon, there was another chair at the table and Jessica was shuffling the cards.
Once Taylor had her settled, he sauntered back over to where I was standing waiting for the pot of coffee to finish brewing so I could take it down and refill the carafe. “Hey sexy.” He said. “You know, an apron is a good look for you.”
“Well, don’t get used to it.” I said leaning against the counter. “Cause I come from a house where Chinese takeout is considered home cooking if you put it in a bowl instead of just in the cardboard box it came in.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” He said kissing me again. “Ooh, you taste like carrots.”
“Taylor? Are you coming back down?” Grandma Bea called up the stairs.
“Coming Grandma.” Taylor said rolling his eyes and heading back over to the stairs. “I wish you could come down and play with me.”
“Hmm… Well I have better games planned for later.” I said patting his ass as he walked away.
“You’re evil!” He said.
“What? Why?” I asked.
“Cause now I have to go spend the rest of the evening pretending that I’m not imagining all the things I’m gonna do to you tonight.” He said his head disappearing behind the counter, a definite bounce to his step. I was leaning against the counter, rolling my own movie of what was going to happen later that night, when mayhem descended on the family room. I turned to find Zac having a fit about something. He was standing next to the table pointing at Jessica and yelling about how there was no way she actually was dealt those cards. I rolled my eyes seeing the need for intervention plainly. As Zac’s protests got louder, Jessica’s amusement at the entire chain of events went up. She was laughing hysterically at Zac. This, of course, made him more and more angry. I wandered into the family room to see if this was a situation I needed to break up.
“Jessica!” Zac yelled.
“What?” Jessica Hanson yelled from over on the couch, sounding more than a little annoyed.
“Not you, the other Jessica.” Zac said rolling his eyes. “And you, totally cheated!!”
“Zac it’s a straight flush, that’s all.” Jessica said her cards spread in front of her. Zac had a four or a kind in front of him, no wonder he was pissed. Four of a kind is a guaranteed winner, unless someone got a straight flush.
“You had to cheat!” Zac said in disgust.
“How did I cheat?” Jessica asked her laughter causing her face to turn red.
“I don’t know, maybe you had the cards up your sleeve!” Zac said throwing his cards at her.
“Zac, I hate to point out the obvious, but she doesn’t even have sleeves.” Jarrod said trying very hard not to start laughing.
“Oh, what do you know Nancy boy?” Zac said crossing his arms across his chest. Glowering as Jessica pulled all of the chips over in front of her. Once she had them neatly stacked, she began to gather up the cards from in front of her. She looked up and smiled sweetly at Zac. “What?”
“Well, Zac if you need a loan of some chips to stay in the game, I’d gladly lend you a few.” She said as she expertly shuffled the cards.
“I don’t need any of your stinking chips…” Zac said crossing his arms across his chest. I could practically see the steam coming out of his ears. “Hey, they’re mine, give me some chips. You cheater, you.”
At this I had to just laugh. I threw my head back and laughed. When I did that, suddenly a small, very blonde head popped over the top of the couch. “Cleo!!” Zoë yelled, propelling herself over the couch and into my arms. She wrapped her long arms around my neck and squeezed with all her might. She leaned back and looked at me. “Why are you wearing Taylor’s shirt?”
“Cause, mine got all dirty.” I said as she administered a bunch of sticky lemon scented kisses on my cheeks. “Zac, Ike and Tay got me all dirty. And now, they’re in trouble!”
“Shut up Cleo.” Zac said continuing to glower at Jessica who was still shuffling the cards. “Jessica, enough!”
“Zac, would you quit yelling my name!” Jessica said from the couch.
“Argh, my sister is such a pain in my…” Zac stopped looking up behind me. “Oh, hey Dad.”
“Yeah, hey son.” Walker said the laughter just below the surface. “If you and your girlfriend here could join us down in the living room, it’s time to sing Happy Birthday to Taylor.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.” Zac mumbled.
Zoë, of course couldn’t let
that one go by. “Zac and Jessica sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G…”
“Ew! Zoë! Don’t
say that!” Jessica Hanson said as she got up from the couch.
“The very idea of kissing Zac…” She shuddered as she sauntered towards
the living room. As I watched her I saw just how much she looked
like Taylor.
“Me, kiss Hanson?” Jessica asked Zoë. “Do I want to do that?”
Zoë scrunched up her nose and shook her head no. “No, Zac is icky and he smells.”
“He smells?” She asked.
“Yes, especially bad in the morning.” Zoë said using the arm hooked around my neck to plug her nose. “Kissing is icky, but Cleo kisses Tay. But Tay doesn’t stink as much as Zac.”
“Hey, Hanson, I hear you stink.” Jessica said turning towards Zac. “Is that true?”
“Bite me Loveboat.” Zac said resorting to her last name.
“Loveboat?” Zoë asked. “Is that your name?”
“Yes, it is.” Zac said grabbing his baby sister from my arms and lifting her up and onto his shoulders. “The Loveboat….” He crooned as Zoë dissolved into giggles.
“Very, very nice.” The newly christened Loveboat said following Zac down the stairs to where the rest of the family was waiting to sing to Taylor.
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