Ma and I exchange a significant look. The doctors started Gramps on a new medication last month, and we’ve seen several small improvements as of late. Nothing will ever fully cure him, but the new meds are definitely promising.
“I’m sure they will,” Holly says, hooking her arm into Gramps’s elbow as we walk toward the back yard. “Hey, Arlo. Do you like ribs?”
I stand beneath the covered back porch and survey the scene. We’ve been here for an hour, and the party is in full swing. Juliette’s sister, Jordie, is chasing Aiden around the yard, pretending to nab the small Nerf football he has tucked under his arm like he’s a professional running back.
She scoops him up a second before he almost bowls into Isaac’s sister, who, upon meeting me, ordered me to call her Aunt Nedra. She’s a heavyset older woman who kisses everyone on the cheek and calls themsugar britches.I have to say, that’s a new one for me.
Gramps and Emmett are beneath a shady tent with the Brewers logo on it. They were sharing old war stories the last time I checked on them.
Ma is in the corner of the yard where a cornhole game has been set up while Isaac patiently shows her how to play. She makes a shot, and thetwo high-five. My mother giggles and fidgets with the collar of her red blouse, and my eyebrows shoot to the top of my forehead.Is she flirting?
“Those two seem kinda cozy.”
I look down to see Juliette standing beside me with a platter of cookies. She’s fucking beautiful in a bright blue off-the-shoulder dress that shows off her tanned shoulders.
My eyes dart back to Ma, who is swatting Isaac playfully on the arm. “I’m not sure how to feel about that,” I say. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen my mother flirt before.”
“Pops is a good man,” Juliette tells me. “The most gentle man I’ve ever known.”
I hadn’t realized I was scrunching my shoulders until they relaxed at her words. “I’ve always hoped she could find someone who would be good to her, but she’s never seemed interested.”
We watch as Ma and Isaac’s hands touch. Only for a brief second, but they both smile like goofy teenagers with a crush. “She seems a bit interested now,” Juliette remarks with a giggle. “I think it’s cute.”
Isaac and Ma return to their game, and I nod. “I think so too.”
“You want a cookie?” Juliette asks with a teasing lilt in her voice.
I take one, letting my finger brush across her thumb on the clear platter. “What do you call them?”
“These are three-O cookies.”
I’d actually been with her when she was baking them this morning. As soon as she put them in the oven, I bent her over the counter to see how many orgasms I could give her before the timer went off, hence the name.
“You ever make four-O cookies?” I ask, and she shrugs, blinking innocently up at me.
“Not yet.”
My lips twitch as I slyly swat her on the ass. “You will.”
Someone calls her name, and she takes two steps before looking over her shoulder at me. “Promises, promises,” shemouths. Then she sashays off with a little extra swing in her hips that I know is for my benefit.
Goddamn, I love that woman.
Two ladies approach the table beside me and begin arguing over whose potato salad is best. I’ve tried both, but I don’t tell them it’s the one in the chipped yellow bowl because I know better than to get in the middle of that particular war. Hockey fights ain’t got nothing on two southern women battling over potato salad.
I take a bite of the chocolate chip cookie and look around the yard again. Ma and Juliette are now under one of the tents, sitting on the bench of a wooden picnic table. Ma is eating one of the cookies, and I chuckle at the thought of Juliette telling her the name we made up for them.
Xander is in a lawn chair, sitting in the shadow of a weeping willow tree as he reads what looks like a textbook. Juliette told me he’s been studying for his med school entrance exam. Jordie is wrestling in the grass with Aiden, who is giggling like a maniac.
I locate Gramps, who’s playing horseshoes with a group of men in the other corner of the yard, and he seems to be having the time of his life.
My eyes find Emmett and Isaac beside the grill, but they’re not currently watching the meat. No, they’re watching all the beautiful chaos around them, both with looks of pride on their faces. This is their family, as unorthodox as it is, and they love them.
I admire those two. There could have been so much bad blood and jealousy between them since they’d both married the same woman, but they didn’t let that stop them from doing what was best for the kids. It’s truly what family is all about.
And as the two paternal figures clink their beers together, I hope one day, I’m a part of it.
When I pull into Juliette’s garage later that night, she’s standing beside her VW bus. The damn thing is the color of Barney the dinosaur. Only my girl could pull off that particular shade of purple. It’s a vintage number from the sixties, and she told me she and her dad had completely rebuilt it together when she was younger.
