Picture Us (Turn it Up Book 3)

by Natalie Parker

  “I’m making sure she’s real,” she explains as I laugh. “And I finally have someone to girl talk with. Grab your beers out of the fridge and scram.”

  Maureen is no-nonsense. I love it. I drape my hands on her forearms and give Tyler a look that tells him it’s okay as his dad opens the fridge and pulls out two beer bottles.

  “Come on, kid. Let’s go see who’s winning,” Ken beckons a reluctant Tyler who gives my hip a squeeze before releasing me.

  “Be nice, I like this one.”

  “This one. Ha! Like he’s brought so many home,” Maureen barbs at her son’s back as he and Ken retreat out of the room.

  “Has Tyler never brought a lady home before?” I ask, as she releases me and pulls on some oven mitts.

  “Never!” She huffs and throws her mitted hands down at her sides to illustrate how put off she is by it. “Not even in high school. He even went stag to his prom!”

  I can’t help but let my head drop back in a laugh.

  “I find that hard to believe.”

  “Believe it, sweetie. He liked girls just fine; just didn’t care to date any of them,” she regales me as she opens the oven and peels back some foil to check on something that smells amazing.

  “Oh, that smells so good! Is that lasagna?”

  “Sure is,” she smiles up at me before covering the Italian goodness back up, closing the oven and straightening up. “So, I hate to ask this inane question, but what do you do?”

  “Oh, I’m a photographer and I run my own business out of my house.” She gasps.

  “Good for you, sweetie. I run my own business too. It’s not for the faint of heart. Do you have a website?”

  “Yeah,” I tell her, pulling my phone out of my purse and bringing my website up on the screen. “What kind of business do you have?”

  “I’m a party planner. Oh, your pictures are lovely,” she muses while swiping. “We’ll have to team up some time,” she suggests with a lighthearted laugh that makes me wonder if she’s serious or not. If so, that’d be pretty damn amazing.

  “Thank you,” I smile modestly. “I do engagement, wedding and family stuff, but I’m hoping to branch out. Tyler actually talked his boss into letting me photograph the bar so they could update their website, you know, after the whole renovation, so that was a nice change.”

  “Oh, what a great idea! My son has those sometimes,” she jokes, quirking an eyebrow and gesturing the wine bottle at me. “Can I pour you some wine, sweetie?”

  “Oh,” I hesitate, looking at the bottle of white, wanting so badly to join her in a glass, but regretfully tell her, “Not tonight, thank you.”

  “Oh ok, well then, what can I get you? I have water, orange juice, Diet Pepsi…”

  “Oh, the Diet Pepsi would probably be fine. Thanks,” I answer her.

  “Would probably be fine? Do you not usually drink it?” She gives me a skeptical smile. Oh, shit. Jeez. Uh…

  “Right, it’s been a long time since I’ve had it, that’s all. Probably still tastes the same.” I wave my hand.

  “So, is that how you and Tyler met? You taking pictures for the bar?”

  “Oh, no. Actually, you know of the band Turn it Up? From here?”

  “Oh yeah; you know I think I saw them once at The Cedar when Ty was still a bartender. They’ve really taken off, haven’t they? I see them all over the internet and on magazines now. It’s amazing,” she muses as she starts taking the makings for a salad out of the fridge. “They were really good when we saw them. Did you meet Ty at one of their shows?”

  “Well actually,” I delve in as I go ahead and take a seat at their kitchen island as she pushes my drink towards me. “The lead singer, Jack, is married to my best friend, Mayzie.”

  She drops her jaw and pauses with her food prep. “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah,” I nod excitedly. “You know how Jack used to bartend with Tyler?”

  She nods and smiles for me to continue.

  “Well, they started dating just before the band made it big and I’d go with her to shows, or just to see Jack when he was working. So I got introduced to Tyler back then,” I say picking up my glass in conclusion of my story.

  “So why haven’t we met you before?” she asks, kindly.

  “Well, when the band got famous, there was no reason to be hanging around The Cedar, and Tyler and I had fun interacting but hadn’t gotten close enough to feel the need to keep in touch. But then my friends and I went there a couple of months ago and we ran into each other.”

  “Oh, and then you got together, that’s exciting!” She grins at me as she takes a drink of her wine. That catches me off guard.

  “Oh,” I stammer. “Well…” I nod, mostly to myself as I try to come up with the right words without spilling the beans about the baby. I feel one shoulder come up in an awkward shrug.

  “Are you guys not together? Tyler seems like he’s very taken with you.”

  Her spoken observation makes my heart race. The idea of Tyler feeling something for me besides care and respect as the mother of his child is still like a dream to me at this point; one I’d love to have come true, but don’t want to get my hopes up over.

  “We’re… something,” I finally decide on saying as I nervously look away and take a drink.

  “Hey… no need to put a label on it right?” she tells me reassuringly. She pauses with a warm smile for a second before opening a drawer and pulling out some salad tongs. “Sweetie, why don’t you go and get to know Ken?”

  She’s not dismissing me. Her smile is as warm and welcoming as when I first walked in. She’s trying to spare me some discomfort. I think I love her.

  “Okay,” I agree as I scoot off my seat and start walking towards the living room.

  “Oh, and send my son in here, would you?” she calls after me as I walk out.

  My dad and I have settled in, watching the evening game. I’m in my favorite overstuffed chair that I always sit it when I’m here and we’re comfortably bantering about the late afternoon game between Seattle and Arizona.

  “So, what do you think of her so far?” I ask my dad as I jerk my head towards the kitchen, indicating Annie.

  He shrugs. “I’ve only just briefly met her. She’s cute, I guess.”

  Wow.

  “Well yeah, but there’s more to her than that,” I prod as he continues to stare at the screen. “I hope you’ll get to know her a little tonight and… in the future…,” I trail off and turn to face the screen just as Annie ambles into the room and stops to stand between us, her eyes fixed on the game. I smile up at her and look back at the screen. Without thinking, I wrap my arm around her legs. It feels so natural being with her here. The three of us continue to watch as Arizona’s quarterback takes the snap and lobs it to his receiver, who’s waiting just twenty feet to his right. The receiver drops it, cuing the crowd to go mad before picking it up and running it down field thirty yards.

  “Whoa! What the fuck is that?” my dad protests, gesturing wildly at the TV.

  “Where the fuck was the flag?” I shout at the same time “Why the hell didn’t they call that?”

  “Because if the ball is dropped before the line of scrimmage and the player hasn’t been touched, the ball is still live,” Annie states casually at my side.

  I feel my mouth fall open and my eyebrows draw together. I look around Annie at my dad, whose expression is mirroring my own as his eyes seem to look up at the ceiling like he’s contemplating if this rule makes sense.

  “Alright, I give. How’d you know that, blondie?” Dad says.

  I look up at her wanting to know this too.

  She gives a shrug. “My grampa played for Michigan State and was drafted by the Eagles.” I feel my eyes widen at this piece of her family history. “Unfortunately, he got drafted by the Navy at the same time so the pro-ball thing never happened, but hey,” she finishes with a wave of her hand.

  I’m blown away by my girl’s football knowledge, and I feel my chest sw
ell with a sense of pride. And yes, if you must know, it makes another part of me swell too.

  I know my dad’s impressed as well when he tells me, “Get up, boy. You’ve been dethroned. Sit down, sweetie.” He gestures his hand at my chair.

  “Yes!” Annie does a fist pump and walks around in front of me, motioning with her hands for me to rise.

  “Oh, come on!” I pout like a thirteen-year-old.

  “You heard the man,” Annie presses on. “Up you get.” She reaches for one of my hands and tries to haul me up. I just continue to sit there, because one, watching her trying to pull me up, leaning over with her ass sticking out is comical, and two, I kind of love the feeling of her hand holding mine. “I want to try out this comfy chair! Come on!” She continues to tug and I give a firm tug back, yanking her toward me. She lets out a yelp as she flies towards me and lands right in my lap, sitting across my legs. Perfectly planned, perfectly executed.

  “There. You’re in the chair,” I quip, giving her a smug smile and looking at her through my lashes. My dad cocks his head towards us and lets out a chuckle before looking back to the TV.

  “Atta boy. But you’re still overthrown.”

  “Yeah, and your mom wants you in the kitchen,” Annie adds. She’s trying to play it cool in this recent turn of events, but I can see that the look I’m giving her is making her blush a little.

  “Ugghh…” I drop my head back. “Fine…” I grumble, not wanting to get up. For some reason, having her here with me in the house I grew up in makes me feel so damn good and at ease. I hug her to me, giving her a quick cuddle before releasing her, not wanting to make a scene. I can’t tell by her face whether she liked that or if she’s just trying not to make it weird. But it’s a smile and I’ll take it. She smugly flops down in my chair as I walk out of the room towards the kitchen and I can already hear her and my dad picking up small talk.

  I find my mom throwing a salad together at the kitchen counter, and when she sees me she stops what she’s doing. Her mouth opens and she looks joyfully upward like she just received a breath of fresh air.

  “Oh my God, Tyler!”

  I blow out a contented sigh and smile as I lean down on the counter. “Like her, huh?”

  “Is the reason you’ve never brought a lady home because you were waiting for just the right one?” she asks, picking the salad tongs back up. “Because if so, I can possibly get behind that.” She quirks an eyebrow at me.

  “Glad you approve,” I say, glancing towards the living room and watching Annie laugh with my dad.

  “It’s all just a little confusing,” she muses as she picks up a knife and starts cutting a few more cucumbers. “You seem to adore her, not that I blame you…,” she continues busying herself with dinner prep. “But you call her a friend, and when I asked her if you’re together, she seemed to get uncomfortable like she didn’t know how to answer me.”

  “Mom, why’d you ask her that?” I straighten up. “I already told you she’s special to me. Why couldn’t you just accept that and leave it alone?” Great, she’s made an already sensitive situation weirder by putting Annie on the spot. “It’s complicated…,” I offer, trying to recover.

  “I just wanted her take on it. It seems like the man and woman are rarely on the same page when it comes to the status of their relationship,” she educates me before pointing at me. “Usually with the man holding the upper hand.”

  “Well, that’s not so in this case,” I tell her, leaning down on the counter again.

  “What do you mean?” She gives me a knowing half smile.

  I sigh at what I’m about to reveal to her but can’t help the smile as I tilt my head to look over at Annie in the other room, who looks over her shoulder and smiles at me.

  “I mean I’m crazy about her,” I answer, unable to keep the adoration out of my voice. “And as for the being together part… I’m working on that,” I say to my mom while I wink at Annie.

  My mom’s smile rounds out into an ‘o’ as she slowly blinks, getting my meaning.

  “So, is that why you wanted me to come in here? Just to gush about her?” I tease.

  “Duh,” she tells me with an exaggerated shrug before turning to check the lasagna.

  17

  After finishing a double helping of the most insanely delicious lasagna and garlic bread I’ve ever had, Maureen starts dishing up some cheesecake onto plates while she regales us about the Thanksgiving trip to Chicago.

  “So your Aunt Sheila and Uncle Ray were there, being competitive as usual…” she starts in, and Tyler looks over to me with an eye-roll.

  “They aren’t the only ones Maureen,” Ken bites from his seat next to her. “Did you ever think that maybe they’d back off a little if you didn’t egg ‘em on? You totally buy into it when they start bragging about Charlie. Tyler’s cousin,” he clarifies for me. “You can’t stand it and start putting Ty on your own pedestal.” He turns to explain more to me. “Maureen complains that her sister thirsts for the center of attention, but believe me, she’s just as bad,” he finishes as she gives him a look that I’m surprised doesn’t turn him to stone.

  “Excuse me?” she challenges, and he shrugs, as if to say, am I wrong? She shakes her head, dismissing him and turns back to us.

  “Charlie just got engaged.” She’s quiet for a couple of seconds to let the weight of her statement fall over the table. “So now Sheila and Ray are rubbing it in that they’re going to be planning a wedding first, and they’re going to be grandparents first,” she’s singing all this in a mocking voice while Ken shakes his head with an eye-roll, lifting his beer to his mouth. “Please tell me there might be something here that I can throw back in their smug faces!” she finishes, waving her hand between Tyler and me.

  I feel my mouth open as I look to Tyler, who smiles and his eyebrows go up at me in question. I raise a shoulder and offer a faint smile back. He turns towards me and drapes an arm over the back of my chair.

  “Well actually Mom, there is something…”

  “Yes!” She pumps her fist and elbows Ken who raises an eyebrow and smiles too. “I knew it! I knew you two were playing coy. I just needed to get you both at the same time,” her smile and voice are mischievous as she points at us. “Alright, I want to hear it. Tell me!”

  Tyler gives her a moment to settle herself in her chair as he rests his hand on my leg, palm up, and I lay mine in it.

  “Annie and I are having a baby.”

  Ken freezes in mid-chew and Maureen’s mouth opens and closes. She seems to spend a moment in shock until she closes her eyes and nods.

  “Good one Tyler, but while that would definitely one-up them, that’s going a little far.”

  I look at Tyler, not sure what to say. He just chuckles and shakes his head, waiting for his mom to give us her attention. She continues on, “I want to know if there’s something serious going on with you two that I can report back to shut them up.”

  “There is,” Tyler responds, with just a hint of irritation in his voice. “I just told you. We’re having a baby,” he repeats, calmly.

  I just smile and keep my mouth shut because I can’t come up with anything more intelligent to say than Congratulations! Your son’s sperm are champion swimmers… who got on some kind of an adrenaline rush and blasted through a layer of latex!

  Ken sets his beer down and rests both of his hands on the table as he tilts his head, looking between the two of us while Maureen’s mouth hangs open as she does the same. I can see by their faces, which are looking rather comical at the moment, that they are mentally scrolling through this evening, looking for clues that would help this revelation make sense. Tyler stays quiet, leveling them both with a hard, unwavering stare, willing them to grasp that this is the real deal.

  After a few seconds, he draws in a long breath, like he’s reluctantly accepting that they can’t form a response and he has to be the one to fill the awkward as fuck silence here.

  “Annie’s almost eleven weeks along.
” It still stuns me how he’s keeping track.

  To her credit, Maureen tries to stammer out a response, looking between us.

  “You’re… she’s… pregnant?”

  “Yeah,” I finally chime in, nodding nervously as Tyler’s mom and dad look between each other and us with astonished expressions.

  “This was a surprise,” Tyler says, following both his parent’s obvious trains of thought, and I notice Ken’s eyes widen slowly as his mouth parts.

  “But you’re not…” Maureen holds her hand out, still looking back and forth between us.

  “We’re together in a way,” Tyler tries to assure her, and what? That makes my mind venture off into another dimension for a moment. “And you guys are going to be grandparents,” he says optimistically waving a hand towards them, trying to pull them over to the positive side of the revelation.

  He releases my hand to fish in his back pocket, producing his cell phone. With one arm still around my chair, he uses his other hand to tap and swipe until he finds what he wants, which is what he and I agreed the other day was the best ultrasound photo of our baby. He holds the phone over the table with the screen facing them.

  Maureen lets out a shuddery breath as she takes the phone from him and Ken leans over her to get a good look at it too, his eyes moving over the screen. Tyler returns his hand to mine and gives it a squeeze as he and I both let out a heavy collective breath I don’t think either one of us knew we were holding.

  While it’s hard to decipher Ken’s expression, Maureen appears to be in love as she holds her hand to her chest and her eyes mist over. She absentmindedly hands the phone over to Ken as she scrambles out of her seat and rushes around to our side of the table, stopping at my chair. She’s frantically motioning for me to stand up as a tear escapes from her eye. I tentatively stand and her arms go around me in a surprisingly nurturing hug. I hear Tyler stand up behind me, I’m thinking to soothe his mom in some way, but one of her arms leaves me to reach over and yank him in. Group hug… okay then.

  Tyler chuckles as his arms go around the both of us, engulfing me in some kind of weird Hayes sandwich. And it feels good enough for me to breathe a sigh of relief and finally crack a smile.