Turning Point

by Flavio Olcese

Chapter 9

  I held Karen close to my body as I spun her around. She was laughing and finally pushed me away.

  “Where did you learn to dance like that?” she asked.

  “I picked it up here and there. The waltz, the hop, swing, the lindy, salsa, tango, I know a whole bunch of them. I suppose I’m a great date for weddings.”

  “The neighborhood block party is not a wedding. Plus we’re on the front yard, not a dance floor. Half the neighbors are watching.”

  “Who cares? Come here. Dance with me some more,” I said, reaching for Karen.

  “Go get the food ready, silly. Where are the girls anyway?”

  “I needed some last minute things and sent Christine and Emily to the market.”

  This was the last hurrah of Summer before school started. A block BBQ and party complete with moon bounce for the little ones and a ton of food for everybody. Most of the guys were barbequing the meats; burgers, hotdogs, chicken, steak and even some fish. I had gone with something easier. I had made some vegetable kabobs to put on the grill that turned out to be a tremendous hit with everyone, including some of the kids.

  When my niece came back in her car she went into the house with Emily, probably to go hang out in her room until it was time to eat. She had been walking on air since getting her car last weekend. It wasn’t new but it was in relatively good shape and with low miles.

  I didn’t have to start cooking for another fifteen or so minutes and I wanted to talk to the two of them alone, so I headed into the house while Karen was talking to some of the other neighbors. I went to my room and grabbed a small box from the back of the bottom drawer of my dresser and went to Christine’s room. I knocked on the door and my niece told me to come in. I opened the door and stood at the door, silently.

  “What?” asked Christine.

  “You two are close, right?”

  “Yeah, we’re best friends,” replied Emily.

  “I’ve been thinking and ah, I was wondering if either of you two would mind being cousins?”

  “What? Is that even possible? How could we possibly be… oohh, no. Are you? No.”

  “Emily, what do you think?” I asked now that I had gotten no define answer from Christine.

  “I don’t know? It’s weird. You’ve been dating my mom for like four months.”

  “Well, eight months actually. You girls only know about the last four. So neither of you think it’s a good idea?”

  “Wait, wait, wait, we didn’t say that. Does she know?” asked Christine, a bit excited.

  “Right now it’s just us three. I’m not even completely sure, but still I went out and, ah...” I fished the small box out of my pocket and tossed it at the girls.

  They both looked at the small box before looking up at me. Emily opened it up and they both looked at what was inside for a good ten seconds. Emily closed the box and tossed it back at me.

  “Wow. Just from the look of that thing I wouldn’t think you have a doubt in the world,” said Emily.

  “Can you give us a little while to talk it over?” asked Christine.

  I left them and went back downstairs and out the door. I fired up my grill and started cooking. Karen noticed I wasn’t myself and she kept asking me what was wrong. I tried to play it off but was having no luck. She finally moved away to go get some of the chicken from the other neighbors, while distributing some of the vegetable kabobs. When she returned to me, I noticed she had something on her mind too.

  “Jake, Christine and Emily just asked me the strangest question. They wanted to know what you sacrificed to come take care of Christine’s mom.”

  “And you said?”

  “Everything.”

  “You told them the whole story?” I asked, puzzled.

  “No, I told them you gave up everything. You sold your apartment, which you loved; you gave up your career, which you had worked on for over a decade; you pretty much gave up your social life; and from what Anne told me, you paid most of her medical bills with your own money so Anne could save most of her money to give to her daughter. I don’t think Christine knew that. You never told her?”

  “No, why would I? I came here because it was the right thing to do, not because I wanted to brag about it.”

  “I think she was impressed. The girls told me to tell you that they think it’s a good idea. They said you would understand. Care to explain?”

  “Maybe later.”

  Late that evening I was dancing and laughing with Karen in her back yard while the girls were in my house watching some sort of horror film with a number of their friends.

  “You’re not a bad dancer yourself,” I quipped.

  “I can hold my own,” Karen replied.

  “Really? Well then I was wondering if you would like to go to a wedding with me so we can show off?”

  “A wedding? Who’s wedding?”

  “Ours.”

  The dancing suddenly stopped and I figured it was a good a time as any. I got down on one knee and asked Karen to marry me, while I presented the diamond ring to her. She said nothing.

  “Well?” I asked.

  “No way, are you serious?”

  “So are you saying no?”

  “You’re really asking me, for real?”

  “Yes, for real.”

  “Then I would have to say yes.”

  I put the ring on her finger and she smiled, then laughed. She kissed me twice and then stood in front of me smiling.

  “I have to go tell someone.” She ran around her house as I followed her to see where she was going. She headed towards my house. I just hoped there was nothing weird going on in there because they were about to get a visitor.

  I followed Karen into my house and she instantly turned on the light. There was a collective groan from the eight bodies already in there.

  “Pause the movie! Pause the movie!”

  She found Emily and Christine sitting next to each other on the couch with guys to either of their sides. I didn’t think there was enough room to fit another body between the girls but apparently Karen did because that’s where she sat down. She put out her left hand and just held it there.

  “No way!” said Christine, feigning surprise.

  “Let me see that, mom. Oh, that is beautiful.”

  The two other girls moved over to look at the ring while the four guys looked lost. One of them looked at me and I told him what he was missing.

  “It’s an engagement ring. I just asked her to marry me.”

  “Ohh, and she said yes?”

  “She wouldn’t be wearing the ring otherwise.”

  “Congratulations. Do you think now we could get back to our movie?”

  Karen and I made our leave but not before I delivered one final message to the teenagers.

  “Hey, no weird stuff while we’re gone. I have cameras hidden throughout the house.”

  I heard Christine reassuring everyone that I was lying, though technically she didn’t know if I was or not.

  ****