Don't Let Go

by Sheryl Wright

  “Everyone’s downstairs waiting. Let’s go! Leslie’s set a place for both of you,” she said grimly, indicating Tyler should lead the way.

  Tyler headed straight for the elevator. When she turned to press the button for the lobby level, she noted that Lori had Zoe’s elbow pinned in her strong grip. Her much younger than she imagined friend was in a bit of trouble.

  Reaching the lobby level, Lori stepped in front of the doors blocking their exit, growling a low warning, “I expect you two to be on your best behavior.” Then she turned and marched directly across the lobby for the doors to the Fleet Street Grill.

  Following along, Tyler could feel her face flush with embarrassment. Trying to remain calm, she made a note to herself to confront Zoe. Finding a suitable time and place to do it would be another question.

  Inside the restaurant, waitstaff bustled about setting up tables and preparing for the biggest evening of the year. Tonight Leslie would run a restaurant, cater the party upstairs, and see to the VIP guests. Marnie had often quipped that Leslie was the hardest worker in the entire family. Considering the night ahead would involve two sittings of a hundred here in the restaurant, plus fifty or so VIP guests and more than three hundred others, the claim was certainly true.

  With the dining room occupying the entire west half of the building, the distinctive prow shape and bullnose window featured prominently. Marnie had explained that the extra early supper had become a tradition since the passing of old Luigi and the ladies. Danny and Henry had halted all Christmas celebrations but after a year of mourning they had decided to host a New Year’s Eve party for employees and customers alike. As this was one of the few occasions when children would not be on hand, the two men had made a point of sharing an early supper with them and ringing in the New Year eight hours early.

  So, at exactly four p.m., Henry Phipps stood at the head of the large table set in the bullnose of the restaurant. Tyler stood with everyone else, and raised her glass with him.

  “Tonight is the night we remember those we’ve lost. Tomorrow we will stand together as a family and fight the good fight!”

  “Hear, hear!” Lou cheered.

  Tyler wasn’t surprised to see he had planted himself at the other end of the long table. It was so typical of him, needing to be seen as in charge or at least the heir to the kingdom. His behavior bothered her on so many levels. She’d tried to shake it off but there was just something about the man that irked her.

  She was sitting in the seat she was assigned next to Zoe, who kept making a point of touching her or including her in her conversation with others. It was all she could do to keep from slapping her hand. Lori, sitting across from her between her father and Georgie, seemed to be watching her very carefully.

  “Danny! Luc! Bring them here, both of you,” Henry ordered sternly.

  Dead center along the long table, both boys, Marnie and Jack’s twins, looked up from their laps and their not well hidden cell phones.

  “Unless you two would rather spend all of next year in the paint shed?”

  Embarrassed for being called out and looking for an escape, Danny complained, “Aunt Leslie has hers!”

  “Yeah Uncle Henry, it’s not fair!” Luc chimed in.

  After the two of them had spent most of the month on their hands and knees working prep in the paint shed, Tyler was shocked to see how little they had learned. Of course, she wouldn’t have expected any better from her own sister, Megan. She had to hide her smile when their mother retrieved their phones, and Henry explained that they would now be on dishwashing duty in the restaurant for the remainder of the night. When they started to moan and complain, Henry warned them again. The timber in his voice must have resonated with them from his years in the military. It always did with her.

  At his orders they stood and began the family tradition of sharing a story from the past year. When finished, they bowed repeatedly, accepting a round of applause, any lingering resentment gone when they realized their Aunt Leslie had accidentally poured them each a glass of wine.

  When Zoe suddenly grabbed Tyler and pulled her to her feet, she felt as embarrassed and called out as Marnie’s twins had ten minutes earlier. Of all the stories or memories Zoe and Skip could have chosen to share as part of the dinner tradition, it was the stupid shirt challenge they described. The story they retold seemed slightly out of sync with the reality she remembered. Still, it was nice to hear a kind word from Zoe’s mouth about Georgie. With prompting, Tyler told her part, about meeting old John and placing the surprise order for close to three hundred shirts without batting an eye. As everybody clapped, she sat and slid down in her seat like her legs had turned to Jell-O. She could feel the heat crawling up her neck and face and imagined her cheeks were fire engine red.

  Leslie was next, and had her siblings and cousins on the verge of tears when she told of finding one of her mother’s old cookbooks. The binding rotted and many of the pages falling out, but stuffed in the back were hundreds of discolored note sheets, handwritten recipes, most in pencil and in the most beautiful hand. On the back of a cake recipe were the birthdates of all their mother’s siblings, along with a note describing the favorite birthday cake for each. It was a sweet discovery which sparked a fun debate about birthday cakes and dessert choices among the family.

  As they joked and made good fun of one another, Tyler felt calm enough to look at the one person she’d been avoiding since sitting down. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see Georgie, or that she had nothing to say, it was just that every time she began to stray in that direction, Zoe would do something inappropriate again. Tyler had already extricated her roaming hand from her lap and asked her quietly to remove her arm from around her shoulders. Sure enough, when she looked across the table, Georgie was watching her. There was confusion in her eyes and something else, something less tangible. Was it hurt? Interest? Considering everything that was going on, she was leaning toward confusion.

  People were clapping again, as Georgie got up. She went old school, removing several sheets of paper from her pocket and unfolding them and straightening them out carefully. Tyler could almost feel Lou bristling from the other end of the table. If she’d ever felt angry before, it didn’t compare to her physical need to hurt Luigi Lou Henry Phipps in this moment. But, knowing he was underestimating Georgie, she sat back smiling, waiting for Georgie to deliver.

  “Tonight…my challenge, to share a memory. Not just any memory but the oldest memory I have of Winnie and Gloria.”

  Tyler was both impressed by her pacing and her ability to make eye contact as she spoke. She knew immediately that Georgie must have completely memorized everything she was about to say. The folded pocket notes were probably a memory prompt, or simply a red herring for a certain hostile cousin. Tyler listened, enthralled like everyone else.

  “Most of you may not know this, but once upon a time you could park on the roof of the Transit Road Mall. On this particular occasion, and being the person I am, I begged Mom to park there. Always obliging, she was halfway up the parking ramp when this big Cadillac starts down and blocks us. Now, that ramp was always tricky, which probably accounts for why it’s now gone. It was barely a single lane wide and curved like a half-moon. I remember Mom and Aunt Gloria in the front seat looking at each other. Their station wagon was the size of Granddad’s big runabout and about as easy to maneuver! It would have been difficult for anyone to back down that ramp. Well, when we didn’t immediately get out of his way, the big giant man in the Cadillac sat on his horn. At the same time this guy is trying to intimidate us, Marnie and Lori were in the far back of the wagon testing the springs. Mom tried everything, backing this way then inching forward again and backing that way, but it was soon obvious there was no way she was getting back down that ramp. It was at that point that Mr. Cadillac, who by the way was only a few feet from the top, got out of his car and began marching toward us. Well Mom was every ounce of upset a woman could be, but Aunt Glory Bee was an imperial pound of
mad!

  “While I sat in the middle row of the wagon, wide-eyed and watching the scene unfold, Lori and Marnie in the far back jumped steadily, bouncing the car up and down, up and down, up and down. Leslie, strapped into her car seat beside me, was singing her own special baby mashup of her two favorite streets, Coronation and Sesame!” Looking down the table she quipped, “She was always singing! Meanwhile, Mr. Cadillac, who to me looked a little like the Pillsbury doughboy in a blue seersucker suit, was storming his way toward us with a large cigar in one hand and a ham-sized fist swinging in the air. If you’ve ever really known a redhead, you would know to never…ever…go there! I can only assume the Pillsbury Cadillac man had never had the pleasure. Aunt Gloria flew out of the car first, and was halfway up the ramp in less time than it usually took Lori to toss Leslie’s bottle out the window.”

  Sitting next to Georgie’s empty seat, Lori groaned, dumping her head in her hands. “Oh say it isn’t so.”

  “As Gloria charged up the ramp, Mom jumped out of the station wagon to join her. From the perspective of my little self, I watched as Winnie and Gloria surged forward like a line of fire racing to and surrounding their prey. With red hair flaming and faces like tomatoes, I swear that man must have thought their heads were on fire! Flame on! For me, it was an up-close lesson on how mothers protect their young. In front of me a pair of female red wolves, with nothing more than a few well-said words, scared the living daylights out of one round pompous arse. I can’t tell you how proud I was to watch my mommy and my aunty make a grown man cry! When we got home, I had to run to my room. Along with Wonder Woman and the Bionic Woman, I now had two more names to add to my growing pantheon of women superheroes or s’heroes as I used to say! Mr. Cadillac had run back to his car like a whiney little brat, reversed his way off the ramp and probably as far from them as he could get. Good old Winnie and Gloria climbed back in, high-fiving each other, proud for standing their ground. Mom put the car back in drive and edged the rest of the way up the ramp. It was only once we were on the roof and they began unloading all us kids that they noticed a sign clearly identifying the ramp we’d come up as being one-way and you guessed it. It was the down ramp! I have never heard my mother or my aunt laugh so hard in my life. So, while Lori and Marnie ran in circles like perpetual jumping beans, and Leslie sang her Coronation slash Sesame Street mashup, I spent the day watching our moms. I remain in awe of their spirit, their humor and their fight! Bless them both!”

  Tyler was so proud, she almost cried when Henry stood to give Georgie a huge bear hug.

  Before dinner was over there were more stories, more moments of elation and heartache, but more than anything it was Georgie’s night and Tyler was determined to make it last. By the time the final course was cleared away, the restaurant staff had already begun seating customers for dinner. Everyone took their time thanking Leslie for a magnificent meal. The twins, with a little pressure from Henry, offered their services in the kitchen and headed off in that direction. As everyone else drifted toward the elevators, Tyler found herself in step with Lori Phipps.

  “I take it Zoe didn’t warn you about the storytelling?”

  Seeing the woman in question ahead of the group, walking arm in arm with her father, Tyler said plainly, “Lori, I don’t know why Zoe’s behaving the way she is but I swear to you, there’s nothing going on between us.”

  “Whoa there, tiger. I just wanted to tell you that you did great.”

  Confused by the compliment, she was suddenly unsure what to say. Lori wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Come on kiddo, I want to show you something.”

  They took the elevator to nine. When the doors opened she followed Lori across the foyer to the fire stairs. “This will be open for the staff to go up and down between eight and nine. The security guys will block everyone but VIPs from using the stairs but certain people, a certain person we know who doesn’t always enjoy a crowd, sometimes slips out here for a little quiet time.” Lori stopped in front of the door marked Roof Access Only and pushed it open. They both shivered as a brisk wind blew in off the lake. Letting the door bang closed, they stood under the eerie glow of the exit light.

  Tyler had to ask, “Why are you being nice to me?”

  Lori shrugged. “You seem like a nice person, Tyler. I don’t know what my nasty little niece is trying to do, but I have a good feeling it has nothing to do with you.” She stopped on the landing, taking a quick look down the half flight of stairs to be sure they were alone. “Something hit me tonight, something that never occurred to me before. Everybody in this family has someone to lean on. Like you having a twin and me and Marnie being born just months apart and growing up to do everything together. Lou and Leslie had that. My mom and Aunt Winnie had that. Even Granddad had Uncle Danny. Now there’s the kids but even they have siblings, but in all the stories and all those years Georgie has always been alone. I guess…”

  “You just want to know someone’s there for her too.” She filled in the blank for Lori, much as she would have with Georgie herself.

  Lori sat down on the edge of a stair and motioned for Tyler to join her.

  “I’m sorry.”

  The admission wasn’t what Tyler was expecting. “I’m sorry?”

  “No, I’m sorry,” she said with a wink. “I know exactly what Zoe is and I should’ve warned you about her bullshit before. It’s just that, well, when we saw you in the bar, I just assumed…I won’t tell you what I assumed, suffice it to say I’m sorry about that. I’m not like Marnie. She can tell you all about a person by just reading their résumé. Georgie and me, well we’re just not built that way. Especially when it comes to women! Anyway, I think you’re a good person and I see how you look at Georgie. I might not be good with people like Marnie is, but I think you get her, Georgie I mean.”

  Not sure what to say, Tyler asked the one thing that had been bothering her for days. “What’s the deal with your brother? I mean, I just get the feeling he’s out for blood when it comes to her. I just don’t get it.”

  Lori groaned, standing and offering her hand to help Tyler up. “Fucked if I know. But if that little bastard doesn’t stop soon, I may have to take him out to the boatyard and put him to work in the paint shed!”

  It was a toothless threat. Still, it did make her smile. “I bet it’s been a long time since that happened.”

  “Nuh-huh! That’s one job little Luigi Henry Phipps has always managed to avoid. Now that you mention it, he’s the only one in the family who’s never spent time on his hands and knees on the punishment line! Little slime-ball, kiss-ass,” she grumbled.

  As Tyler followed her down the stairs, they could hear music coming from the ballroom. Heading in the opposite direction, she followed Lori through the back entrance to Georgie’s living room. As expected, Marnie, stylus in one hand and her tablet in the other, was going over last-minute details with family members and the security team. Leslie, after checking on the catering staff, had returned to the restaurant. Henry too was gone. Jack, tasked with driving Henry home, had already left. She was a little surprised to realize Lou hadn’t bothered to offer his father a drive out to the big house, nor was he anywhere to be seen.

  “Tyler, I need you to take over for the next hour,” Marnie ordered. “We’ll get ready in two shifts. Me, Lori and Georgie will go first. Tyler, Skip and Zoe—where the hell is Zoe? Skippy go find your sister!” As he skated out, Marnie handed Tyler her tablet and the electronic pen. “Everything’s there, just keep people moving in the right direction. Expect guests to start arriving around eight thirty to nine. It won’t take me more than forty-five minutes to get ready. Once I do, you can head upstairs and get all dolled up. Understood?”

  “Absolutely. What about these guys?” she asked, pointing to the rest of the security staff milling around.

  “Oh damn I forgot. Check their badges and give them access to the meeting room on the first floor. Leslie can arrange for food and pop to be brought in for them. That’s where they need t
o hang when they’re not doing, securing, whatever…Tyler?”

  “I’ve got it,” she said, and began asking the security staff to hand over their badges for her to update. By the time she had added each number to the security protocol for the first-floor boardroom, Marnie and family were gone. With the temporary security people squared away, she sent them out to take up their duties, then remembered to check the settings for the guest room. She wasn’t at all surprised to find that Georgie had changed the settings and just that morning. She had also restricted her own master access from the guest room. It was a sweet gesture. She knew Georgie could change it back at any time. The fact that she had provided Tyler with complete privacy was a first-class gesture and definitely all Georgie.

  * * *

  It had taken Georgie less than twenty minutes to shower, primp and coif. She began dressing in the new tuxedo. When she finished buttoning her shirt and tucking it in, she realized she didn’t know how to tie a bowtie. Checking the time on the tablet mounted on her dressing table, she saw it was early yet. So she slipped on her shoes and went in search of help. Surely Jack knew how to tie a bowtie if Marnie could not. Halfway down the circular staircase she heard catcalls from somewhere but with head down and her mind concentrating on the task of fitting her cufflinks, she had no idea who was the focus of attention. Stopping on the bottom stair, she searched the expectant and welcoming faces of the people gathered around the kitchen island. “Where is Marnie? I can’t…my tie?”

  “Stop the music! We’ve a new baby butch in the house!” Zoe cried.

  “Zoe knock it off already. Besides, I’d say more like Sporty Spice!” At Zoe’s blank stare Lori added, “Spice Girls?” With no response she turned her attention back to Georgie. “Come here Bender; let a real woman show you how to do that.”