“Ten,” Sarah said.
“She’s eight; she just likes the number ten, right angel?” I corrected.
“I do too,” Carrie said to Sarah, “But my favorite number is seven.”
“My favorite number is ten,” Sarah mumbled as she pressed her face into my stomach.
“This is my sister Amy and her husband, Peter,” I said, gesturing to Peter and Amy who stood with smiles fastened on their faces.
“Actually, we’ve met at the club,” Peter’s voice sounded too bright.
Carrie turned to Peter, her smile wavering for a second. “Oh, of course, it’s so nice to see you both.”
“How is your flower business?” Peter asked, taking a small step forward.
“Oh, it’s wonderful, especially this time of year. Everything is blooming. But, honestly, I thought it would be more work owning a flower shop,” she laughed. “I do almost nothing at all, except arrange a bouquet once in a while. Who knew owning your own business could be so easy?”
Amy and Peter laughed, their eyes fixed on Carrie.
Sarah took a step back and started to walk off, but I took her hand and said, “Wait for us, cutie.”
“I am so rude! I’m hogging you all to myself. Let me take you down to the party,” Carrie said, linking her arm through mine and leading us through the house. Up close, I could smell a light perfume and a stronger tang of alcohol.
“This place is awesome,” I said as we walked through an open sitting area and glass doors that led to a wide stone patio. A few steps down, a long white deck stretched into the sand dunes. A pool sat to one side. Beside it, a small grotto area surrounded a Jacuzzi.
My gaze caught Susan sitting, kicking her feet into the pool, as she watched Aiden and Kay splash each other. On the other side, a large stone wall with a grill set into it was surrounded by Patrick, a guy who looked just like him, and Beza. Each had a drink in their hands and a smile on their face.
“Beza, are you drinking beer?” I asked in disbelief as I approached the group.
“It’s a root beer,” she said, shooting a smile my way.
“Oh, good, I was about to die of shock,” I said, wiping pretend-sweat off my brow.
“One of these days. But not today. I need to be supportive of my wife. Susan’s sad she can’t have one.” Beza said the word ‘wife’ with clear enunciation, her gaze flitting to Amy and Peter and away. She hugged me and Sarah, then gave Amy and Peter a quick wave before excusing herself to go join Susan.
I turned to the guys. “Hey, how’s it going?”
“This is Jamie,” Carrie said, beaming at the man I assumed was her husband. “And that’s Sarah,” she said, gesturing at Sarah. “And this is Jamie’s sister and brother-in-law…”
“Amy and Peter. It’s great to see you. Thanks for coming.” Patrick leaned over the wall to shake Peter’s hand.
“Thanks for having us,” Peter said. He lifted the wooden box in his hand. “This is your favorite, right?”
Peter took the box, and his brother looked down at it and whistled. “Eighteen-year-old. Good taste,” he said.
“Wow, man, you have a great memory. Thank you,” he said, opening out the doors to the box and pulling out a bottle scotch.
“You ever try this one?” Patrick asked grinning, his gaze meeting mine.
“We don’t carry that one at Mike’s Saloon, and I told you scotch isn’t really my thing,” I grinned.
“You’re missing out.”
“I’m going in the pool,” Sarah said, tugging on my hand.
“I have that swimsuit for Sarah, if you want,” Patrick said, coming around the wall to meet us.
“Definitely. Is it okay if she eats first?” I asked, pulling Sarah in for a hug.
“Sure. Would she prefer hot dogs or steak?”
“What do you say, angel, hot dogs or—”
“I’m going to the pool!” Sarah cried.
“Angel,” I crouched down in front of her. “You need to eat if you want to go in the pool. You had gymnastics today, and now you want to swim. It’s important to eat nutritious food when you get so much exercise. After you have some dinner, you can get your suit on and join the other kids.”
Carrie patted my shoulder. “May I help her get some food? I love kids. Besides I want you to enjoy yourself.”
“Sure, if you’re up to it. Thank you,” I said, standing.
“Hey, Sarah, cuteness, I’m really hungry too. Would you mind coming and eating with me? You can choose what I eat, if you want.”
Sarah looked at Carrie with wide eyes. I poised to catch her, in case she ran in the other direction, but when Carrie offered her hand, Sarah accepted.
They walked to the barbeque and Patrick’s brother walked around the small wall to stand next to Patrick. He cleared his throat, giving Patrick a pointed look.
“Oh, sorry.” Patrick smiled and gave an exaggerated exhale. “Jamie, Amy, Peter, I apologize in advance for doing this to you, but allow me to introduce my brother Derek.”
“Nice to meet you people.” Derek’s grin was all for me as he reached out a hand to shake mine. “You go to that concert?” he asked, nodding to my T-shirt.
I turned around and pointed at my back. “This one is from 1978, but the shirt is actually from the concert though. I won it from our dad.”
“Wow, tough break for your dad. How’d you win it?”
“An epic beer pong competition in Belize. Amy and I were tied with our parents, three to three. My stepmom and our dad are good, but Amy is the best.” I patted Amy on the back as I spoke.
Amy breathed in through her nose and glared at me. She shook her head slightly, but I was sure only I picked up on it.
I shook my head right back at her and rolling my eyes, I continued, “So we decided to make it more interesting, if we won, they made Amy’s next car payment and I got this shirt. If they won, Amy and I cleaned their house once a week for the rest of the summer. We won.”
Derek turned to Amy, and said, “We should play. Oh, shit, we haven’t offered them beers yet, have we?”
“No, we didn’t,” Patrick said, leaning down to a cooler.
“I’ll take one,” Peter said, accepting a beer from Patrick. He swung an arm around Amy, squeezing her to him. He shook his head at the beer Patrick was holding out to Amy. “Amy doesn’t drink beer anymore. The story Jamie told was from when Amy was in college.”
“We have wine, or I could go make you a drink. Unless you want to make an exception,” Patrick said, still holding out the beer.
“Yeah, make an exception. I used to be something of a beer pong champion myself. I’d love to match skills,” Derek said, eyebrows raised.
Amy’s gaze fixed on the beer, but then she blinked and shook her head. “Wine would be wonderful,” she said.
“I’ll take it,” I said, reaching for the beer before Patrick lowered his hand.
“So, I guess your sister is out, but are you up for an epic game of beer pong.” Derek gave me an exaggerated wink.
“Oh, no, I would fail miserably. Amy definitely carried me, I suck at beer pong.” I took a sip of beer, then added, “And I’m driving.”
“You don’t have to drive. My brother has plenty of bedrooms here.” Derek slapped Patrick on the back and Patrick’s cheeks reddened slightly.
“Thanks,” I said with a small laugh, “but Sarah has school in the morning and I have work.”
“Doesn’t Sarah go to Kay’s school? Patrick could take both of them and you could drive to work?”
Patrick cleared his throat. “Derek, seriously? They just arrived and you’re strong arming them into staying the night?” He turned to us. “Any of you hungry yet? The tri-tip isn’t quite done, but a couple of the steaks look good to go.”
“We all ate at the theater. We can wait for the tri-tip,” Peter said.
“Yeah,” Amy smiled.
“I’ve been meaning to challenge you to a tennis rematch, my pride’s been smarting since the last
time we played,” Peter said, taking a step forward and just slightly in front of Amy and me.
“I’d like that Peter, we definitely should.” Patrick stepped back and looked over at me. “How about you Jamie, are you hungry?” he asked.
“You know, due to unforeseen circumstances, I ate an entire large buttered popcorn by myself, so I’m not that hungry yet.” I pause, looking away. “Actually I take that back I am weirdly hungry. I’d love a steak.”
Patrick laughed and I couldn’t help joining in.
“I’m kind of on the opposite of a diet right now. So, bring on the barbeque and whatever else I guess,” I said.
“Great. I’ll make you a plate,” Patrick said.
“Oh, thanks, but I could do that,” I said.
“It’s no problem; I was going to make one for myself anyway.” Patrick rounded the barbeque, forking two large steaks onto plates. “Want any salad?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said.
“Grilled zucchini?”
“Yeah, why not.”
“Pasta salad?”
“I’ll just have a little bit of everything, if that’s okay.”
“Finally! A woman with an appetite. Maybe we could still have some sort of competition,” Derek said, clapping me on the back.
“Well, you said you had hot dogs, right? I can eat them pretty fast,” I said.
“Seriously?” Derek said, eyes bright.
“No, that’s disgusting,” I laughed.
Day Two: Six Forty-five
Patrick came around with two heavy laden plates of food. “You want to go eat over by the pool or at the table with Sarah and Carrie?” he asked.
“Um, by Sarah, if you don’t mind,” I said.
“No, that’ll be great.” He led me further down the patio and down a step to where Sarah and Carrie were eating at a sturdy table.
“I don’t really know any gymnasts, who should I like?” Carrie was saying as Patrick set down our plates. She took a big bite of salad and gave us an awkward, chipmunk smile as we sat. She held up a finger as she chewed, then said, “Your daughter is telling me all about the American—is it?” She looked at Sarah for confirmation, “…The Women’s Artistic Gymnastics National Team?”
“The Women’s Artistic Gymnastics National Team. Aly Raisman is your favorite. Say, my favorite is Aly Raisman,” Sarah said, pointing at Carrie.
“Aly Raisman is my favorite, but Carrie might not know who that is,” I told Sarah as I took the first bite of steak.
“I don’t, but I’ll definitely look her up,” Carrie said.
I pulled Sarah in for a hug and kissed on her forehead. “Wow, you ate so much, good job.”
“I like all of them, all of the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics National Team, but my favorite is Gabby Douglass,” Sarah said to Carrie.
“Sarah is an amazing gymnast herself,” Patrick said.
“Are you?” Carrie said.
“I’m going to go swimming now,” Sarah said, getting up.
“Wait a couple more minutes for your food to settle, okay?”
She groaned as she stood.
“Okay, I’ll make a deal with you. Go sit with your aunts for five minutes. You can put your feet in the Jacuzzi, then I’ll go get you and you can go swimming. Deal?”
“No,” Sarah said.
“Okay, you can sit here with us, or go put your feet in the Jacuzzi. Pick one,” I emphasized.
“Jacuzzi,” she bellowed as she walked away. I watched her as she walked toward Susan and Beza, but turned around when she sat beside them.
“Your daughter is too cute for words,” Carrie said.
“She’s a handful,” I said.
“One day I want to have a little girl just like her. One like her and one just like Kay, and they’ll be best friends,” Carrie said.
“You can borrow Kay whenever you want,” Patrick smirked.
“Speaking of Kay, you have to teach me how to do those braids. I’m afraid I’m rather useless on all those mommy things, but you just made her so happy,” Carrie said.
“Sure, I’ll teach you. It’s actually really easy. It just takes practice,” I said.
“I never had any sisters—or girls really—in my life at all until Kay,” Carrie said.
“There’s Emily,” Patrick said, then to me he added, “My sister’s daughter.”
“Yeah, but Emily always has short hair. Besides, she’s awful and she hates me,” Carrie said, shaking her head.
“Sorry to change the subject, but I just have to tell you that this is the most beautiful spot for a house I’ve ever seen. I didn’t even know that this part of Coral Beach existed. How long have you lived here?” I asked Patrick.
“See, isn’t it beautiful? It’s the best house in town. But Patrick hates it,” Carrie said, tsk-tsk-ing under her breath.
“I don’t hate it, Carrie. I actually love it here…” He shook his head and exhaled heavily. “You’re always stirring the pot.”
“On that note, I’m going to get another drink,” she grinned and winked at me.
Patrick gave me a small smile. “It’s complicated… because of my father.”
“You don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to.” I took another bite of steak, filling my mouth with the juicy, spicy meat.
“I don’t really mind. I mean… it’s fine. My father is just very patriarchal, and I spent, well, pretty much my entire adult life trying to rebel against that. Which sounds way cooler than what I did. Basically, I just refused to work for him, or anyone he was friends with. When Shelly and I split, the firm I was working for started complaining about the amount of hours I needed to take off. They weren’t happy that I could no longer work late nights or weekends—even if there was a big international client coming in. They asked me to take a look at my priorities, and I did. So I quit.”
“Good job,” I said.
“Thanks,” he grinned. “In the three months of furious job searching that followed, I received only one job offer that would both provide for us and be flexible with my hours.” He gave me a meaningful look.
“Your dad,” I said.
“You probably think I’m a joke now, huh?”
“No, I work for my dad. Mike’s Saloon… my dad is Mike. My dad gave me a similar job offer after Logan died. We weren’t making it, and I wasn’t about to take on loans I couldn’t possibly pay back, so I made the same choice you made,” I said.
“You and your dad get along?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“There’s the difference. My father is a cold front, and I’m the warm front and whenever we come together, it’s like there’s a tornado,” he said.
“I didn’t know tornados formed like that,” I teased.
“Well, I think there also has to be a thunderstorm. The rest of my family is the thunderstorm,” he said.
“Alright, I get it. But, if you don’t mind me asking, how does any of this make you hate where you live?”
“Sorry, I got a sidetracked with analogies. After I decided to work for him, my father threw me a surprise ‘I finally own you’ party at this house.”
“Did he put ‘you are my slave’ on the cake?” I asked.
He chuckled. “I think it was, ‘Welcome to the Company,’ but the meaning was the same. At first I thought this house was just an event rental, but at the end of the party, he gathered the hundred or so people around and announced that this house was a gift for me and Kay. Then he took Kay and the rest of the party to her new bedroom, which is basically a princess castle room. It had everything she could ever want in there.”
“Oh, I get it. That does suck,” I said before taking another bite.
“Yeah. The house we used to live in was much smaller. It didn’t have a pool or the beach, but I bought it, and paid it off entirely on my own. Most of the furniture had been bought in pieces from online stores, but Kay and I had put them together and she’d added bits of art to all of them.”
“What hap
pened to the house and stuff?” I asked.
“I’ve been renting it out furnished,” he said.
“Well, at least you can always go back,” I said.
“Maybe,” he said. “But, to be honest, this place is growing on me. We’ve been here for a while now, and it’s feeling more like our place than my father’s gift. He still has a key and feels no need to knock, but he’s too busy to just show up, so it works out.”
“Well, there are definitely worse places to be forced into,” I said with a smile.
“Very true,” he said.
I set my fork down on my now empty plate. “By the way, this food could not have been better; I can’t believe I ate all of that.”
He grinned. “I’m glad you liked it. I love to cook, but I rarely do.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “I want to talk more, but I have a feeling if I don’t get Sarah into that bathing suit, she’ll just go in in her clothes.”
Patrick stood, grabbing our plates. “Yeah, of course. Here, follow me.”
“Thank you. Do you want some help washing the dishes?” I asked.
“No,” he chuckled. “I’d much rather you just have fun.”
I cupped my hands around my mouth. “Hey Sarah!” I called over.
When she looked up, I gestured her over.
She bounded over to me, and we followed Patrick.
Patrick grabbed a swimsuit and towel from where it was stacked on a pillar. “The bathroom is just in the house, want me to show you?”
“Do you mind if I show them? I was just in there.” Amy said from my side, startling me.
“Oh, of course, go ahead,” Patrick said with a smile. He set the towel and bathing suit in Amy’s outstretched arms.
“Thanks Amy,” I said, taking Sarah’s hand.
“You’re welcome.”
Upon reentering the house, Amy gestured for us to turn left down a hallway, and then pointed to a door on the right. “It’s through there, baby,” she said, handing Sarah the bathing suit.
When Sarah had disappeared inside the restroom, Amy turned a glare on me, her arms crossing over her chest.
The Fourteen Day Soul Detox, Volume Two Page 5
