Cocktails & Dreams

by Autumn Markus

  He flipped it open, still chuckling. “I swear to God, Leisa, we’re not in bed. We’ll be there to get you on time.”

  “I suppose I need to thank this Leisa for being able to get you to answer. Hello, Nicholas.”

  Nick felt the color drain from his face as his father’s voice came from the phone. His first impulse was to snap the damned thing shut, and his dad seemed to sense that. “Don’t act like a child, son. We should be able to have a civilized conversation, shouldn’t we?”

  Nick sank down on the bed, concentrating on Jena’s gentle humming as she packed her toiletries bag to keep him from shouting. “We should,” he said evenly. “What can I do for you, Dad?”

  “How have you been, Nicholas?” His father’s voice was strained and a little sad.

  “What can I do for you, Dad?” Nick repeated, closing his eyes.

  Dr. Cooper cleared his throat. “I’m calling to reiterate your mother’s offer. We want you to come home for Thanksgiving, son. Our treat, any flight. We need to talk. I’ve left you alone for months now, and it’s time to sort out what the hell happened. Your mother is beside herself and has been since the night you so kindly told us to…well, you know what you said.” His voice had started to rise, and he stopped to take a deep breath before continuing in a calmer tone. “We just want you to be happy.”

  “I am happy. Happier than I’ve ever been in my life.” Nick smiled a little, remembering how Jena had giggled when he was tickling her early that morning. “And, as you heard, we have plans for Thanksgiving already. We,” he emphasized. “It’s a package deal.”

  His father sighed. “No slight was intended toward your beloved, if that’s what you’re hinting at. Your mother just assumed that she’d prefer to spend a family holiday with family. Jena would be welcome to come, too, if she wished.”

  “Thanks for the afterthought, but no thanks. Jena’s going to be my family, so I’ll be spending the holiday in the right place.”

  “You have a ring and a date?” Dr. Cooper sounded startled. “I’m happy for you, but when did that happen? Don’t you think you’re rushing things a bit? Are you sure she’s—”

  Nick cut him off. “Tell Mom happy Thanksgiving for me. I’ll call her when we get home.” He snapped his phone closed and looked up to see Jena leaning against the doorjamb with a smile on her face.

  “So…who called who?”

  “Dad called,” he said absently, running over the conversation again in his mind.

  Jena walked over and dropped her small bag at his feet before wrapping her arms around his shoulders. “I’m so glad you talked to him, Nick. It’s about time.”

  He considered telling her that the news wasn’t at all good, and that the man was just as much of a prick now as he had been months ago, but the happiness in her eyes stopped him. Why should he ruin her holiday by making absolutely clear how little the people who raised him thought of her?

  He squeezed back. “Yep.” He slapped her on the bum and stood up. “We’d better go get Mighty Mouth and the Cowboy before her head explodes.”

  Jena snickered. “Quick Draw McGraw and Baba Looey.”

  Sometimes the things she said mystified him. “Huh?”

  “The cartoon characters? Guitar-playing horse and his burro companion? It’s on Boomerang!” Nick raised his eyebrows and shook his head, shrugging. She sighed. “Were you never a child?”

  Nicholas thought back to quiet evenings listening to music and reading with his parents or playing Legos in his room. “Apparently not in the same way you were.” He smiled. “You’ll have to be the one in charge of guaranteeing a good childhood for the mini-Coopers.”

  Jena stared at him. “Whoa…where did that come from? Not that I’m objecting, but…” She shook her head quickly.

  “Just thinking proactively.” He tipped her chin up so he could see her face and was relieved to see a tiny smile there that was trying to grow into a grin. “You know I want this to be forever, right?” he said quietly, and Jena nodded, staring searchingly into his eyes before she sprang up to kiss his chin.

  “It’s all academic, though, if we’re late and Leisa emasculates you.” She scooped up her bag, tossed Nick’s bag at him, and took his hand to pull him out of the apartment and down the stairs to her Jeep.

  Leisa and Travis were waiting outside their apartment with their bags when Nick and Jena pulled up. Before Nicholas could even pop the rear hatch door, Leisa was climbing in the back seat and throwing her stuff into the luggage area. “It’s about freaking time! I almost had to wait, and I don’t do that well.” She leaned forward and kissed Jena on the cheek. “Hi, Jen! I just can’t wait to see my best boyfriend, Rob. Sorry, Trav.”

  Travis climbed in the other rear door with a long-suffering smile. “She’s been like this all morning.” He chucked his bag into the back as well. “I can’t believe I ever even contemplated driving all the way to Arkansas with her.”

  Leisa grinned, leaning over to give Travis a smacking kiss. “Oh, you love me. I haven’t even begun to talk yet.”

  And she wasn’t exaggerating. After launching into a minute description of everything she’d packed, Leisa peppered Jena with questions about how Ashland had changed since the last time she’d been there (not at all), what they could expect of the weather (bad), whether Jena thought she’d look better with long hair (no), whether Rob liked foreign beer (sure), where “the boys” would be sleeping (Jena just shrugged, glancing at Nick out of the corner of her eye)…the list was endless. She also monitored the music, played with Jena’s hair, whistled, and kissed Travis. All while sipping from a cup approximately the size of a fifty-five gallon drum. Nicholas was surprised she could lift it to her mouth.

  “Potty time!” she sang out after a couple of hours, and Nick gratefully pulled into a gas station, taking the opportunity to top off the tank as well. The silence when Leisa jumped out and trotted toward the restroom, tugging a grinning Travis in her wake, would have been fucking wonderful if Nick’s ears weren’t ringing.

  Jena laughed when he rested his head against the back of the seat and closed his eyes. “Holy God…how does Travis do it every day?” he mumbled.

  “Earplugs?” Jena suggested, leaning over to kiss his cheek before she unbuckled her seatbelt and opened her door. “Just think of it as practice for those mini-Coopers you were talking about earlier.”

  “Changed my mind.”

  “Too late. You already got me thinking of a tiny little boy with blue eyes. Far in the future, of course.” She brushed Nick’s hair away from his forehead when he smiled. “Are we really talking about this, Nicholas? I’m a little freaked out.”

  “We really are. And don’t be.” He turned his head toward her and reached out to stroke her cheek with the tip of his finger. “It’s not like it will be tomorrow. Just…someday.”

  Jena nipped at his finger and the corners of her mouth twitched up. “First we have to get through this weekend without killing someone. Can I get you something?”

  “Earplugs?”

  Jena snickered and her door clunked shut.

  Before the gas pump was done clicking over, Leisa leapt back in her seat with a tub o’ soda clutched between her hands. Jena and Travis slid into their seats a second later.

  “So,” Leisa began brightly, “Mama called again when I was in the bathroom, and she wanted me to be sure to thank ya’ll for having us at such short notice, and said Daddy is already missing me.” She settled back in her seat with a satisfied glow.

  “How many calls is that just this morning, Leis?” Travis sighed, buckling his seatbelt as they pulled out onto the freeway.

  “Four. Or is it five? I can’t remember.” Leisa pulled a face. “How many times has your mom called, Trav?” She arched an eyebrow at him, and he flushed, holding up three fingers as she laughed.

  Nicholas’s phone chimed with an incoming call, and he looked at the ID, irritated when it showed his parents’ number. He turned the power off and tossed the phone on
the dash. “Twice is too much for me. I’m done for the weekend.”

  Jena turned, looking at him searchingly, and then powered her phone down as well. She set it beside Nick’s before linking her fingers with his.

  “Mom can just wonder,” she said lightly.

  Leisa tossed her phone in Jena’s lap. “Me, too. Mama’s gonna drive me up a wall by Sunday afternoon, anyway.” She turned to Travis and held out her hand. “Cough it up, sweet pea. We’re rockin’ the holiday old-school. You can message your World of Warcraft friends when we get home.”

  Travis’s face turned crimson, and Jena laughed.

  “I just wanted to be able to wish my mom and my sisters a happy holiday,” he protested.

  “We can all call the parental units tomorrow and tell them happy Thanksgiving.” Leisa twitched her fingers in a come-on motion.

  Travis reluctantly handed over his CrackBerry, and Leisa pitched it into Jena’s lap. All four phones went into the glove compartment, and they spent the rest of the trip arguing playfully over whose iPod would go into the dock next. Leisa’s Lady GaGa got hers banned quickly; Nick retaliated for her whining by queuing up his ‘Leisa’ playlist, grinning at the exaggerated sighs and moans coming from the back seat. The rest of the trip went quickly, and Nicholas was surprised when they passed the sign that marked the boundary of the Town of Ashland.

  The set of Jena’s shoulders betrayed her tension as she directed him where to turn. “Next street, turn left,” she murmured and then turned to look at Leisa and Travis. “Okay, so you guys know what to expect. Lots of nosy questions. Personal observations. Massive embarrassment for me…”

  Travis chuckled. “That’s my favorite part.”

  Jena pointed at Leisa, who smacked Travis on the back of the head. “Thanks, Leis. I’m gonna ask one thing of you guys. Protect Nicholas. My mom is going to be nuts, and you know it.” They nodded briskly, grinning at Nick.

  After Jena’s warning and the banter of the last four hours, Nicholas felt a clenching in his gut as the car eased to a stop in front of a modest house on a quiet street. More than anything, he wanted Jena’s parents to like him, especially given the conversation with his own dad that morning. Nicholas felt a slow flush crawl up his neck as he realized random concerns about their potential kids having involved grandparents were floating around in his head. Holy God, he really was turning into a chick.

  “Nicholas? Is everything okay?” Jena’s soft hand on his arm drew him back to the moment.

  Before he could say anything, the front door crashed open and small woman with graying brown curls and a huge smile was flying down the walk, squealing. They each exited their separate doors, smiling as she collided with Jena, smothering her in loving arms and kisses and shoving her against the car.

  “Twinkie!” she shrieked, squeezing Jena around the middle. “I missed you so much, baby.” She drew back with a grin. “Glad to feel you finally dropped the underwire bras. I told you they could cause breast cancer, didn’t I? And your natural shape is so much nicer, don’t you think?”

  Before Jena could start breathing again and revert to her normal skin color, her mother had launched herself at Travis, leaping into his arms and hugging him with all four limbs. “Travy, baby! Tell the truth—you missed me too much to go off God-knows-where for our day. Maybe this year I’ll take Rob up on his offer to lock us in the basement,” she stage-whispered, wiggling her eyebrows like Groucho Marx.

  Travis laughed, squeezing her back and kissing her forehead. “I don’t think my girl would like that, Sharon.” He lowered Jena’s mother to the ground and wrapped his arm around Leisa, who had scooted around the car to stand beside him.

  Sharon threw her arms around Leisa, nearly knocking her to the ground. “It’s so good to see you again, sweetie! I was just telling Rob last night that I should have thought of fixing you up with Travis long ago. That way he’d have someone to slip off with when I’m hiding out with Trav.”

  They both giggled as a medium-height man with Jena’s eyes and a big smile walked up, kissing Jena on the cheek. He shook Travis’s hand before wrapping his arms around Leisa and giving her a squeeze. “My favorite cupcake!” He kissed her on the cheek, too. “Sharon, you’d better turn down the wattage, or Jena’s new fella will run away screaming, and I’ll never be a Pawpaw before I have to worry about the little rugrats stealing my teeth.” He bellowed laughter at Jena’s deer-in-the-headlights stare. “Well, Jen? Are you going to introduce us?”

  Jena leaned against the arm Nicholas had wrapped around her waist. “It’s worse than I imagined,” she muttered to herself. “How is that possible?” Shaking her head, she gestured to Nick. “Dad, this is Nicholas Cooper. Nicholas, my dad, Rob Baker.”

  Nicholas smiled, remembering that he had yet to utter a word. Wondering if talking right then would be like yelling into a storm, he still had to obey his upbringing. “It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs.—”

  Sharon smooshed herself between Jena and Nicholas, wrapping her arms around their waists and stretching up to kiss Nick on the jaw. “Please. It’s Rob and Sharon.” She glared across the street. “And let Mrs. Bell close her damned curtains if she doesn’t like it. Her Tabitha has never brought home a hottie like this one.” She paused thoughtfully. “Her brother was pretty cute, though, when you were dating, Jena. What was his name? Oh, you know! You used to play doctor with him. I caught you playing ‘you show me yours and I’ll show you mine’ more than once. Can’t you just see little Jena with her panties around her ankles? Not while they were dating, Nicholas…even our Jena had more sense than that, though Rob would know more about that than me. It’ll come to me…Tim? Tad?”

  Travis and Leisa were leaning against each other, braying with laughter by this time. “Oh, my God, Sharon…you gotta stop,” Leisa gasped out. “I’m gonna pee my pants.” She lapsed into her full on southern accent, looking at Jena’s now crimson face and collapsing against Travis with a fresh burst of chuckles.

  “Dad!” Jena demanded, and Rob took Sharon by the arm and led her toward the house.

  “Enough, Sharon. His name is Todd, and the wiener show happened when they were in the first grade. The one time they got caught parking, everyone appeared to be fully dressed.” He looked back at Jena with narrowed, considering eyes before taking Leisa’s hand and tucking it in the crook of his arm. “Let’s get Leisa inside before she piddles on the front walk. I’m sure she can remember the way to the john.”

  Travis followed in their wake, walking backward so he could talk to Nick and Jena. His eyes were sparkling with mirth and a huge grin stretched across his face. “My God, Jen. This is gonna be epic. I can’t believe I almost missed it.” He took in Jena’s quick hand gesture and burst into giggles, then tripped over the threshold of the door and stumbled into the house.

  “That’s what you get for giggling like a little bitch,” Jena yelled, and a faint, remonstrative “Jena!” drifted from the house. She dropped her head into her hands, shaking it slowly. “I’ve only been here ten minutes, and I already want to kill myself. Or my mother. Are you ready to go home yet?” she asked as Nicholas folded her in his arms. Her head jerked up when she felt the chuckles he was trying to hold in. “Not you, too,” she groaned, and the look on her face made it impossible to hold in his laughter.

  “I’m sorry, Jena. That was just—”

  “Mom.” She sighed, and her lips started to twitch up at the corners. After a second, a burst of giggles popped out and she took his hand, pulling him around the corner of the house. “See? I told you crazy people are my heritage. Do you still think you want to chance mini-Coopers with those as possible relations?”

  Nicholas hugged her tightly. “Yep.”

  Jena smiled softly. “I sort of like them, too.”

  Jena’s father’s voice came from the front of the house. “Dinnertime, kids. You don’t want to miss this soup that I didn’t have to adjust at all.”

  “You are so lucky Dad didn’t have to work
today, Cooper. Just about everything Mom makes on her own is inedible. You’d have nothing to eat.” She snickered, starting toward the open door.

  Nicholas whispered in her ear, “I can think of something—”

  Jena put her hand over his mouth. “Stop right there. Four days, remember? Do you really want to spend them with blueballs?”

  Nick sighed. “Good point.” They walked into the house with their hands linked.

  After a quick meal of Rob’s homemade vegetable soup and biscuits, for both of which Sharon took full credit, they settled in the living room, where Jena’s mother regaled them with tales of her daughter’s childhood. It was clear that Leisa and Travis felt at home as they sprawled on the floor, nursing Rob’s strong whiskey and sodas, and chuckling over Jena’s expressions as Sharon got ever more animated in her tales. Nick leaned in the doorway, watching his beautiful girl and sipping his drink.

  As much as Jena complained about her mother, their mutual love was apparent from their linked hands on the couch cushion between them, and in the way Sharon gently brushed Jena’s hair away from her eyes when it fell forward as she laughed. Jena smiled at her mother distractedly, and Nick wanted to freeze everyone in place and let her know how important those gentle touches were. Tell her to appreciate them.

  Since he couldn’t do that, he laughed along with the others. Jena patted the cushion next to her with a smile at Nick. As soon as he sat down, she rested her head against his shoulder, smiling contentedly. Sharon smiled gently before finishing her story.

  “…and then Jena stumbled over the dancing tree’s roots and fell over the boulder—boy, was that Jackson kid huge—and squished a kindergarten daisy before she tumbled off the stage. That’s how ‘Twinkletoes’ was born. After Rob shortened it to Twinkie, she never danced again.” Sharon sighed dramatically, shaking her head. “She was so good, too, don’t you think, Rob?” She suddenly yawned as the clock struck ten, and her husband chuckled, rising to his feet and crossing the room to help Sharon up.

  “Jen was abysmal. Sorry, Twinkie, but you know it’s true.” Jena nodded energetically. “We had an early morning, and tomorrow will be another one—Sharon has Thanksgiving dinner to cook, you know.” Rob rolled his eyes and Jena giggled. “So I’ll just help you with the bags and head off to bed. You boys can bunk in here, or the girls can squish together and you can share the guest room.” He grinned. “It’s a twin bed, though, so unless you want to spoon, someone will be on the floor anyway.”