This had been a recurring joke in the group since that first double date on the way to mini golf. It was a joke, but Austin was deadly serious. It was going to be hard enough to make it on the road for 6 hours with out having Ashley ramp up the fear factor, on purpose or just out of sheer willingness to forgo all rules of the road.
Austin sweetened the pot for her by offering up gas money for the full trip, when she batted not a lash at this, he threw in snacks as well. This made Ashley turn to Brian, and with a finger trailing slowly down Brian’s front from his neck to belt, stopping there only due to present company, said “Looks like we got the backseat to ourselves, stud.”
Again, Brian only replied with “When do we leave?”
That was on Monday evening, almost two days ago. Now on Wednesday afternoon Brian and Austin were loading up the trunk area of Ashley’s jeep with the Quartet’s luggage.
Mia was already behind the wheel being the de facto chauffeur, and Ashley was sprawled across the back seat, feet up on the armrest of the passenger side door with her head on a pillow directly behind Mia’s seat.
Brian shoved the last bag into the back and slammed the door, rocking the Jeep slightly with Ashley rolling her eyes unseen. The guys started to round the back of the car and move to the passenger side to get in when Brian shot his arm out in front of Austin stopping him dead in his tracks, mired in confusion.
“Hey bud, gotcha a lil sumthin,” Brian said as he dug his right hand into his jeans pocket, bringing it back out he unfurled his fingers revealing a small peach colored pill in his palm. It was oblong and looked like a ladder with several score lines along the face to make breaking into pieces easier.
“What is that?” Austin asked in a doubtful tone, knowing Brian he figured it was some knock off erection inducing pill that would give a guy a raging 5 hour boner. “Look I don’t think I-”
“Oh shut up it’s not whatcha think, it’s a Xanax,” Brian said grabbing Austin’s hand and forcing the pill into his palm, closing Austin’s fingers around it. “I know how you get about being on the road, just figured with such a long trip ahead… ya know, ya might need a lil help.”
Austin was genuinely touched at this show of non-asshole-ness. It’s not that Brian was only a self indulgent jerk at times, constantly thinking about himself and well, sex. It’s just that… well, he was mostly a self-indulgent jerk that only thought about sex and himself. Other people’s worries normally didn’t crack the top ten of his list of shit he cared about, much less have it be a bestseller at the very top of the list.
“Wow, thanks man,” Austin said staring at the pill in his hand, “I mean that, thank you. But where’d you even get this?”
“No worries Simba, it’s all on the up and up…ish. Just be sur-”
Before Brian could finish his precautionary advice, Austin popped the pill into his mouth and threw his head back, dry swallowing the medicine.
“Bleh,” Austin bellowed out shaking his head side to side trying to shake loose the powdery texture and the bitter taste from the back of his tongue and throat.
Austin normally wasn’t the kind of person to just toss a pill that was just handed to him into his mouth, in this instance, however, it was a much needed safety blanket. He had been fearing this trip since before he began goading Mia into coming along. He imagined he would be trying to hide his hyperventilating the whole trip while digging half moon shaped pockmarks into the leather of the passenger side seat with his fingernails.
“Hey Charlie Sheen, I was about to say be sure and break it up into four pieces, to save some for the ride back,” Brian said while a wide toothy grin lit up his face. “Damn dude, we coulda even shared it, ya selfish prick.” His chuckles turning into a deep belly laugh as Austin’s eyes went wide as he wondered just how much he took and how strong it was.
“What do I do, how will it-”
“Like I said before, no worries, I’m sure you’ll just sleep,” he answered as his burst of laughter turned to hushed giggles, “prolly the whole way down there.”
Then with the smirk still as wide just without the audible laughing he opened the rear door on the passenger side, lifting up Ashley’s feet, holding them up in place as he slid under them on to the bench style seat. Before he slammed the door shut he leaned his head out and shouted “You better not snore, selfish ass.”
Austin was fast asleep ten minutes later. He didn’t snore, however, he didn’t wake up the entire trip either, not until Mia shook him awake with both hands as his parents strolled out to greet the new arrivals at the curb.
Thanksgiving Day in Luckwell, Tx
Luckily for Austin it was nearly bed time in the Kyle house when Mia pulled the Jeep up to the curb. Still weary and dreary from the Xanax he took earlier he was finding it hard not to yawn anytime he opened his mouth. With all the cordial greetings out of the way, his parents let the group get settled in for the night with out much ado knowing they would have all next day to catch up.
Austin’s parents were never the laid back kind to allow girls to spend the night, especially not in the same bed. But now that he was basically an adult and in college, it seemed they still had no plans of breaking this habit.
His mom, Crystal Kyle, waited only about a half a second after hugs and introductions were over before grabbing Mia’s bag from her shoulder and announcing loudly “Follow me girls, y’all two will be staying in little Brookie’s room.”
Crystal, not waiting around to see if they were actually following or not, headed through the living room and down the hall leaving Mia and Ashley scurrying to keep up with tight lipped smiles and wide eyes.
“Don’t worry,” she continued as she stopped midway down the hall opening a door covered in paper hearts and glittery signs that said things like Stay Out, and Only Girls Allowed, “she’s staying over at her friend’s house across the street. Figured we’d give you girls a lil privacy and what not, but no fear you’ll see her tomorrow. She’s just as excited to see ya as we are.”
“Thank you ma’am, this is perfect,” Mia said regaining control of the bag from the mom’s hands.
“Yeah, thanks Mrs. Kyle,” Ashley echoed.
“I already feel old enough as it is with one of my kiddos in college so please… no ma’ams or mrs around here, got it? Just call me Mama K, everyone else does.”
And with a wink she was gone, leaving the girls to spread out and get settled in. Before she closed the door all the way though she poked her head back through and said “Night y’all.”
This prompted the two city girls to call back in a clear, happy voice “Night Mama K!” before giggling like school girls half their age once the door was fully closed.
Back in the living room the guys were left to gather the rest of the luggage, a surprising amount for only a two night stay, when Austin’s dad said “Figured you two could shack up in your old room. It’s pretty bare since we moved most of your stuff to your apartment but I threw a couple air mattresses in there for you guys earlier. Y’all get some rest now,” James looked squarely at Austin as he groaned out another yawn and added “looks like you could use it. We’ll see y’all in the morning.”
Which in his dad’s commandment speech loosely translated to “get to your rooms and don’t come out until morning.” Austin gladly followed the unstated rule and was asleep on his bed within another fifteen minutes, after sneaking a goodnight kiss from his sequestered girlfriend, of course.
***
Austin woke up quite a bit later than everyone else on Thanksgiving day, with a groggy headache, and a mouth full of fuzz. The scent of a well seasoned turkey in the oven mixed with a handful of other sweet and savory aromas led him to the kitchen by his nose.
Where he found the four girls in his life, Grandma, Mom, sister, and Mia, laughing and enjoying themselves around a small wooden island chock full of spread out dough and mounds of flour. His mom insisted on cooking everything from scratch for Thanksgiving, leaving the rest of the 364 days to cans of
this and bags of that making life easier.
They apparently had already moved on to the pie phase cooking of the day, the reason for the clouds of white dust encircling the small kitchen and the dots of bright white peppering Mia’s cute face. Not wanting to hit a pause button on their good time, Austin slipped back out unnoticed and shuffled to the living room.
His dad was in his recliner, as usual, while Brian and Ashley were trying to see how close they could possibly get to each other on a couch made for five, without actually combining into one person.
“Well whadya know, the creature has risen,” said Austin’s dad, James.
“Yeah, nice hair Swamp Thing,” Brian threw in just for shits and giggles, but not getting either.
“You’re just in time, grab a seat bud,” his dad said pointing to the couch.
Austin plopped himself down next to the handsy lovebirds leaving room for Mia on the other side of him, when she was finished doing whatever it was they were doing in the kitchen.
A pre-game show was just ending on Fox, damn how’d I sleep so late?,
Another one of the unstated, until needed doing so, rules of the house was no talking during football, especially not during a Cowboy’s game, lest you felt the need to be shunned and excommunicated from the house. You would be better off to let a wet, nasty, loud one rip during closing prayer at church, than to distract an elder Kyle while the Cowboy’s were playing. Unless they were winning, then anything goes.
The Lord that may or not be watching over the Kyle family granted a cheerful thanksgiving this year, and let the Dallas Cowboys throw a whooping on the hated Eagles.
Austin had been fretful they would do what they normally do, stink up the field with all of their wasted talent, and in doing so, dampening the mood of the entire house from his father yelling and cursing at the television. Today, however, the house was in an uproar with every long touchdown drive, jumping and awkward high-fiving like it was some commercial for tortilla chips.
The Thanksgiving meal normally wasn’t served until after the game was over, a tradition that started in the Kyle family the same year America’s team started playing on Turkey Day, so pretty much for forever.
Nowadays there are three games on throughout the day, so if they end up playing the night game then dinner would be served roughly two hours before kickoff. Long enough time to scarf the food down, visit for a bit, and take the all important after-turkey nap. Today’s game started at noon, so after, it was.
The ladies in the house watched most of the game, the living room had never seen as many people huddled around the 42 inch flat screen. Since it was a rout, halfway through the fourth quarter the women all sauntered off, Ashley being unceremoniously dragged away from Brian, to ready the table. All except for grandma, that is, who was taking a nap in dad’s recliner. A modern feminist probably would have had a lot to say in the Kyle house that day, but in the midst of it all it didn’t seem chauvinistic, just quaint and kind of perfect.
Mia was really hitting it off with not only Austin’s mom and sister but his grandma as well. He hadn’t been too worried about his mom liking Mia, his mom pretty much liked everyone, at least at first, so even though Mia had been terrified of meeting the parents Austin knew it would go fairly well with them. His Grandmother though… not so much. She had always been quick to let anyone know how she felt about them, whether they wanted to know it or not was inconsequential.
At halftime, when Mia got up to use the restroom, all three of the Kyle girls started gushing about how amazing she was.
His mom, “Why did you wait so long to bring her?”
His sister, Brooke, “She’s awesome sauce, Oz.”
His grandma even threw in a “If you hurt her, we get rid of you, and keep that precious thing in there. So don’t get no ideas young man.” They all laughed at this but Austin wasn’t too sure she was joking, with her stare lingering on him just a little too long.
With the game over and Grandma slowly coming too, Mia was sent in to corral everyone into the dining room, which was really only feet away from the living room and a whisper could have gathered everyone, but hey it’s a holiday so every one was a bit more formal than usual.
Everyone heeded her beck and call, slowly mingling their way to the table when Austin’s grandma, Lucille, called out to Mia saying “Hey honey, why don’t you come over here and help an old lady up.”
“Oh, of course,” Mia answered and ran over with a smile, while the rest filed through the doorway leading to the feast laid out on the table.
Lucille made an act of being in more pain than she actually was and moved slower than she had been all day, waiting for them to be left alone in the living room.
James, the last one left in the room besides Mia and Lucille, finally turned the corner, all the while with a close eye on grandma wondering what she was up to now.
Lucille then stood up straight, and squared her shoulders towards Mia, acting right as rain all of a sudden and asked “You okay, honey?”
“Am I ok?” Mia asked with an uncertain understanding and asked in return “Are you ok? You seem like you’re in pain.”
“Oh honey, I’m 75, I’m always in pain. Now stop deflecting my question. Are you ok?”
“Yes ma’am, I’m fine,” shaking her head briskly, still in a state of mild confusion, and added “Why do you ask?”
“Child, I was a nurse for over 40 years, I know when someone isn’t feeling well.”
Mia looked away from Lucille’s questioning gaze, staring at a family portrait on the wall just behind her. In the picture Austin looked like he was only about 8 years old, with two front teeth missing in his too wide smile that stretched his lips and cheeks at full capacity.
If Austin was 8, that would have made Brooke about six in the portrait, kneeling right next to Austin as he draped his arm around his little sister’s shoulders pulling her close, with his parents behind them on a bench. His dad was doing the same thing to Mama K, pulling her close so that their heads were almost touching.
They look so happy, like a family from a sitcom, she thought as a small envious pang hit her chest while she tried to come up with just what to tell Lucille. Mia was sure she had been pulling it off, not showing how she truly felt.
She was having a great time with Austin’s family, more so than she believed possible for a first meeting, but on the inside she was so fatigued, and sore, like she had ran three marathon’s the day before.
The Leukemia seemed to be getting more aggressive each week. Mia normally would only feel like this once a month, then it became once a week and now it was a daily suffering. Still she thought her appearance and actions, aided by a never ending supply of energy drinks, were enough to cover the fatigue constantly gnawing at her.
She couldn’t necessarily just come right out and tell Austin’s grandma before she broke the news to him first, but she also didn’t think she was going to be able to pull the wool over this one’s eyes as easily as the others. Lucille was just standing there waiting for an answer.
“Well, I mean,” Mia stuttered out, stalling, taking a shallow breath and finally shrugging out “I do have a bit of a headache is all. Migraines, ya know?” Mia said as she quickly lifted her shoulders and lowered them in a what’s-a-girl-to-do gesture.
“A headache, huh?” Grandma Lucille said not sure which way to lean, pushing for more answers or letting it be and ended up settling for the middle of the road. “You poor thing, I understand you not wanting to tell me anything considering we’ve only had the pleasure of each other’s company for just a few hours now. And I do mean pleasure. Darlin’ you are just the breath of fresh air this house, and more importantly Austin, has needed for quite sometime now.”
Mia felt like she was shrinking right in front of this woman, lying outright to her like she just had, but at the same time Mia only wanted Lucille to hug her and tell her everything. Mia was so exasperated from all the secrets, and hiding her sickness, and all of the emotions she ha
d built up because of it. She knew though if she broke here and now she wouldn’t be able to stop until her voice gave out, with her willingness to not be curled up in a bed right now right along with it.
“But, lemme say this, honey,” Lucille continued in kind, but slow words as to not be misunderstood, “whatever it is that you’re going through right now, would be made a whole lot easier with help.”
She grabbed Mia’s hand and placed her other hand on top of it saying “All I’m gonna say is this, and then we can go gobble up that turkey us girls have been slaving over all day.” Lucille’s eyes began to water, making her eyes seem bigger and more focused creating small halos from reflected light circling her pupils. It wasn’t welling up enough to make a tear or two actually fall, just yet. “This family has been through a lot, and there’s been nothing that has come at us that we haven’t been able to handle… together.”
Mia’s own eyes were now welling up with shallow pools resting on her lower eye lid, she blinked and rubbed them away with the hand not enveloped by Lucille’s soft, yet weathered hands before the tears had a chance to cascade over the waterfall and down her cheek.
“Now I’m not going to say anything, I’ll leave that up to you when you’re ready,” Lucille said, now straightening her posture, readying for her final words and a trip to the table. “But when you are ready, just know that we will all be here waiting to help you in anyway we possibly can, okay dear?”
Mia just stood there, not knowing what to say, and trying to compose herself so she wouldn’t have to make the trek to her seat at the table with a runny nose and eyes red from rubbing away tears. Mia didn’t have to say anything though, and apparently Lucille wasn’t expecting a word from her.
“Now let’s go stuff ourselves silly,” Lucille said while patting the hand that was in her caring grasp, then she let it go and walked off giving Mia a few more seconds to gather herself.
Dinner at the Kyle House
The Heart of It All (HeartSick Series Book 1) Page 19
