“We’ve mixed the punches. I just need the hibiscus to soak a little bit more. We’ll be ready in ten minutes,” Jamie said.
“OK, I’ll go tell the ladies. I don’t know about them but I’m beginning to hear my stomach growl." She walked back towards the door then looked back, pointing her index finger she said, “You both be careful if you don’t wanna get caught.”
“Just go." Jamie waved her off.
“Wow, your mom is the coolest mother I’ve ever met. I’ve never really seen this side of her.”
“How could you? You never came to see me at my place. I guess Bluewood Village was not up to your standard.”
“Shut up Jamie, you never invited me.”
Jamie sat by the kitchen table and skimmed through the pages of a cookbook as they waited for the red hibiscus leaves to brew. Chelsea was bringing out her cookies from the oven when her apron went loose again.
“Could you help me tie this up?” she asked battling with the strings helplessly.
“Sure,” Jamie said and walked up to her.
“I know that look on your face. Another opportunity to touch your girlfriend.” She turned around, backing up to him then he grabbed both strings. “How long do we have to keep those in there?” she asked focusing her gaze on the bowl full of water soaked hibiscus petals.
“It only takes about an hour so I’d say ten more minutes,” Jamie said as he attempted tying up the strings of the black apron properly. He did it slowly savoring the scent of her hair, sweat and perfume, the Davidoff Cool Water she liked so much. After he tightened it properly, he ran his fingertips on the back of her neck and whispered into her ears, “You’re so beautiful.” He kissed the spot on her neck where his finger had been. Then he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tight.
“Romeo we need to finish up the drinks quickly,” she said breathing heavily. He was torturing her with his touches and kisses. He let her go and asked, “Did you just call me Romeo?”
“Ha ha ha. There wasn’t any more blood in my brain.” She drained the reddened water from the bowl into a jug and asked, “So what’s next boyfriend?”
“Add the sugar, some pineapple juice or vanilla syrup, whichever flavor you want.”
As she walked past him to reach the sugar, he pulled her back and said, “Hey come here. I didn’t tie that properly.” He was lying.
She hit his hand. “Stop it. I can’t think straight when you touch me. We have work to do. Who ever knew mommy’s boys were this naughty. Ugh!”
“You do realize it’s a cool thing to be a mommy’s boy right? It means I understand the emotions and the deep needs of women,” Jamie said snapping his fingers. “That has to be a plus for the modern man, surely.”
“Whatever makes you happy honey, could you please pass the ice cubes.”
“Seems you guys are having a lot of fun in here,” Rachel said after clearing her throat loudly.
They didn’t hear or see her coming in.
“Can I please get a glass of water? So thirsty.”
“Of course,” Chelsea said grabbing a glass. “You could also try one of the drinks if you want. Jamie, this is my mom’s cousin Rachel.”
“Hi.” Jamie raised his hand.
“Hello Jamie. Yes I’d love to try that one,” Rachel said pointing to one of the jugs.
“He’s my boyfriend,” Chelsea said as she filled the glass with raspberry lemonade.
“I can tell.”
Rachel took a sip of the drink and said walking out, “This is really good. See you all in a minute.”
It was time to eat.
“You just introduced me as your boyfriend to your mom’s cousin even though your mom doesn’t know you have a boyfriend.”
“It’s fine. I’ll tell her today. It’s really not such a big deal. I just didn’t want her to think I rushed into this after just getting out of one relationship. But she’ll have to understand I know what I’m doing. I’m not sixteen anymore.”
***
They all sat round the dining table and held hands as Tyler gave thanks to God for the meal they were about to eat. Then as they ate Rachel suggested that they take turns in saying something they were all thankful for.
Tyler was thankful for Jamie because he helped him with basketball and inspired him to love math. Teresa was thankful for her children and being back in Elmtown. One by one they took turns individually to put down their cutlery and speak while everyone listened. Chelsea happened to be the last to speak.
“I know this will come as a surprise to some of us, but I’m thankful for my new boyfriend Jamie. He has always been the best person I know. Just thankful I have an opportunity to know him more and grow with him in love.”
“Jamie’s your boyfriend now?” Tyler asked with glee.
“Yes Tyler,” Chelsea said, stretching to hold Jamie’s hand.
Teresa’s eyes traveled from Chelsea’s face to Jamie’s hand. Then she looked away and continued eating like nothing had been said. Her face was as blank as her mind was numb.
“Oh great so now I’ll see him all the time,” Tyler added.
Except for the clinking of forks and knives around the room, a hushed silence subdued the dining room.
Rachel turned towards the new boyfriend. “So Jamie, are you still in college?”
“Yes I am,” he said. He took a sip from his cup of raspberry punch and continued, “I’m graduating next month though. On the twelfth of December I believe.”
His mother looked at him proudly as she munched on a mouthful of mashed potatoes.
“Oh good. So what’s next on the agenda?” Rachel pressed.
Teresa just ate, pretending like she was oblivious to everything happening around her.
Jamie didn’t want to look like he had no plan so he said, “Umm...I have an offer from an investment firm, J.B. Investments. I did an internship with them during the summer.” He looked at his mother who stared back at him sternly. “But I don’t think I’ll be accepting the offer.”
As soon as Jamie let out those words, it was like yanking the pin off of a grenade and then immediately wishing it wouldn’t go off. If only words could be taken back. Helen was now smiling but it was only an outward smile. It was like a raging storm on her inside.
“Why aren’t you taking the offer? You have something better?” Caroline asked. It was now almost like a conference interview.
“No, not really. My minor is in jazz music but that’s actually what I wanna do for a living.”
“I see.” Those were Teresa’s first words since the new boyfriend news was broken and they were her last for the evening.
***
“I think that went rather well. Did you have fun with the ladies?” Jamie asked Helen as they went down to the basement.
“Uh huh,” she said hurriedly, walking briskly as if she were in a rush then she said nothing else.
He took the empty containers they used for the hibiscus and other ingredients into the kitchen and started washing them in the sink. Helen started rearranging the part of the shelf where she kept her dried food stuff.
“Do you think they liked the drink?” Jamie asked.
“Yup,” she said with a straight face.
“Is there something wrong? You aren’t saying much,” he probed.
“Nope,” Helen said, not looking at him. She passed by him and wiped the kitchen table with paper towel.
Evidently, all was not well but Jamie didn’t ask further, he knew she had good reason to be upset.
After less than five minutes Helen stood with her arms folded and looked straight at him. “I just have one thing to say to you,” she said. “Next time you plan to make me look like a fool in front of everyone like that, could you just warn me beforehand?” she asked, bobbing her head.
“I wasn’t trying to make you look like a fool.”
“Oh, you didn’t have to try, it was very easily done,” she snapped, rolling her eyes.
“Mom chill. Are you going
to even listen to what I have to say about it or you already have your mind made up? Let’s just have a conversation about it...hear me out first will ya?”
“I see. Now you have something to say right? That’s just perfect timing. You didn’t have anything to say this morning? You didn’t have anything to say yesterday or last week or since I’ve been asking if any important letter came in?”
“Look I know how you feel and I admit it wasn’t the best way to hear it. I’m sorry about that, but I’m not going to be sorry about trying to follow my dreams. This is what I think will make me happy in life. I just don’t see myself as that investment banker you think I should be. I just don’t Mom.”
“You are seriously really standing there and telling me everything we’ve worked for all these years counts for nothing? Why the heck did you have to go through college then?”
“This is exactly why I was hesitant to tell you. I knew you weren’t going to understand. I still would have gone to college regardless of what I intended to do. There are many advantages to the experience besides getting a job. I don’t think I would have been clear on what I wanted to do without my music classes at MVU. It’s not a wasted experience Mom.”
“You’re right, I don’t understand. May I remind you that we lost the mortgage because of your tuition Jamie? Because of your tuition. We would have been fine if we hadn’t used the savings for it and now you turn around and do this? Do you want to throw your whole life away?” she asked. She used up her savings to pay his tuition fees after being assured by a friend that she was going to get that job. It was one of her major goals to help her son graduate without debt. Since it was his last year, she took the risk based on a job she had not yet been given. Unfortunately, none of the factories or warehouses in Elmtown were hiring part-time workers because of the bad economy.
She didn’t even try to hold back her tears. She let it all out and broke down in front of him. She felt like tearing his hair out and shoving it in his nose. Why was he doing this now? she wondered. “You should have done this after high school,” she said. “Or after your first year at Malcolm Vale. Or even when you stopped getting full funding. We worked hard to get to this point and now that we are about to get rewarded, you decide to reject a seventy thousand dollar offer from one of the most prestigious firms in the country.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way. I didn’t know I was going to choose this path Mom.”
“I remember once, when you said you didn’t want to take a loan for college,” she continued, not listening to what he said, “and would just go find something else to do with your life because you didn’t want to start your life in debt. I should have agreed. I should have let you go into carpentry like you suggested, or whatever else you were thinking about.”
He remembered that conversation. He was going to find an apprenticeship and according to his research would have been making good money in three years but Helen didn’t agree because she wanted him to go to college. She wanted him to graduate with excellent grades and land a well-paying job in finance. It was going to be their way out of the rut they had been in for years, but now she realized she made a horrible mistake.
“Mom, you know I appreciate everything you’ve done. Everything you’ve sacrificed for me. You know me. Don’t even talk like that at all. You know it’s not like that. Besides, I always have something to fall back on if things don’t work out,” he said.
Helen walked away from him. She now understood clearly that she should never have gotten that second job that almost killed her in his second year when they were both overworked from trying get the money he needed. She was working two jobs, sleeping for only five hours every day and getting home at half past eleven every night including Saturdays and Sundays.
She should never have put their mortgage at risk and now her credit rating was dead and buried with nothing to show for it. She thought about how she was willing to risk everything as long as she saw him graduate and land a big job. She saw how that Jewish single mother Elizabeth Stein’s life changed as soon as her children graduated and secured lucrative employment in Allen City. One was a surgeon and the other was an oil and gas engineer. They even bought her a house in Elmtown and all her sacrifices had been worth it.
She regretted that her situation didn’t turn out as she expected. Her Jamie was screwing everything up with his music fantasy that had suddenly taken over his mind like a parasite. She reasoned that even if he didn’t think about the sacrifices she made for him, at least he had to be logical for his own self, for his own life. Why did he inherit this overactive imagination from his father? she wondered.
She was worried that she was going to watch her only son, her only child continue the burdensome life they had been leading all these years? Nothing is ever going to change, she thought. Then suddenly she walked back to where he was standing, fuming.
“Something to fall back on? Did you say something to fall back on?” she asked. “Do you realize any gap on your resume will come back and bite you? And then there will be nothing to fall back on? OK, let’s say you try this music career you’re going on about for two years and it doesn’t work. How would you fill that gap if you have to apply for a job?”
“I’m graduating with a 4.0 GPA. That should be enough.”
Helen chuckled, closed her eyes, then sighed. She looked at her son, shaking her head, and said, “By that time, your mates would have developed skills worth two years more than whatever you have. Then there’ll be new graduates whose brains would be fresh from college for analyst positions–why would anyone want to hire you? You know how much I researched before you got into college and even when you were at Malcolm Vale. I know what I’m saying. Wall Street is highly competitive. Do not throw this away,” she warned.
“I’ll figure it out,” Jamie said sounding unsure of himself. He knew she had a point. He knew she loved him more than anyone in this world and she would always tell him the truth. But he made up his mind; he wasn’t going to make himself unhappy to satisfy anyone, not even his beloved mother.
***
Chelsea packed the leftover cookies in small containers, threw out the remaining bits of salad and loaded the dishwasher as Maria the housekeeper vacuumed the living room after the guests had gone. Tyler was fast asleep in his bedroom.
Teresa went into the library to file her bank statement in the yellow cabinet where they kept official files. Each one of them had their own section for keeping important documents. As she closed the cabinet, she wondered if she was ready for a serious discussion that evening. She felt a bit tired, sat down and reclined the brown leather office chair. She decided she still had to talk some sense into her daughter before things became irredeemable. Jamie? Helen’s son? What the heck was she thinking? She thought. To crown it all, the boy didn’t even seem like he knew what he wanted to do with his life.
She wasn’t going to let her daughter get caught with someone who wasn’t going to have a future. From what she saw, he didn’t even recognize a good opportunity. Life finally presented him with a way out but no, he’d rather throw that opportunity back in life’s face and be a bum all his life.
She pitied Helen for having such an unwise son because the offer he was rejecting would have been their way into some semblance of a comfortable life. But that’s life, she thought. Some people just don’t get it. That’s why the strong will always eat the weak. Wasn’t that what Einstein or whoever said? Anyway he is definitely not the one for my daughter. Just when I thought we were done with the stage experimenting with low-life guys as boyfriends. She decided Chelsea needed a wake up call and to be delivered from her delusion.
As she continued thinking about how and when to begin dealing with this potentially catastrophic mess, Chelsea walked past, on her way to the stairs.
“Chelsea,” Teresa called.
“Yes Mom.”
She stood by the entrance and said, “What's up? You look tired.”
“Yes it’s been a long day. I’m fine
. Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure,” she said and sat in the other chair closer to the bookshelf.
“So when did this thing with Jamie start?”
“Finally, I was wondering why you hadn’t said anything yet. Anyway, just a few weeks. I’m still surprised myself and I didn’t really see that one coming but he’s actually everything I’ve ever wanted in a man and much more. I can’t believe I never really saw it Mom. You know what I mean?” Chelsea asked.
Helen cleared her throat and looked straight at her daughter. “I’m going to be honest with you as always and I need you to hear me out. You’re just setting yourself up for disappointment.”
Chelsea sat up straight and folded her arms. “What do you mean?”
“Jamie is not right for you. That’s not the kind of guy you need. You are not compatible enough. It’s probably just a silly rebound crush.”
“Hold on, hold on Mom. What do you mean he’s not right for me? I don’t get what you’re driving at exactly so you’ll have to really elaborate.”
She was disappointed, hurt and angry all at the same time but she wanted to hear the explanation. She wanted to know what her dear mother had to say about her love life this time. The fact that she knew Teresa was capable of saying things like this didn’t make it any easier to swallow. John was the only boyfriend Teresa fully accepted. She was aware of the difference between John and the others and it made her sad that her mother had a materialistic mindset.
“First, you just came out of a serious relationship. It’s too early to be jumping into another relationship with someone else.”
“Well, you may be right that it’s too early but I’ve known Jamie almost all my life and I think being with the right person is the most important thing. Anyways Mom that’s beside the point. You said ‘Jamie is not right for you.’ What did you mean?”
An Autumn to Remember: A Novel (Elmtown Series Book 1) Page 14
