by Amy DeMeritt
Alex puts her hand on my arm to get my attention and points towards the door. Dr. Hamlin and his wife just arrived. We excuse ourselves and go over to greet them.
“Dr. Hamlin, it’s good to see you.” He smiles kindly. “Please, call me Craig. This is my wife, Kendra. Ahmad, or Dr. Sharif as you know him, and his girlfriend are parking and will be up in a… oh, here they are.”
It’s so weird to see them without their long white doctor’s coats. They’re both similarly dressed in khaki shorts and polo shirts tucked at the waist. Kendra is a kind faced woman just like her husband and when she speaks, her kindness hangs gently on her lips making her words pleasant on the ears. Dr. Sharif’s, I mean Ahmad’s, girlfriend is a tiny blond haired blue eyed girl that is very quiet and seems like she feels extremely out of place.
We all talk for a little while and then I show them where drinks are and where some of the food is. Mom and Dad haven’t put everything out yet, but there are some good finger foods and snacks out for picking till Dad is ready to serve up the main fare.
Just as we’re getting ready to walk back over to Callie and the rest of the girls, my uncle Gino grabs me in a tight headlock. “Hey, yo, Rocky! Where you think you’re going? You can’t come say ‘ello to the family?” He really plays up the Italian accent making me laugh, which is hard to do since he’s really cutting off my air supply.
Alex is looking on with shock and slight horror on her face. Her hands are slightly raised as if she’s battling the instinct to try and rip him off me. This is actually a ritual. Uncle Gino always has to sneak up on me, get me in a headlock, and then I have to fight him off. I pull down on his arm and he tightens his grip, but I’m able to get his arm down enough to tuck my chin in so he’s not choking me anymore. I then elbow him in the gut, getting him a little off balance, quickly sidestep back a bit, kick him behind the knee, duck out from under his arm that has slightly loosened from my sudden assault, and then twist his arm back behind his back, sending him down to his knees.
“Damn, kid, you still got the stuff. Now, help an old man up.” I laugh hard and help him up off the ground. My uncle is actually only five years older than me so he’s not old at all. “You must be Alex. I’m Jordan’s Uncle Gino. Sorry if I scared you. Jordan and I grew up together so we are more like brother and sister than uncle and niece. I’m the stupid brother that picks on the smaller sister thinking that just because I’m almost double her weight that I can actually take her. I thought maybe the grim reaper would have stolen some of that power before sending you back to us. Glad to see the father of death left you intact and you’re still as strong as ever. Look at ‘em over there. Now I owe every one of ‘em five dollars. Jeez, Jordan, you couldn’t let this old man win just once? You know how embarrassing it is to have your tiny little ass beat me up all the time?”
“Stop making bets and picking fights with me at every single barbeque and you’ll stop losing so much money and getting embarrassed.” He makes a scoffing sound and flashes a big toothy grin. “Traditions can’t be broken just like that. There has to be a new tradition that takes its place. Ok, here’s the deal. I’ll think of the new tradition and surprise you with it at the next barbeque. Now, do you have, uh, let’s see, about fifty dollars I can bum off you to pay my debt so Papa Toni doesn’t have my fingers cut off?” I laugh and shake my head. “Better learn how to pick your nose with a different finger cause you’re just going to have to lose those digits.”
“Oh, I see how it is. I use my fingers to pick my nose while you use yours to finger A…” I punch him hard in the shoulder and he cuts off and starts laughing hard. “God damn, Jordan. You just cost me another five dollars apiece. I have to walk away now or I’m going to be black and blue and broke!
When he walks away, I look at Alex and she has a cute little grin on her face. “Sorry about him. Gino is a joker, but he can be a good guy when he wants to be.”
“He only made me nervous when he put you in the headlock. It was really hot how you took him down though.” She steps closer to me taking my hand in hers and quietly says, “And I’m not a prude, Jordan. You didn’t have to punch him for that comment.” I laugh and shake my head. “I know you’re not a prude, but for every inch you give Gino, he will take a yard. If I let him finish his little comment, he would have taken it even further and nastier. Gino’s not always good at subtle hints either. Sometimes you actually do have to knock him upside the head to get him to understand something.” She laughs and looks in the direction of a few tables that’s mostly just extended family.
“Your whole family is Italian?” I nod. “Pretty much. Why?” She laughs and looks back at me. “Papa Toni, is he the well-dressed salt and pepper in the center?”
“Yup, that’s Papa Toni. He’s my grandfather. He claims that he still has most of his dark hair and good looks because he adds holy water to his shampoo and aftershave.” Alex laughs. “Catholic Italian family?”
“Yeah, we’re all Catholics, but most of us aren’t really practicing. Papa Toni, Mama Gina, and a few others are regular attendees of Mass, but the rest of us rarely go beyond holidays or baptisms.”
“What do you see when you look at your family over there?” I laugh and don’t even look at them because I know what she means. “Just don’t bring up any mafia movies or TV shows in front of them or they will fall into character faster than you can blink your gorgeous eyes. And they won’t stop till you actually believe you are going to swim with the fishes for witnessing some top secrete mafia business.” Alex laughs and puckers her lips in a mischievous grin. “That might actually be kind of fun. I’ll have to keep that in mind.”
“Ok, well also keep in mind how Gino just greeted me and consider what that could mean for you later.”
“I’m not worried. I’m dating the granddaughter of the mafia kingpin, who happens to also be an amazing bodyguard.”
“Well, I do love that body so I’ll definitely guard it with my life.” Alex laughs and gives me a quick kiss on the lips.
Just as my parents start putting out all of the food, Alex’s family, Sonya and her husband, and Katie arrive. We talk to them for a little while and then we all get in line to get some food. My parents went all out, as usual. There’s the typical fare like burgers, sausages, and hot dogs. Then there are large whole pork loins that have been slowly cooked in the smoker till they’re falling apart, the Chinese chickens, Italian roast beef, chicken legs, all sorts of grilled veggies and fruits, and tons of different salads and sides.
One of my favorite things my parents always serve at these is a grilled pineapple slice with a dollop of sweet ricotta cheese and a drizzle of sweet balsamic glaze. It’s so good that I usually eat at least three of them. My dad also makes really amazing stuffed mushrooms. He loads them up with a few different cheeses and fried pancetta. Most people tend to gravitate towards all of the meats at a barbeque, but I’m not that big of a meat eater and that doesn’t change even when meat is the main star. I love meat, but I probably eat less than half the amount of meat that the typical American eats. I really prefer at least two thirds of my plate to be vegetables and fruit.
We’re halfway done eating when Gino and two of my other uncles, Antonio and Carlo, come over to our table. Antonio and Carlo are standing back with their arms crossed on their chests and are looking cocky and goofy. Antonio pushes Gino forward a little and Gino laughs.
“Ok, ok, I’ll do it. Ladies, I’m trying to win back a great deal of money I have lost in bets today. My brothers will only call the score even if I can out pushup one of you.” I look around the table and all the boxing woman are looking at him like he can’t be serious to challenge them to a contest of strength and endurance. He looks at me and clasps his hands together like a beggar. “Jordan, have mercy on your old uncle. Throw the contest for me.” I laugh hard, and at the same time, every single one of us stands up. He quickly backs off and gets a big grin on his face. We all get in a line and get down in pushup position.
�
��Hold it, soldier.” I look up and see Daria is walking over to us. I stand up and greet her and her husband. “Hey, coach. Glad you could make it.” She points to everyone on the ground. “What do we have here? Did his testosterone make him think he can actually take you in a pushup face off?” I laugh and nod. “Something like that.”
“Well, get down there, soldier. I’ll count you down.”
I get in position and Daria calls out, “Down, up, down, up,” over and over again. I’m counting in my head each pushup we progress and when we reach twenty, I look over at Gino and see his face is getting red, but he’s still hanging in there. When we get to forty-two, he falls out, but the rest of us keep going. The thing about challenging a group of athletes to an individual challenge is that none of them are going to quit till there is a confirmed winner. This could take a while – all of these women are extremely fit and we have trained our bodies for years to be able to do hundreds of pushups without stopping. When Callie and I used to do strength and endurance training together, we could spend a full hour doing nothing but pushups.
When we hit one hundred and fifty pushups, no one has dropped yet, and looking to the side, I see that everyone still looks pretty strong. Yeah, this is never going to end. As if thinking the same thing, Daria calls out, “Ok women, diamond pushups.” We change our arms positions and she starts calling out, “Down, up, down, up.” I restart my count.
We get to forty and I hear one girl bow out, but I can’t tell who it is. In this position, I have much less balance and don’t want to risk looking sideways to see who it is. I know now that since one fell, another will fall soon. It’s only natural. When in a competition of willpower, if you see someone give up, it works on your mind and convinces you that its ok to throw in the towel because you at least made it longer than that person before you. I know Callie won’t fall into that trap, but the other two will.
My arms are burning and shaking and my lower back is annoyingly trying to dip down and break my perfect form. I inhale deeply and start my “iron fist” chant in my head. We get to forty-eight and I hear another girl go down, closely followed by the next. Carla wore a dress so she did not get down here with us. It’s just me and Callie now.
I carefully look to my side and Callie looks over at the same time. We both smile and let out a small laugh. Callie and I have always been neck and neck in strength and endurance. Its only in the ring that Callie could easily whoop my ass.
“Alright women, change up again. We need to wear you out faster. Pushups with a clap on your way back up. Down, up.” Callie and I follow the instruction and I feel my body almost collapse when I land after the first clap. Yeah, this will definitely end this faster. Oh, shit, my arms are burning.
After ten reps, I look at Callie and she looks over and shakes her head. I nod mine and we reach out and slap hands. We both tap out and collapse on the ground. We lay on our backs for a minute with everyone hovering above us either clapping or booing because we quit. Gino puts his hands out to us both and helps us up off the ground.
“Ladies, thank you for helping me win my money back.”
“Wait, what? You lost in like the first five minutes.” He laughs and gets a proud cheeky grin on his face. “Nope, I won. I tricked you. I bet that you would beat out all these other girls. Antonio and Carlo bet that Callie would win. So, since you called it truce, I still win.”
Callie looks at me with her hands on her hips still panting, trying to catch her breath. “How the fuck did we fall for that? I say we hang him off the side of the roof for a bit to make him sweat as badly as we just did.” I laugh and we look at Gino. We take a couple steps towards him as if we’re really going to do it. Gino’s smile disappears and he turns pale. We both lunge for him, but he takes off running. Everyone starts laughing really hard.
“Jordan, you better make your rounds over to the family soon. Papa Toni and Mama Gina are talking about writing you out of the will if you don’t come show off your pretty lady to the rest of the family soon.”
“Ok, let me get some water and then we’ll be over.”
When we get to the coolers and we’re out of earshot of everyone, Alex asks, “You could have gone longer, couldn’t you?” I shrug my shoulder as I take a few sips of water. “Not much longer, but yeah. Callie probably could have gone a little longer too, but there was no point because we don’t need to prove anything to each other.”
“Are you still going to be able to protect me from your mafia family after pushing yourself so hard?” I laugh and nod. “Sure thing, babe.”
“This has turned out to be an interesting barbeque. I’m really glad my family was able to come and meet everyone. While you were doing your pushups, they kept whispering about how amazing you and the other girls are. When Callie shook her head, and you nodded yours, my dad whispered, ‘wow, that girl of yours has good character.’” I smile and look over towards her family and my boxing friends. Callie and Alex’s dad appear to be in a good conversation together. “Callie and I respect each other. She would have done the same thing if I couldn’t have gone any longer.”
“I think so too. Callie would have given you any organ in her body if it would have helped you come out of your coma and save your life. She seriously offered.” I smile and let out a small happy laugh. “Yeah, Callie is a ridiculous loyalist and protector. Once she cares about someone, there’s nothing she won’t do to help them. When I was in the coma, part of me must have known what was going on for real while the dominant part of my brain was twisting things up, because several times I had this feeling or fear that she was going to hunt Tina down and kill her or get herself killed.”
“Your mom and her actually had a couple conversations like that while they were visiting. Callie was so upset. She really did want to confront Tina, but no one could find her. People must have been keeping her in hiding till things calmed down.”
“Well, I’m glad they did. So, are you ready to meet the wannabe mobsters? Oh, one warning. Papa Toni and Mama Gina are kissers – right on the mouth.” Alex laughs and shrugs a shoulder. “My grandparents are the same way. Come on, before they send us both swimming with the fishes for keeping them waiting too long.”
Chapter Sixteen
There are very few moments in my life that I can recall having as much conviction in a decision as I do right now. It’s only been a few months since I was released from the hospital, but there is no doubt in my mind this is what I want. I was surprised when I told my parents and Callie that none of them were surprised by my decision. I expected at least my parents to question if it’s too soon. They are all actually very excited and supportive.
I made sure to plan this for a Friday so that Alex and I can have the whole weekend to relish in it. I also took the whole day off from work today. I’m on my way to surprise Alex at work for lunch before I reveal the true surprise. It took quite a bit of arranging with various people so I can attempt this. I hope it all plays out as planned.
I walk down the head trauma ward and see Alex is sitting at her nurse’s station. Her lips are puckered in indecision and she is staring at her cellphone screen with her finger hovering above it. I hesitate and watch a moment. Alex bites her lip and smiles a little as she presses her finger against the phone and then brings it up to her ear. My phone starts ringing a moment later. I pull my phone out and start walking towards her as I answer.
“Hey, beautiful.”
“I miss you.”
“I missed you too. That’s why I had to come see you.” I’m standing a few feet in front of her and she looks up quickly and lets out a cute squealing laugh as she jumps out of her chair. I put my phone away just as she throws her arms around me.
After a few moments, she pulls back and gives me a soft kiss on the lips. “Do you have to rush back or can you stay for lunch?”
“I brought lunch. Are you able to take a break now?” Her smile is so big it makes my stomach flutter and my heart palpitate with joy. “Yes, I can break now. I can’t belie
ve you came all this way to have lunch with me.”
As we start to walk down the hall, hand in hand, I spot Katie and she smiles and gives me a double-thumbs up. Katie is helping me with part of my plan today. Alex and Katie were already good friends before I came along, but I have also become pretty good friends with her since I came out of my coma. She’s one of those lovable nerdy girls that’s into fantasy films and novels and goes to comic book conventions, but she’s not so out there that she can speak any of those weird elf or goblin languages that authors create to make their stories more realistic.
We go sit outside on one of the benches in the small garden with the pond and water fountain that Alex brought me to while I was still in the hospital. I take my bookbag off and pull out the two “chicken in a flower garden” salads from Alex’s favorite restaurant. Alex laughs a little when she sees what it is and gives me a curious smile.
“How did you have time to stop at The Farm Table before coming here? It’s not on the way from your office to here.” I shrug my shoulders and grin. “I procured an extended lunch hour.”
“Well, thank you for taking that liberty today. This is amazing. I haven’t been able to focus on anything today. I just wanted to be with you.” I almost ruin all the plans I made for today and reveal my true intentions for being here. “I just wish I could take this liberty every day. How is your day going?”
“Pretty good, actually. That elderly patient that took your old room a couple months ago woke up from his coma this morning. Actually, right about the same time you came back to life in there. I think maybe you left some magic in there or something. The doctors really didn’t have any hopes of him ever coming out of his coma and his vitals were very weak, even with life support.”
