Escalation Clause (34 page)

Jack swooped in and picked the now fully hysterical toddler up from the floor just as Rob was about to do the same. “No,” Sara put a hand on his arm. “Let Jack handle it.”

Rob nodded. He knew they were trying a bonding experiment. The fact that it took exactly five seconds of soft words from his father’s lips to get the boy to calm to hiccups and grip the man around the neck told Rob all he needed to know about the relative success of it. He grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge and led the way out to the large patio overlooking the pool. Jack sat, still making soothing noises as Brandis’ shoulders hitched a few times then calmed as he fell into a hard sleep.

Rob looked up when Lila came out and held out his arms for his own son, loving the feel and smell of his sun and chlorine drenched skin. “Glad you got your shit together Gordon.” He said after they’d finished their beers.

“Yeah,” Jack said, keeping his eyes trained out over the pool. Katie and her grandfather were engrossed in a chess game. Maddie and Ella were floating around chattering about something he couldn’t hear. “And you? You guys still haven’t….”

Rob shook his head. “Can’t convince her to move back in, but we do want to talk about the memorial this spring. And I want to include Suzanne.”

Jack looked at him over the top of Brandis’ dark hair. “Sure.” He said finally.

The two couples toasted the New Year together in a fancy restaurant in downtown Orlando, which promised dancing into the wee hours in the giant second floor club. The grandparents and teenagers were back at the house with the kids and Mo, doing the same if the phone-snapped photos were any indication. The two small boys looked giddy with their hats and noisemakers. “Damn, they are gonna be a handful tomorrow,” Jack smiled at his screen. “I still wish she’d come out with us.”

“I know,” Sara put her hand on his arm. The unspoken communication between them seemed natural, and Rob was never more grateful to see his good friend’s happy smile. “I’d like to propose another toast,” Sara said, lifting her champagne glass. “To us. To friendship. To love. But, mostly, to Blake.”

Rob took Lila’s hand and put it to his lips. “To Blake” they said, not breaking eye contact. He stood and pulled her with him. “Pardon us, kids, but she owes me a dance.”

He held her close, kissed her, and allowed himself a moment of sheer joy when she molded her small frame against his. They’d had a great time, and he was thankful he let her talk him into a real vacation, truly away from the stresses of Ann Arbor. “I love you,” he whispered in her ear. “So much.”

“I know, Robert.” She said, lifting her face to his again. “I miss him.”

His throat tightened, but he held onto her. “Me, too.” They swayed to the music then broke apart when it ended. She grabbed both of his hands and put one to her stomach.

“I’m pregnant.”

He gaped at her. His brain fogged over for a split second, and then he tugged her into his arms. “I’m glad,” he said.

“This doesn’t change anything, yet.” She said, her voice muffled. When she drew back he saw tears in her eyes.

“I think it does. But I’ll let you tell me when.” He tamped down the urge to demand she move back, complete their family. But he knew better. By the time they returned to the table,  Sara was laying back against Jack, laughing as he whispered in her ear. “Let’s go,” Rob said, tossing back the last of his champagne. “If we time it right, the boys will be knocked out cold, and the girls will be in front of a movie, and you know what that means.” He waggled his eyebrows at Lila who blushed.

“Yes sir I do,” Jack pulled Sara to her feet. “Dad gets laid. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

On the morning of their last full day of vacation, Rob sat sipping his coffee and enjoying the quiet at six a.m. Maureen slipped out of the sliding glass door and joined him, holding her own mug of steaming caffeine. “Nice morning.” She said.

“Yeah, it is. Hey, how is Rafe? Thought he might be joining us.”

She sighed. “No. He’s not welcome according to my daughter. Besides,” she sipped some more. “He’s down in South America with his family. He gets back the same day we do.”

“Ah.” Rob said. “Sorry about the conflict.”

“My own fault, really. I should have talked to her before we… .Well, anyway, it’s done now and I’m not sure how we’ll get it fixed.”

“You deserve to be happy. Ella will have to get over it. That’s how that gets fixed.” He patted her hand.

“Wish it were that easy.” She squinted into the dawn light. “You didn’t witness the little scene at my house when Ella came home early from a camping trip and saw him starkers in my kitchen.”

“Yikes, that must have been fun.”

“It was horrific. And ended with her screaming at me that I had ruined her life by fucking her soccer coach. Rafe didn’t really help. He lost his temper at her, and, well, it was….bad.”

Jack joined them. “Early birds catching worms?” He kissed his sister’s cheek.

“Can you talk to Ella?” Mo asked. Jack nodded, stretched and helped himself to her coffee. “I mean, today? She is being so difficult and I…I won’t let her make me choose. It’s not fair.”

“Doesn’t help that Rafe will be her high school coach next year I guess.”

“You could say that. She even threatened to quit over it. But he talked her out of that, thank god.”

Rob looked at Jack. “I thought he was working for you now, on the new team?”

“Yeah, he’s doing some recruiting, but we were at a standstill at one point so he took the high school job on an interim basis. The guy can’t stand not playing or coaching, and it’s just one year. It was only supposed to be the boy’s team but he got handed the girl’s team at the last minute.”

“Detroit Black Jacks, eh, my brother?” Rob slapped Jack’s shoulder as he passed on his way back inside for more coffee. “Wow. You really did it.”

“Yeah, it would appear so.” Jack said. “Bring one more.” He pointed to Mo’s nearly empty cup. She smacked his arm. “I mean two more.”

Rob came back out with coffee and the leftover sweet rolls he’d made yesterday. “Dada,” a small voice interrupted them after about a half hour. “Sweet?” Gabe pointed to the plate of rolls. Jack picked him up and held the mini-Rob on his lap, handing him a roll which the kid promptly shoved straight into his mouth. “Chack,” he patted the man’s face as he chewed like a chipmunk storing up for winter spraying cinnamon and sugar.

“What do you say, son?” Rob asked the boy, his heart nearly bursting at the sight of his tousled blond hair and soft brown eyes.

“Fanks!” He said blowing more icing into Jack’s face.

“Nice,” Jack said, laughing and wiping himself off. “A slob, like your dad.”

“Slob!” The boy yelled as he reached for another one.

“Nope,” Mo pulled the plate out of his reach before Rob could do it. “No sugar buzz before noon for you young man.”

“Buzz!” The boy parroted and clambered down off Jack’s lap. “Pool! Mommy! Pool!” he ran back inside, his skin already dark from the sun despite the SPF 50 they slathered on all the kids.

“Pool!” Brandis picked up the exclamatory refrain, meeting Gabe halfway across the living room floor and bopping him with a squirt gun. Rob watched to see what the kid would do. Gabe stopped dead still, touched his head then shoved Brandis to the floor and started throwing matchbox cars at his head. “Ow!” Brandis rolled out of the way and grabbed Gabe’s ankle, forcing the other little boy down with him, then pushed him down and sat on his chest, poking at his eyes and yelling “Pool! Pool!” at the top of his lungs.

“Tag, you’re it,” Rob said, slapping Jack’s shoulder. “Go get your kid off my kid, and let’s get them in the pool before they wake up the neighborhood.”

But Adam swooped through and picked up both boys tucking them under each arm. “I got ‘em!” he yelled and the little boys shrieked with delight as the teenager started rolling around on the floor with them both.

“Saved by the teen,” Jack said.

“Lila’s pregnant,” Rob said, not sure why he even was bringing it up.

“Congratulations!” Mo said, getting up to give him a hug before heading back inside.

Jack just looked at him. “Is this a good thing?” he asked.

Rob nodded, suddenly at a loss for words. He couldn’t imagine anything better—another baby ,and getting Lila back once and for all. A strange look suddenly passed over Jack’s face. “What?” He asked, grabbing a sweet roll.

“Nothing,” Jack said then wandered back inside, yelling at Brandis to stop pulling Gabe’s hair before joining the group on the floor.

Rob flopped back on the couch after the two-hour splash fest for the little boys in the pool that culminated with a required quiet time for them both. At the moment a détente had been reached after Brandis had ended the early morning pool play by shoving Gabe off the steps in his haste to get at a frog-shaped raft. Gabe, in typical fashion, had emerged, spluttering and enraged, and had waited until Brandis had paddled himself to the middle then had climbed out, and taken a giant leap from the side, upending his friend and popping a hole in the damn float.

 Rob observed them now, sitting side by side on the opposite couch clutching juice boxes and staring, bleary-eyed at the television screen. Their dynamic was intense, but Rob believed they’d stay friends a long time. That or become Greek myth-level mortal enemies.

“So,” he said to Adam who was fiddling around with a game controller. “What’s this about you and your sister giving your mom such a hard time?”

“Huh?” The teenage boy startled and looked at him. Rob had only met Adam’s father one time, at Mo and Jack’s father’s wake but he remembered the guy being handsome, calm, cool and collected in his Air Force uniform. Adam looked more or less exactly like him, if a slightly lighter shade of brown.

“You know what I’m talking about Adam. Your mom has been through a lot and has worked hard to raise you and Ella. You’re nearly sixteen now. She’s allowed to have a life that includes ….”

“Excuse me, but, is this any of your business?” The young man set his jaw. Rob had to admire him for saying what he thought, but, then again, the kid was related to Jack.

“Well, I guess it could be argued that it isn’t,” Rob picked up the other controller. “However, I consider your mom and uncle part of my family. So…I’m gonna trump your argument against it being my business and ask you again. Don’t you guys think you should lighten up?”

Adam looked down, but Rob saw the flash of anger in his dark eyes. He kept quiet, hoping the kid would open up. He was quietest of all the rambunctious crew that got thrown together regularly. Ella was a ringleader of trouble, followed closely by the Katie/Maddie set, and the little boys were just learning how much fun it could be to upset various apple carts. Adam however, remained aloof, mature, reliable, and quiet—like his father, Jack would say. Rob had a split second of wonder about how his and Lila’s second child would fit into the mix.

Rob put a hand on Adam’s shoulder. “I am not trying to tell you what to do but if you want to talk…,” he shrugged, flipped on the soccer game and let the kid have his space. After about twenty minutes of getting his ass thumped, Rob groaned then tossed the controller down. “I used to be really good at this game.”