Friends Forever (11 page)

But if Andy got good news, Izzie got bad news over the holidays. Her father came home with a new girlfriend, and she could tell instantly that this one meant something to him. No other woman since her parents’ divorce really had. Her name was Jennifer, she was a social worker he had met at work. She had gone to Columbia and come to San Francisco two years before Jeff met her, and she was thirty-eight years old. Jeff was fifty-five. They had a seventeen-year age gap that Izzie thought was ridiculous.
Jennifer was a nice woman, and she could see why her father liked her. She was smart, pretty, she had a great body, and a good sense of humor, and she looked about twenty-five years old. He took Jennifer and Izzie out for a Mexican dinner in the Mission, and Izzie realized that she spoke fluent Spanish, and had grown up in Mexico, because her father was a diplomat, so she had a little touch of the exotic about her that made her even more appealing. She was smarter and more sophisticated than anyone Jeff had gone out with, and Izzie recognized instantly that she was a serious threat to the peaceful life she had shared with her father for the past five years. She saw her mother every once in a while, but Katherine was spending most of her time in New York now, for the corporation she worked for, and all pretense of joint custody had gone out the window. And Izzie liked her life with her father exactly the way it was.

After dinner, Jeff took Jennifer home, then came to see Izzie in her room. She had been talking on the phone to Gabby, and she hung up the minute her father walked in.

“So what do you think, Iz?” he asked, about Jennifer, and Izzie hesitated before she spoke. She wanted to be careful about what she said. She didn’t want to hurt her father’s feelings, but she thought Jennifer was too young for him. She had mentioned at dinner that she wanted to have children, and Izzie had nearly choked. As far as she was concerned, her father was much too old to start another family, at least she hoped so.

“Don’t you think she’s a little young, Dad?”

“Not really. We get along very well.” He didn’t look worried.

“How long have you known her?” He had never mentioned her
before, until she suddenly appeared. But there had been stars in his eyes every time he looked at her during dinner. It scared the hell out of Izzie. Jennifer was a major threat to her.

“About three months. We worked on a case together, a discrimination case at a day-care center. She really knows her stuff.”

“That’s nice,” Izzie said, pretending to be calmer than she was. “She’s a really nice person and I can see why you like her. I just think she’s going to want to get married and have kids one of these days, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I’m not too old to have kids,” he said, looking insulted, as his daughter felt a cold chill run down her spine. She felt new compassion for Billy when it did. “Marilyn is having twins, for God’s sake, with her new husband, and Billy is the same age you are.”

“Yeah, but they’re in their forties. You’re fifty-five. Would you want more kids, Dad?” she asked, with a tremor in her voice.

“I’ve never thought about it. Maybe with the right person, I might. I don’t know. You’re going to be gone pretty soon, and it’s going to be very lonely around here.” He looked sorry for himself as he said it, and Izzie felt terror in her heart.

“For God’s sake, Dad, get a dog, don’t have a baby. That’s a lifetime commitment, and you hardly know this woman.”

He seemed stubborn suddenly as he replied, “I like her a lot.”

“Then date her, but don’t marry her and have kids. I just think she’s a little young for you, that’s all.”

“She’s very mature for her age. She thinks like someone my age.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Izzie corrected him. “She thinks like someone my age. I felt like I was talking to a kid all through dinner.”

“She’s very versatile and good with people,” he insisted, and Izzie saw she wasn’t getting anywhere.

Izzie couldn’t wait to talk to Sean about it the next day, and she was worried.

“I think my dad met someone he really likes. She’s seventeen years younger than he is, and all I need is for him to marry some bimbo while I’m away.”

“Is she a bimbo?” Sean looked surprised. Izzie’s father had always seemed very sensible to him, like his own parents. He couldn’t imagine him running off with some disco girl.

“No, she isn’t. That’s the trouble. I even like her.” She sighed as she looked at Sean. “I just don’t want anything to change, for us, or them. It’s hard enough leaving without worrying about everything being different when you come back.”

“It won’t be,” he reassured her. “Your father loves you, and he’s a great guy. He’s not going to do anything stupid while you’re gone. He probably just likes her as a date.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Izzie said, but she wasn’t so sure. She knew how lonely her father had been at times in the last five years, and there had been no one serious in his life.

“Just relax, everything’s going to be fine. They’ll probably stop dating by next week,” Sean comforted her, when she complained to him again about her father and the new woman.

“Whatever,” Izzie said. It was hard to worry about everything, and impossible to control their parents’ lives. Marilyn was proof of that. Divorced, remarried, and pregnant with twins all within a year. Things had moved very fast in Billy’s life, and they both knew he was still upset.

“How’s your brother, by the way?” she asked him about Kevin. Sean didn’t talk about him often, but Izzie knew that he was still worried about him, more than he admitted.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “I get a weird feeling about him. He looks okay, but I don’t think he is. He acts like he’s sneaking around again, and he’s in such a good mood every time I see him, I get the feeling he could be doing drugs again. I hope not. He’s working for my dad right now. But if he screws that up, my dad will be really pissed.”

Izzie nodded, and they talked about other things then. They all wanted to go skiing in Tahoe over the winter vacation, and the O’Haras had offered to let them stay at their house for a few days. Izzie had her last college applications to do too, and the vacation would be over before any of them could catch their breath. They were headed straight for graduation in six months, which was the scariest thought of all.

T
he O’Haras gave the whole class a graduation barbecue in their backyard. It was a major event. Everyone was invited, and they hired a chef from Jack’s San Francisco restaurant to cook steaks, hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, and everything that went with them. It was a terrific party, and everyone had a ball. They were a wholesome, happy group, although a few people arrived drunk and weren’t allowed in and were sent home in cabs. The O’Haras were vigilant about it. They had had T-shirts made for everyone, with the names of the entire graduating class on them. Everyone put on a T-shirt as they came in, and the Big Five stuck together, eating and talking and laughing. Sean thought Billy was high and asked him about it, but Billy denied it. When Sean asked Izzie what she thought, she said he seemed fine to her, and Sean was relieved.

Marilyn and Jack came by for a little while too. She had been on bed rest for a month, just at the very end, but with her due date only five days away, Helen had let her get up so she could attend
graduation and the surrounding events. They knew that both babies were girls, and Marilyn said she had never been so ready in her life. Having Brian had been a breeze compared to this, but she had no regrets, they were thrilled, and Jack was waiting on her hand and foot, which she said was a good thing since she hadn’t seen her feet since Christmas, and she was so big now, she couldn’t get out of bed without help. He was being wonderful to her. And Billy had stopped complaining about it. He was focusing on school, and leaving home a month early for football practice at USC.

Judy was planning on taking Gabby to L.A. in August to help her find an apartment and get everything set up for her. Michelle was looking a little better, after her treatment at the clinic, and Judy had told Connie and Marilyn that she was better now, although she didn’t look much heavier than she was before. She seemed happier and more relaxed as she hung out with Gabby’s group. Judy and Gabby were busy making plans for L.A., and Michelle would be staying with a friend while they were away, setting up Gabby’s apartment.

Izzie had been accepted at UCLA and every other school she’d applied to, so she had a choice in the end, but UCLA was her favorite school, and she loved knowing that Gabby and Billy would be nearby. They promised to see each other whenever they could. And Sean had decided on George Washington University in Washington, D.C., because he said he wanted to major in political science and foreign policy, with a minor in Spanish. He had a real gift for languages and had won the Spanish prize in their class. He didn’t tell anyone except Izzie, but he was trying to tailor his major
to what was required to apply to the FBI. He had been carefully studying the qualifications they looked for and reading about them online. Connie and Mike thought he’d chosen an ambitious program and were sad he was going so far away, but it was a wonderful opportunity to see more of the world than home base. He had turned down Georgetown, Columbia, and MIT and insisted that GW was the right school for him. He was a very smart kid.

Kevin showed up at the graduation party, and said he had plans and was meeting friends later. But he was much older than Sean and the others, and a bunch of high school seniors celebrating their graduation wasn’t his cup of tea. He left very quickly.

The party in the O’Haras’ backyard went on until three in the morning, although they had to turn the music down at two. The food kept on coming, they didn’t serve alcohol since no one was legally old enough to drink, but the kids had a great time anyway, and even Marilyn and Jack stayed till midnight to keep the O’Haras company. And Izzie’s dad, Jeff Wallace, came with his girlfriend, Jennifer. Izzie didn’t look too pleased when she saw her, but she was always polite to her. Helen Weston came, and had to leave after a few minutes for a delivery, but Andy’s dad didn’t come, he never did. He was too busy with his practice, or books. Helen spotted Marilyn on the way out and stopped to say hello.

“What are you doing here?” Marilyn asked her in surprise. She very rarely attended school-related events and didn’t have time. She was always working.

“I dropped by to see how you’re doing, and I thought I’d do a home delivery while I was here, between hot dogs and hamburgers,” she teased. “How are you feeling?” she asked her more seriously.
Marilyn looked pretty good, but her feet and ankles were swollen like balloons.

“Like I’m going to explode any second,” Marilyn said with a grin, as Jack stood with his arm around her.

“Well, keep your legs crossed till tomorrow afternoon. We all want to be at the graduation tomorrow. I’ll deliver you in the parking lot if I have to.”

“That’ll work,” Marilyn said, looking relaxed. She had contractions constantly now as her body got ready for the big event, but none that were worrying her particularly. They were frequent but not hard, just practice runs, although Jack was watching her like a hawk. He was afraid of not getting her to the hospital in time, although Helen had reassured him. They went home just after midnight, and Marilyn got a good sleep that night, in spite of how uncomfortable she was. She was used to it by now. She felt as though her body had been taken over by aliens. But she could hardly wait to see her little girls. They had already named them. Dana and Daphne.

When all the parents had left, except Connie and Mike, who were discreetly supervising, the Big Five disappeared one by one for a few minutes and slipped away to Sean’s room. They had talked about doing something more dramatic, like getting a tattoo that said “Friends 4Ever,” just as they had carved in their school desks for years, but Gabby said her mother would kill her, and Izzie didn’t want a tattoo either. The boys had been more enthused about the idea. Instead, as she so often did, Izzie came up with a compromise solution that satisfied them all. It was less impressive than a tattoo, but they agreed that it would mark the occasion and
seal the pact between them. Prepared as usual, Izzie had brought the supplies. And as soon as Sean closed and locked the door to his room behind them, Izzie brought out a package of sewing needles, and handed one to each of them with alcohol pads she had brought too. They looked appropriately solemn, as Izzie made a little speech and spoke their vows. It had been her idea, and all had agreed, even though at first the boys had thought it a little silly and would have preferred the tattoo.

“We are gathered here,” she said officially, “to make a solemn vow to each other, to never forget each other, never lose each other, always be there for each other, wherever we are. We promise to love each other till the day we die and be best friends forever.” She paused then and looked at each of them, as they watched her with serious expressions. “Now we all say ‘I do,’ ” she prompted them, and a chorus of “I do” filled the room, and then she pointed to the sewing needles. They knew what they had to do. Only she and Gabby used the alcohol wipes—the boys didn’t bother. They each pricked their finger, and as a bright bead of blood appeared, they pressed their fingers together and said the familiar mantra aloud. “Friends forever!” they said loudly, and then Izzie handed each of them a superhero Band-Aid, which she helped them put on. She was still taking care of them thirteen years after kindergarten. She put a Wonder Woman Band-Aid on Gabby’s finger, and Batman on the boys as they laughed, and then they all hugged. The blood pact had been made. They had been planning it for months.

“Okay, you guys, we’re done. It’s official,” Izzie said, satisfied with the result. They left the room as a group, each wearing their
superhero Band-Aid, and went back downstairs talking and laughing. Connie saw them as she came out of the kitchen.

“Uh-oh, what have you all been up to?” They looked victorious and euphoric, but she was pleased to see that all of them were sober.

“Nothing. They were signing my yearbook,” Sean was quick to answer.