One of the Guys (21 page)

Lucy
nodded excitedly. “I told you, I don’t want to go overboard with this. I want
it to be as easy and simple as possible.”

“Well,
you’re definitely making my job easy!” Kate said, grinning.

The doorbell
rang and Lucy jumped to her feet. “The food’s here!”
 
She grabbed some money off of the kitchen
counter and hurried to the front door.

Kate
stacked up the magazines and Lucy started unpacking the bag of food. The guys
came in from the living room and plates and takeout containers were passed
around. Soon, everyone was talking, laughing, and eating. Max plopped down in
the chair next to her and dug into his food. She kind of wanted to ask him why
he’d spoken to Jackson and Chris about their arrangement, but it didn’t really matter
anymore. Jackson had said things with the guys would either all blow over, or
they’d be really awkward. Things actually seemed to be okay.

*

           
On Christmas morning, Kate woke up
feeling like a kid again. Her parents had arrived two nights before. She’d
spent a lot of time with her mom shopping, wrapping last-minute presents, and
baking cookies. Lying in bed, she could smell piping hot cinnamon rolls in the
kitchen and she could just barely make out the faint strains of Christmas
carols playing on the radio. She stretched and then hopped out of bed, eager to
celebrate with her parents.

           
They were sitting at the counter,
each with a cup of coffee and a gooey cinnamon roll in front of them. She
hugged and kissed her mom and dad and wished them both a merry Christmas before
helping herself to one of the enormous pastries. For as long as she could
remember, her parents had always made her eat breakfast before opening any
presents. As a child, it had been an agonizing wait; now it was just nice to
have her parents back in the house with her.

           
The three of them chatted over
coffee before moving into the living room to exchange presents. Afterwards,
Kate and her mother returned to the kitchen to begin their preparations for Christmas
dinner that afternoon. Or, rather, Kate stood by and watched as her mother
began preparations for Christmas dinner.

           
“Will you guys stay for New Year’s
Eve?” Kate asked. “Lucy and Jackson are having a big party at their house.”

           
“I’d like to,” her mother said,
chopping celery. “Unfortunately, your father is itching to get back home.”

           
“Well, that’s too bad. Do you guys
have plans?”

           
“Up there?” she asked incredulously.
“What kind of plans would we have up there?
 
There’s nothing to do up there.
Nothing.”

           
Kate had to agree there, but she had
assumed that her parents enjoyed the solitude of country living. It sounded
like maybe her mom didn’t like it as much as she’d thought. “Maybe dad has
something up his sleeve that you don’t know about.”

           
Her mom paused, the knife hovering
over the ribs of celery on the cutting board. “You’re joking, right?
 
This is your father that we’re talking
about.”

           
Kate shrugged helplessly, unsure of
what to say. It was rare to hear her mother voice any form of unhappiness. “Well,
maybe…” she began.

           
“How are plans for Lucy’s wedding
coming along?
 
Has she started making any
plans?” her mother interrupted, changing the subject.

           
Sensing that her mother wanted to
change the subject, Kate launched into the details of Lucy’s wedding plans. They
both had a chuckle over Lucy’s pink prom/wedding dress, and they agreed that no
matter what, Lucy would always do things her way.

           
After awhile, when the turkey was
stuffed and in the oven and the kitchen was straightened up, Kate and her mom sat
out on the back porch with cups of coffee.
“And what about
you?”

           
Kate groaned inwardly. “What about
me?”

           
“Are you dating anyone now?
 
I haven’t heard you talk about anybody.”

           
Kate shook her head. “Things with
Chris didn’t really go anywhere,” she said. “Someone will come along
eventually, that’s what everybody says.”

           
Her mother nodded. “I just want you
to be happy.”

           
“I don’t necessarily need to date
anyone to be happy, do I?”

           
“No, but I’m sure it must be hard. Watching
Lucy and Jackson get together…”

           
Leave
it to my mom to hit the nail right on the head.
“I’m really happy for them,
though.
Really.”

           
“Of course you are.”

*

The
office doorbell jingled. “What are you doing here?” Julia asked, sticking her
head in Kate’s office.

Kate
was just shutting down her computer. “I wanted to finish my paperwork so that I
wouldn’t have to worry about it tomorrow or New Year’s Day. I’m all done,” she
said, holding out a stack of file folders. “What are you doing here?”

Julia
accepted the files and tucked them under her arm. “I didn’t want to call you
and bother you, what with your parents being in town… but I wanted to get away
for a little bit.”

“My
parents left this morning,” Kate said. “My dad couldn’t wait to get back to the
pigs and chickens,” she chuckled. “What’s up?
 
Alex’s parents still in town?”

Julia
nodded. “They’re staying ‘til after New Year’s.”

“Drinks?”
Kate suggested.

Julia’s
face lit up and she nodded again. “I’ll just go put these down!”

A
few minutes later, they were tucked away in the back corner of a little bar
just down the street. “I absolutely love Alex… but his family. Ugh!” Julia
groaned. “There’s not really anything I can do about them. Family is family.”

Kate
nodded. She’d heard Julia complain about Alex’s family on other occasions. Julia
didn’t seem to have anyone to vent to; she was so busy with work and taking
care of her daughter that Kate couldn’t recall her ever talking about friends
of hers. Kate wondered if she
had
any.

*

Kate
peeked inside the coolers to make sure there were still plenty of drinks. Lucy
and Jackson were busy in the kitchen, pulling treats out of the oven and piling
them on trays while talking to the guests that lingered around the counter,
waiting to get their hands on snacks. The New Year’s Eve party was in full
swing. The night was mild and the doors to the back porch were wide open. People
came and went and Kate realized that, along with old friends and the usual
crowd, there were several people that she didn’t recognize. Most of these
people seemed to be coupled up.

She
leaned against the door frame and surveyed the crowd on the back deck.

Max was there
with the blonde girl from the engagement party. Apparently, they’d been pretty
hot and heavy. Kate had heard from Jackson that Max had been missing poker night
a lot lately because he’d been going out with his new girlfriend. Kate had been
missing poker night, too, but mostly just because she was working or didn’t
feel like hanging around all the guys.

Chris
had also brought a date to the party, but neither Lucy nor Jackson seemed to
know anything about her. She was short, with long black hair, and eyelashes so
thick and dark that Kate wondered if they were false. She didn’t seem to talk
to anybody but
Chris,
and he seemed hesitant to leave
her side.

Even
Kevin was busy chatting up a girl at the table. Kate scanned the deck one last
time and then turned her gaze inside. Then she glanced down at her watch. Forty-five
minutes until midnight. She stifled a yawn.

“Bored?”
Jackson asked, coming up next to her and taking a swig from his bottle of beer.

“No,”
Kate said. “Sorry. I just don’t think I’m really in the mood to party.”

“What?
 
You?
 
Not in the mood to party?”

Kate
smiled up at him. “You know, I’m actually kind of tired. I think I might head
home. Beat all the traffic and crazy drunk drivers going home. Watch the ball
drop in bed.”

Jackson
studied her face suspiciously. “You okay?”

“I’m
fine!” she cried.
“Seriously.
I think I’m just going
to go.”

“Are
you okay to drive?” he asked.

“Yes.
Tell Lucy to call me tomorrow morning and I’ll come back to help you guys clean
up.”
 
Kate threw her arms around
Jackson’s waist and gave him a squeeze. “Have fun!”

“Happy
New Year!”
Jackson said.

Kate
hurried upstairs, grabbed her purse and keys out of Lucy and Jackson’s bedroom,
and made her way out of the house without anyone noticing her departure. Twenty
minutes later, as she turned down her street, all she could think about pulling
on her pajamas and curling up in bed. Then she saw the car in the driveway and
realized that there were lights on in the house.

Kate
pulled in next to the car - her mom’s - and rushed into the house.
“Mom?
 
Are you
here?
 
Mom?” she called.

“Hi,
dear,” Karen said, emerging from the hallway wearing a thick robe. She was
toweling her hair dry. She looked exhausted.

“What’s
going on?
 
Is dad here?
 
Did you guys come back for New Year’s?
 
Why didn’t you call me?”

Karen
shook her head and her lip trembled.

“Mom,
what’s wrong?”

Kate
stood, still clutching her purse and keys, and watched as her mom bent at the
waist, wrapped her hair in the towel, and settled herself on the couch. She
patted the cushion next to her, and Kate sat down stiffly, dropping her things
on the floor at her feet. “I left your father,” she said simply. “I couldn’t
stay in that house, in the middle of nowhere, any longer. I just couldn’t do
it.”

“You
left him?
 
What do you mean, you left
him?
 
You’re going back, right?”

Karen raised her
shoulders in a half-shrug and shook her head slightly. “I can’t go back there. I
hate it there.”

“I
thought you guys wanted to retire up there!” Kate gasped.

“I
wanted to retire. Not… get put out to pasture. There’s nothing to do up there.
Nothing.
I miss the beach. I miss our friends. I miss you.”

Kate
wrapped her arms around her mom and pulled her in for a hug. “I miss you, too,
Mom. What are you going to do?”

“Your
father knows where to find me,” she said.

“Are
you guys… getting divorced?”
 
Just saying
the words made Kate cringe, and she felt as if she was ten years old.

“That’s
up to your father,” Karen said. “He can either stop pretending to be Old
MacDonald on the farm and come back here with us, or…”

“With
us?”

“Well,
yes.
Here.
”

“You
mean you’re staying here?
 
Living
here?” Kate asked, leaning ever
so slightly away from her mother.

“It
is
my house.
Our
house.”
 
Karen said. “That’s okay,
isn’t it?”

“Um…”
Kate smiled. “It’ll have to be, right?
 
It’s your house.”

Kate
got up and went into her bedroom. She closed the door and sank against it,
wondering what the world was coming to. Her parents were separated?
 
Her mom was moving back in with her?
 
She looked around the room – the master
bedroom. When her parents moved out, she had immediately taken over the large
master bedroom. Would she have to surrender it to her mom?
 
What about having guys sleep over?
 
Not that she was really planning on having
any guys come over again anytime soon, but how would that work, with her mom at
home?

She
quickly shimmied out of her jeans and sweater and threw them in the closet. Then
she tugged on a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt that were lying on the floor.
When she rejoined her mother in the living room, she couldn’t help but smile. Her
mom had gotten Kate’s pint of Cherry Garcia out of the freezer and was sitting
cross-legged on the couch, eagerly digging in.

Kate
curled up next to her mom and turned on the TV, quickly finding Ryan
Seacrest
and the New Year’s Eve festivities. “Are you
okay?” she asked, taking the spoon from her mom and helping
herself
to a mouthful of ice cream.