The Reunion (12 page)

“You know Tommy it's about what you want and not what you have.  No matter what anyone says.  Stuff is stuff.  It all boils down to the necessities.  Food, shelter and sex.  And we're probably the only three people in this hotel not having sex right now.”  Ty pushed away his coffee.  “You know I would have had to break your arms if you hadn’t come to your senses.”

“Yeah.”  Tommy drank his whisky straight.  “Of course then she jumped right out of the frying pan into the fucking fire.  I wouldn’t have taken her to bed.  I don’t think.  But, I would have tried to get her naked.  This guy’s screwing her senseless.”

“Not like she hasn’t needed someone.”  Ty laughed.  “The kid’s asleep, you checked right?”

“He fell asleep within ten minutes of our getting in here.”  Tommy poured another.  “Has she been with anyone in the last couple of years?  I’ve kind of lost touch.”

“She's never been very forthcoming with that kind of information.  Toni would know.”  He turned to the woman curled on the sofa.  “Toni?  Has she passed out or is she dead?”

“Neither, she’s asleep.”  Tommy looked at her face.  “She gets that cute little grin when she’s asleep.  It’s the nastiest thing I’ve ever seen.  The woman should be enshrined.”

“She’s your sister.  I’m not even related to the woman.”  Ty looked at her and sighed.

“Don’t get any ideas or I’ll have to kill you.  No.  Pete would have to kill you.  I can’t stand right now.” 

“I’m going to bed.  Do you think she would mind if I took all her clothes off and stuck her in bed with me?  Actually she doesn’t have that much on, I only left them the dresses, matching thong and the shoes.”

“You’re joking!”  Tommy looked at his sister.  “She’d probably never miss the dress or the thong but you better leave the shoes.”

“They match the dress.”

“You have taste man.  I’ll give you that.”  Tommy looked at Toni.  “So that’s all Em had too.  Shit, we would have had sex then.  I don’t think I could have gotten to the thong and not fucked her brains out.”

“You’re such a romantic.”  Ty went over and picked Toni up.  “I’m putting her in with the kid.  He’s safe and there’s a second bed in there.”

“Good thinking.  I’m crawling to the couch.  Don’t trip over me on your way to your room.”  Ty carried Toni in to the far bed in the smaller bedroom and pulled back the sheets.  He removed her shoes and thought seriously for over a minute about pulling the dress off with his eyes closed but decided to pull the sheet over her and go out before the image of her in the gold colored lace thong only.  Oh, he needed a cold shower.  He turned off the video game and figured he’d have to have “that” talk with the kid in the morning. 

Sometime between three and seven Tommy decided he needed a bed and moved Mike into the bed with Toni and wrapped him in the bedspread.  He then went to sleep in the other bed.  When Ty stumbled into the living room at seven and found the whisky and swore never to drink again, couldn’t find Tommy, hoped Tommy wasn’t wandering the halls, and couldn’t find aspirin.  He called room service and ordered a coffee percolator, juice, aspirin and pastries, then asked that they let themselves in as he was going to drown himself.  He got into the shower and tried hot then switched to cold then back to hot.  He decided that it was about as awake as he could get without putting a bullet in his brain to relieve the pain and found the aspirin and juice as well as a 20-cup percolator.  Thanking the caffeine gods, he downed what he assumed were four aspirins, half a croissant and started on his first cup of coffee.  Toni came out of the bedroom looking like a siren.  She was wearing Tommy’s tux jacket and the damn shoes.

“Coffee?”  Toni whispered rubbing her eyes with a fist and Ty poured some cream in and handed her a cup and two aspirins.

“I can’t remember did you pass out or just fall asleep?”

“Fell asleep.”  Toni yawned.  “Why was I in bed with Mike?”

“You were in bed with Mike?”  Ty smiled fiendishly.  “Is he awake yet?  I want details.”

“Where’s that courtesy robe?”  He pointed to the bathroom and groaned as he watched her walk into the bathroom.  The woman was killing him.  He heard the shower and sat there picturing her in the shower.  He should go check on her…  Damn it.

“Where’s Toni?”  Mike stumbled into the living room.

“I hate you kid.  You slept with her?”

“She took the pillows.”  He yawned.  “I didn’t have any pillows.  I was using her arm as a pillow.  She was all over me.”

“You aren’t thinking along the same lines as I am kid.”  Ty grinned and opened his eyes.  “Do you drink coffee yet?”

“Sweet and milky.”  Mike walked into the bathroom and then came back out after using the toilet.  Toni would have screamed the roof off if he had done that, Ty thought and handed the kid the coffee.

“See if that’s right, otherwise I’ll have to pour it down you and start over.”

“This is great.  Is that raspberry cream cheese?”  Mike grabbed a pastry, his coffee and sat down at the table.

“You’re too good a kid to be hanging out with the likes of us, Mike.”  Ty picked up the other half of the croissant and sat with him at the table.

“Has your mother dated much?”

“Don’t try and picture Mom naked Ty.  I’m still mad about Tommy and the cab fare thing.”

“Not that way kid.  I mean has she dated, been around any men?”

“Well the guys at work and Uncle Ham and Uncle Curtis.  You guys.”

“That would be a resounding NO.”

“She’s busy with work and school stuff; she really doesn’t have much time.”

“You’re not actually a forty year old in a midget’s body are you?”  Mike laughed.  “It looks like your mom has a boyfriend.”

“Mr. Brockton?”

“Yeah, that guy.”  Ty rested his head on his thumbs and pressed them into his eye sockets trying to press the pain out his ears.  “They’re trying to see if they’d get along and are going to be spending some time together.”

“Like dating and stuff.”

“And stuff.”  He opened his eyes and looked at Mike.  He really was twelve.  Kids are older now then when he was that age.  He didn’t even know the parts were different, well he did but not how nice it was that they were different until he was almost 15.  “You know about sex and stuff right?”

“The mechanics or how it's part of the relationship?”

“Do I pay you hourly or by session?”  He smiled at Mike.  “Let’s do the relationship part first.”

“I kind of know how both parts work but not why.”

“Why is too hard to explain.”  He opened his eyes and Toni was standing there in the doorway watching them.  He sighed.  “Sit down honey.  I might need you to take over.  I’m floundering here and he’s too smart for me.”  Mike laughed again.  “Your mom and Brockton have this attraction thing going.”

“So they’re in our room having sex.”  Mike said and Toni choked on her coffee. 

“Yeah you’ve handled things
perfectly
.”  Toni laughed.  “Mike, when people like each other in a special way they have a more physical relationship.  Your mom hasn’t had very many relationships and we wanted to make sure you understand that this has nothing to do with you and whether she wants to replace you or change the relationship that you two have.  It’s that she’s becoming involved with someone and you haven’t had that in
your
relationship before.”

“Yeah what she says.”  Ty sighed.  “I would have gotten close eventually.”

“By way of Antarctica Ty?”  Toni leaned over and kissed Ty.  “You were doing fine from what I saw.”  She looked back at Mike.  “How we doing honey?  Got any questions or immediate concerns?”

“Is he going to live with us or are we going to live with him or something?”

“Probably not right away.”  Ty answered.  “They’re going to probably take things slowly because they’ll want to see how you take to the idea.”  Mike just shrugged. 

“I don’t care.  As long as he doesn’t make her cry or punch her or anything.”

“I doubt if he will.”  Ty said. "At least not at the beginning."  He started thinking of the pizza and how he was going to pay her back.  Maybe hitting had some merit.  Nah!

“That one man slapped her.”

“What?”  Ty and Toni looked at him. 

“What man?”  She asked.

“The one that looked kind of like Ryan and You.”  He pointed to Ty.  “He was a big guy.”

“When was this Mike?”  Toni asked and Mike shrugged.

“I don’t know.  It was a while ago.  I was maybe five or six.”  Ty and Toni looked at each other.  “He said he’d been looking for us.  He was really mad about something.  He kept yelling she was lying about something.  Then he hit her, and she took me to the other room while they yelled at each other some more.  After he was gone, she cried for a while then said he wouldn’t be back and not to worry.”  He’d seen his father, Toni thought.  Mike had seen his father.  Tears filled her eyes and Ty shook his head.

“I don’t think they’ll start off yelling and hitting each other.”  Ty assured him.  “They might have arguments and fight like we do with your mom but they won’t hurt each other.”

“But they do in movies and books.”

“And that’s what can happen in relationships.  It’s not all romance and flowers.  You’re not stupid and we forget sometimes you're ONLY 12.  We take it for granted that you know all this stuff already.”  Toni took Mike's hand.  “You have us to talk to or your mom any time.  Any time you need to talk we’re here.  You know that right?”

“Yeah.”  Mike smiled.  “That’s why our family is so cool.  Nobody has a family like ours where everyone is from somewhere interesting.  Like the pilot in Alaska or the twins that work in the Gulf of Mexico.  Or you and Ryan and the restaurant and Ty and the studio, games and stuff.”  Mike got more coffee.  “Mom likes her computers and working with Uncle Ham and Uncle Curtis and the guys at the shop and she likes that they call her Connally like one of the guys.”

“Your mom is a very special person.”

“I like her too.”  Mike watched them.  “You don’t have to worry.  She can take care of herself.  She’s pretty strong too.  Even if she is short.”  They all laughed.  “She’s still hasn’t found a good way of getting away from you Ty.  She’s working on it though.  She said she was going to try a Taser or hand buzzer or something.”

“Thanks for the warning.”  Ty realized his headache was gone for the most part and he was still filling his eyes and mind with Toni.

“Get that look off your face brah or they’ll never find your remains.”  Tommy leaned on the door jam.  “Is that coffee?  That big fucking pot is coffee?  You’ve saved my life.”  He stumbled into the bathroom then stuck his head out a second later.  “Hey Toni toss me that robe.  It’ll make his day.”  She smiled, stood up but walked into Ty’s room and came out in one of his shirts and dropped the robe inside the bathroom door.  Ty just sighed.

“And where
is
my suitcase, baby?”  Toni smiled at Ty.  Tracing her finger along his jaw from his ear to his chin.  His jaw slacked slightly; he stared into those amber cat-eyes then jumped up.  He went into his room and came back out again. 

“On the bed.  You can get dressed now.”

“Thanks.  I will in a minute.”  She finished her coffee. “Em’s in there too?”

“Yep.  I’ll go down in a few minutes and deliver it.”

“I’ll deliver it.”  Toni told him. "And I'll grab some clothes for you sweetheart."  She ruffled Mike's hair.

“He didn’t come back last night.”  Marshall was sitting calmly at the computer while Cummins paced.  “What if something happened to him?”

“Nothing happened.  He’s just crashed somewhere else.”  Marshall couldn't believe how stupid Cummins could be sometimes.

“Should we call someone?  Should we notify someone?”

“Shaw, put two and two together, will you?  Haven’t you seen what’s been going on the last two days?”

“Did you get Connally’s email?  She has the update plus new perimeters attached.”

“Really?”  He’d look at it in a minute.  “We’re not his keeper.  He’s a big boy.  We’re not responsible for where he is or
who
he’s with.”  He said the last slowly hoping Cummins would catch on.

“He’s with her?”  Cummins smiled after a minute.  “When she was dancing with the old guy, her mother was crying, and Brockton looked like he was going to take the man apart.  After he’d spent all that time talking her into coming back.”

“She was upset.  Did you hear what started the fight?”

“No I was over at the table talking to Ham.” Cummins looked back at Marshall.  "Ham saw it coming and Sarah was already on her way to the table when they carried her out of the room."

“It wasn’t pretty.”  Marshall suddenly felt like laughing.  “They didn't exactly carry her, more dragged her.  That's quite some family.  With a family like that who needs enemies?  Or much of anything else.”  He shook his head and started studying the new data.

“I’m glad I only have one aunt, three cousins and am an only child.”

“That explains a lot.”  Marshall smiled.  “The dynamics of extended large families with all these steps, multi-marriage and halves would make a fine sociology doctoral thesis.  That they all get along and seem so close is amazing to me.  My father hasn’t talked to his parents in probably three years and has no idea where his brother is.”  He suddenly wanted to see his sister's family.

“It’s too large and confusing.”  Cummins was frustrated again.  “It’s amazing to see how fast she comes up with these solutions.  And what is this thing with the practical jokes?  I feel like I’ve walked into the middle of a video game.”

"He seems to like hiding her clothes and she pays him back with food.  Strange."  Marshall rubbed his eyes.  “You know who the big guy is don’t you?”

“Ty?”  Cummins shrugged. “He’s Ty.”

“Tyler LeBeau the CEO of LB&R Enterprises.  He’s probably richer than Brockton.”

“She’s a Connally and there were Texas Connallys there last night.  Is that the same as Connally Chemical and the Senator?”

“Probably cousins.  I found out the Starks are in the oil business.  I can only assume this is all part of the oil family too.”

“And Josh is just a school teacher and she works in a computer job.”  Cummins shook his head and started seriously reading the update.  “Seriously large, strange family.”