Something to Talk About (33 page)

“Are you going?” she asked crisply.

“Yeah, I seem to have agreed to show up. For one split second it seemed like the easiest thing to do, just face them all at once and get it over with. Now I’ve had a moment of clarity, the thing we shrinks are so fond of when it comes to our patients. My moment of clarity is telling me that this was the worst idea I’ve ever had and now I can’t get out of it without (a) prolonging the inevitable and (b) looking like a schmuck. The schmuck thing is winning, by the way,” he said and stared out the window, lost in thought.

Miss Parker was silent as she inspected her silverware, making sure it was absolutely spotless. She slowly took the deep, gusty breath of the martyr and said, “Well, I guess I’ll just have to cancel my run, although I have to tell you I wasn’t planning on having this assignment encroach on my social life. What time are you picking me up?”

“Picking you up?” John asked blankly.

“Oh, so I have to come with you and drive, too?” she
said in disgust. “I really need to renegotiate my contract. I’m ready to order now, where did that waiter get to?”

John was speechless with gratitude. As hard as it was to believe, Miss Parker was
his very own
special miracle for the night.

***

Adam and Alicia finally left her parents’ house, glowing with love and happiness. She couldn’t stop looking at her ring and telling Adam how much she loved it.

“Adam, this is the most amazing ring I’ve ever seen,” she said with her hand extended for better viewing. “I love you so much, Adam, I can’t wait to marry you.”

Adam reached for her hand as he drove the Range Rover towa
rd Andrew’s house. “I feel exactl
y the same way, baby. And f
rom the looks of it, so does you
r aunt
Gigi
. She was pretty excited about the prospect of a wedding,” he said with a smile.

“Ha! That’s because she has her heart set on planning it. Honey, you need to get ready for this because it’s going to be a production, trust me. Remember that movie I’m so crazy about,
My
BigFat
Greek Wedding?
Well, this is going to be My Big Fat Cuban Wedding, so brace yourself,” she said with amusement.

They talked about the upcoming wedding, about the reactions of her family, which ranged from total joy on the part of her parents, to calm happiness from Mari
el
l
e
, and affectionate teasing from her brothers. Adam didn’t tell her that Carlos and Raphael had taken him aside while everyone was talking and laughing and made him a promise that for every tear their sister shed, he would shed two. They said it with pleasant smiles on their faces, but he knew they were completely serious and he knew it was because of how
Marielle’s
husband had treated her. He had a sister of his own as well as sisters-in-law and dearly loved nieces, so he couldn’t blame them for being protective.

It didn’t take very long to reach Indian Village, but when they approached Renee and Andrew’s house Adam was puzzled by all the cars.

“What in the world is going on here? Where’d that limo come from?”

Built just before the turn of the century by the lumber barons of the era, the huge homes in Indian Village didn’t have driveways. Most of the houses were relatively close together with only paved walkways between them. People either parked their cars on the street or used the garages that were behind the houses and accessed through the alleys that intersected most blocks in the community. Now the street was lined with cars, most of which he recognized. It looked like his entire family was in attendance. He and Alicia had to park a block and a half away and walk back to the house. When they reached the house, they went around to the back and were shocked into silence by
what they
beheld
. Almost the enti
re family was there, Big Benny and Martha and all his brothers and their children and most surprising of all, the aunts from
Idlewild
.

After greeting everyone and giving the aunts special hugs and kisses, Adam had to ask what was going on. Alan was happy to explain.

“Well,
Pop
just decided to go get the aunts and bring them to us, so naturally we’ve found a way to turn it into a party. Our wives are out shopping for food right now and we’re having a big cookout at Donnie and Angelique’s house.”

“What a coincidence, us having a party and something to celebrate,” Adam said with a grin. “Alicia and I are officially engaged.”

Alicia blushed pink while the aunts all admired her ring and wished her well. Big Benny added his congratulations along with a big smacking kiss on the cheek.

“Well, it’s about time you two got together. I was beginning to think we were going to have to work some roots on y’all to make you see sense.” He beamed down at her with pride and affection all over his face. Alicia hugged him and returned the kiss on the cheek. He was a
demanding, manipulative, and totally exasperating old man, but she loved him, if for no other reason than he’d fathered the man she would love forever.

She and Adam decided to go over to Donnie and Angelique’s to see what help they could be in putting the party together. All of Adam’s brothers congratulated them in turn and admired his taste in wives as well as jewelry, and the atmosphere was full a love and happiness until Andre stopped them as they were leaving.

“Yeah, this is definitely going to be a big night.
All of us together with our newfound aunts
and
our newfound brother.
This is going to be a night we won’t forget,” he said with a big grin.

***

“Allie, I’m not going and that’s final. There is nothing you can say that’s going to make me change my mind. I can’t do it; I’m not going to do it. If they want to have him in their lives it’s fine, but I can’t do it.” Adam was out on the roof garden with his back to Alicia, looking at the Detroit River but seeing nothing.

Alicia would have felt a lot better if Adam was yell
ing or screaming, but he wasn’t.  H
e was speaking in the calm, dead voice she’d come to know and dread over the years. This was the Adam who could shut the world out and keep it there indefinitely. They’d been having the same conversation for hours, going around and around about his flat refusal to go anywhere near the party if John was going to be there. Alicia had just about given up the fight; there was no point in trying to persuade him to do something he so obviously didn’t want to do.

“Okay, fine, Adam. If you don’t want to go there’s no sense trying to make you. Just drop me at home and you can have an evening all to
yourself
,” she said
resigned
l
y.

That got a reaction from him; he turned around and looked at her with something akin to panic in his eyes. “You’re leaving me,” he said hoarsely.

“Adam, don’t be ridiculous, I’m not leaving you,
I
just need to go home. I haven’t been there for two days and I need to put my things away, I need to read my mail and check my messages and just chill. You’re not
the only one who can use some ti
me alone, you know.” She tried not to sound angry but she was so close to tears she couldn’t seem to help it.

They gathered her things and drove over to the condo without saying a word. Adam turned off the ignition in the parking lot and they sat there for a minute or two, the silence thick between them. Finally Alici
a spoke and her words were exactl
y what she’d been trying to tell him all along.

“Adam, it’s not important to me that you and John become best friends or whatever. It doesn’t matter to me that your father wins this round, whatever that means. Yes, you might be doing something that he wants you to do, but so what? What’s important to me is that you not lose your family. Family is all we really have; it’s all that’s left when everything else has fallen away.
Businesses fail, the things we possess get lost or stolen or just become obsolete, but family is everything.

“I just don’t want what happened to Benny to happen to you, Adam. I don’t want you to go through life lonely and bitter because you can’t forgive your father. A life filled with regret isn’t a life worth living, if you ask me.” She stopped talking, both because she was afraid she’d said too much and because there was a huge painful lump in her throat.

“Just remember, baby, I’m your family too and I’m not too easy to lose. I’ll be here for the long haul, nagging and complaining and telling you what to do until we’re both older than
Emmaline
,” she said with a shaky laugh.

Adam gave her a wan smile in return but couldn’t manage to say anything. It took next to no time to get all her things in
side
and Alicia was genuinely sorry when everything was put in the condo. She didn’t like leaving things this way, but what else could she do? They hugged each other tightly and Adam gave her a quick kiss before saying he’d call her later. She didn’t want to, but she stood in the doorway and watched him as he walked away.

A few minutes later her cell phone rang and she answered it eagerly, but it was Bryant Porter. “I just got into town and what do you think I found out?” he said playfully. “You two have been real busy since I left, haven’t you? I just saw you a few weeks ago and before I can even start my summer teaching gig you two are engaged. Well, congratulations are in order but I’ll be giving them to you tonight
.
You
know I’m invited to the party, right?”

Alicia closed her eyes tightl
y and prayed for deliverance. How could things possibly get more complicated?

Chapter Twenty-one

John couldn’t help himself;
he knew his mouth was hanging open, but there was nothing he could do about it. Miss Parker had just knocked on his door and her appearance was nothing short of amazing. She was wearing a white dress with a short full skirt and a wide belt that served to emphasize her tiny waist. The dress buttoned down the front with red buttons that looked like cherries and she was wearing a pair of flirty-looking red backless shoes with a sexy heel. The sleeveless dress had a wide collar that set off her face with its chestnut
skin,
skin that John just noticed was absolutely flawless,
poreless
and soft like a child’s. Her hair was swept up into a high ponytail that hung down to her shoulders and now that she wasn’t wearing those intimidating glasses he could see that her eyes were a
soft golden brown. She was wear
ing big gold hoop earrings that accentuated her
pretty face and seemed to give
her a sensual gleam.

“Are you ready? You’re not going to make me drive
and
keep me waiting, are you?”

Yes, it was the same Miss Parker. She might look completely different, but she still had the same cranky disposition. He said he was ready to leave and she turned on her heel so he could see the dress had a halt
er top, which displayed her tautl
y muscled back to its best advantage. For some reason the words to “Sun Dress” by the
Phat
Cat Players started echoing in his head.

They took off at a fast clip; Miss Parker was apparen
tl
y an honors graduate of the Jeff Gordon School of Driving. She tossed a piece of paper at him and tersely remarked that it was driving directions she had downloaded from
Mapquest
.

“You have one job and that’s to keep us on course,” she said in her usual charmless tone of voice.

John knew he was risking his life, but he felt compelled to ask as he watched her ja
z
z
y ponytail flipping in the breeze from the open window, “Is all that your hair?”

“What are you, the hair police? Of course it’s mine, you want to see the receipt?”

She looked at him and, incredibly, flashed him a wicked grin. John was floored. Miss Parker had dimples! In minutes they had reached the expressway and his only thought was to stay alive as she demonstrated a talent for fast driving that was also life-threatening in his opinion. At least he didn’t have time to worry about what awaited him at the party; his only concern was getting there in one piece.

***

Alicia was also trying not to worry, but she was trying not to worry about her man. She had taken a shower and was painting her toenails while she talked to Roxy on the phone.

“
Rox
, it’s just too deep for me, it really is. On the one hand I completely understand how Adam is feeling, but on the other, I don’t want him to end up estranged from his family like his father did. But I can only go so far with the advice and support, you know? At some point it gets to be nagging or mothering or something and I
just
can’t do that
.
What
would you do,
Rox
?”