Rock Bottom Girl(89)

We snacked and chatted until the kids were done with their meal. Once they were tucked into the living room in front of an animated movie with singing, we retired to the decked-out dining room.

There were cloth napkins with napkin rings that matched the gold and silver table-scape. Candles flickered on the table and buffet.

“This is Uncle Lew trying to class us up,” Jake explained, leading me to a chair.

“We keep fighting him on it,” Adeline said with a wink.

Lewis heaved a long-suffering sigh from his chair. “You heathens drive me to drink,” he insisted, reaching for his champagne glass.

Max reached out and covered his husband’s hand, and I saw the flirty little winks they sent each other. We ate and drank and made Louisa open fussy presents. She adored the dog painting from Jake and thanked me profusely for the bottle of wine and fun corkscrew. No one asked me the viability of my reproductive organs or hinted to Jake about engagement rings. They talked politics and current events and argued movies and music.

I observed the give and take between the relationships. Max tidied up behind Lewis who left little plates, crumpled napkins, and reading glasses in his wake. Adeline and Rob bickered constantly. But I noticed the soft looks and gentle touches. And no one could miss the way they both lit up whenever one of the kids barreled into the room to tattle on their siblings or show off what artistic creation they fashioned from pipe cleaners and Legos.

One of their girls, Livvy, took a liking to me and climbed up in my lap. She sucked her thumb and played with my hair while her brothers and sister sang Disney songs at the top of their lungs in the living room.

When no one made any “you’re a natural” cracks about me hanging out with a kid, I relaxed.

Together, the Westons had created a unit. A black, white, gay, straight, Irish, loud, confusing, beautiful family unit. I loved it.

Jake was clearly enjoying himself. At least until the “when Jake was a teenager” stories started.

“Tell me more,” I insisted after Max finished recounting the time he had to pick fifteen-year-old Jake up in the middle of nowhere when he’d tried to jump a hay bale with his mountain bike and ended up with a broken wrist and bike.

“It’s your turn,” Louisa insisted. “What’s your favorite memory of Jake from high school.”

I bit my lip and felt my cheeks turn hot.

“Oooooh,” Adeline crooned. “Tell us!”

“We didn’t hang out in the same crowds,” I said, tentatively glancing in Jake’s direction.

He squeezed my hand under the table.

“But he did lure me under the bleachers at a soccer game and gave me a very memorable kiss,” I confessed.

The Westons liked that, and I laughed with them pretending not to remember the fact that he’d unceremoniously proceeded to dump me for my nemesis. People changed. Didn’t they?

Lewis leaned over when the conversation moved on to the cruise Louisa was taking in January. “You’re the only girl Jake’s ever brought home,” he said in a whisper.

“Really?” I asked quietly.

Lewis nodded. “You must be pretty special,” he said with a wink.

Homer chose that moment to wedge his head between my knees demanding my attention and making Livvy laugh.

“We need to decide who’s making what for Thanksgiving,” Jake announced. “I know none of you want me to be providing any of the main dishes.”

“As if you could even find any dishes,” Max said with a roll of his eyes.

“Marley’s a great cook,” Jake said.

“You should bring your family to Jake’s for Thanksgiving,” Lewis decided. “Do you have a good stuffing recipe?”

“What?”

“Ugh, yeah,” Adeline agreed. “That schmancy vegetarian stuffing last year is not invited back.”

“I was trying something new,” Rob complained.

“Rob was vegetarian for six months,” Jake explained to me.

Rob took a big bite of chicken breast and stuffed it in his mouth. “It didn’t take.”

“I’m signing Marley up for the stuffing,” Adeline decided. “You’re allowed to make that baked corn stuff again, Jake. That was good, and the kids will eat it.”

“Speaking of,” Jake said, eyeing Adeline pointedly.

Adeline grinned and leaned into Rob. “Oh, yeah. We have a little announcement.”

Max and Lewis sat up straight.

“You guys are going to be gay grandpas again,” Rob said grandly.

Lewis stood up so fast his chair fell over backward. Max grabbed Adeline in a half-headlock half-hug. They both were shouting.

“God, I love it when they get good news,” Jake whispered in my ear.

My mother had reacted to the grandparent news the same way. She would love Jake’s family. So would my dad. For a minute, I could picture us all crammed around a table at Jake’s, eating, playing games, saying inappropriate things while the nieces and nephews destroyed things in another room.

But that wasn’t the plan. Jake’s life was here. Mine was out there somewhere, waiting for me to find it.

“Our baby’s having another baby,” Max said. Lewis grabbed Rob for a back-slapping hug.

“The more, the merrier,” he said, mopping tears from his eyes.