At the reception, Lauren watched Aislyn pick at her food.
Nick sat down next to her and lowered his head to her level,
“How ya doin’ Shortcake?” he whispered.
She pushed her food back and forth on her plate,
“I wanna go home.”
“We will, just try to-”
“Mind if we sit here?” George asked.
“Sure, have a seat.” Nick replied. He glanced over at Bob and Jane. Nick’s and
Lauren’s parents had never been too fond of each other. They couldn’t agree on
anything: like whether or not Nick should be going out on tour, if Lauren should
be going with them, how they were raising Aislyn…it was endless.
”Which is why Nick and I were the only ones who got to plan our wedding,” Lauren thought to herself, smiling. She couldn’t help noticing how quickly everyone’s faces had turned from sad to brave. It was like an unspoken rule of
funerals: sure, people could cry at the funeral and at the burial, but not at the
reception. It was supposed to be a social time, to an extent anyway.
“Nick, we realize that this is a hard situation for you right now, as it is for all of us,” George said uncomfortably, “But we do need to discuss what’s going to happen to Aislyn. She’s our only living descendant now and we don’t want this to be the last
time we see her.”
“It won’t be,” Nick replied sullenly.
“It’s easy to say that now, but you guys live in Florida and we’re gonna have to go
back to California pretty soon-”
“Look George, with all due respect,” Bob cut in, “I know my son, if he says he’s
going to do something, he’ll do it,”
“I’m not accusing him of anything, I just want him to know that we still want to be a
part of our granddaughter’s life, despite the circumstances.”
“You guys are talking about me like I’m not even here,” Nick informed them,
“Aislyn will keep in touch with all of you, but you’ve gotta remember that her mom
just passed away, so things are gonna be hard for us. I’m not gonna stress
her out anymore than she already is.”
“Are you guys even AWARE that you have a five-year-old listening to this?”
Lauren asked. She went over to Ginger and whispered something in her ear.
“Hey Nick?” Ginger spoke up, “Is it alright if I take Aislyn home now? I think she’s
had enough for one day.”
Nick turned to Aislyn,
“Is that okay? Wanna go home with Aunt Ginger?”
Aislyn nodded. She got up and gave everyone a hug goodbye.
Nick handed Ginger his keys. She put them in her pocket, then gently took Aislyn’s
hand,
“Come on, Aisy-Daisy.”
They left.
Lauren smiled. Pretty cool how that worked.
When Nick turned back to the table, he was met with four dark looks.
“What?” he was exasperated, “You really think you’re not gonna see her again?
She’s been through hell these past couple days. She’s just trying to deal with this, do you think it –helps- that you guys are arguing right in
front of her, treating her like she’s a piece of property? I’m the parent here and if I
think my daughter’s emotional state’s gonna be in jeopardy, I have no
qualms about sending her out.”
“WOOO!!!” Lauren cheered.
Everyone at his table looked shocked at his outburst.
Finally BJ spoke up,
“Don’t worry, Nick. I would’ve done the same thing.”
“Me too” Leslie agreed.
Nick just stared down at the table. He was fuming.
“Well, it’s obvious that we’re really tense right now,” Nancy said carefully, “So
why don’t we work out some kind of agreement. Nothing set in stone, just
something to keep us all happy for the time being.”
“I don’t think it’s that much of an issue with us,” Jane said, “If we’re at home, we’re
ten minutes away, if we’re out on the road, you have my cell number. Just keep in
touch and we’ll try to do the same.”
Nick nodded.
“Yeah,” BJ added, “I’m on hiatus from the show right now, so if you need a break,
just gimme a call. Mike and I could always use more parenting practice,” she
smiled.
“Are you gonna be okay?” Nancy asked Nick worriedly, “You do know that Aislyn can’t be staying up late or eating cheetos for supper or-” she stopped when she
realized that he was glaring at her.
She sighed,
“I’m sorry, there’s just a lot of little things that can be easily forgotten once life gets
back into full swing. It’s nothing personal against you-”
“It never is,” Nick mumbled.
“We’re just looking out for the well-being of Aislyn. If you can give us your word
that we’ll still see her on holidays and be able to talk to her at least once a
week, then there’s no problem,” George told him, “We want this to stay ‘friendly,’
so we don’t have to take legal action.”
Nick nearly choked on the water he’d been drinking,
“Excuse me?!”
“Dad!” Lauren exclaimed.
“What are you saying, you’d SUE Nick for Aislyn?” Bob sputtered, “That’s taking things a bit too far, don’t you think?”
“If we end up getting cut off from our grandchild, no.”
Nick stood up suddenly,
“I need some fresh air,” he announced, looking peaked. He faced Lauren’s parents, “Don’t worry Mr. & Mrs. Parker—you have my word.”
With that, he was out the door.
As soon as he got outside, he reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a
pack of cigarettes. He lit one up and leaned against the building.
“Quit for good, huh?” Lauren asked, “Doesn’t look like fresh air to me.”
Nick’s eyes welled up and he took in a long drag.
“Sweetie, smoking never helped before, it won’t help now. Just put that thing out and we’ll go home.”
He kept smoking.
“Rhapsody, why isn’t he listening to me?” Lauren called out.
Rhapsody appeared,
“He’s being stubborn. You’re gonna have to work extra hard to get through to
him.”
“Can’t you just get him to stop?”
“Isn’t my year,” Rhapsody giggled and disappeared.
“Killing yourself slowly with this smoke,” she sang to the tune of ‘Killing me
Softly,’ “Killing yourself slowly. With these cigs, tearing your whole life. With
these cigs, killing yourself slowly…”
Nick started to look irritated, as if he knew she was taunting him. He took in another drag.
Finally, she started chanting,
“Cancer sticks! Cancer sticks! Cancer sticks!”
He threw the cigarette on the ground and stomped it out, looking pissed.
Chiara walked up,
“There you are. I haven’t really had a chance to talk to you yet.”
“Hey Chiara,” he said softly.
“Hey. Kinda looked like your family was giving you the third degree in there.”
Nick cleared his throat,
“Yeah, apparently today’s my first day of parenthood. Never mind that I’ve been there for Aislyn since the day she was born.”
Chiara shrugged,
“I guess grandparents can be like that. I mean, you can’t really blame them-”
“I don’t wanna hear that shit right now,” Nick looked about a second away from
crying, “My wife is gone and all the words in the world won’t bring her
back. Everything in my life has darkened and now her parents are talking shit about taking legal action over my daughter, because they figured my life wasn’t fucked up enough already!”
Tears were already flowing down Chiara’s face,
“I’m sorry, Nick. I miss her so much.”
He turned away from her and wiped his eyes.
“I’m right here, guys” Lauren said gently.
A few minutes later, Aaron came out,
“Hey…uh, Mom and Dad wanted to let you know that they’re ready to leave when
you are.”
“Are the Parkers still here?” Nick asked.
“Yeah, but they’ve chilled out. For them, anyway.”
“Okay.”
“Nick?” Chiara spoke up before they went inside.
“Yeah?”
“If you need to talk about this more, gimme a call, alright?”
Nick nodded and waved half-heartedly to her.
“Bye.”
***
“Nick, before you leave,” Nancy walked up, “George and I were talking about possibly staying with you and Aislyn for awhile, in case you guys need…well, in
case there’s something that you need.”
“Thanks, but uh, my parents already made that offer.”
“Liar, liar, pants on fire!” Lauren sang.
“Oh…okay,” Nancy looked disappointed.
“Thanks though, I do appreciate it. Aislyn will stay in touch with you.”
She nodded,
“Feel free to call us whenever.”
***
When the limo pulled up to Nick’s gate, Jane asked,
“Are you SURE you don’t want us to stay for awhile?”
“I’m sure,” he replied.
“Well, if you need anything…”
“I know. Thanks.”
When he got inside, Aislyn was standing in the entryway, waiting for him. She
was already in her pajamas and had Whaley clutched under her right arm.
She padded over to him and he picked her up. He hugged her tightly, afraid to let her go.
