Chapter 8
Reagan
Two years later
I never considered how hard it would be to plan a surprise birthday for a one-hundred-year-old woman until I was the one responsible for planning it. It was especially hard since the party was obviously going to be in Maryland which was definitely not where I spent most of my time. Luckily, I was able to get everything worked out with the venue, an old rec hall where Nana used to go for poker nights, over the phone.
Ethan used his connections in town to help find us a caterer and my parents had taken on the task of providing the alcohol—complete with plenty of red wine for Nana.
It was the little details that were killing me—who to invite, how to invite them, when to send said invites, what decorations to hang, and so many more that seemed to keep popping up.
As I drove to Jamie’s house the week before the party, I finally felt like I could breathe. Well, as much as one can breathe when driving a fair distance with three six-year-olds fighting in the back of the car. Charlie wasn’t coming until the end of the week because she didn’t want to close her practice for too long, so until Friday night, it was me, Jamie, Ethan, their newly adopted ten-year-old son, Finn, and my three wild children. Luckily, since it was summer, Jamie wasn’t working, so he would be free to help me.
I considered staying home until we could all ride down together, but since I was the one who had been dubbed as the party planner, I didn’t think it was right for me to wait to show until the night before.
As soon as I pulled into his driveway, Jamie opened the front door and waved wildly at us. The car had barely come to a stop before Ronan was freeing himself from his harness and trying to open the door. Thank god for child locks.
“Patience,” I said as I turned off the car and undid my own seatbelt.
“But I want to see Uncle Jamie,” Ronan whined.
“You can see him by looking out the window. Remember, we see with our eyes, not our hands or our feet.”
I turned around just in time to see Ronan roll his eyes at me. “Yeah, whatever.”
“Did you just roll your eyes at me?” I pointed a finger at him and tried to keep a straight face, but it was no use. He was way too cute with his messy dirty blonde hair and smug grin.
“I sure did.” Ronan crossed his arms in front of his chest, which only added to the cuteness. Damn him. “What’s it to you, poopy butt?” He broke out in a fit of giggles as if he had just said the funniest thing in the whole world, and given that his sisters were laughing along with him, apparently it was.
I rolled my eyes at him this time. “Aren’t you a little old to be making poop jokes? You are going to be starting first grade next year.”
“ You still make poop jokes and you’re the oldest person I know,” Olivia said in her brother’s defense.
I put my hand on my chest as if I was offended, and I honestly kind of was. “I do not make poop jokes.” At least not in front of you. Not intentionally, anyway. “And I am definitely not the oldest person you know.”
Olivia scrunched up her eyes as if she was actually considering what I had just said. “Okay, sure. Nana is older. But she’s like a million, so that doesn’t count.”
“She’s one hundred but good try.”
“I can count to one hundred. Want to hear?” She tilted her head to the side and flashed me her trademark grin.
“No, thank you, but do you know who does want to hear that?” I pointed out the window. “Uncle Jamie. Make sure you count to one hundred for him over and over. Also, definitely sing that song you insisted on singing one million times on the way here.”
Now that they knew what was expected of them, I got them out of the car.
When Jamie reached me, he held open his arms to me. “Look who it is!” He wrapped me up in a tight hug and kissed my temple. “When I first asked you to go to my family reunion with me did you ever think that one day you would be throwing a surprise birthday party for my nana?”
“Absolutely not, but I also didn’t know that your nana was cool as shit and your sister was sexy as hell.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” He playfully pushed me away. “Now leave me alone. I have more important people to greet.”
He squatted down to give hugs to all three kids and when he stood up, Ronan and Olivia each grabbed onto one of his legs. As he jokingly tried to shake them off, Carter held her arms up toward him. “Uncle Jamie, will you please carry me?”
“Of course, sweetie.” Jamie took Carter in his arms and carried her in while dragging the other two on his legs.
I grabbed the two large suitcases and followed behind. “Hey, Jamie, think you could grab these bags too?” I yelled at him. “That is a man’s job, right?”
Jamie looked back to glare at me, but the smile on his face gave away that he wasn’t actually angry about my comment. Which was a good thing, since I took any opportunity I could to make fun of the way he acted the first time I went home with him.
When we made it inside of the house, Jamie looked behind me and sighed. “It’s weird not seeing Patch following behind you.”
The sound of my dog’s name was like a stab to the heart. It had been a few months since he passed away, after living a long happy life, and the wound was still fresh. Every time it seemed to be scabbing over, I was reminded of him in one way or another and it was as if it had been picked back open.
I stared down at the floor to try to hide my sadness from the kids. “I still look for him every time I come into the house.”
“I still have my shoe that he chewed up the last time he was here. I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away.” Jamie chuckled softly.
“Why are you both so sad?” Carter asked.
Of course, Carter would notice, because Carter noticed everything. Her siblings might have too if they slowed down long enough to pay attention to what was happening around them.
I grabbed Carter from Jamie and held her tightly up against me. “We’re okay, sweetie. We just miss Patch.”
Carter’s eyes turned down, and for a moment, I thought she was going to cry, but just a second later a wide grin spread across her face. “But Patch is in Heaven now with all the treats, blankets, and toys in the world. He’s happy so we should be, too. That’s what you told me, remember?”
I hugged Carter even tighter and kissed the top of her head. “You’re exactly right, sweetie. Thank you for reminding me.”
I looked around the hallway and realized that Ronan and Olivia were no longer there. “Shit. Where’d they go?”
“I think they went upstairs,” Carter said with a shrug.
How did she do it? Did she have eyes in the back of her head or what? Wasn’t that supposed to be my superpower?
I gave Jamie a wide-eyed look to try to convey to him that if we didn’t find them immediately, he would probably end up with some household item being broken. He must have understood because he subtly nodded his head before hopping up the stairs two at a time. I hoisted Carter higher up on my waist and tried my best to follow after him as quickly as I could, but it was nearly impossible while holding an extra forty-five pounds.
When I lost track of Jamie, I followed the faint sound of giggles, which only got louder when Jamie’s voice shouted, “What are you doing with my shoe?”
After a few seconds, I found all three of them in Jamie and Ethan’s room, with the closet door open, and a pair of shoes sitting on the floor. “What happened?” I asked as I tried to catch my breath.
Jamie shook his head, but I could tell by the way he was curling his lips into his mouth, that he was trying not to laugh. “These two decided to chew on my shoes as if they were animals.”
What the hell?
Olivia smiled at me innocently and shrugged her shoulders. “Uncle Jamie said he missed Patch chewing on his shoes. We figured this would make him feel better.”
Now I had to work to hold in my laughter as well, because what the actual fuck? Did I literally raise a bunch of animals? Sweet, well-intentioned animals, but for fuck’s sake. I knelt down and let Carter out of my arms to stand next to me, holding her hand while I addressed her brother and sister. “Your uncle Jamie misses Patch . He doesn’t actually miss Patch’s bad behavior.”
Ronan crossed his arms in front of his chest and scrunched up his nose. “Nuh-uh. If that was true, why would he save the shoe?”
I looked at Jamie for backup, but he simply shrugged, clearly just as lost for words as I was. “It’s sentimental.”
Ronan kept his arms crossed and shook his head. “I don’t know what that means.”
“It means that it’s special because it reminds you of something. In this case, that chewed up shoe reminds Uncle Jamie of Patch.”
Ronan uncrossed his arms to throw them in the air. “I don’t get it.”
“Me either.” Olivia pointed into the hallway. “Let’s find something else to do. This is boring.”
Olivia and Ronan ran out of the room while Carter followed slowly behind them. I stood up and let out a long sigh that mixed with the laughter I had been trying to hold in a moment before. “My children. Literal animals. Good god.” I looked around the room and into the hallway that was now eerily quiet. “Speaking of children, where’s your little dude?”
“You mean my ten-year-old who is somehow up to my chin? He’s at the cafe with Ethan. They should be getting home any minute now.”
Like clockwork, I heard the front door open at that very moment. A split second later, there was the sound of little footsteps running through the downstairs and squeals of delight, which I assumed meant my children were now with their uncle and cousin. I watched as Jamie threw his sneakers that my disgusting children had just been chewing on into his closet and then followed him out of the bedroom and down the stairs.
“There’s my girl,” Ethan said as soon as he noticed me. “Or shall I say Party Planner Extraordinaire ?”
When I made my way to the front door, I pushed past my children to give Ethan a hug. “Ugh. Don’t remind me. This is the first time in weeks I’ve gone a few minutes without thinking about it.”
Ethan stepped away from me and pretended he was locking his lips. “Sorry. I’m done. No more reminders about the huge 100th birthday bash you’re throwing this upcoming weekend.”
“Gee, thanks.” I moved my attention from Ethan to the boy standing next to him. “Hey, Finn! How are you, buddy?”
Finn looked down toward the floor, his shaggy brown hair falling in front of his eyes in the process. “I’m good, ma’am. Thank you.”
This was how Finn had acted every time I was around him over the past year while he lived with Ethan and Jamie as they waited for everything to come together to officially adopt him. He was shy and reserved, but at least now, he didn’t seem scared anymore like he did at first.
“Remember what I told you last time?” I asked him. “Call me Aunt Reagan or just Reagan. Honestly, you can even call me asshole if you want. Just not ma’am. It makes me feel like my mother-in-law.” I shuddered to try to make my point that that definitely wasn’t a good thing.
This finally made Finn smile and he moved his eyes from the floor to look up at me. “Sorry, Aunt Reagan.”
I waved a hand at him. “No need to apologize. We’re family.”
“You make me say sorry and I’m family,” Olivia said as she crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at me.
I laughed and ruffled her hair. “That’s because you do things you need to apologize for, like trying to eat Uncle Jamie’s shoes.” When Ethan’s eyes shot toward me to give me a questioning look, I waved my hand at him. “Don’t ask.”
He put both hands in the air. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
***
The week flew by as I worked through all of the last minute party plans. I couldn’t believe it when Charlie sent me a text to say she was on her way. After what only felt like a few minutes (because I was busy finalizing the details of how to get Nana to the rec hall), the front door of Jamie and Ethan’s house opened and Charlie walked in.
“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” I asked as I pulled her into my arms, breathing in her familiar scent that I had missed so much over the past week. How was there ever a time I lived without this woman? Was I really even alive before I met her?
“I missed you,” Charlie whispered, echoing my thoughts. She held me tightly for a moment before pulling away. Even when she was no longer holding me, she still kept a tight grip on my arms as if she thought I might drift away if she let go. “How did it go this week? How were the kids? Did they behave?”
“It depends who we’re talking about.”
“Well, since I have no doubt that our little angel behaved, I obviously mean the other two.”
“In that case, no, but they at least weren’t any worse than usual.”
“Speaking of which, where are they? I expected them to run to the door to greet me.”
“They are down in the basement. Finn is showing them how to play his video games, so it’s very serious business.”
“And where are Jamie and Ethan?”
“They are at the cafe. I told them I’d stay with the kids so Jamie could help him with a few things there.”
Charlie moved her hands onto my hips. “That was nice of you.”
I closed my eyes and basked in the feelings of her hands on me. God, I missed this. It was less than a week apart and I could hardly stand it. “It’s no big deal. After dealing with our children, adding Finn to the mix is nothing.”
“Is this your way of telling me you decided that you want a fourth?” Charlie joked.
“Abso-fucking-lutely not.”
Charlie threw her head back in laughter, and it was one of the most beautiful sights in the whole world. My heart tugged to remind me how much I loved this woman (not that I needed a reminder).
Once she stopped laughing, Charlie pointed down the hallway. “Can we go see them? I’ve missed those little assholes so much.”
“Of course.” I opened my arms to direct her to go in front of me since I knew she was itching to get to them.
“Where are my babies?” she shouted as she walked down the basement stairs.
Almost immediately, all three kids were at the bottom of the stairs, bouncing up and down and holding their arms out for hugs. Charlie greeted each of them with hugs and kisses before crossing the room to squeeze Finn’s arm and tell him that she had missed him, too.
“Mommy, guess what?” Olivia said as she sprinted back across the room to where Charlie was now standing. “Me, Ronan, and Carter get to help with Nana’s surprise.”
When Charlie looked up at me with questioning eyes, I nodded. “We told Nana that we are coming to visit for the weekend and want to take her out to lunch. You four can go pick her up, then make up some excuse about why you need to go to the rec hall to pick me up. I was thinking we could tell her Ethan is hosting an event there. Once you get there, you can tell her he really wants to see her, or something like that.”
Charlie poked herself in the chest with her pointer finger. “Me? I thought you would want to be the one to get her over there.”
The truth was, I really did, but since she was Charlie’s blood relative, I figured I should let her do it. “Nah. You should. She’s your nana. Plus, I’ll have to make sure all the last minute details come together.”
Charlie shook her head. “I can tell by the sound of your voice that you want to do that part. You’ve worked so hard. You deserve to be the one standing beside her when we all shout surprise. Seriously. I can take care of the last minute details. Don’t worry about that. I got this.”
I had no question that she did, so I readily agreed. By eleven a.m. the next day, Nana had already called three times to ask why we hadn’t picked her up yet, even though I told her multiple times that we weren’t coming until 11:30. When we arrived at the Millers’ house a little bit after that time, she was already waiting on the front porch.
“It’s about time,” she grumbled as I got out of the car and took her by the arm to help her walk.
She was moving even slower this time than the last time I had seen her, which made my heart hurt since it reminded me of just how old she was now. She had the mind of a twenty-year-old, but her body was definitely starting to shut down.
I quickly shook these thoughts from my head. Today wasn’t about what was to come. It was to celebrate all of the amazing years she had lived so far. “Sorry, Nana. I was struggling to get three kids into the car by myself. Charlie, Jamie, and Finn are all at the rec hall in town with Ethan, helping him prepare for an event he’s doing today. Speaking of which, we need to stop by there and grab Charlie so she can come to lunch with us. I was worried if I picked her up first and got here even later that you might murder me.”
Nana laughed and patted my hand. “You know me so well. The thought definitely crossed my mind.” Nana opened her door and struggled to step into the car, but when I tried to help, she pushed me away. “I’m not dead yet. I’m still ninety-nine. Maybe tomorrow once I’m one hundred I’ll let you help me, but probably not, so don’t get any ideas.”
I got in the car and started to drive while the kids all talked over each other at Nana. Instead of responding, Nana shut her eyes and let them continue to shout with no response. After a few migraine-inducing minutes, we arrived at the rec hall. I got out my phone and texted Charlie that we had arrived while I prepared myself for the fight I was inevitably going to have with Nana when I tried to get her to go inside.
“Charlie just texted and told me that Ethan really wants to see you. Do you mind going inside really fast?”
Just as I suspected, Nana huffed. “I’m starving. I’ll see him later.”
Think fast. It felt like a lightbulb went off above my head when the perfect idea suddenly materialized in my mind. “We can wait I guess, but he told me he got some wine for the event that he thinks you’ll really like. If we wait to see him, it will probably be gone by the time we do. That’s okay though. If food is more important than w—”
“Never mind. Let’s go.” Nana had her seatbelt unbuckled and her car door open before I had even processed the fact that my plan had actually worked.
When I turned off my car, all three kids started to giggle. I turned around and put my finger up to my lips. “Sh. Don’t give it away now.”
I helped the three of them out of the car then watched as they sprinted right past Nana, only coming to a stop when they got to the front of the building. I took Nana’s arm, ignoring her huff of disapproval. When we reached the door, Carter held it open while I walked through with Nana. I almost tripped when Ronan and Olivia pushed past me to go in first. As expected, the lights were out and the room was dark when we walked in.
“Are you sure they’re here? The lights aren’t even on.”
I tried (and failed) not to smile as I opened the second set of doors and hit the lights. As soon as the lights went on all of the guests screamed, “Surprise,” in unison.
“Is this… what… for me?” Nana turned to me and there were already tears pooling at the corners of her eyes, which was big since I could probably count the amount of times I saw her cry on one hand.
My heart felt more full than it ever had as this woman who had become so important to me stared at me with all the wonder in the world. “Happy Birthday, Nana.”
We were joined at the door by the rest of her immediate family, who all wished her happy birthday with tight hugs. The majority of the party was family, but other people who spent time with Nana throughout the years were also there, including her hair dresser, a few of her doctors, the cashier whose line she always went in at the grocery store, and even her favorite waitress from Applebee’s.
Nana was so excited about the surprise that she was even more wild than usual throughout the day. She roasted pretty much every person in attendance and drank more wine than an almost hundred-year-old probably should. I wasn’t too worried since the doctors in attendance didn’t seem concerned, but then again, they were drinking just as much as her.
By the end of the party, it was just the Miller clan remaining, which felt strange since I hadn’t been around the whole family since Charlie’s mom made a scene with my engagement ring. Luckily, Nana wasn’t the only one who had been drinking so it wasn’t as awkward as I would have expected it to be.
If I was being honest, I was actually having fun. I laughed when I looked at Jamie and saw him counting on his fingers. “What are you up to over there, Mr. Mathematician?”
“I’m just trying to figure out how we have a great great grandma who is only one hundred.”
“ Only ?” I asked with a laugh. Surely Jamie wasn’t so drunk that he thought that was young.
“Considering that we’re thirty-eight, yes.” He looked over at his parents, determination etched on his face. “Mom and Dad, how old are you?”
“That really doesn’t matter,” his dad said, his face turning slightly red as if he was embarrassed to say his age for some reason.
“Oh, for god’s sake.” Nana spilled wine on her shirt when she threw her hands in the air. “Your father is sixty-one.”
Jamie looked toward the ceiling and counted on his fingers again. “That’s only a thirty-nine year difference between you and him and he’s not even your oldest grandchild.” I still didn’t know what he was getting at until his eyes went wide and he pointed an accusatory finger at his nana. “Nana, did you get knocked up?”
Nana laughed and spilled even more of her wine on her shirt. “Why would you assume it was me who got knocked up? That would have given my mother a heart attack. Luckily, I was a cool mom. Didn’t throw a big fit when your grandfather knocked someone up as a teenager. Your great-grandfather on the other hand… he thought it was a disgrace. And he instilled that same shame on your grandfather and his children, which is why no one in this family ever talks about it. One of the only things me and my husband ever fought over.”
“Wait, are you saying—” I cut myself off because I couldn’t wrap my head around this. The “ perfect ” Miller family got less and less perfect all the time.
“Yep.” Nana pointed across the room at Charlie and Jamie’s Uncle Shane. “My grandson is a bastard, and I’m not just talking about his personality.”
I spit out my drink from laughing so hard. I loved Nana for saying exactly how she felt, especially about people I wasn’t so fond of.
Unfortunately, he was too far away to hear, but he did notice her pointing and pointed his own finger at himself. “Me?” He shouted across the room. “What are you saying about me?”
I smiled because I knew Nana wouldn’t let this opportunity pass, and I was right. “I said you’re a bastard,” she shouted back. “In more ways than one.”
Uncle Shane’s face turned such a bright shade of red that I could see it from across the room. He grimaced and opened his mouth (most likely about to be an asshole), but quickly shut it again.
That’s right, bitch. Don’t even think about being mean to my girl.
Carter, who had been sitting on Charlie’s lap, crawled into mine and tapped Nana’s shoulder. When Nana looked over, Carter tilted her head at her. “What’s a bastard?”
Mrs. Miller scoffed. “It’s a word we don’t say.”
Nana scoffed right back at her. “She can say whatever she wants to say as long as she’s not an asshole like some people. ” The smile returned to Nana’s face as she focused her attention on Carter. “A bastard is someone who is born to two parents who aren’t married. It can also be a name for someone who is mean.”
Carter shook her head. “It’s not nice to call people names.”
Nana leaned in close and rubbed her nose against Carter’s. “You’re right, sweetie. It’s normally not. But certain people in this family deserve it.”
“I think I’ll just be nice to everyone,” Carter said with a shrug.
I hugged her tight up against me and kissed the top of her head. This little girl was way too good for this world. I looked across the room to where her brother and sister were taking turns jumping off of a chair to see who could go further and laughing hysterically each time one of them landed on anything other than their feet. Well, one out of three ain’t bad.
An hour (and a lot of water chugging later), Nana asked if I could give her a ride home. It made more sense for Charlie’s parents to take her since they were going to the same place, but I could tell she wanted the extra time with me, so there was no way I was going to say no. After cleaning up, Charlie took the kids in her car and I took Nana in mine.
As soon as I started driving, Nana put her hand on top of my hand that was resting on the middle console. “I wanted to thank you personally for doing that for me today.”
My heart swelled at the sincerity in her voice. It wasn’t often that Nana was serious, so the fact that she was being so open had my heart on the edge of bursting. “It was a joint effort.”
“That’s not what I heard. Everyone else, even the assholes in this family who don’t particularly like you, told me that it was all you.”
“It’s what you deserved. Ever since that first summer, you always made me feel like family. That’s more than can be said for most of the Millers.”
“As the oldest living member of the family, I feel like I need to take the blame for that.”
My eyes darted to her face to see if she was smirking, because she couldn’t be serious. Much to my surprise, there wasn’t even the slightest hint of a smile. “Bullshit. You’re like the most amazing person ever. You don’t even deserve to be associated with the majority of the assholes in your family, let alone take the blame for their decisions.”
“Hate breeds hate. That’s what they say.”
I shook my head. There was no way she could ever convince me she was to blame for her terrible relatives. “And you’re the most loving person I know, so clearly it wasn’t you. You’re too good for this family, honestly.”
“So are you, you know. Charlie and Jamie are too, so I’m glad you busted into our lives and stuck around through all the craziness. They need you.”
Thinking about my two best friends—my favorite people in the entire world—had me fighting to hold back my tears. “I need them, too.”
“Promise me something?” Nana squeezed my hand once again. “When I’m gone, please take care of them for me.”
“You mean you’re not going to live forever?” I forced out a laugh because I knew if I didn’t laugh, I would definitely cry. The last thing I wanted to think about was a world without Nana. She was everything good in this world packaged in a small but fierce old woman.
“Sweetie, when you get to be my age, you realize that immortality ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. The more I see of this world, the more I want to leave it.” We were both silent for a minute, and I figured the conversation was over until she spoke again. “As long as you can promise you’ll take care of my babies.”
I swallowed hard, a heavy lump forming in my throat over the turn this conversation had taken. “I promise.”
Nana might not like the idea of immortality, but selfishly, that’s exactly what I wanted for her.