Chapter 27 The （not so） Happy Holidays #4
Jordan stayed tight-lipped. She said nothing about the fact that Jasmin was the girl he was travelling cross-country with, nor did she say anything about the phone call she received to get him home. That was Kevin’s story to tell, but she had a feeling none of them were ever going to hear it.
An hour later, Jordan and Danny walked to the dining room to lay the table for lunch and as they began setting out the plates, their moods dipped a little.
There were going to be two empty spots at the table this year.
Danny’s foster father, Jake, used to spend Christmas with them as well.
He’d passed away last year, leaving one chair open.
This year Perry’s chair would be empty too.
The sadness in the room was a heavy weight on both their shoulders, but nothing was said.
The rest of the family filed in. Danny’s mood seemed to lift as soon as she saw Max, but Jordan’s dropped even further when her eyes caught sight of Kevin.
He was crumbling beneath the surface and even as their father said a prayer, his blue eyes were fixed on the seat Perry had occupied for fifteen years.
Tracey and Debbie took food to their kids in the living room and then everyone took their respective seats.
“Let’s eat,” Shane said, breaking the silence. “Momma, everything looks delicious.”
Hands reached across the table simultaneously, each person filling their plates with the wide variety of food. Her mother had gone all out this year. Chicken, gammon, roast vegetables, cottage pie. So much to choose from and yet she found herself without much of an appetite.
“I helped, too,” Jordan said, reaching for the roast potatoes. “So did Danny.”
Shane leaned over, ruffling Danny’s short, brown hair. It was his sign of brotherly love. “Well, we all know Danny didn’t actually cook anything.”
Danny laughed and jabbed him with her elbow before reaching for the salad.
“Do you remember your first Christmas with us?” Shane asked her. “God, that turkey couldn’t have tasted worse if it came out of the dishwasher. Dom even told Tracey not to give any to Madison. She was only a year old at the time and he didn’t want to be racing her to the hospital on Christmas.”
Jordan exchanged looks with Kevin and they both put their heads down to hide naughty smiles.
She remembered that Christmas all too well.
She’d subtly disposed of her piece of turkey.
Perry and Kevin had had other plans for theirs and she’d found not one, but two dry, shriveled turkey legs under her pillow that night.
“You said that, Dom?” Danny asked.
“It was awful, Danny,” he responded with a laugh, “and parents are always paranoid with their first born. If it’s any consolation, I would definitely feed your cooking to Makayla.”
“Really?”
“Well…no. Max says you’ve gotten progressively worse over the years.”
Shane started blabbing again and Jordan zoned out.
If someone wasn’t talking directly to her, she felt no need to participate in the conversation.
This wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Every time she left her mind unoccupied, it automatically drifted back to Tyler and every time she thought of Tyler, she felt like Loneliness and Heartache were taking turns beating her up with a baseball bat.
Her family was distracted with happiness and the excitement of Christmas, so she could easily slip into the shadows without anyone realizing how distant she was.
For a brief second she thought no one had noticed her pain. That is until Kevin’s right hand landed palm up on her lap. Her brother, the silent observer. He saw the cracks no one else could see. He said nothing. He didn’t even look at her, but he kept his hand there until she was ready to take it.
Her fingers wrapped around his and she squeezed it tight. “Love you, Bink,” she whispered.
He still didn’t look at her, but his dimple deepened so she knew he heard her.
“God, they’re so sickening,” he whispered with a groan.
Jordan looked across the table to determine what had caused his irritation and saw Danny and Max staring adoringly at each other. They were like that all the time and, for the life of her, she couldn’t understand why it had taken them so long to get together. “They are sickening,” she agreed.
“You two should just bone and get it over with,” Kevin said loud enough for them to hear.
Danny giggled, turning red with embarrassment and that was a clear giveaway.
“Ugh, you did?” Kevin looked like he wanted to throw up. “That’s gross! I think I just lost my appetite.”
“But don’t worry, Danny,” Shane said and Jordan had no idea what the hell he was on about now. “It’s better that you two are just friends. My little brother is too moody. Both of them are.”
Kevin rolled his eyes and looked over at Max with complete disinterest. “Blah. Blah. Blah,” he mouthed, using his hand as a flapping mouth. “Fucking Virgos.” The statement was only meant for their side of the table.
“Speaking about Virgos,” Max said quietly. “Did that girl on the road trip end up driving you crazy?”
She knew Max had meant it as a joke, but Kevin immediately went into defense mode. His jaw tightened and she heard the slight elevation in his breathing “You have no fucking idea,” he whispered.
That was a weird response that instantly got their attention. Max stared at Jordan and Jordan stared at Max. His brown eyes asked her to broach the subject with Kevin and her eyebrows vehemently answered hell no!
Eventually he got tired of the silent argument. “Later,” he mouthed to her.
She agreed. Kevin needed to be handled delicately.
After lunch, her brothers jointly conned their mother into opening presents before doing the dishes.
It was an argument that happened every year.
Her mother finally relented when Tracey and Danny offered to help clean up afterwards.
Jordan made no such offer. After the plate saga last year and the bribe that followed, she was staying far away from her mother’s dishes.
She went onto autopilot after that, going through the motions.
She loved watching the joy of her family, the hugs and kisses as gifts were exchanged, but she couldn’t fully enjoy it this year.
After presents, Debbie laid out dessert in the dining room.
Jordan cut three slices of cake. She handed one plate to Max, then walked back to the living room to deliver Shane’s payment personally.
He thanked her with a smug smile and when she returned to the dining room, she found Kevin squeezing out an unhealthy amount of chocolate sauce over his vanilla ice-cream.
She couldn’t believe he still had that habit after all these years.
“Kevin, don’t you think that’s too much chocolate sauce?” Max asked.
“You can never have too much chocolate sauce,” he replied with a sad smile.
The three of them took their usual seats at the table and Jordan had to drown out the screaming of her nieces as they chased each other around the table.
Max had only taken one bite of his cake when she looked over at him and their silent argument resumed. She fought dirty, pulled out the puppy dog eyes to remind him of her illness. Foot-in-mouth syndrome was dangerous around Kevin.
Max gave in. “So Kevin,” he began, sounding a bit nervous, “what happened with that girl?”
Her little brother went into defense mode again.
There were three reactions one needed to look out for when it came to Kevin and Max, three small gestures which signaled they were about to lose their shit.
Balled fists, clenched jaw, and clasping their hands behind their heads.
It was a clear warning to back the fuck off.
As soon as the question left Max’s lips, Kevin’s fingers curled in and his jaw was so tight, it was ticking. He stood up and that pretty much represented the end of the conversation. “I don’t want to talk about her…ever.”
There was a lot of aggression in that statement. He took his bowl of brown ice-cream and walked to the girls on the other side of the dining room. “Hey, girls,” he said, kneeling down in front of them. “Why don’t we go watch a movie?”
“Yeah,” Makayla chirped.
“What do you wanna watch?” Mackenzie asked.
“How about…Wreck-it Ralph?” Kevin responded.
“Uncle Kevin, you hate Vanelope,” Madison said. “You say she talks too much.”
Kevin released a shaky breath, one filled with longing and loss. “I might have had a slight change of heart.”
All three girls climbed onto him and he carried them out without saying another word.
“Good talk,” Max said though Kevin wasn’t there to hear it.
“Well, that went well.” Jordan muttered.
“Something definitely happened with that girl.” She found it strange how Kevin reacted to Max and with that thought she realized that Max didn’t have one nail in his log.
Very strange. “Hey, how come Kevin never snaps at you? If that were me, he would have bit my head off, but all you get is I don’t wanna talk about her. ”
“Because I’m his favorite.”
“Yeah, I doubt that.”
Kevin came rushing back into the dining room a few minutes later and went straight to the window overlooking the front yard. “Fuck!”
“What’s wrong, Bink?” Jordan asked.
“Nothing,” he replied irritably. “She’s just bat-shit fucking crazy.”
He left the room just as fast and she heard the front door slam shut.
Jordan was totally confused now and looked over at Max hoping he could offer some explanation. “What’s going on?”
“It’s her!” He stood up and hurried to the window. “Get up! Get up! It’s her. The girl he doesn’t wanna talk about.”
“How do you know?”
“She’s the one who’s bat-shit crazy.”
She didn’t know how Max knew that, but she stood up and got to the window just in time to see Kevin barreling down the snow-covered driveway. “I told you to stay away from me!” he shouted.