Chapter Ten
Charlie
It was tough to gauge if what I felt was a sense of relief, dread, or excitement. Sad, having witnessed my father’s things being removed. But at the same time, I was excited at the prospect of redecorating and looking forward to planning our wedding with my future mother-in-law.
After the crew left, Alex and I sat down and had a heart-to-heart.
We both agreed it would be best if I took a sabbatical from teaching.
Things had changed, drastically, and after losing my father and almost losing Alex as well, I had gained perspective but still hadn’t really dealt with the loss.
Being the only surviving DuBois affected me on a deeper level than I thought, and after Alex pointed out a couple of things, I saw it too.
Shifting focus to the family I still had, and the future one Alex and I wanted meant getting myself right first.
Alex had to go into the office today. After he left, I contacted the district office to extend my leave. It was a hard call to make, but the right one, though now a positive distraction to get my mind off of everything was warranted and I called my new bestie.
“Hey, Mom, how’s it going?”
“Charlie!” Her excited reply put a smile on my face. “How’s my son to be?”
“I’m okay.”
“Hmm, I’ll be the judge of that. What can I do to help?” I was seriously one lucky man.
“Lunch? My treat, you pick the time and the place.” She promptly chose eleven-thirty at a local sandwich shop. At least there, we could sit for any amount of time and be able to hear each other without having to scream over noise.
She was waiting outside when I walked up.
“Good morning, Charlie.” She hugged me.
I fell into her motherly arms and found myself relaxing for the first time in months. I never expected to feel a sense of security from a hug given by anyone other than Alex.
“Hi, Mom. I’m so glad we could do this,” I said as we parted.
“Me too, though I have a feeling there’s something more going on with you.” Moms always know everything.
“Well,” I said, holding the door open for her, “Alex and I made the decision last night for me to take the year off from teaching, so you and I will make this a regular thing.”
“I’m happy we’ll be able to see more of each other, but what made you guys decide to do that?”
The clerk called out, “Next,” pausing our conversation.
We filled our drinks and found a semi-private booth. As soon as we sat, she pulled a three-ring binder from her giant purse.
“Dang, Mom, when you plan a shindig you don’t fool around do you?” I laughed.
“Not when it includes my two favorite boys, I don’t.
But first, tell me what’s going on.” I filled her in on the challenges I’d had dealing, or not dealing, as Alex pointed out, with my grief.
“Oh honey,” she patted my hand. “I’m always here for you to talk to and I have a wonderful therapist, if you’d like her number. ”
“You see a therapist?”
She chuckled, “I do. Sweetheart, we all have our demons to fight. Don’t ever think less of yourself for that. Everyone deals with their issues in their own way. For me, having an unbiased third party to share them with has helped.”
“Thank you, I-I’ll, take you up on that.” She texted me her therapist’s number
Alex’s sister Adrianna was the spitting image of their mom.
Petite strong women seemed to run in the Travers family, and pushovers, they were not.
Alex got his father’s stature and powerful build, but his hazel eyes and chestnut hair were definitely from his mom.
Although her dark hair was now laced with grey, she was still a stunningly beautiful woman.
“Now,” she patted the binder, “Let’s get down to the fun stuff.”
“This is so exciting.”
“And I have a feeling it’s just what the two of us need.
” Were mom’s always right? “I made a list of the import things we have to get done first such as tux fittings, and ordering food and cake. Alex emailed me the contact information for a caterer and bakery. But we still need to decide what to do about music. Oh, yeah, and the colors?” She pushed her reading glasses down her nose, pen in hand, ready to jot down my reply.
“Tyler, another teacher I work with, DJs on the weekends. I already talked to him about working at our reception and he jumped at the chance. So, I’ve got that confirmed.
” I didn’t want to give too much away, but I’d already chosen the music.
Had it been left up to Alex, we’d all be head banging to Five Finger Death Punch or Korn that night.
Nothing against either of them, as I do enjoy both, but they didn’t put off the reception vibe I hoped for.
“As far as colors go, we’d like navy blue and silver. ”
“You chose that for Alex, didn’t you?” She beamed.
Alex gave us free reign to do whatever we chose for the wedding, but I wanted to throw something special in for him too.
Although he was born and raised in Washington, he and his father were both die-hard Dallas Cowboys fans.
He’d even custom ordered his baby Ford F150 truck in silver and blue, accessorized in Cowboys memorabilia, just as his home office was.
“Charlie, do you have time to go to the printer with me after we finish eating?”
“Absolutely, Mom. Today is your day. Well, it’s technically about Alex and me, but I put the whole day aside to spend with you.
” I stood to dump our trash and as we walked away, I heard her quietly say, “I’m going to love having you for a son.
” When I looked back at her, she was dabbing her eyes with a napkin.
We left my car parked at the mall and drove together in hers to the printer’s. “Mom, what song did you and Dad dance to at your reception?” I asked during the drive.
“Oh my, that was ‘At Last’ by Etta James. It was so long ago, but I remember it well. Adrianna was born ten months later. I almost forgot to tell you, would you be available to meet with the baker Alex recommended tomorrow at eleven? She said she can have samples ready for us, but I need to let her know by four today.” She turned on her blinker and pulled into the parking lot.
“I can make that work. Can you ask her to make sure one of those samples is a raspberry lemon cake?” I hoped she’d be able to. While my sweet tooth wanted to try as many samples as it could, I knew that would be the one I’d choose. Favorite martini, favorite cake, favorite flavors—period.
“Absolutely.” We parked and walked inside. “Hello, I’m Anne Travers and this is my son-to-be Charlie. We’re here for our appointment to look at wedding invitations,” she told the lady at the front counter.
“Hello, I’m Trinity. It’s nice to meet you both, and congratulations, Charlie. We have some stock binders of samples for you to pick through that can be done in nearly any hue. Do you know what color scheme you wanted?”
“Navy blue and silver. Would it be possible to see something with the Seattle skyline in the background?” I asked. Not sure why that came to me, but it did.
“Absolutely. Please follow me.” She directed us to a table where the samples were.
Mom and I flipped through them, not really finding anything that caught our attention. “Would it be possible to design our own?”
“Yes, of course,” she turned her computer screen to where the three of us could see it. “Blue and silver with the Seattle skyline. What do you think about adding the silhouette of two grooms above that?” Trinity asked, adding the graphics to the outline on the screen.
“Wow, that looks amazing. I love the silver behind the grooms and the blue of the skyline. What about an old English calligraphy lettering go well with that?” This was really coming together nicely.
“Let’s see, what do you want it to say?” She pursed her fingers on the keys, ready to type.
I started laughing when the reality of what I was about to say hit me.
“What’s so funny, Charlie?” Mom asked.
“It just hit me, all your names start with the letter A.”
“You’ve known us how long and you just realized this?” Now Mom was laughing.
Once I’d regained myself, I turned to Trinity to recite our scripting:
Mr. & Mrs. Adam Travers
Cordially invite you to the wedding of their son
Alexander Joshua Travers
to
Charles Thomas DuBois
New Year’s Eve
at sunset
Seattle Museum of the Arts
Reception to follow immediately after at the Travers Residence
(In lieu of gifts, we ask that you consider donating to the LGBTQ Youth Center in Seattle)
Trinity typed as fast as I spoke. When she finished, she turned the screen toward us and we both squealed. This was far more fun that I thought it would be, or maybe it was just the person I was with who made it that way.
“It’s perfect,” I told her.
“Excellent. Minimum order is fifty, how many do you need?” She finalized the design while mom and I decided on the amount.
“Let’s do seventy-five, just to be on the safe side. How long will it take before they’re ready?” It was all coming together. Ordering the invitations made it so real.
“With full payment today, we can have them ready to pick up in two weeks. Will that work for you?”
“Perfectly.” I handed her my credit card before Mom had a chance to pull hers out. Alex and I had already discussed this, and we didn’t want our parents to pay for anything.
“Tomorrow after the tasting let’s go back to our house and work our way through the planning list. I’ll pick you up in the morning at ten thirty, Alex can meet you there after work. We’ll have dinner, then you two can go home. Sound good?”
“That sounds great.” She pulled in next to my car and I kissed her cheek. “In case I haven’t told you, Mom, thank you, for everything.”
“It’s my pleasure, Charlie. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I closed the door and waved as she pulled away.
I got home before Alex, and started laundry then decided to make dinner. Midway through he came home.
“Hi honey, I’m home,” he sang from the garage door in the kitchen then came and slid his arms around my waist and nibbled my neck.
“Mmm, hey, babe. How was your day?” I asked.