23.
Once she grows into her full potential, the sky is the limit, and she’ll become a leader in whatever field she chooses. Whether it’s basket weaving or nuclear physics, Jewel can do anything. Just ask her. She’ll tell you.
Warren Green
JEWEL
“How’d it go with your dad?”
Robby passed me the bowl of salad. “It was good. Different, but in a good way, you know?”
“Not really, but I’d know more if you explained it to me.”
Robby frowned, and the expression looked alarmingly like Atlas when he was annoyed with me.
“His apartment is pretty cool, other than the fact that one of us has to sleep on the couch,” Max complained. “It’s got a pool and a nice workout area, and it’s not far from a high school, so there’s a track for us to run whenever we want.”
Other than the hope that Robert’s new home was safe enough for my kids, I didn’t give a shit if he lived in a hovel.
The fact that he could afford a decent apartment made me feel a little better about the boys making the two-hour drive to see him, which meant they’d stay at least one night, if not two or more.
After learning the few details Ziggy was willing to share about his “conversation” with Robert, I knew he would be moving soon, but I was shocked to hear he was gone less than five days later.
When we were married, it took him more than a month to fix a light switch that only worked half the time and was probably going to burn down our house.
One little chat with Ziggy, though, and the man suddenly got his act together.
He moved two hours away, got a new job, bought a used car that was far more practical and less flashy than the midlife-crisis sports car he’d purchased a few years earlier, and made an admirable effort to reconnect with Max and Robby.
At first, I wondered what his endgame might be because Robert never did anything that wouldn’t benefit him in some way.
When I mentioned my worry to Ziggy, he smiled and said, “He doesn’t have an end game, Kitten, but he can follow orders. ”
The grin on his face and the cocky way he said that got me all riled up, and I attacked Ziggy in the hallway outside our bedroom, which led to us being late for dinner at Emerald and Adam’s house.
When we finally arrived, the smile on my face belied the story we made up to excuse our tardiness, and Emerald teased Ziggy mercilessly about controlling his libido for the good of humanity.
When he asked how that would help, she explained that when I smiled too much, the earth started to shift on its axis, which could mess with the tides and the sun’s position, causing an apocalypse when the crops failed and water dried up.
I knew without a doubt that I was a badass, but that was pushing it.
“It’s weird to sit down to dinner without Zig,” Max said.
I loved that the boys felt comfortable enough with Ziggy to give him a nickname and that he was good-natured about it.
He had even taken to calling them Thing 1 and Thing 2.
When they balked at the monikers, Ziggy lied and said it was because he could barely tell them apart and couldn’t remember their real names, which made the boys roll their eyes and insult his age and memory skills.
Usually, Ziggy ate dinner with us, but he sent me a text earlier that afternoon explaining that he had a meeting with a contractor about one of the properties he’d purchased soon after he arrived in Rojo.
I assumed it was the same property he’d kept me away from and insisted I’d love but couldn’t see until the renovation was complete.
“He’s working late, so he will have plenty of time to spend with his kids when they come back,” I explained.
Ziggy’s daughters had spent a week with us at the beginning of the month and were planning to fly in and spend another week before they started fall classes at their respective colleges.
Getting to know them had been so much fun, and I realized what I’d been missing by having only boys.
I mentioned that while having lunch with Mom, Willow, and Summer, and they all cracked up.
Summer and Willow were snorting and crying tears of laughter, but Mom laughed so hard she had to waddle to the bathroom before she had an accident.
She was still laughing when she joined me back in the kitchen.
“Why is that so funny?”
“Take it from me, sweetheart,” Mom said as she tried to catch her breath. “Raising sons is completely different than raising daughters.”
“You’re getting to know the twins when they’re mostly grown, which means you missed out on puberty and all that entails,” Summer explained.
Willow nodded in agreement. “It’s hell on earth, believe me. I’ve done it a million times.”
“You’ve only got five girls, Will,” I reminded her.
Summer scoffed. “Numbers don’t matter. I’ve only got four daughters, and I’ve survived hormonal rages and crying jags more times than I care to admit. And don’t even get me started on snarky comments and temper tantrums.”
“God, those are the worst!” Mom agreed.
“We were angels,” I reminded Mom.
“What is it your Papa says? The devil was an angel once. That fits you and Petra to a T.”
“No, we were angels!” Willow argued. When Mom glared at her, she hurried to say, “Compared to Jewel and Petra, we were!”
Mom shrugged in answer, and Summer added, “Mom gets extra points because while she was dealing with Petra and Summer going through their phases, she had to listen to us complain about our girls.”
“That’s true,” Willow conceded. She lifted her bottle of water and said, “To Mom. The only angel among us.”
“Thank you, thank you. Hold your applause,” Mom said with a fake bow. “I would say I’d do it all again, but that’s a complete and total lie.”
Max pulled me out of my musings when he asked, “Have you talked to Parker today?”
“Yes, and he should be here any minute. I expected him before dinner, but he’s probably running late.”
“You know you’ve been watching his progress on that app you use to track us,” Robby said with a wry look. “When will you stop using that?”
“When they figure out how to surgically install a tracking device in your body so I can keep tabs on you that way.”
“I thought you hated it when people tracked stuff digitally.”
“I don’t like it when people watch me. That has nothing to do with me watching you.”
“Overprotective much?” Max asked sarcastically.
I threw a dinner roll at him, but he was too quick and ducked out of the way. It sailed over his head, and Ursula caught it before taking off for her post by the window to wait for Ziggy while she ate her treat.
Before Max could retaliate, the front door opened, and my oldest son called out, “Let the games begin, people! The party has arrived!”
I jumped up from my chair and hurried toward the front door.
Parker had already dropped his bag on the floor beside his feet and was waiting for me with open arms. I enveloped him in a hug and squeezed him tight as the part of me that worried with him so far away relaxed for the first time since I’d last seen him.
Parker returned my hug and kissed the top of my head before asking, “Am I too late? Did those monsters eat everything?”
“I made plenty because it’s all of your favorites.”
“You do love me!” Parker said with fake astonishment.
I pinched his side before letting go of him and turning back toward the kitchen. “It’s not because I love you. It’s that I don’t want to hear you whine anymore. It gets tiresome and makes me want to drown you.”
“I love you, too, Mommy Dearest.”
The next hour passed with Parker and me catching up while he ate so much food that I wondered how he would function for the rest of the evening.
I also listened to my boys playfully argue with each other as they talked about recent events as if they didn’t speak every day.
I left them in the dining room, took my wine to the backyard, and watched Ursula chase June bugs, her new favorite pastime, while I sent a text to Ziggy asking how long he would be.
When he didn’t answer, I assumed he was still meeting with the contractor and would get in touch later, so I called Mom to check on Dad’s progress at physical therapy that day.
She didn’t say hello or use any other usual greeting. Instead, the second she picked up she announced, “I’m going to divorce him, take all of his money, and spend the rest of my days making his life a living hell.”
“Don’t divorce him. Stay married and live in the same house. You can do much more damage in close quarters than you can from a distance,” I suggested. When she just hummed in response, I said, “I take it he was a problem child this afternoon.”
“When is he not?”
“You’re right. If he didn’t act up, we’d start wondering about his health and worrying even more than we already do.”
“I’m worried about your sister.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked in alarm. “Do I need to . . .”
“Don’t get your panties in a twist just yet, Jewel.”
“Alright, Dad.”
“Shut your pie hole, young lady!”
“Talk to me about Petra and what she’s done to make you worried.”
“Since your players have arrived in Rojo, she’s turned into quite the Rojo ambassador.”
I burst out laughing. “Are you slut-shaming, Mom?”
“Your sister is not a slut!”
“I know she’s not, but it’s funny to accuse her since she’s had a different date every night since the team started trickling into town.”
“Do you blame her? Have you seen the way those men are built? They’ve got thighs that are even better than your Ziggy’s, and their asses are just as good, if not better too.”
“Why have you been looking at my boyfriend's ass?”
“Sweetheart, he’s built like a wet dream come to life, and you know it. I was having lunch with the girls the other day when Ziggy walked in with the coach and a few of the players. You should have heard some of the things they were saying. Your Gamma cracked me up. She compared them to . . .”
I resisted the urge to gag and interrupted, “I’d rather not know.”
Mom was laughing when she agreed. “You’re right. You’d never be able to look at any of them the same.”
“The guys or . . .”
“The women in our family. I think they’re going to love the VIP box you said they could sit in at home games, but I suggest we use Petra’s box for the men and yours for the women so we can keep them separate. God knows what would happen if the guys could hear their women talking about the players.”
I winced at the thought of the bloodbath that might happen, and agreed, “I’m sure we can figure something out.”
“Hey, Mom, let’s go,” Max said from the doorway behind me.
“Where?” I asked as I turned around and looked at him. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m already . . .”
“Put your shoes on and come with us.”
“Are you giving me an order, youngling?” I asked.
“That look doesn’t work on me, and neither does the insult.” Max clapped his hands and did a decent impression of his grandfather when he said, “Let’s go, woman!”
“Mom, I’m going to have to let you go. I’ve decided to take up child abuse as a hobby, and I’m going to start with Max.”
“I’ve been threatening the same thing for years, but it was always either you or Petra that was going to be my first target.”
“If you’re not first, you’re last!” I said as I stood up.
“Tell Ricky Bobby and Max that Gigi loves them . . .”
“Parker’s here too!”
“He is? I didn’t realize he was coming to town this weekend.”
“It was a sudden trip. I didn’t know he was coming in until this morning, so I had to scramble to get his favorite meal made. I’m not sure if he was worth the effort, but I suppose it wasn’t too much trouble.”
“Tell him I better get a solid hour of time with him before he leaves.”
“I will.”
“Love you, sweetheart.”
“Love you, too, Mom,” I said before ending the call. I tilted my head and frowned at my son. “And where exactly do you think we’re going?”
“That’s for me to know and you . . .”
“Finish that sentence and die,” I snapped.
Max laughed before repeating, “Let’s go.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I already changed into my comfy clothes and . . .”
“Yeah, about that. You’re gonna have to put on something . . . less . . . holey.”
“Bless you, my son,” I said sarcastically.
“Come on.”
“Why?”
“Can you name a single instance in your entire life when you did something without giving the person who asked you to do it a ration of shit?”
I thought about it for a second and then shook my head.
“I don’t ask for a lot, Mom . . .” I scoffed and Max rolled his eyes. “But will you please just put some decent clothes on and come with me without asking a million questions and getting so stubborn that I have no choice but to hog-tie you and throw you into the back of the truck?”
I laughed at the thought but then sobered when I realized something. “Is this adventure you have planned why Parker came home out of the blue?”
“That’s a question.”
“Oh, good grief. Yes, I’ll come with you, and I won’t even ask a million questions, but I’m gonna be cranky the entire time because once I change into my house clothes, I don’t like to backtrack and get dressed again.”
“I promise it won’t kill you this one time.” Impatiently, Max ordered, “Get a move on, Dr. Parker!”
I walked past Max and muttered, “Jeez. Give a girl a minute to get moving. You’re so impatient!”
I was halfway to my room when I realized Parker and Robby were gone. “Where are your brothers?”
“They got bored waiting for you, so they left.”
“Where did they go?” I asked as I walked into my closet to find something more presentable, yet hopefully just as comfortable as what I’d been wearing.
I decided on a pair of leggings and a tank top, layering an oversized silk shirt over them–a piece I’d bought while shopping in New York City with Brooklyn.
Hearing Max in my bedroom, I pulled the closet door closed and quickly changed before grabbing a pair of sandals and stepping back out into the room.
“Did you lose your hearing?” I asked.
“That was a question, so I ignored it in the hope that you’d try to complete the mission I set for you.”
“Have I ever told you how much I hate kids?”
“Not nearly as much as you hate adults, so I’m not worried.”
“You’re about to officially become an adult, so I’d start worrying if I were you.”