Almost Ordinary (The Song Wreckers Book 2) (29 page)

“Molly, listen,” Bubba said. “We can’t make Gina agree to work with you ever again, but we have a plan. You’re not screwed, darlin’.”

I returned to Michigan in a much better frame of mind than I should’ve been in. Turns out ever since Gina married Dex, Bubba and Kent had been waiting for what happened. My disdain of Dex was noticeable, they’d told me. And here I thought I had been hiding it so well.

Joy had gone home next door right away and my mom was at a book club meeting with some ladies she met at the library. I put the kids to bed as early as they’d allow, then shoved Caleb into our bedroom and showed him how much I missed him. We lay in bed, sweaty, naked, content. I was snuggled into his side while he ran his fingers through my hair.

“At least the upside to getting dumped was that I’ll never have to leave you for that long again.”

“I knew your big mouth would pay off someday.”

I pinched his side and he flinched. “Ha-ha. A songwriting consultant. Who would’ve ever guessed that? And a freelance song writer, assuming I have it in me to keep writing.”

For several agonizing hours, I’d thought my songwriting career was over. Gina was one of their top earning artists, and I’d forced her to fire me. I wasn’t worried about the money. I had negotiated a great deal for myself with this current album, and Cooper paid Caleb well. But the Song Wreckers were done, and without Crystal Records I had nothing to do with my creative outlet. Sure I could still write songs. There’d be no one to perform them, though.

“I miss being in a band.” In Nashville, I played some guitar. It wasn’t the same as playing with Katie, Heather, Courtney, and Josh. As a consultant, my job would be to help other artists write their songs. I wouldn’t be creating from scratch, I’d be making other writer’s songs better. It was something, and I was grateful to Bubba and Kent for valuing me enough to keep me, so I needed to stop complaining. Especially since they agreed to consider buying some of my songs if I kept writing.

“It’s getting late,” Caleb said. “Your mom will be home around ten.”

I sure was glad to have the house to ourselves, at least for a while.

“Nothing’s stopping you from being in a band. Call the others up, see if they’re game.” He sat up and kissed my forehead, then hopped out of bed to start the shower.

I sighed. God, I would love to call everyone up and start The Song Wreckers again. Too bad we were all at the point in our lives where being in a band no longer fit in. Families, careers . . . life.

Ugh, I felt old.

Ding, ding, ding
. That was it. I felt old, and being in the band made me feel young. I made a realization, go me. Only, not a lot of good it would do me. Another band had taken our first weekend of the month slot. They didn’t pull in the numbers that The Song Wreckers did, but Brett had said the bar was full enough.

I joined Caleb in the shower for a quick rinse off, and shoved my pity party out of my mind. I had more important things to think about, like helping my mom find a house nearby. Like Cooper and Franny coming over in two days.

A new adjustment to my career, merging Zander and Alex’s biological father into our lives, and having a real mother-daughter relationship with my mom for the first time in over thirty years . . . Life was interesting, no doubt about that.

Chapter 39

The next day, Tuesday, Katie came over with Evelyn.

Not working on Gina’s album anymore meant I didn’t need as much help with the kids. I told Joy to take the week off, and that we’d see how much I needed her after that. The money wasn’t an issue for her, and my mom was around to lend a hand.

“So,” Katie said as she breezed through the door, “the last text I sent you said what, Mama and Daddy found a house they liked?” She unbundled herself and Evelyn.

“Yeah, over in Gibraltar.”

We settled everyone in the family room and I double-checked that the child gate was locked. With four kids it wasn’t always easy to notice one escaped.

Katie and I plopped down on the couch as my mom came downstairs. “Hi, Mrs. Davis.” To me she said, “Well, I kept asking Mama, ‘Why such a big house for you and Daddy?’ Guess what she told me?”

“Wha—” Oh no! “Don’t even say it.”

She laughed. “Oh yes, one big, happy family.”

I made a finger gun and shot my head.

“What am I missing?” Mom asked.

“Bob-See and Deena are moving here with Mama and Mr. Culver.”

“Yup,” Katie said. “Bob-See wants to be near Daddy, Deena goes where Bob-See goes. Bob-See already has an interview at some new fitness center going up soon, and Deena’s gonna work for Brett as a bartender.”

The offer on Mama’s Michigan house has been accepted and the seller agreed to closing before Christmas. Bob-See and Deena will live with Mr. Culver and Mama until they save up for a down payment for their own home. Bob-See had a good chunk of money saved. He spent the money on an engagement ring for Deena.

I cringed. “What about Grandmama?”

“From what Mama says, whenever they ask her about moving with them she just mumbles about the Godlessness of the young generation. Grandmama doesn’t like the fact that Bob-See and Deena will be living under the same roof before they’re married.”

I smiled, thinking Katie’s grandmama preferred Mississippi over the improper relations sure to occur in Michigan. The old bat clearly disliked me, and living with a couple of sinners shacking up would surely drive her over the edge, causing me to believe my future didn’t include Grandmama.

Katie laughed at my happy dance. Hey, gotta get my kicks wherever I could.

“Stop,” Caleb said, pressing his foot on mine to quiet the tapping. He put his hands on my shoulders and lowered his head to look me in the eye. “This is no big deal. Cooper wants to start to get to know the boys, nothing more.”

He gripped me a touch too hard and his face filled with tension. So his calm act was for my benefit, to lower my anxiety a notch.

“I know. I thought I was ready, but now that the day is here . . .”

I wrapped my arms around Caleb and laid my cheek against his chest. We sent my mom out with a spa package to have privacy.

The doorbell rang.

“Bell,” Zander yelled, and he and Alex ran to the kid gate to see who it was.

Caleb answered the door and led Cooper and Franny to me and the kids in the family room. Cooper held the stuffed animals I saw him with at the toy store. God, that seemed like forever ago. One was an elephant and the other a polar bear.

Franny’s face lit up as soon as she saw the boys. “Hi, guys! Come here!” She kneeled down and held out her arms while the boys ran to her.

Cooper wiped his palms on his jeans, clearly uncomfortable, so I smiled at him. “You can give those to them.”

He picked up the stuffed animals he’d set down and looked at them as if he’d forgotten he had them.

Caleb’s eyes met mine and I shrugged my shoulders a tiny bit. He rolled his eyes, a trait he picked up from me.

After several seconds—that felt like hours—of Cooper staring at the animals, pretty much dumbfounded, Caleb saved him. “Come here, boys. Look what Cooper has for you.” He squatted down and tugged Cooper down with him.

Franny, clapping and speaking words of encouragement, helped transfer the stuffed animals from Cooper’s hands to each kid. Cooper tried to interact. He stuttered and nodded a few times. At least when he did speak, it wasn’t that Godawful baby talk.

We let the boys play. They didn’t have an interest in the adults. Our conversation consisted of trivial bullshit, and Cooper only chimed in when one of us asked him something. He concentrated on the boys.

Franny held Vivian. “She’s so beautiful, you guys,” Franny said.

“That’s because she looks like me,” Caleb joked.

Cooper laughed for a split second.

Caleb held out his arms when Viv started fussing. Franny handed her over, raised her nose to the air and breathed in. “Something smells good.”

I checked on dinner in the oven. “Chicken and loaded baked potato casserole. It should be done in a few.”

With five minutes left on the timer, I pulled the salad out of the fridge, set the table, readied the high chairs, and chose a jar of nasty-looking peas for Vivian. Right when I finished, the timer dinged and everyone joined me in the kitchen.

Caleb asked me not to say grace, explaining to Franny and Cooper why I should be forever banned from praying out loud. Everyone laughed at my expense—even me—and it worked. The mood lightened. We ate dinner like a family. Cooper loosened up some, using work as a safe topic with Caleb. Franny and I gossiped like old friends. Traveling constantly between Michigan and Florida, and being Cooper’s girlfriend seemed to suit her. She carried the ease of someone who was happy with their life.

Dinner was finished, conversations were over, and the awkwardness returned. I hated awkwardness, which is why I tended to interact with people over a meal. When everyone ate, there was something else to focus on. Plus, it gave me an excuse to try new recipes.

“Listen, Cooper,” I said as we all rose from our chairs, “you’re welcome here any time. You too, Franny.”

Franny lifted Vivian out of her high chair. “You know I’ll be seeing this sweet face again.” She rested Viv on her hip and rubbed the boys’ heads. “These knuckleheads too.”

She handed Vivian back to me when we were at the front door, and side-hugged me. “Bye, Molly. Bye, Ram.” She left first, leaving Cooper with me and Caleb.

Cooper turned to me, hands on hips. “Thanks, Molly. I mean that.”

“And
I
meant what
I
said, Cooper. Anytime.”

He gave a quick nod, then turned to Caleb. They shook hands. “Those boys are lucky to have you. Thank you for being the man I couldn’t.” Caleb shut the door behind him.

Cooper’s parting statement hit me hard. “He’s right,” I said to Caleb. “I am the luckiest woman on the planet to have a man like you fall in love with me.”

He snuggled me into his side. A few tears fell, and Caleb let me cry without trying to fix it. It wasn’t true crying, more like the tears fell out of relief that I made it through a difficult moment and it hadn’t been so bad. I ran my hands under my eyes to clear away any wetness.

He turned me to face him. “You’re the strongest woman I know. You fight your way out of every struggle with kindness and compassion. You have a huge heart and it amazes me how you’re willing to adapt to the curveballs life throws at you. I was lucky to have
you
fall in love with
me
.”

I smiled. “Well you’re hard bodied and hot, so it was easy.”

“My wife, ladies and gentlemen. Smart, beautiful, and inappropriate on most occasions.” He smacked my butt. “Let’s start their bath.”

In the three weeks since our Weird Family Dinner—that’s how I referred to dinner with Cooper and Franny—my ears hadn’t stopped ringing yet. Every day was like a three ring circus around here. I house-hunted with my mom, stored belongings for Mama, Mr. Culver, Deena, and Bob-See, and already began work on two songs from a new Crystal Records artist whose voice rocked, but songs “sucked.” Bubba’s words, not mine.

And I swear, it was a part-time job finding where Caleb hid the psychotic elf and Santa on a stick every day, and planting them somewhere new throughout the house. We never spoke of it, never saw the other touch them, but it was game on.

All that plus three kids—two of whom found an old box of Caleb’s tinsel and decided to eat some, a visit from Cooper—who had walked into craziness, and a best friend who I knew was going overboard planning Alex and Zander’s party. It was all recipe for madness. I loved it.

Katie and I sat at the kitchen table. She’d planned and themed. Now I had to find out what all I had to buy for the party. The list was onto the second page.

“How is this small and intimate?” Four dozen star-shaped balloons?
Two
piñatas? “And why am I going to need to buy a second crock pot?”

“Good lord, Mol. Just buy the stuff and let me handle everything else.”

I could argue with her and end up downing a bottle of tums to deal with the indigestion it would give me, or wave the white flag of surrender and let her do what she wanted.

I gave up. “Let’s go shopping.”

I stood in the space between my kitchen and family room looking at everyone in the large rooms. Amazing. People sat on every available space—couch, chairs, tables. Fold-out chairs had been brought up from the basement, and each one had a butt in it. Some of the adults gathered at a counter, and some of the kids were weaving in and out of the adults. Since there were two sets of stairs in this house, some of the kids ran a giant circle: up the stairs in the family room, across the hallway, down the stairs that let out into the living room, then circled around into the family room to repeat. I remembered thinking his and my family wouldn’t fit comfortable in here for Thanksgiving, and was glad to be wrong.

Last week my mom had moved in as a roommate with another woman from her book club, so her old room held all the coats, bags, and purses. She’d spent a few dinners with us, and I knew our relationship would continue to grow.

Caleb and I had removed any Christmas decoration that might not survive a house full of kids. A holiday vibe still lingered throughout each room, mixed in with Katie’s theme of outer space. Because of all the lights strung throughout, the two worked together well.

What the hell? This whole scene was surreal, and I shook my head at the weirdness of it all. Everyone grouped themselves in clusters, talking and laughing like this wasn’t completely fucking weird for me. Never in a million years would I have put all these people together under my roof at the same time.

Caleb held a squirmy Vivian, while the twins smacked the iPad screen of their twelve-year-old cousin. Caleb’s brother and brothers-in-law talked about the Super Bowl, making guesses as to which teams would win and why. Char talked with Mama, who bounced Evelyn on her hip. Katie’s dad talked golf with Bob-See. Katie and Brett took advantage of Mama entertaining Evelyn, and held hands as if they were teenagers. It would’ve been cuter if Deena wasn’t standing close by humming off key, making Katie cringe and huff out in annoyance. Joy, my dad, and my mom sat telling stories about something that embarrassed my dad. His face was red and he shook it occasionally. Cooper and Franny sat in the family room discussing 3D with my and Caleb’s oldest nephew who had developed an interest in security and private investigations.

I started sweating so I pinched out the front of my shirt and fanned myself with it a few times. There wasn’t enough food set out on the kitchen counters. I hadn’t make enough. We’d have to order pizza.

I could hear all these individual conversations. Normal conversations. Like they were all being broadcast directly at me, though I knew they weren’t.

Oh my God, maybe I was part vampire. Edward and the rest of the Cullens heard
everything
too. I bet Bella always held her gas for fear of Edward hearing and smelling her rip one.

A giggle rose up from my throat. It stayed quiet for a minute, then progressively rose in volume. No one paid attention. Until it became a full out cackle.

What was wrong with me? I sounded like a friggin’ hyena.

I couldn’t stop. Seriously,
hee-hee-hee, ha-ha-ha, HEE-HEE-HEE, HA-HA-HA.

Before long, pretty much everyone gawked at me like I’d lost my mind. I think I had. And that was hilarious.

I laughed so long and hard, tears rolled down my cheeks. Feeling Caleb’s hand on my lower back, I looked at him, at everyone else, then at him again.

Caleb laughed with me. He got it. I mean, here we were with our three kids having a family party. A family party that included Cooper. And my mom. And my dad. My broken-up, disjointed family mixed in with Caleb’s normal family.

I turned and put my forehead on Caleb’s shoulder to wipe my tears. He laid his cheek on my hair. We both shook with laughter.

“Inside joke,” Caleb said loud enough for everyone to hear. He kissed me, still smiling.

“This is too weird,” I whispered. “I had no idea our entire families would show up. I mean, I knew Katie would go overboard, but holy cow.”

“I know. Everyone’s fitting in and getting along. It feels almost . . . What’s the word I’m looking for? Ordinary.”

I kissed him again. “Yeah, look at us. We’re almost ordinary.”

“That’s us. Mr. and Mrs. Ordinary. I’m gonna order some pizza.”

“Well, good lord.” Katie’s twang cut through everyone else. “Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining.”

I turned toward Katie. “What’s going on?”

“Deena’s trying to tell me she’s saving herself ‘til her and Bob-See’s weddin’ night.”

I loved how Katie’s twang deepened whenever she hung out around fellow Southerners.