Destiny and a Bottle of Merlot (23 page)

“That isn’t fair. Tina doesn’t have to take part,” Sasha pouted.

“I’ll go the next round, or you guys can pick a different game. I’ll make sure I’m in it,” Tina said, laughing. “Okay, who wants to go first?”

Vic volunteered to start the dancing.

“I don’t know how to dance,” Josh whined.

“Just do whatever I do. I’m Puerto Rican, and baby, can I dance. Pick something good, Josh,” Vic said, laughing.

Josh reached in the hat, stirred the slips of paper around, and pulled one out. He furrowed his eyebrows as he read it out loud. “Shit! We have to fast dance to rock music.”

Everyone burst out laughing at the face he made. Tina put on Van Halen’s ‘Everybody Wants Some.’

Vic screeched with laughter. “I friggin love that song. C’mon, baby, let me show you how it’s done.” She grabbed Josh’s hand and pulled him into the center of the room. The rest of the group filled their glasses and plopped down on the furniture to watch the show. Tina started the music.

Vic began slowly, thrusting her hips to the intro of the song. As it sped up, her hips began to gyrate in a frenzy of fast spins, grinds and bumps against Josh’s butt. He ducked just before he was decapitated by her flailing arms. Josh bounced around on one leg looking like a wounded shorebird, having no idea how to keep up with Vic. Tears and roars of laughter had everyone ready to wet themselves. Aaron and Sasha went next. They chose the 50’s genre. Tina picked The Brian Setzer Orchestra playing ‘Jump Jive An' Wail.’

“Yay! I love to spin and bounce around like that. You have to pull me under your legs and flip me over your back. Can you do that, Aaron?”

“Uh… I don’t know. How about we try something a little less dangerous? I’ll pull you under my legs and then let’s just spin each other around.”

“Okay, if that’s the best you can do.”

Next was Mario and Karen. They chose Latin music. Mario was in his element, being Puerto Rican. Latinos had that natural hip movement. Tina chose to play Marc Anthony’s ‘Live My Life.’ “Do you know how to dance Cha Cha? It’s kind of like Salsa except a little slower,” he asked Karen.

“Of course not, but I bet you’re going to teach me.” She grinned widely at him. “Should I just mimic whatever you do?”

“Yeah, just follow my moves.”

“Karen would love to follow your moves, bro,” Vic yelled out.

More laughter erupted as Karen turned a deep shade of red. “Vic, remind me to kill you when we’re done,” she said.

Mario stood side by side with Karen and showed her the steps. “I’ll go slowly. It’s an eight step dance. We can just fool around. Oops, wrong choice of words.”

The group felt no pain with amount of drinks and laughter going around. Mario and Karen finished the dance and everyone cheered.

“I’ll teach you Latin dancing whenever you want,” Mario whispered in Karen’s ear when the music stopped.

The only couple left was Max and Mia. “Go ahead, ladies first,” he teased, as Mia dipped her hand into the hat.

“That’s easy for you to say, dork. There’s only one slip of paper left.” Mia reached in and pulled out the final piece of paper. It read slow dancing. She felt her face begin to flush.

Tina picked one of her very favorite songs to play to Mia’s dismay. Mia already felt nervous just at the thought of dancing with Max, let alone a slow song.
Damn it, how did I end up dancing with Max, and a slow song, no less?

The music began. It was Luther Vandross’s ‘Here and Now.’ Max reached for Mia’s hand and pulled her close. Their eyes met, then Mia quickly looked down. She put her arm around his back and lay her head against his chest. His heart pounded against her temple. He held her hand softly, and they melted together as if one, while the music played. Everything else faded in that few minutes, even the hecklers, laughing and telling them to get a room. Luckily, everyone was tipsy enough not to notice the genuine connection Mia and Max still had with each other.

“Alright, wasn’t that fun?” Tina asked, as the music ended. “What’s next?”

Thank God that’s over,
Mia thought, as she filled her wine glass.

Max gave her a subtle wink and grabbed a beer for himself. “Let’s play Twister,” he suggested.

“Yeah, that sounds like a riot,” Sasha agreed, with a hiccup. “We’ve already cleared the floor.”

“Okay… why not.” Tina got the game out and they began playing, laughing and falling over each other in the unstable condition they were already in.

Karen fell on top of Mario, who in turn fell over Aaron. “Dude, you’re getting way too personal right now,” Aaron yelled out, when Mario’s butt was close to touching his face.

Sasha ran for the bathroom, laughing. “I’m going to pee my panties any second. I’ll be right back.”

Tina called out to the group. “Hey you guys, it’s almost midnight. We need to get our party favors, confetti and champagne ready. We’ve only got ten minutes before the ball drops.”

Everyone scrambled. The girls banged on the bathroom door for Sasha to get out so they could have their turn. “Tina, I’m using the master bathroom. Sasha’s hogging the other one,” Karen yelled.

“Go ahead, just hurry up.”

Tina passed out the baggies filled with confetti to everyone. The dining room table held nine glasses of champagne. The girls picked out the best party hats to wear, leaving little choices for the guys. They all held noisemakers, ready to go. The countdown on TV was at three minutes. Aaron toasted his best friends. They all drank and filled their glasses again. The couples snuggled close together.

“One minute!” Sasha screamed, as Josh wrapped his arms around her.

“Ready… go,” Karen said, as they counted down the final seconds together. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Happy New Year!”

Couples, and wanna-be couples, kissed. The girls kissed each other. The guys man-hugged. Everyone kissed the dogs, and blew noisemakers. Confetti filled the air, landing in the glasses of champagne and sticking to everyone’s skin. The guys threw firecrackers out the front door, and laughed when the loud bangs made the girls scream. The house was a shambles and nobody cared. Champagne flowed, and the dogs went to sleep in the laundry room.

At one o’clock Karen suggested dessert and coffee. Two cherry cheesecakes and a blueberry pie waited on the kitchen counter. Everyone took a small slice of each. They gathered at the dining room table, half drunk and slurring their words as they ate. The coffee perked them up, but nobody was going home anyway. One by one, they began falling off like a flies bombed with insect repellent. Karen and Tina stumbled to the master bedroom and fell across the bed. Sasha and Mia somehow ended up in the guest room, sleeping together on top of the blankets, fully dressed. Mario slept on a chair in the dining room, his head twisted in an awkward position on the table. Max fell asleep on the living room floor with one couch cushion, and Aaron snored on the couch with the other two cushions. Vic lay on the bathroom floor, snuggled up with the bathmat and Josh slept on the recliner. All in all, the party was a huge success.

The first set of eyeballs opened at nine o’clock with Reggie licking Aaron’s hand. Aaron evidently ate his cheesecake with his fingers, not remembering why. “Ugh… good morning, boy.” Reggie licked his own nose, cocked his head and whined. Kismet joined in. She was way past due for a potty walk. Aaron lifted his head to assess the carnage.
It could be worse.
“Dude, wake up. Your dog needs to pee.”

Josh snorted, smacked his lips together a few times and began snoring.

“Josh, wake up, man. Kismet has to go outside.” No response. Aaron got up and slipped on his boots. He looked out the window.
Holy shit, is there the snow, and it’s still coming down.
He tiptoed around, trying to remember where the leashes were. He found them next to everyone’s overnight bags that were never opened. Aaron laughed as he held his throbbing head.
What a night.
He opened the hall closet and found his coat among the rest. He clipped one leash to Reggie and the other to Kismet. “Hey little girl, I think I need to carry you outside. You might end up buried in the snow otherwise. C’mon, let’s go.” Aaron disappeared in the whiteout with both dogs.

Other bodies began to stir. Each person slowly woke, wondering where they were, and how they ended up sleeping where they did. Tina was the first brave soul to do something other than moan. Within a few minutes Mia joined her.

“They say two brains work better than one when you’re hung over, don’t they?” Mia asked, as she zombie walked into the kitchen. “What the hell is all over my clothes?”

“Hell if I know. It looks like a mix of blueberry pie and coffee, or it could just be vomit,” Tina said.

Mia ran for the bathroom, falling on top of Vic when she flung the door open. A grunt, followed by a loud screech echoed through the house as Mia hit the floor, still groveling for the toilet. It was bad enough to fall on Vic, she didn’t need to puke on her too. Vic groaned and swore at her in Spanish while she tried to push Mia away. The remaining zombies gathered at the bathroom doorway to watch the commotion in progress. Mia’s head was in the toilet, and Vic was on all fours crawling to the door as fast as she could.

“What the hell? Whatever… who wants coffee?” Tina asked, as the zombies turned around and followed her back the kitchen.

By noon, everyone had the stomach to finally eat. Afterward, the guys went outside and shoveled snow. The end of the driveway had been buried by the snowplow and was three feet deep. The entire process would start over when they got home. Everyone had their own driveway to contend with.

As she stepped out of the shower and began drying off with a new, luxurious bath sheet, Sasha’s cell phone rang on the night table. With wet feet, she carefully ran into the bedroom, trying not to slip on the newly polished maple floors.

“Hello?”

“Hi, babe, can I come over? I need to talk to you about the phone call I just got.”

“Of course. I’ll start the coffee. I’ll see you in a few.”

It was the third week of January. Sasha assumed the phone call was about the paternity test. By the serious tone of Josh’s voice, it didn’t sound like the results were what he wanted. Her mind raced.
Now that Josh is a father, we’ll have to put up with Candy for the rest of our lives.
Sasha nervously got dressed, just throwing on a pair of sweats and a long sleeved tee. She wasn’t in the right frame of mind to dress in something nicer. With her head upside down, she towel dried her short hair, adding a dab of styling crème to make it spiky. She popped her head up and looked in the mirror. With a few pulls and twists of her fingertips, she got it to look right.
No makeup? I guess that isn’t important right now.

She sat on the edge of the bed and put on her slippers, then ran downstairs to the kitchen and started the coffee. Little Kismet was curled up and snoring under the kitchen table. Sasha smiled at her precious pup.
Thank God I took you out earlier, no time now.

The door knocker sounded. Sasha already had two cups and a trivet waiting on the table along with the cream and sugar. She glanced at the coffee pot before leaving the kitchen.
Good, it’s almost full.

She opened the door to Josh’s furrowed face.
He’s got a million things on his mind right now.
“Hi sweetheart, come in. Let me take your coat. There’s a fresh pot of coffee waiting in the kitchen. Let’s sit and talk.”

Josh pulled off his boots and followed Sasha to the kitchen. “I got a call this morning from my attorney. The paternity results are in.”

Sasha braced herself for his words. “I figured that’s what this was about. What did he say?”

“The results confirmed I’m not Josh’s biological father.” He buried his face in his hands and groaned.

“You aren’t? Are they sure? Now I’m confused, are you relieved, or sad?”

“I’m not sure. I was getting used to the idea. That means Candy was messing around with someone while we were still married. Josh could be her second husband’s son after all, but that guy has been out of the picture for ages. Why did she name Josh after me if he was someone else’s child? The poor kid has no father figure in his life at all now. Candy doesn’t seem like the best role model for him. She manipulative and cunning, and she’s definitely up to something. She’ll show up again, I can feel it.”

“Were you hoping Josh was yours?” Sasha asked, as she poured the second cup of coffee for each of them. She set four pieces of warm, sliced banana bread on the table with two plates and a handful of napkins.

“Deep down, I guess so. I never told you, but when Jake and I were seven, our parents split up for two years. Eventually, they got back together, but it was hard on us. Little Josh has it much worse. He doesn’t even know who his real dad is.”

“Do you think Candy would consider using a Big Brother as a role model for him? There must be someone that can act as an adult male figure for the boy. Big Brothers/Big Sisters has to have a branch in Omaha, as big as the city is.”

“That’s a good idea, but I’m sure she’s looking for a certain amount of financial support. If that’s the case, she’ll marry again just to have a meal ticket. That can really screw a kid up. Doesn’t it seem like a coincidence she showed up right after her third husband bailed on her?”

“Yes, but didn’t she realize you would get a paternity test done?”

“Honey, I’m not even the one who suggested it, my attorney did. I’ll admit, she had me believing Josh was mine. I guess it’s because we share a name. She was manipulative enough to have little Josh hand me his birth certificate to look at. Of course, with it reading Joshua Mark Redmond as the name of the father and baby, I believed it, hook, line and sinker.”

“You could have been her backup plan all along,” Sasha said. “If that’s true, she’s going to keep pushing.”

“Well, since I’m not legally responsible, I have more leverage than she does. What’s your opinion, honey? What would you think if I tried to adopt Josh? I mean, it’s something we would need to discuss in length, but his life would be more stable with us. There’s kids here he could play with instead of being glued to that stupid tablet all day. Kids don’t play anymore like when I was growing up. These days, all they do is use electronics as entertainment. They don’t get exercise anymore either. My intention would be to help raise the boy, but I wouldn’t be under any legal, or financial obligation to her. Anything I did for Josh, would be done on my own, and wouldn’t go through her. My attorney could set up the right legal verbiage. She would have to agree to move here, but she couldn’t interfere with our life in any way, shape or form.”