Happy Hour (13 page)

At lunchtime, they all gathered around one of the shady willow trees on
the grounds. “Mom, I cantered today. After I helped Gwen with the kids, she
gave me a lesson on Roadie and I cantered.”

“That’s wonderful, honey. I can’t wait to watch you.”

“I wish I could have a horse,” Maddie said.

“Someday, babe.”

Maddie kissed her on the cheek. “Can I go get a candy bar out of the
machine in the tack room?”

“I guess. But don’t get used to treats around here.”

“You’re the best mom ever.”

Jamie laid back in the tall grass. Sure, she was saying that now, but
from what Jamie had seen from the teenage children her friends had, being “the
best” didn’t last in your children’s eyes. If she was lucky, she had three more
years of being “the best” and then there would be that huge downgrade to “the
worst.” From all appearances, that stage lasted anywhere from four to seven
years. Great. She was really looking forward to
that
.

A light breeze blew across the ranch and Jamie daydreamed of horses and
children. Her sweet daydreams turned a tad erotic when Tyler waltzed into her
thoughts while she dozed. The man had a body and a smile and, oh, those eyes!
Why did he have to be so young? Why did he have to be…period? Jamie did not
want to think about undressing Tyler Meeks or kissing him or doing anything
else for that matter.

“Must be a good dream,” Tyler said.

Jamie’s eyes shot open and she saw that he was leaning over her. “No. I
wasn’t dreaming. Nothing. It was about nothing.”

“You had a nice smile on your face for nothing.”

“Really, I wasn’t thinking anything at all.”

“Okay.” He shrugged and again walked away.

Jamie gritted her teeth. She hated to admit it, but Tyler was getting
under her skin.

It was a warm Saturday afternoon and for the first time ever, really, Kat
felt like she was connecting with her six-year-old step-daughter. Granted,
she’d known the little girl for three years now, but Amber’s mother Emily made
sure to label Kat as the scary step-monster as much as she could. The irony
was, Emily would drop Amber off on a whim, without notice, claiming she had to
fly off to wherever for work. As if her company didn’t have a schedule drawn up
prior to the day before, or the day of a necessary business trip? What, they
would just come to her a few hours before she needed to be at the airport and
tell her that she had to go to Timbuktu on business? Please! Kat hadn’t fallen
off of the turnip truck recently, if ever. She knew that the word
dumbshit
were not engraved across her forehead, yet every time Emily called, she and
Christian would take Amber.

Kat realized that she should confront the woman about boundaries and
schedules. But it really wasn’t her place. It was Christian’s. The blended
family management thing could be a real bitch. Not like the nuclear family
didn’t come without complications. Marriage alone was difficult—nothing at all
like the ideal happily-ever-afters that played out on movie screens. Add
children to the marriage and things tended to get a bit muddier. Take that idea
and throw divorces into the mix, remarriages and all the kids involved. The
result tended to be dysfunction junction. Ah, yes, the making for a Valium
addiction. But Kat didn’t pop pills. Sure, she had herself a glass of wine in
the evenings (some nights that glass was larger than other nights) while
working at the restaurant, and she usually had two or three when with her
friends, but she wasn’t dependent on any chemical. She’d even given up smoking.

Blended families meant trying to balance it all while walking on a tight
rope with fifty-pound weights in each hand. As a mom and wife, Kat loved her
whole family, including her stepdaughter. But as a woman, Kat found that loving
them all and trying to make it work was often a detriment to her sanity. And
taking Amber in on a regular basis, without upsetting Christian with a
discussion on why Emily needed to have better boundaries, was one of those
elements contributing to her mental chaos. And then there were the boys, the
Sperm Donor, and Christian’s delicate feelings around all of that. Ay, yay,
yay. Yes. The balancing act weighed on Kat.

Kat held onto Amber’s hands as she pulled her around the pool, her little
fingernails shining hot pink from the polish they’d painted on earlier, a huge
grin spread across her angelic face. Jeremy dove into the deep end, his body
tanned and lean from all the working out, while Brian hung out in the Jacuzzi,
his longish hair hanging in his eyes, still holding on to the attitude he’d copped
that morning—completely insulted that his mother wouldn’t even consider buying
him the new Apple laptop. And here she’d thought he’d always be sweet and that
the proverbial teenage wasteland wouldn’t become a part of their relationship.
Wishful thinking!

“Can you toss me into the deep end?” Amber asked.

“No, sweetie. You can’t swim that strong yet.”

“I’ll catch her,” Jeremy said, his blue eyes shining.

Maybe there was light at the end of the tunnel after all. Did Jeremy
really want to play big brother?

Amber beamed. “You will?” Obviously she was as shocked as Kat.

“Yeah, sure! C’mon, Mom, toss her.”

“Okay. One, two three!” Kat pumped Amber up out of the water with each
count and on three tossed her across to Jeremy. Water splashed all over as he
caught her.

Then Brian jumped in from the Jacuzzi, spraying water all over them
again. “Hey, I’ll catch her, too,” he grumbled. At least a grumble was better
than the full-on aggrieved attitude.

“Cool,” Kat said. “Mind if I take a break for a minute? I’ll go make us
some sandwiches and grab some sodas.” Is this the way normal families worked?
If so, Kat could live with it. Too bad Christian wasn’t there to see how good
the boys could be with Amber, instead choosing to believe they were children
with the mark of Satan on them.

“I want turkey and cheese,” Jeremy said.

“Me, too,” Amber yelled out.

“No cheese,” Brian said.

“I know,” Kat replied. As if the kid had just picked up the bizarre habit
of no cheese. To her it was bizarre because he’d eat pizza all day long. But any
other way, forget it.

She toweled off and walked back to the house, the whole time hearing the
kids laughing and playing in the pool. Maybe she should have a pool party.
Invite her friends and their kids. Yes. Maybe that was exactly what everyone needed.
Brand new pool. Hot summer on the way. A party. Perfect. Maybe she’d even do it
while her mother was visiting. Could she invite her dad too, or would that be
too awkward? She couldn’t really have a party and not invite her father. She’d
ask him and see how he felt about it. If he was uncomfortable, then she’d do it
when her mom wasn’t here.

Peaches, their golden retriever, was on the couch when she opened the
French doors to go back inside. The retriever jumped off and sulked away when
Kat gave her one of her looks. “You know what, you lazy bum, you and Squeak
need to go outside and play. Where is she?” she called the aging Chihuahua, who
ambled into the room probably thinking she was going to get a treat. Instead
Kat booted them out and went into the kitchen to make lunch.

She’d just finished the last of the sandwiches, grabbed some chips and
sodas, and started back outside when both dogs went a little berserk, Squeak
with her little yip and Peaches with her low bark. “What the heck?” She opened
the back door and caught herself.

“Hey, Kat.” It was Perry and some long-legged young blonde.
Typical
.

There stood Kat, hands full of a platter of food in her Land’s End
bathing suit that was not covering up her cellulite the way she’d hoped the
hipster bottoms would. “Hi, Perry. What are you doing here?”

“Can you shut those dogs up? What the hell is wrong with them?”

“They’re doing their job.” Using her hip, Kat opened the handle on the
door and ushered the dogs inside. She must have been a lovely sight—her rear
end hanging out, balancing food, and an awkward hip movement to get yip and yap
in the house. She forced a smile as she turned back around. “Now, why are you
here?”

“I’m picking up the boys.” He wrapped an arm around the blonde, and ran a
hand through his thick, dark hair, his dark brown eyes twinkling with their
ever-mischievous glint. “This is Beta.”

“Hello,” the child said with a Swedish accent.

“Hi,” Kat replied. “Where’s Inga, or Iris, or…”

“Indie,” he interrupted.

“Yeah, Indie. Where’s she?”

“We broke up.”

“Ah,” Kat clucked. “Nothing like jumping right back in the saddle, huh?
So you’re here for the boys, but you’re about three hours early.”

“I called and left a message for both boys on their cell phones and also
on your house phone. Beta and I are going down to Cabo for a few days and our
flight leaves tonight, so I can’t take the boys to dinner. I’d figure I’d take
them to lunch.”

“I just made them lunch.” She looked down at the sandwiches. “I guess you
better refigure.”

“I’m sure they’d prefer going out. They’re out at the pool?” Not waiting
for Kat’s reply, he headed that way with the blonde in tow.

Kat tried to keep up with them while also attempting to balance the full
load of lunches. “You know, it would have been nice if you’d actually waited
and talked to me. We have plans.”

Perry shrugged. “Looks to me like you’re swimming. Not much in the plans
department.”

Blonde Beta giggled.

“Wait a minute.” She hated when he did this.

“Dad!” It was Brian, of course.

“Hey, bud. Hi, Jer.”

“Hey, Dad.” He didn’t have the same enthusiasm at the sight of his father
that his brother did.

“Toss me again,” Amber whined in Brian’s arms.

“Nah, our dad’s here.”

Kat watched as Brian handed Amber to Jeremy and climbed out of the pool
to dry off. It was no use even trying to interfere now. The hero had arrived.
Brian walked over to him and gave him a high five and a hug. “What’s up?”

“Not much. Waz up with you, G?”

The Mister Cool act was so disgusting. Kat could get wanting to be the
kid’s best pal, but at some point, didn’t Perry feel the need to act at least a
little parental? Dumb question. The answer was quite obvious.

“Same old same,” Brian said. “You know, just kicking it.”

“Right on. Right on. Get dried off. I’m taking you guys to lunch. Come
on. Go get dressed. You too, Jer. Put the kid down and get out. This is Beta.
Say hi.”

“Hey,” Brian said, not in the same tone he greeted his father. It seemed
that maybe he was tiring of the girlfriend turnstile his father ran.

“I can’t go, Dad,” Jeremy said, still holding on to Amber.

“What do you mean you can’t go?” Perry crossed his arms.

Kat looked from her son to her ex-husband.

“I have a friend’s birthday party to go to.”

“Call them up. You can’t go. You’re going with me. I drove an hour out
here to take you guys to lunch. There’ll be other birthdays with friends. Let’s
do this.”

“You can’t do that,” Kat said.

“Bullshit. The kid is going with me. I haven’t seen him for a couple of
weeks and I’m going to be gone for a few days. I want to hang out with him.”
That glint he’d had in his eyes turned from mischief to what Kat thought was
evil. Perry always lived up to his reputation as a snake.

Kat stood up tall, nearly dropping the lunch. “Could you please watch
your language? And you know what?  No. Jer doesn’t have to go with you. The
plan was for dinner tonight. You changed the plan, Jeremy agreed to dinner, but
he has a birthday party to go to. He’s not hanging out with you,
G
. You
can take Brian for lunch.” She made her eyes into little hateful slits. When
dealing with a snake, sometimes it took acting like one too.

“Maybe you guys should check your messages sometimes,” Perry said.

“Maybe you shouldn’t expect to change everyone’s schedule to fit your own
whenever you feel like it. Have fun in Cabo.” She gave Brian a hug. “Have a
good lunch, honey.”

“Nice pool. Restaurant must be doing well,” Perry said.

Kat got the subtlety of the remark. “We’re fine. You must be doing okay
yourself. Graphic designers are in demand obviously. Cabo isn’t exactly cheap
and the boys mentioned you bought a new Porsche.” Perry owned his own graphic
design firm in San Francisco, with many of his contracts coming from major
businesses all over the country. Kat had been there when he’d started the firm,
even helped him by doing all of the administrative work. Now he was a success
and she admittedly hated that.

“Let’s go, Bri.” Brian, the bimbo, and the Sperm Donor walked down the
patio steps and headed off to their lunch. “Later, Jer.”

Kat stifled a smile. The guy was such a jerk. He had two sons and he
routinely tried to get out of his obligations in supporting them. Sure, he
wanted the perks of having the boys, of playing the hero father in front of his
girlfriends, but that’s where it ended. One thing for sure was that after that
little scene he’d just pulled, Jeremy was as sick and disgusted by him as Kat
was. Jeremy had started to see right through his father, because there was no
birthday party planned. He’d made it up just to avoid having to go with him.
She knew it was wrong to cover for the kid, but Jeremy shouldn’t have to hang
out with dad, the new Barbie, and his little brother who put their dad on a
pedestal.

But it also made Kat sad. She turned to see Jeremy pulling Amber around
the pool like he had earlier, and although there was this near-triumphant
feeling knowing that Perry didn’t completely win this time, it was tempered by
what she understood had to be the effect on Jeremy. She knew what it was like
to be abandoned by a parent. But at least in her case, she’d been an adult when
it had happened. Jeremy was still a kid and Kat couldn’t help notice a loss of
innocence in his eyes as he realized how truly superficial his father’s love
was.