Happy Hour (30 page)

Christian nodded.

Mark handed the light to Danielle. People were crowding around them.
Christian asked them nicely to move out of the way while Danielle flashed the
light ahead of them.

“It’s going to be okay, sweetie,” Kat assured him. In the dim light, she
could see tears coming down his face.

“It hurts, Mom.”

“I know.” She tried to sound as calm as Mark and Christian.  Danielle
took her hand and they made it down the hill and back into the house.

Once in the light, Brian started to shake. “He’s a little shocky. Get me
a blanket,” Mark ordered. “Let’s get him to the hospital. It’ll be busy in the
emergency room tonight, so I’ll call and get you in. I can follow you.”

“Would you?” Kat asked.

“Sure. Not a problem.”

Danielle squeezed Kat’s arm. “I can get the other kids home and clean up.
I’ll let your mom know what happened.”

“Thanks. Don’t worry about cleaning up,” Kat said.  Danielle waved a hand
at her. “Just leave it. My car keys are on the hanging thing, the…God, I don’t
know what you call it, by the door.” She’d almost forgotten about her mother.
Oh, and Jeremy. Too much to think about. “Jeremy.”

“I’ll find them and tell him, too. Go on with Brian and Christian. Don’t
worry. Call me when you can.”

Mark kissed Danielle and told her he’d be back to help her as soon as
possible. They got Brian into the car. His shaking had lessened but he was
still in quite a bit of pain.

“Can you call Dad?” Brian asked.

“I will honey. Let’s get you to the hospital first.”

A couple of hours later, x-rays revealed that the break, although bad,
wasn’t as bad as they had all initially thought. Brian had broken the leg in
two places, but the good news was the breaks were clean and surgery wasn’t
needed. Kat could finally sort of relax.

Brian was now occupied watching the FX channel while the cast dried.

His dad finally returned Kat’s call. “What do you mean the kid broke his
leg?”

“I don’t think I need to translate broken leg for you, do I?”

“What the hell were you letting him do?” the Sperm Donor asked. “Weren’t
you watching him?”

“You’re kidding me, right? He’s a teenage boy and he was catching a
football and tripped. I thought you might want to know. He’s not two anymore,
and this could happen on your time, my time or some other parent’s time. Get
off your high horse, Paris.”

He sighed. “I’m in Palm Beach, Kit-Kat.”

“Good. Stay there and don’t worry about it. I’m sure if you send him a
video game, he’ll be happy and you can be the good guy as always. I have to
go.” She hung up the phone and went back into Brian’s room.

Christian asked Kat if she wanted to get coffee. She looked at Brian.
“Go, Mom. I’m fine.”

“You sure, honey?”

“Yes, Mom. Did you talk to Dad?”

So much for that needy creature up on the hill only a few hours earlier.
“Yes. He’s out of town for a few days. He says he’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Oh. Okay.”

They headed to the cafeteria. Mark had gone back to their house to get
Danielle, and Kat’s mind was now free to wonder where her other son had been
all evening. She dialed Danielle’s cell number and gave her the full report.
“Any news on your end?”

“I found them. They were in Jeremy’s room hanging out. They seemed to be
just talking but I can’t say what, if anything, occurred before that. I did
tell them that they needed to come out of the room. I plan to have a talk with
her about why it isn’t okay to hang out in a guy’s bedroom. Even though I’m
sure that will go in one ear and out the other.”

“We’ll have the same talk with Jer.”

They said their goodbyes and after Kat and Christian sat down in the
cafeteria with their coffees, Kat said, “I can’t go with Alyssa tomorrow, not
with Brian like that.”

“It’s a broken leg, babe. He’ll be fine. I can take care of him.”

“But what about when you’re at the restaurant?”

“Your mom is there and you’ll only be gone for a couple of days. We can
manage. Brian will be fine. He’s in good hands. I promise you that I’ll take
care of him.”

“Why the change of heart?”

“What do you mean?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Since we’ve been married you’ve pretty much
steered clear of developing real relationships with them. Sure, you’ve been
around, but it’s not like you’ve reached out to them. But lately you’ve been bonding
with both of the boys. It’s nice.”

“I know. I can’t tell you why exactly. I’m sure if some shrink got a hold
of me, I’d discover it’s some archaic issue in my psyche because the boys
belong to another man.”

Kat looked up at him from her coffee, astounded. “You’re not serious, are
you?” She’d been right all along!

He sighed. “I don’t know. I know they’re good kids, they’re your kids and
I can’t complain, but I have not been able to connect. They don’t look like me,
or act like me. They’re nothing like me.”

“That’s nutty, Christian.”

“Maybe, but I’ve realized that I have a choice in this. I can choose to
have a relationship with the boys and to become their friend. In the process, I
know it will make you happy and in turn we’ll all be happier. I know what
family means to you, and watching you with my child and the way you’ve taken
her in and the way you love her, I thought that maybe it’s about time I do the
same thing with your kids.”

“Our kids,” she said.

“Our kids.” He smiled. “You’ll go tomorrow. Alyssa needs you.”

As much as Kat didn’t want to leave an injured Brian behind, she did know
that he would be in good hands. She’d worry, but she’d go. In some ways she
felt relieved because it would be nice to have someone besides the Sperm Donor
acting as a parent. “I’ll go.”

“Good.”

“On a different note, though, since we’re sharing parental duties, I need
you to have the sex talk with Jer.”

He groaned. “Which talk would that be?” He laughed. “How not to have it?”

“What does that mean?” she asked defensively.

“Nothing.”

“I thought maybe you were implying that we don’t ever have sex.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“You are.”

“I wasn’t, but…”

“Christian, we had sex two weeks ago.”

“Two and a half. Seventeen days actually.

“You’re counting? Since when did you start counting?”

“I’m not some freak, okay. But we have only been married for a few years
and every two to three weeks is not that much.”

“Oh my God, you sound like my mother.”

“I’m not trying to sound like your mother. I’m saying that I would like
to make love more often and now with Amber in our bed, it’s complicated things
a little more.”

“We do have three kids in the house.”

“We have a lock on the door. We used to have sex every day. Remember?
Sometimes two or three times.”

“Yes. But that was the lust period. The falling in love period. Now we’re
in the real world.”

“But couldn’t we bring a little of that back? A compromise, maybe.” He
pinched his fingers together.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking a few times a week might make me happy.”

“A
few times
a week! Where do we find time for that? You are such
a guy. Are you not happy? Is that what you’re saying?”

“No, goddamn it, Kat. Why are we arguing about this? I love you. I’m your
husband, and I am a man, and I want to be with you. Is that a crime?”

She didn’t say anything for a minute. “No. It’s not a crime. I don’t know
what’s wrong with me. I feel overwhelmed. I feel like I can never get it all
done, and sex eats up time, time when I have things that need to be getting
done.”

“It’s time to do me. It’s time invested in our relationship, Kat. You
know what we need? We need a vacation.”

“What about the kids? What do we do with the kids?”

“We have family and friends and they all do have other parents.”

“I don’t want to send them with their other parents.”

“I know, but I’m not talking about a week. Even a weekend away would do
us some good. Think about it. Okay? Take the days you’re with Alyssa, try to
relax some if you can, and think about a weekend away together.”

“Okay.”

“Good. And I’ll talk to Jeremy.”

“Thank you.” They got up from the table and Christian took her hand while
they walked back to Brian. Kat’s mind sputtered. She knew her husband was
right, but it didn’t change the fact that Kat had lost her sex drive.

Alyssa was grateful that Kat had joined her, but felt badly after Kat
told her what happened to Brian. However, without her friend there, she thought
she might chicken out and not go to see James. She also worried that he
wouldn’t show up.

Darren asked her, almost begged her, to let him go with her. But she said
that it was something she needed to do on her own, and that Kat would be with
her. Meeting James face to face would be a part of her healing.

But what if he didn’t come? He would come because she had tricked him.
She’d spent quite a bit of time over the last week researching James. Alyssa
had learned that James was the owner of several jazz clubs in New Orleans and
in other parts of the country. Since Katrina, he’d lost a great deal of money
and was trying to sell off some of his clubs or find investors to help him open
clubs in other areas.

Kat made the initial call, telling him that she was the assistant to a
possible investor who was only in town for a day and who would very much like
to meet with him. James offered to have her come to his offices, of course, but
neither Kat nor Alyssa thought that prudent. Kat insisted that Alyssa needed to
meet him at a nearby coffee shop.

Alyssa stood in front of the mirror and noticed how much she’d aged in
the past month. Lines creased around her eyes and bags that weren’t there
before stood out, making her look older than she cared to. She finished putting
on her makeup and came out to see Kat leaning back on her bed, probably as
tired as she was.

Kat opened her eyes. “You ready?”

She shrugged. “I suppose as ready as I’m ever going to be.”

“I’ll be right there for you. You’ll be fine. Say what you need to and
get out. It’ll be okay. I know it.”

They walked out of the boutique hotel and headed west to the coffee house
in the French quarter that they’d staked out earlier. They were intentionally a
few minutes late, not wanting him to have a chance to see her first and leave.

“Do you want me to go in with you?” Kat asked when they reached the shop.

“No. Wait out here. I can do this.”

Kat hugged her and Alyssa slipped through the front doors. The smells of
greasy food and coffee hit her, and her stomach gurgled. The restaurant painted
in light pinky peach with black accents tried to be twenties retro-chic
looking. It failed. The colors and the smells swirled together and Alyssa
swallowed hard, trying to keep the nausea at bay.

She spotted him in a booth near the back, sipping coffee. Her heels
clicked against the scuffed hard floor. James looked up and spotted her,
recognition crossing his face, and then terror.

She sat down across from him. “Hello, Jimmy,” she said, using the name
he’d called himself back then. “Surprised to see me?”

He stared at her. “Who…?”

“You’re not going to ask who I am and play that game you played so well a
few years ago, are you? You knew then who I was and you know now who I am.”

 “I have a business meeting.”

“I’m the investor, although I’m also not the investor.”

“What do you want?” He squirmed.

“I’m Ian’s mother.”

“I know.”

“You do have a memory, then.  I’m sure when Ian’s uncle mentioned my name
to you, it rang a bell. And you’re Ian’s father.”

He didn’t reply.

“You’re not a bone marrow match for our son.”

“What do you want?” he asked.

“The best chance that Ian, our son, has at finding a match is from a
sibling.”

James stared at her and then started shaking his head. “No, no, no, no.
You are not asking me to have my children tested.”

“Yes, I am.”

He nearly choked on a sip of water. “I can’t do that. I can’t. I can’t. I
have a family and I don’t want my wife to know anything about this. Or Terrell.
He can’t know that you and I dated and had a child together. I’m sorry, but
they need to find another donor.”

Alyssa leaned across the table, her hands no longer shaking. “Listen to
me, you son of a bitch. We didn’t date. You took something away from me a long
time ago and it’s doubtful that you ever looked back, ever thought about me.”

He tried to interrupt.

“No. It’s my turn. I have had to live with that night for the last
nineteen years. Every day. I think about that
night
. The night that you
raped me.”

“Wait a minute now,” he retorted, his face turning red. “I didn’t…”

“Don’t go there
.
You
did
rape
me. The word
no
meant nothing to you.” She noticed a couple staring at them, and she tried to
lower her voice, but rage took over every part of her—rage that she’d kept pent
up for almost two decades. “How about my crying and begging you to stop?
Remember any of that? I do. You’ve taken too much from me already but you won’t
take my son away from me now. I have a relationship with a child that I have
missed for years, thinking that if I looked at him it would only bring me more
pain and memory of that night that you
raped
me. But I was wrong, and
now it’s time for you to make amends so that, in some small way, you may be
forgiven. I don’t care what you tell your family about Ian. All I care about is
keeping him alive. It’s a blood test. That’s all your kids need and if there is
a match, we can go from there. Maybe you’ll get lucky and none of them will
match Ian’s marrow and then you can walk away and forget about all of this.
But, if you don’t do this, if you don’t test your kids, then I will tell your
wife and I will tell Terrell why I left him right before our wedding day. I
don’t care who it ruins.” She stood up. “You
will
do everything you can
to save my son. Your children can be seen tomorrow afternoon by Dr. Preston
here in town.” Alyssa had chosen the doctor so that James couldn’t find a
loophole.