Christie snorted. “Damn, I need a cigarette.”
Carrie’s younger brother, Josh, who’d snuck in past the snoozing men in the living room, chose that moment to walk in on his sisters. “
What
the hell’s out there?”
Christie jumped the highest, and punched her brother on the arm. “
Dammit
, Josh! You scared the crap out of me.”
Josh cackled gleefully. “What are y’all gawking at?” he asked, craning his neck to see.
Carrie’s making out with her new boyfriend, Sam Langley,” Susan told him as she turned around to give her youngest brother a hug. “It’s good to see you, little brother.”
Josh returned her hug.
“Merry Christmas, Susie.”
Once he’d spread around the hugs, he turned his attention to the view out of the window. “Now, who the hell is this Sam Langley character? Doesn’t he know he can’t suck face with number six until number seven has cleared him?” He banged loudly on the glass pane, getting their attention.
***
Carrie and Sam turned to the sound of banging on the kitchen window.
“Who the hell is that?” Sam asked, as a man yelled out a beefy “Get a room!” from inside the kitchen.
“Little brother Josh just made it in. And we’ve got an audience. Jesus, nothing changes around here, it’s still like living in a fish bowl. Let’s go face the steadily increasing mob.”
Sam pulled her back to him. “Not without telling you this, first.”
“Sam...” She glanced up at the window where her siblings still watched with keen interest.
“They’ve been at that window since we walked out here, and nobody’s tried to chase me off with a shotgun yet,” he said, wrapping his long arms around her and nuzzling her neck with his lips. He brought his mouth up to her ear. “I love you, Carrie,” he whispered.
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I know you do and I thank you for that.”
After another mind blowing kiss, he lowered his forehead to hers and brushed away a single tear with his thumb. “I understand it’s too soon for you, but are you worried that you can’t return the feeling some day?”
“Aw Sam,” she murmured, pushing away from him. “It’s not that I can’t love you, it’s that I shouldn’t.”
“Clarify it for me.”
“Look, between my kids, my crazy ex husband, and my mystery caller, it’s more than I should expect any man to handle.”
“Why don’t you let me decide what I can
handle.
”
“There are too many things that can go wrong.”
“I know that, but I’m asking you to let me try, anyway.”
She stood back and stared up at him. “God you’re stubborn.”
“I can be, when it’s something important to me. And you’re pretty damn important to me.”
“I don’t want to let you down if things don’t...”
“Stop,” he said. “This is going to happen...We are
going
to be together.” He stepped forward and embraced her. “I want to be here for you, Baby. Please...” He lowered his forehead to touch hers. “Please, let me be here.”
She stared up at him and gave one final sigh. “All right,” she said, pointing her finger at him. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
He smiled down at her. “I won’t have to. Can we pick up that furniture today?”
She nodded. “We may as well.”
Sam gave her a cheesy grin. “Hell, I feel just like that kid who got his BB gun on
The Christmas Story
.”
Carrie pushed her windblown hair out of her eyes. “Just don’t shoot your eye out,
Ralphie
.
Now come on, you’ve got another brother to meet. Josh is the one who’s thirteen months younger than me.”
Sam grinned down at her as they made their way to the backdoor. “Thirteen months...I guess your folks didn’t have a television set back then.”
Carrie gave a deep chuckle. “Mom’s not a big advocate of the old rhythm method of birth control, but aren’t you glad they didn’t stop at number five?”
“Thrilled, seeing as how I’ve grown quite fond of number six.”
She smiled and gave him another light kiss. “I’m warning you
now,
Josh is funny as hell, but extremely obnoxious.”
They walked in through the back door of the house to cheers, whistles, and clapping. Carrie bowed regally while Sam gave them his best Elvis ‘
Thank you very much’
.
“Best show I’ve seen in years,” Josh said, hugging his sister. Then he reached out his hand to Sam and gave him a strong handshake. “Hi, I’m Josh. And in case Carrie hasn’t told you yet, I’m the gay brother,” he said, in an exaggerated whisper.
Sam shook his hand and chuckled. “It’s nice to meet you, Josh. No, she didn’t tell me you were gay, just funny and obnoxious.”
Josh gave his sister a hurt look. “You told him I was obnoxious, but not
gay
?”
“
Extremely
obnoxious, if you want the truth,” Sam added.
Josh turned to his sister with a dramatic flair. “How could you, Carrie? I’m wounded...Terribly wounded!”
Carrie put her hands on her hips. “And deprive you of all that drama you created by telling him yourself?” She waved her hand with a flourish. “Consider it your Christmas gift.”
“You’re so silly. Sweet, but silly,” Josh said.
She leaned in closer. “No really. It’s the only gift you’re getting from me this year. In case you haven’t heard, I’m kind of in dire straits.”
“You are?” Sam said. “Man, I
love
that group.”
Josh pointed a finger at Sam. “You stole my freaking line.”
“Obviously, it was my freaking line first,” Sam bragged.
Josh laughed and broke into a verse from
Money for Nothing
.
“My favorite is
Sultans of Swing
,” Sam insisted.
“It’s a good one,” Josh agreed.
Christie walked up to the trio. “No!” she cried.
“
Walk of Life
,” Carrie yelled, pointing at her sister.
“Absolutely,” Christie agreed, as they started in on the first verse. Everyone else in the room joined in when they sang the chorus.
Tom chose that moment to poke his head in the kitchen. “What the hell is going on in here? Are y’all insane?
”
Josh nodded adamantly at his brother in law. “Yes, Tom. Yes, we are.
And
...”
Sam stepped forward. “And the lunatics are running the asylum!”
Josh turned on him with a look of disbelief. “Aw come
on
, man...You took my line
again!”
Josh turned to Carrie and spoke in a disgusted tone. “He’s
gotta
go, sis. You
know
how I hate to be upstaged.”
Carrie laughed and pushed playfully at her brother. “Sorry, Josh. Looks like you’ll need fresh material. You’ve got some competition.”
Josh put a hand firmly on Sam’s shoulder. “Don’t get used to wearing that crown, buddy. I’m the only queen allowed in this house.” He turned to Carrie and spoke over the laughter. “So far, he seems like a keeper.” Before she could answer, he turned back toward Sam. “So, what’s the deal, Sam? Is my sister moving to Kenton or staying in Gardiner?”
Sam raised his chin proudly. “She’s moving to Kenton, Josh.”
“Yep,” she answered, “Today, anyone want to help?”
A loud chorus of “
No!
”
came at her from all sides.
She cocked her head at her siblings. “That was pretty good. Did y’all rehearse that while we were outside?”
“
Yes!”
they all chorused again before everyone in the kitchen dissolved into more laughter.
Tom and Jen came up to Carrie. “We’ll help you, sis,” Jen told her. “I’m dying to see your new place.”
Carrie nodded. “If I could get the heavy furniture moved in by tonight, I could make a few trips in my car over the next couple of days.”
“Do your kids know yet?” Jen asked.
“Not yet, but I need to call them. Maybe I can get some free labor out of this. Mom, did Ruth mention if she had any spare beds?”
“We do,” Mack told his sister. “We just bought a king-sized mattress set and we have a queen set you could use.”
Vivienne McAllister asked me to let you know that she’s got two complete sets of bedroom furniture to give you if you need it. They’re both standard size beds.”
Carrie smiled. “God bless Mrs. Vivienne. I’ll call her right now and tell her I can sure use them. I can’t be too proud when I’m starting from scratch.” She walked into her mother’s room and closed the door so she could make a call in private, leaving Sam alone to fend for himself.
Katie jumped up from her chair to get her purse. “Oh, while I’m thinking about it, I have some money to help her get started.” She pulled her wallet from her purse.
“So do
I
,” Elaine said, getting her purse off of her desk.
“How much does she need to get started?” Susan asked. “Does anybody know how much the deposits are going to run her?”
“I know she wrote a check for three hundred dollars yesterday for the deposit and the first month rent. I also know it’ll cost another three hundred to have the utilities put in her name. That’s not counting a phone.”
“Is she going to get a cell phone?” Katie asked.
“She said she doesn’t want to get locked into a two year contract and could do without a land line until she could afford to get one.”
“How much is the phone deposit, Sam?” Elaine asked. “I’ll pay the bill every month if I have to. I can’t have her over there without being able to call her.”
“It’s another hundred bucks,” he answered. “I wanted to help, but she said no.”
