The Designated Drivers' Club (17 page)

She had chosen another mechanism to deal with her loss, and it was almost as if he wanted her to see
the right way
to handle a loss. Where she drowned herself, he did just the opposite. He had not had more than a single drink a week since the accident. Lauren had completely given up all responsibilities, especially the ones at which she’d been exceptional. Hodge had gone from leaving all the details to her and others, to being consumed with controlling every tiny thing. Grant wondered if their complete opposite personalities and lack of understanding for each other cultivated much of their breakup.

He leveled his gaze on his uncle. “Maybe you should concentrate less on making Lauren see how well you’re coping, and more on the experience itself. Just enjoy yourself, Hodge. Stop trying to orchestrate the day and go with it.” He grabbed the man’s arm, turned him to the door, and ushered him out.

“See what you can do,” he said over his shoulder. “We’ll all be in the other room having drinks. Won’t we, Hodge?”

“I don’t — ”

“Yeah, today you do,” Grant admonished.

Lauren stood outside the door, her arrival had occurred during the commotion. “And I don’t,” she finished. “How are you sweetie?” She hugged Grant and smiled, then gave a questioning glance at Hodge.

“Good to see you, Lauren,” Hodge muttered.

“You too, babe.” She smoothed her red silk blouse. “The house looks nice. You’ve done a good job with it. Thanks for inviting me.”

• • •

Awkward was the only word that came to Grant’s mind. The first thirty minutes of Lauren’s presence in the house was totally that. Awkward for all but Josh, who had lived with her through the issues. He’d been there for the breakup, the arguments, the drunken binges, everything. He’d been a rock. Where Grant had tried to support Hodge, Josh had done the same for Lauren. Grant knew there was a toll he’d paid internally, but still, the boy had matured into a good man — a strong, intelligent, capable man who would soon be a doctor. If anything good had come from the accident, Grant could honestly say Josh’s success was it. There was anger under the surface — misplaced anger at Hodge for not supporting Lauren better, and at Lauren for giving up. Still, Josh channeled everything in a way that had positive dividends. They were all proud of that.

“Everything okay in here?” Speak of the devil. Josh’s hesitant voice came from behind Lauren.

Hodge frowned almost undetectably before changing his demeanor and flashing his manager-like smile. “Yeah, superb. Almost ready but we should get out of the way and let these people do their jobs. Everyone into the fish room.” He thrust his hands in a pushing gesture toward Lauren and Josh to shoo them out. Grant turned to the kitchen crew with an apologetic smile before leaving to find Jenny.

A sit-down Christmas dinner that looked like something out of
Home for the Holidays.
That’s what popped into Jenny’s head when she observed the table they approached.

Dishes overflowed with food. Ruby red glassware graced each place setting along with sparkling silver utensils. The scent of various flavors mixed together, making her mouth water in anticipation. A beautiful family affair so different from her own celebrations. Normally, Jenny and her mom ate something simple. No turkey, ham, or anything remotely like this. Since her dad passed away, her mother had completely quit celebrating anything in a big way. Jenny always went to see her, mainly because she had the time off and nothing else to do. And she loved her mom. One little problem — Mom had never let go of Dad, even though his death was nearly eight years past. Visiting her was creepy and depressing.

Grant pulled out a chair and patted the back, motioning for Jenny to take it. A whiff of his cologne caught her as she slipped into place. Mmmm. Her stomach grumbled and she was pretty certain it wasn’t caused by the food. He took the seat to her left as everyone else claimed a spot at the table. Bugsy curled up in the corner of the room and sighed loudly. Jenny smiled at the noise. The dog couldn’t have spoken his displeasure at being excluded any better.

“Unky Grant’s good looking, isn’t he Miss Madison?” Shilo’s voice was in Jenny’s ear. Jenny lifted a hand and swatted at the ear as if to shoo a fly away.
I don’t believe in ghosts.

“Yes, you won’t say it but he is. Better looking than that other guy that throws rocks at cars … your friend, David.”

Throws rocks? David?

“I like to follow Unky around when he’s here. He’s funny. He used to give me rides on his shoulders and sometimes he’d let me sit on his lap at the table. He helped me paint the door. Well, not really. Mom did most of it. But I wanted a flower and he helped me put one on there.”

“Really?” Jenny glanced at Grant.

He stopped spooning dressing and raised a brow. “What?”

“He likes you too,” Shilo whispered.

Jenny shook her head.

“Really what? What’s wrong — you don’t want me to eat this?” He motioned at the food.

“No, that’s not — ” She shrugged and reached for the bowl he had in his hand. “Give me some of those.”

Shilo moved to the other side and sang in Jenny’s ear. “Jenny and Grant sitting in a tree — ”

“Stop it.”

Josh’s eyes shot up and met hers, then looked past her.

“Stop what?” Grant asked. “Who are you talking to?”

Jenny smiled weakly. “Myself. I’m telling myself to stop taking so much of this great-looking food.”
Okay, it was stupid, but what else should she say? I have a ghost talking in my ear about you? And it just happens to be your niece?
She passed the bowl to Josh.

Grant rolled his eyes. “You’re strange.”

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know.”

Shilo slapped Jenny on the shoulder. “See, he likes you! And he wants to kiss you. Blah.” Shilo squealed and ran to the corner where Bugsy sprawled snoring. She launched herself onto him and wound her arms around his neck. The dog bolted up and looked around, letting out a soft
whoof
.

The entire group turned to Bugsy as he bolted his head around, then lowered it to the floor and huffed.

“I swear that dog is deranged.” Hodge shook his head. “He does that all the time. It’s really disturbing.”

“I’ll put him out.” Grant slid his chair back and walked toward the drooling beast.

I don’t believe in ghosts. Not even ones I can see petting a monstrous dog and that whisper in my ear.

“I don’t either,” Josh mumbled. Jenny shot a concerned look his way.
You saw it too?

“What?”

“I don’t eat them,” he smiled and pointed to the carrots, “but thanks.”

“Oh.”

He passed the bowl that hovered in her hand on to the next person.
I’m losing it! I’m totally wigging out here. What gives? I’m imagining a ghost talking to me right in the middle of dinner. I’m carrying on a conversation with her.

Grant dropped back in his chair and reached under the table to pat Jenny on the leg.

“It’s okay, Miss Madison.” Shilo grinned from the other side of the table behind Josh.

“You’re not wigging. Your hair’s fine. You look nice.”

“Leave me alone,” Jenny growled. “I don’t want to do this right now.”

Grant yanked his hand from her leg. The group at the table all turned and stared.

“Everything okay over there?” Hodge asked.

Not you! Oh God.
“Yes, we’re good.” Jenny smiled. Josh snickered and stuffed a spoonful of mashed potatoes in his mouth. She turned to Grant. “I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant.”

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The noise caught the attention of the entire group. All turned to the door. A thunderous noise followed — a freight train approaching. Jenny swore the floor rumbled under her chair and the plates on the table rattled.

A tennis ball bounded into the room, followed immediately by a tangle of flailing legs and slobbering dog. The three men rose from the table and shouted in unison. “Bugsy, no!”

Lauren reached to help herself to the cranberries, ignoring the approaching beast. Bugsy chased the ball behind Lauren’s chair, his feet slipping and scratching to gain traction on the unforgiving marble. His awkward movements sent his back hip heavily against her chair legs. He didn’t even notice Lauren teetering dangerously backward as his efforts concentrated only on the play toy bouncing away.

Hodge’s face turned raging red, then almost purple as he stopped breathing. “I thought you put that damn dog out!” He pointed a shaking finger at the beast.

“I did. Someone must have left one of the other doors open. I put him out through the kitchen.”

“Oh shit!” Lauren yelled. She dropped the bowl of crimson colored berries to the table. Jenny jumped to reach for her. Josh lunged over the table grasping toward Lauren’s hands, which flailed helplessly for something solid. She clutched the tablecloth that did nothing to keep her from falling backward.
Crash
. She landed hard on the floor, the wind knocked from her lungs, her eyes blinking in shock. A fraction of a second passed as mashed potatoes oozed across her chest from her dinner that tumbled from the tablecloth. The turkey from her plate lay plastered to her neck.

Bugsy glanced briefly at the disarray, not to be deterred from his target. He lunged under the corner of the table and picked up the tennis ball with his slobbering jowls. His tail swept through the air, sailing across the table. The movement swooped the tip of the cranberries, frothing his tail in red juice. The juice flew around the room like blood spurting. Splat. It painted a line across the wall. Splat. It painted a trail along Hodge’s pant legs. Splat. The red continued to swash the room. And the bowl tumbled too. Straight to Lauren’s crotch.

She shrieked. Bugsy padded to her and dropped the tennis ball into the mashed potatoes, then lowered to haunches with drool stringing between the ball and his lower lip. Mashed potatoes on her boobs (messy), turkey on her neck (funny), and a red oozing crotch (gross). She looked like a food sundae with a yellow cherry on top. Everyone stared in shock as her chest started shaking, then heaving. Lauren reached up to grab the tennis ball and burst into laughter. She laughed until she cried.

Jenny couldn’t help but join her. What else could she do? After all, it did look ridiculous. The whole mess was something straight out of a movie. In moments, all of them were straddling chairs or lying on the floor clutching their stomachs. Even Hodge gave in and chuckled.

“Oh my God! This is fricking hilarious,” Lauren rattled when she could finally breathe again. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. “Look at me. I’m completely covered in goo.”

To punctuate her statement, Bugsy licked the mashed potatoes from her chest. Grant grabbed the leash and hauled him to the door. Hodge slipped over the food on the floor and reached a hand to Lauren, who took it with laughter still rolling inside. He pulled her to her feet as food slipped to the floor in blobs.

“I’m sorry, Lauren,” he said.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. In fact, I’m glad it happened.” She smiled up at him devilishly.

“The only thing that could have made it better would have been if
you
were the one covered in food.” Without warning, she slid her arms around Hodge and hugged him to her, plastering potatoes, gravy, turkey, and cranberries into his Prada shirt and pants.

“No, you didn’t,” Hodge growled.

“Yes, I did.”

“My clothes are ruined.”

“No shit. So are mine.” Lauren grinned. The two seemed locked in a moment. Jenny waited for an explosion. None came. Hodge eased into a laugh and hugged Lauren back crushing potatoes into his chest and red juice into his crotch.
They still love each other.
Jenny smiled as Hodge stuck a finger between them to scoop potatoes into his mouth.

A tinkling sound of childhood laughter reached Jenny’s ears. She glanced up to see Shilo thoroughly enjoying the scene, an expression of satisfaction smugly plastered to her pale face. She clapped her hands in small short raps. Jenny was stunned. She noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and glanced sideways to stare solidly into Josh’s eyes.

Grant decided Jenny Madison was either one hair short of a lunatic or going through — something. But what? He’d never seen her act so strange. Hodge’s dinner was over — a disaster, but not at Grant’s hands. Hodge and Lauren had slipped out of the room, laughing hysterically. They mumbled something about needing a change of clothes but Grant was pretty sure a lot more was going to change than just clothes. They never returned. Sure, Jenny was beautiful in that dress. No one could deny that. Sexy as hell, and his fingers certainly twitched to touch her. He hadn’t missed the way the man at the table next to them stared at her, the greasy bastard. The guy’s eyes seemed plastered to her cleavage, which he had to admit, was hard to ignore.

He didn’t mind Lauren and Hodge ditching the dinner. He had always hoped they would work things out. He loved Lauren, almost as much as he loved his uncle. Now, he was stuck in the uncomfortable position of dealing with the beautiful crazy woman he had kissed earlier — the one who couldn’t stop talking to herself. She had twitched around like a nervous cat at the dinner. It was damn uncomfortable for everyone. Even Josh had noticed.

They sat waiting for the lasagna she’d suggested when the decision to give up on the dinner was made. The enticing smell of garlic filled the room, like it would in any good Italian restaurant. The place was nice and warm with a view that overlooked the Pacific, and the cold froth of the waves rolling onto the beach. A fire burned behind her in an open stone fireplace. The orange and white flashes flickered an enticing sparkle over her shoulders. He squirmed nervously, waiting for her to start talking to the walls again.

“Jenny, is everything okay with you?”

“Yeah, fine. Hold still.” She wadded a napkin around a finger and dunked it into her water glass. She raised the wet cloth and rubbed it across his cheek then down his neck.

“You had cranberry sauce on your face. It looked like you just walked off the set of a slasher movie.”