“You’re just in time. Grandma and Mom are in a heated fight over the fact that she brought Tim Faulter to the cabin.” Lisa smiles my way, and I honestly can’t think of the last time we actually spoke without some snarky remarks, but I’m still on my high from Mr. Kayden, so I’ll be civil.
“Mom’s overreacting.”
“Mom always overreacts. She wouldn’t be our mother if she didn’t.” Lisa sits on the stool at the island and I have a flashback of Kayden pushing me up against it. My cheeks heat up, yet Lisa doesn’t notice as she starts flipping through the recipe book. “Remember when we took her car out for a drive and crashed into the neighbor’s mailbox when she was filming in Florida?”
I chuckle. Of course I remember it. Mom still brings it up, about how embarrassed she was that we didn’t tell her, and that she had to find out by seeing it on gossip magazine covers. It turns out that the paparazzi weren’t too far away and caught our drive on camera, tagging Lisa and me as the troubled sisters. “I think we’re still grounded from that.”
“Yeah, but luckily we only have ten more years left with her disappointed eyes.”
“Until we crash her next car.”
Lisa laughs and I can’t help but giggle with her as we relish the memory. I haven’t laughed with my sister in such a long time…
Moving to the fridge, I open the door and pull out eggs and butter to get started with the baking.
“How have you been, Jules? You and Richard seem really happy.” Lisa stands on her tiptoes to reach the mixing bowls in the cabinet and my gut whines at her comments.
The refrigerator hangs open and I rest my hand on the top of the door. “Lisa, I don’t think I’m really at the point where I can do small talk with you.”
“Right.” She shifts her body around and smiles a sad grin my way. “I’m sorry. I just…Do you think we’ll ever get to that point?”
`”I don’t know. But…” I bend down, look into the fridge, and pull out a big jug, placing it on the counter. Grabbing two glasses, I turn to Lisa and give her a halfway grin. “Dad made his spiked apple cider. And I am at the point where I can get drunk with you if you want while we bake an absurd amount of cookies that no one ever really eats.”
I pour two large glasses of Dad’s Christmas ‘punch,’ which has been known to make you forget the rest of the day, and slide one over to Lisa. In the past, I would have said something snotty to her when she approached me asking how I was. Probably something like, ‘I was fine until you stole my boyfriend’ or ‘Doing great. How’s sex with my ex?’ But this time, I wanted to do something different. I remember that Kayden told me to do the opposite of what I used to do in order to be able to move on.
I want to move on from this, and if that starts with getting drunk with Lisa, then it starts with getting drunk with Lisa.
Holding my glass up, I tap it against Lisa’s. “To drunk dysfunctional families.”
“Hear, hear.”
Mom comes hurrying into the kitchen in a frenzy, her hair all messy. “Mom, drop it! I’m not going to keep talking about this!” She sighs, and Grandma enters right behind her.
“Tina, you answer me when I’m talking to you! Why on earth is it such an issue to have Tim here?!”
“He’s not a good person. That’s all I’m saying. Look, Mom, I get it. You’re lonely ever since Dad passed away. But you can’t keep going around hooking up with these creeps just because you miss Daddy.”
Grandma laughs a deep-throated chuckle, grabs the glass out of my hand and downs it, slamming it back against the island. “Your father, rest his soul, and I hadn’t had sex since you were four years old. I haven’t been touched in almost fifty-five years! So if I want to run around like a whore, I will run around like a whore and not be judged by my snob of a daughter who clearly hasn’t gotten any in a very long time. I feel bad for Matt. His poor hand has to be tired by now!”
“Whatever, Mother. As if you have gotten any. Kissing on a man half your age doesn’t count.”
“For your information, I got some in the bedroom last night, in front of the fireplace, in the dining room, and right here on top of this island. Twice.”
My elbows, which are resting on top of said island, slowly retreat as my early morning gag fest begins to return. By this point, I’m pretty sure Mom is about to flip the hell out.
“You’re disgusting. I can’t even talk to you when you’re like this. Do you always have to be so…” Mom huffs and puffs and tosses her arms around, kicking invisible stones, looking like a crazed woman. “Ugh!” Wow, Grandma makes her feel exactly how Mom makes me feel. It must be genetic.
“Tim told me about how you hit on him way back when you and Matt were on a break. How he wasn’t interested. Does it hurt your feelings that he chose me? Honey, you two never even knew each other.”