I put my arm around my daughter and opened my mouth to speak but Joe got there before me.
“I appreciate this is an intense time for you, Pete, but you do not come into this house and shout, not in front of the girls and definitely not at the girls. Not during an intense time, not… fucking… ever.” Joe still had Keira at his side, his arm was around her and he was holding her close but he was leaning threateningly toward my father. “You need to go somewhere and pull yourself together and you need to do it now or you’ll find yourself not in this house. Do you get me?”
Dad stared at Joe, tardily realizing that he should have paid closer attention and I opened my mouth to speak again but Vinnie was there.
“Pete?” he asked, his hand on my father’s back, “I’m Vinnie, Cal’s uncle. Let’s you and me take a walk.”
Dad looked at Vinnie in confusion as Vinnie pushed him toward the door, Dad resisted (but feebly) and Kate and I moved to the side to let them pass.
“Who’s Cal?” Dad asked, looking around, his face having lost its anger, he was now full on perplexed with a little hint of lost mixed in.
“I’ll explain on the walk,” Vinnie muttered, opened the front door and shoved my father through it before he could utter another sound then he shut the door and I watched him half-push, half-guide Dad down the walk.
I looked at Joe who still had Keira tucked close to his side. “Can we call Doc now?” I asked then in an effort to lighten the mood went on to joke. “I could use that Valium and, maybe, a shot of tequila.”
Joe’s eyes sliced to mine. I noted that he didn’t look amused, Kate giggled nervously and Joe’s eyes moved to her.
“Dane’s shit sorted?” he asked in an almost bark.
Kate didn’t even flinch before she replied quietly, “He burned her phone number.”
“He know he does that shit again I’ll break his neck?” Joe went on.
“Joe!” I snapped and this time Keira giggled, not nervously at all.
“I kinda alluded to that,” Kate answered on a grin.
Now it was me who was not amused.
“Joe, I’m not gonna say it again. Stop threatening to break Dane’s neck!” I snapped again.
Joe looked at me. “All right, buddy, there’s a next time he acts like an ass, I’ll threaten to rip his head off.”
“Joe!” I cried angrily.
Joe ignored me and looked back at Kate. “Where is he?”
“He left. I asked him to go home so we could have our family drama and he wouldn’t know we were all crazy, change his mind and want to break up with me,” Kate replied.
Joe’s arm curled Keira in an even closer sideways hug. “Thinkin’, girl, he already gets that.”
“Yeah, that cat’s outta the bag,” Keira agreed, her arm snaking around Joe’s middle to hold on and Kate laughed.
But I didn’t.
Bea, Gary, Theresa and Vinnie were there, as was my father who had left my mother, at long last, but this was still a shock. My father had also shouted at Joe and Keira. Before that emotional scene we’d had another emotional scene which necessitated a timeout where we all cuddled in bed with Joe which was, frankly, a weird thing to do no matter how natural it felt. My eldest daughter was taking relationship advice from my boyfriend who wasn’t all that great with relationships or at least it took him awhile to come around. And both my daughters were acting like my live-in boyfriend of one week had been around for the last year.
“I need to go to the liquor store,” I announced.
“Buddy –” Joe started to say, his lips curving into a grin.
“No, we have wine and we have beer but we don’t have tequila. I need tequila.”
“Vi, baby, it’s not even noon.” Joe said.
“I need tequila.”
“Relax.”
“I need tequila.”
“Honey, relax.”
“I need tequila!”
Joe’s hand whipped out, tagged me at the neck and I fell face forward into his chest. As I had my arm around Kate, she came with me so we ended in a four person huddle.
I pulled my face out of Joe’s chest and looked up at him.
“Tequila,” I muttered and I heard Keira and Kate giggle.
“Baby,” Joe muttered back and touched his mouth to mine before he finished, “relax.”
I was about to explain, again, that Joe telling me to relax didn’t mean I’d do it when I felt a presence and I turned my head to see, shockingly, Bea had come close.
“Vi, sweetie, I’ll make my sangria later. We can have it with dinner. How does that sound?” Bea asked.
Bea’s sangria was brilliant. Way better than her chocolate cream pie.
And Bea getting close to our huddle even though she still looked timid, she nevertheless was close, was the best.
“We’ll go to the grocery store when we get school supplies,” I said to Bea.
“Perfect,” Bea replied quietly then she smiled at me.
Then I watched as she smiled at Joe.
It was then I relaxed.