Here, Here, and Here

“That room better be cleaned up when I get there” I say to Caoimhe as she runs up the stairs for the fifth time since her and Tom started cleaning her room.

“Don’t worry Momma, it will be” she shouts from the top of the stairs.

I roll my eyes and sigh as I go back to stirring the stuffing. I’m almost done with all the food and people should be arriving is a matter of minutes. When I was done with the stuffing I placed it in the oven along with the mashed potatoes and turkey to keep it warm. I took the long way upstairs to check on the dining room to make sure I had the right amounts of everything. After a quick check I knew that I had nine spoons, forks, plates, glasses, napkins, and eight knives (Caoimhe doesn’t get a knife).

As I go up the stairs I warn again though it won’t do much now, “That room better be looking decent.” I reach her room and push open the slightly ajar door. To my surprise I find it cleaner than I expected, “Good, now Tom I need you to go meet Jessica. She can only get herself so far and I need you to show her the rest of the way.”

“Where am I meeting her?” he asks standing up off the floor.

“The school” I say simply. I turn to Caoimhe, “You need to take a quick bath.”

“But Mommy” she whines, “I want to see Jessica.”

“Excuse me are you whining?” I say as Tom leaves the room laughing to himself.

“NO!” she says with strength.

“Okay then get going” I say nudging her forward.

“Yes Mommy” she gives up and walks to the bathroom defeated.

Ten minutes later she’s all clean and dried off. I am in the process of dressing her when I hear the door open. My first thought is that it’s Tom with Jessica and Anna, but then I hear someone yell.

“Avina” they say dragging out the last syllable.

Then I hear another voice join in, “Avy, where’s the food?” after he speaks I hear a slight thud and then an, “Ow!” I smile knowing that Reaghan must have hit Georg for being rude.

“You’re going to have to be patient and wait Georg” I respond. Then I answer Bill, “And I’ll be down in a minute Bill, just let me get Keevie dressed.”

“Okay” I hear them yell and I hear Gustav join in.

I get Keevie dressed and as soon as the dress is over her head she sprint downstairs. When she’s about halfway down them I hear her shout, “Georg! Gustav!”

“I’ll be right down!” I shout one more time. I just realized that I was no where near dressed. I ran to my room and straight to my closet. I spotted a simple black v-neck sweater dress and ripped it off the hanger. As I stripped from my dirty and wet clothes I heard the door open and close. ‘That must be Tom’ I thought to myself as I slipped the dress over my head. I thrust on a pair of black flats and then went to my vanity where I kept all my jewelry. I picked up a beaded necklace and a group of beaded, gold bangles and put them on. With one quick look in the mirror I ran for the stairs.

I paused at the top of the stairs to regain my composure and settle the dress back into place. I jog down the stairs and turn on my heel into the living room where I know the rest of them are.

“Hey” I say calmly even though I’m slightly out of breath.

“Um” Jessica grabs me by the arm, “You never told us that Tokio Hotel was going to be here!”

I can tell she’s stressed out, “Jessica you look fine” I say hoping to answer her unasked question.

“Huh, I know that” she smiles, “But that’s not the point.” She pointed over her shoulder at Anna who looked to be freaking out.

I smile sheepishly, “Sorry I didn’t know they would be here for it until Tuesday. They were supposed to have a show in Stockholm but it got canceled.”

She snorts, “What ever” she turns back to the living room and I follow.

“So does everybody know everybody yet?” I ask trying to be a good hostess.

Keevie jumps up, “I know everybody!”

“Good, you should tell us who everybody is” Reaghan says, as she grabs Caoimhe from behind and starts tickling her.

“Okay, okay!” she giggles to get Rea to stop, “That’s Bill, that’s Gustav, that’s Georg, this’s Reaghan, that’s Jessica, that’s Anna, that’s mommy” she points to each of us in turn, “and that’s daddy!” she points to Tom and my face falls at the words she just spoke. Her hand flies to her mouth and she looks scared out of her mind like I’m going to yell at her.

I quick try to cover it up, “Caoimhe stop playing games, what’s his name?” I ask sternly.

“Tom” she say meekly.

Anna snorts and asks, “Why does she call him daddy?”

“Um, she once heard Tom say ‘Who’s your daddy?’ and it’s just been stuck in her head ever since. I keep telling her she has to be careful or someone is going to get the wrong idea.” I hope I played that off well enough. From the amused look on Anna’s face she bought it but I could tell that Jessica hadn’t. She just rolled her eyes and smiled knowing I would explain later.

“Okay, back to my original question” Georg says diverting everyone’s attention, “Where’s the food?”

I sigh and shrug my shoulders a bit, “Go sit and I’ll bring it out.”