Beside You

I rounded the staircase and turned back into the living room, interrupting Gram and Bill’s conversation about Tokio Hotel’s most recent trip to Switzerland. “Aren’t we leaving soon?”

“When Aaron gets here we will.” She then stands, perfectly synchronized with the beep of the oven timer.

“Perfect timing!” Bill says all impressed.

“No dear just fifty some odd years of experience” she smiles and walks through the door leading to the kitchen. I follow her.

“Why are we waiting for Aaron? Isn’t he coming with Uncle Rence?”

“He stayed here last night and is doing the same tonight. Rence is away on business until late tonight” she explains, “So instead of making him spend Christmas Eve in that empty house by himself I invited him to stay with me.” She turns and opens the oven door and pulls out a hot, steaming, glass pie pan. She sets it on the stove top and waves her oven mitt over it. A warm gust of apple cinnamon and homemade crust hits me as I walk closer. By the time she turns around I’m pretty much on top of her and when she sees me she raises her eyebrows and just shakes her head. “Where’s Caoimhe?”

“Sitting in a time out upstairs.” Gram raises her eyebrows again at my response so I continue, “She’s at that stage where she doesn’t listen. Sometimes she just doesn’t hear us and sometimes she flat out ignores us.”

“What was she doing that she was told to stop?” Gram asks as she walks to the sink to wash her hands.

“Threw a small hissy fit and wouldn’t put her shoes on. Tom told her to sit down and put them on and she didn’t listen. So now she’s sitting facing the wall for two minutes.”

“Two minutes?” Gram implies that she thinks it’s a light punishment.

“And if she still refuses and gives Tom sass then he’ll make her sit for another three minutes” I say with finality.

“Does she listen to Tom very well?” she starts doing the few dishes in the sink.

“Sometimes better than she listens to me. The only real issue is is that she’s got Tom wrapped around her finger and he lets her get off a little easy sometimes on the little stuff so when it comes to something bigger she doesn’t always listen because she doesn’t think he’ll reprimand her” I walk over and grab a towel and help dry the dishes. We work in silence for a few seconds and I can tell my gram is creating a profile for Tom in her head.

I put down the rag and walk over to the table and sit down. Just then I hear someone walk into the room and I feel them put their hands on the back of my chair. “I hate to say it Avy” I hear from above me, “but that smells better than yours for Random Thursday Feast!”

“It’s the same recipe and guess who taught me how to make it?” I turn and look at him.

He shrugs me off as Gram speaks, “What is Random Thursday Feast?”

I turn back around and chuckle, “Random Thursday Feast is what Tom, Bill, and our two friends call the Thanksgiving dinner I made every year while I was over in Germany.”

Gram chuckles and shakes her head amused just as a car pulls in the driveway. “That’ll be Aaron.”

The door opens and a cold burst of air precedes the loud clunk of Aaron’s sneakers. Without looking up to see who he was talking to he announces, “It’s snowing.” He shakes the loose coating of flakes off his coat and looks up, “Eibhlin?!” He gives me a big hug and I shiver from the cold emanating off of him as I hug back. Out of the corner of my eye I see Gram escape through the dinning room.

“Who are you?” Aaron asks bluntly as he notices Tom, who is still standing behind the chair.

“I’m Tom” he says shaking Aaron’s hand, “Eibhlin’s fiancé and Caoimhe’s father.”

Aaron freezes mid shake and his eyes go wide. I fall back into my seat, dreading what might come next. Aaron regains his sense of thought, “Nice to finally meet you and even nicer to know that you’ve finally met Keevie.”

Tom’s shoulders relax showing that Aaron’s reaction wasn’t the one he expected, “So you don’t think I abandoned them?”

“No. Uncle Jon and Ave over here were pretty adamant that you had no clue about Keevie. I mean it’s gotta say something when the father of the girl you knocked up at fourteen still speaks highly of you” Aaron smiles and shrugs his shoulders.

“Your dad still said good stuff about me even after all that crap went down?” Tom looks at me amazed.

“My dad thinks of you as a son. I think he was happy it was you and not some skeezy scum bag who got me pregnant” I lean back in my seat.

We all turn our attention to the doorway as Bill walks out of the living room with Caoimhe attached to his leg. “Please get this growth off mien leg” he laughs.

“I’m not a growth Silly, I’m Caoimhe!” she giggles loudly.

“Caoimhe” I laugh at the sight of Bill, hands on his hips and Caoimhe with a death grip around his leg, “let go of your uncle.”

She looks at me and in the process sees Aaron. She immediately releases Bill’s leg and runs towards her cousin screaming, “Aaron!!”

“Hey Keev!” he picks her up as he hugs her.

“Bill this is my cousin Aaron. Aaron this is Tom’s brother Bill” I introduce the two to each other.

“Twins?” Aaron asks.

“How’d you know?” Bill answers with a question.

“Two off my uncles are twins, plus two of my cousins, not to mention the guitarist and the manager of my band are twins too” he looks at the clock on the oven.

I hear Gram walk down the stairs and see her emerge by Aaron. I reach my hand into Tom’s low back pocket and pull out the keys to the Escalde. “I’m driving!” I make a dash for the door and quite a fast one considering the fact that I’m in heels.

“Hey!” Tom yells but doesn’t follow. Instead I see him exit the door a few seconds later with Caoimhe on his shoulders wearing his hat.