And You're Just What I Need...

I was not looking forward to talking with Katelyn and Nick today with Adam. I already had a bad feeling about it.

“Katelyn, you dressed?” I ask, knocking her door. It opens and she puts on her earrings.

“let’s get this over with.” She says and then walks downstairs ahead of me. Nick was already sitting at the table and Adam was making a pot of coffee. I sat down across from Nick and Katelyn. Nicks face showed how nervous he was, it was almost funny.

“don’t worry so much Nick. Nothing too terrible will happen.” I say reassuringly. Adam comes and sits next to me, handing me a cup of the coffee.

“so…” Katelyn starts, looking down at her hands.

“want to explain why you came home drunk last night?” Adam offers.

She bites her lip nervously, “not really.” Pretty much the wrong answer in this case.

“and why is that?”

“um, well, partly because I don’t remember all of it and partly because I just don’t want to tell you. obviously I got some beer and obviously I came home drunk. So what’s there to know?” I totally understand why she’s acting like this, but if she wants to see daylight anytime soon she’d know better.

“then I could easily make sure you and Nick never see each other again.”

“what?!”

“well, if you don’t remember, then you don’t know if it was or wasn’t Nick who gave you the drink. And I only sort of trust him.”

“you can’t do that Adam.”

“can’t I.”

“no, you can’t. You’re not mom and dad and you definitely can’t punish me when you did stuff twenty times worse than coming home tipsy. Plus you have no reason not to trust Nick.”

“well he has lasted longer than your other boyfriends, someone’s got to wonder why.”

I smacked Adam upside the head, “you’re done talking.” I say. I turn back to Nick and Katelyn who were holding back their laughs, “here’s the deal. And it’s not a harsh deal. Just, no more parties. The curfew is also moved from eleven to ten, at least for the time being. And always tell us where you’re going to be. So if, say, you went to one of his games Katelyn and then wanted to go to a movie, you’d have to call and tell us the name and showtime of the movie and be back home in an acceptable amount of time after the movie. Understood?” they both nod, “no, come on, say it.”

“understood.” Katelyn says.

“got it.” Nick replies.

“and absolutely no beer or wine or liquor or any type of alcohol for either of you.”

“but-“ Katelyn starts to argue.

“do you want to be grounded? Because I can also do that.”

She slumps back in her seat and crosses her arms, “fine.”

I look over at Nick, “I don’t drink anyways so yeah, that works.”

“great. Now that that is settled Adam and I have to go plan out the backyard. You guys can stay in and watch a movie or something. Just no leaving the house.”

I grab Adams hand and pull him to the backyard where Dakota and Finn were waiting for us. Today we got to figure out how the backyard would look for the wedding.

Before we reach them Adam pulls me aside, he didn’t look too happy.

“I can’t believe you let them off the hook!”

“I didn’t do any such thing. They can’t party, the curfew is ten now, and they can’t have any alcohol. That’s not letting them off the hook. At least I didn’t threaten to break them up.”

“You should have at least asked me. She’s my sister, not yours!”

“yet you don’t treat her like a sister!”

“Is it a crime to want to protect my sister?!”

“yes, actually it is. Sure, you can watch out for her, but what you’re doing, that’s called parenting. You aren’t her dad Adam. You need to show her that you do actually trust her, and Nick. My brother was, is, exactly like you. When I found out I was pregnant I freaked out about what his reaction would be. And he did not take it well at all. I shouldn’t have been scared to tell him because he should have been more of a friend than a parent to me. If you keep this whole adult act up around her then she’s not going to come running to you when something great happens in her life, or bad.”

Adam stayed silent, “tomorrow is her first day of school here. You know that, right?”

“yeah, can’t exactly forget about that.”

“and Nick will be picking her up at 7:15”

“whatever.”

“Adam!” we hear Katelyn scream and then she’s running toward us. Once she stops she’s still jumping up and down excitedly.

“what Katelyn?” he asks, not sounding like he was totally interested. I glare at him for a moment before turning my attention to her.

“mom and dad just called and they said that they were in _______ (think of whatever Italian town you know) and so they decided to stop by Nick’s grandparents café and guess what?”

Adam wasn’t about to answer, so I did, “what?!”

“it turns out that Dad and Nicks dad went to school together! In high school, and then when Nicks dad came over here they lost contact. Isn’t that cool?!!” she seemed so happy about this it made me smile. I nudge Adam to say something.

“uh, yeah, totally cool.” He didn’t sound even close to convincing.

“okay…um, I guess I’ll go back inside…” she slowly walks back into the house.

“yeah, totally cool? What was that?!”

Adam ignores my question, “come on, we’ve got a wedding to finish.”