Get a Grip (Hollywood Nights) (12 page)

             
“He is allergic to peanuts! Peanut butter is made with peanuts!” Ivy shouted at her. She could not believe her sister was that dense.

             
“Oh my.” Her mother winced. “I didn’t realize he was allergic. I told her not to pack any nuts. You know how Hank and your father like to eat them when they drink beer. I thought you had already bought some.”

             
Ivy could feel her entire body slump. She was exhausted already, and they hadn’t even made it to the front door. No one ever listened to her. She had told her mother he was allergic, but apparently all she got form the conversation was not to bring a can of nuts!

             
“Grown-ups are not allergic to nuts, Ivy. That is a kid allergy. They grow out of it,” May said it as though she had a medical degree and knew this for a fact. She had a high school diploma, four children, and a husband with a great job in financial advising who had a lot of patience.

             
“I assure you she is not making it up. That’s why I was in the hospital.” Bo finally spoke up and her family suddenly grasped the gravity of the situation. The media had not extracted the reason he had been in the hospital. Reports ranged from the ridiculous to the almost accurate. It wasn’t anyone’s business but theirs.

             
“Oh, well then,” May started. “I suppose we should all wash our hands before going in. I mean I don’t know who besides me has touched anything with peanuts.”

             
Ivy groaned with the frustration of it all. She looked at Bo. Instead of turning to run, he kicked up a smile and said, “I’ll go grab some soap and a couple towels.”

             
Once he was out of sight her family merged towards her immediately.

             
“Oh dear, I am so sorry,” her mother said.

             
“How severe is it?” her father asked.

             
“Why didn’t you tell me he was allergic to begin with?” May asked.

             
Ivy wanted to call off dinner, hop a flight to Vegas, and live in a hotel room with him forever. Marriage was proving to be much more complicated than it was in the movies. She put on a brave smile and said, “It is a real and severe allergy. It doesn’t stop him from doing anything other than eating peanuts and products made with peanuts or around peanuts and a few other nuts.”

             
“I can’t image never having peanut butter.” Hank said solemnly. “I just started thinking of all the things I enjoy that are made with nuts and realized there are a lot!”

             
“Yes,” Ivy said. Her smile was still forced in place. “There are, which is why it is important for everyone to be a little bit more aware when coming over to visit us.”

             
“I’m really sorry about the miscommunication.” Bo walked out of the door and handed Ivy the items. “This is new for her, and for all of you. It was tough on my siblings, but they managed to eat what they wanted when they were away from me. I’m sure I would be fine, but I appreciate the extra precautions.”

***

Bo was amazed at how much Ivy and her sister resembled one another. They could have been twins. May was a bit heavier, had a very short haircut, and their father’s nose, but he could see how in their younger days they might have been engaged in sibling rivalry for identity purposes. Each of his siblings was so different from him and each other they never had to compete that way.

             
Once the peanut butter debacle was over, the dinner went pretty well. The oldest of her nephews had to work so he didn’t come. His grandparents were not happy about it, but the kid was seventeen and chose work over dinner with an aunt he apparently saw regularly.

             
“I must say,” her father began as he took a seat next to Bo at a table near the pool. “I was worried about this whole marriage business. I mean Ivy is a superstar. She has a lot invested in her identity. She’s still so young.”

             
Bo felt his left eyebrow shoot upward at the statement. “Sir she is over thirty. That is not exactly…young.”

             
Her father frowned as if the math had just been brought to his attention. He looked around at his family and then settled back on Bo. He admitted, “I suppose you’re right. It’s just difficult for me to see her as anything but my little girl. Ivy has made me so proud for so many reasons.”

             
“She’s a good woman.” Bo made himself say woman not girl.

             
“How long have you two known each other?” he asked.

Bo looked at the man. His gray hair indicated age his features denied.
He knew that is why Ivy was thirty-three and looked like she was still in her early twenties. “About three years.”

             
“What was that, son? I thought you said three years.”

             
“Yes, sir. About three years.” Bo turned his head to watch Ivy’s nephew do a cannonball. It splashed his little sisters and they began fussing and crying. He looked back to Ivy’s dad and realized the man was about to have a heart attack. “She waited. We’ve known each other for that long, but we didn’t start dating until…recently.”

             
The man visibly relaxed. “Thank you.”

***

             
“You know they are over there talking about you,” May said and then to the girls said, “Keep crying and we are going home. You’re in the water, you are already wet. And you, Buster, you stop agitating them.”

             
He huffed and said, “Fine, Mom.”

             
Ivy started to say something but May cut her off. “He is gorgeous Ivy. Tell me, how is he?”

             
She watched her sister’s face light up the way it did whenever she talked about things she probably shouldn’t talk about. Ivy blushed and said, “I’m not telling you about that.”

             
“Oh come on, you can tell me. I tell you everything!” May kicked up her foot to splash water at Ivy. They were sitting on the edge of the pool with their legs hanging over and water up to their knees.

             
“Yes, and I could have spent my whole life oblivious to the fact that Hank isn’t circumcised and I would have been just fine.” Ivy scolded as she whispered.

             
“You’re no fun,” May rolled her eyes upwards and then looked over at her husband who was sleeping on the lounge chair. He would likely have a sunburn, but he apparently needed the sleep. “Look at him. He better rest up. His ass is mine tonight.”

             
“Do you ever stop?”

             
“No. Will you ever start?” May mocked her. “Ivy, I have that fine piece of man meat over there in the palm of my hand because I make sure to take care of his needs. You have that, Lord, he is just like an underwear model if quarterbacks posed with surfboards. I mean how do you not just crawl around on your knees begging to…”

             
Ivy was relieved when her nephew jumped in the pool again and her nieces began fussing.

             
“Well, we have to go.” She shouted to the kids to get out and wake up their father. May looked over to her sleeping husband and said. “I have plans for him. It’s date night. The sitter comes over and we go out.”

             
Ivy hated that her mouth already started speaking. “But it will be late.”

             
May looked at her as if she felt pity for her. “Is he on steroids and shrank it? No? Then what? Can’t get the dragon to breathe fire? Is that it?”

             
“What?” Ivy was torn between laughing at the comments and being offended that May was talking about Bo.

             
“It’s you!” May opened her eyes wide. “God, Ivy. You have everything. Don’t blow this with your self-imposed, proper, ladylike, insanity that they drummed into you! Well, I suggest you blow him, but…”

             
“I’m done talking to you.” Ivy stood and grabbed her shorts and t-shirt. She was finished being teased by May. Worse, she thought May might have a point.

***

Bo held in the chuckle
as Ivy’s dad explained how they got a tutor to help her attain manners, etiquette, and of course morals. It seemed crazy to him, but it did explain her constant worry. They were training her to be an eighteenth century princess when she was this century’s shining star.

May was already rounding up the children and telling them it was time to go. They had had enough excitement for one day.  Bo was really glad to see them leave. He liked Ivy’s family well enough once they
understood the peanut butter situation. He was used to the unfamiliar territory the rest of the world walked on. She wasn’t. He was at once surprised by her overzealous reaction and endeared by the fact she had taken that stand for him.

             
Bo stood as her father stood. They walked to the front door as crying girls and a grumbling teenage boy passed them by. He looked at Ivy’s brother-in-law and knew that May ran that family. The guy was exhausted, carrying two bags of clothing and towels, and trying to round up the children while listening to May lecture him on keeping dry and wet clothes separate. He paused at the door and said, “It was nice meeting you. Sorry about the sandwiches. Be glad you got the easy one.”

             
Bo laughed. Hank had no idea how nice it was to have a woman that was self-assured. But then again, they did have three kids, so maybe he knew all too well what it was like.

             
Ivy’s dad laughed as the guy headed down the walkway toward the vehicles. He said, “May is a bit of a wild child. Ivy has always been a good girl. She was an easy child, easy teen, and I am sure you know that she is so easy to be around now that you are married. Sweetest, loving, most confident and self-assured child I ever knew.” 

             
Well, that about summed it up. Her parents didn’t really know her at all. As if to drive the point home her mother approached and said, “Now you two be sure to enjoy this time off. I know she is just itching to get back to work.”

             
“Bye, mom.” Ivy leaned in and hugged the woman. Then she hugged her dad. “Bye.”

They said they loved her and she said in a quiet voice, “Love you too.”

              Then there was May. May poked Ivy in the side the way only a big sister could and Ivy smiled grudgingly. He heard May say to her quietly, “Don’t rush. I mean it. I don’t need your money, Ivy. I put it all in college funds they may not want or need by the time they are old enough to go. You need to take some time for you.” She looked at the parents walking towards the cars. “They don’t need it either. They are just used to it. Think about the dragon. That’s all you need to worry about right now.”

             
When they arrived, May was his least favorite. Oh how a few hours could change the way a person was viewed. May stepped over and hugged him. She whispered in his ear, “Be good to my little sister or I will wrap you in peanut butter and bury you. She is not as unbreakable as my parents seem to think.” She stepped back and her smile was as innocent as if she just said congratulations. “It was really nice meeting you.”

             
He knew he was a bit bewildered. He liked that she was ready to fight for Ivy. He didn’t like the image of her threat. “It was great meeting you, too. You have a lovely family.”

             
“Gordon said he will catch up with the two of you later. He’s committed to this new job. I don’t want him to think it is okay to bail out of work so I didn’t push,” May explained.

“It’s fine,” Ivy assured her. “I see him all the time.”

They all headed down the walk and piled into cars and then Ivy shut the door and they could breathe again. All he could say was, “Wow!”

             
“You survived it.”

             
“Barely.” He laughed. “I like them. Your brother-in-law is a pretty funny guy.”

             
“He’s good for May. He loves his kids. Especially my oldest nephew though he isn’t his biological dad.” Ivy led them to the kitchen where she began cleaning up the remains of lunch. He helped. She said, “Do you think I should go back to work?”

             
“Do you want to?” He didn’t need a degree in psychology to tell him that she knew the answer to the question and no answer he gave would be the right one. 

             
“I don’t know. I’ve only been out of work for a few months. I don’t want to keep doing what I am doing. I don’t want to keep playing these same women over and over again.” She looked up at him.

             
“Then take the break. Tell your agent you want something else. She’ll find what you want or she will find a way for you to do what you want on your own. We don’t work in the same system we used to. She knows that.” He began loading the dishwasher.