Happy Hour (16 page)

Cheers!

Jamie Evans

Editor-in-chief

Alyssa steadied her hands by taking hold of the water glass in front of
her. She’d arrived at the restaurant twenty minutes early. She’d gotten ready
two hours early. Did she have too much makeup on? Was her dress conservative
enough? Motherly? It was at least ninety degrees outside. She’d finally decided
on a light teal summer dress with a scoop neck.

The restaurant she’d chosen, Hurley’s in Yountville, was neither fancy
nor underrated. It was simple, elegant, and served excellent food.

When she’d told her friends about her son, she’d felt such relief.

After reading the letter, she phoned the number listed in it. When she
heard the young man’s voice for the first time—her son’s—she’d instantly been
awash with regret. After agreeing to meet with Ian this week, she’d gotten off
the phone and closed the shop. For the rest of the day she didn’t answer the
phone, afraid of who might be on the other end this time, and she worked late
into the night on the painting—
Protected
. She had so many questions for
Ian and one of them was, had he felt protected growing up? But how could she
ask him that, and if he gave her an answer other than yes, how would she react
to that?

Alyssa recognized him the moment he walked through the door. She gasped.
He was built like her father—tall and lean—even a bit too thin. His eyes were a
deep hazel color like her own, his skin darker than hers. She felt a confusing
mix of excitement, relief, and joy that were combined with fear, sadness, and
regret. She grabbed onto her chair to steady herself.

He walked directly over to her. “Alyssa?” His voice was deep and his
handshake firm.

“Ian?”

He nodded and smiled. “Hi.”

“Hi.” There weren’t hugs and tears, but a soft hello and smile were a
good start as far as she was concerned.

“How was your flight and drive? Did you have any problems?” she asked,
knowing he’d driven a rental car out to the wine country. She’d suggested
picking him up, and had wanted to, but Ian hesitated. Alyssa decided that since
this was their first meeting together, she would allow him to call all the
shots.

“Good. The car is nice. It’s a hybrid Camry with a GPS system. My dad
wanted to make sure I didn’t get lost.  I’ve had my license over a year now,
but he was carrying on at me before I left about not driving over the speed limit,
and you know, come to a complete stop at the stop signs. All that.” He laughed
again—a nice hardy laugh. “And he wanted to come with me. I begged him to let
me go by myself. I can’t believe he actually did. It took some convincing.
Flight was good. Easy, fast.”

Alyssa immediately liked this kid. The mention of his dad though, put an
even deeper hole in her center. “That’s what dads do, you know. They have to
watch out for you.”

“Yeah, and my dad worries a lot about me.”

The waitress came by and asked if they’d like something to drink. Ian
ordered an iced tea and so did Alyssa. She watched as he sweetened it with two
sugars, exactly how she took her own tea. “How long have you been looking for
me?” she asked.

“Not long. My dad actually found you some time ago, I guess. He thought
maybe I’d want to meet you someday. My parents always told me I was adopted.
Actually I come from a really big family. There are seven of us and five of us
are adopted. You could say we’re the original Brangelina family. Except none of
us look like Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt.” He laughed again.

Alyssa liked the fact that the kid had a sense of humor. “That must be
kind of neat. A big family.” It made Alyssa happy to know that he’d been raised
in a large family. She had a half brother from her dad’s first marriage, but
they’d never been close and he was about twelve years older than she was, so
she never spent much time with him growing up. He lived in Michigan now and
they saw each other on occasional family gatherings. He’d never known about her
pregnancy. Actually none of her family had. Her mom and dad were in Tuscany
that year with her grandparents while she was at college. They’d never
understood why she’d switched schools the following year, but she’d convinced
them it was because she thought she could do better at NYU and wanted to go
into journalism. “How do you like it, being in such a large family?”

He smiled again, warm and goofy and youthful. “You know, it’s got some
good things about it and some not so good. We don’t have a mansion, so we fight
a lot over bathrooms and food and you name it, but there is a lot of love.
After my mom died, it was good that we all had each other.”

Alyssa nearly choked on her tea. “Your mother passed away?”

His eyes watered and it was obvious he was fighting the emotion. “Almost
four years ago. Drunk driver.”

“That’s awful. I’m so sorry, Ian.” Alyssa brought her hand up to her
mouth.

“Thank you. It was awful, but Mom was a very special lady and, even
though we miss her, she’d be really mad at us if we sat around sulking about
her.”

The revelation that Ian’s mother had been killed placed even more guilt
on Alyssa. In some round about way she felt responsible for the pain that he
had suffered when he’d lost his mother.

The waitress came by again and asked them if they were ready to order.
Neither had even opened the menu. They briefly scanned it and both opted for
the Kobe beef cheeseburgers. When the waitress left, Alyssa asked, “And how
does your dad feel about you meeting me?”

He twirled his straw in his glass, and took a minute before answering.
“He wanted me to. He said that I needed to. I had to. Like I said, he had
already located you through public records.”

She waited for him to elaborate, but when he didn’t, she replied. “Good.
It sounds like you get a lot of support. That’s really good.” Ian came across
as an honest, gentle kid. Alyssa couldn’t help but immediately like him and she
couldn’t help wanting to take him in her arms when he’d told her about his
mother’s death. She wanted to tell him that she wished she’d been there when he
was one, two, three, twelve—all of it. But it was so very obvious to her that
his parents had done a wonderful job raising him and at least one of Alyssa’s
questions had been answered: she knew that her son had felt protected growing
up. The heavy weight she’d carried around for all of that time finally began to
ease. Even breathing felt lighter.

“I’m glad you decided to find me.” The waitress placed their burgers in
front of them. “Well, you came all of this way. I am sure you have a lot of
questions for me.”

He set down his burger. “I do, but I’m not even sure what they are right
now. I mean, I had some in my head while getting here and then you know, now I
meet you, and it’s kind of changed, and I’m not sure what to ask.”

“What changed? I’m not sure that I understand.”

He took a drink from his tea and cocked his head to the side, with his
palm resting on his chin. “This is gonna sound weird but, even though I wanted
to meet you, I also really wanted to not like you.” He sighed. “I’m sorry if
I’m blunt, but my mom always told me to be honest. She kind of put the fear of
God in all of us. And now I kinda feel like she’s always watching me, keeping
me straight.” He laughed.

“As they say, honesty is the best policy.”

“I don’t know if you can understand, but I thought if I met you and
didn’t like you, then it would be this huge validation for my parents,
especially my mom. I don’t how to describe this and the only thing I can think
of, which isn’t right at all, is that it’s almost like cheating. By meeting you
and liking you and finding out that you’re not some horrible lady, I feel like
I’m cheating on my mom.” He cast his eyes away from her.

“That makes a lot of sense. But I don’t think liking me invalidates who your
parents are to you and what your mom means to you. She sounds like a wonderful
woman. Like she was an amazing mother.”

“She was awesome.” He lit up and for some time told her all about his
mom. Louise Thomas did sound like a great woman, and Alyssa wished she’d had
the privilege of knowing the lady who’d helped raise Ian.

Over the next several hours, Alyssa and Ian got to know each other a bit
better. Alyssa took him to her studio. They drove over to Sonoma Square about
thirty minutes away and had coffee and dessert. She learned about his four
brothers and three sisters, who were all from various backgrounds and two of
them were even from different countries. One brother was from Mexico and one
sister from Indonesia. They truly did sound like the original Brangelina clan.
He told her about his first year of college at UCLA and his interest in
majoring in film. He also told her about some of his friends, some girlfriends,
sports he enjoyed. All in all, Ian had a pretty normal life and Alyssa was
thankful.

He also never once asked her about his biological father and what had
happened. He told her that his parents had said that she’d given him up for
adoption because she’d been too young and not financially equipped to raise
him. Alyssa agreed that was true. This was what she’d told the adoption agency
and she’d chosen not to meet Ian’s adoptive parents.

Ian followed Alyssa back to her house that evening, where she made her
best fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and a fruit salad for him. He ate every
bite and the hole in Alyssa’s heart began to sew itself up. “You’re staying at
a hotel?” Alyssa asked.

“Yes. The Best Western. My dad made the reservation. I have to call him
as soon as I get there.”

“Why don’t you stay here with me? I have room.”

He nodded. “Maybe I could. I should call my dad and see what he thinks.”

Alyssa wanted to remind him that he was almost nineteen and he didn’t
need his father’s permission. Throughout the day, Ian had brought up his dad
quite a bit, and Alyssa was feeling uneasy about Ian’s adoptive father and
wondered if he might be more overbearing than protective. Worries resonated in
the back of her mind, and she tried to ease them by reminding herself that Ian
had grown up happy and healthy and that Ian’s father’s reactions to meeting her
was normal. “Sure. I’ll rinse the dishes and I have some Häagen-Dazs Chunky
Monkey.”

“Yeah! My favorite. You know that Beastie Boys song?”

“’Brass Monkey’?” Alyssa said.

Then in unison they sang, “That chunky monkey.” Ian pointed at Alyssa,
who cracked up.

“You like the
Beasties
? Cool. Know what my favorite movie is?”

“What?” she asked.

“You’ll never guess, cause it’s so random.”

“Try me,” she replied.

Ian turned around, his back to her and then flipped back toward her, chin
ducked, lips puckered and eyes at half mast. She slapped her knees. “Uh-uh. No
way!
Zoolander
!”

“You’re good.”

“What’s not to love about Ben Stiller?”

“Seriously,” he replied. “Besides Jack Black, he’s probably the funniest
white guy around.”

“I think I would agree with you. Now, go call your dad and I’ll get the
dishes. Afterwards, I’ll see if you can guess my favorites.”

“Deal,” Ian replied.

While in the kitchen rinsing the dishes, Alyssa could hear Ian’s voice
drop as he spoke to his father. She didn’t want to eavesdrop, but sensed that
something wasn’t quite right. She leaned against the wall closest to her small
den where he’d gone in to make the call. “No Dad, I haven’t told her yet. No.
You don’t need to fly up here. I can do this. No. She’s super nice. Yes. I like
her. She’s a good lady.”

Alyssa sighed. What was it he needed to tell her? What was Ian’s dad so
concerned about?

“Okay. I will. Yes. Okay, Dad. I know. I know you’re worried. I feel
fine. I really do. I’m good. I’m a little tired. Yes, I’ll call you back. I
love you, too.”

Alyssa hustled back into the kitchen.

Ian came in a minute later. “My dad says that if it’s okay with you, then
I can stay.”

“Good it’s a done deal. Here’s your ice cream. Want some hot fudge on it?
I already put it in the microwave.”

“Sure.”

She got the fudge out of the oven and poured some on their ice cream.
They took their dessert and sat down on the couch in front of the TV. “Your
family is good?”

“Yes.” He’d grown quiet. “Alyssa, I have to tell you something.”

“Okay.” She felt nauseous.

“I got sick a few years ago, before my mom died.”

“Sick?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Real sick, actually. I had cancer. Leukemia. Then it
went into remission.”

“Oh.” It was difficult to find the right words to say as a mixture of
emotions began running through her. “It’s good though that it’s in remission,
right? That’s good, right?” The feeling in her gut told her this was not good.
He didn’t say anything and the reality of the silence hit her. “It’s back.
Isn’t it? Is that what you’re telling me?”

He nodded. “Yes. I found out two weeks ago and they wanted to start chemo
immediately. But I needed to contact you first.”

“I’m so glad you did, but the leukemia. Tell me about this.” She clasped
her hands together to keep him from noticing that they were shaking. Her body
from the inside shook all over as if a freeze was coursing through her.

He nodded. “This is going to sound bad and I don’t know how to make it
come out right. I did want to meet you and I am happy that you are so great,
but I had to find you.” He sighed. “My doctor says that I need a bone marrow
donation and he says that I have the best chance for a match through a
relative—especially a sibling—and I totally understand if you don’t want to be
tested and I wouldn’t blame you. I’m sorry to spring this on you. I didn’t know
what else to do and my dad wanted to come but I had to do this by myself. Do
you have any other children? Could you be tested?” His words poured out in a
rush.