It All Started With a Lima Bean (4 page)

He got out of his Range Rover after parking on the clay-bricked driveway, and headed inside the house. It was unlocked as usual. No matter how many times he talked to them about how unsafe it was to leave their door unlocked, Grace and Robert insisted that they lived in a safe neighborhood and did not need to lock their neighbors out. He had to admit that not only was it safe, but he was extremely comfortable here. You would think he had actually grown up in this very home, and not in Chicago.

Right as he closed the door, his sweet girl came running into his arms. They exchanged butterfly kisses, and then she announced, “Daddy, Grammy made some super yummy food for dinner. Come and eat.” He walked them into the dining room where a plate waited for him along with embraces from his in-laws.

“Wow that smells incredible mom. What is it?”

“It’s Chicken Picata cut into bite-sized pieces tossed in angel hair pasta. I also threw a baby spinach salad together for you with your favorites: cranberries, walnuts, gorgonzola cheese, and raspberry dressing. I already poured some berry mineral water for you, unless you want something else to drink.” She was pleased with the meal she’d prepared and held her interlaced fingers up to her cheek.

Looking around the room suspiciously then into Robert’s eyes, Caleb questioned, “What’s the occasion?”

Robert turned his head toward Grace. She brushed him off. “No occasion. Can’t a mother take care of her favorite son?”

“Sure, but I kinda feel like I’m being buttered up for something.” Still wondering what the deal was, but too hungry to care at this point, Caleb pulled his chair back and took a seat.

“Nonsense. Enjoy your dinner.” The rest of the family joined him at the round six-person dining table.

Madison used her index finger to play with her bangs while sharing the happenings of her day. “Daddy, a boy in my class named Justin wasn’t very nice to me today.”

“Oh yeah? What did he do?” Caleb took a second bite of delicious wine, butter and caper covered chicken. His taste buds were on overload. This meal was to die for.

“He pulled my pony tail, said I smelled like pineapple, and then ran away. Why are boys so mean sometimes?”

Trying not to laugh about the pineapple insult, he explained, “Well Honey, sometimes when little boys like little girls, they don’t know how to act. Boys treat each other that way. He will learn how to treat a girl as he gets older.” He continued to eat, practically slurping the pasta between his lips.

“That’s what Miss Abby said, but I think he is just a stinker. I don’t care if my friend Casey says he is yumtastic.”

Caleb choked on some spinach when he heard his little girl repeat the name her friend had called their classmate. He gasped for air while grabbing his drink then gulped down the mineral water. Coughing a few more times in between words, he asked, “Um Pumpkin, what does that word mean?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged her tiny shoulders, “but Casey said that’s what her sister calls cute boys. I don’t think Justin is a cute boy. He’s a gross boy who picks his nose all the time. Ewww.”

He looked up at the snickering faces of his in-laws, and tried every way possible not to join in. After rolling his eyes, he said, “Gotta love the older sibling influence.”

He noticed Grace eyeing Robert and using a quick motion of almost pointing at Caleb with the top of her head. Robert cleared his throat.
Great, here it was.
This is what he was being prepared for. “So Caleb, what do you have going on next Thursday?”

While he waited for the bomb to drop, he cautiously answered, “Nothing special, just working on my book.” Not sure he even wanted to add this part, he asked. “Why? Do you have a better offer?”

“I thought it would be nice if you hung out for a while with this old man.” He said while pointing to himself. That wasn’t a bad offer. He and Robert hadn’t spent much ‘man’ time together lately. He actually looked forward to them spending time with each other.

“Sure, what did you have in mind?” He took his last bite of the fabulous dinner, and then wiped his mouth with what he just realized was a cloth napkin. Grace certainly didn’t need to bring these out just to get him to spend a day with his father-in-law.

“Golfing of course, I just got a new club that I wanted to try out. What do you say?” And there it was. He hated golf and couldn’t swing a club to save his life. He’d accidentally let go mid-swing the last time they went and although it didn’t actually hit anyone or anything important, Caleb hoped Robert would never invite him to go again.

Looking from Grace’s hopeful eyes back to Robert’s almost terrified look, Caleb hesitantly agreed. “If that’s what you really want to do, then sure.”

He got up and started to clear the table when Grace told him to leave everything. She planned to take care of it. “Are we still on for the barbecue tomorrow?” Now this he could do. When he first moved to Santa Barbara, he thought it was funny what Californians considered a barbecue. To him, that meant ribs slathered in sauce, pork with beans, grilled corn and various kinds of mayonnaise covered salads. To Californians, it essentially meant grilling hamburgers, hot dogs and sometimes other kinds of meat. He’d been transformed into one of
them
now because he loved a good Cali barbecue.

“Absolutely. We also invited the Baldwins to join us.”

“Who is that?” The always curious, Madison asked.

“They are Miss Abby’s parents.” Grace explained.

“But that’s not Miss Abby’s last name. Her name is Sullyvin.” She lisped ever so slightly.

Grace snickered. “You’re right honey. Mr. Baldwin is Miss Abby’s step-dad, so now her mommy has his last name.”

“Is Miss Abby’s daddy in heaven with my mommy?” Her inquisitive eyes searched for the answer.

“Uh, no. He lives far away with his other family.” Grace looked at a loss for words. Caleb didn’t know what to add to this awkward conversation. There truly wasn’t a child friendly way to explain what he assumed was a divorce situation. Sadly, Madison understood death, but by the look on her face, she did not get what they were talking about.

“Well that makes no senses. Is Miss Abby coming tomorrow?” Thank goodness for children’s short attention spans. They’d avoided explaining this today, but there would come another time when he would have to tell her about divorce, and all the devastation it brought to a family, and anyone close to them.

“Oh, I hadn’t thought to invite her.” Grace tried extremely hard to cover her smile, but Caleb could see right through her. She was hiding something. She looked into his eyes while placing her index finger vertically on the side of her mouth and hooked her chin on the crook between it and her thumb. “Would you like me to invite her?”

She then turned to watch Madison bounce out of her chair and begin to jump up and down clapping, “Yes, I love Miss Abby. I want to see her tomorrow too.”

“Okay I’ll tell her Mommy to invite her then.”

“Yay.” Madison continued to jump up and down while clapping then busted out into a little dance that consisted of her swinging her hips and waving her arms in the air. Where she got this stuff from, Caleb had no idea.

They started walking toward the front door when Grace pulled Caleb by the arm to the side hallway. “Would you like us to keep Madison tonight so you could go out and have some fun?”

“No.” He shook his head slightly back and forth. “You know I don’t go out on Friday nights. There is no place for me except home with my daughter.”

“It’s time, son. You need to start opening yourself up to the possibility of finding someone else to love.” With his head facing down, Caleb shook his head no again. Grace held him by the shoulders. “Look at me, Sweetie.” Caleb reluctantly did, just to find her poignantly staring at him. He hated that look. He didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for him.

“You know how much we love you, Caleb. You are our son. Rene was our only daughter. I’m telling you right now that she would not want you to live the lonely existence that you currently do. She would want you and Madison to have someone to complete your family.” Her soft words tore through his heart.

“I’m not lonely. I have Madison, you guys and my cousins. I don’t need anyone else right now. Madison doesn’t need anyone else right now either. Please leave this alone.” He pleaded. “I know your heart is in the right place, but I’m just not ready.”

Stepping in a little closer to him, she held his cheeks lovingly and appealed to him. “Caleb, when are you ever going to be ready? Madison is growing up fast. She needs a mother. It’s time. If you wait until she’s older, she may have a harder time accepting a mother figure, when she’s been used to living without one.” Those words made a point all on their own, but then Grace went in for the kill. “Madison is going to move out someday, and you are going to be left alone. I don’t want that for you.”

He sighed deeply, feeling heavy hearted. “I just can’t Grace. Please drop it.”

Breaking their conversation at the perfect moment, Madison came running to kiss her Grammy goodbye.

“Bye. We’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Caleb hugged Grace and Robert goodbye after Madison did then somberly waved as they walked out of the front door. What started out as a lighthearted evening had turned into one where he had to nurse his broken and yes, lonely heart once again.

“We are truly pathetic; you do know that right?” Abby spoke to her best friend as they sat across the square table from each other after finishing their dinner.

“Speak for yourself chica.” Leah raised her eyebrows, gave her best ‘whatever’ look..

“Here we are on a Friday night, at the same restaurant, eating the same food we always do. We are too young to be old maids.” Abby pouted.

“Hey who are you calling an old maid? I’m just here enjoying my favorite dish and glass of sangria; nothing wrong with that.” Leah held her nearly empty wine glass up to Abby.

“I’m sorry, I just don’t get it. We should be living it up, having the time of our young lives, and here we are.” Abby raised her hands gesturing to their surroundings. “The highlight of our evening is going to be when we slip into our jammies and watch some late night TV.” She was getting more depressed by the minute as she ran through their regular Friday night plans.

“We work our tails off all week. If we just want to relax on Friday nights, what’s wrong with that?” Leah took the last sip of her drink.

“What’s wrong is that it’s our Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night plans. We need to start doing other stuff. We have become as predictable as an old married couple.” She didn’t particularly think her whining was helping but wanted to make her point.

“There you go with that word again, “old”. I’m no vieja my friend.” She could tell that Leah was starting to get irritated, so Abby thought they needed a lighter mood.

“Hey, there’s your boyfriend.” Abby pointed to an elderly gentleman who probably had been devilishly handsome in his prime. The young lady with him looked as if she might be his granddaughter. At least Abby hoped that was his granddaughter, with the way she was dressed. Abby’s eyes nearly popped out of her head when he reached out for the girl’s hand and brought it to his old quivering lips. He did not kiss her hand the way a grandfather should kiss a hand.

“Eww. Cochina. How can you even joke about that?” Leah attempted to make mock gagging noises without disturbing the people around them.

“I was kidding. I didn’t realize he actually had a young girlfriend. Gross.” She scrunched up her mouth showcasing her disgust.

“She’s just trying to rip his grandchildren’s inheritance out from under their feet.” Another young girl joined the couple and kissed the man square on his wrinkled mouth. “What the hell? Is he Hugh Hefner or something?”

“I don’t know, but I suddenly feel sick.” Glad they’d already eaten and paid the check, Abby was ready to leave.

“Me too. My tummy is turning a little now.” Leah held her stomach.

“That old man is getting more action then we do.” Although the thought was disturbing, it also kind of stung.

“Yeah, but he’s probably paying for it. And I don’t know about you, but I’m not up for that.” Leah opened her eyes wide and mirrored her friend’s earlier look of revulsion.