Laid 2 Rest Two Halves of a Whole (30 page)

Hopping into the shower to shave my leg silky smooth, I chuckled at Jay’s boldness. He definitely knew what he wanted and I was more than obliged to make sure that he received every last bit of it.

Certain that Jay wouldn’t care in the least about what I was wearing; I focused primarily on redressing myself in something
very easy
for him… to take off.

We jumped in the car and headed to the little inn a few short blocks away from the house. Tonight was not going to be slow and romantic; it was going to be fast and rough. We might even try beating our record for the most orgasms received in one night, I thought happily to myself.

Jay was practically undressing me with his eyes, when he reached over to slide his hand under my skirt to caress between my freshly shaven legs… and
girly parts!
I had to laugh, as his orbs popped when he discovered that I wasn’t exactly wearing anything underneath. The engine growled in protest as the car suddenly sped up.

Jay just couldn’t seem to get to the inn fast enough
.

Back at the house, the following morning, we were both all smiles. We needed the alone time. We made ourselves busy, straightening up the house since Joel was set to arrive around dinnertime. We figured we would save ourselves the headache and eat something light when they arrived, leaving plenty of room for tomorrows Thanksgiving feast.

I had the cheesecake baking in the oven and was halfway through preparing the pies when the doorbell rung. However, I let the twins answer it for me since I was up to my eyeballs in pumpkin filling.

Loud cheers erupted from the next room, but a wall blocked my view of the front door so I couldn’t see them enter. “Uncle Joel.” I heard them shout. “Joel Jr.” Quickly followed. “Grandma!” Their voices squealed.

GRANDMA???

I shook my head in disbelief. I was
not
expecting that one. Joel had failed to mention that mom was coming with him. I didn’t know how I felt about her being here; there was just so much bad blood between us. I haven’t even spoken to her in months because of all the stupid ass things that kept coming out of her mouth.
Damn
, what am I going to do now? It’s not as if I could go hide in my room for the next couple of days.

“You guys are getting so big. Where’s your mom?” Joel asked. The twins must have pointed to me since I heard no answer, but Joel walked into the kitchen all the same. He held his hands up in surrender, when he saw I had my angry eyes on.
Just give her a chance
was all he said as my nephew came flying at me with his arms open wide.

Fixing my face, I smiled as I hugged him back. I knew it wasn’t his bright idea to bring my mother along and completely
screw up my holiday
. So I stepped back to look at him better. “Check you out… you’re almost as tall as me now. What has your dad been feeding you, huh?”

“Can I see my new baby cousin now?” he asked, flat-out ignoring my statement.

“In just one sec, alright. Let me wash…..” My sentence died off as soon as I saw her. There standing in my kitchen was the woman who gave me life. She had not changed much in appearance as far as I could tell. She was one of those women, whose skin aged well, making it impossible to guess her real age. Straightening my spine to make myself seem taller, “Mother,” I addressed her, rather coldly.

“Hello Jasmine,” she replied, seeming a bit unsure on if I would kick her out of my house or not.

The tension in the kitchen was so thick… you could choke on it! Luckily, Bria’s cry broke the standoff between us. Rinsing my hands off, I went to retrieve her with my nephew following close behind.

He insisted on carrying her back into the kitchen, but my brother took her out of his arms and lifted her high in the air as she laughed and drooled all over him. “What a pretty baby you are. I could just eat you up. Yes, I could,” he cooed at her.

When he finally gave her back to me, I took my little angel and walked around the center island to stand in front of my mom. She hadn’t moved a muscle since she stepped foot in my kitchen. Swallowing my pride, I offered Bria to her as a peace offering.

“And this is your grandma, sweetheart,” I whispered to her as she left the safety my embrace. My moms face softened and looked years younger as she beamed with surprise. She hadn’t expected me to let her hold her.
Shit, I hadn’t either!
She accepted her granddaughter proudly, planting a sweet kiss upon her dimpled cheek.

Jay walked into the kitchen at that precise moment, returning from the market because I had run out of eggs. He was as stunned as I had been when he first realized that my mom was here too, but even more taken back when he realized that I had let her hold the baby. Unresolved issues were set aside for the time being, but by no means what-so-ever were they forgiven… not by me at least.

Not by a long shot.

Everyone scattered throughout the house, leaving me alone with just my thoughts. I was left to finish making the desserts while the others settled in and made themselves comfortable. The sound of cartoons blared in the living room as the twins got everyone caught up on which ones were now their favorites.

When Jay returned to check on my mental state, I was sliding the last pie into the oven and was getting set to make a batch of brownies for little KJ. He didn’t like pumpkin pie or cheesecake for that matter, which meant every year; I had to make him a special batch of fudgy heaven, for him to have all to himself.

“Are you okay with this, love? With her staying here? I could get her a room at the inn, if you want,” he asked, raising my face so I could look at him.

“I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m ready to fully deal with her yet. So much damage has been done, but as long as she stays out of my way and doesn’t say anything stupid to me, then maybe… just maybe, I’ll survive this weekend in tact. I guess she can stay for now, babe.” Stepping forward, I laid my head on his chest, wondering if I had just made a
huge mistake.

“They’re talking about going to the casino. So I guess I’m stuck grilling the burgers,” Jay informed me.

“Huh, figures. I guess a little help in the kitchen was too much to hope for.”

He bent down to kiss me when Joel walked in. “Alright, break it up you two. You’re making my stomach hurt,” he said, sticking his finger down his throat. “I’m gonna to take mom to the casino for a little while. You guys wanna come?”

“I can’t. I’ve got brownies and deviled eggs to make still,” I admit.

“Me neither, bro. I have burgers to cook since
you’re
not going to do it. Maybe tomorrow.”

“Sorry man. Save me one though. We shouldn’t be gone that long,” Joel shot back over his shoulder as he headed out the front door.

“Well, this is going to be a Thanksgiving to remember, for sure.
Can’t you just feel the love already?
” I told Jay sarcastically.

The rest of the evening was a blur. I had everything prepped and ready for tomorrow. JoJo helped me boil and peel the eggs since they were his holiday favorite. The guys always held a contest to see who could eat the most every year. When they cooled off enough, we cut them in half, stuffed them with their devilled yoke filling, and finished them off with a bright red dash of paprika. Any extras or broken ones were stuffed into our mouths quickly before anyone else saw us and we were forced to share.

Joel and my mom never made it back for dinner after all. He called and said he was on a hot streak in the poker room and would be gone for a couple more hours. I didn’t mind, that meant I didn’t need to deal with my mother until the morning. With four kids to entertain, we had a snowball fight in the backyard, roasted marshmallows, and told goofy stories by the fire until the twins were ready for bed. JoJo being the oldest at fifteen could entertain himself, so he moved onto computers games for the rest of the night. I made a pallet on the floor of KJ’s room for him, leaving the guestroom for my mom, and the air mattress or couch for my brother.

Once I had all their beds situated, I went to watch Bria sleep. I found her room so peaceful and calming. Decorated in a jungle theme…
it was my happy place.
I envied her, I thought while tucking her fuzzy zebra blanket more snuggly around her… to be able to sleep so soundly, knowing your mother would always be right there to protect you
. I only wish I knew what that felt like.

Getting up early to start my ham the next morning, I failed to see my mother in the kitchen as I rounded the corner and almost crashed right into her. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

Put a bell on, why don’t you!

“Do you have any coffee?”

Gees, good morning to you to, mother.
She knew that I didn’t drink the stuff, but asked anyway. Lucky for her, I had some in the cabinet leftover from my dad’s last visit. I got it out, along with a mug and spoon, and sat it on the counter in front of her.

“Thanks,” she mumbled under her breath.

Pleez…
did she really expect me to make it for her?
What’s up with that?
I went about my business as if she weren’t even in the room with me. As a child, I learnt not to engage her. The best tactic was to ignore her as much as possible… unless you
enjoyed talking in circles.

I had to get the ham in the oven first, so I started there since it needed to slow cook for most of the day. Once that was in, I cooked up some apple wood smoked bacon, sprinkled with brown sugar and cracked black pepper for breakfast. The smell of it alone woke everyone in the house up. Served with some piping hot, honey biscuits and scrambled eggs with cheese, the food practically evaporated as soon as I laid it in front of them. Wow, one would think that they hadn’t eaten the night before. That only left Bria to feed, so I headed off to the nursery to tend to her needs as well.

With breakfast complete, I put everyone to work while I had the chance. No one was leaving today until they helped prep for dinner. My nephew and Jay had large prawns to peel and clean before they wrapped them in bacon. My mom peeled potatoes, chopped onions, made rice, and steamed vegetables. Joel prepped the turkey so he could deep-fry it, while I made the stuffing, some cheesy garlic biscuits, and basted the ham that was already roasting in the oven.

My ham was always the star of the show with its brown sugar, yummy goodness that I had perfected over the years. When done, the outer crust would turn into a crispy pork candy to crunch on that would make any vegetarian convert back to eating meat!

I could devour just that part alone and be a happy girl.

Even though we ate the same thing every Thanksgiving, no one ever got tired of it. The atmosphere in the kitchen was surprisingly light and cheery as everyone went about their assigned duties.
I can do this,
I convinced myself. This isn’t so bad. I can deal with my mother being here with us for a few days. Maybe she has changed her ways and I didn’t even know it.

“You have enough food here to feed an Army. Who else is coming?” My brother questioned.

“The Army is coming! Tyce is in town, so I invited him and a couple of his friends to join us for some real home cooking.” I told him.

“What’s he doing out here?”

“Some kind of training exercise. Members from each branch of the service were paired up into teams to discuss something… I forget… military mumbo-jumbo of some sort. A whole bunch of them had to report to the Air Force base in Albuquerque. Anyways, he was in town, so I insisted that he join us instead of spending the holidays with a bunch of strangers playing war games,” I said, shrugging my shoulders nonchalantly. Tyce was more than welcome in my home, which lead me to extend the invitation without second-guessing myself. It was no biggie to me.

“Isn’t that the boy you used to date back in high school?” My mom blurted out suddenly as if she were revealing something that we weren’t fully aware of already.

See there, I knew it. I spoke too soon. Just when I was getting used to the idea of her being here, she had to go ahead and ruin it by
opening her damn mouth.
My head whipped around to glare in her direction so fast that I practically gave myself whiplash in the process.