The Good Life

*Jack*

It was the day before Alex and I were supposed to go to the courthouse to elope, but something didn’t feel right about it. It felt rushed and unromantic so I decided to talk to Alex about it to see how he felt about pushing the date back. I wanted us to be married as soon as possible but I also wanted it to be memorable and not something we did to get it over with.

The Fuentes were leaving for good today. Vicki gave most of their appliances to the Salvation Army and other charities so all they had to move were clothes and other smaller objects. We were going to leave right now to see them out, but I stopped Alex before he and Izzy could go out the door.

“Alex wait…can we talk really quick?” I asked.

“Yeah what’s up?” He asked.

“Um so you know how we’re supposed to be getting married this tomorrow?” I said, looking down.

“Yeeeaaah…?” He said skeptically.

“Well how would you feel if we moved it back some?” I kept talking not giving him the chance to respond yet. “I just feel like it’s not romantic and it seems rushed. Maybe we can have like a really small wedding type thingy sometime next year?” Next year sounded far away, but it was actually only a few weeks away since it was December now. I just meant like a few months from now.

“I asked you were you fine with just running down and eloping and you said ‘okay that’s fine’” He quoted me. He didn’t seem angry or annoyed about it so that was a good thing.

“I know and it did sound good at the moment, but after thinking about it I want us to do more than sign documents at a courthouse.” I whined. I stuck my lip out desperately like I always did to make him give in.

“Okay Jack.” He sighed.

“Really?!” I said surprised. The lip thing didn’t always work.

“Yeah but like you said it has to be a small wedding that means like thirty to fifty people tops, Okay?” He said with his serious face.

“Okay I promise!” I gleamed. “And thank you! I love you so much!” I went up to kiss him multiple times.

“I love you too.” He mumbled into the kiss.

“Go now?” Izzy whined below us. She was always in hurry to leave the house.

“Sorry princess! Yes we can leave now.” Alex laughed.

We left our house and walked across the street to the Fuentes’ house one last time. There was a moving truck in their drive way and looking at it made this all so real. I rang the doorbell and Vicki came to answer it.

“Hey it’s the Gaskarths’!” She cheered making Alex and I smile at her. She stepped aside and let us all into the empty house.

“We’re not all Gaskarths yet.” Alex joked while pointing at me.

“I wanted to say it now since I won’t be here when it actually happens.” She said. “You guys are going in tomorrow to do it right?

“Not anymore.” I said and chuckled at the shocked look on her face.

“What? Why not?” she questioned.

“Someone decided that going to a courthouse wasn’t romantic enough so were going to have a smaller wedding sometime this upcoming year.” Alex told her.

“I was kind of skeptical when Jack told me you guys were just going to elope. I was like there’s no way Jack’s okay with doing that it sounds too boring for him.” She said and we all laughed.

“You know me so well!” I told her.

“Yeah and it’s a shame you all have to go.” Alex added.

“Yeah I hate it. But this way is just...easier” She said more to herself.

“Where are the boys?” I asked.

“Oh upstairs with their father checking for any items we might be forgetting.” She said. As if on cue Mike and Vic walked down the stairs.

“Hi guys!” I said and they ran up to hug me Alex and Izzy.

“Where’s your dad boys?” Vicki asked them.

“He made us come down because we were making it harder for him to look around.” Mike and Vic giggled.

“Of course you two trouble makers were.” She smiled. They didn’t seem upset about leaving yet, but that would probably happen once they were actually driving away.

Emilio came down a few minutes later with a few pieces of trash in his hands. “The house is all clear.” He told Vicki and said hello to Alex and I. He wouldn’t look us in the eyes but that’s probably because he knows Vicki told us about what he did and he was ashamed of himself.

“Okay well I guess we should get ready to go.” Vicki said hesitantly.

We all went out the front door and stood next to the moving van just making small talk to drag out the time before they left. Mike and Vic looked somber as we stood outside, they didn’t know why they had to move which made it worse.

“I hate the idea that we won’t be here for it or to watch Izzy grow up.” She bent down to pinch Izzy’s cheek making her giggle.

“Yeah we are going to miss these two too.” Alex said messing up Mike and Vic’s hair.

We stood there silently letting the cool December air blow around us. Vicki was staring at the ground probably trying to force herself to say goodbye and not just to us but to her house and San Diego. She spent most of her life here and for her to have to leave because of Emilio’s mistake was really hard on her and their kids. I wish the girl who Emilio cheated on her with was leaving instead, but Vicki didn’t want to contact her and she defiantly didn’t want Emilio talking to her again. This way was just easier.

“Well we should get on the road to beat some of the traffic.” Emilio said quietly.

“Yeah.” Vicki sighed. She looked at me and Alex was a sad smile and hugged us both. She then moved to Izzy and picked her up. “I’m going to miss you so much.” She kissed her check and sat her back down.

“Boys say good bye to the Gaskarth’s.” Vicki gave a weak chuckle, she had tears building up in her eyes.

Mike came up to hug us both first with tears falling down his face, I tried to wipe them away but they kept falling. It was the same situation with Vic, but he was probably more upset because Vicki and Mike were.

“Okay Izzy say bye-bye.” Alex told her.

“Bye-bye.” She said not phased at all with what was going on. I was pretty sure she didn’t understand she was saying bye because she wouldn’t see them for a long time. She probably wouldn’t even remember them when she got older.

“Will you come visit us?” Mike asked.

“We’ll try our best to.” I said hopefully.

“Bye.” Vic Sobbed. Izzy looked up to Alex and me to see if we would tell her why they were all crying, but Alex just pick her up and held her so she was looking behind us in the opposite direction.

Vicki placed the boys in her car and Emilio got into the moving truck. They started up their cars and we waved to them as they pulled out of the drive way. We stood there in the yard until they turned off the street and we couldn’t see them anymore.

I felt like we just lost part of our family. I’m so used to going to see them at least once a week so this was going to take a while to get used to.

“Ready to go home.” Alex asked. I nodded in response afraid to speak with a lump in my throat.
He grabbed my hand while still holding Izzy.

“Popcorn, Daddy?” Izzy asked. That was her new favorite snack.

“Yeah Babes I’ll make some popcorn.” Alex smiled.

“And Caillou?”

“You’re killing me, Izzy.”

Notes

I know I'm a horrible person!!