The Good Life

*Jack*

It was Saturday morning and May, my nephew Evan, and I were out shopping for thanksgivings food. Thanksgiving was next Thursday so we were going to get all the food today then prepare it next Wednesday night. I was probably going to make Izzy and Alex help since they had Thanksgiving break from work and school from Wednesday to the following Sunday.

Alex was supposed to come shopping with us but he fell asleep on the couch before May even got to the house. Izzy was out with Cass right now getting her nails done. She was planning on hanging out with Lynn later on tonight while Alex and I went on a double date with Oli and Hannah. Initially it was going to be a triple date with Rian and Cass going too but Rian said he didn't want to leave Austin by himself. He was really depressed.

"Do you think we should make green beans from scratch instead of the can?" May asked.

"I don't know how to." I said.

"Didn't you watch mom when she made them? You just boil and season them." May said.

"I had more important things to do than watch mom cook." I said.

"Like what? Day dream about Alex?" She laughed.

"Okay that's not all I did. I was in clubs and I hung out with my friends." I said.

"What clubs were you in? I don't remember you being in in clubs!" This is literally all we ever did when we were together. Talk about the past and argue about it in a loving brother and sister way.

"I was in Future Business Leaders of America!" I reminded her. "That's why I became so interested in owning my own business."

"I should have joined that instead of doing cheerleading. Maybe I would have been successful." She said.

"You're successful in your own way." I told her.

"Well my success won't pay for Evan to go to a good college without putting me in debt." She said and I rolled my eyes at her.

"You honestly think I'm not going to pay for my nephew to go to any school he wants." I laughed at the thought. Why would I watch May struggle to pay for her son to go to college when I could easily hand her and Danny the money.

"Danny won't accept that. You know how guys are they don't want help especially when it comes to money." She said.

"Tell him to think of it as a scholarship. After all that's basically what it is." I said and she nodded her head.

"Good point!"

"Mom can I get these?!?" Evan asked holding a bag of Twislers.

"No you just had to get a cavity filled. You shouldn't want any more candy after that." She told him.

"What kind of monster are you? Let him have it!" I said. She would take Izzy's side when I rarely wouldn't buy her something at the store so I was returning the favor.

"He doesn't need candy." She scolded at both of us.

"You didn't need every Barbie doll that came out but that didn't stop mom from buying them for you." I said trying to guilt trip her.

"Fine, Evan yes you can get it." She sighed.

"Yay! Thanks Uncle Jack!" Evan exclaimed.

"No problem, buddy!" I told him.

We went to the meat aisle and grabbed two turkeys and two hams. It was going to be a lot of food but everyone was going to be able to eat leftovers for the rest of the week. I was buying all of the food, I just told everyone to bring whatever dessert and drinks they wanted.

"Is Ian coming to eat dinner with us?" Evan asked.

"I'm not sure yet. He might go visit his Grandparents for Thanksgiving." I told him.

"Alan's going to spend Thanksgiving with his parents?" May asked and I nodded.

"Yeah he said he needed their support right now. And when I had Rian ask Austin what he wanted to do he said if he couldn't spend Thanksgiving with his kids then he wanted to spend it alone." It absolutely broke my heart to hear that Austin felt that way.

"Awww that's really sad. He shouldn't be alone, he needs to get out the house to get his mind off things." May said.

"I know but you have to remember Alex says he wants nothing to do with Austin and he doesn't want him over for Thanksgiving." I said.

"But he's so sad. Maybe Alex has to see how broken Austin is to feel bad for him and get over what happened." May wasn't as angry about Austin pushing me once I explained to her in full detail what happened.

"I think he just needs a little more time to get over it. Maybe once my stitches heal." I chuckled. My phone started to ring in my pocket and I pulled it out to see Alex calling me. “Speak of the devil.” I murmured.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Where are you?" He mumbled. I could tell he just woke up.

"I'm at the store with May. Remember you were supposed to come with us." I said.

"Oh yeah. I was just too tired." He said.

"I know but don't worry about it we're almost finished here." I told him. We were just stepping into line.

"Can you bring me some ice cream?" He asked.

"You don't need ice cream, Alex."

"You didn't need to see Home Alone in theaters three times but that didn't stop mom from taking you." May said mocking the tone I used with her a few minutes ago.

"May I swear I hate you. He can get dessert when we go out to eat tonight. I don't want to walk back over to the frozen food aisle." I complained.

"Fine I'll get ice cream tonight." He said.

"You do that. I have to go so I can unload the cart."

"Wow now you rushing me off the phone. I feel so loved" He pouted.

"Oh my God, I'll be home in a few minutes. I love you. Bye." I hung up. The cashier rang up our items, I paid, and we were loaded in May's car on our way back to my house.

"What day are we flying to visit mom again?" May asked. This was going to be my third time telling her, she had the worse memory.

"December twenty-third how many times do I have to tell you?!" I said and Evan laughed.

"I need to put it in my calendar. I don't know why I keep thinking we're leave the twenty-second." She said.

"No it's the day before Christmas Eve. I guess Alex and I will sleep in my room and you and Danny can have your room and Izzy and Evan can sleep on the couches in the living room." I said.

"I don't want to sleep on the couch." Evan complained, Izzy complained about the same thing a few days ago.
"You and Izzy both act like it's going to kill you to sleep on the couch for a few days." I laughed.

"Yeah it's not like they don't take naps on the couch at home." May added.

"That's different!" Evan giggled.

"It sounds like the exact same thing to me." May said as she pulled into the driveway. Izzy's car was parked outside so she was back home too. Alex came out to help us with the groceries and May and Evan left once we were finished.

I was putting away some of the food in the fridge and freezer when I looked over at this sink. There were so many dishes it was hard for me not to nag about it.

"Why are there so many dishes in the sink? Will someone come wash them?" I yelled from the kitchen so Alex and Izzy could hear me in the living room.

"Izzy will!" Alex said.

"I can't. I just got my nails done." She said.

"That's no excuse." Alex told her.

"Yes it is! I don't want to break a nail." She said.

"You're so spoiled. I should make you get a job so you can get earn some discipline." Alex told her. "You know when I was your age I-"

"Yes I know you worked at an ice cream parlor earning your own money." She finished his story for him. "But when Papa was my age he didn't have a job and now look how well he turned out." She said making me smile.

"He doesn't count." Alex grumbled.

"And why don't I count?" I asked, walking into the living room and sitting next to Alex.

"You're an outlier." He said and kissed me on the cheek.

"Can we just get a maid?" Izzy asked hopefully.

"What? No! I usually wash dishes every day and it's killing you guys to do it this one time." I said.

"It literally might." Izzy whined. It was mostly my fault she was so spoiled. I barely made her lift a finger as she grew up and I got her pretty much everything she asked me for. If she didn't want to do something then most of the time I wouldn't make her do it. Alex liked to push all the blame on me but he was a pushover on certain things too. All Izzy had to do was whine or cry to turn Alex into putty in her hands.

"I'll do it." Alex huffed.

"Thanks!" I hit him on the butt as he got up earning a glare and s few grumbles from him.

***

We were now sitting down with Oli and Hannah at Benihana the Hibachi grill. They were making our food in front of us and we were watching and talking.

"Why didn't you guys bring Izzy?" Hannah asked.

"She's hanging out with her friend." I said.

"Oh so she's not grounded anymore?" She asked.

"No she was only ground for three days." I said.

"That girl is always grounded." Oli laughed. "You never did tell us why she got grounded this time."

"She was trying to go on a date with our neighbor’s son and she was disrespectful when I told her no." Alex said.

"Why'd you tell her no?" Hannah asked.

"Because he's almost three years older than her." Alex told them.

"Whoa that's too old. That's not okay." Oli said.

"Yeah that's a little too old." Hannah agreed. "Is it the neighbors that just moved back?"

"Yeah Vicki and Emilio and their two sons Mike and Vic." I said. "They're going to eat with us on Thanksgiving."

"Which one is the one that has a crush on my niece?" Oli asked.

"Vic" Alex answered.

"I'll keep an eye out for him." He stated.

"Oli no you're too intimidating! You're going to scare him." I said. Oli looked intimidating without him even trying so I couldn't imagine what it would be like for him to actually try.

"Yeah you'll scare the poor boy." Hannah said.

"I didn't say I was going to talk to him. I just said I'm going to keep an eye out for him." He said but I could tell he was lying.

"You should make up stories to tell at dinner to scare him." Alex laughed.

"I'll tell him that I once killed a man using only a McDonalds drinking straw." Oli said making Alex laugh even harder.

"If you two can't behave yourselves then you’re both are going to be eating outside." Hannah said and I agreed.

"We were just joking." Alex said holding his hands up.

"Yeah I won't bother Vic unless he gives me a reason too." Oli said.

Our cook finished our separate dishes and put it on to our plates. It looked so good I couldn't wait for it to completely cool before taking a bite. I was enjoying myself until I got a message from an unknown number. Thank god I was sitting next to Hannah and across from Alex and not the other way around.

To Jack:
Hey it's Tyler! I just wanted to apologize again for sending you those flowers. I just felt like we kind of made a connection in that meeting. I actually still think we did and you’re just hiding it from you husband which is okay I totally understand!

I felt my stomach turn, he obviously didn’t understand. I don't give out my personal cell phone number to anyone other than friends and family. That meant he had to go out of his way to get it.

"Jack, what's wrong?" Alex asked. I guess I was making a displeased face.

"Oh nothing I uh was just reading an email from work." I lied. I didn't need Alex going into angry boyfriend mode. He punched Austin and that was his friend. There's no telling what he would do to Tyler if he found out he was kind of harassing me.

"No phones at the dinner table." Oli joked.

"Sorry let me just send a quick uh email back and then I'll sit it down." I promised.

To Tyler:
How did you get this number?

I sat my phone in my lap face up so I could see when he responded without picking it up. I didn't want to be rude and stay on my phone the whole night. I wouldn't be able to text him again until after dinner.

"So I was thinking about going to Rian and Cassadee's place tomorrow to barbecue." Oli said not suspicious at all.

"Yeah it should be tons of fun." Hannah added. It was obvious they were trying to get Alex to see Austin.

"Why are we going to their house?" Alex asked. He caught on of course.

"Huh?" Oli said as if he didn't understand.

"Why don't we just have the barbecue at your house?" Alex said.

I was trying to pay attention to their conversation and wait for Tyler to message me back at the same time. I couldn't do both mostly because I was anticipating Tyler's answer.

To Jack:
That pretty secretary of yours will do anything for guy with an accent ;) why does it matter?

"Right Jack?" Alex asked.

"I'm sorry, what?" I missed out on part of the conversation.

"Are you sure you're okay? You look really out of it." He said.

"Yeah and your kind of pale." Hannah said.

"I'm suddenly not feeling too well." I said truthfully. I pushed my food away from me, I lost my appetite.

"Do you want to go home?" Alex asked.

"Yeah we won't mind cutting our date night short." Oli said.

"No no we can stay. I can just get a to-go box and give this to Izzy. She loves Benihanas." I said. "Now what were we talking about? Something about a barbecue?" I wanted to get the attention off of me.

"Yeah Oli wants me to go to Rian's so I can talk to Austin." Alex said slowly. He could tell something was up.

"I never said that!" Oli said defensively.

"You didn't have to. Why else would you want to cook there instead of at your own house?"

". . . Their pool is bigger than ours?" Oli tried.

"Shut up." Alex laughed.

"Seriously you should talk to Austin. We're worried he might do something reckless." Hannah told him.

"Why would me talking to him change the way he felt. It's Alan's fault." Alex said.

"He needs all of our support. Rian and I can only do so much. He needs you too." Oli said.

"You should go Alex. Regardless of what he's done he's still your friend and I know you would feel bad if anything bad were to happen to him." I said.

"...Fine I'll go and be nice." He gave in.

***

We were a few streets away from home by eleven. I had called Izzy to make sure she was back home and not breaking her new curfew. She told me she already home waiting on us. I texted Tyler next.

To Tyler:
It matters because I use this number for friends and family only. Not for business partners.

To Jack:
Then just think of me as a friend...

I didn’t respond back to that, it kind of creeped me out.

The radio was playing softly in the background and Alex turned it down during a commercial break.

"So do you want to tell me what’s really going on?" He asked. My palms started sweating I really didn't feel like doing this right now.

"What do you mean?" I asked, playing dumb.

"I mean you were feeling fine until you received that email. What happened?"

"It was nothing. Just me overreacting like I always do." I brushed it off.

"Overreacting to what?" Alex only asked so many questions like this when he thought/knew I was lying to him.

"Nothing important." I said a little defensively.

"If it's not important then why can't you tell me?" He pulled into the garage and we got out of the car. I didn’t say anything as we went into the house. I was trying to ignore his question but he called my name.

"Why do you need to know?" I questioned.

"Because you're trying to hide whatever it is."

"I'm not trying to hide anything." I said.

"Okay well I'll try asking again...What had you so distraught at dinner?"

"An email." I said back smartly. I knew I wasn’t helping the situation but it was making me angry that he wouldn’t drop the subject.

"Okay, I was just trying to be a good husband and find out what was bothering you but I guess that's over stepping my boundaries." He said raising his voice slightly.

"You're not over stepping anything I just don't know why you’re making this into a big deal." I told him.

"This would be over if you would just tell what's wrong. I would have no reason to be worried about anything." At this point telling might be easier than having this argument.

"What's going on?" Izzy asked before I could say anything.

"I don't know. Your father won't tell me." He said and I glared at him. Izzy stared at me waiting on me to explain.

"It's nothing Princess just go get ready for bed." I didn't want to drag her into our argument.

"So now not only are you lying to me but you're going to lie to our daughter too?" Alex said.

"Screw you." I snapped, purposely trying not to curse in front of Izzy. Tensions were already high she didn’t need a cursing match going on between us. "Not wanting to drag our daughter into this doesn't mean I'm lying to her. It means I simply don't want drag her into our argument." Izzy looked back and forth at us sadly.

"We are talking about this in the morning, Jack." He sighed. He walked away to go to our bedroom. He was probably more annoyed with me than angry because he was still going to sleep in our bed with me.

“Should I be worried?” Izzy mumbled.

"No of course not. Come her, Baby." I held my arms out to her and she walked over to hug me. "We were just having a small disagreement thanks to me." I whispered and kissed the top of her head. I took her to our bedroom so she could sleep in the middle of us tonight.

Notes

Don't worry it wasn't a serious fight!