Chapter 12

I was inside checking the fridge when Melissa made the call so I didn’t hear the conversation but I heard the yelling when it started. I came outside once I realized what was happening and just caught the very end of it. Lavi and Syliva were sitting around in uncomfortable silence by that point. Melissa was crying, her phone screen still lit up but the call over.

“Baby,” I reached out for her but she held up a stiff arm to stop me.

“No ... not right now. I need a few minutes.” She headed towards the shed and started the ritual of cleaning the pool. I watched her walk away.

Lavi reached for my hand and held it. “Give her a bit. That was hard. Her mom is impossible but does really love her.”

I went back inside to start mise en place but then realized that was overkill, starting with four hours to go. I pulled out my phone and wondered if the number was still good. I called and it was picked up on the second ring.

“Hey, it’s Robert Carlo. Do you have a minute? I have a huge favor to ask.”

Ten minutes later I went outside with a tray of crackers, cheese, preserves, and sliced sausages. I was greeted by Sylvia saying to Lavi, “It’s not funny!”

Lavi was giggling, she looked at me and said, “My dad asked if it was okay to bring popcorn to dinner, to watch during the show.”

“I wouldn’t laugh if I were you, you still have to explain” she gestured towards me, “this thing to your dad.”

Lavi looked ready to make a comment but choked it down. Sylvia was obviously still on edge. “Oh, and he’s leaving work early. He should be here in a bit.” That managed to damper Lavi’s enthusiasm.

But, right then I was too busy watching Melissa. She was finishing the pool and looking over at the bees. She put up the last of the equipment and I watched as she walked towards the hives. She didn’t get close but a few were buzzing past her. Since she had started cleaning my pool she had grown fond of the bees and was delighted when they flew around her. She enjoyed watching them. I came up behind her and put my arms around her. She pressed back against me.

I didn’t ask or say anything but she offered, “She’s bringing my step-dad too.”

“How is she.”

“Nuclear. She wanted to come over now. I told her I’d call the cops if she tried to force her way in.”

“Sounds rough.”

“She called me a whore and said I could stay here and she’d just throw my stuff on the lawn.”

“We don’t have to do this.”

“It’s already happening. You may get me moving in though.”

“I’m ready.” She started crying again. “Baby, I have to ask you something.”

She sniffled but responded. “Uh-huh?”

“I have to know something. Is your leaving me, at all, a chance? I mean truly, leaving me, not tonight, not to live at home but us not being together?”

“No.” She said it without hesitation. It was so simple for her.

“Then we can do this.”

“I don’t know how. She’s spent her whole adult life raising Tommy and me. She’s given up a lot for us.”

“And she makes sure you’re reminded of it.” It wasn’t a question, I’d heard it enough. Everything had to be perfect to make Melissa perfect so that her life wasn’t like her mom’s. “Sorry babe, that has limits. You owe your parents something, but not your whole life.”

She just rubbed held my arms against her in response.

“Let me ask you something; when Tommy came out, how did she respond?”

“Not like this.”

“Not angry?”

“No, more like she was disappointed. She never said she didn’t love him but it seemed as if every time she looked at him she was looking at something broken that couldn’t be fixed.”

“Well, I’ll handle her, but I won’t speak for you. But, when she gets nasty you can just walk out. I’ll call her on it.”

“That’s not fair. I know you don’t like conflict.”

I nuzzled her hair. “My honey bee?”

“Yes?”

“You’re going to find out what an asshole I can be when I need to.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You just have to promise me one thing.”

“Yes, I’ll be here.”

“OK, two things, then. That and ... if my mom is a complete bitch when you’re introduced, you handle her.”

Melissa laughed gently, a strange sound since she was still sniffling.

“You don’t deal with your own mom well, huh?”

“None of us do. That’s why we have each other. Oh, and sometimes other reinforcements.”

I filled her in on the call. She wasn’t thrilled with it but was thankful. Afterward, she was still having trouble pulling herself together. I asked, “Don’t take this the wrong way but have you ever taken Xanax?”

“Yeah. Because I was sick so long I’ve had prescriptions for dealing with panic attacks about being around anyone sick.”

“Do you want one?”

“Please.”

“I’ll bring it to you.”

“No, let me come inside with you.”

“OK.”

We walked past Lavi and her mom. Melissa stopped, “Lavi, come up in a few minutes? I know Robert has to host but I could use someone to lay down with.”

“Of course.” She stood up and kissed Melissa and me.

Melissa and I held hands and went upstairs. I closed the bedroom door and got Melissa one of the little white pills.

“How long has it been since you’ve taken Xanax?”

“A while. One refill usually lasts me a year or more. I’m already worn out, I’ll probably crash out quickly.”

“That’s fine, I’ll wake you.”

She pushed her shorts down past her knees and stepped out of them, then seemed to realize she still had her sneakers and socks on so she took those off. In just a second she leaned over and pulled her panties down. Sitting on the bed she threw the shirt and bra to the side. Every action was mechanical and lacked animation. She lay down on the bed in a partial fetal position.

“Get naked,” she said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

I did so. Shortly I was lying down with her and holding her. We kissed gingerly like we had never done it before and it occurred to me we never had kissed quite like that before, for comfort. She got me hard with her hand. Even with all my emotions, just being there with her made it easy. She lay back, pulling me on top of her. We made simple love for what felt like forever, no dirty talk, no passion, just affection. I came as she smiled at me and said: “fill me.”

“Did you cum,” I asked?

“No. But I don’t want to. I got what I wanted. Hold me.”

I laid down and took her in my arms. That was when Lavi came in. Melissa gestured for her. Lavi started to get on the bed, still dressed, but Melissa said: “no, get naked.”

She did, and soon I was sandwiched between them. Melissa had been right, it was warm being in the middle. Melissa reached across to Lavi and took her hand, pulling it down to her cunny. “Robert came in me. Get some.”

Lavi did and, pulling some of Melissa’s and my juices out on her fingers, licked them clean. They each put a head on my shoulder and we lay together. Melissa babbled as she went unconscious. The last thing I understood was her murmuring, “my two beloveds.”

After she fell asleep Lavi and I looked at each other. I pushed her hair out of her eyes. She looked up at me at that moment. “Are you ready for this?” I asked.

“Absolutely. You?”

“Yeah, I think so.” And oddly I realized it was mostly true.

“Robert?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m really starting to look forward to the day we make love.”

“Me too.”

We kissed for a few minutes, she pressed against me and I woke up down there quickly again, which prompted her to throw me out of my own bedroom.

“You, get up and go. You have to cook and I do not want my mom present for me losing my virginity.”

“She’s not, she’s downstairs.” I grinned. I swear at that moment Lavi gave the exact same ‘I am not amused’ look her mom gave me earlier. It made me chuckle.

“What?” She asked.

“I’ll tell you later. I have to cook.”

I scooted out and got dressed, seeing her take my spot and cuddle Melissa to her breasts. Downstairs I found Sylvia going through my wine cooler looking at labels.

“I don’t think any of it is kosher,” I offered.

“We’re not big on that. We don’t eat pork but we’re not strict. Besides I’m pretty sure there are exceptions for this situation.”

“Isn’t there a rule about asking?”

She turned to look at me. “I’m also pretty sure there is a rule saying that you can freely drink the wine of any man boinking your daughter.”

I was going to make a different comment about biblical rules when I stopped. “Did you just say boinking?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve never heard anyone say boinking before.”

“It’s a word more people should use. Don’t give me shit.” I swear as she turned back to the wine there was a slight grin this time.

“Here we go, a nice rosé to go with the preserves.” She left with a corkscrew in one hand and a bottle in the other. Well, I was back into almost friendly territory with Sylvia. I might just survive this.

“That’ll be Peter,” Syliva said over her shoulder when the doorbell rang as she completed her journey towards the back patio. Deep breath. I could handle this. I went to get it and a man stood there in a corporate American khaki and polo shirt uniform. I could definitely see Lavi in his face. He was tanned and shorter than I, maybe 5’8” or so. His nose was sharp and hair dark brown and very curly. He extended his hand and smiled.

I took the hand and shook it. “Hi, I’m Peter, Syliva’s husband.” His voice was lightly accented but more American than I had expected. “I didn’t know if you drank beer so I grabbed a couple of things on the way.” He held in his other hand a couple of growlers by their loops from a local growler chain that had good microbrewery stuff.

“Um ... let me help you”, I reached out and took one of them. “I hope you’re this happy to meet me after you chat with Lavi.”

I had expected him to scowl at that but instead, he smiled. “It’s all right.” He gave me an actual wink. “Syliva wants her to be on the hot seat for hiding stuff but I got the low down on the phone earlier. Never ambush your significant other and all that.”

“And you’re ... fine?”

“I guess so.” He shrugged. “My blood pressure kind of went up for a bit but I started to think about it and it’s not really my choice is it? This wasn’t something I imagined for her but that’s my problem, not yours. Look, Robert, it’s Robert, right?”

“Yeah.” I motioned him in and we headed towards the kitchen.

“You know what’s harder than raising a kid? Letting them go. It’s way easier on our nerves to guard them then let them make choices and learn from them. But I’ve been preparing myself for this for a long time and I figure you and Mellie are way better than her getting interested in some chucklefuck who ... you know, nevermind, let’s not go there.”

“That’s very kind of you. I wish Sylvia felt like you do.” I found space in the fridge for the growlers and put out a few pint glasses in the freezer for those who wanted them.

“She does.” He patted me on the shoulder. “Let me tell you something about Sylvia, and you might as well learn it if we’re in the long haul on this, she gets mad fast and she gets over it fast. She’ll be fine. Once it really sinks into her that Lavi is happy and healthy it’ll all be good.”

“I’ve kind of gotten that feeling. Glad to know I wasn’t imagining it.”

“She’s just freaked out by it being you. Mellie was weird enough. You know she told me years and years ago that she felt like you were the big brother she never had.”

“Uh ... no, I didn’t even know she thought anything of me until she showed me the book dedication.”

“Yeah, so you were this guy who was a memory frozen in time and then you’re sleeping with her daughter. Then the other daughter.

“Actually we haven’t...”

He went behind me and grabbed a pint glass and the growler he had kept hold of. Pouring began. “Save it. If it wasn’t my daughter and Mellie I’d want to know the details but I do want my daughter to be happy as a woman. I know she and Mellie will look out for each other, so as long as you can be happy too...” he held up his glass “l’chaim!”

“I’d like that. And thank you for sparing me the ritual disembowelment threats.”

“Ah, it’s fine, it’s fine. Besides, if you ever really piss her off my daughter is way scarier than I am!” We both smiled at that. “My wife?”

I pointed him in the right direction and cringed when the doorbell rang again. It was Grand Central Station here today! Fortunately, it was just the fish being delivered.

I came out and sat with Peter and Sylvia. Surprisingly, I found them pleasant to chat with. Sylvia had relaxed and had her hand on Peter’s knee and was enjoying the wine.

“So, Rob...” he started “where are the girls?”

“Napping.” I sat and started on a pint of a lager Peter had brought. I wasn’t much of a beer drinker but it was really good.

“Melissa needed the rest and Lavi is keeping her company.”

“They’ve always been like that,” Peter offered.

“Melissa made it sound like they met and that was it, boom, BFFs. Was it like that?”

“Pretty much,” Sylvia replied. “We moved here. In Tel-Aviv Lavi had a lot of friends but here she was kind of lost. Her English was good but here she didn’t quite fit in. She drew into herself. I was really worried until she met Mellie. The first few days she seemed a bit brighter and by two weeks after school started, she was her old self.”

“The difference,” added Peter, “was that the cadre had become one.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Before we moved Lavi always had a circle of friends. We kind of worried she was a bit of a gang leader, she certainly had the personality but they were always ... well, mostly, well behaved.”

“There were a few times...”. Sylvia interjected.

“Yeah, yeah, but not like hurting people kind of bad, just normal kid mischief. But she was definitely the ringleader.” Sylvia nodded in agreement so he went on “With Mellie ... it was just them. They had other friends of course but they came and went like comets being caught and flying out of orbit. Those two orbited each other. And it was mutual, there wasn’t any of one pushing the other.”

“Fighting?” I asked.

“Plenty of little squabbles.”

“Only a few bad ones.”

“Remember, Shelley Bergum?” Asked Peter.

“Oh my lord, how could I forget!”

My question must have shown on my face. “Shelley Bergum was this girl in 10th grade. Blonde, cheerleader on the team with them. Became thick as thieves with Lavi,” offered Peter.

Sylvia interrupted. “And I didn’t think about it then but now I wonder if it was because she looked a lot like Melissa.”

“You think so?”

“A lot of the same features: blonde, blue-eyed, built. Different in every other way. I think that’s when Lavi was ... figuring things out.”

Peter nodded. “Yeah, and she and Melissa didn’t like each other. So there was this huge fight, Melissa slammed the door and left, waited outside for her mom to pick her up.”

“Next day, sullen and still pissed, Melissa shows up, goes to Lavi’s room,” says Sylvia. “I’m expecting screaming, which never happened. Three hours later, still pissed Melissa goes home. Lavi, still mad as hell, comes to dinner.”

“I’ll never forget that,” said Peter chuckling.

“I ask Lavi if they worked through their problems. Lavi just says ‘no’. I asked her what they did in her room. She just said ‘we always do our homework together’ and looked at me like I had just asked the stupidest damn question on Earth.”

Maybe half an hour passed as we chatted amicably before the girls came down looking grim. Lavi asked to talk to her dad in the house. Melissa insisted on going too. Sylvia grinned at me.

“You are evil,” I said.

She shrugged and sipped her wine. “You remember that.”

It wasn’t long before they returned, both looking relieved. Melissa and Lavi pulled up chairs next to mine. I put my arm around Melissa’s back and Lavi settled on the other side, her arm now sitting on top of mine. The symbolism wasn’t lost on me.

I leaned over to Melissa. “How are you doing?”

She smiled at me and I flashed back to the day I first met her and first saw her smile. “I can do this. I just don’t know how.”

“We kill them with kindness,” I said.

“Yeah,” Lavi said, “you’re eighteen, you have a place to live, you’re fine.”

“I don’t want to move out like this.”

“No, but are we worth it?” Lavi asked.

“Yes.”

“So, we treat it like everything is normal. We don’t fight them on their own ground, we make them move to ours.” I added.

“Sounds like Sun-Tzu.” Said Peter.

I was thinking more like Machiavelli.” I replied. He smiled.

“Is there anything you need us to do?” Peter asked

“Maybe some music?”

“Something upbeat,” suggested Lavi.

“How about Latin? Something we can dance to,” added Sylvia.

“Upbeat?” Asked Melissa.

“Yeah,” said Lavi, “Mellie, this is a celebration of the three of us. I hope your mom can join us for it but if she refuses, frankly, FUCK HER.” She put the emphasis on the words.

I could see a flash, lightning-fast, of anger cross Melissa’s face but it passed and she smiled at Lavi. “You’re right. Let’s do this. Mr. Heller, I’ll show you where the pairing buttons are at.”

“I think we need more wine.” I went up to get a couple of bottles. I came back to an infectious beat and what I later learned was Tito Puentes. Peter, Syliva, Lavi, and Melissa were all dancing. Melissa looked not just content but for a moment happy. She reached out to me. “I don’t really know how to dance.”

“You don’t have to. Just move.”

So, I did. I probably looked like a damn fool but she danced, by herself, with me, with Lavi, just danced. Lavi jokingly rubbed up against me a few times making her mom slightly uncomfortable, which I think was the goal. We snacked on crackers, we drank wine. It was now almost five and I had to really start cooking in earnest, though. For the last few hours I’d done a very disjointed mise en place as I’d been through the kitchen off and on, so I was ready.

Melissa’s phone pinged. “That was my step-dad. They’re on their way. So, like two minutes.”

I could feel the fun evaporating as Peter raised his hand. “Robert, do you have any popcorn?” Sylvia slapped his arm and glared at him. He seemed to think it was totally worth it.

Sylvia approached Melissa, “Seriously, Mellie, you have us behind you too. This ‘you and Lavi and him’ thing took us by surprise but we’re on your side.”

“And Robert’s?” Melissa asked.

“Oh, I suppose.” But, she said it smiling.

“OK, I’ve never cooked for this many. I’ll get the door when they’re here but Lavi, Melissa, I need to boil some potatoes and others chopped raw. We’ll need the whole bag that’s on the counter done, half and half.”

“On it,” they said together.

They headed to the kitchen and I detoured as the doorbell rang. I walked to the front but froze at the door for a moment. Melissa was part right. I didn’t avoid conflict, I avoided people and all their complications. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to fight. So, I opened it to face ... some guy. I glanced around, no maternal figure standing around him. He was my height, at least within an inch. He had cropped hair as if he was in the military but he looked too soft and didn’t have the posture for it. He had khakis and a button-up blue shirt along with a slightly blank expression.

“Can I help you?”

“You’re Robert Carlo, right? I see Lavi’s car so I’m in the right place?”

“I am.” He started to reach out and shake my hand and then pulled it back quickly. “I’m Rian Argyle. I’m here to pick up my stepdaughter Melissa.”

“That doesn’t seem likely.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Melissa, Lavi and I are hosting dinner for their families. I doubt she will want to leave until at least after dinner. I think after that it depends on what her mother says.”

“If she doesn’t come home now I doubt she’ll have a home. I’ve never seen Linda this mad.”

“Your premise is faulty.”

“What?” He seemed really frustrated that I just didn’t grasp something.

“She has a home, here, whenever she chooses to stay here.”

“Look, this is ridiculous...”

“Yes, it is. I have to cook. You want to talk to her, come in.”

I shut the door once he was inside and then headed to the kitchen. Melissa, bless her soul, was showing Lavi how to peel the potatoes. She looked up and said, “Hi Rian.”

Lavi, “are you making latkes with this?” She was peeling potatoes.

“Yep,” I said.

“I figured, why else have the matzo crumbs. I love latkes.”

“I know, that’s why I got the stuff.”

“How did you know?”

“I asked your mom a few days ago.”

“Awesome!” She kissed me on the lips quickly and I returned it. Then, as if to make something clear to Rian, she did the same for Melissa. I was seasoning pans but looked at Rian out of the corner of my eye. He looked unsure of what to do.

“Now, Melissa, you’re coming with me,” he finally said.

“Why?”

“Why? It’s time to go home.”

“No, it’s not, dinner isn’t even ready yet much less eaten. By the way, are you staying, where is Mom? Robert, the fish is being kept cool but I need to know how many pieces to get out.”

“Yeah, is she coming separately? Are you staying? I really need to know how much of the fish to fix.”

Poor Rian. For a moment I think he just didn’t know how to process this. From what Melissa had told me he was more used to anger than anything else but it had to be made clear they had no power here.

“She’s going to be mad as hell!”

I looked at him. “That’s not my problem. Now, Melissa, do you want to continue to talk about this?”

“No, I’m prepping.”

“Okay, there you have it. Tell your wife to come and join us for dinner. Or you join us. Or neither of you. I’ll put enough on to include you both if you want to.”

“Uh. Can I, like, step in the other room to call her?”

“Sure. But let her know one thing.”

“What?”

“Our home, our hospitality. She will be civil or I will remove her.”

“Um, yeah.”

“You tell her.” It wasn’t a request on my part.

He seemed to think about it. “Sure, but I’m quoting you.”

“Feel free to replace ‘remove her’ with ‘kick her out on her ass.’”

“I ... don’t think I can do that.”

“But I’m perfectly game. She’s already been nasty to one woman I love today so she’s already exhausted my goodwill.”

“Uh, okay. I’m just going to call from the other room.”

“Sounds good. Want something to drink? Wine, beer?”

“You have an IPA?”

“Peter brought a good one over, growlers are in the fridge, cold glasses in the freezer.”

Rian seemed pleased and made a glass before heading to the other room. As he left Lavi ran her hands up my back. “I normally don’t find guys really hot but that got my panties damp.”