Chapter 38

The alarm woke me up and I had to untangle myself from Jack to turn it off. I had just finished putting on my robe when the phone rang. Jack tried to bury himself beneath a pile of blankets and pillows while I answered it.

It was Mary, wondering if we were going to karate. I told her we were still on, that we'd just have to make sure to come straight home so we could get going to the playoffs. She hadn't decided if she was going to go early with us or finish some things she was in the middle of and catch a ride with her mom and Rudolfo.

Bozo was waiting for me when I came out of the bedroom. I squatted down and wrapped my arms around his neck. So soft and warm, his tail thumped as I hugged him, his breath warm on the side of my neck. As soon as I stood back up, he was all business and went over to the door to get out for his morning routine.

We have a lot of wimps here in Southern California who act like they're going to die any time the temperature drops below 65. I guess it was somewhere in the low 50s but instead of complaining, I felt invigorated. I stretched and breathed in the cool air. Not quite see-your-breath weather but not too far away from it, either.

Bozo came back inside, I put on the coffee and took my shower. I opened the bathroom door to clear out some of the steam and was drying my hair when Jack stumbled in.

"Good Morning."

"Mmmhh."

"Oh, come on, Jack. It's not that bad. It's gorgeous outside."

"Are you really going to karate? I figured the playoff game would be a good enough excuse for you to take this week off."

"It doesn't work that way. I made an agreement with Sensei that I would make it to class whenever I could. He's aware that there will be some playoff games that will prevent me from being there, but this isn't one of them. I've got plenty of time to go to karate before we have to leave for the game. Besides, I always feel more centered after I go and you know that can only help my game later today."

"Why don't you see if Mom can drive you. I want to go back to bed."

"Too bad. You promised me that you'd drive me before I signed up."

"I thought I said I'd make sure you got there. If I get Mom to take you, that's making sure."

"If you loved me, you'd take me to karate."

"Jill, that stuff might work on your father, but I'm not going to play that game with you."

"OK. Whatever you say. We need to leave in fifteen minutes."

"Yes, Dear."

The coffee was ready so I poured us both a cup and took Jack's in to him. He was already in the shower.

"Coffee's next to the sink, Babe."

"OK."

I checked out the fridge and went into the bedroom, hitting the speed dial button to the house. I heard it ringing over the speaker as I got into my gi.

"Hello."

"Hi, Mom. Do me a favor and ask Mary if she'd like some Eggos for breakfast."

There was some muffled yelling and she came back. "She says yes."

"OK. Tell her to be up here by quarter past so she can carry her own plate down to the car."

"All right. How was the big date?"

"The big date was wonderful."

"Did you keep my son up late?"

"Later than a school night. But we got some sleep, too."

"I'll bet he's giving you some grief about having to get up."

"Yeah, there was some of that. I just convinced him that he loves me and that took care of it."

"Well, good luck with that. Just don't count on that working all the time."

"I'm real good at convincing him I love him, too."

"That might work out better. I'll let you go for now. I have to get ready for Rudolfo to come over to take us to the playoff game."

"That's probably a couple of hours. Is there something going on between you two I don't know about? Is Rudolfo the one?"

"No way. He's planning on learning his trade and going back home. I'm not interested in moving to Spain."

"Oh, I don't know. You might like the sunny weather and the siestas every day after lunch."

"Yeah, right. I can just see me staying the required five steps behind my macho man and taking care of his housekeeping while he takes his siestas. No thank you."

"Really? I didn't get any of that macho stuff from him at the picnic."

"That's because he was just flirting with you. And you are just a cute little girl. He thinks there's a chance for something more with me and he's making sure I know who's the boss right from the start."

"See, Mom? You should have grabbed Daddy while you had the chance."

"Yeah, right. Don't you have something you need to do, Jill?"

"Yes, Mom. Love you."

I pushed the speaker button just as Jack walked in the room.

"Was that Mom? What did she want?"

"Nothing. I called down there to see if Mary wanted Eggos."

"Ha! That's like asking if Bozo wants prime rib. Mary could down a dozen of those things at one sitting."

"I better put some in the toaster for us before she gets here."

"Good idea."

I went into the kitchen and put four of the frozen waffles in. "Are you ready for some more coffee, Jack?"

"I'll be there in a minute."

Be here in a minute? What was that supposed to mean? I looked at my almost empty cup and the coffee pot that had at most one cup of coffee left. I poured half of it into my cup, just as Jack came into the kitchen holding his cup out in front of him. I emptied the pot in his cup. He looked at his half empty cup and then mine but didn't say anything.

The toaster popped and I got a couple of plates and handed them to Jack.

"Do me a favor and do the butter and syrup while I put some in for Mary." I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss.

I went back to the freezer and pulled out the Eggo box. There were only four waffles left.

"Will she eat four of them if I make them?"

"Hell, yes. She'll eat them and then come sniffing around to make sure we didn't leave any."

I put the last four waffles in the toaster and was putting the box in the waste basket under the sink when Mary came in.

"I just put in four waffles for you, Mary. Get yourself a plate. The butter and syrup are on the table."

"Oh, good. I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

Jack grinned at her. "Another busy night under the covers, huh Sis?"

She glared back at him. "Noo. Pervert!"

I was going to come down on Jack for teasing her when I noticed he was rinsing off his plate in the sink.

"Damn, Jack. Whad you do? Suck them off the plate?"

"Hey, there were only two of them. I'm not going to try driving to the mall while trying to eat a plate of waffles covered in syrup one handed. Especially not with two women sitting on the front seat next to me"

Mary pushed him out of the way and put her plate under the tap. "Are you going to finish that, Jill?"

I looked at the half a waffle on my plate, Mary's empty plate and the I-told-you-so smile on Jack's face. "No, I guess not." I passed the plate over to Mary.

Once we were on our way to the mall, it way pretty obvious that Mary was having a hard time sitting still. I leaned into Jack.

"Boy, Jack, your sister sure seems excited."

"Yeah, I've heard some people get that way about karate."

"Oh, I think it may be something more exciting than that."

"What could be more exciting than karate?"

"How about volleyball playoffs?"

Mary interrupted. "Come on, guys. It's Charley."

Jack and I looked at each other, puzzled expressions on our faces. Jack finally spoke.

"Charley? What about Charley?"

Mary said, "We're going down to pick him up after the volleyball game."

Jack looked at me. "Didn't you tell her?"

Mary said, "Tell me what?"

"Jill and I made a deal. If I take her to karate and the volleyball game, she said I could take a nap when we got back to make up for not being able to sleep in."

I said, "Sorry, Mary. I wasn't thinking about Charley. But a deal's a deal. Maybe we can go down there next weekend. What do you think about next weekend, Jack?"

"Next weekend's fine with me. Just as long as I don't have to get up early and take you guys to karate again."

"Jack, we already went through that. You need to drive every weekend."

"Well, then, I don't see how we can..."

Mary let loose with something between a screech and a sob, pounding the dashboard with both fists. "It's not fair. You told me we'd get Charlie after the game. You said a deal's a deal, Jill." She leaned her arms against the passenger window and buried her face in them, sobbing.

Jack opened his mouth to say something. I put my hand up to it.

I leaned over to Mary and practically had to yank her to get her away from the window. She buried her face in my chest, still sobbing. I just held on, saying "Ssshhh, ssshhh," trying to settle her down.