“Tony’s here!”

Bonita Sinatra hurried to the front door.  Her brother Donnie was in the living room laying on the sofa playing a video game on his phone, and her adopted sister Ashley was sitting in a chair texting a friend.  It was family dinner night.  Bonita opened the front door just as Anthony Sinatra was about to turn the knob.

“Hey, Tony!” she said happily and reached up to him.

“There’s the star,” Tony said with a smile on his handsome face and lifted his kid sister up into his arms.  “How are you, kid?”

“I made all A’s,” Bonita said.

“You got your report card today?”

“Yep.”

“That’s great Neet,” he said as he closed the front door.

“Well not all A’s, but all A’s in the classes that count.  I got a C in Gym.”

Tony laughed.  “Yup, that’s a Sinatra for you.  The hard stuff easy.  The easy stuff, like life, hard as hell.”

“Where’s Miss Sharon?” Bonita asked him.

“This is a family dinner, remember,” he said.  “Not a friends and family dinner.  Miss Sharon and I stick to the rules.  Where’s Mom and Dad?”

“Upstairs,” Bonita replied.  “It always takes them forever to get ready for anything.  Especially Dad.  He’s the real diva in this household.”

Tony laughed, and headed toward the sofa with his sister.  When he saw Donnie and Ashley, he shook his head.  “The two stooges,” he said.  “I should have known.”

He sat Bonita back on her feet and sat down on what remained of the sofa.  He looked at his two younger siblings.  “Is this all you’ve got to do?”

Neither responded.  Neither looked away from their phones.

“Donnie?  Ashley?”

“What?” Donnie asked.  He refused to divert his eyes from his game.

“Don’t you have better things to do than play some stupid game?”

“No,” Donnie responded.

Then Tony looked at his sister.  “Don’t you have better things to do than to bury your head in that phone?”

Ashley looked at him.  “Like what is your problem, Tony?  Don’t you have better things to do than to disturb your fellow man?”

Donnie laughed.  “Tell him, Ash,” he said.

But Tony wasn’t even smiling anymore.  He was staring at his sister.  “Neet, why don’t you go in the game room and set up the chess board.  I’ll play you one before dinner.”

Bonita lit up with excitement.  “Really, Tony?”  She hugged him. “That’s why you’re my most favorite brother in the world!”  And she ran to the game room.

But Tony was still staring at Ashley, who continued to read her texts.  “Don’t you have better things to do than to let Jesse Colbert beat on you?” he asked her.

Donnie stopped playing his game, and looked at Ashley, too.  It had been a question on his mind as well, but didn’t know how to broach it. 

But Ashley wasn’t interested in giving details.  She ran her hand through her hair, reminding her brothers of just how beautiful she was.  “Who in the world told you something like that?”

“Come on, Ash,” Tony said.  “This is Jericho, remember?  Jericho, Maine?  You can’t keep so much as a fart secret around here.”

Donnie laughed.  “I know that’s right,” he said.  Even Ashley grinned.

“But tell us the story, Ash,” Donnie said.  “I heard Dad had to kick his ass.  And I heard Jess got arrested to boot!”

“Only for a couple hours,” Ashley said.  “They let him out on bail.  And he didn’t beat me up, so whoever told y’all that lie didn’t know what they were talking about.  I wasn’t going to stand for some man just wailing on me.  Please.”

“Then what did he do?” Tony asked.  “Dad doesn’t make it a habit of going around beating up people for no reason.”

“He slapped me,” Ashley admitted, “and Dad saw him.”

Donnie couldn’t believe it.  “You mean to tell me that fool slapped you in front of Dad?”

“As Daddy was leaving,” Ashley said, “but yeah.  And fool is right.  You know he had the nerve to call me and ask me to bail him out?”

Donnie laughed.  “What?  What did you tell him?”

“I told him to take a fucking hike, what do you think?”

“What did he say?” Donnie asked.

“He told me he’ll remember that.  Like that’s supposed to scare me.  I told him to please remember it, and hung up the gotdamn phone.”

“Doesn’t sound like love to me,” Donnie said.

“Love?” Ashley said.  “Who said anything about love?  I’m Tina Turner.  What’s love got to do with it?”

“Everything, my dear,” Tony said with a smile.  “EVERYTHING.”

But then Jenay came down the stairs, looking gorgeous in a pair of black slacks and a chiffon blouse, Tony thought, and everything about their conversation changed.  They’d heard about what happened at the Big House, but they also knew their father had already told them that they both were okay, and that he didn’t want them peppering Jenay with questions about it.  But they knew Tony and now Robert, since being elevated to mayor, would bring it up at dinner. They would get their answers then.

“Hey, Jenay-Nay,” Tony said with a smile.  “Don’t you look scrumptious.”

“Lusting after our stepmother, are we?” Donnie asked with a grin.

“When did you get here?” Jenay asked Tony.

“Like a few minutes ago,” Tony said.  “Where’s Dad?”

“Still upstairs.”  Jenay hit Donnie’s leg. “Boy, if you don’t get your feet off my couch!”

Donnie quickly sat up and removed his feet from off of the sofa.  “I was just taking a break.”

“That’s all you do at work,” Jenay said as she headed for the kitchen.  “You should be tired of breaks at home too.”

They all laughed.

“Very funny, Ma,” Donnie responded.  “Very funny.”

“I’ll check on dinner,” Jenay said as she walked.  “Tone, you want anything to drink?”

“No, I’m good.  Thanks.” Then he began heading toward the game room.  “I promised Nita a quick chess game before dinner.”

“That girl and chess,” Jenay said as she shook her head.  “She watched this movie called the Queen of Katwe and now fancies herself a grand master someday.  Is she that good?”

“No,” Tony said bluntly.  “But it never hurts to dream.”

Jenay smiled, and went on into the kitchen.

 

Several minutes later, Brent and Makayla arrived, along with Junior.  Brent went with Junior to the game room, to say hey to his kid sister, while Makayla spoke with Ashley and Donald.

By the time Brent made it back into the main room, Jenay was entering too.  “You two upstairs,” she said.  “Dad wants to see you both.”

Brent and Makayla glanced at each other.  They really would rather keep their private life private.  But they knew Charles was not the man to stand up.  If he wanted them upstairs, they both knew they had to get upstairs.  They began heading in that direction.

Jenay began looking around.  “Where’s Junior?” she asked Donnie and Ashley, whose eyes were back focused on their phones.

“In the game room,” Ashley said.  “Brent didn’t give us a chance to see him either.”

“Is there trouble in paradise, Ma?” Donnie asked, although he didn’t break away from his video game.

“Is that your business, Donald?” Jenay asked as she began heading for the game room.

“Everybody has an opinion when it comes to my business,” Ashley said.  “What makes Brent and Makayla’s business off limits?  Oh, I forgot,” Ashley added, as Jenay, refusing to entertain her nonsense, continued walking, “Brent is Dad’s golden child.”

“No, Carly is Dad’s golden child,” Donnie corrected her.  “Brent is his silver child.”

And he and Ashley laughed.

 

Upstairs, Charles had on his boxers and was just putting on his t-shirt when Brent and Makayla entered his bedroom.

“Wanted to see us, Dad?” Makayla asked as they entered.

“Yes,” he said.  “Have a seat.”

Although Makayla walked over and sat on a bed filled with the various clothing items Charles and Jenay had earlier discarded, Brent leaned against the dresser and folded his arms and crossed his ankles.  Charles could tell he didn’t want to discuss it, but that was too bad.

“Where are we in the negotiations?” he asked them as he began putting on his dress shirt.

Makayla smiled.  “I didn’t know there were any,” she said.

“Every compromise is a negotiation,” Charles said.  “I’m talking about compromising.”  Then he looked from one to the other, surprised.  “Have you guys even discussed it?” he asked them.

Makayla glanced over at Brent.  Then she looked at her father-in-law.  “No, sir,” she said.  “He won’t.”

Charles frowned.  “What do you mean he won’t?” he asked.

“He won’t discuss it.  I told him I’ve agreed to work for Johnson Dash and I’m leaving next week.  I told him we’ve got to make some decisions.  But he won’t go there.”

Charles looked at Brent.  “This has to be dealt with, Brenton,” he said.  “You can’t sweep this under a rug.  You have a son who need both of his parents.”

“I know I have a son, Dad,” Brent said.  “And I know he needs his stepmother too.  That’s why this is crazy.  Why does she have to go all the way to California to begin with?”

“I’m not going to California,” Makayla said.

Brent and Charles both looked at her.

“I told you if you wanted me to stay closer to home, I could.  But you didn’t want to hear that either.  But after that scene at the house, I called Johnson Dash, and he agreed that I could work out of his Boston office.  Which is just a couple hours away.  It won’t be easy, but I’ll be willing to commute, Brent.”

Charles was proud of Makayla.  She took that bull by the horns and came up with the solution he already thought was probably going to be their best compromise.  But he also knew his son.  And when he looked at Brent, he could still see that deep-seated hurt in his eyes.  And instead of dealing with it, he did what Brent does: he left the room.

Now it was Makayla’s time to be offended.  “You see what I have to deal with, Dad?  He won’t even communicate with me!  Why won’t he even talk about it?”

“Because he feels it’s an affront to him that you would even consider leaving Jericho,” Charles explained to her.  “Brent is a different kind of dude, Makayla.  He believes you have a plan, you stick to the plan, and life is good.  I told him people change their minds.  I told him you can’t expect your wife to remain static and content in the same spot.  But Brent thought this talk of you wanting more and this need to be in the spotlight was over when you guys agreed to work it out.  He doesn’t understand why it should be an issue again.”

“But it is an issue,” she said to Charles.  “When I resigned as District Attorney, I thought I would enjoy working for you.  And I do.  And I’ll continue to, even in my new position.  But it’s not enough.  I’m not stretching myself at all.  I thought Brent of all people would understand that.”

“All Brent understands is family, Makayla.  Family and duty.  He thought you would understand that too.”

Makayla exhaled.  Tears appeared in her eyes.  “What am I supposed to do, Dad?  Give up my dreams?  I didn’t expect to be invited to join Johnson’s law firm.  But it’s happened.  And I realized, when he asked, how much I still wanted it.”

Charles’s heart went out to her.  And he went to her and pulled her into his arms.  She was a good woman, and the perfect mate for Brent.  “I know how you feel, sweetheart,” he said.  Then he stopped embracing her and pulled her back, and looked into her tear-stained eyes.  He held his hands on her arms.  “I know this is difficult for you.  But you didn’t marry a man of the world, Kayla.  You married Brent.  And you’ve either got to get him to see your point, and live your dream.  Or leave him alone altogether if that dream means that much to you.”

“But I love him,” Makayla said.

“Which do you love more?” Charles asked.  “I’m sorry that it comes down to that.  But it does.”

The tears came harder, and Makayla fell, once again, into Charles’s arms.