3
KEELY
Whoooooooa, we’re halfway theeeere…
“We better not be,” I grumbled at Bon Jovi on the radio. We had better be a whole hell of a lot closer than ‘halfway’ after fifteen hours of driving.
I’d done the drive by myself, straight through, and was starting to question the wisdom of that choice as the street signs blurred before me and my eyelids grew heavier.
Whoooo-oooa, livin’ on a prayer…
“Got that right, buddy,” I yawned, putting the driver side window down, letting the cool evening breeze ruffle through my hair, keeping me awake.
It wasn’t long before I started to see the signs for Livermore that told me I was home.
Finally.
When I’d left for college, fifteen hours didn’t seem far enough, but after three accelerated years of being so far away from my family and missing them like crazy, I was happy to finally be coming home. Happy to finally be back in familiar territory. It wasn’t much, but it was mine.
I was driving mostly on autopilot back to my parents’ place, eyes drifting closed, head lolling, but I only had another fifteen minutes tops. I could make it the rest of the way.
And then I was pulling in their driveway, eyeing the space that looked like an out-of-place dealership lot with all the cars everywhere. I groaned. Why couldn’t I have gotten the keys to my place before I got into town? Why did I think it would be fine to spend the night with my parents for one night? Why didn’t I realize they’d make a big deal out of it?
I should have. That much was obvious. But it was too late. I couldn’t just turn around and go get a hotel room because I’d already been spotted. Mom must have been peeking through the blinds at every sweep of headlights across the front of the house, but finally it paid off for her and she came running down the porch steps, arms thrown wide for me.
“Keely! My baby girl! You’re home,” she cried, wrapping me in a big hug before I was even all the way out of the car. I sighed, hugging her back.
“Hi Mom.”
“You look so skinny!” she said, taking a step back to tut at me, shaking her head. “Nope, this won’t do. Inside you go, straight to the dinner table.”
I sighed. “Mom, I’m actually really tired and I just want to—”
“Nonsense! Everyone’s here to see you. Don’t keep them waiting, honey. Go on,” she said, taking the keys right from out of my hand. I hear the trunk pop as I trudge up the front steps groaning. I might have been a college graduate by now, but I was still the baby of the family and probably always would be. At least until Kingston had a kid, but I didn’t see that happening any time soon. Not with the way he was.
With my hand on the doorknob, I took a deep bracing breath, and turned.
Luckily, no one was in the entryway waiting for me, but I could hear the voices in the dining room, loud and boisterous, and figured from the ruckus that the whole clan must’ve been there.
The door opened behind me and Mom came in, hefting my suitcase with her. “What are you doing just standing here, Keels? Go say hello! We’ve all been waiting.”
I sighed again, wishing there was some kind of escape, but there was no getting around it. I needed to bite the bullet and say hello to my family. Hopefully they’d realize how tired I was and show some mercy on me.
I plastered on a big smile and walked into the dining room.
“Hey!” everyone cheered in unison, jumping to their feet, giving me hug after hug.
Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and then finally my parents joined in, each giving me a hug too.
Last but not least, Kingston came up to me, a lop-sided grin plastered on his face, and he pulled me into his chest, smothering me. “Missed you fartface,” he said, ruffling my hair.
“You too, stinkbreath,” I said, squeezing him back.
“Come give them something to talk about other than my season,” he groaned, looking plaintive.
I grinned, taking my seat at the table. “So you all ready to kick some Titan ass in the big game?” I asked him, loud enough for the whole family to jump in with their opinions. Kingston shot me a death glare and I just grinned to myself as Mom served everyone lasagna — my favorite.
It wasn’t too bad to not be in bed right away, I guessed. I had been hungry — and Mom’s lasagna was one of the things I missed most while away at college — and I had missed my family, as crazy as they were.
“Keely, your mom tells me that you’re back in town to look for a teaching position?” Uncle Ernie asked. I nodded, breaking off a piece of garlic bread and shoving it in my mouth.
After I swallowed, I added, “I’m open to subbing for a while if need be. I know the demand for positions is higher than for the people to fill them.”
“Such an honorable profession, teaching,” Grandma said, reaching over the table to pat my hand.
“Too bad it doesn’t pay as well as Kingston’s job, eh?” Aunt Frankie laughed.
“It’s a shame how they treat teachers in this country,” my dad grumbled, and I looked over to him surprised. It wasn’t like him to get involved in these types of discussions, but ever since I started looking at a career in teaching and keeping them up-to-date with all the changes in budgets and curricula and standards and federal mandates, both my parents had become much more outspoken about problems with education.
“They just had a piece on the news about a school filled with black mold and teachers are simply told not to put their books on that side of the room,” he said, gripping the fork in his hand tight.
“It’s gotten pretty bad in some places,” I said nodding.
“And that’s still what you want to do?” Uncle Ernie asked, incredulous.
“Well, someone’s got to, right? It’s not the kids’ fault, they still deserve good teachers that care about them.”
“You always were a bleeding heart, Keels,” said Kingston. I started to flip him the bird until I remembered we were surrounded by our family and I stuck my tongue out at him instead.
“We can’t all make millions running around all day, King.”
And mercifully, the conversation flipped back to King and his team and the likelihood of him being drafted by the big leagues following the big day coming up. It was still hard to believe that my big dumb older brother was kind of famous now. He got to be on TV every week, people all over the internet shared memes of him. It was strange, but at least it took the focus off of me at family dinner.
With people finally not paying much attention to me, I was able to sit back and enjoy the ambiance. It felt like ages since I’d been home for a real visit. In reality, I’d come back last summer for a short trip, but I’d been with Jack then, and so worried about keeping him entertained and protecting him from my weird overbearing family that it didn’t really feel like a trip home at all. He’d been nothing but critical and whiny the whole trip. I’d been too stupid to end things with him then, but two months later he’d saved me the trouble, dumping me for some beauty queen barbie he’d found at a bar when I was studying for exams.
What a nice guy, right?
But since Jack, I decided to take my hat out of the ring and really buckled down on my coursework. I went from a slightly above-average student to making Dean’s list my last two semesters, so I figured the lack of distractions was only good for me. At this point in my life, Jack was ancient history, but not everyone knew that.
“Whatever happened with that boy you brought home last time?” Grandma asked. “John was it? Or Jake?”
“Jack,” I said with a sigh. “That’s been over for a while, Grandma.”
She frowned. “So who’s the new boy in your life?”
Kingston snorted. “Yeah, who is he, and is he blind?”
I stuck my tongue out at him again, wishing desperately I could flip him off. Later, I promised myself.
“No boy, Grandma. Just me.”
She frowned deeper, her hand gripping mine and squeezing. “Nice girl like you should have a man in her life to take care of her. You’re not getting any younger you know.”
“Mother,” my dad growled. Grandma just shrugged.
“It’s true, dear. I understand women today are more independent and want to get an education and have a career, but that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t also have a family.”
I smiled reassuringly, patting the back of Grandma’s hand. “I’m fine, really. I’m happy being single and I don’t need a guy. Honest.”
She studied me closely, her eyes narrowing.
“Are you one of those lesbians?”
Kingston snorted, wine coming out of his nose.
Dad shouted, “Mo-ther.”
My mom and Aunt Frankie both looked like they were trying to look shocked while they held in laughter, but I was the only one at the table that couldn’t seem to make any sound at all. She’d caught me totally off guard and I didn’t even know what to say to that.
“It’s okay if you are. I knew a couple of gals when I lived down in San Diego. The one always offered to do my oil changes for me and her partner helped me figure out why my roses weren’t growing. I don’t have a problem with dykes.”
“Mom,” Dad growled, burying his head in his hands.
“Grandma, you can’t say things like that,” one of my cousins said, but I didn’t see which one because I was looking at my brother who looked like he was going to explode with laughter. And, as it always happened, when he was holding in his laughter, little snorts and giggles bursting from the corners of his mouth, it became unbelievably contagious for me, and I could hardly hold it in either.
“No Grandma,” I finally managed between deep breaths, forcing myself not to look at Kingston lest he send me over the edge with a giggle fit. “I’m not a lesbian, I promise.”
“Maybe you should try it,” she said with a shrug. “I’ve always regretted not taking those dykes up on their offer.”
That was it. That was all I could take because at that point, King and I both lost it and it didn’t matter how many sharp looks our parents sent us, there was no hope. It was all over.
“I think you’ve had enough wine Mom,” my dad said with a long-suffering sigh.
“I really need to go to bed,” I announced with an exaggerated yawn. “Fifteen hours of driving and all that.”
“Kingston, take your sister’s suitcase upstairs,” Mom said.
“Mom—”
“He doesn’t have to—”
“Now,” she said, cutting us both off. She probably just wanted to feel like she had some control of something in this crazy house.
“What’ve you got in here, rocks?” Kingston said as he hefted my suitcase. I grinned over my shoulder.
“Yep, stuffed it full of rocks and drove them all the way here from Utah just to make you carry my suitcase full of rocks up the stairs.”
Fully out of view of our parents, Kingston flips me off.
“Mom carried it in no problem. I thought you football guys were supposed to be tougher than that.”
He grumbled something and set the suitcase down in my old room, everything exactly the way I left it when I went off to college, complete with One Direction posters on the wall.
“Had a tough workout today is all,” he said.
“Mhm, whatever you need to tell yourself to feel better, wimpy,” I said, poking his bicep. Of course it was hard as granite, lessening the impact of what I’d said, but he recoiled like I’d nearly knocked him over anyway, and I laughed.
“It’s good to see you, really, but please get out, I’m exhausted.”
He nodded, looking at me for a long second before hugging me again. “Night Keely.”
My head barely touched the pillow before I was fast asleep.