Chapter Three
It didn’t take long for the let’s-make-this-uncomfortable-for-Samantha show to begin once we sat down to eat at the table that was probably groaning from the weight of the food.
It all started with the seating arrangements. The Decker family table, which was specially made for our clan, sat in the dining room that had been added on to accommodate our numbers and the abnormally large table. The table could seat sixteen, though we were now only eleven, down from thirteen. The space to the right of me had been empty for months, and the chair across from me and next to Avery would forever remain empty, a tribute and reminder of the sweet nine-year-old angel with bouncing blond curls that used to sit there. Our sweet Hannah, daughter of Avery and James, was taken from us too early when she was hit by a car while she rode her bike to the park two years ago. I could still see the vacancy in Avery’s eyes and the grief that lingered in James’s countenance.
I wondered if my own reflection looked like Avery’s and James’s. For months now I felt as if a death occurred, my own, my family’s. I wasn’t sure what or who I was anymore.
Dad blessed our Sunday meal. He asked the angels to watch over Hannah, like he did every week, and keep her until we could all meet again. So each of our meals started with tears. With the way this one was going, it might end up with them too.
The rectangular table always had Ma and Dad at each end, my family and Peter and Delanie on one side, with James’s family and Mimsy on the other. Not sure why, but Reed ended up where Neil used to sit. I thought he would have sat by Peter; after all, they had been friends since boyhood.
Reed started the commotion with an innocent comment when I passed the potato salad to him.
“So how have you been, Samantha?”
“She’s divorced,” Mimsy answered for me while rubbing her rosary beads and crossing herself. She didn’t stop there. She dipped her hands in her water glass and tried to flick some at me across the table while praying to Saint Anthony to help me find my way again.
“Mimsy, that’s not even holy water,” I complained, even though it was Cody that got hit in the face with the water.
Mimsy blew me a kiss before handing over her glass to Peter. “Can you bless this?” She also threw some cash at each great-grandson at the table.
Oh, help us.
Peter tugged on the collar of his polo shirt. “Mimsy, you know I’m not a priest anymore.”
That set Ma off. It was never good to remind Ma that Peter left the priesthood for Delanie. In reality it wasn’t for her; he was following his own heart. I always warned Ma that I wasn’t sure entering the seminary was the right path for him. Peter loved God, but I always knew Peter would want to be a husband and a father. Meeting Delanie only made him see where his true desires lay.
Ma started making comments under her breath about Delanie’s diamond stud nose ring and the vine tattoo down her arm that I found beautiful. Ma was old school and believed tattoos only desecrated your body. And did I mention Delanie wasn’t sure she believed in God? None of the rest of us held that against her, but Ma couldn’t understand how her sweet baby boy ended up with a heathen. Never one to let Ma intimidate her or make her feel less, Delanie grabbed Peter by the shirt and pulled him to her. I would label their kiss as the kind that probably would have been better saved for private. Peter sure seemed to enjoy it, running his hands through Delanie’s hair. Cody and my nephews hooted and hollered like the teenagers they were.
Ma couldn’t take it. She slammed her potato salad bowl so hard on the table that some egg and pickle landed on James. James took it in stride and laughed while wiping off his shirt. That got Peter and Delanie to pull apart, albeit with a too loud suctioning sound.
It was just another night at the Deckers.
I faced an entertained Reed, who couldn’t have looked any happier. “To answer your question, that basically summed up how I am.”
Reed’s laughter filled the crowded room. His jovial tones had a few others joining in. Thankfully, Deckers loved to eat, and before long, people were shoving their faces full of the feast in front of us. Besides, the men had a game to watch, so there was no time for idle chitchat, which was fine by me.
Except, Reed had other ideas. He was politer than the Decker boys and men and took breaths between bites; he was full of conversation.
“I didn’t realize you moved back here. I thought you were living in Chicago,” he said to me.
I took a sip of ice water before responding. “We moved back to Clearfield a few years ago. I didn’t want Cody going to middle school or high school in the city.” And I was ready to build the home I had been dreaming of. The one we saved for and Neil made me wait for. He was adamant that we should pay cash for everything. It was a lot of cash to save, but I guess I should thank him now since I owned it outright.
“So tell us where you’ve been, Reed,” Ma interrupted. She always had to be in the know.
Reed turned toward Ma. “After college I got a teaching and assistant coaching position in Wisconsin close to where my parents are now. But when the head coach position for the Panthers came up, I couldn’t resist being back at my old alma mater.”
I never went to Pomona High; it was built after I had graduated. Back in the day, it caused a lot of heartburn when our city went from one high school to two; now we had three. But I was proud to be the mom of a Panther. Matt and Jimmy attended James’s and my old school. Technically they were rivals with Cody. Thankfully, Matt and Jimmy ran cross country, so there weren’t any hard feelings between the cousins. They were happy to cheer each other on at their respective events.
“How are your parents?” Ma asked Reed.
“Good. Dad finally retired this year and they bought an RV to travel the country.”
Ma gave Dad the eye that said, See? It was her dream to travel with Dad, but Dad wasn’t done working. Dad grimaced before pretending like he hadn’t seen her glare.
Ma let it drop for now, but I’m sure Dad would get an earful later. She still had some questions for Reed. “Are you dating anyone?”
Poor Reed.
He took it all in stride. “Not right now.”
Ma got my attention. “What young women do we know at church that we could set him up with?”
I gave her a blank stare. I hadn’t been to church since Easter and I wasn’t up on all the single ladies. I’d had my own relationship issues to deal with.
Ma waved her hand at me like I was no use, but then a thought popped into her head and she was back to penetrating me with her all-knowing eyes. “We really need to come up with a list of single older men for you. You’re going to be forty in two months, and you know what the odds are of you ever getting married after that? You’re more likely to die in a plane crash.”
I dropped my fork and it clanged against my plate. “Ma, could I at least be divorced for a few weeks before we talk about getting married again?” Not like I was ever planning on it. Dying in a plane crash sounded better.
The “D” word set Mimsy off again. Dad saved me and grabbed her glass before anybody else got sprayed with her unsanctified water. But Mimsy still had her two cents to add. “Whoever she marries now will be committing adultery since she’s been married.”
Snickers of muted laughter filled the room.
I really needed that triple chocolate mousse pie.
Everyone guffawed at my expense, well, everyone but Reed and my son. I could tell from Cody’s stiff stance next to me that he didn’t need to think of both his parents as adulterers, even though he knew what Mimsy said wasn’t true.
While I touched my son’s knee, Reed, in a very unexpected gesture, placed his hand on my bare knee under the table. “You’d be worth it.”
He removed his hand as fast as he had placed it on me. Then he acted as if it never happened. Or maybe he was disgusted by how prickly my leg was. Shaving had gone way down on the priority list.
I wasn’t sure how to feel about his touch. That man hand didn’t belong to the boy I knew, and neither did his look. And why would he say something like that? What did he know? He was a kid.