Authors: Shey Stahl
I laughed
at him when he came into the kitchen for another beer with a huge smile on his
face and a little flushed. I kicked him when he walked by. “You’re not
twenty-one kid. Matter of fact, you’re not even sixteen. How will this look to
our guests?”
He smiled
that same boyish grin he always had. “I will be sixteen in a week or so, I’m
going to try to be responsible and keep the drink count out of the double digits.”
“Oh well,
hell. Forget I said anything.” I replied sarcastically rolling my eyes at him.
I heard
him shuffle back into the family room once I started peeling the potatoes for
dinner. Tommy asked him where Cole was, the two were seldom apart.
“Fuck if I
know.” Casten chuckled. “Last night he showed up in my room as three in the
morning wearing plastic gloves and a table cloth. I didn’t ask for an
explanation; just let him crash on the floor.”
“Is he
still there?” Tommy asked.
“Nope.
When I
woke up he was gone, cap an all.”
It’s funny
to me that when you’re younger you think your parents never did the shit you
did but our kids knew better. We wrote the book on how “not” to be. As Charlie
once told me, “If you can’t be a good example for today’s youth, be a horrible
one. Either way, you’re helping out.”
Quietly, I
laughed to myself at my crazy father’s antics when I felt familiar warm hands
wrap around my waist. His breath, just as warm, blew lightly over my neck
sending goose bumps down my spine. “Do I get to hear the joke?” he asked softly
kissing the shell of my ear and then across my neck.
“I was
just thinking of Charlie.” I wiggled loose from him smiling as I looked over
his tired features. “Are you okay?”
His eyes
searched mine before returning the smile. “I’m fine honey.
Just
tired.”
“Taking
the wrong plane will take a lot out of you.”
“Apparently.”
He
exhaled as though he’d run a marathon.
“Do you
want to take a nap before dinner?”
“Nah,
Justin just got here so I figured I’d hang out with him for a while.”
“Okay,
well I’ll be in there shortly. I just need to get these appetizers going.”
Arie
walked in just then with Lexi and Lily holding Jack. “You need help mom?”
Jameson
smiled before hugging all three girls and then headed in the family room where the
boys were now gathered watching football.
Axel made
his way in there when I stepped inside to deliver the appetizers to the boys.
Jameson
smiled up at him reached for Jack who was now in his arms. “Hey buddy, how’d it
feel to win Turkey night?”
Axel smiled
reaching for the bacon wrapped scallops. “Yeah, it feels good.”
Casten
leaned over to take Jack away from Jameson. More than likely he was going to
use little Jack to impress this girl. I don’t gather she needed much
encouragement though. Casten was adorable.
Jameson
gave in eventually and gave up Jack to Casten.
Spencer
and Alley showed up shortly after Casten broke his rule for the double digits.
Spencer limped over to me, threw his burly arms around me. He had a recent knee
replacement. All the years of working on the pit crew had taken its toll on his
body.
Once the
eating was underway, our family did what it did best. We were dysfunctional.
Charlie
and Noah showed up, got in a fight with one of Cole’s friends. Cole eventually showed
up wearing a speedo and a Christmas hat. We found out that night him and Casten
both had nipple rings. Lane had a tattoo of
Tinkerbell
on his ass that he surprisingly, after six shots of Fireball, showed us.
Like I
said, it was never dull.
Jameson sat
in the chair in the corner laughing at his kids while I sat securely on his
watching Nancy and Casten drinking wine. He always had a way to get his
grandmother in the Christmas spirit. Though the no one said it, Casten was what
kept her going. They were never far apart. If Nancy wanted to go to a dirt
track and watch racing, Casten went with her. If she wanted to go get a
pedicure, Casten went with her.
His
spirited demeanor was hard not to be happy around and Nancy appreciated that.
I began to
realize while sitting there that everything between us happened for a reason
and all these people brought in and out of our lives for a reason. Where I
thought Casten was a complete accident, he was what pulled Jameson’s mom and
kept her going after Jimi’s death.
An
accident that had Jameson hanging up his helmet and eventually retirement lead
Arie to Easton, probably the sweetest boy you’d ever meet.
And an
arrangement that began out of pure sexual frustration led to a little boy who
changed our entire lives and the lives of people all over the world.
Later that
night after everyone had left, Jameson and I were walking back inside the house
after saying to Justin and Ami when Jameson reached for my arm. He whirled me
around so I was facing him, his lips crashed urgently to mine. Pulling my lower
lip inside his mouth, he tugged gently, his breathing increasing. “I’ve been
waiting all night,” he shook his head gently pressing his forehead to mine. “
...
to kiss you like that.”
The
Christmas tree in the living room lit up the foyer we were now standing in. His
eyes sparkled with the hunger as he leaned in to find my lips again.
Instinctively,
my legs wrapped around his waist and he carried me with more speed than I
thought he had in him to our room.
He lost
his footing once inside the room and fell on top of me landing on the bed.
That’s exactly where I wanted him too. There was nothing more pleasing than the
feeling of my husband weight on top of me. I couldn’t describe it but it was
just the idea of this was him and me, together.
I watched
him carefully, reveling in every touch, every moan, and every hitch of his
breath knowing I was causing the sensations, and more so, he was feeling
exactly the same way I was.
We really
were one soul.
Overtime
we went through cycles. People were added, people were taken away from us. But
we stayed together. Together is where we belonged. We had no idea who would be
added or even taken away eventually but I knew with this man by my side, we
could do anything. So many times it tore families apart, but not the Riley
family. We weren’t strangers to heartache but we had one thing that kept us
going, we had each other.
Bench Racing – Jameson
There
should be rules to retirement and things that you should and shouldn’t do. One of
them should be camping in the winter with your buddies.
“I don’t
understand you,” Spencer scolded. “You were a spotter for twenty fucking years
but yet you can’t find the fucking campsite to save your ass.”
We were
lost in the
Croatan
National Forest. I hated to go
camping but the boys decided it would be a good time. I reminded them that I
had never had a good experience camping and certainly didn’t do well with
animals. None of that matter to these assholes.
“Let it
go, jerk. I got us lost.
Big deal?”
“Big deal?”
I
gasped pushing Aiden from behind. “We are miles from civilization. We lost my
son, and Spencer broke his ankle. That’s a big deal.”
“Technically,”
Willie added waving his drink around. “We didn’t lose Axel. He’s the one that
said he could find his way back to the campsite.”
We
eventually did find our campsite and sure enough, Axel was there with Cole and
Lane. “Nice of you guys to show up.” Axel said less than amused watching Willie
and Tommy.
I threw
myself down in a chair. After carrying my two hundred and twenty pound brother
up the side of a mountain, I was exhausted. I also wanted my wife. So far we’d
be out here two nights and I was retired. Didn’t this mean I could spend all my
time with my wife?
“Fuck you
man!” Noah shouted shoving Cole as they argued about god knows what.
“What a
disaster.” Axel huffed sitting next to me with a beer in hand and one for me.
“Remind me never to go camping again.”
“They’re
drinking 50/50 Vodka water mix out of camelbacks.” I told Axel. “Disaster would
be a compliment at this point.”
Casten
leaned back against the cooler.
“What are
you doing?” I kicked my youngest son’s leg. “You started them on that shit.
Take it away from them.”
“I’m
watching. This shit is not ending without blood.”
“I want to
know who told them this was a good idea.” Spencer asked from his place on the
ground surrounded by ice packs. He may or may not have taken a tumble down a
fairly steep hill when I pushed him. In my defense, I helped him back up and
carried him and his broken ankle back to camp.
“That’s
not the problem,” Casten grinned. “The problem is that no one stopped them.”
Amazingly,
and I’m not sure how, I convinced these jerks to leave early since Spencer had
broken bones and now Noah and Cole needed stitches. Turns out that 50/50
mixture was a bad idea but it did help get Spencer back home without too much
complaining.
When we
got back home, Sway searched my entire body looking for any sign of a bite mark
from an animal. I was proud to say that I escaped unharmed for one in my life.
“Do you
mean to tell me that you actually went into the woods and came out without any
scratches?” she asked running her hands over my two week growth of facial hair.
“Yep,” I
announced proudly. “Spencer broke his ankle though.”
“How’d
that happen?”
I smiled.
“I pushed him down a hill for trying to trip me.”
“You
better watch out.” Sway warned working on my belt. “Spencer is going to get you
back now.”
Shitty
part was that I knew that already. You don’t mess with Spencer and not expect a
payback.
Bench Racing – Sway
Spencer
knows that Jameson is afraid of a few things in life. Most of which involve
substances on his skin but there are a few others that most find even more
entertaining.
His fear of dildos.
And I’m not talking
about a vibrator. I’m talking about those floppy plastic rubbery ones that look
as if they are alive if you touch them.
We shared
this fear.
Spencer
used this to his advantage often.
Spencer
was also big on photography.
It was no
surprise that he would frequently take pictures of dildos and send them to
Jameson. Jameson never appreciated this and destroyed a handful of expensive
cameras for that very reason.
One
afternoon, before we headed out to Williams Grove for the weekend, Jameson had
bought a bag of gummy worms and left them on the counter. Later that night as
we watched a movie, Jameson had the gummy worms in hand.
Spencer,
sporting a grin, came in and asked Jameson if he would like to look over his
newest pictures.
“Not if
you want me to destroy another camera.” Jameson replied intently focused on the
television.
“Ah hell
man, don’t be a dick.” Spencer relaxed into the couch and set the camera on the
coffee table in front of him. “I got some good shots of Sharon Speedway last
night.”
An hour
passed and Jameson tossed the empty bag of gummy worms aside. Spencer giggled
and said he was tired. He went home but left the camera on the coffee table.
At some
point Jameson’s curiosity for the photos taken at Sharon got the best of him and
he picked up the camera. He hadn’t gotten into about two of them when the
camera was hurled against the wall and Jameson took off after Spencer. “Goddamn
him!”
The camera
hadn’t been completely destroyed so I took a look, curious.
Spencer
had placed a dildo in that bag of gummy worms and photographed it.
To this
day, no one knows where that dildo disappeared to.
You never
knew what each day would bring in our house now that Jameson was not racing.
And honestly, he seemed bored at times. One afternoon I went grocery shopping
with Casten, worst idea ever, and then came home to Jameson in the movie room
with Jack.
“Oh,
Jack’s here!” I wasn’t wild about being a grandma but little Jack could melt anyone’s
heart and have you acting like those weirdo grandma’s who coo and make funny
faces at the baby.
That was
me now.
I also had
to think of a new name for myself now that I changed classifications. The
problem was that maybe I was getting old because I couldn’t think of anything
as cool as the Mama Wizard.
Gizard
didn’t sound right
and Grammy Wizard didn’t sound too hot. I was at a loss.