On the Road Again
by Amy L. Hull
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A New Year's Resolution 2015 story written for akamarykate
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Gary stacked bags into the van. "Come on, guys, get in the van," he called.
They circled the van, lapping him and giggling hysterically.
"Guys! In the-"
Bernardo stopped abruptly, grabbing an armful of brother in each hand.
Gary smiled at his success, but the smile twisted into a smirk as Bernardo shook the boys, looking away from their dad.
"Excuse us, Aunt Marissa," they said in unison.
Marissa handed Gary her bag and patted his arm. "Your boys are some of the most polite children I know."
"Thank you, Aunt Marissa," they all replied.
Gary just glowered.
Frankie stuck his tongue out. Luis put his thumbs in his ears. Bernardo just grinned.
"I credit your wife, of course," Marissa said, failing to hide her smile or the twinkle in her eye.
The boys just giggled, and Gary narrowed his eyes at them.
Frankie ruffled Luis's curls and ran and the laps began again in earnest the moment Marissa was safely in the van.
Thank goodness for small favors. Gary couldn't deny that the boys looked out for Marissa. All three squealed so loud he winced. He just shook his head and arranged more travel equipment into the van.
The storm door slammed and a voice barked. "Boys!"
They nearly tripped over each other, stopping so fast, and Gary couldn't decide if they looked like the von Trapp children or a Warner Brothers cartoon.
"All three of you! Bathroom, last room checks, hats on your way out."
"Yes, mom," they chorused, and trooped inside.
"They never do that for me," Gary muttered as he took Toni's bag.
"They know you won't eat them, Mr. Softy."
Gary pointed to the van. "Is that everything?"
Her right brow arched. "What more could we possibly need? The kitchen sink?"
He leaned over and kissed her. "I think I've got room for it right..." He felt around and cupped her bottom through her jeans, "...right around..." He added another hand, scooting forward and kissing her again. "I'm sure I'll find it somewhere."
She smiled against his lips and he smiled back and nuzzled her nose with his.
"Ew, Dad, gross!"
"Yeah, get a room!"
"Bernardo," Toni said into his neck, "You are setting a bad example for Luis."
"Yeah, Frankie," Bernardo said, "You're setting a bad example for Luis!"
Toni nipped Gary's neck and kissed him one more time, still smiling. It was a satisfying promise.
He pulled away and shut the trunk. "I'll do lights and lock check."
Within five minutes they were in the van and headed for I-94. Gary brushed a thumb against Toni's neck near the loose, brightly-flowered blouse she wore over a black tank top that fit her as well as her jeans and smiled at her, hands relaxed on the wheel. She pushed up the sunglasses that had been holding back her hair and stretched her legs.
"Vacation, at last!"
"On the road again," Marissa began.
"Oh, no, don't encourage them-"
"Good luck with that," Gary chuckled as the boys joined in, off key and, now that it mattered, out of unison. "This has been tradition since Chuck and I sang it all the way to summer camp the year it came out."
"And how old were you?"
"Fifteen."
"You're lucky your parents didn't kill you," Toni said, her voice flat.
Marissa broke ranks with the boys to laugh. "If they were going to kill those two, there were plenty of better chances for that!"
"Oh! Hush, guys," Bernardo waved at his brothers in the back seat. "Aunt Marissa's going to tell us all the things Dad and Uncle Chuck did bad!"
"She most certainly is not," Gary changed lanes to make the I-55 ramp.
"She most certainly is," Toni flashed him that grin that had made him equal parts terrified and aroused since the very first time he'd seen it.
"Are there enough stories to tell all the way to Uncle Chuck's?"
"Probably not all the way," Marissa swiveled in her seat. "California is a long way away. You guys know how your dad and Uncle Chuck met, right?"
"Yeah!" Frankie shouted.
Gary cringed, though he wasn't sure if it was at Frankie's volume or the story that was about to happen.
"Uncle Chuck got lost," Luis said. He'd only just stopped saying "wost" with that baby not-quite-an-L sound, and Gary still felt a little tug at his heart over his last baby growing up.
"He didn't get lost. He ran away. He didn't want to have to look at the stupid girlie dollhouse-"
"Franklin Michael Hobson, what did you just say?"
Gary didn't have to look to know his wife was wearing the same face she'd worn when he first saw her...or that his middle son was swallowing hard and pressing back into his seat, wishing he could disappear.
"I'm waiting for an answer."
This time Gary heard Frankie swallow.
"Um...I...ah...I should have said that Uncle Chuck didn't want to see the big dollhouse because he wasn't smart enough to know to respect things girls like."
"Uh-huh." Toni was still giving Frankie the laser-stare.
"Good answer," Marissa said, sotto voce.
Bernardo said, "Yeah, and Uncle Chuck ran away from his field trip to go see the submarine-"
"The U-505," Luis breathed in awe.
"-and he pretended he was Dad's buddy for the buddy system on Dad's school field trip."
"Wait." Luis called, "Dad, how was the submarine already at Science and Industry when you were a little boy?"
Both Marissa and Toni laughed out loud.
"Thanks. Thanks a lot. All of you."
"And none of the parent chaperones even noticed!" Frankie crowed.
Bernardo continued, "Yeah, not till they heard Dad trying to tell Uncle Chuck they were both going to get in trouble-"
"And then Dad got in trouble for talking during the tour guide's presentation!" Frankie flopped onto his side, laughing.
Luis clapped his hands. "Tell another one!"
"Aunt Marissa, when did Uncle Chuck get Dad to let you drive his car?"
"That's not nice, Frankie! Aunt Marissa's blind," Luis shoved his brother's arm.
"I most certainly can drive a car," Marissa said, feigned indignation bubbling through her tone.
Toni swatted Gary's arm. "You never told me about that."
"I didn't want you to arrest me," Gary muttered. "Again."
Toni stroked his arm. "Hmm...don't give me ideas, Hobson."
"Didn't we tell you to get a room?"
"Hey, Bern, watch the eye-roll. You've still got four years till you're a teenager."
"Gary, he's almost a tween. He has to have time to practice and perfect his skills."
"That's right. Give me five, Aunt Marissa."
Gary glanced at Toni. She was biting back the same smile he was as their oldest and Marissa's hands met.
"I still don't get it," Luis piped up. "How can Aunt Marissa drive?"
"We were on a long road trip, see," Gary said, "And Uncle Chuck had been arguing that everyone should drive a car at least once."
"And you bought that?" Frankie had perfected his mother's arched eyebrow.
"Yeah, Hobson, you bought that?"
"Hey," Bernardo objected. "How come you get to roll your eyes at Mom, Dad?"
"Because your father is my husband and a grown-up, not a child I gave birth to."
"Yes, ma'am. Sorry, Mom."
"Go ahead with your story, Hobson."
Gary swallowed, ignored Marissa strategically clearing her throat, and said, "Well, you see, we were on this straight, empty road, and we hadn't seen another car in an hour. And Uncle Chuck and I were both pretty tired because we'd been driving for four hours already, so, well, Uncle Chuck said we should get a break."
"Uncle Chuck can be...very persuasive, so your dad pulled over and we all switched places. They had to tell me where all the pedals and buttons were, and then they had me just...drive. I couldn't decide if it was the most exciting or the most terrifying thing I'd ever done at the time."
"I thought it was pretty terrifying the way you pulled out like you needed to escape from something!"
Marissa laughed. "Yeah, I didn't have any sense of how hard to push any of the pedals. Your dad, though, he's a good teacher. He coached me and told me what was coming and...I don't know if I'd ever felt so free...moving that fast by something I was doing. Of course, after about ten minutes, Uncle Chuck almost cried, he was so afraid for his life, so your dad took back over driving."
"That's pretty cool," Frankie admitted.
"So, as the more responsible parent, I'll be the one teaching the boys to drive and what not to do in a car."
"Of course you will." Gary nodded. "I never considered anything else." He glanced over. Toni looked a bit self-satisfied. "That is, of course, if you don't teach them any crazy police chase movies."
She glared. He just grinned back.
"So, you lived in Hickory, Uncle Chuck lived in Chicago, you met at Science and Industry, got in trouble, and became best friends?" Frankie's face was doing that These Facts Do Not Add Up thing that Toni's did so often before she knew about the paper.
"Yeah, how'd that work?" Luis said.
"Well, my folks and Uncle Chuck's folks both had to talk to our teachers after the mix-up at the museum. Chuck's dad loved his chutzpah-"
"What's hoots-baa? Is that like a cross between an owl and a sheep?"
Marissa chuckled. "Not too far off, Luis. But more like an owl and a ram: wise, determined, stubborn, and a bit daring."
"That's Chuck, all right. Always where angels fear to tread."
Gary had never been sure if Toni had forgiven Chuck after getting drugged and kidnapped and the other shenanigans around his wedding. Gary had forgiven him the moment Toni caught that bouquet. He smiled at her and her expression softened. He'd known he could ask when he found that bouquet, dried and preserved, in her dresser drawer at her place one morning. He took her hand and squeezed it.
"So what happened then, Dad?"
"Well, Grandma Lois thought Chuck was a bad influence, but Grandpa Bernie liked his spirit, so he insisted that Chuck come spend a week with us in Hickory that summer."
Marissa chortled. "Was that the year he stuck you with-"
"The paper route? Yeah. While he was at our place, he saw a kid on a bike delivering papers and he said we should do that."
"But he was only going to be there a week," Bernardo objected.
"See? That's what I told him! So he insisted he'd stay longer and then talked both our parents into it and pointed out how much easier it would be if we split the route."
"Let me guess," Toni said, "he stuck you with the longer route?"
"Well, according to him, it was the 'easier' part because there were fewer deliveries."
Luis piped up, "That sounds easier, Dad."
"Except they were all the people outside of town. I ended up biking about eight miles per morning and Chuck only went about a mile."
Frankie laughed. "He sure got you."
"And then he insisted I pay him half of his part for the rest of the year because he had come up with the business plan!"
Marissa bit her lip.
"What is it, Aunt Marissa?" Bernardo asked.
"When your Grandpa Bernie told me this story, he said, 'That's when I knew who the smart one in that relationship was!'"
The boys dissolved into hysterics.
Gary gripped the wheel and forced a smile. This was gonna be a long trip.
Marissa's silvery laughter joined his boys' giggles, and against his better instincts, it warmed him inside out.
Toni shook her head, "Boy scout," she said, running a hand through the back of his hair. His smile started to feel genuine.
Long trips with people he loved were pretty awesome.
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end
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