So... you might have noticed that it has been quite some time since my last update. Well, last summer was a pretty busy time for me. I started writing a freelance article about local music. Then, at the end of August... =D my husband and I discovered that we would be adding a baby to our tiny family. I tried to work on this during my pregnancy, but I don't have a laptop, and sitting at the computer was just too uncomfortable. Add in the sudden lack of energy coupled with the intense morning sickness, all I did was work and sleep. Now, however, my precious baby girl is here, and I'm starting to feel like my old self again. Thank you all for your patience... and some of you for your impatience. Now that I'm getting the hang of this parenting thing, I've had time to sit down and re-read what I've written so I can pick back up where I left off. I hope you enjoy this and what has to come in the future.
Nyte Kat
"So... ah..." Jake was at a complete loss. Here he was, standing in front of a kat he knew nothing about. And what did Rita expect? An emotional reunion like what happens on television? It would be different if it was his father jumping out of a closet or something shouting "just kidding!" Jake felt a lump form in his throat at the sudden thought of his father.
"Hey you wanna work on this for a few minutes?" Chance interrupted the awkward meeting to hold up the mass of Christmas lights.
"Okay." Jake proceeded forward with caution, as if there might be a trip wire between the furniture. He sat in the chair Chance had previously occupied and took the tangled lump of wires and bulbs. "So..." Jake tried again, taking a deep breath. "I thought that you... um... you know, weren't planning on ever making this kind of trip. At least that's what I got from the letter you sent."
"Aye." William O'Clawdale nodded his head. "But Ms Rita took the liberty of contacting me. I hope you don't mind."
"No." Jake bit his lip. "Not really. I'm just.. you know... not a real big fan of surprises." He focused on untangling the green strands in his lap as the room drifted into awkward silence.
"I brought a few things wi' me. Your da... an' I do apologize if I speak ill o' him, he packaged up her belongings and sent them with yer Mam an' I to take back with us." William said. "Ms Rita was tellin me how well you play the piano."
Jake looked at Rita, his green eyes sparking with a hint of anger. He schooled it quickly and regarded his grandfather. "She's a little biased. I'm okay."
"Miriam would have been happy about that." William leaned forward and tapped a box on the coffee table. "There were some things I kept for me-self. I tried to convince James to keep it for you, but he was damn near crazy over the whole bleedin' mess."
Jake eyed the box and sighed. He really didn't want any more surprises. Unconsciously, he touched his chest, feeling the thick silver chain. Before he could answer, his grandfather was handing him the box. Jake felt his stomach drop. He didn't want to open it.
"Well go on now." William urged. "It ain't gonna open itself."
Jake sucked in a deep breath and pulled the lid off the box. Inside was an old brown envelope that was held closed with string and appeared to be about twenty years old. Jake scratched the back of his neck before removing it from the box. Feeling everyone's eyes on him, he shot a quick glare at Chance and then Rita, who immediately stood up.
"You want something to drink, sugar?" Rita asked and didn't wait for an answer. "I made some tea while you were sleeping. It should be cold by now."
"I'll never understand how you Yankees drink ya tea over ice." William said with a chuckle.
Chance stood up. "I think I got this untangled and ready to go up." He stretched and groaned when something popped.
Jake exhaled softly and untied the string. He didn't know what to expect but was thrown by the sheets of aged paper that slid out.
"We were vacationing in th' states when Miriam met James. An I thought that lad was a bad bastard when I met him." William shook his head. "Ever since then, tha's all we heard of. He sent her letters. An' like any other silly little girl with a fancy for a boy, she hung on to them. Tha's all in there."
Jake flipped through the pages until he saw something other than his father's slightly slanted but otherwise perfectly uniform handwriting. "And this?"
William smiled. "The last time I had th' pleasure o' hearing Miriam play the piano was before you were born. James di'int want ta see it. He di'int want ta hear it. I'm amazed he kept th' piano. I thought fer sure he was goin' ta set it on fire."
Jake couldn't help the snorting sound he made in the back of his throat. His father didn't want to be reminded of his mother.
"There's all her music. He put it in with her things he wanted us to take. And then he said 'as soon as the funeral is over, you need to leave.' We never got so much as an explanation." William's tone darkened.
There were some photos as well, hard copies of what had been on the disk. But Jake was most interested in the music. Some of it he was sure he could play, and other pieces looked so difficult... "How did you find out?"
William sighed loudly. "Olwen. Yer Mam. When she got her teeth inta somethin' she di'int let go fer nothin. She paid some private investigator t' watch James... find out what was goin' on." He narrowed his eyes knowingly at Jake. "Heard a lot a things we di'int like, tha's fer certain."
Jake looked up to see Rita lingering in the threshold between the kitchen and the living room holding a glass of iced tea and cleared his throat. It spurned her back into action.
"Oh here you go baby." Rita sat the glass down on the table in front of him. "Why don't you put that away for now? You and Chance can get this tree decorated. And dinner is about ready." She smiled at William. "I hope you like chicken-fried steak. I didn't want to outdo Christmas dinner with something too grand."
"It sounds wonderful." William replied politely. He looked back at his grandson. "We can talk more about that other stuff later."
Jake nodded his head and put the envelope and it's papers back in the box. Rita went back into the kitchen and William got up to follow her.
"Can I give ya a paw?" He asked before their voices became too muffled to hear clearly.
"Thanks for the heads up." Jake hissed at Chance.
"Hey." Chance held up his paws in defense. "She told me to keep my mouth shut about it. I learned long ago, if Ma tells me to do something, I better do it."
"You at least could have given me a hint." Jake scowled.
"He's kind of neat, actually." Chance shrugged. "Help me put these on."
Jake pushed himself up, wincing a little at the soreness in his leg. "You just think the accent is cool." He started helping the tabby string the lights up on the tree.
"Well there is that." Chance chuckled. "You read it in his letter, Jake. He's old. Family is important. Maybe it would have been better if we'd discussed it with you first, but I think this is good for you."
Jake looked a little hurt. "What about you and Rita? You guys are more family than my dad ever was."
"Hey." Chance poked him in the chest. "Don't twist my words, kiddo. I love you, but he's your own flesh and blood. You wanna know something about your family history, I can't answer that for ya. But he can. And all I know about your mom is what you told me. But that old tom? That's her dad."
"I can't think of a single reason knowing my family history would benefit me." Jake rolled his eyes.
"Not right now you can't. But I bet there will come a time when you'll have questions." Chance focused back on the tree. His eyes flitted to the window for a second and then widened. "Holy kats! Jake look outside!"
Jake dropped the strand of lights and pulled the curtains back. Outside, snow was coming down in white sheets. "Crud, you can't even see the car in that!"
"Good thing I already went to the store." Chance shook his head. "I have a feeling we're going to be up early shoveling the driveway so we can go to church."
"Or we could not go to church." Jake offered with a smirk.
"Jake, we could get hit with a blizzard in a hurricane while there's an earthquake happening, and Ma would still make us go to church on Christmas Eve." Chance frowned.
The long nap Jake had after arriving at Grammy Furlong's old house had been a good idea at the time, but as he looked at the time on his phone in the dark, he regretted not being tired. "Two thirty," he mumbled and sat up. Charlie was asleep at his feet instead of near his head like usual. And when he moved to get out of bed, her head popped up and she ran for the door. "Of course you want to go out," Jake mumbled. The dog darted ahead of him as he went down the stairs. He paused and stared in shock at the couch where his grandfather was sleeping on the fold out. His snoring was atrocious and could put even Chance to shame. "Jeez," Jake hissed as he went into the kitchen. Doubtful that anything less than a nuclear bomb could wake the old tom up, Jake didn't hesitate to put a mug of milk in the microwave to warm it before going out the back door. He shuddered as his bare feet met the soft powdery snow. Charlie darted headlong into the yard and nearly disappeared in a particularly deep drift. Jake leaned against the door frame while he sipped on the warm milk and watched his pup chomp mouthfuls of snow. Despite the calming effects of the drink, he still trembled every so often as the icy night air enveloped him. Every shiver sent tendrils of pain to each bruise and abrasion Andrew and Trevor had so lovingly left him with.
Jake let out a light chuckle. Charlie clearly loved the snow. He left her to play while he limped back inside to slip on some shoes and grab something to clean off the porch swing with. When he returned to the porch with his coat on and a broom, Charlie was waiting, wagging her tail excitedly. Jake shook his head and swept the snow off the porch swing before easing himself down into it.
There were many things weighing heavy on Jake's mind that night. Becky... and her little tryst with Fritz, for one. What was he going to do when kats started thinking he was the one who got her into her situation? Surely "it wasn't me" wouldn't suffice as an explanation. And what about Fritz? Did he remain friends with him? How would it change football next year? Maybe he should just not re-tryout. He let out a loud huff when he heard the snoring crescendo inside. "And then there's that..." Jake whispered. He covered his face his his paws and breathed a hefty sigh into them. Was he really supposed to be excited to see someone he didn't even know existed until just a few months ago? Jake stared out at the glistening white yard and then up at the cloudy night sky that continued to dump flakes upon flakes down towards earth. He balled up his paw into a fist around the stab wound, bringing the quick sting of tears to his eyes. "What am I supposed to do?"
"Jake wants his eggs scrambled, right?" Rita asked over her shoulder.
Chance looked up from yesterday's paper. "Usually." His brow furrowed when he realized that he hadn't seen the teen all morning. "I'll go ask him." As he left the kitchen, he stole a glance out the window. William was standing on the porch, smoking a cigarette and looking as if the cold didn't bother him one bit. Chance shook his head and went up the stairs.
"Jake?" He lightly tapped on the door before opening it. "You plan on getting out of bed any time today?"
"Why?" Jake mumbled into his pillow.
"You aren't still sore over Ma springing your grandfather on you, are ya?" Chance huffed out as he leaned against the door frame.
"If I am?" Jake remained on his stomach with his face still buried.
"You're gonna need to get over it. Mom went out of her way for you on this. You wanna be pissed off about it, then you can wait until we go back home and she isn't around. Until then you're going to get out of bed, get dressed and pretend to be grateful," Chance hissed.
"Just tell her I'm sick or something," Jake groaned.
Chance bit back the urge to yell at the teen. "You've got five minutes," he finally said. "If you aren't dressed and downstairs by then, I'm going to break your other leg."
"No you won't," Jake replied.
"You're right. I won't." Chance folded his arms over his chest. "But I'll be damned if you get to do anything or go anywhere when we get home."
"Seriously?" Jake turned his head to glare at the tabby. "You'd ground me over something this stupid?"
"It's not stupid, and yes... I will." Chance smirked. "Four minutes and 59 seconds." He tapped his watch. "58... 57... 56..."
"Fine!" Jake pushed himself up. "Go away."
Chance held up his paws in defense and left the doorway, smirking as he turned to head down the stairs.
"I don't know why he has to be such an asshole about this," Jake grumbled. "It's not his grandfather." He grabbed the baggy jeans he wore the day before. "He didn't say I had to look nice."
"You aren't wearing that to church," Rita said as she put a plate of eggs and bacon in front of Jake.
"We aren't going to church until later," Jake replied, mimicking her sweet tone.
"Just making sure you know." Rita sat down and took a sip of her juice.
"So tell me, Jacob..." William started to say.
"It's Jake," the teen interrupted without looking up from the eggs he was pushing around his plate with a fork.
"Are ya sweet on any girls?" William finished with a sly look.
Jake shook his head. "Nope," he replied. "At least not anymore," he thought.
"Young tom your age?" The elderly kat looked surprised. "You aren't one of those weirdos, are ya?"
Jake looked up, arching one of his eyebrows. "Weirdos?"
"Oh yeah. Ya know the ones." William scrunched up his nose in disgust. "Foolin' 'round with their own kind."
Jake blinked. "You're asking if I'm gay?" He snorted. "No. I had a girlfriend. Emphasis on 'had'. I've got too much other stuff going on to have time for that." He looked back down at his food. "Rita, I'm really not hungry."
Rita eyed his untouched plate and let out a long, tired sigh. "Alright. Go... take a shower or something."
Jake rolled his eyes as he left the table. He had never been more ready for a trip to Pawline Springs to be over.
Chance knew that he would probably see Melissa at church, but it didn't mean it would make it easier. He avoided eye contact as much as he could, something Jake was doing with Blake. Of course, Blake wasn't actively trying to win Jake's attention. Chance sighed and did his best to ignore the feeling of someone's unwavering gaze.
"Chance," Melissa made her move as soon as the service was over. "Can't we please talk about this?"
"There's nothing to talk about," Chance replied. "I've moved on."
"You... you've already found someone else?" Melissa appeared to be shocked.
"Yep. We had a date just the other night." Chance folded his arms over his chest. He and Callie hadn't committed to anything, but Melissa didn't need to know that.
"Oh," Melissa was crestfallen. "Well I..." She huffed out a small laugh. "I feel like a fool."
Chance simply shrugged, having nothing more to say.
"I suppose you will still be coming here every so often?" Melissa asked politely.
"I suppose so," Chance replied.
"Well, then maybe we will see each other around."
"Maybe."
Melissa sighed. "Merry Christmas, Chance." She turned on her heel and walked away with her paw on her cheek while she contemplated whether to be embarrassed or just hurt.
Meanwhile, Jake was having his own issues as he watched Sandy from across the room. She was talking to Blake, who knew that, as long as he was there, Jake wasn't going to make a move. The teen sighed and looked around for Chance or Rita.
"Ya haven't got any friends here?"
Jake fought the urge to groan as he regarded his grandfather. "I did."
William seated himself in the pew next to Jake. "Ya 'had' and girlfriend and ya 'did' have friends. What's a'matter wit' ya? Ya got leprosy or something?"
Jake shook his head but didn't say anything.
"Well then what happened?" William prodded.
Jake sighed and nodded his head at Blake. "He was my friend until he tried to get my girlfriend to break up with me by telling her I was cheating on her."
"That why she isn't yer girl anymore?" William asked.
Jake shook his head. "Nope. She cheated on my with one of my other friends and got pregnant."
"Oh boy! What a scandal. I tell ya, Jacob, nuthin' like that ever happened when I was a school boy." William clicked his tongue. "Well with friends like that, who needs enemies!"
"Yeah." Jake sighed, spotting Chance. "Can we go already?"
"Yeah as soon as Ma gets done having 20 minute conversations with everyone she knows." Chance glowered. "Which is everybody in this town."
The trip home was silent except for awkward exchange between Rita and William as she attempted to draw interest out of Jake by asking the old tom about his country, about Miriam, and whatever else she could think of. It was futile, though, as the teen ignored them, choosing instead to stare vacantly at the passing snow-blanketed landscape. He let out a long tired sigh when the car came to a stop in front of the old house and everyone started to get out. It would be time for Christmas dinner once all the family that had been at Aunt Mable's for Thanksgiving showed up. Jake considered isolating himself in his room with his video game.
Jake dutifully helped Rita set the table before schooling his face into the most miserable expression he could manage before quietly telling her that he wasn't feeling so great, and thought he might just go to bed. It was so convincing, Rita psyched herself into believing he felt feverish and sent him straight upstairs. The teen closed the door and removed the laptop he'd snatched from Chance's room and sprawled out onto his stomach to watch a movie, keeping the volume low enough to hear if someone was coming upstairs.
"I'm so sorry, William," Rita apologized quietly. "I truly thought Jake would be excited to see you."
"Eh," William shrugged. His feelings were a bit hurt, but there was no reason in making the poor lady feel worse. "He'll come around. It's hard, I imagine, to have something like this dropped in yer lap, especially with as much as it seems he has t' deal with."
"Still," Rita frowned. "I imagined things going so much better."
William patted her on the paw. "Think nothin' of it, my dear." He smiled. "I enjoyed the company non the less."
Rita smiled a bit. "You really are a charming old tom, aren't you?" She chuckled as she put the rest of the leftovers away. "You get some sleep. We have to be up early to get to the airport."
Jake was quiet the entire trip home, seemingly lost in thought. Chance would try to get something out of him, but the boy would just shrug or offer one word answers. Truth be told, Jake did feel guilty for not spending as much time getting to know his grandfather as Rita had expected. But what was the point? He would go back to Ireland, and Jake back to the city, only to never see each other again. Why get close to someone when your next correspondence might just be a notice of the old kat's death? Jake saw it as just one more kat that would be in his life just long enough to make an appearance, and he wasn't about to get attached.
So I'm not going to make promises on how long it will take for the next chapter, as I now have a baby, a full time job, and an article to write. *pulls hair out and screams* Ok... deep breaths... count to ten... I can do this... just breathe...