195. Thanks to JB and her Insta research skills!

Olivia popped into the bedroom and found Ed standing at the bureau staring at himself in the mirror. He had swapped his golf clothes for khaki shorts and a t-shirt, his face was ruddy, and his hair was still matted on the sides from his hat. "Hey," she said, "Ready for some wiffle ball?"

He turned to her and smiled, "Oh yeah."

Olivia tilted her head to the side, curious about why his smile, though genuine, was masking a hint of gloom. "Quite the athletic day for you," she said. "Tired?"

"Nope."

Ed stepped toward her. Olivia was expecting him to put his arms around her waist, but, instead, he gave her one of the firmest hugs she could ever remember receiving from him or from anyone else. She waited for at least two minutes to speak, and, even then, she sighed contentedly and said, "This is nice."

"Natalia has cancer," Ed blurted out in a whisper.

"Oh my God...oh no…" It felt like Olivia should have been looking Ed in the eye, but he wasn't letting her go.

"Mike told me today. I didn't know what to say, and if I had known, I wouldnta had time to say it, so, all I could think about was you. Liv, God, I don't know what I'd do."

"You'd be strong for me like you always are," Olivia said, "But I'd know you were terrified, so we would have to be strong for each other."

"You're right." They stood together in the embrace for another moment. "Amazing how they can seem so normal," Ed finally added. "But he did say they were glad to get away from it for a few days. That they've agreed to worry about it when they get back, hearing him talk like that, like a man about to walk death row, such a weird thing to hear, a weird feeling."

"You're relieved it's not you but guilty for feeling relieved," Olivia murmured.

"Exactly." Ed finally loosened his grip and held her face in his hands. "I love you," he said, following it with a firm kiss on the lips. "Hope you're on my wiffle ball team."

"I hope so too."

They walked downstairs and into the yard hand-in-hand. Some of the family had gone back to their hotels to change clothes or to rest before the crab boil, so the crowd had thinned out a bit. Nevertheless, Wyatt was wandering around the adults, peering up at their faces, looking confused, and then panicked. Minutes ago he'd been chasing a butterfly with his sister and Sofia, and now, suddenly, no one looked familiar. Sarah, G, and Caroline were standing nearby, but he couldn't spot them among the others.

"Wy! Bud! Over here!" Ed called.

At the sound of his voice, Wyatt spun around and sprinted for his parents with a huge, relieved grin on his face. Ed scooped him into a bear hug and held him on his hip. Olivia kissed Wyatts chubby hands, his knee, and pretended to gnaw on his leg even though it was hot and sticky and streaked with sand. His giggles were worth it.

"Sweet boy," she cooed.

"Where're No an' Maggs?" Wyatt asked, craning his head to survey the yard.

Now it was Olivia who was panicked, but the scare only lasted a second. She spotted Noah and Maggie on the beach with Sam and Brooke. They were laying out the bases for the game, and Noah soon came jogging back from the sand and announced it was time to play. The crew followed him to the "field." Ed grabbed a folding chair on the way for Caroline who was functioning as umpire and scorekeeper. Teams were quickly selected. The Tucker kids and the Tucker parents ended up on opposing sides, which delighted Noah. "Babies!" He said to Maggie and Wyatt, "We gotta crush da parents!"

Maggie and Wyatt giggled.

"Homerun!" Wyatt said, air-swinging a pretend baseball bat.

"C'mon, kiddos," Brooke said, "We're batting."

"Kay," Noah said, "Time ta get serious."

Sonny was already at the plate helping Sofia hit the ball. Noah jogged toward the rest of his team, thinking the twins were following, but when he turned around they were doing somersaults in the sand.

Maggie stood up and grinned at her brother, "San'in my hair!" She announced and laughed hysterically. "San'in WY's HAIR!"

Noah shook his head and went back for them. This time, to be safe, he held their hands and parked them between G and Sarah. Maggie and Wyatt, knowing their brother meant business, dutifully stood at attention and watched the action. When Wyatt's turn finally came he stepped up to the plate, and, without assistance, belted a line drive directly over the pitcher's head. Everyone screamed and cheered. Wyatt ran toward first base. Maggie, not quite understanding what was going on, ran after him.

"WY! She shouted, "WY YOUHIDDABALL!"

"Omigod, omigod, omigod," Sarah gasped.

Ed snapped photos. Sonny took a video. Olivia was laughing so hard tears welled in her eyes. Wyatt approached home plate, and, with a giant leap, completed his home run. Maggie finally caught up and jumped on his back. "G'job, WY! G'JOB!"

"Omigod, omigod, omigod…"

"The sibling love is real," Michael said to Ed and Olivia.

"It is," Olivia said. She leaned into Ed, "I hope it lasts forever."

Ed kissed the side of her head, "It will."

…

According to Wyatt, it all started with a grape.

Maggie listened to the whole story with delight while waiting with her brother outside of the dean's office. Wyatt was terrified of getting in trouble, and he tapped his feet nervously on the tile floor. Maggie did her best to be sympathetic and reassuring, but the day's food fight, surely one of the messiest ever created by the school's generally well-mannered students, was certain to go down in infamy. Maggie's middle school brain envisioned generations after generations of students telling various versions of the tale to one another, envious they did not have the guts or the fortuitous circumstances to participate in such a glorious melee. Wyatt, though, assumed his life was over.

The initial grape, fired by one of Wyatt's friends, had been intended for a student at another table. It caromed off the targeted student's shoulder and onto another boy's tray. This boy was not a pal of Wyatt and his crew, so he returned the grape on a line drive and followed it with a cupful of yogurt which exploded on impact. Forced to defend themselves, the kids at Wyatt's table turned anything they could into a projectile, and, within minutes, the courtyard where they were eating looked like the set of some cheesy adolescent movie.

"It was outside," Wyatt moaned and twisted his fingers. He did not continue, but his point was clear. An inside food fight of this magnitude would have been ten times worse if it had happened in the cafeteria. But outside? Their clothes were stained and streaked with remnants of others' lunches, but, other than that, he figured, no harm no foul.

The school administrators felt differently. Parents were called. Punishments had to be doled out. Maggie had eaten lunch in a different area, but word traveled quickly and she rushed to find her brother. She agreed that the food fight's location should be a mitigating factor, but she shared Wyatt's concern that the offense would surely result in at least a temporary restriction of freedom. Selfishly, Maggie thought about how this would affect her. She and Wyatt had only recently won the right to travel to and from school by themselves. If Wyatt was under lock and key, by default, she would be, too.

While the twins pondered their fate at school, Ed and Olivia were strolling home from a pleasant al fresco lunch at one of their regular spots. With her husband's input, Olivia put the finishing touches on her tenth Benson Center Benefit speech, and they were both in happy, satisfied moods. So when the school's number turned up on Olivia's phone, she was both panicked and sad that the perfect afternoon was slamming to a halt.

Ed watched her as she spoke to the school official. Her responses were laced with genuine concern, but not distressed. While the call was more serious than the average robocall, he concluded whatever had happened would not require a trip to the hospital or to the local police precinct. When Olivia slid the phone back into her pocket, she was almost smiling.

"What's goin on?" He asked.

"Food fight."

Ed screwed up his face then started laughing. "All the technology, all the social media, and we still have food fights, huh? That's refreshing."

"Perhaps it is," she replied, "But our son's in the principal's office and we have to go get him."

"Noah?" Ed was perplexed. High school seniors certainly were above hurling food at one another. And Noah usually went off campus for lunch anyway.

"Wyatt," Olivia said.

Ed laughed even harder. "We're gonna have fun with this," he said.

"Ed! No we're not! He's probably horrified!"

He raised his eyebrows and slid his arms around her waist. "Just a little fun?"

Olivia eyed the people striding past them on the sidewalk. Most of them paid no attention, but a few gave them a curious glance. Ed, of course, was focused solely on his wife.

"Anybody get hurt?" He asked.

"No," Olivia replied, "Only Wyatt's discipline record."

"Discipline record? Oh, c'mon," Ed chuckled, "Let's go. An honor roll kid with absolutely no malicious bone in his body is not gonna get dinged for this. It'll be fine."

Olivia finally cracked a smile, "Okay, Captain Tucker. If you say so. Let's go rescue our baby."

….

Sarah groaned and stretched, touched her toes, grimaced, and announced she was too old for sports. "I am so retiring," she said. Hanging up my cleats, everything."

"You own cleats?" Justin asked.

"Yes, I played softball once."

"She was pretty good," G said.

Sarah snorted a self-deprecating chuckle. "Right. I think I may have had a couple of hits but that was totally luck." She laughed again, "Have you realized we've given up on mingling with the other people? Like, we've just reverted to our own little familiar bubble. And nobody's even asked G who she is, they probably think she's Livvie's daughter from another marriage or something."

"Not a lot of people our age," Sonny said.

"True, true," Sarah said. "Well, there's Sam, but too bad he had to leave, he was cool. We should definitely look him up when we go to California."

"When are you going there?" Brooke asked.

Sarah shrugged, "I dunno. Maybe later this fall. Jus, when's your break?"

"I think October."

"October maybe." Sarah sat down in the Adirondack and peered through the flames onto the porch. "Maybe Dad and Livvie will want to go and see Michael and Natalia. They're getting along well."

"Definitely besties," Sonny said.

Justin quickly raised his eyebrows at Sonny's use of besties and hoped Brooke hadn't seen the reaction. "Liv and Ed don't really have friends they hang out with, do they?"

Sarah and Brooke exchanged a surprised glance.

"Actually, no," Brooke said, "They really don't."

"They're too possessive of each other to have friends," Sarah said. "They'd be consumed with jealousy if, like, Dad was talking to the other wife or, God forbid, the husband was talking to Olivia. Omigod Daddy would be seething."

Brooke clicked her teeth, "You're so dramatic."

"Maybe," Sarah conceded, "But not wrong."

Everyone shrugged in agreement.

"So what's tomorrow?" G asked. She stifled a yawn. It had been an action packed day and she was ready for bed but didn't want to be the first one to call it a night.

"Brunch at the shack," Sarah said, "We rented the whole patio. Then everyone's heading out. Time to get back to reality. But, it's been a great summer."

"Cheers to that," Sonny said. He raised his can of White Claw, "Back for Labor Day?"

"Grandma's doing Labor Day at her house," Brooke said, "She invited everyone earlier this afternoon, you didn't hear her?"

"Nope."

"I did," Justin said, "She was, uh...effusive."

Sarah shook her head, "She's totally pickled in gin. I guess that's the secret to longevity, at least in this family. But, I'm a vodka girl at heart, so hopefully that'll do."

Brooke lovingly rolled her eyes. Unlike G, she did not try to hide her yawn. "I'm going to bed," she said, "Son? You coming?"

"Justin and I have a cigar to smoke."

"Ugh."

"I might throw up," Sonny said, "But the guy who gave it to us, I think it's your uncle, said they're amazing."

"An amazing cigar," Sarah murmured, "Didn't know there was such a thing. You two have fun, oh, unless, G? Are you smoking with them?"

"No way," G said, "The first and last time I smoked a cigar, I puked."

"Omigod, me too!" Sarah giggled and put her arm around G's neck as they wobbled toward the porch, "See? I think we really are sisters! I knew it!"

….

Ed and Olivia settled in at a banquette at Vanessa's even though they weren't eating. It was late and only a few groups remained, so they didn't feel guilty about taking up an entire table for their nightcap. The owner came over and said hello, but she didn't linger long. She could tell the couple wanted to be left alone. Before taking a sip of his drink, Ed gave Olivia a kiss on the cheek, gave her a coy smile, and kissed her again. "You know I love bein' able to do that," he whispered.

Olivia smiled and nodded. "I know," she cooed. "But something's still bothering you. I thought tonight was a success."

"It was," Ed replied, "But, uh...was it weird for you...all the marriage talk?"

"No...you mean...was it weird to be with a couple who are at a different stage in their relationship?"

"Yeah, maybe that's what I mean."

Olivia took a deep breath and sighed. "Ed...I...I don't compare myself to other people and I don't compare us to anyone else. And I certainly don't want to decide to get married because Fin and Phoebe are getting married." She smiled and placed her hand on the side of his face, "Sounds a little juvenile, doesn't it?"

Ed grinned sheepishly, "Yeah, it does, I guess, it just got me thinkin…"

"Ed-"

"-I know," he let his hand fall to her leg and gently massaged her thigh. Desire filled and oozed from his eyes. The alcohol's effects almost led him to keep rambling, to go too far, to exert too much pressure on Olivia, but he dug deep and found restraint somewhere in the waves of bourbon and wine they'd consumed during the evening.

Olivia saw the desire, but she also sensed his uncertainty. He would kick himself in the morning for bringing this up, but it didn't negate the fact that longer-term commitment was on his mind. Instead of feeling pressured or backed into a corner, she was filled with warmth and intense love for the man in front of her who was willing to wait as long as it took for her to be ready for the next steps in their lives together. She kissed him, smiled, and whispered, "I love you." It was all she could give him at the moment, but he appeared instantly reassured and confident.

"I love you," he said, kissing her again and looking around, "Maybe, uh, it was kinda silly to come all the way down here after all, cause…"

Olivia cocked an eyebrow, "Because you're ready to go home?" She asked.

"Yeah," he said with a smirk and proceeded to pull a few bills from his wallet.

Olivia eyed the money, "A little much?"

Ed was already sliding out of the booth. "I don't care," he held out his hand to her, "Let's get outta here."

…

Olivia peered out of the beach-facing window in their bedroom and noticed the porch lights were still on. She cracked the window and listened for voices. Hearing Sarah's laugh and glad she didn't have to go back downstairs and shut everything down, she pulled the latch on the window and peeled back the covers. Ed was already in bed sitting up against the headboard and grinning at his phone.

"What are you reading?" She asked.

"Just looking at some pictures from today," he said, "and found this." He showed her a quote he'd come across on an Instagram account he followed. It read:

I love the way you look at me. Like you are about to talk to me or devour me and I am fine with either.

Olivia smiled and laughed softly. "You and that app…"

"I don't know why I like it but I do."

Olivia stroked his face and offered an explanation. "It gives you an outlet," she said, "You're so proud of us, of the kids, and this is another way for you to show that to the world, or, to your followers."

"All forty of 'em."

"Right." Olivia glanced at the quote again, "You've shown me that account before," she said, "It's almost like the author knows us. Does he? Is it you?"

"Not me." He placed the phone on his nightstand and rolled over toward her, "But whoever it is captures my feelings perfectly. C'mere."

He started kissing her neck and grinned when she let out the first of what he hoped were many satisfied moans. All throughout the day the burden of knowing what Michael was going through weighed him down. Even when they were laughing and joking together, Ed's heart ached for Michael and Natalia and their family. All of that stress and emotion came pouring out now as he and Olivia moved together under the sheets. He was positive they had many more years together, he would be in this very same spot dozens more times, but loving her took on a new sense of urgency and importance because, though they had time, they did not have forever. Every moment, every second, waking or otherwise, had to be as perfect as possible.

…..

#Tuckson