Chapter 9

Flashbulbs and wine,
And hold that smile,
Everyone's here, flown for miles,
Looks like you're still the test and we're looking our best

"Christmas Pics", Barenaked Ladies

The phone rang and he jerked awake from his nap on the couch to answer it. "Yeah?" he said, sleepily.

"Now, is that any way to answer a phone?" his mom said.

"Sorry, Mom. I wasn't really awake," he explained as he sat up. "You're here?"

"You're forgiven, and yes, we're here. We've just picked up the rental car and we're about to leave the airport. So, we'll be at your house in, about twenty minutes?" she asked.

"Mmm, more like thirty, but yeah," he said. "Good. Are you guys hungry?"

"You have a seventeen year old brother," she pointed out.

"Good point. Ok, I'll get dinner organized, then," he replied.

"That would probably be wise," she agreed.

"You guys up to going out, or would you rather eat in?" he asked.

"Oh, we're fine. Whatever you wanted to do would be fine with us, honey," she said.

"Ok," he said, yawning. "I'll see you in a bit."

"See you soon, Tim," his mom said as she hung up.

He nodded to himself as he thought about dinner. "Cal?" he called. She didn't answer. He frowned and pulled himself up to go look for her.

He found her outside on the back porch talking on her cell phone. "Yes, I know….I know. I didn't…all right," she sighed as he raised his eyebrows at her. "Dad", she mouthed at him. He nodded and retreated to sit on the stoop. "I know, Daddy, but really, it has nothing to do with you. I'm just really tired and no good company for y'all. You'll have a better time this way, ok? No, we're going to have a pretty quiet time, I think. Yes, I'll call. Of course. Ok, my love to Kenny and Marybeth. And Mama too. I'll talk to you later, ok? Yes, I love you too," she sighed. "Ok, bye." She clicked off her phone and sighed. "Lord."

"They're upset," he said, not really asking.

"A bit, yes. But I couldn't really give a damn," she said. "I am not up to that."

"Understandable," he nodded. She looked tired and upset and he had a flash of inspiration. "Has H gotten himself in trouble down in Little Havana lately?" he asked.

She blinked at the seeming non-sequitur, but shook her head. "No, nothing's really gone on down there in at least a month or two. Why?"

"Do you think you might be up for Pepita's?" he asked, knowing it was one of Calleigh and Eric's favorite restaurants. "If you aren't, I understand, but I'm trying to think where to go for dinner tonight when my folks get here, and that's the sort of place they'd love. But if you're not feeling up to it, we can take them somewhere else."

"God, I haven't been to Pepita's since…oh, May, I think. Eric's birthday," she sighed. "We just never got back there this past summer."

"I know," he said, nodding. "And I know how much you love it."

"I do," she said, brightening a bit. "You know, that sounds excellent. You want Horatio to come too?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's probably a good idea to have two Spanish speakers with us, I'd think. I don't think my parents know any Spanish, and I think Matt takes German at school, so I doubt he knows much, either," he said.

"Ok, I'll call him and see if he's up for it. Your parents are on their way?" she asked.

"Yeah, they're just leaving the airport now," he nodded.

"Good, then you've got time to take a shower and get dressed," she said, looking him up and down. When he blinked at her, she sighed, "You're still in your pajamas, Tim. Didn't you notice?"

He looked down and saw that she was right. "Oh. You know, I was going to get dressed and then I got distracted and went to look something up and it must have just slipped my mind."

She shook her head in amusement. "Well, good thing I said something, then, otherwise you might never have figured it out."

"Humph," he said, levering himself up to go back into the house.

Some hours later, after a flurry of excitement and an excellent dinner, Tim found himself standing on the beach near his house with Matt and Calleigh while his parents walked ahead.

"This is way cool," Matt said. "I mean, it's December, and we're on a beach!"

Tim smiled. He wouldn't admit it aloud, but he tended to feel the same sort of amazement every winter, even after nearly 10 years. "Welcome to Miami."

"Dude, you know how much snow we've got already?" Matt crowed.

"I can imagine," Tim said.

"More than we saw in North Carolina?" Calleigh asked.

"I'm sure," Tim replied. "What, 12-15 inches already?" he asked Matt.

"Near about, yeah," Matt said. "Is the water warm enough to swim in?"

Tim shrugged. "Maybe not for Miamians, but you'd probably be fine. You planning on getting some training in while you're here?"

"Yeah, I had to promise I'd run every day while I'm here, but if I can swim, it would be even better. I haven't done much open water, though," Matt admitted.

"You're a swimmer?" Calleigh asked.

"Yup," Matt said. "I swim the 100 fly and the 200 IM. And a freestyle relay, if I'm needed."

"Wow," Calleigh said. "That's cool. But I bet it's cold in the winter."

Matt laughed. "It is, a bit. You get used to it, though."

"This beach isn't the best for swimming, since there's no lifeguard, but I can take you somewhere that would be better," Tim said. "Or, Alexx has a Y membership for her family and she said she could get a pass for a week if you wanted to use the pool."

"Really? That would actually be great. Coach wasn't all that thrilled with me missing most of the two-a-days, even if I am going to be back in time for the meet," Matt explained. "He understood why I needed to go, but I can't say he was happy about the timing, since they'll be scouts at the meet."

"He thinks you've got a scholarship shot?" Tim asked, raising his eyebrows.

"It's possible," Matt shrugged. "Not at one of the big name schools, but there's some smaller schools that are sending people out too. He thinks I can make States this year, though, and that would probably nail me a partial if I do well these next two meets."

"You didn't tell me that," Tim said. "That's awesome."

"Well, every bit helps, y'know?" Matt shrugged.

"Oh, I know," Tim agreed, nodding. "I'll call Alexx when we get back."

"Sweet. And hey, if not, I can run still," Matt said. "You still run?"

Tim shook his head. "Not like I used to, no. My knee starts to protest after about two miles, and really, I only have to be able to do a sub-12 mile to pass the physical tests, so I only really train when those are coming up."

"You're way under 12, though, I'd think," Matt said.

Tim nodded. "I made it in 9 last year, but I wasn't really pushing it. I could probably have done it closer to 8."

"That's respectable, after a knee surgery," Matt said.

"After 15 years and four knee surgeries, yeah, it's not bad," Tim said, dryly.

"Four?" Matt asked, frowning.

"The original, and three revisions," Tim nodded. "Word of advice: don't fuck your knee up yet. If I'm anything to go by, you're not gonna stop growing until you're about 23. I grew about four inches between 18 and 23."

"Damn," Matt said. "I forgot about the revisions."

"Eh, you were small," Tim shrugged.

"Wait, you were a runner?" Calleigh asked.

"Cross-Country," he said, nodding.

"I completely cannot see you as a jock," she said, looking at him and shaking her head.

Matt laughed, and Tim sighed. "I wasn't. It's kind of a family rule, everyone does two extracurriculars in high school."

"Yup. Preferably a sport and an academic thing, although if you don't make a sport, you can do two academic things. But you've got to try out for something. Oh, and you work the restaurant, too," Matt said. "I swim and volunteer with the Tutoring Club. And do Youth Group at church and work 10 hours a week at the restaurant."

"Good Lord," Calleigh said, shaking her head. "When do you get all your homework done?"

Matt shrugged. "Well, right now, I don't do much with the Youth Group, since it's swim season. I'll pick that back up in March. And I'm only doing tutoring during study hall and lunch two days a week, since I've got practice after school. Meets are on Fridays, so I work Saturdays and Sundays. You get good at balancing it all out. That's why we do it, you see. Papa was a big fan of having well rounded and capable kids."

"Your grandpa?" she asked. Tim and Matt nodded. "So you did Cross-Country?" she asked Tim.

"Well, I was only 13 when I started high school," he explained. "And I was small, at that. Football wasn't exactly in the cards."

She laughed. "Lord, Tim, you'd never make a football player. You're much too scrawny."

"Yes, well, it was worse," he sighed.

"I can only imagine," she said, smiling. "So what was your second activity?"

"Science Club," he shrugged.

"Why am I not surprised?" she smiled.

"Hey, he won the state science fair four years running," Matt said, proudly.

"Did you really?" Calleigh asked.

He sighed. "Yeah. Me and Jason."

"Oh," she said, quieter.

"No, it's good, really," he said. "Remind me, I'll show you the photo album sometime," he offered, shyly. He'd never offered to show anyone before, but he knew Calleigh would get a kick out of it.

"Oh, I'll remind you," she said.

"They did cool stuff," Matt said. "I remember some of it. And they still talk about it, the teachers do."

Before Tim could frame a reply to that, his Dad called from up ahead, "Hey, Matt, come here and look at this."

"Ok," Matt called, breaking away to jog over to his parents.

Calleigh watched him with a bemused smile on her face. "He's nothing like you," she remarked to Tim.

"No, thank God," he said, shaking his head.

She chuckled. "You're getting tired, aren't you?"

"Mmm, yeah," he said.

"You want to head home?" she asked.

"Nah, they're enjoying it. If you don't mind playing host for a minute or two, I'll just go sit for awhile, you guys can collect me on the way back up," he said, nodding towards a nearby rock.

"No, I don't mind," she said. "You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just want to sit awhile," he replied.

"All right, then. Yell if you need anything, or if you get ready to go home, ok?" she said. "I won't let them get too much further."

"Thanks, Cal," he said, glad that she understood why he wanted her to stick with his folks. It wasn't that he didn't think they could take care of themselves, but he didn't want them to get too far away, or feel abandoned, either.

"No problem," she said, turning to walk towards his family as he picked his way over to the rock. It was the rock he and Calleigh usually sat on when they walked down here, and he sat down in his familiar spot. He noticed his mom glance back at him before saying something to Calleigh and making her way towards him.

"Hey, kiddo," she said, smiling at him. "You all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, smiling back. "Just getting a little tired. As sad as it seems, it's getting towards my bedtime."

"Not sad at all. It's been a long day," she said, sitting down next to him on the rock. "Mind if I keep you company?"

"Of course not," he said, shifting to give her some more space to sit.

"It must be so nice to live close enough to walk to the beach," she said with a sigh.

"It is. It's part of why I bought the house," he admitted.

"I can understand that, now," she replied. "The house is beautiful, I don't think I told you in September."

"Thank you," he said.

"Thank you for letting us stay with you," his mom said. "I know you must have gone to some trouble to get ready."

"Oh, it wasn't trouble. It's just easier for you guys to stay here instead of at a hotel and having to go back and forth and all," he said. "Did you see the towels on the bed?"

"I did, yes, thank you, sweetie," she said.

"Good," he said. "There's more in the bottom of the cupboard just as you go into the bathroom if you need more. And if you need extra soap or a toothbrush, there's a blue bin on the second shelf in the top cupboard that has extra stuff in it."

"Mmm, good, because I will bet you 5 dollars that Matt forgot a toothbrush. He was so excited and so busy when we were getting ready to go," she said.

"We have lots of toothbrushes," he said. "Cal came across a buy three, get two free sale last month and bought about ten of them."

"Well, that's handy," his mom laughed.

"Yeah. Oh, and I found somewhere for you guys to go to Mass for Christmas, too. I put the printout with the directions on the dresser in the bedroom. I called and made sure the Masses were in English, too. They're not, always, around here," he explained.

"Oh, that's sweet of you, honey." she said, squeezing his arm. "I was going to look in the phone book tomorrow or something."

"I figured you'd want to know. I'm…not going to come, though, ok?" he said, hesitantly. Church was another issue that had been a previous battleground, and he didn't want to spark it off, even though he was almost sure they had accepted that fact.

"That's fine, sweetie. Really. Your dad promised he wouldn't say anything if you didn't want to go to Mass. It's fine," she nodded.

"Is he upset about it?" he asked.

"Mmm, not really. I think he might have said something out of habit, but not out of any real disappointment," she replied.

"And you?" he asked, hesitantly.

"Oh, honey. No, I'm fine. You've got to go with a whole heart, you know? If I've learned anything, it's that you can't go for someone else, you've got to go for you," she smiled wryly. "It just doesn't work, otherwise."

"Yeah," he said. His mom would know.

"So, Calleigh has moved in, then?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Not officially, yet, no. But yeah, she lives here now. Her lease isn't up until March, but she's not renewing it," he replied.

"That's good," his mom nodded. "Plenty of time to move, then."

"Yeah, she said that after New Year's, she'd go over and start figuring out what she really wants to move over and all. Like, we don't really need two televisions, so she'll probably sell hers, since mine is newer, but some of her furniture is nicer than mine, so we might use some of it and sell mine," he explained.

"Makes sense," she said. "You like her, don't you?" she asked after a moment.

He blinked. "Well, yeah. I mean, if I had to name someone, she'd probably be my best friend," he said, slowly, trying to not feel like it was a betrayal.

"No, silly," his mom said, affectionately. "You like her, like her."

The all too familiar bubble of panic started to form behind his stomach as he struggled to find a response to that. It wasn't an idea he'd ever allowed himself to entertain, even before this point. It was off limits, his feelings about Calleigh. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said, trying to keep his breath from catching.

"Of course you do," his mom said, smiling. "She likes you too, you know."

The bubble rose and his hands clenched as he tried to take a deep breath. He closed his eyes and started counting doubles, a new trick Andy had shown him last week. 2…4…8…16…32…64… By 128, he'd pulled himself back from the panic and it started to dissipate. He looked up to find his mother staring at him with concern. "Timmy?" she asked.

"I'm…I'm fine," he said, trying to smile at her. "Really, that wasn't…it's fine."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" she started.

"No, no, it's fine, really. This happens when I get tired, you know? I've been keyed up all day, too, so you know, it was going to happen at some point," he said, shaking his head.

"This happens a lot?" she asked.

"Less than it did before. And it wasn't anything, really. I mean, anything really bad. I got it back, so it's fine. It's when I don't, that it's a problem," he tried to explain. "That's kind of why they won't let me back to work yet, you see. Because I can't always keep it together," he admitted. His mother still looked worried. "Oh, Mom, really, I'm ok. Honest. It's getting better. I'm working on it. It's just that I…get tired, that's all."

"Ok, honey," she said. "I believe you." They said quietly for a moment more while he caught his breath again. "Do you want to get home?" she asked, still slightly concerned.

He smiled sheepishly. "Maybe that would be good, yeah. I'm sorry, I know it's hardly 9 yet, but it really is nearly bedtime. I go to bed early, anymore."

"Don't be sorry, you don't have anything to apologize for," she said, slipping her arm around his shoulders and squeezing him. "Nothing at all." She stood up. "Wait here, I'll go round everyone up."

"Thanks," he said, watching her walk back down to the water's edge to bring everyone back. He really was overtired. It would be good to sleep, knowing everyone was safely here and having a good time so far.