4

I had my mother on speakerphone while I worked on packing up everything I needed the morning before the family picnic. She'd been listing a dozen different things that I needed to bring, and I was struggling to keep up.

As a result, I had a suitcase, an Igloo cooler, and my art supplies box all opened up at once, each only half packed and nowhere near ready to go.

"Don't forget to pack your special cider," Mum said, her voice a bit staticy coming through the speakerphone. "Last year there wasn't enough, and your Uncle Phil just about threw a fit."

"I know, Mum." I stuffed several bottles of hard cider into the cooler. Living smack in the middle of Amish country meant I was surrounded by Pennsylvania's famous apple orchards. Bringing plenty of hard cider to the family party was my second job, after making the banner. With my family all this side of the ditch it made things easier, my schooling back in Wales and my early career with…. Lisa…. time to let go of such things I guess. You can never go back they say. Since my family had moved here in my early teens I really should have just stayed, not gone back to my roots thinking it would do me better. Look what I got for it.

"And how does the banner look?" Mum asked. "Text me a picture. I can't wait to see it."

I held the long strip of white cloth in my hands, looking at the incomplete designs painted across it. I'd only finished outlining the letters that stretched across the banner, spelling out "Jones Annual Easter Extravaganza."

I still hadn't coloured the letters in or added any other pictures or designs to it.

"It's…too big to fit in a picture," I said, folding up the banner and tucking it into my suitcase. "Look, Mum, I've really got to finish packing."

"If you would learn to get more organized," she said, "you could have had all of this done last night."

I sighed. "I know, Mum. I know. But I've got to go."

I hung up the phone as Mum was saying, "Oh! And make sure you don't forg—"

I was determined not to care what else she was reminding me about. I hurried to finish packing, putting most of my clothes into the suitcase. It was only a three day trip with the two hour flight each way my Sleep Phase. I would wake to the morning still. Most of 'today' would be spent at Mum's house with a dozen or so of my relatives, cooking and prepping for the picnic. Tomorrow we'd spend all day at the park, eating and drinking and catching up. Then since the museum was closed Monday anyway, I'd stay the extra night so I wouldn't have to deal with flying home Sunday night after a long day of partying.

"Sometimes I don't know why I bother with all of this," I muttered to myself as I gathered up my things and headed down to the car. Spending time with my family was sometimes more of a hassle than I thought it was worth. But, they were my family. Even the ones I didn't like very much.

The drive back home from the airport was uneventful. I always had my car there in the long term parking, back and forth like a maniac as I promised Mum I wouldn't leave her behind all alone … with all the family. I sat in traffic for about forty-five minutes on a two mile stretch of the highway, leaving me grumpy. I did ninety the rest of the trip trying to make up the lost time, and barely avoided being pulled over when I spotted a cop. I slowed down just enough to let another car pass me, and the cop went after him instead.

By the time I got to Mum's house, half a dozen cars were already lined up along the curb in front of the house. On top of that, a lot of our neighbours had family over as well, leaving me with no parking on the entire block. I ended up having to park the next block over. I lugged my things up the block, balancing my cooler and my art kit in my arms and dragging the suitcase by its nylon strap as it rolled on its wheels behind me.

I was greeted by a chorus of a dozen relatives shouting "Hi!" as I dragged by bags inside. I made the requisite round of hugs, greeting relatives I hadn't seen since Christmas or in a few cases since my horrible birthday. I got a brief introduction to my brother's new girlfriend, though my Mum and my aunts were so busy peppering her with questions that we didn't get much time to chat.

I wrangled my cousin Tosh into helping me carry my things up to my room. Mum had still kept all of our bedrooms the way they were, even after me and my brother and sister had been living on our own for years. It was nice sometimes to be able to sleep back in my childhood bedroom, though each year the bed seemed a little smaller and the room a little more cramped.

I deposited my bags in a corner and sat down on the bed, leaning back on my arms. Tosh sat on the cooler. Her dark hair was coloured pink tips for Easter and cut into a cute bob. She was skinny, which had always made me jealous when I was young. Adopted. Japanese with small hips too. Cow.

"So, you ready for the usual interrogations?" she asked, grinning sympathetically at me. We both spent every year being grilled about when we were going to "find a man and settle down." At least Tosh had a man: he was just older than her by about ten years.

Which is why she kept him a secret from the family.

"Do you think I can still fall back on the 'I'm still hurting after the breakup' excuse?" I asked.

"After three years?" She shook her head. "Sorry, hon, you're going to need to come up with some new material this year."

"Darn. How about you? Did you bring that friend of yours, what was his name?"

"Kev," she said. She shook her head and laughed. "No, actually, Kev was busy this year. He just got married."

"Lucky him," I said. "I hope he found a nice girl."

I'd only met Kev a couple of times, when Tosh brought him along as her faux-date. He'd seemed nice enough. And he'd been rather hot. If he hadn't been a jock, I might have tried to "steal" him from Tosh. The real guy was only known to me … Tosh living in the same time code as me meant we worked only a few hours away from one another. A bit of a dick but she liked him. A doctor.

"Going stag then?" I asked.

"Nah, I actually invited a friend. One of the parents from my day-care."

Tosh had long ago decided that even though she loved kids, she would never be able to handle raising any of her own. She worked at a day-care so that she could spend time with kids and watch them grow, while still having the luxury of sending them back to their parents at the end of the day.

"Well, you're safe, then," I said. "As long as your guy is ready for all of the questions about how 'serious' you are and whether there's wedding bells in your future."

She laughed. "Yeah, he knows the drill."

"I, on the other hand," I said, "am going to get hounded. Mum already started. At least twice a week for the past few weeks."

"Ouch. Sounds like you'll need plenty to drink."

"That sounds like a plan." I pointed to my suitcase. "Speaking of which, I come bearing gifts."

Tosh opened the suitcase and we opened one of the bottles of hard cider while I ran downstairs for glasses.

We spent most of the afternoon tucked away in my room, enjoying cider while we worked together on painting the banner. Tosh had never been as much into art as I was, but she did a fine job colouring in the letters while I worked on painting designs around the words. I went with a sunrise and praying hands with a green meadow dotted with brightly decorated Easter eggs.

"Lovely," Tosh said as she watched me paint the rays of sun. "Your Mum is going to love that."

We eventually got asked down to the kitchen to help cook. The place was crowded with my relatives, and as the night wore on, my Mum and my aunts put on some music from their youth. When they started cackling with laughter we knew it was an official family gathering. No party of Jones' could ever go without at least one of my aunts nearly collapsing as she cracked up from some story or another that was being told.

The next day, the whole clan carpooled out to the park for our Easter celebration. The family members staying at my Mum's house were just one small part of the gathering. When we got to the park, there were a couple hundred members of the extended family already there.

Cousins, aunts, uncles, second cousins, people twice or thrice removed, and more. I didn't even really know a lot of them beyond my immediate cousins, but even in our group there were over fifty of us.

We gathered at the pavilion on top of a low, grassy hill.

Picnic tables lined the pavilion, and built-in barbecues stood in a circle at the centre. One of my uncles was already heating up the coals while the rest of us unpacked the food and drinks and laid them out on the table. Then two of my younger cousins came over to get the banner from me and hang it up.

"Here we go," Tosh whispered to me while they climbed up on top of the tables to hang the banner from the roof overhead. As the banner unfurled and the scene came into view, there were whoops from the younger kids, and oohs and aahs from some of my older relatives.

A couple of people clapped, but all in all it was a good reaction.

"Oh no, now they'll ask me to do it again," I said regretfully.

We dug into the snacks and the hard cider. I sat next to Tosh and looked around.

"So, where's this man of yours?" I asked.

"Lemme check," she said. She pulled out her phone and sent a couple of texts. A few minutes later, she put her phone away and said, "They're almost here."

"They?"

"Yeah," she said. "He's bringing his son."

"Oh, that'll be great." I laughed and clapped my hands. "Get ready for Aunt Janet to start peppering you with questions about whether you're ready to become a second mother to the boy."

I spent some time catching up with my brother and sister, and we chatted about everything that had been going on in our lives over the past few months. My brother's girlfriend mostly kept to herself, spending a lot of time on her phone. At first I thought she was being antisocial, but from the look on her face, I got the feeling she was overwhelmed by the number of people there. My brother told me she came from a small family, so a gathering this large was probably more than she was used to.

I was still chatting with my brother when Tosh waved to someone as he walked into the pavilion. I looked over and saw a man and his son waving back.

"Oh my gosh."

"What?" Tosh asked.

I stood up and watched them approach, grinning. Jack walked right up to our table, his hand on JJ's shoulder.

They stopped dead when they saw me.

"Hey, it's the museum Man!" JJ said.

"Ianto," Jack said, holding his hand out to me. "Gosh, I, wow…I had no idea you'd be here."

I shook his hand, laughing awkwardly. "Small world, huh?"

"You guys know each other?" Tosh asked.

"Yes," I said. "They came to the museum a few weeks ago. I just…wow. You guys! I had no idea you went to Tosh's day-care."

"JJ goes there after school," Jack said, tousling his son's hair. "His Mum picks him up after work most days, but I pick him up on Fridays."

"Go figure," I said. I gave Tosh a look, and she studied me with her lips pursed. My face heated up. I cleared my throat. "Well, welcome! It's great to have you both here."

We ate and chatted for awhile. JJ found some kids close to his own age, second cousins of mine, and joined them to play some game involving cards. I was glad that he wasn't having any trouble making friends here. When none of our relatives were around, I leaned close to Tosh and asked, "So, does Jack know why he's here? I mean, he's basically a 'beard'."

"Yes, I've talked to him about Owen being way older than me. I think he understands us not wanting to get disapproving looks from the relatives."

"Yeah," I said. "It's not so bad on Dad's side of the family. But Mum's side is, well, let's just say most of them can be pretty judgmental and leave it at that."

"Though the other side has its flaws, too," I added. "Let us not forget the fiasco when Chris joined the army."

"Oh, gosh." Tosh shook her head, and then took a sip of her hard cider. "I thought Aunt Cathy was going to hold a protest to keep him from going overseas."

"Wait," Jack said, looking between the two of us. "I'm confused."

"Aunt Cathy is firmly opposed to violence of any kind," I explained. "She doesn't think we have any right to fight overseas and invade other countries, regardless of whether it's a place that's committing genocide or something."

"Whereas Uncle Phil," Tosh said, "is a firm believer in nuking them all."

"No, not about that," Jack said. "Whose dad's side of the family are we talking about."

"Both of ours," Tosh and I said almost simultaneously.

Jack frowned, his face scrunched up in confusion. "I thought you were cousins."

"We are," I said.

"On your fathers' sides."

"And our mothers'," I said, smiling.

Jack thought about that for a moment, then asked, "Did I just hear Dueling Banjos start to play?"

Tosh and I both laughed. "No, it's not quite that weird. We're just cousins on both sides."

"How does that work, exactly?"

"Well," I said, "My Mum and dad met and started dating. Then my dad introduced his little brother, Uncle Joe, to Mum's little sister, Aunt Janet."

"And they got together too?" Jack asked.

"Exactly," I said. "That kind of thing was more common in the old days."

Tosh went to wait in the barbecue line for some hot dogs, leaving me and Jack alone. We suddenly fell into an awkward silence. I looked up at him, forcing a smile.

He smiled back, but looked as unsure what to say as I was. After all, what did you say to the single dad that your cousin brought to the family picnic to cover up the fact that she was dating an older man?

"So, you guys really go all out for Easter," Jack said, looking around at the crowded pavilion. People were playing board games at a few tables, there was music playing, and one group had set up a volleyball net on the grass off to one side. They kept having to run downhill to fetch the ball every time someone missed a shot, then someone had to climb back up the hill before the game could continue. My asthma burned just watching it all.

"We go kind of crazy for everything," I said. "You should see the Christmas parties."

"Are they like this?"

"Sort of," I said. "But with more drama and fighting."

I didn't have many good memories of the family Christmas parties. Someone inevitably got into a big argument, usually when they'd been drinking too much.

"What about you?" I asked. "Got a big family?"

"No, not really." Jack frowned slightly, then took another drink of cider. "JJ's Mum has a big family, so he's always involved in a lot of family events with them. But I've only got one sister, and she lives down in North Carolina. We don't talk much. Not since our baby brother died."

"That's a shame." I felt a twinge in my chest at the sad, lonely look on Jack's face. "I guess since the divorce, or the separation rather, you haven't been welcome to the big family gatherings."

"No, not at all." He smirked and shook his head. "Though at least it means I don't need to deal with my mother-in-law anymore. She never approved of me."

"Blessing in disguise, I suppose."

"Yeah." He took another drink. His shoulders were slumped and some of the light was gone from his eyes. I wanted to give him a hug, to make some kind of contact to let him know he wasn't alone in the world. It must have been hard, being cut off from everyone. Estranged from his wife's family, without any family of his own. It seemed that JJ was the only person left in his world.

Thinking about it made my heart ache.

Tosh returned with hot dogs for all. The three of us sat at a picnic table and chatted while we ate.

After lunch, people started dividing the kids up into groups for the Easter egg hunt. They divided everyone by age. The pre-K kids were brought down to the playground, where the plastic eggs were scattered about mostly in plain view to give them an easy time of it. Some of the slightly older kids, JJ included, were brought to a little patch of trees between the pavilion and the parking lot, where the eggs were at least a little bit harder to find. While the kids were having their fun, I spotted something I hadn't thought about for years.

"Hey," I said to Jack, tugging on his arm, "come check this out."

"What's up?" he asked, following along.

I led him to the edge of the tree line where a few pine trees grew close together. I searched for a minute to find the right place, then lifted one of the lower branches, revealing a path to the interior. I led Jack inside, and we found ourselves surrounded by pines that mostly blocked us from view. We had to duck down to avoid banging our heads on more branches, but the growth was sparse on the inside.

"What's this?" Jack asked. "Your secret garden?"

I laughed and shook my head. "No. It was my favourite hiding place here when I was a kid. Here, look."

I pointed to one of the trees, where two hearts were carved into the trunk.

"Tosh did this one," I said, pointing to one that read "K.L. + J.H." "It was the first boy she had a serious crush on. They sort of dated for awhile when she was fourteen."

"And this one?" Jack asked with a smile, pointing to the other heart. It read "Irvine 4 Ever." "Who was 'Irvine'?

Childhood crush?"

My face turned bright red. "Oh gosh. Sort of."

"Sort of?" His smile widened.

"Well," I said, "it's kind of embarrassing."

"Oh, come on," he said, prodding me gently in the shoulder. "We all have silly crushes when we're kids. When I was thirteen, I was madly in love with my social studies teacher."

"That's perfectly normal."

He stared me down, grinning. It was clear he wasn't going to let up. "So, who was Irvine? Boy at your school? Teacher? Online friend?"

I looked away, laughing at my own foolishness. "Actually…he was a video game character."

"Oh." Jack stared at me for a moment, then burst out laughing.

I laughed as well. "Look, he had this cowboy thing going on, and it used to get me all hot and bothered, okay?"

We had a fit of giggles for a few moments.

"It's okay," Jack said. "I'm sure he was no more unobtainable for you than Mrs. Stevens was for me."

He reached out and his fingers brushed against mine.

I clasped his hand and looked up at him. My giggles started to subside, leaving me feeling warm and energized. Our eyes met. Then he kissed me.

He pulled me close in the cramped confines between the pine trees. I reached up and cupped his face in my hands. His lips were soft and his chin rough with just a bit of stubble. His arms wrapped around me and held me close. We shared a moment there, under the trees, like I hadn't experienced in a very long time.

The moment ended when we heard some kids racing by and shouting. We pulled apart, both smiling and laughing. I peeked through the branches to see if we'd been caught.

"Wow," I said.

"Wow, indeed." He held my hand, studying my face as if seeing me for the first time all over again.

We didn't talk about it right then. It felt best just to savour the moment. Though by unspoken agreement we decided to slip back out of the trees and rejoin the group before anyone noticed we were missing.

As we were circling back around the pines, Tosh caught sight of us. I looked at her, blushing, while I plucked a few stray pine needles from my hair. Jack coughed and looked down at his feet.

"Well, well, well," Tosh said, stalking towards us with her hands on her hips and a grin on her face. "Ianto Icarus Jones, have you been fooling around in the bushes with my fake boyfriend?"