UNEDITED
Chapter Eight
Spaghetti and Meatballs
After leaving her mother and Diane at Kelly's, instead of going to McCall and Jackal, P.I., Sam decided that she needed to go speak with her dear friend Maxie. She rode up the elevator thinking about what she was going to say.
When the elevator doors opened, Maxie turned around and noticed Sam exiting; she immediately became nervous.
- "Ooooh, um, hi Sam. I'm really really busy here, and Kate, you know, she really doesn't like for us to have—"
Sam put her hand up to stop Maxie from rambling on.
- "Maxie, stop. While I don't appreciate you speaking to my mother, especially about her sex life, I do think that you and I could help each other out."
Maxie calmed down a little bit. After leaving Alexis, she knew that it would only be a matter of time before Sam came after her; she was grateful that her friend's bark was proving, at least in this instance, worse than her bite.
- "Help each other? I don't need any help. Believe me! Spinelli and I are fantastic, we've come up with good uses for things that he holds dear: the Laptop, the Assassin, the Jackal—"
Sam looked at Maxie with disgust evident on her face.
- "You know what? I don't need to hear about your sex life, Maxie."
The girl rolled her eyes.
- "Yea, well, I'm thinking it's far more interesting than our parents'."
Sam pulled up a chair.
- "And that's exactly why I'm here."
Maxie frowned.
- "What are you talking about?"
- "Look, both of our parents are consistently in our business, right? Mac hates Spinelli—"
- "And Alexis hates Jason."
Sam rubbed her face.
- "That's an understatement. Anyway, your father's clearly out of practice… or he needs to be charged up."
Maxie put her hands on her hips.
- "HEY! Call me crazy, Sam, but the electrician CLEARLY hasn't been around to read Alexis' meter in a while, either! She hasn't had an electrical current in her since, Jerry Jax! No sense in Mac sticking his plug into a busted outlet!"
Sam could not believe her ears.
- "Are you calling my mother washed out?"
- "I am if you're saying that my dad's wirings are shot, then yes I am! I take offense to that!"
Sam began to laugh, causing Maxie to frown.
- "What are you laughing at?"
- "The fact that we're about to start arguing about our parents' ability to perform. I don't know about you, but this conversation is taking a very disturbing turn."
Maxie joined Sam in her laughter; she realized her ridiculous the conversation actually was.
- "Okay, fine; I guess you're right. Now what did you want to talk about?"
Sam composed herself before she took a deep breath and explained her plan.
- "Okay, it seems quite obvious to me that your dad likes my mom—"
- "Well, it looks more like your mom likes my dad, actually."
Sam stared at Maxie for a few moments.
- "Okay, are you done? I mean, are you going to keep interrupting me, or will you actually let me get my thoughts out because I could just go to Robin with this instead of coming to you."
Maxie pouted for a second before relenting.
- "FINE! I'm sorry! Please continue."
- "Okay, I need my mother to have a life of her own; you need Mac to actually have a relationship because despite my mother's interesting choices in men, God knows it's been a long time since Mac has had anything."
Before Maxie could interrupt, Sam put her hand up and continued.
- "Basically, if we don't set those two up, they won't get together. If they don't get together, they'll be in our business. So—"
Maxie quickly picked up her phone and dialed; she put her finger up to Sam, asking her to wait a moment.
- "Hi, I need a reservation for two for tomorrow night—"
Sam smacked Maxie's arm and showed her eight fingers. Maxie looked confused.
- "Um, can you hold on one second please?"
She covered the receiver.
- "What?"
- "Do you really think Mac and Alexis will agree to just go to a restaurant on a date with Mac?"
Maxie did not think about how she would have gotten Mac to go to the restaurant, either.
- "Well, I guess you're right. So what, a reservation for eight of us? How would we play that off? You and Jason, Me and Spinelli, Robin and Patrick, and then your single mom, my single dad? Seriously?"
It was Sam's turn to frown.
- "Okay, give me the phone."
Maxis handed it to her. Sam smiled and spoke into the receiver.
- "Hi, sir, I'm so sorry to keep you on hold for so long! Okay, can you make us two separate reservations, but put the tables near each other? … Oh, for three people on one reservation, and two for the other. … The name is Jones and McCall, respectively. … Great, tomorrow night at eight; that's perfect!"
Sam hung up the phone and smiled at her friend.
- "It looks like we have a date for tomorrow at Lake View Manor!"
Maxie stuck her hand out for Sam to take; they shook in solidarity of their modern day parent trap.
Later on that evening, Sam walked into the lakehouse. She needed to set up the plan so that Alexis would go out to dinner with her the next evening.
- "Mom?"
Alexis was not in the living room, when Sam entered the house, she walked toward her mother's bedroom. She knocked on the door before entering.
- "Mom?"
Alexis, who had never been a heavy sleeper, awoke to the sound of her door opening. She rolled over and stretched.
- "Hi honey."
Sam felt bad for disturbing her.
- "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to wake you up."
She started to close the door, but her mother called after her.
- "Sam, it's okay; come back here."
She patted the bed for her daughter to sit. Sam walked back into the room and sat down. Alexis gave her hand a squeeze.
- "What's up?"
- "Well, I was just thinking that we don't spend enough time together. I thought we could have dinner together tomorrow."
Alexis smiled; she was always happy to spend time with her daughter. At the same time, however, her motherly instincts told her that Sam was up to something.
- "That's sweet, honey, but what are you up to?"
Sam feigned a look of shock.
- "Mom, really? Why do I have to be up to something? Can't I just want to spend some time with you? I mean, I feel like I haven't had one-on-one time with you—"
Now Alexis knew that something was up; Sam was not one to ever crave one-on-one time with her.
- "Ok, now I know you're up to something—"
Sam rolled her eyes.
- "Why?"
- "One-on-one time? Seriously, Sam? That doesn't sound like you."
Sam began to play with one of the throw pillows on her mother's bed as she tried to think about how she could evade her mother's suspicions. Alexis knew her daughter's mind was working.
- "Sam—"
Alexis took the pillow from Sam's hands. She tapped her daughter on the chin.
- "What are you up to?"
- "Mom, I'm not up to anything! Is it really that hard to believe that I want to spend some time with you? I mean, we've had some problems the past few weeks, and I just wanted to… to make sure that we were really cool. That's it. But, if you don't want to go, then I understand; it's fine."
Sam moved to get off of the bed, but Alexis grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down. Although the purpose of the dinner was to set her mother and Mac up, she was not lying when she said that she would like to spend some quality time with her mother. It seemed as though everything over the past couple of months was about Kristina; she would not have minded having some time alone with her mother.
Alexis sensed that Sam was telling the truth, if only partially. Even though they had spoken about the happenings of the past few weeks, and she had apologized to her daughter, she knew that Sam took everything to heart, especially in regard to their relationship. She passed her hand on her daughter's cheek.
- "Honey, I'm sorry. I do want to spend time with you! How about you and I spend the afternoon together, and then we'll go to dinner afterwards?"
Sam smiled like a kid in a candy store.
- "I'd like that."
Alexis smiled back at her daughter.
- "Good."
She looked at the clock and got out of bed.
- "Okay, it's almost five; I think it's time to get dinner started."
Sam frowned at her mother.
- "You mean you're going to order dinner, right?"
- "Nope. I got this recipe from one my pro bono clients. I went to the market and got everything she told me to buy."
Sam raised her eyebrow to her mother.
- "Wow, well, look at the time. I think I'm going to head home—"
Alexis grabbed her daughter.
- "Sorry, but tomorrow is Sam and Mom day, so today—"
- "You'll kill me to try to get out of it?"
She pulled her daughter to her and gave her a kiss on the top of the head.
- "Honey, you couldn't get me out of it if you tried."
Sam smiled at her mother.
- "Well, that's a relief, I guess."
Alexis put her arm around her daughter as they walked out of her bedroom.
- "So, since tomorrow is one-on-one with us, tonight, you're staying for dinner."
- "Um, I don't know about that."
- "Sam, you're staying, and you're going to help me cook."
She rubbed her face before looking at her mother.
- "And what exactly are you forcing me to make with you?"
Alexis bit her lip.
- "Spaghetti and meatballs."
Sam began to laugh.
- "A bit bitter are we?"
- "Honey, what are you talking about?"
- "Your desire to mash up meat, and turn them into several small balls, and fry them before smothering them in red sauce. I mean, of all things for you to want to learn how to cook a day after your tryst with Mac."
Alexis rolled her eyes as they entered the kitchen.
- "We did not have a tryst, Samantha."
Sam laughed and wagged her finger at her mother.
- "Ah, the full name! Someone's defensive!"
- "Whatever. Grab a bowl and large spoons."
She pulled out the recipe and grabbed the ingredients from the fridge. Sam put the bowl on the island, and sat on a stool; she had a feeling that this attempt was going to be a disaster. Alexis looked from the recipe to the ingredients, and back to the recipe again; she scratched her head.
- "Um, okay… I think I've got it."
She began to look for a pot; although she never cooked, Viola did, therefore she knew that there had to be a pot in the cupboard. Once she found it, she filled it with water, and put it on the stove to boil.
- "See, that wasn't so bad."
Sam looked at the recipe and shook her head; there was no way that her mother would be able to make this meal.
- "Mom, I think while the water is boiling you should work on the meatballs."
- "Okay. What do I do?"
Sam smiled at her mother.
- "Basically, according to this, you call up that new Indian restaurant and place an order for dinner."
Alexis snatched the recipe from her daughter.
- "Go to your room."
Sam hopped off of the stool.
- "Gladly."
She reached into her pocket for her car keys, but they were not there. Alexis chuckled and shook her head.
- "Looking for something, honey?"
- "Yeah, my car keys; they were in my pocket."
Alexis pushed Sam out of the kitchen toward the direction of her bedroom.
- "You'll get them back after dinner."
Sam shook her head.
- "And they call me a con; my mother just pick-pocketed me."
Alexis called out from the kitchen.
- "And Sam—"
Sam stopped walking.
- "Yea?"
- "Dinner'll be at six."
Sam rolled her eyes and continued on to her room.
Mac was sitting in his office at the police station looking over some crime scene investigators' photos when Maxie walked in.
- "Hey Mac."
He closed the file and stood up to give her a hug and kiss.
- "Hi sweetheart; what are you doing here?"
She shrugged her shoulders.
- "I just came by to see how you were doing ever since the whole limber timber incident—"
Mac turned red from embarrassment.
- "Can we not discuss this please?"
She put her hands up as an act of innocence.
- "Okay! Well, that's not really why I came by anyway. I wanted to take you out for dinner tomorrow night."
He was shocked; Maxie never wanted to take him out to dinner.
- "You want to treat me for dinner—"
She shook her head.
- "Oh, no! Sorry, is that how that came out? No! Let's be serious, Dad, that's your job! No, I think you, Robin, and I should go out for dinner! I mean when was the last time that just we three were able to, like, enjoy each other's company."
He crossed his arms and stared at his daughter.
- "Maxie, what are you up to?"
- "I'm not up to ANYTHING, Daddy! And I must say that I resent the accusation!"
Mac noticed the high pitched rise in her voice, and again, the referring to him as Daddy; something was definitely up.
- "Maxie."
She crossed her arms in front of her as well.
- "Daddy."
- "Maxie."
- "Dad."
- "Maxie."
- "MAC!"
- "Maxie, I'm not going to ask you again; what are you up to?"
Maxie rolled her eyes.
- "I already told you; I'm not up to anything! I just want to go to dinner at the Lake View Manor with you! Why are you making such a big deal out of this? Just take us!"
Mac shook his head; his ears were beginning to ring as Maxie's voice began to get more and more high-pitched as she become more defensive. He decided to back off.
- "Okay, fine, honey; you win. Tomorrow, we'll go to the Lake View Manor for dinner."
She squealed in excitement, hugged and kissed him, before running out of his office; she needed to buy an outfit for the hopefully memorable evening between Mac and Alexis.
He shook his head as he watched his daughter run out of the room; there was something going on and he hoped that it would not get his daughter arrested.
Alexis had spent the hour in the kitchen following the recipe directions as closely as possible. She boiled the water, put the spaghetti in, and let it boil. She cut up onions and green pepper and mixed it with the ground turkey. She added garlic and cracked an egg into it. After doing all of that, she began making the meat balls and setting them aside. She was quite pleased with herself seeing as everything looked like food instead of some alien concoction.
- "Ah, not so bad! Little ingrate tried to tell you that you couldn't do it! HA!"
She turned the radio on and began to sing as she continued to play with the meat.
- "'It's raining men! Hallelujah!'—Ha, what a crock. If it were really raining men, this wouldn't be the closest to meatballs I've gotten in a long time."
She rolled a large one and practically slammed it onto the plate. The more the song played, the more agitated she got; she changed the station.
- "'Upside down, you're turning me, you're giving love instinctively, around and round your turning me'— YEA! OOOOOOKAY! Don't I wish."
Another meatball was flung onto the plate, and the radio station was changed again.
- "'One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do'—Oh you've GOT to be kidding me!"
She turned the radio off.
At six o'clock, she set the dinner table for four; Kristina and Molly would be home shortly from their extracurricular activities. She put the food on the table and cleaned up the kitchen. When she went to take the garbage out, Sam walked out of her room.
- "All done?"
Alexis smiled.
- "Yup! The food's on the table already waiting for—"
Kristina and Molly walked into the house.
- "Speaking of the devils."
Kristina gave her mother a kiss on the cheek, while Molly gave her mother a hug; Alexis kissed her daughter on the top of the head.
- "How was your day?"
Kristina's answers were typically short and to the point.
- "Fine."
Molly, on the other hand, usually relayed her day from alpha to omega.
- "Oh, Mommy, it was great. We're learning about haiku's in English and iambic pentameters—"
Sam put her hand up.
- "Whoa, can we have this conversation later, like when I'm not here?"
Alexis had to agree with her eldest daughter; she did not want her youngest daughter's relay of prose to ostracize Sam. It hurt her heart that her daughter had been deprived of a proper education, but she knew that it was not Sam's fault; she loved her nonetheless, and appreciated the fact that while she and the girls had book-smarts, Sam had an excessive amount of street-smarts, none of them could ever imagine to match.
- "I agree with Sam, baby. Why don't you go change and wash up for dinner."
Sam smiled at her little sister.
- "Yea, and get this, Mol, Mom cooked!"
Molly gave her sister a worried look.
- "Are you serious?"
Sam nodded her head before walking over to the table to take a look at the food waiting for them. It looks pretty decent. In fact, it looked quite appetizing.
- "I'm serious! Let's just pray that we live to tell about it."
Alexis rolled her eyes before putting the garbage on the porch; she would bring it to the can later.
- "Whatever."
While Molly and Kristina went to change, Sam continued to inspect the food.
- "Mom, seriously, I'm impressed! This looks pretty good! I'm actually curious to taste it!"
When Sam took a fork to stick into the unserved food, Alexis smacked her hand and snatched the fork back.
- "You'll wait until after your sisters come back."
Sam pouted and sat down.
- "Fine."
- "I worked really hard on this, so you all better like it."
Sam smiled.
- "Well, let's hope we're alive after the first bite; I think that's a more realistic goal."
Alexis smacked her daughter in the head before taking a seat herself. Within seconds, Kristina and Molly were joining them at the table.
Sam rubbed her hands together anticipating the taste of her mother's first home-cooked meal.
- "Okay! Um, do you think we should bless the food first?"
Kristina nodded her head in agreement.
- "I think that considering the source, we might want to pray to many different Gods."
Alexis pointed her finger at her daughter.
- "Don't you start too."
She stood up and began serving the food; they all waited for her to sit down and finish serving before they took a bite into it. Once she was seated, they all looked at each other. Alexis smiled.
- "Oh come on! Dig in!"
Molly moved the food around her plate.
- "Mom, where's the first aid kit?"
Kristina nervously did the same.
- "Seriously, is there a paramedic on hand who can pump our stomachs if anything goes awry?"
Sam looked up to the ceiling.
- "Dear God, I know that my mother here doesn't care to talk to you, but, um, if we don't survive this, can't you please make sure that Mom ends up working in heaven's kitchen, learning how to cook? I ask you this, not out of a desire to kill the other angels, which obviously is impossible, but so that in her next life, she's got the skills to not endanger the lives of her children again."
Alexis sighed.
- "You girls are so damn ungrateful! I slaved away in that kitchen! It was hard work!"
Sam relented and nudged her sisters. All three of the girls took a bite. Sam put her fork down and looked at her mother.
- "That's actually not bad! Wow!"
- "Yea, Mommy, it's pretty good!"
Kristina took another bite before feeling something odd in her mouth. She took it out.
- "Hmm, yea, other than the egg shells, it's really not bad at all."
Alexis smiled proudly.
- "While, that's just a minor inconvenience! I'm so happy you like it!"
Sam got up promptly from the table.
- "Honey, where are you going?"
- "I need to go put the food in my room in the fridge for tomorrow."
Alexis and the girls were confused.
- "What are you talking about?"
- "Why do you have food in your room?"
- "Samantha."
Sam walked out without answering them. They all got up from the table to follow her. When they got into her room, they were hit by the smell of strong Indian spices; Alexis was shocked.
- "Where in the hell did this come from?"
Sam grabbed a bag and handed another to Kristina.
- "So, it seems that new Indian restaurant delivers."
Alexis crossed her arms.
- "And how in the world didn't I hear them come in? I would've heard them at either door!"
Sam followed Kristina out to the kitchen.
- "Not if you paid them twenty extra dollars to not park in front of the house, and to deliver to my window."
Alexis shook her head and looked up to the ceiling.
- "Dear God, if Sam doesn't make it out of here alive, can you please make sure that her bed is right next to the fire? Thanks."
She walked out of the bedroom smiling proudly at the fact that they would not be eating take-out for the first time in years.