Jefferson smiled and said to Luke, “Can you go say hi to your grandpa? He’s my daddy.”
Luke turned to Jefferson. “Daddy’s daddy?”
Everyone laughed.
Jefferson said, “Yeah, buddy, my daddy.”
Luke jumped up and went right up to my father. “Bandpa.”
My father smiled and reached out his arms, and Luke fell right into them.
“Bandpa, it is,” he whispered.
Alex giggled and yelled out, “Bandpa!”
He took them both in his arms, and before I knew it, they were all over both my mother and father. I sat there and watched the whole thing play out as tears slid down my face. I felt Jefferson reach over and wipe them off my face. I looked over at him, and we both smiled.
“I love you, Ells,” he said.
I threw myself into his arms. I tried so hard not to choke up on my words. I managed to whisper in his ear, “I love you, too, Jefferson. I love you, too.”
I stumbled out of my bedroom and followed the heavenly smells of coffee and breakfast. Azurdee must be cooking.
I walked into the kitchen and saw Azurdee at the stove, Jessie sitting at the table, and Lark sitting across from her. I glanced at Jessie, and her smile instantly made my head feel better. One look at Lark, and I felt like shit again. He gave me that smile and looked down at his coffee.
“Motherfucker,” I whispered.
Jessie and Azurdee giggled as I barely walked over to the coffee pot and poured a cup of coffee. I turned and sat down next to Jessie, but not before I leaned down and gave her a kiss.
“I swear I didn’t have that much to drink last night, but I feel like total shit.” I took a quick look at Lark.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Dude, you weren’t even drunk. You just took two shots, and I think if I remember right, you can’t handle shots—at all.”
I took a drink of my coffee and then nodded my head. The last time I’d felt this bad was the morning I’d woken up to find Jessie had left. I thought back to that party. Did I have any shots? Yep. Jeff and I did a few shots—a few as in, like, ten of them.
“I think I’m going to give up drinking for a while.” I winked at Jessie.
We had all gone out last night since Azurdee
and Lark were both leaving today.
Between Gunner’s New Year’s Eve party and then last night…I am done with alcohol. Done.
“It’s not like college anymore, old man. Your impending fatherhood has made you a lightweight,” Lark said as he let out laugh.
“Fuck you, Lark,” I said.
Azurdee began setting plates in front of us. I looked down at the plate, and I almost didn’t want to touch it. There were two crepes filled with cinnamon apples on the plate. The top of the crepes had a scoop of vanilla yogurt with a strawberry and a mint leaf. Dulce de leche sauce was drizzled all over it. It looked heavenly.
Lark looked up at me as I peeked over at him. We both turned and watched as Azurdee sat down and started eating.
She glanced up and stopped. “What? What’s wrong? Do you not like crepes?” she asked.
I looked at Jessie, and she was digging in.
“Oh…oh my god! Oh, Azurdee. These are so good. My god, I’ve missed your cooking. How I didn’t gain a ton of weight in college is beyond me. Hmm…oh…yes…”
“My god, Jessie. Make love to the damn thing, why don’t you?” I said.