Getting my entire family to any one destination at any one time is always a major production, and tonight proved to be no exception. As a matter of fact, only one member of the Hanson family wasn’t adding to the ear-splitting noise in the white van. I tapped Taylor on the shoulder, and he turned around to face me.
“What’s up, Ike?”
“How come you’re so quiet all of a sudden? You’ve been, like, mute for two days.”
“Oh.” My brother paused for a moment. “I have? Oh, I guess I have. Sorry, Ike. Just tired, I guess. Delayed-reaction jet lag, maybe.” Tay turned back around, once again lost in his own little world. I was gonna press him further, but we pulled up at the front of the restaurant just then, and my mom herded us inside while my father parked the car.
“Hi, we’re meeting people here,” Mom told the hostess, and the woman scanned her notebook.
“Hanson-Eckran?”
“That’d be us.”
“Right this way.”
As the large group of us walked across the dining room, I got the strange feeling people were watching. Maybe I’m just paranoid. I mean, if I was eating dinner and I saw six blond-haired kids and their blond haired mother walking through the room, I’d probably look up, too. But since we’ve gotten more well-known, I always wonder if people recognize us. I turned to my brother to see what he thought, but stopped abruptly when I realized Taylor wasn’t listening- as a matter of fact, his eyes were almost popping out of his head.
I followed his gaze to the table we were headed for, where Abby sat with her mom, two sisters, and brother- Abs’ dad left the family about five years ago. Anyway, I soon saw whom my brother was staring at- two tables behind Abby sat none other than Reagan Larkspur.
“What the hell are the odds?” muttered Tay, sitting down next to his best friend.
“Priceless,” she commented to him and me. “The whole thing is just priceless. If it were a movie, I’d pay double to see it.”
“Thanks, Abby, for laughing at my misfortune,” Taylor replied.
She swatted his arm. “I’m kidding, you big baby.”
My father got to the table just then. “Lord, it feels like snow out there,” he said, and my sisters’ eyes lit up at the thought.
Shooting my father a look clearly reading that he was not to say the s-word again, Mom piped up, “So, what’s everybody having?”
Taylor already had his menu up covering his face, as if it would keep Reagan from noticing the rather large, loud party sitting two tables away. Abby looked at me, and we cracked up- this was going to be interesting.
Taylor
“Now reach up as high as you possibly can. Touch the sky...touch the moon...touch the stars.” ~ Jill Abusch
“Mommy, I wanna go by the water!” Mack declared for the umpteenth time in the last fifteen minutes.
Tulsa has only one river anywhere near it, the Arkansas, which is shamelessly exploited by the restaurant we were currently dining in. The outside part of the Chart House is really pretty, though, and I welcomed any chance to get out of the same room as Reagan, whose eyes I could feel on my back.
“I’ll take him,” I volunteered eagerly.
My father checked his watch. “All right, Tay, but don’t take too long. The food’ll be here soon.”
I nodded, and lifted my brother out of his booster seat. “Let’s go, Mackie.”
Mack agreed happily, and we walked out the front door of the restaurant, with him waving to the hostess. “I’m gonna see the water!” he crowed.
We walked around the back, where the dock is. In the summer, it’s used for outdoor dining, but on this night all that decorated it were a few lanterns. I shivered. “Mackie, it’s cold..”
My brother shrugged and squatted down, peering into the water.
“Omigosh, are you Taylor Hanson?”
I turned around, and there stood a girl about Zac’s age, with shoulder length brown hair. She was staring at me with his stunned look on her face, and I smiled to myself. “Yeah. Nice to meet you.”
“Oh, Lord,” said the girl. “My best friend Anne’s gonna have a heart attack when she finds out I met you- she is so in love with you! I think Zac’s cuter- no offense or anything. Anyway, can you sign...wait, I must have something for you to sign...” She dug into the mini-backpack she was holding, and produced a napkin from Haagen-Daz. “Here, can you sign this? To Kimmie, with an ‘ie’.”
I took the napkin and a pen from her, leaned on the wooden guardrail, and scrawled my name. “Here you go.”
“Oh, my God, thank you so much. Seriously, you have no idea how cool this is. Anyway, I’ll see you around. Thanks!”
The girl positively skipped away, and I looked down at Mackie, who was staring back up at me. “Now what do you think of that, Mack?”
“Oh, God, was that a real live teenie? I’ve never seen one in real life before. Did she try to rip off your rattail or anything?”
I smiled at Abby, who had appeared behind me unnoticed. “Nah. She was okay. A little hyper, but okay.”
My friend nodded, and picked up Mackenzie. “Hey, Big Mac.”
“Hi Abby!” Mack, genuinely happy to see her, wrapped his arms around Abby’s neck. Abs has always gotten along great with my family, which makes it a lot easier to spend time with her- Mackie has always hated Reagan with a passion, and when Jessie and Avie realized she didn’t like hanging out with them, they pretty much lost all intrest in Reagan, too.
But that didn’t matter now, I told myself. Whatever it was that was going on with Reagan could take a back burner for now...
Abby snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Hello? The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead.” She paused. “Please tell me you weren’t thinking about Reagan.”
“I wasn’t thinking about Reagan. Okay, I was, but that’s besides the point.”
“What happened between you guys, anyw-you know what? Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.”
I smiled. “Okay. There isn’t much to tell, anyway.” I shivered again. “Mack, what do you say we go inside, okay?”
“No.” Mackenzie stared up at me, and declared quite plainly, “If you make me go inside I will throw a tantrum.”
Abby burst out laughing. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re priceless, Mack?” She turned to me. “Go inside. I’ll stay with him.”
I nodded and smiled. “Thanks, Abs. You’re a saint.” I shrugged out of my jacket and placed it over her slight frame. About to go back into the restaurant, I paused, impulsively pecking her on the forehead.
I think she was surprised, because although it wasn’t unusual for us to wrestle or something to that effect, we were a relatively undemonstrative pair. “See ya, Abs,” I called.
“Wait, Taylor, I-”
I turned around. “Yeah?”
“Never mind. Forget it.”
Feeling vaguely disappointed but not sure why, I nodded, starting to walk away.
And suddenly she was in my arms, our lips together. I realize I’m being vague about how she got there, but, to be honest, I don’t know. The only thing I remember about those few moments is how her hair smelled like Herbal Essences shampoo, and how kissing her felt so natural, so true.
“Well, isn’t this a small world?”
The icy voice sliced through the air like a meat cleaver. Abby and I broke apart, and the color drained from my friend’s ruddy cheeks, as I’m sure it did from my own:
There, standing with her arms crossed and a look I hadn’t seen on her face since a speeding car sprayed mud all over her favorite outfit, stood Reagan Larkspur.
