the twenty-first century ellinghams

chapter eleven: unwelcome

~about eleven years ago~

     stevie has to get out the car eventually. she has to get out of the car, out of the parking garage, into the building, and up to the rooftop bar to meet him. yet her hands are still on the steering wheel, even though the car has been parked for minutes. this was a mistake. finally, she turns off the car and pulls the keys out of the ignition. as she gets out of the car and begins walking, she rummages through her purse for her phone and searches through the "recent" list for the one she wants. it rings only twice before she picks up.
     "you should be on a date right now," janelle says.
     "what possessed me to do this?" stevie replies.
     "hormones?" janelle suggests.
     "i'm twenty-three years old, pretty sure i'm passed the point where i can blame temporary insanity on hormones."
     "well, then i'm in the same boat as you. what the hell possessed you to do this?" stevie sighs.
     "you had to be there, janelle. i mean i get home from work, and i had just sat down to eat dinner and rewatch gilmore girls for the billionth time when there's a knock on the door and it's him! i mean he was all awkward and charming and his hair was a little wet from the rain. his hair was wet. from. the. rain. janelle! when a guy shows up at your doorstep with his hair wet from the rain, how do you say no to dinner?"
     "like this," janelle says. "no."
     "well, too late," stevie replies, pressing the button for the crosswalk.
     "i don't know, maybe this is actually good for you. maybe this will finally bring you some sort of closure with him. either it will go great, or it won't and you can finally be done with it. you never really did get over him."
     "yes i did!" stevie says.
     "hate to break it to you stevie, but no, you didn't." stevie wants to argue, but she knows she can't, not really. she walks into the building and presses the "up" button on one of the many elevators.
     "i have to go," she says.
     "okay, but call me after, okay? i want to hear about everything."
     "okay, love you. talk to you soon." she presses the "end call" button and steps into the elevator. she selects the button labeled with an "r" which she assumes stands for "rooftop". she takes a few deep breaths as the elevator goes up and up and up. this was a mistake. the elevator door opens to a lobby area. on one side of the room were the elevators, and on the other were tall glass, already opened doors leading out to the rooftop. she walks out of the lobby and onto the rooftop. it was a summer thursday evening, the sun just beginning to set, which meant it wasn't very busy. there was a long bar in the middle of the space, with tables of various numbers of seats surrounding it, and then an outer path to walk along to view the scenery. she walks up to the bar and examines a seasonal drink menu while she waits for a bartender's attention. all the drinks are based off of summer activities, like "summer sunset" or "by the pool". this was a mistake. a bartender turns his attention towards her.
     "what can i get ya?" he asks. she doesn't need to think much about her answer, doesn't even look up from the menu.
     "rum and coke," she says, in unison with a voice coming from her right.

~present day~

     everyone in the room freezes except for dana and henry who continue playing like nothing was wrong. but something was very wrong. jack looks to allison, allison looks to becky, becky looks to the door. stevie's dad looks to her mom, her mom looks to stevie, stevie looks to david. her parents had retired a few years before, but they were still very much edward king supporters. stevie was able to ignore it, being states away helped immensely, and tried to just let them be grandparents. but now that edward king was here, she could see them straightening their pajamas and sitting a little taller. it causes stevie's blood to boil slightly, edward king deserved no sign of respect. but, there is a greater issue at hand.
     "what are you doing here? and you... brought tina," david says. shit. stevie had not seen edward king since henry's first birthday party over a year ago. he had been invited as a gesture of good will, a chance to meet his grandson. they hadn't actually expected him to come, but of course, he did and brought tina with. at the event, tina had gotten much too drunk for two o'clock on a sunday afternoon. she had sat next to stevie at one of the picnic tables at the park and drunkenly complained about her crumpling marriage. eddie, like tina, was no stranger to their liquor cabinet. he was also apparently not a stranger to a few women that were not tina. the news had not been a shock to stevie, she had read plenty of news articles about the scandals. but hearing it at the park, from tina herself, had been sobering. yet here they were, walking into the sitting room like there was nothing odd about the occasion. they were not wearing plaid pajamas, eddie was in a suit and tina was in a dress clearly meant for an event. david, looking a little pale and equally furious, follows them.
     "good morning, everyone," eddie says to the group. dana and henry look up at him curiously.
     "who are you?" dana asks. eddie looks a little taken aback, but he hides it quickly. dana and henry had seen eddie a few times, but they were still too little to recognize him as grandpa. he was just an old guy they saw every once in awhile.
     "jack, could you take the kids to the other room?" stevie asks jack, who's also looking a little pale. he had met eddie as well, but this was a very different occasion. he nods briskly and begins to get up.
     "we're not here to cause trouble," eddie says quickly. "there's no need for that."
     "jack, please take the kids to the other room," stevie repeats. she does not care if she's being rude. if eddie was going to be a problem, he would be a problem without the kids present. jack gets up, taking dana and henry with him, and goes into the guest bedroom. david sits back down on the couch, taking stevie by the hand and squeezing it. she squeezes back reassuringly. eddie and tina stand awkwardly in the entrance. it's so quiet that the sound of the guest room door closing can be heard, even from a level down.
     "what the hell are you doing here?" david asks, breaking the silence.
     "we just wanted to come by and wish everyone a merry christmas. we brought gifts," eddie replies, his voice calm and clear. stevie hadn't realized the gift bags and boxes tina's holding until then.
     "unannounced?" becky says. "you had no right, edward." her voice is cool, and the use of "edward" instead of "eddie" sends a message. if eddie thought he was being casual, he was far from it.
     "aren't you tired of all this coolness?" eddie asks, laughing a bit, like we were the unreasonable ones here. "isn't it natural for families to be together on christmas morning?"
     "yes," david says. "families. you are not family."
     "david, i'm your father," eddie replies.
     "yes, thank you for the y chromosome and the jawline. because that is all you have ever given me. mom doesn't deserve this surprise visit bullshit, nor does stevie, or her parents, or allison. we have put up with your bullshit for years, we've invited you to birthday parties and sent pictures, and remained perfectly reasonable. but this is a step too far and you know it. don't ruin another christmas." stevie isn't exactly sure what that last sentence meant, but she could guess. david had told her stories of eddie forcing him and becky to go to christmas events, or getting into fights with becky on christmas morning when they were still married. she squeezes his hand again, reminding him of her presence. she hadn't seen him this worked up over his farther in years, he had gotten so good at letting the news articles and passive aggressive comments not get to him. but with a mix of the holidays, and the suddenness, and the house they were in, a person could only take so much.
     "david," eddie begins, still calm and smiling.
     "he's right," allison interrupts, her voice quiet. "you're no family." everyone turns to her, stevie had almost forgotten she was there. she looks small, sitting on the floor, clearly uncomfortable. she had no connection to eddie biologically, but he had always been a presence in her life.
     "edward, maybe we should just leave..." tina says, placing down the gifts on a chair. "i don't think we're welcome," she jokes. no one's laughing. eddie surveys the room with a politician's expression, not revealing any emotion or reaction.
     "maybe you're right. we've got somewhere to be anyways," he says finally. he takes tina's hand and begins walking towards the door. "so much for trying to be reasonable."
     "oh, don't you dare try to put this on us," becky says, getting up. allison gets up quickly, stopping her.
     "mom, mom," she says quickly. "just let it go." the front door opens and shuts, a breeze of cold from outside taking eddie and tina's place.
     "i always let it go," becky says, her voice cracking. "i'll be back in a moment." she begins walking quickly towards her room.
     "mom," allison says, following her. david squeezes stevie's hand one last time before releasing it and following as well. the only people left are stevie and her parents. for a moment, she thinks about just sitting in silence with them, not wanting to cause trouble. but then she sees the presents sitting on the chair, and they seem to almost taunt her. she remembers that right now she isn't sitting with her husband and sipping coffee, or with her sister-in-law making breakfast, or with her children playing with their new gifts. she gets up from the couch.
     "how can you support that man?" she asks, leaving the room to find david before they can defend themselves.