Tolerance || Daddy's Home

Planning Our Together Christmas

I don't complain about pop-pop a lot. He's a great grandpa with great stories. One thing I will say is he sometimes just doesn't know when to quiet down. From the minute we got into the car to the house, pop-pop told all kinds of stories. Some I enjoyed, others not so much.

But you can't just be mad at him, I mean the minute he got out the car was to help a mail carrier. How much better can a person be?

   "You go ahead, Em. Tell the kids we're here." Dusty advised handing me the house keys. I nodded unlocking the door and getting greeted by Tumor. With loads of TLC, he began to look like your average, adorable dog.

   "Guys! They're here!"

I tossed my jacket to the side only to see a piece of paper fall out. I reached down for it skimming over the small colorful card.

   'Yeun's bakery.'

Huh, this must belong to that cute guy I saw at the airport. It had a direction with a number below it. Perhaps I should text— no, no... let's not get too ahead of ourselves, Minnie. He was probably just promoting his bakery... nothing else.

Shortly after, dad and the rest came into the room where Megan and Dylan already were waiting for them.

"Hey! Look how big you two got! Come on, don't I get a hug? Come on!" Mr. Mayron said spreading his arms for a hug. Dylan and Megan's smiled faded as they awkwardly placed themselves in his arms.

"And who's this barroom brawler?"

Megan answered the man saying it was our baby brother. Griff had grown a lot. Mr. Mayron looked more than pleased to hear this and sounded impressed with Dusty. Until dad cleared the misunderstanding to which Mr. Mayron handed Griffy back to dad with disgust.

"Well, he is the brother of your grandkids, Kurt." Sara said coming down the stairs. Kurt smiled going in to hug Sara. So far he was kind, a bit judgmental and uncomfortable to be around, but kind for the most part.

That's when the door opened to show an enthusiastic pop-pop. "Look who's here!"

Dylan and Megan raced to hug pop-pop running past Mr. Mayron.

"Tell us a pop-pop joke." The kid begged.

"Why does a duck have feathers?" Pop-pop began. The kids asked 'why' patiently waiting for the punchline. "To cover up his butt quack."

I will admit his dad jokes have always made me crack a smile. Which Dusty always found odd given I didn't seem the type to have that type of humor.

"Hey, kids, I got a good one for you." Mr. Mayron cut in. "Two dead hookers wash up on the shore..."

We all go to stop him from finishing the story. No one wants to deal with explaining what a hooker is to the kids. That so wrong and gross and— and well, I'm not sure what a hooker is either but if it's coming from Mr. Mayron it's gross.

"Sara. How's my girl?" Pop-pop greeted. Sara asked about la-la to which pop-pop didn't even explain. He brought up her cookies which to be fair were delicious and would make anyone forget about everything.

"Is there milk in that kitchen?" Pop-pop smiled. Before he went with the kids he turned to me. "Oh, and Emmy, she also made you those special frosted cookies!" He pulled out a bag of the most mouthwatering cookies anyone would ever taste.

"Nice. Thanks pop-pop."

He placed his hand behind me and we both went over to the kitchen.

———

The kids, pop-pop, Sara, and I were in the kitchen enjoying la-la's cookies. Speaking of, they don't taste like her cookies. Maybe it's because they are cold but they taste like store bought sugar cookies.

Megan had thought the same with the chocolate chip cookie to which pop-pop reassured la-la baked them. I trust pop-pop enough. And who knows maybe it's just been a really long time since I've had them and can't remember the taste.

Anyway, it hasn't been as chaotic with Mr. Mayron like I thought it would be. To be honest I expected dad to act like how he was when Dusty first came. Instead, he was crying on the couch fist-bumping Dusty. It didn't take much to figure Dusty probably complimented him or called him 'brother' again.

"Why don't I book us a great vacation spot for all us, and we can all spend the holiday week together?" Mr. Mayron said gazing at all of us with a beer in hand.

The kids cheered. I was a bit skeptical but how bad can it be, right?

"I love this idea. It's something extra christmasy, with lots of snow and family activities for all of us."

Though it was close to the holiday, apparently Mr. Mayron had gotten an Airbnb for all of us.

"It's gonna be so fun, since we're all such great friends, huh?"

I can't say I'm not excited. This would be the first time I go anywhere special for the holidays. Well, not counting going to the museum that one time in the orphanage for Halloween. This is an actually holiday vacation.

And it's only 6 days until Christmas, the holiday of joy. This is going to be the best year ever. And to really make sure of that I had to do something before leaving for the road trip.

"Hey, Dusty." I'd been clutching the strap of my bag as I neared him. Dad was upfront speaking with pop-pop giving me the perfect opportunity alone with Dusty.

   "Can I help you with something, sweetheart?" He said glancing at me before focusing on back the luggage.

   "Yeah, um, can I... go with you and Karen?" I stuttered. I've never really asked anything from Dusty so it was nerve wracking to say the least. Even if we're all good now. "You know how dad gets especially with pop-pop and to hear that for hours—"

   "Sweetheart, of course you can come with us. We're more than happy to have you along." He interrupted with a smile.

   "Thank you, Dusty."

He nodded. "You have everything?" 

I said a quick 'yes' letting him know everything had been packed and placed in the car. He gave me a thumbs-up and I made myself comfortable in the white ford flex.

   "Hi, Mrs. Mayron." I greeted to which she gave me a soft smirk before scribbling back in her notebook.

Giving a small wave to Adrianna, I leaned back into the leather seats making way for Dylan and Megan. They'd come shortly after I did.

Finally, no long rides having to hear cheesy jokes or stories.