Hart to Heart

Part 2

I was sitting outside late the next morning with Jaxon asleep on my lap when Deuce finally stumbled out the doors with sunglasses on and dropped into the seat across the table from me. The clean-up crew was busy stacking chairs and moving centerpieces from tables. Everyone else was inside, probably packing for their flight home. Addison and I would be staying in Scotland for another week for our honeymoon.

"Want a goat cheese omelet?" I asked Deuce, already knowing the answer.

He grimaced and held up his hand in protest as he grabbed the pitcher in front of him. "Nothing for me except orange juice," he said, pouring himself a glass.

"Long night?" I chided.

"You are an asshole for having an open bar," he said, sipping on his orange juice. "I'm still trying to decide if it was worth it."

"Let me know once you get to thirty-thousand feet," I said with a smile.

"Ugh," he responded, looking like he might upchuck at any moment. "I'm so glad Vanessa and I are only going to London. I don't think I could take a twelve-hour flight today."

"Serves you right for being such a douchebag last night," I said, shifting my legs and trying not to drop Jaxon in the process.

He chuckled. "I'm assuming you're going to be a lot harder to piss off now that you're more relaxed?"

"I don't know about that," I answered. "You seem to do a pretty good job pissing me off by just being you."

Deuce took a longer sip of his juice and grabbed a pastry off the table, taking a small bite, testing out his gag reflex. "What's going on here?" he asked, gesturing towards Jaxon, who was still asleep.

"I'm not sure," I said, looking down and smoothing his hair back off his face. "He said he wasn't feeling good. Addison gave him some Tylenol 'cause he had a little fever, and he's been knocked out ever since." I looked back up at Deuce. "You may want to keep an eye on Trace for a couple days since they've been playing together so much."

"I'm sure Vanessa's already rubbing some oils all over him and doing a chant or some shit like that," he said dismissively, taking another bite of the pastry. "She has oils for everything. Got a cold? Rub some oil on your chest. Sore throat? Put an oil under your tongue. Need to take a shit? Rub this oil on your ass," he said, shaking his head. "I swear it's like we live in a jungle with all the different smells in our house."

I chuckled. "I wouldn't let Vanessa hear you say that. She takes that shit seriously."

"And that's fine," Deuce said with his hands up in a defensive pose. "I'm sure there are some nice hocus pocus benefits to it. But if I need to take a shit, I'd rather drink some MiraLAX and sit on the pot for a while with a crossword puzzle."

Deuce was pouring himself another glass of orange juice when Adam joined us. He was acting really weird, not making eye contact. Being very quiet. Obviously avoiding telling us about his night. I just stared at him until he finally looked up at me.

"What?" he asked as he reached over to put some fruit on a plate.

"You know what," I answered, still not taking my eyes off him.

"Yeah," Deuce added. "Did you hit it last night?"

Adam scrunched his nose and paused what he was doing. I just started laughing.

"You did, didn't you!" I accused, still laughing. When Adam didn't answer, I kept going. "Seriously? Samantha? You realize what kind of trouble you're in now, right?"

"Aww, shit," Deuce said, sitting back in his chair. "I hope you weren't planning on staying single, because you are not getting rid of her anytime soon."

Adam groaned and put his face in his hands. "I don't know what happened. We were just talking, and she started getting flirty, and..."

"Shoving her tits in your face and squeezing your ass," Deuce finished for him. "We've all been there, man."

"That's not what happened," Adam defended.

I looked at him and laughed again. "Don't deny it. Deuce is right...we've all been there, Adam. I'm sure that's exactly what happened."

"Fine." He sighed. "But what do I do now? She's a nice girl..."

Deuce and I interrupted him with our laughs.

"Shut up, you guys," Adam said. "I'll figure out something. Maybe it's just a romantic Scotland thing or something."

"Sure," I said sarcastically, watching Deuce try to control his laughter. "I'm sure that's what it was."

"Anyway," Adam said, picking up his plate again and filling it up with more food, "I wanted to talk to you, Jason."

"What about?" I asked, shifting Jaxon when he started drooping off my lap again.

"We need to talk about what kind of non-profit you want to start up," he said as I groaned.

Ever since Adam had become my manager, he'd been bugging me to start a non-profit organization. Something about boosting my public image or some shit. As a side bonus, it could be used as a tax write-off since my money would be donated to the organization to make it stay afloat. It was a good idea. The problem was, there weren't any particular causes I was all that passionate about.

"Do we really have to talk about that now, man?" I asked. "I got married yesterday. I'm starting my honeymoon without you losers today."

"And he finally got laid last night," Deuce added. "Give him a minute to start thinking with the right head again."

I just ignored the interruption. "Look," I said. "When Addison and I get back, I'll really start to think about it. Maybe she has some better ideas than I do."

"I can work with that," Adam said as he bit into a strawberry. Just then, the doors opened again. Samantha walked out and Adam started choking on his strawberry. Deuce was still pounding him on the back when my mother came out a few seconds later.

"How's he doing," she asked me, kissing me on the head and patting my shoulder before sitting down right next to me.

"He ate a little bit of fruit and then climbed up on my lap and fell asleep. He's been out for about thirty minutes. I hope he's well enough to fly home today."

"I'm sure he'll be fine," my mother said. "Kids get fevers all the time for the littlest thing. It was a big day for him yesterday. His body is probably just worn out."

We sat there for a couple more hours, enjoying the view and each other's company before everyone headed to the airport to fly home.