The Family Man

Chapter 27

"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you," muttered Eunice, rising up from her knees. She rolled the Hoover under the sofa and straightened the red bandana that was keeping her dark curls up and out of her face. "Remind me again why you can't do this?"

She'd officially moved back East after she'd been the first of her sisters to make up with Jack. Temporarily living with him until the guy she'd been seeing, Robert Shriver came to his senses and proposed.

Jack smirked. He was standing in the foyer, correcting his tie in front of the giant, ornate mirror—a scary, 16th Century looking fixture, Marilyn's decorating touch from forever ago."I'm lending Lem a hand for his engagement party, remember? I've only invited you like, seventy five times."

"Oh, yeah." She paused and shifted her weight. "I have to study. Because Econ is slowly raping my soul."

"Good to know," Jack murmured. He started fiddling with his tie and Eunice sighed and slipped it off impatiently, unknotting it. She wound it around his collar again, fingers moving nimbly. A corner of his mouth lifted, and Jack laughed, "I'll never understand how girls kind of intrinsically know this shit. Is there a seminar you take when you're seven or something?"

Eunice snorted, amused. "No. My nanny taught me."

"Nanny?"

"Nanny Reynolds, Jack. She lived with us for like, five years."

Jack's brow crinkled. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and chewed on his lower lip. "Wait. Vivian Reynolds? The one who got arrested?"

Eunice's hands fell from his shoulders. "What?"

"Black hair? Cropped short?"

"Right."

"Yeah, she was booked. Possession with intent to sell." Jack said

Eunice looked as if she had swallowed a thumbtack. "Dad told me she moved to Alaska."

Yeah," Jack winced, "he meant penitentiary."

"I feel like you just told me Santa Claus doesn't exist, all over again."

He laughed and kissed her forehead. "Growing up is hard. I love you. Take care." Jack took his wallet and cell phone from the end table, and unhooked his leather jacket from its place in the cedar closet. "Don't open the door to any strangers. Delivery boys, especially. Lock it up. Oh, and there's an Emergency Contact list on the fridge, right underneath the coupon for subs. It's got the Weinstein Dentistry magnet covering it."

"Thanks, Mom," grinned Eunice. "Hey, have fun seeing your dreaded ex-fiancée."

Jack's face instantly fell.

"That...didn't occur to you, did it?"

"No."

"Sucks to be you."