Time To Live

Chapter 17: Party

Chris stood beside the side-gate to his small backyard, his son clutched in his arms and wearing a matching black, blue and white Tampa Bay Lightning jersey. Christian's favorite thing of this week was waving hello, so he was greeting all of his guests excitedly as they arrived for the party, flailing his little arms wildly and nearly clobbering his father in the head repeatedly. 

"Heh!" he cheered with a wave as an elegant older woman approached.

Jenna looked the woman up and down and then leaned into her ex. "Who is that?" Despite the two boys being in matching black jeans, hockey jerseys, and black sneakers, Jenna had tried to dress nice for the party, had worn a pair of black faux leather moto leggings and a blue silk blouse with heels. She had even gone to the effort of doing her hair and makeup, as she would be introducing her new man to her friends and family today and she was nervous.

"Hi, mom," Chris greeted his mother, sinking down lower to press a kiss to her cheek. He offered her a partial hug as he rested the baby on his left hip. "I'm so glad that you could make it, because I am so excited for you to finally meet this little guy."

Jenna's mouth was gaping open wide as Chris' mother opened her arms wide toward her grandson. "Christian Salem Cerulli," she practically sang as Chris handed her the baby. "You are the picture of your daddy when he was your age with those huge brown eyes, but you don't care about that, do you?"

Christian raised a chubby little hand and waved. "Heh!"

"He likes to wave hello," his father snorted. "That's 'the thing' for this week. Last week it was jamming things up his nose and trying to give his aged father a heart attack."

His mother grinned. "You had a week where your 'thing' was exposing yourself in public." She cocked an eyebrow at her adult son and laughed. "That was lovely in the grocery store, dear."

Chris erupted into laughter at this, shaking his head. "Please God, let that not be something that I passed down to him."

Curious, Jenna tried to snap her mouth shut and collect herself. This was Chris' mother: she had never met his mother before, never even considered that she would and, least of all days, today. She coughed as she stepped into full view. "Hello, Mrs. Cerulli," she smiled cautiously. "It's so nice to finally meet you."

Chris' mother smiled at her warmly and dipped her head in greeting. "Jenna, you are as beautiful as my son said you were."

Jenna blushed and approached the woman hesitantly. Mrs. Cerulli thrust her arms wide and brought her into a tight embrace. Leaning close, she spoke softly: "You and Christian have changed my son considerably, Jenna, and for this, I thank you." Jenna said nothing, just hugged the woman back with a mix of tenderness and awkwardness.

"Hey dude," Chris called, and she heard the unmistakable slapping of a high-five. When she glanced up, she saw Christian trying to slap a high-five to Chris' brother Nick, who was juggling a zillion gift-wrapped packages.

Laughing, Nick ruffled his nephew's abundant dark brown hair. "Good job, kiddo! Boy, you're strong!"