Chapter 29

As with Duke, we buried Jer in the Bunch family graveyard right next to Duke. I was grateful that the Bunch family had given us permission to bury them there. I felt a bit better with their graves being in a more secluded area. We could have placed them at home, but Gil and I were worried it would upset the kids. But we promised the kids if they ever wanted to go visit their graves, we would take them.

 

I kept busy with trying to distract myself and the kids. One night the four of us got into a heated car race on our gaming system. It was nice for all of us to take our minds off everything.

 

I knew Garfield missed his pals. I was really glad we had taken in Misty now, that way Garfield still had another animal to hang out with. Of course I made sure to pay even more attention to him. I knew he didn’t have a lot of time left either, but he seemed to be doing well, health wise. I was going to do my best to make sure it stayed that way and started feeding him and Misty homemade cat food I would make on the stove.

 

One afternoon Gil took me to Chocolate Bubbles. We were enjoying some goodies from the chocolate fountain when I looked over to see Shane and…Kiki?  I stared at her a bit, I wasn’t used to seeing her with some clothes on, though she wasn’t exactly dressed like most elderly women dress. She noticed us, but didn’t bother to say anything. So I didn’t either. I knew we would never resolve things between us, but it was nice not having to fight with her every time we crossed paths.

 

That evening Gavin attended his first High School dance. I waited up for him to return home while Gil made sure the twins got to bed on time. I may have overreacted a bit when Gavin arrived home. Okay a lot. I pulled him into a hug and acted like I hadn’t seen him in about ten years.

“How did it go? No fights, right? Any girls hit on you? No spiked punch? I swear if someone spiked that punch, I’ll have a word with the entire school staff about this.” I said, babbling to Gavin.

 

Gavin pulled back and smiled at me.

“Mom, relax. It went fine. No fights, I danced with a few girls, but nothing happened. I didn’t touch the punch. Scouts honor.” Gavin told me, still smiling. His smile made me smile.

“I’m sorry for all the questions. I’m just not handling you all growing up that well I guess. But I’m proud of you, Gavin.” I told him.

We chatted a bit more, before we all went to bed.

 

The next morning I overheard Gavin suggesting to Gil that we have a pool party at the end of Summer. I heard him mentioning cheering me up. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but I did. But it made my heart swell with love that Gavin wants to cheer me up. Gil agreed to his idea.

 

But before the pool party at the end of the summer, Gil and I had a slumber party to plan for the twins. They had been begging for one for a while and we finally caved. A lot more went into planning a slumber party then I thought and Gil and I had to take a break to rest our minds the night before the slumber party. Garfield and Misty decided to join us our break.

 

The guest list was small, but the girls were happy with it. One guest was Kelly Bunch, daughter to Ethan and Holly. We hadn’t seen her all that much, but it was nice to have her over. She looked so much like her Mother, it was almost like someone cloned Holly. Greta seemed to really like Kelly and they spent a lot of time gossiping and telling each other jokes.

 

Another child that was invited to the party was our paper boy. I didn’t even know his real name, because everyone calls him D. Just the letter D. Even his parents, which Gil and I had a talk with. We talked to everyone’s parents in fact. But he seemed like a good kid and Gabby spent a lot of time talking to him.

 

The last attendee was a little girl of a family that just moved to town, her name is Becky. Good kid as well. We ordered them pizza for the party and let them have it to themselves, so it felt more special.

 

Gavin said he couldn’t let this party pass by without trying to scare the pants off the kids. He said it was his duty as an older brother and got our permission to tell the kids a ghost story and made sure it wouldn’t offend me. I told him it was okay, as long as it’s not too scary. I also looked at this as a sort of prepping for the girls for the day Gil and I would have to tell them about my past. Gavin did a great job with the story.

 

The next morning after all the kids were picked up, Greta and Gabby were going full speed and playing on the new teeter totter we had bought. Only kids and teens can get barely any sleep and go full-bore next day. Gil and I were hugging our cups of coffee the entire day.

 

They spent most of that day playing, Gavin even joined the on the swing set during the evening hours. And while I was a sleepy Mom, I was glad to see our kids having fun and laughing.

 

We sold our domino’s table and purchased a chess table, since Gil had taken chess back up again. But he usually had to fight Greta and Gabby to even get to play it. Greta seemed to be interested in anything that would expand her knowledge, even at such a young age. Gabby just enjoyed it because it was a game and she got to hang out with her sister.

 

So one morning Gil talked me into getting up early to play chess with him. I still wasn’t that great at it, but we did have fun. Even if it was early.

 

Eventually we got kicked off the chess table by the girls and went inside to cuddle on the couch. Things were getting back to normal for us, even though we did all miss Duke and Jer.

 

We did have the end of summer Pool Party that Gavin suggested. We had Gavin help with the invite list as well. The Bunch’s were invited, so was Queenie’s family. We also invited Moritmer, Bella and Cassandra Goth.

 

Gil grilled out tofu dogs for everyone, plus others brought along food for everyone to eat. It was nice when people brought things, that way we could make sure no one went hungry.

 

Gavin spent a good chunk of the party talking with Cassandra and Jessica, Lisa’s daughter. Who had grown like a weed it seemed.  Gil and I noticed both girls making lovey eyes at our son. Gil was proud and I was anxious. But I knew eventually Gavin would enter his first romance.

 

We did end up having plenty to eat and then some. While I was eating it struck me that Queenie’s children were now both young adults. I remember when Melissa was a toddler and JR was a little boy. Heck I remember when Jessica was born. I was starting to feel old.

 

Gil and I had a rule. No kids in the hot tub. We weren’t having that rule to be greedy and to hog the hot tub, we were concerned about their safety. Just like the kids weren’t allowed to swim without one of us around. But since Gavin was a now a teenager, Gil invited Gavin to join him in the hot tub. Gavin was pretty thrilled by the invite.

People started leaving and we started cleaning up. While grabbing some dishes from the backyard, I noticed Gavin hanging out with Jessica on the loungers. Of course they were quiet when I walked by, but they seemed to enjoy each other’s company. But that could be because they had been around each other so much due to the families being close.

 

Summer faded and Fall appeared for our town. And Gavin made a request from Gil that would have made me have grey hairs if my hair wasn’t already pretty much white.

 

Gavin asked Gil to teach him how to drive. I had a feeling Gavin asked Gil because he knew I might be a basket case about it. Smart kid. Though Gil seemed a bit nervous about it too. I stood in the yard and watched Gavin drive them down the road, slowly and hitting the breaks a lot. It was a tough ride so far. I watched until they disappeared from my sight and went inside to see what the twins were doing to distract myself.

 

Hours later Gavin and Gil returned home, safely. I hugged Gavin tightly as he walked through the door.

“Mom…can’t…breathe…” Gavin told me. I finally released my grip on him and hugged Gil as well.

“How did it go?” I asked. Gavin smiled and Gil let out a sigh of relief.

“It as a rough start, but he got the hang of it. I’m going to take him to take the test for his license tomorrow.” Gil told me. My little boy knows how to drive now.