Why don't you tell me what's going on?

 "You look so tired," Chewy didn't know what else to say. He guessed if he'd told Chai he looked like shit, Daisy would giggle and start saying the bad word. She was very alert in this way.

She got into the snacks again and there were cookies on the kitchen floor. Chewy went to clean it up and to clean her up as well.

"Why do you have to be so wild?" He asked carrying her to the bathroom to wash her chocolate face and hands. Naturally, this was all Louie and Sunny's fault. They brought this at Christmas and then Chai wouldn't let her have it. But she could figure out how to climb up to the counter and open the cupboard. At this rate she'd be in the circus, he thought.

She laughed, pulling away from him. She was so strong. They both almost fell in the floor but he pulled her up and cleaned her face. 

"You need to be a good girl. You have to take care of us, not run from us," Chewy sighed. 

His arms ached from all the carrying. Maybe they all were coming down with something, but Daisy was the wayward toddler who must have a superpower from not getting sick. And to think she liked to put her mouth on tables and chairs whenever she got a chance.

Chewy yawned but got up with her and danced around with her as if he was recharged, singing some trotter song he remembered his own grandmother singing. It was more of a hum because he couldn't remember the words. Before he knew it, she was asleep on his shoulder so he carefully, put her in her crib in Chai's room. He looked to the other bedroom which was her mother's. The door was shut.

He looked back in the livingroom. Chai was on the couch practically shivering. Chewy went to put on the electric kettle and then decided to peek into the room.

There was nothing. Well, a bed, but it was bare. Not a trace of Daisy's mother. Chewy scrunched a face of disapproval. Would Chai have ever told him? 

He went to make tea and brought it to Chai. "Drink this," he ordered.

Chai was half asleep but sat up as if he were taking medicine.

"She's not coming back, is she?"

"Maybe someday."

"Just not this year." 

Chewy sat on the couch, but not next to Chai. No way did he want to get sick. 

"You got to do something about this, you know." Chewy pressed his lips to an even thin line and stared at Chai.

"What am I going to do?"

"Well, is she going to send child support?"

"Oh." 

He drank the hot tea, as it was cooling in the apartment that wasn't well heated. "It's just..it's just.. it's all my fault."

"You didn't do anything," Chewy squinted.

"I'm trying to do what's right. I am." Chai nodded, trying to explain how he was Daisy's guardian.

"But she has a mother," Chewy snapped.

"Well, if it wasn't for me, Den might be around," Chai sighed. "If he hadn't taken all those sleeping pills-"

"You have to stop saying it's your fault."

"He was my best friend. I thought we'd always be, you know, together. I had known him since middle school."

"Oh, so you two were, what's that word people still don't like to talk about around here?" Chewy tilted his head as if maybe something gay was going on in Seoul.

"No. He. We were studying computer programming," Chai told him. "Maybe it wasn't the best major after all. I dunno. But we supported each other. And then..well, I just wanted him to be happy, and I thought he was happy. I didn't even know we were an US until she told me. I just wanted both of us to be successful. Of course, there was always the noodle shop."

"She made you feel bad, didn't she? She blamed you," Chewy had picked up on this. Daisy's mother would hardly say a word to him.

"It's not going to do me any good to go down that road, OK." Chai looked so lost.

"Look, Daisy definitely needs to be potty trained," Chewy crossed his arms as if he wouldn't speak of the past. "She needs her own room."

Chai nodded as if he was working on it. Chewy decided he was here to help and this shortlist would start today.

There is wonder in most every thing I see

 

"Your brother's a pirate, isn't he?" Randy seriously looked at Justin when he handed over the cup of coffee to him when they were alone at five in the morning. 

Justin called it their alone time. Plus Randy was plausible if he had a cup of coffee in the morning. Sometimes, it might put him right back to sleep.

"What?" Justin scowled back as they sat at the dining table. Both cradled their cups, but Randy took the first sip as if he might be breathing in every savory moment of the caffeine.

"Think about it," Randy winced tilting his head as if Justin was the one who never thought about anything. "He worked on ships and you know, those ships go places."

"Oh, Randy," Justin chuckled and shook his head, no, put the cups to  his lips and waiting for the coffee to cool. "You're some kind of romantic, you know that."

"Well, me and Cassie talked about it for a good long while," he pushed back in his seat letting his long legs stretch.

"Are you two gossiping?" Justin wished to change the subject.

"Gossiping?" Randy squinted. "Why would we do that?" He smirked as he went back to his coffee. 

"Of course, you wouldn't," Justin somehow had to bring it in on a positive note, or it would look like he was a complete nag.

"He's an adventurer, you know," Randy's eyes lit. "A real swashbuckler."

"How did you come up with that?" Justin shook his head, no. Here he was wondering how he got together with Vada so quickly and then to drop her like a rock before anything actually happened. Still, there was a lot he didn't know about his brother. He didn't even know what he liked to eat.

"Oh, I listen," Randy told him. "That's what I do. He's known a lot about ships and stuff since he was little kid."

"Oh really?" It was news to him.

"So how's it going with Carmen?" Randy asked as he finished off his coffee when it was barely cool. He wanted another. 

"Why are you curious?"

"I don't know. I never slept with a girl before," Randy shrugged.

Justin knew these questions were juvenile, but he always felt at fault.

"Do you sleep with the bathroom light on?" Randy wanted to know.

"No." 

Justin squinted hard. "Do  you still have those Christmas lights still up in your room?"

"I like it like that. It's so pretty," he nodded. "Cassie would like it. I just know it."

Justin pressed his lips tight, wondering where this was going. 

"You should try it with Carmen," Randy nodded. 

This was all Justin needed with everything else going on. After all, trying to have a romance in a crowded apartment wasn't easy. Actually, he hadn't even tried because he was pretty certain Carmen would be hesitant too.

So last year

 

Clearly, Vada made a mistake. She didn't know what came over her when she met Jared. Was she just thinking of Justin and something came over her like an intoxicating drink?

Yes, she'd made a fool of herself. And maybe Kevin thought of her as a lush of some kind, but he made it sound so last year now.

Still, it freaked her out when Carmen came on like a mama bear of some kind protecting her young. Maybe she had a thing for Jared too. She couldn't help but mention it to Sammie.

"No, it's all you," Sammie shrugged. "I think Carmen cares about Justin and she didn't like how you ..might have made him feel, coming on to his brother at the party."

All Vada could give her friend was a big sigh and, "You don't like Carmen better than me, do you?"

Sammie only chuckled. "Why do I have to decide? I like being friends with both of you."

"But I gave you the best Christmas gift, now didn't I?"

"Oh, Vada." Sammie shook her head, no. "You didn't have to buy the cashmere sweater for me." She told her then she didn't have anywhere to wear it. She was sure she'd mess it up, especially around babies or paint might get on it. It was true, Sammie didn't have an expensive wardrobe. On the other hand, Carmen brought her homemade food, egg rolls, and even enchiladas. Definitely, food Sammie could use during her busy days of winter.

"Just worry about Kevin, will you?" Sammie reminded her that he'd given her some nice presents, even a beautiful bracelet. "He thinks the world of you."

"And I don't know why," she was down about it. "I don't deserve it."

"You need to understand-" Sammie started.

"Understand what?"

Sammie shrugged. "You need to figure out how to appreciate him. It doesn't mean sex every night. You need to listen, you need to be his friend."

Vada nodded. "I don't know what happened to you, but you seem to run to those..that..you know deep down will not be there for you, in the end. Or..maybe...

"Maybe what?" Vada looked at her friend blankly.

"Maybe it's you who won't be there for them in the end," Sammie told her as she went on to serve her hot tea and a warmed leftover slice of quiche on this cold winter day. Yes, Sammie knew what to expect from her friend when she dropped in a little before dinner time after work. 

Vada hated she was like this, but change was hard, especially when everyone was so giving, why did she have to commit to anything.

We've been doing all this late-night talking

 It didn't take long for Louie and Sunny to decide that the black towels from Chewy were the worst gifts they'd ever got as a Christmas present.

"Well, the soap was really nice," Louie did try to be congenial about it.

"And yeah, the lotion is great for this winter," Sunny nodded, but as she held those towels, maybe they looked fluffy and nice, only no absorption. Sunny doubted Louie would even want to wash the car with them.

"What are we gonna do?" She looked at him miserably.

"We'll just say, we're saving them," Louie sighed as if that was the right thing to do.

"Do you think he'll notice that we aren't using them?"

She went to stuff them in the back of the closet.

"Well, we just won't talk about it," he shrugged and went back to folding clothes on the bed. They both tidied up before bed. It was a sure way of staying away from their phones and at least they would sleep soon enough.

Louie was already yawning.

"Do you think we should have gotten him more than a gift card?" Sunny then whispered.

"Well, he seemed to like that puzzle he got off Amazon," Louie shrugged as he put away the tee shirts he folded.

"A puzzle of all things. I didn't even know he liked puzzles," she hung up her work pants and blouse.

"Oh, there's still so much I don't know about him," Louie nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, we don't even know if he likes Chai."

Sunny looked at him blankly.

"I think he has to as much as he spends time with him," Louie plopped on the bed.

"I think he just wants to help with Daisy," Sunny sat next to him.

"Maybe, but I've never seen him around kids before, until now," Louie looked at her. She looked at him. Yeah, they weren't going to think about Chewy. He put his arm around her and they kissed before she even thought of it. 

Of course, the kisses grew. It was easy not to think about Chewy.

Clever words on smooth tongue talking

 

Jared didn't know what everyone's problem was with him. OK, so maybe he was a problem for Justin. Always had been, but Justin would never know how much he really hated him.

Jared was always second best. Even his mother didn't want him. Justin was their pride a joy. God knows, what ever happened to Jared's dad because no one would ever speak to him. As it was, he wasn't good enough to be part of a real family. His grandmother raised him, but not that he wanted to  hold it against Justin. It was just, he was that kid they'd soon forget about.

He knew even now his mom wanted to avoid him. She always had. The only real family was his grandmother and she was in the ground. It was pointless to bring it up with Justin. After all, he'd been just that kid that his mother loved with her only husband. Jared never had that. 

So here he was, Justin was kind enough to give him a room. But he knew he didn't want him here.

And then Vada came along.

He wasn't going to lie, it was thrill, but that was a lot to live up to, being a crush of some kind. He'd never stepped into those shoes. After all, he was still numb from having been with someone for so long, just to find out she was pregnant with someone else's baby.

Jared was in misery, but no one would seem to care. Oh, his mother tried, but not really. After all, she was the one who bought the airplane ticket to send him to America.

Possibly, he was misleading poor Justin with this Vada thing. 

Not a thing had happened. No way was he going to bed with a fangirl. That would have been ridiculous.  Oh, he'd watched her all giggly and silly. It was kind of fun to watch. But in the end, it was nothing. A kiss here. A kiss there. Nothing to significant. 

Yeah, he was the number one lost boy, evidently. He didn't want to stay with Justin. But no way was he going to be moving in with Vada.

It was nice to go to the after party of sorts at Ari's. Thankfully, a change of pace. He got to met Jade's cousin. It was good to talk to him about the work process. He didn't know if he could even get on at the  hospital. Rudy mentioned something about a janitorial job. They couldn't seem to keep janitors. 

Yeah, he knew he'd have to start at the bottom. That was the way it was with his life. If only he'd gone to college, but no one seemed to think that was a matter of his. He was used to being at the bottom of the barrel.

And then he met Jade's sister Jewel.

Cut to the brain, this ain't no game

It was a bit of a Post-New Year's Eve dinner, but it was the first weekend of the new year when Ari got around to making a pasta dinner. He knew Jade thought it was a bit crowded. 

After all there was Justin and his brother Jared as well as Carmen. "You know I haven't seen Justin in ages."

Jade shrugged and said they would have had no room for Randy if he'd came along. Of course, Ari asked about Randy first thing when they got there. Who knew Randy was important to Justin.

"He's at Cassie's."

Justin nodded, but he looked out of sorts to have Jared with him. Next thing he knew Jared was shaking his hand and telling him it was all  Ari's doing bringing Justin to America.

It took Ari by surprise. 

"Yes, I see the resemblance now," he chuckled at that old joke that Justin and Ari looked like brothers.

He could see the resentment in Jared's sarcasm. Of course, Ari got Justin alone later and asked if he wanted his brother here? He told Justin he thought he was doing so well these days, and now he had a problem having his older half-brother in town. "Do you talk a lot?"

Justin winced as if it was OK. His brother was going through a lot right now. "Who knows, he might not be here long."

"Oh, he's going home?" Ari smiled.

"Not a chance," Justin was straight-lipped. "He's met someone. Maybe he'll move in with her."

"Her?"

That's when he told him about Vada.

692. Making a good first impression

It felt like a jolt of some sort, being a part of someone else's family. Mona knew it would take some getting used to. But here she was with Rico at his father's which she felt was rather chaotic. His sister Caitlin alone was a drama in itself. But they'd stayed a night or two at his Dad's during all this Caitlin mess. 

Mona even asked her mother, "Is it always like this?"

"Well, every family is different," she explained their family wasn't big with extended family. There was just Mona and Ari.

Mona guessed she understood. Although, she knew she couldn't sit around to be waited on. She had to pitch in, and she did because otherwise she would just watch Rico make breakfast, then lunch, and so on. 

Of course, Gabe and Sammie brought Hannah. Things were coming around. Caitlin had a big baby boy. They named him Benjamin after Deano's dad. 

She knew Rico wanted to go to the hospital right away.

"But what if you get sick?" She found herself perhaps a little selfish. She didn't want to get sick, although she told him his dad might get sick.

"Oh he's healthy as a horse," Rico winced back as if there was nothing to worry about. That's when he mentioned that his father was seeing Gabe's mother. "Wouldn't it be great if they got married?"

"You just want everyone to get married," She teased and pinched him. Yes, she might have been a little mean. Still, it was a lot to take in. She was an Aunt now (well, she would be) and she didn't know how to act around children.