“First, Rod, his name is not dude, it’s Deke. Second, you aren’t in a restaurant. You’re in Jussy’s home.”
“Thought you were ignoring me,” Rembrandt noted.
“Fuck, I forgot,” Joss muttered.
Deke couldn’t help it. His shoulders shaking, he failed in holding it back and released the chuckle.
“Just so you know, I’m normal,” Joss stated. “He’s not, but I’m so normal, I can often balance us out. I’m unable to do that right now since his not normal is in overdrive due to the fact he’s tired, hungry and horny.”
Jussy looked to the ceiling.
Deke’s shoulders kept shaking as his laughter got louder.
Through it, he looked at Joss and saw a beauty that hadn’t even started fading in a way she’d be that kickass bitch at seventy that twenty-year-old girls looked at and vowed they’d be like her when they got that age.
This boded well for him because he could tell already she’d passed that down to his girl.
When his laughter died down, he said, “No offense but you aren’t normal either, Joss. But just to say, that’s good. Normal sucks.”
Joss took him in and she took her time doing it before she turned to her daughter and said, “I give preliminary approval.”
“He can make a doughy pancake, I give full approval,” Rembrandt called from the couch.
That was when he heard it, Jussy’s giggle, starting the way it always started, with a tinkling sound, before it became full-throated laughter.
And then Deke watched her fall forward into her mother, who caught her in her arms as Jussy wound hers around Joss.
“You’re a pain in my ass,” she said in her mom’s neck, voice muffled by a shit ton of auburn hair that was second only to her daughter’s. “But I’m glad you’re here.”
Deke kept watching and while he did, Joss Rembrandt did not get his preliminary approval.
She got it full, the way her profile gentled, love saturating her face, her eyes slowly closing in a way that looked like she needed to do it in order to fully focus on a moment of bliss, her arms visibly tightening.
“Missed you, baby girl.”
“Missed you too, Joss.”
They held on to each other.
Deke turned from mother and daughter to find the measuring cups.
* * * * *
Late that afternoon, the countdown at two hours before everyone was going to get there, Deke sat at the end of one of Justice’s denim couches, Jussy curled up to his side.
Rod and Joss sat across from them in the middle of the couch. Rod slouched into the side of his wife, his stocking feet on the edge of the fireplace, legs at an angle. Joss was slouched too, down in the seat, her legs in front of her bent, soles of her feet to the fireplace.
It was after pancakes, Rod and Deke hauling in the suitcases, Joss and Rod disappearing upstairs for their nap and possibly other activities, which fortunately, if they happened, he and Jussy didn’t hear.
With Deke helping, Jussy got on starting Steph’s chicken. And with Deke lazing on the bed he’d helped Jussy make, he kept her company while she unpacked a variety of shit from the four suitcases. Most of it was clothing, some shoes, sandals and boots, some small cases of jewelry, all of it a headache-inducing variety of colors, patterns, feathers, metals, beads and tassels, and she put them away.
After that, they took a shower, and just in case the distance and shower sounds didn’t muffle it, Deke did so her family couldn’t hear their activities.
When Joss reemerged from the guest room, leaving her husband up there, Deke took stock of the situation in fridge and cupboards that Jussy had already covered at the market. And even though it was unlikely they needed more due to two extra people considering the slightly alarming amount of provisions Jussy had already stocked, he headed to town to augment it.
He did this so his gypsy princess had time with her mother and because Joss had explained both she and Rod were also bourbon drinkers. So even though they had two bottles, he figured another two wouldn’t hurt.
He came back and found Rod had roused. Jussy made them all grilled cheese sandwiches, which were the best he’d ever tasted. Simple flavors, three different types of cheese melted together, the fresh bread coated in real butter that crisped and flavored the bread.
Now they were kicked back, Steph’s chicken not labor intense, only needing to pour out chips, nuts, fill dip bowls and start the rice since Shambles said he and Sunny were bringing dessert.
Conversation was mainly about the folks Joss and Roddy would meet, folks Jussy had spent time texting to share the heads up that they’d be at a housewarming party that included a famous member of a metal band and her mother.