Chapter 2
Pete and Chris were outside on the sundeck having a heart to heart, making up for the past few months awkwardness than had come between them.
“Of course I forgive you, Chris, you’re my little brother and I love you. I’m so happy that that you finally accept me for who I am. I know Dad might never understand, but you, Nick, and Annie are so important in my life. I’d never want to lose any of you.”
“Thanks, Pete. I know I haven’t been the best brother, but I’m gonna make that up to you. Same as I’ve told Annie, I’m here for both of you, always.” This time Chris pulled Pete into a hug.
Mike watched and saw Pete starting to tear up, so he walked up to them, but was interrupted by Micky coming onto the sundeck carrying Dylan with him. “What you doing, Mick, where you taking him?”
“We’re off for a walk. I’m gonna take him down to the ocean. He was getting a little loud in there, but he likes his Uncle Micky. He even giggled when I picked him up.
Mike wasn’t sure what to think about the last comment. Was Dylan learning early about how mad Micky could be? “Just be careful with him and don’t be gone too long.”
“All right, Dad. He’s a spoilsport, Dylan, don’t listen to him. Me and you are gonna have fun, aren’t we?” Micky said, going down the stairs to the beach.
Mike gave his attention back to Pete and Chris. I’m gonna keep my eyes on Chris. There’s no guarantee we can trust him, and I won’t let him hurt Pete. They’d both sat down.
“So, you’re gonna be all right with Michael too?” Pete was hoping for a positive reaction.
“Yes, I will be. I’m happy if you are. That’s all that matters now, I promise.”
“Thanks Chris, that means so much to me.” Pete turned slightly and smiled at Mike who was still watching them.
Mike watched them talk for a few minutes about things back home, then went inside to the others. He went up to Annie. “You think everything will be okay between Chris, you and Pete? D’you think he’s being genuine with both of you?”
“Yeah I do. He’s only a kid, remember. He’s starting to grow up more, see things as they are, If he goes away to college in another state, it will do him good, and if he gets the one he wants, Nick and Claire will be nearby for support for him. He was upset last night about how he’d treated us.”
“Well, I won’t let him hurt Pete in any way. I’m gonna be keeping my eye on him.”
Nick came over. “Listen, Mike, this new girlfriend of his seems to be having a positive effect on him. I’ve met her. She’s a nice girl, and she speaks her mind. She’ll clash with Dad—I don’t think that Chris has introduced her to Mom and Dad yet.”
“So, looks like you’ll be Dad’s favorite, the only one with a partner he approves of.” Annie laughed.
“I’m sure I’ll do something to annoy him soon. I’m gonna be doing some cartoon illustrations for people when we move to Massachusetts and, if things work out, I’ll give teaching up for that and maybe even do some writing.”
“Good for you. It’ll serve him right if he loses all of us,” Annie said.
“Well as I’ve already said, I’m looking out for Pete, but I’ll give him a chance if it makes Pete happy—that’s the most important thing to me.”
“Thanks, Mike. I’ll keep watch over Chris too, but I think he’s starting to think for himself for once. It’ll get better when he’s away from Dad,” Nick replied.
Pete and Chris came in from outside, and Chris approached Mike. “Can we start again, forget what’s happened in the past? I was in the wrong. I know that now.” He extended his hand to Mike.
Mike looked over at Pete, who just smiled back at him. “Okay, that’s fine with me.” He shook Chris’ hand, and Pete pulled them both into a group hug, “Thanks, guys. I’m so happy you’re friends,” Pete said to them both.
“I’m so glad everything’s sorted. Family is really important. Mom and Gran will be so happy,” Annie said as she came over had hugged them all, including Nick and Claire. “It’s good to be all together, getting on.”
Davy picked up Summer. “Come on, Summer, let’s go find your brother and your daft Uncle Micky, make sure they’re not causing any trouble down on the beach.”
“All right, makes sure there’s no trouble from you either, and no using her to pick up chicks,” Mike said as Davy was going to the door to leave.
Davy soon found Micky watching a group of friends playing volleyball. Dylan was with a girl, being fussed over, so Davy went and sat with them all, Summer on his lap. Soon a young blonde was flirting with him. “Is she yours? She’s so cute! Would you like any help? I’m very good with babies,” she said and batted her long eyelashes at him.
“I’m just looking after her for a friend, giving them a well-earned rest. She’s Dylan’s sister, Summer.” He pointed over to the other chick who was playing in the sand with Dylan.
“Ooh, that’s good of you. I’m Laura and this is my sister Sarah.” She pointed to the other girl. “It’s nice to meet you. It’s our first time at the beach here, we’ve just moved to a house nearby, so it’s good to meet some of the locals.”
“Well, me and Mick live over at the beach house over there.” Davy pointed to the pad.
“Lucky you. We’re about a twenty-minute walk away. We’re trying to get to know the area, meet some friends and have some fun.”
“Well, I can show you around…that’s if you want to? I’m free tonight, so we could check out a few clubs? We play at a local club three nights a week—you should come and watch us play! Mick’s the drummer and sings, and I sing but I’m kinda the front man.” That comment soon had Micky glaring at him.
“Sara, what do you think? Are you both free tonight?”
“Sorry, I’m busy. I’ve got plans with my girlfriend tonight, but I imagine Davy here will make sure he’s free to show you around.” Micky knew Davy too well.
“You got any other friends who could come along to be with Sarah?” she asked Davy.
“We’ve got two other housemates, but they’re not single.” They both always made sure to not let anyone know about Mike and Pete’s relationship, especially in front of strangers.
“It’s okay—you go off with Davy, I don’t mind,” Sarah said to her, while looking over at a guy who’d just came and sat near them. They were soon chatting away to each other.
Inside Pete had taken Annie out to the sundeck to talk to her. He felt he needed to tell someone about what he’d found out last night. “I’ve done something I’m really regretting and it’s worrying me.”
“What, Peter? What’ve you done?”
“I made sure Vicky got my sperm sample when we gave them to her and Ronnie, so I know she’s having my baby. I feel bad because I’m so happy about it, but I’m worried who’s the father of Ronnie’s baby. I really hope it’s Michael’s. He’ll be the best dad ever, much better than I’ll ever be. I mean he looks after us three so well.”
Annie could see tears forming in Petes eyes. “Calm down. I’m sure everything will be okay. Why don’t you talk to Mike about it? I’m sure he’ll understand. It was a little sneaky of you, though.”
“I know it was, but it’s my only chance to be a father. I can’t tell him what I did. He might not forgive me for being so selfish. You won’t say anything, will you?” Pete pleaded with her.
“No I won’t, but I think he needs to know. Be honest with him, Peter, he loves you, and you’re gonna be a great dad too. You’re brilliant with the twins. I don’t know what I’d do without you—well without all of you guys, but you’re my big brother.” She stroked his cheek to wipe away a few tears.
“Sorry. Okay, I’ll talk to him, I promise. I know I need to tell him everything. Thanks, Annie.”
Annie waited around until Micky and Davy returned with the twins. She and Chris said their goodbyes to Nick and Claire who’d gone to pack, ready for their flight home, then they both left for home as their mom and gran were coming for a meal.
“I’ll come with you to the airport to drop Nick and Claire off, Pete. I think we should call in at the club on the way home and check on the girls. Annie was telling me that Christine mentioned things were getting really busy at the club for them—Jacob’s only doing two shifts a week now due to his studies.”
Not much later, they were at the airport saying their goodbyes to Nick and Claire. “See you next month for the wedding. If you need anything, just give me a call, and I’ll do all I can as your best man. I love you Nick.” They hugged before the couple went off to the departure lounge.
After they’d left the airport, Mike drove along the Strip and parked outside the Dive, “No showing the girls that we know things aren’t too good, okay?”
“Okay. I’ll go and see how Vicky is, and you can talk to Ronnie. She gets on better with you, and I find it easier talking to Vicky—we seem to understand each other.”
When they got inside, Ronnie was behind the bar on her own, setting up ready for the evening. She did look a little stressed. “Hi guys. You want a drink or anything? Why don’t you go up and see Vicky? There’s plenty to drink up there. I’m just really busy right now—one of my bar staff called in sick and we’ve got a group coming in to celebrate an engagement.”
Pete went upstairs and Mike stayed behind, “You want a hand with anything? I don’t mind helping you out. How about I unstack those chairs and put them around the tables?”
“That’d be great. Thanks, Mike. Things are just hectic at the minute—staff issues. I’ve got a meeting tomorrow with a guy from a beer company about some promotion. Give me a minute. I’ll bring you a drink out and I’ll have a break.”
About ten minutes later, Mike had set up the tables and Ronnie brought him a beer and herself an orange juice and sat with him. “I could do with one of them, but don’t worry, I won’t drink. I don’t know if you’ve heard the rumour about a few new clubs opening down the block.”
Mike nodded. “I only heard about one that’s gonna be near here. You worried about the competition? I’m sure you won’t lose your regulars.”
“We need to draw new crowds in though. I’m looking for new bands—don’t worry, you won’t lose any of your nights. I want to utilise the back room more, private parties and functions… Dad set up a meeting for me with a friend of his who works in marketing.”
“I heard Jacob’s cut his shifts back due to his college work—you gonna be looking for new staff?” Mike asked Ronnie before he started drinking his beer.
“I’m gonna have to. I’m not gonna be able to work all the time. My morning sickness isn’t too bad but Vicky’s got it so much worse than me—it’s more like all day sickness. She can’t keep anything down, she’s been taking time off work, and cancelling the private music lessons she does upstairs.”
“You both need to take is easy now you’re pregnant.”
“We’re only pregnant, not invalids, Mike. Women go through this all the time. We both need to work, earn money… The club doesn’t run itself and Vicky loves her job. She’s not been working at the school too long, but she enjoys it, even teaching the one-on-one lessons to the spoilt rich kids.”
“Okay. I’m sorry about that Ronnie. I understand. My mom worked all the time, and with it only being me and her, I didn’t grow up with a dad.” He put his hand on hers.
Upstairs, Pete found a very tired-looking Vicky lying on the couch. She moved over a little so he could sit beside her. “Hey, Pete, how you doing?”
“I’m okay. How’s things with you? You don’t look too well—anything I can do for you?”
“I’m tired. Haven’t been sleeping that good, and there’s the constantly being sick. That’s not good. I have no idea why they call it morning sickness—it’s morning, noon and night for me. Luckily Ronnie’s not too bad, but she working all day in the club.”
“You’re worried about her, I can tell, but you need to look after yourself too. She probably feels the same about you.” Pete stood. “I’ll get you a drink. I brought some ginger tea. It’s good for nausea—do you want that or water?”
“I’ll try the tea. Thanks, Pete.” She sat up and plumped up the cushions to get more comfortable. Pete went to the kitchen to put the kettle on, then made the tea when it boiled and brought them both a cup back, handing one to Vicky.
“Thanks. Ooh, nice,” Vicky replied after trying a drink.
“There’s lots of other herbal teas that help with other things like tiredness, stress and sleeping. I’ll write them all down and bring some for you, try Ronnie on them.” Pete sat beside her.
“Good idea. Ronnie needs to calm down, but she won’t stop, says she’s too busy. I’m not much of a help as I’ve had to cancel some of my students’ piano lessons and call in sick for work, which isn’t good as I only started there this term.”
Pete could see she was looking worried. “Well, Mike and I will help out with anything we can. You know that. We’re as much part of this pregnancy, so anything you need, just call us.”
“Thanks, I’m gonna try and go back in tomorrow. I’m only an assistant at the moment but the head of our department wants me to get involved with planning lessons and helping with the school band and some upcoming concerts.”
“What grades are you working with?” Pete asked her.
“It’s a private junior high school, grades seven and eight. I teach some of the kids piano lessons here too—that pays well and I should be able to do that without any leave. I need to inform the school about the pregnancy.”
“I can help with any music plans for you. I know how private schools work too—went to some when I was growing up. Dad wanted to pay for the best education I could get.”
“That’d be brilliant, Pete. My work purse is just by the side of the couch—do you want to have a look through what I’ve done so far?”
Pete picked up her purse, took out her notebooks and started to read through them and look at the music scores she had.
Downstairs, Ronnie went behind the bar and came back with some paperwork. “Least some things I can do sitting down. I need to plan next week’s rota. It’s hard now—most of the older staff are good about changing shifts, but the younger ones can be awkward, so I have to work it around them.”
“Shall I take a look? I organize the guys with the chores rota at home and plan everything for the band. My aunt got me into that when I stayed with her and my cousins. She always made it fair, but trying to get Davy to do some things is hard work, so I know what you mean. He has that many plans and dates with various chicks, so he always tries to get out of work.”
“How do you keep up with them? I know the girls in the crowd here go mad for him. It’s quite funny. I’m wondering what other responsibilities I can pass onto Christine and Jacob.” She picked up a pen and started going through the rota.
“Have a staff meeting. Don’t let them tell you what they’re doing. You’re the boss, remember. Listen, I’m always available on the phone if you want to go through anything with me. You need to start relaxing more and cut back on your hours.”
She nodded at him. “I suppose it’s hard to give tasks to other people. I’m sure Jacob and Christine will cope well with any extra things—I don’t know what I’d do without Christine.”
“Okay, so the main thing for you is To start taking a step back. Stress can’t be good for you at this stage or anytime in your pregnancy.” He finished off his beer. “I’m gonna see if Pete’s ready to go.”
Upstairs, Pete had got Vicky to lie down on the couch to rest. Mike was climbing up the stairs as Pete was starting to play some soothing music on the piano. Mike stood outside as he heard the music. He knew it was Pete playing—he was used to listening to him. He decided to give him time to finish.
“This is something I’ve been working on, not anything for the group of course. One day I hope to have someone play something classical I’ve written, but we can all dream… But for now I want you to listen and relax. We need you at your best for you and the baby’s sake. We don’t want anything to happen because you’re too stressed.”
Mike came in and put a blanket over her as she started to fall asleep. “Yeah, listen to Pete. We don’t want you or the baby to get ill.”