The Difference Between Getting and Needing

f i f t y

"Oh my–" my mom jolted forward so fast that the cake slipped right out of her hands.

Gus lept up to catch it within seconds of its demise, taking it away from my mom and placing it on the table before collapsing back into his seat. "Holy shit," he whispered to himself.

Impeccably timed, the front door opened then. Next came my grandmother's voice.

"What did I miss?" Her tone was unsuspecting as if she didn't just walk into the eye of a hurricane without a lifejacket.

She had been alone since my grandfather died in the spring. The two of them had been married for over sixty years and never knew anything else. They were salt and pepper – one didn't go without the other. At first, the grief was so crippling, she'd forgotten how to do basic tasks she had been doing her whole life. Things like writing a check, turning on the oven, or remembering how to get home from the grocery store. It took a lot of time, but she managed to get her wheels back on track.

One thing she never forgot how to do? Make a damn entrance.

My mom, who had been trying to get her bearings from Asher's news, shut her eyes as a way of hitting the reset button. If anyone knew how to keep their composure in any given situation, it was her. No amount of mayhem could shake her, for she had birthed and raised all four of us for the last thirty years or so and hadn't lost her mind. Yet, at least.

She opened her eyes a few seconds later and nodded to her own mother standing in the foyer behind me. "Oh, hi Mom. Actually, can you take Maddy into the kitchen? I think there's a cookie tray that still needs to be assembled before we bring it out here."

I couldn't see my grandmother's reaction, but the pleading gaze my mom was giving her said it all. Keep the child distracted, the adults need to talk. The sound of clunky heels echoed on the hardwood flooring until my grandmother stopped between Gus and me, bowing to kiss the side of my head.

"Happy Birthday, sweetie," she muttered to me. She rounded the table, throwing out hasty hello's to everyone else while she reached her hand to Madelyn who was idling behind my mom. The two of them headed back into the kitchen while the rest of us remained stupefied in our seats.

As soon as they were out of earshot, my mom let out a sound of pure defeat and plopped down in her chair. "I don't know whether you kids keep me young or age me beyond repair," she said, more so to herself than to anyone in particular.

All eyes were on me now, waiting for my own bombshell to follow in the footsteps of my siblings. That was the ongoing pattern with us, after all. Once one of us jumped ship, we all followed suit. 

Instead, I looked to Gus for an answer and we both just shrugged. 

"I... got nothing," I concluded.

"Usually we're the ones stirring the pot," he snorted, "Are you sure we don't have any news?"

"For once, we're the boring ones. I kinda like it." I found myself smiling at the idea of being boring with Gus for the rest of our lives. Something I never thought would cross my mind before.

My dad cleared his throat to bring us back to the subject matters at hand. "So we've got a girlfriend, a baby, and an engagement," he recapped with a sigh. Faintly, he added on, "I think we're done with announcements for the year."

"Who are we starting with?" My mom asked as she rubbed at her temples. The classic move we all did when we were stressed. "And I don't want any of this competitive nonsense. Let's all try and be adults for once."

"I'd like to start with Sutton," I suggested, directing my attention at the alleged expecting couple sitting across from me. "You guys are having... a baby? A real baby. Like, you're pregnant? Right now? Is that why you haven't even touched your champagne?"