Couple for Hire [Shourtney]

18. The One Where They Stay Home

My brother eventually arrives, and we drive to Dad's, where I'm greeted warmly by everyone else. They're all occupied with cooking up tonight's dinner, wrapping last-minute gifts, and having a good time. I was the one feeling like shit, and I just wanted to be happy because I'm with my family.

"Now, what are you doing over here?" Dad asks me as I stand in front of our family picture wall. Most of these pictures are pictures of us without Mom, but of course, he kept some pictures with her up. "I'm glad you're home, but you look all sad and stressed out. You should have gone here when your leave started."

"As much as I wanted to, I had to fix up papers for the business closing," I answer, chuckling. "Uh, Dad, I just gotta ask you something. I know Mom isn't your soulmate, because you guys got divorced and that stuff, but..."

"How did I know it was love?" he says, standing next to me and looking at the pictures as well. "Well, I remember that there was one night I took your mother out for a diner date in the middle of the night. She flunked an exam of some sort, I couldn't remember. We sat in that diner, and she was crying about how that exam meant to her. And I watched her cry, listened to her, paid for her milkshake and fries."

"And...?"

"That was it," he explains, nodding slowly. "Our love was never anything spontaneous or grand. It was pretty ordinary, now that I recall it. But even if things are ordinary, it doesn't mean they're nothing special. What your Mom and I shared in those years was special. It just so happened that we fell out of it, but even though that happened... we still happened too. She knew I loved her, I knew she loved me, and at that diner, that was all we needed to know. Love is never about knowing everything, but it's about getting everything you need. Just like grocery shopping."

I give him a smile as he gives me a hug. I tell him, "I'm just scared, really scared that I lose this one, because he's everything I know I need to know. And I already know him. Even you know him."

"Oh. We're talking about Shayne."

"Come on, he's a great guy. It doesn't show on his Instagram. On his behalf, I apologize for the bananas."

"I actually love the banana posts, they make no sense," he assures me, chuckling. "Well, even though this household knows him already, he has a lot of work to do to make sure he gets a Miller Christmas sweater."

I give Shayne a call right after that, but he was on a flight back to Colorado. He told me that he was gonna call me back, and I waited. I waited and waited until everyone else was occupied with new things, such as cleaning up after dinner, gift-giving, and choosing some cheesy Netflix Christmas special to watch. It was kind of heart-warming to watch my siblings do different things from one second to another. Even though this day has felt especially the longest, it's still pretty surprising how life is so short, yet everyone around me is spending every second wisely. I think back to the time we got surged by requests, wondering how many baby showers and housewarming parties we had to attend in only California. And there were 49 other states, 195 other countries, seven other planets, and a countless number of galaxies.

So many things are happening everywhere, and when Shayne called me back, it felt like that was the only thing happening in my universe. Time stopped, maybe.

"Hey, what's up, Courtney?" he says. "So sorry I got back to you just now. I kinda thought that you were having dinner too."

"We were, yeah," I reply, scratching the back of my head as I sit on the front porch in my sweater. "Lucky you, you're in Colorado. California's still pretty hot right now, it's a little unfair."

"For the record, California's always been pretty hot," he tells me, chuckling. "We had dinner too, by the way. Well, uh, I don't know why I said that. I just kinda, uh..."