Chapter 20
“William, have you seen Buffy?”
“Er no…hold on………look, her bedroom light is on, she must have gone back round already” Will said, pointing to the upstairs light that was on next door.
Joyce, Hank and Will walked back to their place, and once inside William said goodnight and took the stairs two at a time, going straight to his room.
Slipping off his trousers and standing in front of the wardrobe he hung them up on a hanger, when there was a knock at his door
“Yeah?”
“Will…can I come in?”
“Uh huh”
Buffy opened the door, and Will took off his tee shirt, standing there in just his briefs.
“What do you want to do tomorrow – I know the beach is out, so I was thinking shopping maybe?” Buffy asked hopefully.
“Shopping – no – once you’ve seen one mall, you’ve seen them all. They all have the same shops in them”
“Okay then…what?”
“Don’t know yet………why do we have to DO anything, we are supposed to be on holiday? – I might decide to just stay here” Will got into bed
“To be with Holly I suppose!” Buffy said sourly
William sighed and turned off the bedside lamp and said,
“Oh do stop being so bloody childish, I haven’t decided that’s all – goodnight, and don’t slam the…………………(SLAM) ……door on your way out” Will said the last five words to the back of the door.
**********************
William came downstairs rubbing his wet hair vigorously with a towel, which he threw over a stool. He opened the fridge and took out the juice carton and put it on the table while he fetched a glass.
The patio door slid open and Joyce came in holding two mugs
“Morning honey, sleep well?” She went over to the coffee machine and poured two mugs full.
“Great…so, got anything planned for today?
Joyce added milk to one of the coffees and began to stir it
“Well, your dad said something about a boat trip after lunch if you fancy it?”
“Sure, it would be nice to do something together”
Joyce smiled
“Would you like me to do you some toast?”
“You go and read the paper mom, I can do it”
William put two slices in the toaster, and sat at the breakfast bar waiting for it to cook. He poured himself juice and opened his book. Buffy came slip-slapping into the kitchen wearing he silky robe and mules. She hadn’t even brushed her hair and was yawning noisily.
“Morning”
“Hi”
“Any of that juice left?”
William nodded and slid the carton across the counter to her. Buffy raised it to her mouth and drank, William frowned
“Why don’t you use a glass?” Buffy paused and said
“Coz I’m going to finish it, that’s why” and again she raised the carton to her lips.
The patio door slid open and Hank came in, trying to get a better signal to his cell-phone
“I’m sorry Peter, can you say that again, there are some trees by the pool that block the signal…that’s better now what did you say?………………uh huh………uh huh………sure, no that’s fine, we were coming home on Wednesday anyway, my wife has a big weekend on at work, so we were cutting the week short anyway………absolutely sure, yes…okay then…………I will, bye”
Joyce appeared behind him
“Everything okay honey?”
“Yes, that was the boss, he said he knows he said we could stay another week, but something has cropped up and could I be back for Friday, I told him we were coming home Wednesday anyway because you’d got a big weekend on at work”
“Oh, don’t remind me! Well, that means we better make the most of the time we’ve got left, Will said he’d like to come on the boat trip with us after lunch, isn’t that right?”
“Yup!” he bit into a slice of toast, Buffy snagged the other one off his plate, and mumbled something spraying crumbs everywhere – which met with three disapproving frowns
“I said, is nobody gonna ask me?”
“Well, I was going to suggest I take us all to lunch, but with THOSE manners…” Hank began
Buffy rolled her eyes, and then looked pointedly over her mother’s shoulder
“What does SHE want at this time of the morning?”
Everybody turned and looked out to see Holly about to knock the door. Joyce slid the door back
“Morning Holly, what can I do for you?”
“Is Will there? – Only dad’s got a problem with his computer, and he asked me to-“
“Right here!” Will stood, drained his juice, dusted his hands off over his plate and while still chewing went out to her
“What’s the problem?”
“Something about emails…his password doesn’t work or something, and he’s got a load of emails he needs to go through”
“Come on then – won’t be long mom” Joyce smiled and nodded
William went round to Holly’s place.
“Huh…I bet she sabotaged it on purpose!” Buffy said in disgust. Hank rolled his eyes and Joyce just went back outside to her sun-lounger.
**********************
“I feel sick, all this bobbing up and down!” Buffy sat with a hand on her stomach
“Oh Buffy DO stop moaning, you’re spoiling it for the rest of us!”
“Sor-ree! – Gods – here’s me dying and NOBODY cares!”
“You shouldn’t have been such a piggy at lunch then, should you? Joyce said
“I had the same as Will!”
“Ah, but I didn’t have ice-cream AND whipped cream on my apple pie, and I didn’t have large fries”
“Well okay then practically the same…oh gods ‘m going to be sick!” Buffy knelt and leaned over the side of the boat, looking at her reflection in the water.
She wasn’t sick, and twenty minutes later when they got off the boat she felt wobbly legged.
“I tell you, I’m dying!”
“Oh do stop fussing Buffy – honestly, you weren’t this bad when you were a little girl!” Joyce said, getting more than faintly annoyed at her daughter’s constant carping.
“Oh, I spy a bookshop…you go on a head, I’ll catch you up!” Will said walking more quickly towards one of the shops.
“Actually, I’ve finished the latest Ruth Rendell, I could do with something else to read…Joyce followed her son into the shop.
“Shall we wait here honey?” Hank said, sitting on a bench that was outside the shop next door
Buffy plonked herself down next to her dad.
“What’s up princess?” he put his arm around her, and for the first time in what was absolutely ages, Buffy lent her head against her dad’s shoulder, allowing herself to be comforted.
“I think Will hates me!”
Hank chuckled
“You KNOW that isn’t true!” Her head still leaning she picked miserably at the rip in the knee of her jeans and said quietly,
“He doesn’t talk to me anymore…’cept to shout at me…EVERYBODY’S been shouting at me!” Tears of self-pity slid down her cheeks and she sniffed, wiping her eyes on the cuff of her coat.
William glanced outside and did a double-take.
“What’s up with Buffy?”
Joyce slipped the latest Jackie Collins back on the shelf after reading the blurb on the back deciding it was a little too racy for her, and after looking herself at the scene outside she said
“Oh, I think she’s feeling a little sorry for herself, that’s all”
“I don’t know why she thinks I’ve got a thing going with Holly…I mean, she’s a nice girl and all, but it would be stupid to start anything, we live so far apart, and I’m going to uni next month…”
“I know honey, take no notice, she’ll snap out of it, don’t worry” After making their purchases, they went back outside. Buffy was no longer being ‘cuddled’ by her dad
“Shall we make our way back to the car then? – Or does anybody else want to do something before we go back?” Hank asked
It was decided they’d go home, and they made their way to the parking lot. Hank said to Joyce,
“I was thinking honey, do you think we should have a barbecue to repay Bill for last night? Me meeting Larry Tate got me some good contacts, and I’d like to say thankyou”
“Hmm, barbecue sounds like hard work, it’s all the scrubbing and sweeping after, and we go home on Wednesday don’t forget…how about if we just invite him round to dinner instead?”
“Okay, we could do that…or how about if we took him out to dinner?” Hank suggested
“We’d have to invite Holly too” Joyce said, Buffy heard this and piped up,
“AND his ex Mrs, AND the brat brother don’t forget, they arrive today”
Hank pulled a face…
“Darn it, I’d forgotten about that”
“But you could just still ask him, it is his EX wife don’t forget, they’re on very good terms still, they are taking a vacation together, but they don’t live in each other’s pockets” Joyce said
“I’ll sound him out when we get back, if he says no, then we’ll have to work something else out, perhaps have him to stay when he next wants to come to California”
***********************
“Got everything?” Joyce stuck her head around Will’s bedroom door
“Yep…all packed, I’m just going to put them in the trunk of the hire-car, if you leave your cases at the top of the stairs, I’ll do it for you”
“Thanks honey, I think your dad’s feeling a little delicate this morning, he’s not used to drinking that late into the night – Bill can sure put some away!”
Will smiled and saw Buffy’s bedroom door open and her struggling with her case
“Leave it outside your door, I’ll put it in the car for you” William said
“Thanks…are you going round to say bye to Holly?”
“No, I said bye last night, besides, she said she’ll be helping her mom with Kasey, he needs his special exercises”
“Why didn’t you tell me her brother suffered from Cystic Fibrosis?” Buffy asked
“Coz I didn’t know myself until she said last night, besides, would it have made any difference, would you have been nicer to her just because she’s got a disabled brother?”
Buffy looked slightly shame-faced and dropped her head and shrugged.
“Right then, are we ready, we’ve got to be at the airport in just over an hour, and we’ve got to drop the hire-car back first…oh and that reminds me, Joyce where did you put the keys to the car that comes with this place?”
“Back on the hook in the garage, where we found them, now come on – the traffic on the freeway can be quite thick this time of day, I know it’s only 6 miles to the airport, but…”
********************************
Hank put the key into the lock at Revello Drive, relieved to be at home at last. He keyed in the burglar alarm number on the wall mounted keypad and the pre alarm buzzing stopped. They’d had a reasonable flight, but a long delay getting their luggage, and everybody felt tired and fractious.
Joyce smiled as she walked in, the lady next door, their neighbour for the last twenty odd years had put a vase of fresh flowers on the hall table, along with all the mail, neatly piled for each person in date order they came.
“Bless her – she’s so good we did remember to bring he a present, didn’t we honey?” Hank asked scooping up his mail
“Yes ‘WE’ did…I got her a figurine in that nice glass-ware shop in Haydensfield” Joyce said
“Good…god I’d kill for a coffee and something to eat…what was that supposed to be on the plane?”
Joyce was sifting through her mail and said
“The lord alone knows…tasted like baby pap. I’ll get one of the kids to ring for take-away, I’m not cooking now, besides, there’s nothing in, I’ll have to do a big shop tomorrow”
Over a Chinese take-away William was re-reading a letter he’d had from Harvard
“Mom, dad, listen to this! It says because of my exam marks, I will be able to take advantage of the uni facilities if I wanted to start one of my own private projects, coz I told them I was interested in AI, that’s Artificial Intelligence mom, and rather fancied writing my own programmes for robotics, automatons that could be used in either industry or ideally in the home, especially for the disabled”
“Wow William, that’s fantastic!” Joyce grinned
Buffy chewed thoughtfully and realised just how clever her brother was…what he’d just said, well, he might as well of said it in Swahili for all she understood of it, but then she wasn’t the brains of the family, and boy sometimes, she knew it.
Will put his letter down and continued eating when Buffy said,
“I’ve got a few party invites, for the two of us, fancy going to any of them?”
“Hmm, sorry – I was miles away, thinking”
“Parties, I’ve had some invites for the both of us, wanna go?”
“Oh, I’ll see, I’ve got lots to do before we move”
Buffy nodded sadly – she could feel him drifting away from her. She couldn’t help it, it was the way she felt – he’d done nothing specific, and to be fair, she knew he didn’t like parties, but there was just something that had come between them, and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
The Saturday of the exhibition at the gallery dawned bright and sunny and Joyce was busy at the gallery, one of the girls was out sick, and the other had gone on maternity leave, so it was ‘all hands on deck’, including Hank.
At 10.30am, William drew up outside the gallery in his mother’s Jeep, with two-dozen cases of wine. In a small ante-room that used to be used for storing pictures that had been sold, had now been commandeered into a makeshift kitchen. William, Hank and Jeff, one of the curators at the gallery carried the cases of wine in and put them in the fridge.
“We should leave the red out, shouldn’t really be chilled, should it?” William said, stacking the three cases of red he’d bought in on the floor by the fridge.
“So, what else can I do?”
“Well, you could finish helping Buffy sticking cocktail sticks in these wieners, then the cheese chunks, then there’s the glasses to be opened and rinsed…”
“Joyce, phone!” Some body called.
“Can I –“
“Leave it to us, go on” William said, washing his hands.
William came and stood opposite Buffy, he tipped a small pot of cocktail sticks into his hand, and began sticking them into the sausages.
“What’s cooking?”
“Oh gods, the volley-thingies!” Buffy ran to the oven, grabbing a cloth. She opened the door; they were cooked to perfection! Her shoulders relaxed and she smiled as she took the two trays of golden puff pastry bites out, and put two trays of raw ones to take their place. When all the cocktail sticks had been stuck in, they carefully covered everything in cling film. They were just doing the second plate, when Joyce came flying into the kitchen.
“The Vol-au-Vents –Oh, you remembered!” She relaxed as she saw them on top of the oven, cooling.
“Actually, that would be William!” Buffy said.
“Bless you, I forgot all about them until I smelt them! Anyway, Cortez be here in about and hour, they’ve left the airport, but he’s going to check into his hotel first, now, do I look ok, or should I change into a skirt?”
“You look fine, but, um…mom”
“What, what?”
“I’d take the rollers out, first!” William said.
“Wha-oh gods, I forgot I’d got them in!” She patted her head, and began to pull out pins, clips, and now cold heated rollers.
The phone rang, it was the gallery owner to warn Joyce they were about ten minutes away.
“Shall we start opening and pouring the wine, do you think?” Hank asked.
“Yes, um, three trays of white, one of red…Gods, have you seen all the people out there, and the media!”
“Oh, gods, look, isn’t that um, that chap, oh…what’s-his-name…Francis Dubois from CNN?”
“Hey, I think it is!”
“Rosie Robins from Chat is there too…look” Buffy said, pointing to a woman in a shocking pink suit.
“Where?”
“Just by that man holding that big furry microphone thing” Buffy said
“Oh yeah…she’s smaller than I thought!”
“Anyway, I’m keeping out of the way!” Buffy said. Both she and William went to help their father with the wine. Hank opened, William poured and Buffy placed them on the waiting trays. Next they put out small cartons of juice and small bottles of mineral water, with two trays of ‘upside down’ clean glasses.
By the sudden commotion outside, the frenzied clicking of the camera’s and flashes of the camera lights signalled the arrival of the artist. Joyce was photographed with him, and they gave a short interview to the Art Show host, Daniel Steele.
The first day was ‘ticket only’, and had sold out within hours. The press was allowed in, but, not to take photographs, there was to be a documentary made on the life of the young artist, who had literally become famous overnight, plucked from obscurity to paint one of the most important pieces of art that New York had ever commissioned, a mural for Ground Zero.
“Ok…is that lighting ok? – Could you stand slightly more to the left please, Joan…”
“It’s Joyce”
“I’m sorry?”
“My name, its Joyce”
“Oh, I do beg your pardon…bloody researchers…ok every body…quiet please…quiet…QUIET!” Somebody made a ‘shushing’ noise.
Daniel Steele looked at the camera and smiled, and said,
“Art Show, Cortez, at exhibition, Sunnydale Gallery of Fine Art…three, two, one,” A man wearing headphones snapped a clapperboard in front of their faces, then he said, ‘action’
“Hello, tonight we are here in the Sunnydale gallery to see the exhibition of one of the hottest new artists around, Joachim Cortez, his meteoric rise to fame is a true American dream for a poor boy born and bought up in a shack in Nicaragua………………Thankyou, Joachim, now, somebody who had a crystal ball six months ago, was Mrs Joyce Summers, part owner and responsible for booking exhibitions…Good evening” (he turned towards Joyce)
“Hello” Joyce said, not a trace of nerves.
“So, Joyce, did you literally have a crystal ball back in January?”
“Well, I saw some of Mr. Cortez’ work when I was on a trip to South America, I was in a gallery in Santiago, and his work just had something about it. A sort of indefinable unique freshness to it that really leapt out at me. I loved his subtle use of colour, but he wasn’t afraid to be bold either, and the contrast just works so well.” Joyce said confidently.
“So, Joachim, when Joyce expressed an interest to show your work, what was your first reaction?”
“I was…very excited…but also worried, I ask if they pay me to get to California!” He smiled at Joyce.
Is it true that you used to collect aluminium cans for recycling to get money to buy paint?”
“This is true…then once I sell picture to tourist, for $25, I thought I was rich…”
The interview went on for ten minutes, then Daniel did his piece to camera to wind up the show.
“…and cut! That’s a wrap!”
“Well done! – You must have done that before” Daniel said, so pleased that they managed it all in one take. He shook Joyce’s hand.
“Oh gods, I’m shaking like a jelly!” Joyce said. The cameraman was taking ‘arty’ shots of Cortez’ work, it was to be inter-spaced with footage of his humble beginnings, to the site of Ground Zero.
An hour later when all the shots required had been taken, ticket holders were let in, and refreshments served. Buffy managed to get a quick word with her mom.
“You were brilliant!”
“Oh gods, I hope you couldn’t see me shaking, I thought I was going to wet myself!”
The day flew by, and at just gone six ‘o’clock, they locked up. Joyce and Hank had been invited to dinner by the gallery’s other part owner, George Deakins, and the artist, plus a few others. They were delighted to accept.
“You take my car home baby…you sure you’ll be alright, there’s pizza in the freezer”
“Don’t worry mom, we’ll get take out, Mr Deakins has given us $100 each for helping!”
“Has he…oh, that’s nice”
“See you later then and enjoy yourselves!” William said.
When they got home, Buffy counted out five notes, offered them to William.
“Here, what I owe you”
“Oh, um, you sure?” Buffy nodded.
“I feel a bit bad in taking it”
“Don’t, you leant it me in the first place, you can buy supper though!”
“What do you want?”
“Same as you?”
“Um…actually, I was just going to have a banana, I’m not really hungry”
“Oh, I won’t bother then”
“Don’t be silly, here you are, I said I’d pay” He passed her a $10 note. Buffy just shook her head, and went into the lounge to watch TV. The phone rang, William answered it.
“Oh, hi Willow…yeah, she’s here…Buffy, Willow” Buffy came and took the phone off him, said thanks.
“I just saw your mom on TV!”
“Did you, what on?”
“The news, silly!”
“Oh”
“You sound fed up” Willow said.
“That’s coz I am…”
“Well, soon cheer you up, 12 days to go!”
“Until what?”
“Your birthday! – Honestly, what are you like, I bet you’re arranging it as we speak?”
“Arranging what?” Buffy asked perplexed
“Your big party!” Willow said excitedly
“Um…well… about that, I, I mean we, well it, it won’t be just for my birthday, it’ll be a farewell party too, if we decide to - ”
“Well sure it’ll be a going away party for Wills too, but no doubt you’ll see him Christmas…unless he takes up with one of the students…!”
“Takes up with huh? - What are you on about?” Buffy had forgotten they hadn’t said nything about her going to Mass with Will yet…
“William of course, bet he’ll have a girlfriend there by Christmas!”
“Oh” Buffy pulled a face, wishing Willow would shut up.
“Anyway, Willow continued excitedly, I’ve told Riley he can be designated driver, from your party, as he’s got to go for a medical the day after, so he can’t drink, that means the rest of-“
“Hold on, hold on, what do you mean, ‘you’ve told Riley he can be designated driver’?” Buffy said, frowning at the phone.
“Um…he can’t drink, so the rest of us can – you are having booze?”
“I don’t know, anyway, Riley isn’t invited, neither is Anya”
“What?! – But…oh. But they know about it, and sort of assumed that they were…oh”
“I don’t think they did any assuming, I think you did—gods Willow, anyone would think that you four were joined at the hip!”
“Well, they don’t have many friends, and I thought…”
“Are you surprised?”
“What………what do you mean?”
“Willow, every time Anya speaks to me, I have to feel if my heads still attached to my neck she’s so snappy, bloody hell, I’ve seen ‘gators with less snap than her, and as for Riley, gods, I want to stand to attention and snap him a smart salute…they bore me rigid”
“But…we won’t stop long”
“THEY won’t stop at all Willow, coz they’re not invited!”
“So when are you going to tell them?” Willow asked.
“ME?! – I’m telling them nothing, it was you who invited them, so it’s you that can un-invite them, Goodnight” Buffy said, exasperatedly
“Bloody good!” William said from the top of the stairs.
“Will…can I come up and talk to you…please?”
“Sure” he smiled and nodded.
Five minutes later, she put two mugs of tea down on the nightstand in his room. She stood behind him as he sorted out CD’s to pack in a box to take with them.
“Will…”
“Hmm?” He turned, found himself being cuddled up. He was stiff at first, then he relented and cuddled her.
“I’ve missed you, so much” Buffy said in a small voice
William had his eyes closed, his head resting on hers, he cuddled her up too.
“Don’t be silly, I’ve been right here!”
“No, you haven’t...you’ve been a million miles away from me!” Buffy snuggled in tighter and William relaxed a little more…
“And I’ve missed you…I’ve tried so hard to distance myself from you, to give you some space”
“But it’s horrible! I don’t want space, space is horrible and voidy and nasty! I feel like I’ve died…I can’t breath properly, some thing’s been missing, and my heart hurt so much I even WANTED to d-“
“A-a, don’t you dare say it” William warned.
“If you ever left me…I don’t know what I’d do”
“No doubt you’d get by”
“But I wouldn’t ” He didn’t argue, he agreed with her in fact…but…he sighed, would they ever be accepted as a couple? – Could they? What would mom and dad think?” William quashed these thoughts
“Will…you do still want me to come to Mass with you, don’t you?” Buffy held her breath after asking this, coz if he said no now…
“Course I do you Muppet!” he closed his eyes and cuddled her up. Buffy breathed a sigh of relief and she felt tears well up. There was a rather loud tummy rumble from one of them and Will said,
“Was that me or you?” He held Buffy out at arms length. She smiled, shrugged.
“Come on, I’ll phone for pizza! – you’re paying” she said
“Ok…and you can tell me what Willow said!”
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