Yours, Mine, Ours Part 5
Jared was worried about how late he was. He opened the front door calling his apology, “Sorry I’m late.” He heard Jamie playing Mr. Roboto and looked into the dining room, “That song is really awesome and it sounds great.”
“Thanks,” said Jamie not looking away from the sheet music.
Walking into the kitchen he saw that Jensen wasn’t smiling as he said, “There’s a house rule: if you’re late you can’t come in.”
“Oh,” and Jared was a little confused. “Seriously?”
Jensen shook his head, “No, Jared, you don’t have an appointment for which to be late.” Jared broke into a smile and Jensen said, “I like you, Jay, but you’re a little slow sometimes.” Jared laughed but then he saw Chad and instantly stopped laughing.
“I forgot about our fry date, didn’t I? I’m so sorry, Chad.”
Chad shook his head, “I’ve been shooting the shit with Jensen for an hour, it’s cool.”
“Why are you late?” asked Jensen, “Promo stuff?” He glanced at the William Sonoma bag Jared was holding.
“Not, I got out early because of that. But I realized that my clear sided fryer has had doughnuts in it so I don’t want to use it for Jamie. I had to go to William Sonoma to get a one with a big clear lid so the class could still watch the frying.” He pulled the deep fryer out and handed the box to Jensen.
Jensen barely glanced at it; he’d looked at the Krups High Performance Deep Fryer longingly in the catalogue but decided he really didn’t need it. “You spent four hundred dollars on a deep fryer so that six-year-olds have a view.”
“Well, I’ve been wanting it for a while, and I get a really good discount.” He pulled something else out of the bag wrapped in a separate plastic bag and then pulled rubber gloves out of his back pocket. “Put these on for me.”
“In front of Chad? That’s kinky,” Jensen said snapping them on.
Jared him the bag and said, “Tell me if I need to march it straight back to the car.”
“The gloves might be over kill,” Jensen said as he pulled out the olive oil. “Olive oil has nothing but olive oil in it.”
“But what about the plant? Is there a way to know?”
“Call them and ask, there’s a phone number.” He took off one of the gloves as Annie walked in hanging up the phone. “Need to make a call.” She threw it and he caught it with one hand. He dialed and put it to his ear. “Hi, yes. I just bought a bottle of your premium dipping oil. I have a little boy with sever food allergies and need to know what else is in the plant where you bottle it. Uh-huh. Cool, thank you.” He hung up. “They produce five different pure olive oils. You’re good.” He put the oil on the counter and pulled off his other glove. “Thank you for bringing the gloves.” He leaned forward and kissed Jared slowly, unconcerned about the other people in the room. “You’re totally awesome,” he said finally pulling away.
“I should get cooking,” said Jared washing his hands. “Jamie!” he called, “want to come cook?” He heard the piano key lid slamming and saw the way Jensen flinched. “Sorry, Jen.”
Jamie ran into the kitchen, “Jamie, please don’t slam the lid on the keys.”
“Sorry, Daddy. Hi, everyone. Jared, what do I do?”
“Wash your hands. My friend Sandy is coming so their six of us. And Daddy has three really yummy sounding dressings. So we’re going to make three little test burgers for each person.”
“Jamie, what’s six plus six plus six?” asked Chad.
Jamie gave him a sort of disbelieving look, like maybe Chad was simple for not knowing on his own, “It’s eighteen, Chad.”
“I was making a joke, ‘cause of your homework.”
“Oh,” Jamie said, “I see.” He didn’t force a laugh though. That actually made Jared laugh. Jamie hopped onto the counter and started to wash his hands.
Jared went through the cupboards and pulled out the spices he wanted. “We’re going to make the burgers not too spicy.”
“I like spicy,” Jamie complained.
“Yeah but most kids don’t. Think of the kids in your class: what do they usually have for lunch?”
“Sandwiches, turkey or peanut butter.”
“Bland,” Jared said. “Now I totally agree that these burgers would be awesome if they were really mouthwateringly spicy. But we want to keep the popular vote as to who has the coolest ‘Bring a Parent to School Day.’ We can win easily but we need to not go overboard. And I think we should make the less spicy burgers for the test run so we know which dressing is best.”
“Okay,” agreed Jamie.
They went to work like a machine. Jamie worked on mixing the burgers, Jared started to make the rolls, Jensen started pealing beetroots, Annie started on the dressings. Jared saw that Chad had nothing to do and was about to give him a job when Chad walked over to the fridge. It was odd because Chad was never very comfortable in new people’s house. Chad went through the veggie drawer and pulled out a lime. Jared didn’t get it but Jensen laughed, “Totally, dude.” Chad tossed the lime to Jensen who caught it one handed. It was warming. He watched Jensen hand a grater to Chad who began grating a beetroot into a bowl. Jensen set up the deep fryer. “Do you want the new oil in this?” he asked looking at Jared. He must have caught the way Jared had looked at him and smiled, “What?”
“What are you two doing?” asked Jared.
“Grated raw beetroots covered with lime and salt are delicious,” said Chad.
“Chad and I were discussing how amazing it is earlier,” said Jensen. “The new oil?” he asked again.
“Yeah, thanks.” It struck him as odd to see the person he was in love with being so cool with Chad. He put the rolls aside to rise and helped Jamie make the little burgers.
“Are you sure Sandy is coming?” asked Jamie.
“She’s like a cat: she always turns up around dinner.”
He and Jamie formed the patties. Jared put them into the fridge to firm up before putting them on the griddle. The patties were so little that he wanted to make sure they would stick together even though for optimum softness he would like to form them right on the griddle. They washed their hands together at the sink. He put the rolls into the oven. Jamie pulled fruit out of the fridge and started to skin a kiwi, “Making the fruit salad?” asked Jared.
“Yeah, I like cutting fruit ‘cause it’s sort of like cutting cold play-dough.”
“Want help?”
“No, thank you. I like doing it.” Jamie adroitly diced the kiwi in his hand and moved on to the next one. Jared didn’t move away from him though. Jamie was a great little cook but he was also six and therefore could not be trusted with knives. When Jared was six his mother wouldn’t even let him hold a sharp knife she had cut up his meat before giving him the plate. And, while Jamie was awesome, Jared knew from tons of cooking experiences that it’s when you think everything is under control that someone ends up bleeding. So he stayed put and watched Jamie slice up two more kiwis, two large oranges, two apples, three bananas. Jamie scooped each fully cut ingredient into a bowl as he went and finally added raspberries to the top of the bowl. He looked at Jared somberly and said very softly, “I miss pears so bad, Jared. Don’t tell Daddy. He’s sad enough about my allergies. I loved pears. They’re the last thing I lost. I liked the feeling in my mouth.”
It’s so soft that even though Jensen’s only five feet away he is oblivious. But Jared leans down to rest his forehead against Jamie’s, “It’ll get better. You’ll get older and try more things and you’ll find something you like that makes it so you don’t miss pears. I’ll have a think about things with a similar texture.” He moved away to kiss Jamie’s forehead. He sprinkled sugar on top of the fruit, and got some saran wrap to cover the top of the bowl, and put it back into the fridge to let all the juices soak together and make their own syrup. He kissed Jamie’s forehead again as they washed their hands again. “Want to help me cook the burgers?”
It went back to being fun as they cooked the little burgers on the huge griddle Jensen had. Jensen’s cookware was all chef quality. Jared figured that, even though Jensen wasn’t a chef, the guy spent so much time focused on cooking that it was understandable. As a Texan he would never claim that old-fashioned griddle fried hamburgers are better than grilled one but there was something so comforting about the smell of burgers frying in butter. He pulled the rolls out of the oven to let them rest. And he finally noticed that the other three adults were all staring into the clear top of his new deep fryer. There was a huge pile of fried beetroot chips already sitting on paper towel. “You guys realize we’re cooking for six, not sixteen, right?”
“It’s like dinner and a show,” Chad responded and then brought them over the bowl of raw beetroot covered in lime juice and salt he had made. “You should try this. It’s awesome.” Jared and Jamie ate it, and it was awesome, while finishing up the burgers.
There was a knock at the door just as they started making up plates and Jared said, “Told you: like a cat.”
“It’s open,” Jensen shouted.
She called from the front hall, “I’m so sorry I’m so late. I have the final cut promo. Some little girl was all, ‘You’ve been hogging that cutting room all day.’ And I was all, ‘Sweetie, I’m your boss and if I’m actually deigning to sit here all day you shouldn’t question what I’m doing.’ And I know it’s mean to pull the boss card but, whatever, the promo’s done. I had to sift through all of Chad’s freaking home videos. Does that idiot go anywhere without a camera?” She came into the room in a flurry. She smiled at Chad. “Hi, Chad.”
Chad held up his empty hands, “No camera.”
“I’m sorry. It’s fantastic that you do. It makes the promo so cool but I spent all day cutting five second shots together.”
Chad smiled at her easily, “It’s all good, Sands. Jensen, Jamie, Annie this is Sandy, our boss and dear friend.”
“Sandy, I’ve heard so much about you,” said Jensen reaching out to shake her hand. “It’s a pleasure. Let’s eat and then you can show us the promo.” They finished dishing out the food and carried their plates into the dining room. They ate and talked about the family barbeque. Jamie wanted it to have a theme. But mostly he was just vying for putting pink lawn flamingos in their backyard. Jensen said that they were too trashy.
Then they talked about actual food for the party. They had to decide which of the dressings to use for school. Chad unwaveringly supported the sweet barbeque sauce. Jensen liked the ranch so did Jamie but he was also really into the Cajun mayo. There was a lot of debate and arguing. But the beetroot chips were so good with the ranch that it was decided the winner. They ate their fruit salad while Jamie sat down on the bench and played one handed. It’s a good meal, not too complicated for the kids and fun and delicious.
The promo was cool. It was long, seventy seconds. It started with Chris and Steve singing the chorus of Middle America Saturday Night, “Big time dreams and small town nights. St. Junior saved our lives, smack dab in the middle of a middle American Saturday night.”
It then cut to Jared standing in front of the typical red curtain with the food network logo on it. He had his big, pretty smile working for him as he said, “My Saturday is not your Saturday.” It cut away to the song underneath fast images: LeAnn laughing with Jason, Jess and Michael eating corn, Jensen and Annie talking. Jamie playing the piano, Jensen playing piano at the party, both of them playing together. Jared running with his dogs, Katie and Chad dancing. It cut to Jared in front of the curtain again, “That’s mostly because my family isn’t your family.” It back to the fast cut they were all party images, all light and happy. Katie Holmes, James Van Der Beek, James Marsters, Jared, and Tom playing basketball. There was a shot of when Jared and Jamie first met and Jamie was giving Jared a low five. The last shot was of Jared and Jensen dancing at Tom and Mike’s barbeque. Jared didn’t really remember slow dancing at the party, then again he didn’t remember Chad having a camera; he had been pretty drunk. He must have forwarded it to Sandy but he hadn’t watched it himself. It cut back to Jared one more time, “So Jensen and I are going to be throwing a great Family Barbeque. Food Network Nighttime: be there.”
Jared worried about Jensen’s reaction. He probably hadn’t realized they’d been being filmed either. He waited for Jensen to say no. But what Jensen said was, “My God, our friends are all famous. I’ve really considered it until watching that highly exploiting commercial… That’s amazing. Good job, Sandy. I like it; it really pulls the viewer away from the gay aspect and towards the celebrity aspect.”
Sandy looked at him worried, “I can’t tell if you’re serious or being very insulting.”
“No, I’m totally serious. I love it. It’s very clever but it’s innocently manipulative. It’s not like it’s meanly exploitative. I mean it: thank you. Can we keep this copy? The grandparents will love it.”
She smiled, “Totally.”
“Thank you, and thank you for working so hard, honestly. Jamie, it’s time for a bath and bed.”
“But, Daddy, we have guest and we’re still talking,” Jamie said with a yawn curling into Annie’s side.
“Well Annie and Jared can entertain them. You need to take a bath. You have a sleepover tomorrow and you need a good night’s sleep.” He picked up Jamie, “C’mon, bath.”
“Actually, I need to go to bed,” said Sandy.
Chad smiled, “I need to go home and remind Sophia I love her.”
“And I have been up since four-thirty because of a phone conference with London. I want PJs and to watch the old Romeo and Juliette on the couch.” said Annie she stood and kissed both Jamie and Jensen’s cheeks. “I love you. Call you when I go to bed.”
“Thank you. Say goodnight, Jamie,” Jensen prompted.
“Goodnight, everyone,” said Jamie.
“Sandy, it was really great to meet you. Chad, a pleasure as always. C’mon, Jamie: let’s get you clean.”
Annie, Chad, and Sandy all collected up their stuff and Jared said, “I’m going to go for a run with the dogs.” Jensen smiled at him and left with Jamie.
Jared was still unsure what Jensen thought of the promo but figured they would talk about it later.
~~~
Part 6