On the first of February Kris and I flew down to Tampa. With our wedding less than two weeks away the both of us were nearly freaking out not only by how much we had to do but how little time we had to do it in. Zac and Ginger would be down here on the ninth; it was the earliest they could get away from Ginger's book tour. Ginger's book was doing amazingly well. It'd been out for a little over a month now and it's been on the New York Times bestseller list every week since it came out. She was finally becoming the person she was overseas here in America.
My parents came down on the second to meet Kris's parents. We were all staying at our winter home, which I think Kris and I have decided to sell. We said we'd only keep it if we could use in the winter, and that would only happen if Zac could get come down here with us. That didn't happen and none of us really wanted to spend the winters down here anyway.
Kris and I waited at the airport for my parents to arrive. All of us were having dinner tonight at our house and Kris was cooking. "I hope your parents like mine," Kris said. "It's kind of important that they get along."
"I just hope your parents like me," I said.
"Why would�oh, wait a minute, you've never met them, have you?" I shook my head. "I'm sorry." I shrugged.
"At least they didn't have the opportunity to tell you they hated me and they wanted you to stop seeing me before we got engaged," I said.
"True," she said. "But there's no reason for them to hate you, Taylor. They don't know you used to be a slut."
"I prefer the term man whore." She rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. They don't know you used to do that, or that you did drugs when you were a teenager, or that you slept with Ginger or any of that! They don't need to know that because that's all crap that happened before you met me."
"That is true."
"Just make sure your parents don't say anything."
"Oh, come on, like they're going to bring it up." Kris gave me a look. "Don't worry, I'll say something to them."
"Oh, there they are," Kris said, and got up. I got up as well and we walked over to my parents.
"Hey Ma, hey Dad," I said. I gave my mother a hug and Kris said an excited hello to each of them. We started to walk towards baggage claim. "So, when is everyone else coming?"
"The little kids will come in with Jess on the tenth. They'll get too bored if they come any sooner. Isaac and Roni said they'll come down on the ninth," my mother explained.
"Oh, good, that's when Zac and Ginger are coming."
"Good." After a stop at baggage claim we went to the car. I drove and Kris sat up in the front seat with me while my parents sat in the back. "So this place we're going to, is it your house?" my mother asked.
"Well it's Ginger's house, actually," Kris explained. "She bought it, but we all kind of lived in it. We were thinking about keeping it as a winter home but that idea kind of faded out so we're just going to sell it. There's no point in keeping a home nobody's going to use."
When we got to the house my parents were delightfully surprised at how nice it really was. They especially liked the Art Room. "Oh, this so beautiful," my mother said, walking into the room. "You know, that was one of my favorite paintings when I was in high school."
"Well Kris designed the room," I said.
"Did you really?" my mother asked Kris. She nodded.
"Yeah," I said. "Kris did the whole house."
"Well, dear, you have remarkable taste."
"Thank you," Kris said. "Let's go upstairs, we'll show you your room." Kris led my parents upstairs as I followed behind. "Um�we'll put you in here." Kris opened a door. "It's the only room with a bed big enough for two." I'd always liked this room. It was bright and happy, and although we never went into it, Kris changed the flowers in the room every week and changed the sheets often to keep the clean smell. "I'll have to get you some fresh flowers. Fresh flowers always brighten up a room."
"It's just lovely," my mother said. My father put their suitcases down against the wall. "When did you say your parents were coming over?"
"I told them five o'clock. What time is it now?" I looked at my watch.
"Four-thirty."
"Oh, bloody hell," Kris said and ran out of the room. I turned to my parents.
"She's nervous. She wants everything to go perfectly as always," I said. "I better go make sure she doesn't freak out. Feel free to wander around. If anything's bare it's just because we took it to New York. I'll be downstairs." I left and went downstairs. "Baby, where'd you go?"
"I'm in the kitchen!" I went to the kitchen.
"Don't freak out now, Kris."
"I'm not freaking out," she said. "I just want everything to go well tonight, okay? I have to make a dinner that will please your parents and mine, and that's a very hard thing to do when my family eats much differently from yours. You and your white people food."
"My parents will eat anything, Kris," I said. "You know, we did leave in South America for a few years." She paused and looked at me. "Please tell me you knew that."
"No, I didn't. When?"
"I don't know," I said. "I was just a kid. I know they live in Tulsa now but it's not like they were there forever living in a shack slopping the pigs and pitching the hay with the crazy bluegrass banjo music playing in the background at all times. They didn't go out and hunt various things in the forest behind the house."
"Taylor, that's a little over the top."
"Well so are you sometimes! We're not inbred hicks, Kris."
"I don't think you are, Taylor."
"Well come on, you keep saying I'm a white cracker, you might as well say inbred hick." She sighed.
"I didn't know you felt that way."
"I'm sorry," I said.
"Don't be. I'll stop. If you went around talking like that about me I would get really offended. No, I'll stop." I shrugged. "Anyway, I know what I want to make anyway. I better get started if I want everything simmering away when my parents get here." In my pocket my cell phone rang. We didn't exactly have phone service in the house anymore. I picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hi!" It was Zac. "Are Mom and Dad there already?"
"Yeah," I said, sitting down at the counter. "We just got home a few minutes ago. Kris's parents will be here in about a half hour."
"Are you nervous?" I honestly didn't know how I felt. Of course I was excited about meeting Kris's parents for the first time, but I was also quite scared that they'd find about my background and hate me, but then again I'm sure that's how Kris felt when I took her to meet my parents for the first time.
"Yeah, kind of."
"Who're you talking to?" Kris asked.
"Zac," I said.
"Hi Zac!"
"Hi Kris," Zac said.
"He says hi," I told her. "Anyway, so how's the tour going? Where are you guys right now?"
"We're in DC right now," Zac said. "We have, um, two more cities I think before we go back to New York, and when we're there we're doing Conan O'Brien before we go down to Florida. When's everyone else getting there?"
"Isaac and Roni said they'll be down here on the ninth, so they'll get here when you do. Mom says the kids will come down the day after you. As for everybody else, well, they'll get here when they get here, I'm not keeping track of them."
"Is Leo coming?"
"Pfft�no. Nobody invited him."
"Oh, all right."
"Can I talk?" Kris asked.
"Yeah. Here, Zac, talk to Kris." I handed her the phone and she walked back over to the stove.
"Hey, Zac! How's everything going? Ginger's not being a diva, is she? She tends to get that way when she's on tour. No? Good. Speaking of which, is she around? Can I talk to her?" I figured the only reason Kris wanted to talk to Zac was so she could end up talking to Ginger. "Ginger, hey sweetie, how's the tour going? Great!" Kris glanced at me. "So, did you get it? You did? It wasn't too much, was it? Oh good, don't forget it when you come down here. Okay. I love you too, bye." She hung up the phone.
"So what did Ginger have to get?" I asked.
"Oh," Kris said, brushing her hair behind her ear, which sent of the silent alarm that she was lying. "My something new for the wedding."
"Oh, okay."
It was a little over a half hour later when Kris's parents arrived. The doorbell rang and Kris jumped out of her seat to answer it. After she opened the door she let out a loud "Mom!!" I haven't heard Kris this enthusiastic in a long time. "Taylor, come out here." I got up and walked to the front room where Kris's parents were standing. She didn't look a whole lot like her parents, but her parents had a very infectious charm to them and I felt at home with them quickly.
"Hi," I said.
"Mom, Dad, this is Taylor. Taylor, these are my parents, Alina and Orlando."
"Nice to meet you," I said. Her father was closer to me and I shook his hand, but when I turned to Kris's mother she opened up her arms and gave me a hug, which surprised me but didn't seem to surprise Kris at all.
"Nice to finally meet you too, dear," Kris's mother said.
"Well, my parents are in the living room, so let's go that way," I said, gesturing behind me. I turned around and walked into the living room, Kris and her parents following. When we entered the room, my parents stood up.
"Hi," my mother said first. "Diana Hanson. This is my husband Walker."
"Nice to meet you," Alina said. "Alina Carter, and my husband Orlando." After a round of handshakes, we all sat down again.
"So this is your first time meeting Taylor, isn't it?" my mother asked.
"Yes it is."
"Well why did you wait so long?" my mother asked, directed towards Kris and me. I looked at Kris.
"Ask Kris."
"Oh come on, Taylor," Kris said. "We didn't get engaged until after we moved to New York and I just think it wasn't that important beforehand."
"But we've been talking about marriage since before Jenny was born."
"Who's Jenny?" Alina asked. Kris hit me.
"Taylor!"
"Kris, you didn't�" Alina started. Kris shook her head.
"No, no�Jenny is Ginger's daughter," Kris said. "Although I'm sure Ginger would have wanted to tell you herself�" Kris gave me a look.
"I'm sorry!"
"When did this happen?"
"Fourteen months ago," Kris said. "It was before her and Zac got married, but still, you don't say anything to her mother! I know she wants to say it herself and she'll never forgive me if you go and be your usual self." In the kitchen a timer went off. "Oh, dinner's done!" Kris got up and ran into the kitchen. "Taylor, baby, set the table for me!"
I excused myself and went into the dining room to set the table, leaving my parents with Kris's parents in the living room to talk. I set the table and was just finishing when Kris brought in a dish. "Looks good, baby," I said. She smiled.
"Thank you."
When our parents walked into the room to sit down, they were having a nice conversation about nothing. They were just talking for the sake of talking, but it seemed like they were getting along.
"So, Taylor," Kris's mother asked. "What do you do?"
"What do you mean?"
"What's your job?"
"Oh," I said, glancing at Kris. "I don't exactly have a job right now. Kris and I figured she would keep working with Ginger and when we started having kids I'd just stay at home. With Ginger always touring, it would be kind of hard for me to have a steady job in one place with her traveling for however many months out of the year."
"Really? Do you think that'll work?"
"Well, yeah," Kris said, sensing how nervous I'd gotten. "Money isn't exactly an issue, Mom. Taylor doesn't need to work. At this point I don't even need to work, but I do because I like my job and Ginger needs me there. But let's stop talking about this; it's rude. Eat." The conversation strayed to something less controversial and Kris took my hand under the table.
After dinner Kris's parents had to leave. Kris and I saw them to the door. Her mother turned to us. "Well, we had a nice time. Congratulations you two. Taylor, it was nice to meet you."
"You too," I said.
"Well see you at the rehearsal, then." After a quick and loving goodbye the two of them left. I put my arm around Kris and we went back into the living room to rejoin my parents.