"Okay, that's forty-seven Prime Rib, sixty-four Chicken Oscar, and thirteen Vegetarian. How many is that all together?" Rose asked, looking up from the RSVP cards.
"One hundred and twenty-four," I said, writing down the numbers she read to me.
"Who are we missing?" she asked. We invited a hundred and twenty-five people, and surprisingly all of them sent back an RSVP card. Rose was the one who insisted on a small wedding. I wanted to invite so many more people but she told me strictly the closest family and friends because the church she picked out held no more than two hundred people.
I thought about it. "Taylor. Did we get a card from Taylor?" I asked. "Did we even send a card to Taylor?"
"I'll check," she said, sorting through the cards. A few minutes later she looked back up at me. "Nope, nothing from Taylor. I don't remember sending him a card. Should we send him one? I think we have a few extra just in case we messed up." A sudden scream surprised the both of us and Rose got up to get Ryan. "Do you even know his address in California?" she asked, walking out of the room.
"I know Mom has it somewhere. Should we really send him a card asking him what he wants for dinner at an eating disorder clinic?" I asked.
"Well you're going to have to either talk to him or pick one because we need those orders in to the catering service as soon as possible. We're not giving them very much time to do this."
"We're not giving us very much time to do anything. Did you talk to the decorator? I don't think they quite understood your ideas and I want that house to be perfect." She walked back in the room with Ryan.
"Yeah, when Mom comes back from the store she'll stay with Ryan and we can go talk to the decorator," she said, sitting back down with the baby. "So what is Taylor going to want to eat?"
"I don't know. Maybe we should just get one of each and let him decide." She shook her head. "How 'bout I get him the ribs? I'm getting the chicken and I don't mind which one I eat. If he doesn't like the ribs I'll give him mine."
"Okay, we can do that. So that's forty-eight Prime Rib." I made the correction. "I'll take that to the caterer tomorrow." She looked down at Ryan. "Oh, shut up, Ryan," she muttered, pulling on her shirt. "I should know better. He always eats after he gets up." She got up and walked to the couch, and Ryan began to nurse.
The phone rang, interrupting my thoughts, and I got up to answer it. I grabbed the cordless phone that was lying on the table and first checked the caller ID. It was my mother again. "Hello?" I asked.
"Hi honey, it's your Mom."
"Hi Mom." I rolled my eyes and Rose smiled, shaking her head. I sat down next to her, draping an arm around her. "What is it this time?"
"I'm getting the idea that you don't like me calling."
"No, I don't mind you calling. I just don't like you calling every five minutes."
"Hey, it's been ten minutes and don't you forget that, pal!" she said, lightly laughing. "I'm sorry, honey, I'm just not used to my baby not being here anymore. Now with Taylor in California, Zac's the oldest around and he doesn't come out of his room."
"Zac is still not coming out of his room?" I asked. "Mom, it's been three weeks. I think there's something seriously wrong with him. How's he doing with the new psychiatrist?"
"Well Zac did something to him and he's no longer allowed to step foot inside the office." I shook my head. Since Mom decided that Zac needed to switch psychiatrists, there was a major pitfall in his progress. Three weeks ago he was doing great; he was sociable with the family and he actually had a smile on his face while he did it. He was talking to everybody and was overall the old, healthy Zac. Since he stopped seeing Joy he stopped come out of his room, not even for meals. The only time he left his room was when Mom forced him to go to a new psychiatrist, and they were starting to run out of shrinks in the Tulsa area. "I don't know what to do with him, Ike."
"Mom, you know what you have to do. You have to get him back to see Joy. You saw he was when he was with her."
"That's only because he has a crush on her. He's not getting anything out of seeing her. It's like I'm paying for a hooker who doesn't have sex with him. Well, at least that he's letting on."
"Mom, he was getting better. You know he was getting better with her. He was being sociable with the family and he was happy around us. You even said he was opening up to her, so I think you should get him back with her so he can be happy. Do it before the wedding because I want him to be able to talk to the guests."
"Isaac, no. I'm not going to have this discussion with you. I'm standing firm on my decision to keep him away from her." I shook my head. She was so bullheaded sometimes, but I didn't have the right to question her judgment. If she thought that Joy wasn't helping, then Joy wasn't helping.
"Fine."
"Now I have to find a new psychiatrist. We'll try another one out until Taylor gets home, and if Zac is still acting the way he is now, we're just going to have to start up the tour again without Zac getting help." That was completely stupid. Zac needed help badly and just ignoring the problem was going to make it worse than it already was.
"Mom...that's stupid."
"No it's not. It's the only thing that we can do because Zac doesn't want any help." She paused. "I'll talk to you later, I have to make dinner." I hung up the phone, not even bothering with a goodbye.
"She's crazy," I said.
"What'd she do now?"
"Zac was seeing this psychiatrist who was really helping him out. He was making extraordinary progress with her, but she's young and she's pretty. She's informal and Mom thinks that the only reason Zac was acting like that was because he had a crush on her. She thought Zac was blowing off the sessions so she decided that Zac needed to see another psychiatrist, and now Zac is worse off and has gone through at least four doctors in the past three weeks."
"Well did Zac have a crush on her?" Rose asked.
"I don't know. I really don't think it matters because she was helping a lot and she could have very well gotten Zac a hundred percent better but now he won't even come out of his room anymore," I said. "And she says that if he does this again with another psychiatrist, she'll just let him go back on the tour without getting any help."
"I don't know what to tell you. I want to say that everything is going to be okay, but I don't think it is if she allows him to get away without any help," Rose said. "This is like knowing Taylor has an eating disorder but just looking the other way while he throws up." Ryan pushed away from her and she gave him to me. The door opened and Alicia came in with two bags of groceries.
"Hey kids," she said, walking into the kitchen. "Did you talk to the decorator? Can you go speak with her about the house?"
"Yeah, we're going to go right now. Could you watch Ryan for a while?" Alicia came back into the living room.
"Sure."
"I just fed him before you walked in the door so he's going to be need changed soon," Rose said, getting up. I did the same and handed Ryan over to Alicia. "He took a nap already. We should be back in a few hours."
"Okay," Alicia said. "See you." We turned and left.
I was starting to think that Eric was better on the guitar than my brother Ike, and Ike was my favorite guitarist in the world. Eric was a short little puny kid (granted everyone was puny) but he another person when he played my guitar. As I listened to him belt out song after song, I couldn't help but marvel. After we played for the group of people in the recreation room, Mimi, Andy, Eric and I went back to my room and Eric kept playing. The kid could be a star.
"Hey, Tay, he's better than you," Andy said, smiling.
"No one's better than me," I said, huffing. "I am the best in the world."
"No, I think he's better than you," Mimi agreed.
"Mimi! You're supposed to be my fan! How can you say he's better than me?" I asked, pouting. She shrugged. "Fine. I know when I'm not wanted. I'm leaving." I got up. Mimi pulled me back down.
"No, I'm just playing with you. He's not better than you."
"I beg to differ," Eric said, smiling. "I think I'm better than you." I shook my head.
"No way. You'll never be better than me." He shrugged.
"Well let's think about this. I think I'm better than you so do Mimi and Andy. You're the only one who thinks you're better than me. Majority rules," he said. "I am better than the great Taylor Hanson!"
"Hey!" I said. "That is the all-powerful and glorious Taylor Hanson, thankyouverymuch!"
"It's nice to know your fame hasn't gone to your head," Eric said, leaning against the wall. "But I always did think you had a rather large head; it's even bigger in person."
"Funny, Eric, really," I said, sitting back and draping my arm around Mimi. "No, but seriously, have you ever thought of doing that as a job? You could make a lot of money and make a lot of people happy if you play the way you were out there." He shook his head immediately.
"No...no I couldn't do what you do," he said.
"Why not?"
"I'm too shy, I can't do anything in front of that many people. No, I'm just fine playing for me. I don't need the money and people can find other ways to keep happy," he said. "No, too many people." I stiffened. It was just like Zac. I hadn't heard a word about Zac since I arrived at the clinic and I could only hope that when I returned better, Zac would be better as well.
"Eric, I really think you could be somebody great. You're not as shy as you think you are. Listen, I was worse than you before I started doing music. I wouldn't talk to anybody, I'd just hide behind my parents when other people were around, and then we became really successful and I had to learn to overcome that because I was put as the front man of the group and I was always, well, in the front. Trust me, it's helped me out a lot. I'm a lot happier because I'm more outgoing, so I can meet new people easily."
"I don't know..."
"Come on, kid, I'm offering a chance at fame and fortune."
"I'd have to think about it," he said, slightly relenting.
"Take all the time you need. I'm here for three more weeks if you make a decision." He nodded, giving me a smile. Eric was obviously getting bored and quickly excused himself to do something else, leaving the guitar on Andy's bed on his way out.
"Do you seriously think you could do something for that kid?" Andy asked, eyeing the guitar lying on his bed. He quickly picked it up and set it back down on my bed. "It seems like you're promising him a lot."
"I could definitely do something for him. I can get him an audition with my record company and if he plays like he did out there in the rec room he could definitely get a deal, either for himself or with another group playing guitar," I said. "He's only a kid too, he's got room to grow. By the time he's our age he could be amazing, even more amazing than he is right now."
"Who thought you'd be picking up new talent at an eating disorder clinic?" Mimi asked.
"Who thought there'd be so many hot chicks at an eating disorder clinic?" I asked, squeezing her. She blushed and looked away. "I'm just teasing you, sweetheart, I don't think you're hot. Lukewarm, maybe."
"Hey!" She hit me.
"Now, now you two. Save the sexual tension for when I'm not in the room."
"What sexual tension?" I asked, winking at Mimi. "What, do you think I like Mimi? Oh Andy you've read me all wrong. You're the one I have sexual tension with."
"Okay, stop it, Taylor. It's really starting to scare me. I have to share a room with you. I don't want to have to start wearing a big sign on my ass that says 'Do not enter.' " I laughed.
"I'm sorry. I do go too far sometimes," I said. I looked at the clock. We'd actually spent a long time with Eric. It was almost dinnertime, and I was sure that Samantha wasn't going to be happy that Mimi had been in my room since lunch with the door closed. "You want to head down to the dining room? Dinner's in about ten minutes." Andy looked at the clock.
"Sure." Andy got up first and opened the door, looking around. We had to sneak Mimi into my room because technically she wasn't even supposed to be in this part of the building. "Okay, we're clear." Mimi and I got up quickly and went as fast as we could down the hall to the doors.
We were nearly clear when I heard Lenny, the supervisor for this part of the building, call for us. "Stop it right there, boys!"
"Dammit," I muttered, turning around, gripping Mimi's hand firmly in mine. Lenny walked up to us and stopped when he saw Mimi next to me.
"Mr. Hanson, Mr. Henry, and Miss Buckley? What's going on here?"
"Well we were just going to dinner, Lenny," I said, trying my best to look innocent. He didn't buy it. I wouldn't either, I was not the most innocent person in the clinic and Lenny knew that. He'd heard the rumors of my past, and although I'd been very good boy during my stay, they didn't trust me.
"Well what are you doing in the boys' dormitory, Miss Buckley?" Lenny asked, looking to Mimi.
"It's my fault," I stepped in. "A couple of us were playing music in my room and I invited her to come along."
"You know girls aren't allowed in the boys' dormitory, Mr. Hanson," Lenny explained. "What made you think this time was any different? We have specific rules around here and we do it for a reason. Now I know you're used to being on your own and living by your own rules, but while you're here under our care you obey by our rules."
"What's wrong with her being in my room anyway? Andy was in there and Eric was too just a moment ago, it's not like we did anything."
"It doesn't matter if you did anything or not, it's that you brought a girl into your room without the supervision or even knowledge of one of the authorities here, and that you are eighteen and she is only fourteen."
"You're fourteen!!" I asked Mimi, turning to her. She looked away. "You never said you were fourteen!"
"Well you never asked..."
"All right, you two can talk about this later. Miss Buckley and Mr. Henry, go to dinner, Mr. Hanson come with me." I felt a squeeze on my hand before Andy and Mimi left to go to the dining room. Sighing, I followed Lenny to his office near the end of the hallway. He sat me down in front of his desk before sitting down behind it. "Well I don't know quite what to do with you, Taylor. I don't recall anyone ever breaking the rules here before."
"How can people not break the rules?" I asked. "You can find troublemakers anywhere, including clinics."
"Yes, it seems that you're the troublemaker around here." I huffed and looked away. I hadn't been punished for doing something in a long time...I couldn't even remember the last time I was in an environment where someone could punish me. At home I was the favorite and got away with everything.
"I guess so."
"Stay in here. I'll have them bring your dinner in here and then you go back to your room. You can talk to your friends tomorrow," he said, getting up. He left me in the room alone I sat back, letting out a deep breath. I couldn't believe she never told me she was fourteen! I knew her birthday was soon, and mine wasn't for a while, so doing the math, I decided it wasn't too bad, just as long as nobody ever found out.