A/N: Taking a vignette from Terry Sawchuck’s life in this chapter.
Chapter 88: Mimi XII
"Good night," Michele whispered and she kissed Jana on the forehead.
"Mom! Mom!" Jana said in an excited voice.
"What?"
"I wanna play piano!"
Michele laughed.
"Just like Elena!" she whispered. "Exactly like her!"
"Little Devil!" Michele whispered back. "You’ve already had lessons and you didn’t like them."
"I didn’t like my piano teacher," Jana said with a definite edge in her voice. "There’s a big difference!"
"Alright, then," she replied. "I’ll find you a new one that you’ll like. Now go to sleep you’ve been up late enough."
"But I’m not sleepy!" Jana exclaimed, sitting back up. "I’m too awake!" And then she yawned.
"Well try anyway," Michele said, "or you’ll be crying out of sleepiness all the way to school tomorrow. Yes?"
"Nooo!" Jana said. "Not yet! Elena said she would teach me! Just like her! She promised! She promised!"
"Oh," Michele said with a slight twinge in her stomach. "She did?"
"Yeah!" Jana said. "She said she’d talk with you after she found a ‘hole in her schedule.’"
"A hole in her schedule?" Michele repeated with a giggle. That girl was certainly charming. "What a young lady, eh?"
Jana yawned again. "Uh huh... She’s like a princess in disguise!"
"That wouldn’t surprise me," Michele said softly to herself after Jana finally fell asleep, hugging her Sneezy Bear.
Patrick was sleeping deeply when Michele slid into bed. He and Phil had plowed through a little too much beer and before the night was over they had been howling through the lyrics of some obscure love song and then got into a heated argument about whether the song was originally French or Spanish. Michele had snapped that it was Italian and she and Mrs. Ruiz separated the two. They were glaring at each other and Patrick had still been steamed about it when Michele had stripped his clothes and tossed him into bed to sleep it off.
Michele sighed as she looked at his pale back rising up and down with his snores. There was a large ugly bruise staining up and down his left side and when she lifted the blanket a bit to peek at it she could see it spreading down to his hip. Bertuzzi’s check had certainly left a mark.
"Good night," she murmured, kissing his back. Yawning, she then turned over and flipped off the light. It wasn’t hard for her to fall asleep quickly and she did.
"LITTLE BITCH DO THAT ONE MORE TIME AND I’LL KILL YOU MYSELF!"
Michele sat up shaking her head and holding her hand over her chest. Had she been dreaming again? Running her tongue over her lips she looked around the room, peering through the dark. It was quiet but she could hear some slight groans coming from Patrick. He was on his back, his arm tossed over his face.
"Whore!" he hissed. "What are they paying you for anyway?"
"Mon Dieu!" Michele sighed, rolling her eyes and flopping onto her back. There were moments when she really wanted to smother him with her pillow.
"Mom?"
Michele sat back up; she could see the pale outline of Jonathan standing in the doorway of the bedroom. Perfect, she thought, now he was scaring the children.
"Mom?" he repeated, his voice trembling a bit.
"Everything will be alright," she said quietly. "Daddy is just yelling at his defensemen."
She could hear the boy take a deep sigh. "Great," he said in an irritated voice. "Freak me out!"
Michele laughed quietly. "A little too much to drink eh? Go back to bed."
She flopped back again, closing her eyes.
"Mom," Jonathan said quietly, scurrying into the room and settling onto the carpet next to her side of the bed. Michele opened her eyes slightly, peering at him. His pale face shone through a little.
"Yes?" Michele said in French. "What is it?"
"I can’t sleep," he whispered back in French. "I was wondering... how... how did you like her?"
"Oh," Michele said, leaning up on one elbow, running her fingers over his hair, "You’ve been worrying little puppy? She is wonderful, like a dream. Didn’t you see how she had us all spellbound?"
Jonathan sighed, a long relieved sigh. Michele wanted to clutch her hand over her heart and squeeze him. "Wow!" he said. "Mom I didn’t know she could play the piano and ballet and all that shi...stuff. I mean... Mom woah!"
Michele smiled. "Yes, yes."
"But man! Does Dad and Phil I mean Mr. Ruiz I mean..."
"No, they’re fine," Michele said. "Don’t worry about that at all. Men always bicker when they’ve had too much to drink. Let that be a lesson to you, yes?"
"Don’t talk to me about my responsibilities!" Patrick snapped. "Goddamn lessons for a pale skinned rookie whore!"
Michele covered her mouth and Jonathan stood up. "I’m outta here!" he said switching back to English. "Good luck, Mom!"
Michele laughed, "Good night."
"Yeah," Jonathan mumbled. "Love ya."
Michele ran her tongue over her lips and she pressed her ear to the door. She couldn’t hear a thing; it was mid-morning, could they still be asleep? They were busy more than likely, worse than a couple on a honeymoon. How delicious was that?
"Mom!" Jonathan snapped. "Just knock on the door you snoop!"
Michele sighed and rolled her eyes. And then there was Jonathan... "Shh!" she said. But she knocked on the door, waiting a moment, then ringing the doorbell.
"Mom! This is boring! Why do I have to come!" Jonathan whined.
"Don’t start with me again," Michele replied. How much longer was his suspension? A week... this was going to be a tough one wasn’t it? "I am not going to leave you alone at the house for more than an hour, so stop complaining."
"But..." Jonathan stammered. He was wriggling and hopping on the balls of his feet in a way that was beginning to infuriate her. "But... a... a wives meeting! Why can’t I just be with dad!"
"Because your father is busy with the men," Michele replied. "Doing... whatever they do."
"And what are they doing?" Jonathan snapped.
"Peeing on fire hydrants!" Michele almost yelled back. "And you want to join them?" She shut her eyes almost immediately and slapped her hand over them.
"Oooooh!" Jonathan moaned breaking into a laugh, "Mom! Mom! Mental image not good!"
Michele blushed and covered her mouth. "Forgive me," she giggled.
Jonathan shook his head, still grinning. "Damage done I need therapy."
"Hello? Who is it?" they heard an exhausted voice mumble behind the door.
"Is just us," Michele sang through the door. "We know you’re hiding her Peter, mon cher."
"Oh God no!" Forsberg moaned. "Not now!"
"Yes now," Michele said sharply. "More than a week and a little birdy has told me she is sleeping here so she is drafted you know the rules, eh?"
"Hell," he groaned. "I need a rest anyway.... "
Jonathan covered his ears and shut his eyes. "Yuck another mental image!" Michele bopped him playfully on the top of his head.
"JO!" they heard Peter yell as he opened the door. "You’re not gonna believe this..."
"Great I gotta peeeee!" Jonathan cried as he dashed into the apartment heading straight for the bathroom.
Well, Michele thought to herself. That explains his fidgeting for the better part of the morning. The boy never told her when he was feeling a bathroom urge, or sick or depressed. It was a worrying trait, the seclusion he kept on his problems.
"What? Peter?" Josefina asked as she strolled out of the bedroom, jumping out of the way as Jonathan pushed past her. "Hell! What was that?"
Michele smiled as she looked at Jo, the bags under her eyes, her yawn as she tightened the robe around her body. Would Peter ever settle down? And was that woman not on magazine covers? She had to be at least five foot ten, her skin was flawless, and without make-up she was still gorgeous. Still... Michele squinted. She could see a bit of age around the eyes, in her expression as well. She wondered if Peter knew how old she really was.
"Bon jour," Michele smiled to Jo.
Josefina reddened. "Oh.. hi.. was that your son?"
Michele nodded. "The wives and girlfriends are having a meeting, we’re deciding the fates of our men in the coming weeks, and we would love some input from you my dear."
"Aw Christ!" Peter exclaimed shutting his eyes. "Not another damn poster!"
"Hey!" Jonathan snapped, strutting out of the bathroom. "There’s ladies present you twit! Language! How about watching it eh?"
Michele giggled and Josefina beamed, looking like a decadent Goddess. "Cute," she said, patting Jonathan on the back. Jonathan looked right back at her, very brazenly and he winked. Michele frowned. That boy...
"You’re kidding me?" Jo exclaimed, raising her eyebrows and flicking the boy on his nose. Jonathan scowled and rubbed it. Michele decided she liked Josefina more. "Uh... sure why not... it might be fun."
"We have to turn our ideas in tomorrow if we’re going to get a poster out by the end of the month!" Debbie Sakic sighed. "And we haven’t agreed on anything!"
"I know!" Michele sighed dropping her face into her hands. "I think the well is running dry!"
"Well I think my idea is still the best," Brandi Blake said as she eyed herself in her compact mirror. "And none of you still has let me..."
"Why don’t we just put them on firetrucks again?" Jennifer Foote said. "It was popular last time."
"Don’t be dull," Michele snapped. Miss Vanilla strikes again! Michele thought. She was tired, she was hungry, she was sick of Jonathan’s incessant whining ever since she had got him out of bed, she was sick of henhouse meetings that went friggin nowhere and now she had to listen to useless... Argh! She had come up with the idea for the poster last year and she was just in no mood to think up something else this time.
"Well I didn’t see you come up with any bright ideas Meeee-meeee!" Jennifer snapped back. "Dull is better than empty!"
Anger swirled through Michele’s blood and she glared at Jennifer. Definitely in no mood... "Empty?!" she exclaimed. "Empty? Are you calling me a..."
"I never said a thing," Jennifer snipped. "And don’t try that glare on me, it might work on your kids but it doesn’t on..."
"Why you little...."
"Excuse me!" Brandi snapped. "I was saying...."
"Stop it both of you!" Debbie sighed. "Fighting is gonna get us nowhere, let’s be constructive here!"
Michele rolled her eyes and picked up a muffin, picking a small chunk off the top. "My apologies," she said without looking at Jennifer. "I shouldn’t allow myself to act so childish."
"At least you’ll admit to starting it," Tammy Keane said grabbing a tight squeeze on Jennifer’s hand. "I think you should apologize for calling her dull!"
Michele narrowed her eyes, feeling the white-hot heat coursing through her now and then she smiled. "Of course! So terrible of me, being so insensitive. I apologize Jen, I lost my head."
Jen smiled thinly. "Thank you," she muttered.
"At least the kids are in the backyard!" Mrs. Trepanier sniffed, running a file over her nails. "What a poor showing we are making eh?"
"Are we gonna have a cat fight here?" Josefina said uncertainly.
Michele smiled, looking at her. Josefina shrugged and smiled back.
"That wasn’t funny!" Tammy said.
"What about you, Cecile? Have you any ideas?" Michele asked pointing a look at the girl. Cecile had been sitting quietly, her hands on her lap. Obviously she felt out of place with the group, a girl, a nanny no less. Cecile shook her head quickly and Michele rolled her eyes. "But I think Brandi has one," Cecile said, a sudden edge to her voice. "No one has let her say a thing!"
Michele raised her eyebrows and grinned. The girl had a spit in her didn’t she?
"Thank YOU!" Brandi sighed heavily pronouncing the N in Thank. "Very much. What I was saying was we have to exploit the boys’ seething sex appeal."
There were gasps and giggles from the whole table and more than one blushing face.
"We may not like it but the team demographic is heavy on the lovesick puckbunny, if we exploit that then we will see some lovely results," Brandi said.
"Ooo," Michele cooed, "I like that idea!"
"You would," Tammy muttered. There was a giggle from more than a couple women.
Michele pursed her lips but decided that she didn’t hear it after Debbie patted her thigh under the table.
"I think it’s a splendid idea," Debbie said. And that made it final. "What else were you thinking Brandi?"
Brandi shrugged. "Oh I don’t know, I spent all of my thought trying to break through to you ladies."
There were sighs all around the table and Michele took a bite out of the muffin. On the bright side, if she got home in an hour Jonathan would more than likely collapse for a nap which would give her a little time to nap as well... maybe she could call Katrina, get a decent massage...
"Jo," Debbie said with a smile. "You’re the newest member here, maybe you have some fresh ideas?"
Josefina blew a raspberry, leaning her chin on her hand. She looked amused, bored, irritated, gorgeous. Already half of the Better Halves group hated her. A woman to respect then! Well, at least keep an eye on. Something told her that just maybe she had a little more character than Peter’s usual honeys. It could be possible that she had a little more character than Peter. "Just highlight their assets... the less clothes the better.... Have you girls ever had them shirtless?"
There were more gasps and mutters around the table and Michele sighed. Chicken Coop was right.
"Well we should have a positive image don’t you think?" Cecile said in a meek voice, "I mean just to have them gratuitously shirtless isn’t that a bit... tacky?"
"Life guards are positive," Debbie said. "They look great in trunks and they save lives. How bout that?"
"Genius," Michele said with a smile of relief. Simple enough idea why hadn’t anyone thought of it sooner? "And the boys will definitely hate the photo session for that, now that the weather has cooled."
The women at the table laughed. They were a whole unit once again, rubbing their hands together at the thought of telling their honey bunnies what the new Better Halves charity poster would be.
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