Mary and Nancy get home before Abby does. And Nancy helps Mary get dinner started before headed off to work.
"If you can't get Joannie to talk to her will you talk to her?" Nancy
asks.
"Of course I will. Now get to work so you don't miss it and have to work on your birthday tomorrow." Mary says.
"I'm going, I'm going." Nancy says and leaves for work.
Tom comes home early from work ill. "Abby you home?" he asks between coughs. He remembered she would be gone all day. ~Great, I am sick and nobody is here.~ He goes upstairs to bed.
Mary comes upstairs and knocks on Tom and Abby's door.
"Come in." Tom says hacking.
"Hey Dad did you already..." She stops in mid-sentence. "Oh you don't look good."
"Thanks a lot." Tom tells her.
"You know what I mean."
"Yes, I do, I am sorry."
"It's ok, do you need anything?"
When Joannie gets home she seeks out her father, and finally knocks on his bedroom door.
Tom moans. "Come in."
"Dad, I wanted to--you look terrible," Joannie notices.
"Why do people keep telling me that?"
"Have you looked in a mirror lately?"
"Very funny, is there something you needed?' Tom says coughing.
"To apologize, but that can wait. It looks like you need something--soup? Tea?"
"Soup would be nice and apologize for what?"
"I'll go and make you some in a minute," Joannie says. "Why isn't Abby running up and down bringing you hot drinks?"
"She had some work to do at the library."
"Good for her. We can take care of you; she should study. Besides, what she doesn't cook can't kill you," Joannie tries to joke.
"Her cooking isn't that bad. Besides you should have tasted Mom's cooking when we first got married."
Joannie sits down next to her father. "Come on, Dad, the only thing worse than Abby's cooking is her baking. Or maybe the way she vacuums. And Mom didn't cook that bad, did she?"
Tom smiles and grabs some tissue. "You kids got the broken in model. When your mother and I were first married, she burnt everything. I was afraid that one day I would find the fire department at our door."
"So how'd she learn to cook? I mean, it obviously wasn't from you."
"Thanks a lot." Tom says. "She learned to cook by practice and by me being patient."
"But you two had no choice. I mean, you're always telling us how you had no money, so you couldn't eat out. But we can cook and then Abby could go back to work and concentrate on school, and none of us would have to eat her experiments."
"Look Joanne, I am not stopping her from returning to work and I admit I like having her around not to mention Nicholas likes seeing her after he gets home from school"
"But she's only staying home to please you, right? I mean, she was working part time before, so Nicky got to see her, and think about it--if you encouraged her to go back to work, she'd be so much better a role model for us girls, and if she got her Ph.D. quickly and started teaching, well, they give faculty members breaks on their kids' tuition, right?"
"If Abby wants to go back to work she can. But it was her idea to quit in the first place."
"Only because of the look you'd get on your face whenever she worked some strange hours. You think about that, Dad--I'll go get your soup."
Tom sighs. "OK."
Joannie goes downstairs and soon returns with a bowl of soup for her father
"I'll talk to Abby, but I can't promise anything."
"Hey, you know she'd do anything to make you happy. If you said it'd make you happy if she went back to being herself instead of a bad imitation of Betty Crocker, she'd do it in an instant. You know she wants to..." Joannie prods.
"Joannie, let me handle this. OK?"
"Sure Dad--I trust you. I'll let you rest now."
Tom starts coughing. "Thank you."
Want anything else before I go?"
"Yeah, a do not disturb sign on the door." Tom half way jokes. "But if Abby calls or comes home, interrupt me."
"OK. Sleep well." Joannie takes the 'do not disturb' sign off the back of the door and hangs it on the outer doorknob.
Around 11:30 Abby finally comes home and goes straight upstairs, expecting to find Tom asleep.
Tom is coughing when Abby walks in.
Abby turns on the bedside lamp and sees the tissues, the empty tea cups and soup bowl. "Tom?" she says, looking for an explanation.
"I think I have the flu. How was your research." he says before he sneezes.
"It was OK. Nothing thrilling, but at least it kept me out of the house. If I'd have known you were sick..."
"That's OK, Mary and Joannie played nursemaid." Tom says.
"Joannie? Now that doesn't surprise me," Abby mutters.
"Abby, I need to ask you something. Are you happy not working?"
"Of course. I have time for you, time to be with the kids," Abby lies.
"I got to thinking when we were dating and how much you loved your work and if you want to go back, then that's what you should do."
"But I thought you liked that I was staying home, doing the cooking and cleaning, being here when you got home--well, except tonight..."
"I am not going to lie, I love you being here; but I'll be happier when you are doing what you want to do and not what I want you to do." Tom says swallowing his male pride.
"Well, there really isn't much to do around here all day except try to kill all the family with my garbage cakes..." Abby starts to weaken
"I ate them."
"And look at you now. I'm a pretty good teacher, but I'm not a baker."
"You tried."
"I gave it my best shot. But maybe I'd better quit before there are fatalities."
"I just don't want you to think you failed, because you didn't in my book." Tom tells her.
"You really won't mind if I go back to work?"
"No I won't mind." Tom says. "Just spare a little time for me each week." He says and sneezes again.
"Have you called Max yet?"
"No."
"You ought to. You really do look terrible."
"You are the third person who told me that today, besides it's to late to call him."
"Well, I'll just have to take care of you tonight, but in the morning, we're calling him."
"Oh?' Tom smiles "and how do you plan on taking care of me."
"Any way that you think will make you feel better."
"Anything?" Tom asks smiling.
"Take advantage of the offer while it lasts."
Tom sighs. "I better not, I don't want you to get sick too."
"We share a bed, Tom. If you're sick, I'll be sick, too."
"Not if I go sleep on the porch." he offers.
"Don't be ridiculous. That couch is nowhere for a sick man to be. Besides, you've already filled this room with germs, so you might as well stay."
"Sorry." he says and then begins coughing. "How about a hot toddy?"
"Sure." Abby goes downstairs, and soon comes back with the drink. "Here, let me help you sit up."
"Thanks." Tom takes the drink. "I hope I am better for Nancy's birthday tomorrow. Oh no." Tom remembers. "I forgot to pick her up a gift today."
"It's too late to do anything about it now. Tell me what you meant to pick up and I'll get it first thing in the morning."
"I had a purse on hold at the boutique."
"I'll get it in the morning," Abby assures him. "Do you think you can sleep now?"
"Yeah." Tom says and crawls back into bed.
Abby tucks him in.
"Thank you." he says and falls asleep.
Abby kisses his forehead, then gets ready for bed.
The next morning even though she has the day off Nancy makes it to the bathroom first and after she's done getting ready she looks at herself in the mirror. "Just one more year kid and these rotten teen years are history."
There's pounding on the door.
"What!! I don't even get extra time in here today!!" She shouts to whoever is pounding.
"Not when there's better stuff to do than look at yourself all day!" Joannie shouts back.
Nancy laughs and opens the door. "Ok it's all yours."
"I'm all ready. I've been up for hours. I've just been waiting for you."
"Really, what for?"
"I'm not really sure. It's your day and my treat--what do you want to do?"
"Hmm, I don't really know. How bout going out to breakfast?"
"Well, that's a start. I cancelled everything I have today--the whole day is yours. And I made reservations for dinner at a swanky restaurant--unless you have other plans."
"Well actually I don't have other plans and I'd love to." She smiles.
"Great. Then we just have to figure out what to do between breakfast and dinner."
"We can figure it out over breakfast, and does the rest of the family have anything planned?"
"I don't know. But if they do, they'll just have to stand in line--first come, first served."
They leave a note saying when they'll be home and then leave for the day.
"So, how does it feel to be nearly 20?"
"Very relieved, in one year I'll be home free."
"What do you mean, 'home free'?"
"My teenage haven't exactly been paradise."
"You think the 20s are any better?"
"Well aren't they?"
"You've seen what I'm like. What do you think?"
"What's wrong with you? Everyone goes through things every now and then."
"Yep--teenagers, people in their twenties, everyone."
"Exactly."
"So turning twenty won't change anything," Joannie says.
Nancy groans. "Then what's the point in turning 20 oh wise one."
"Because you can't turn 18 again?"
"Ok, good enough."
"Growing old is inevitable. Get used to it, oh, nearly not-teenaged one."
"Ouch." Nancy says.
"Hey, at least you still get guys. I haven't had a decent date in months."
"Then there are some stupid men in this town."
"Nah, maybe they just know something about me that I don't know yet."
"Nah they're just stupid."
"I'm not so sure about that. I mean, what if..."
"What if what?"
"Well," Joannie lowers her voice to a whisper, "what if guys don't like me because they sense that maybe deep down I don't like guys? I mean, could that be possible?"
"Well do you like guys?" Nancy whispers.
"I always thought I did, but..."
"But what?"
"Well, you know how I've been acting lately at home."
"Well you have been going through a rough time."
"No rougher than the rest of you. Certainly no rougher than you."
"Hopefully the rough times are over and if the meds stop working we'll catch it quicker and be able to take care of it."
"Hey, that's a reason to celebrate."
Nancy smiles. "I'll drink to that."
"In moderation though, OK?"
"But it's only orange juice."
"You want to be running to the bathroom all day long, or having fun?"
"I want to be having fun."
"So in moderation. But we still haven't decided what kind of fun we're going to have."
"What's there to do in this town?"
"Why limit yourself to this town? We've got a car and we've got all day."
"LA?"
Joannie does some figuring. "About 5 hours there, about 5 back--if you don't mind getting home late..."
"Actually I do, how bout SF?"
"Sure. Remember the last time we went to San Francisco, when Dad and Abby were on their honeymoon?"
"Yeah we had a lot of fun until..."
"I saw them yesterday," Joannie confides. "Both of them."
"How did it go?"
"Pretty well, except for the stomach ache after Grandpa filled me with junk food. They're the ones who got me thinking about what's wrong with me."
"Wow Grandpa acknowledged you? That's progress."
"I really needed him, and he was there. I thought he'd be all on my side and tell me the way I was feeling is all Abby's fault, but he and Grandma didn't."
"What did they do?"
"Talked some sense into this thick head of mine. Listened to me--really listened."
"Good, everyone needs someone to do that for them."
"Gave me a lot to think about..."
"Like what?"
"Like who I'm really angry at."
"And who is that?"
"Nancy, if I ask you a very serious question, do you promise not to laugh at me or to tell anyone else?"
"Yes I promise."
"Do you think I might be jealous of Dad? That Abby's changed so much to please him and spends so much time with him?"
"Hmm, I haven't really thought of it that way."
"I haven't been thinking of much of anything else since yesterday
"Well it's always a possibility that you are but only one person can say for sure."
"It's just too weird to even think about."
"Why? You can't help what you feel."
"Yeah, but why do I feel that way? If I'm going to be jealous, why not of you? You've got a great job, a great boyfriend..."
"Yeah but I'm not your dad."
"So? It's more normal to envy what your father has than what your sister has?"
"It is if you're feeling that you're lacking attention that you should be getting."
"Maybe. Maybe that's all it is," Joannie brightens.
"See, all that worry...."
"But what if it isn't?"
"Then we figure out what it is."
"How?"
"I don't know yet."
"Well, you'll think of something--now that you're all grown up and everything."
"Am not."
"But you're nearly 20," Joannie teases.
"Hey I have one year left."
"Might take a year to get me out of this mess I got myself into."
"Seriously."
"How fast do you think Dad and Abby will forgive me?"
"I don't know."
"Well, that's OK. First I'll figure out what's going on, and then I'll wait for them to forgive me. But in the meantime, I'll have fun."
"Good plan."
Joannie calls for the check. "Your chariot awaits you, miss."
Nancy smiles and after they leave they head for Frisco.
They spend most of the day in Frisco having fun and have dinner before heading home.
A little while before they are to get home.
"Good thing Joannie got her out of the house for the whole day we never would've been able to hide this cake from her." David says.
"Yeah really, hey will you go check on Dad." Mary says.
"Abby's up there with him." He says.
"Ok," she checks out the window. "They're back. Will you get everyone together?"
"Sure." He goes upstairs to gather the troops.
Tom gets out of bed to get dressed for Nancy's party. "Did you pick up Nancy's gift?" he asks Abby.
"I said I would--it's in the closet, all wrapped."
"Thank you." he says and sneezes.
Abby hands him the tissues.
They go and join the others at the party.
Meanwhile in the car.
"Joannie thank you." Nancy says.
"Any time--well, next year."
Nancy smiles and hugs her. "I love you."
"I love you, too. Come on, let's go on in. I'm pooped."
They go inside and the party starts.
Tom finds Nancy and gets her alone. "Happy Birthday Honey," and gives her his present
"Thanks Dad." She gives him a kiss on the cheek and opens the gift. Her eyes go wide. "Wow Dad this is beautiful."
"Hope its the right color."
She gives him a hug. "It's perfect."
He sneezes. "Oh, I am sorry."
"It's ok." She hands him a tissue.
"Thank you. I'll let you get back to your party."
"No problem, and get some rest Dad."
"I will."
"Good because if you don't we'll ground you." She kids.
"Hey, who's the father around here?" Tom asks.
Nancy laughs and returns to the party.