The whole incident wasn't just good enough for me to be there for her- but on top of it Sophia gave me really good ideas for Christmas presents, and I gave her several ideas for Christmas presents of her own.
When I returned home, the kids started returning. Mike had had the time of his life at Luke's, Jamie had had three fights with Delilah and of course made up three times, Josh had fun playing ping-pong with Shane, even if he later had to lie down on the couch for a few minutes (he rolled his eyes as he said this, so I was sure it had actually been Shane's mother who had made him do this), and Ryan had played basketball with one of his friends.
So we'd all had a nice time- yes, even me, despite the whole thing with Sophia. After all, I did feel really bad for her, and I'd bought her a box of Christmas cookies and actually bought her a present, as well. Or, to be more specific, for Julia. I had made an excuse of having a close friend who was going to be having a baby, and used the opportunity to find out which little dress Sophia liked best. Then I got a big size (after all, Julia's bigger every time I see her) and bought it, making believe it wasn't for her. So she wasn't going to be totally surprised, but I hoped it would be slightly unexpected.
Meanwhile, I stood by the phone most of the time, willing it to ring. And it did, off the hook. Sometimes it was old producers or old friends wishing us happy holidays, but most of the time it was either Brian or Aaron. Aaron wanted my advice on many of the wedding details. Brian was just being supportive. Or is that an understatement? He'd call me at least once a day to see how I was.
"You sure you're okay?"
"Sure, Brian."
"Maybe you should see a psychologist?"
"A psychologist? Why on earth would I need a psychologist?"
"Well, you've got a lot of problems, Nick, don't deny it..."
"Brian, I can deal with my own feelings. There's no way I'm telling a stranger my whole life."
"Fine." Brian would sigh resignedly, but then the next day we'd have the same conversation over again. To be honest, he was starting to be a bit overwhelming for me to deal with.
By Friday the 21st, the kids were out of school and I stirred up enough Christmas spirit to actually put up the tree with them. We had a very nice evening doing this, and I called for some pizza- with extra pepperoni in Joshua's honor, extra cheese in Ryan's honor, and no anchovies in Jamie and Michael's honor.
We all enjoyed all this quite a bit, and I decided something. I was no longer going to be too depressed all the time. Josh was sick, this couldn't be denied; but it didn't mean we couldn't have some fun. I was going to do my best to be cheerful and plan a lot of interesting and fun activities for us to do as a family. This was going to be an interesting change, I thought. Hopefully it would also bring us closer as family, like we were supposed to be. A lot of things had happened that had made us drift apart, but it was my job to bring us back together.
Author's Chapter Notes:
This one's dedicated to Sophia. The real one. Love ya! =D
