By the time I’d gotten the food and supplies for the cookout and left the store, it was nearing four in the afternoon. I called Tina from the parking lot to make sure we were still on for that night, and then called Angelica. She was home early from work and said that she and Charlie were definitely coming, or they’d never hear the end of it from the kids. She also said that her mother had called and nagged her about it five times that day alone, so if she didn’t show up she was sure she’d hear it from both sides. I laughed and let her go so I could drive home and get ready.

After a quick shower and change of clothes, I got the picnic table and chairs ready in the backyard and got the old gas grill ready to go. By the time I was done with all that it was almost five, so I went back inside to bring the stereo out. As I was getting it plugged in to the outdoor outlet, I was hugged from behind by my youngest grandson Brendan. His brothers came over to hug me too, as did his parents as soon as they had locked the car. Kallie arrived right after they did with Gemma beside her, and they both hugged me as well.

Tina showed up not five minutes later, and she got a round of hugs too. The kids adored her although she didn’t spoil them as much as Alice always had, and they loved going to her house as much as mine. Tina, Alice and I would often do things with the kids together and it was nice that the family was able to be so integrated.

I got the grill fired up and the food started, making conversation with my grandsons and children all the while. As I hugged them all and made small talk, I was struck yet again by how beautiful a couple Charlie and Angelica made. I have to admit that I’d been very weirded out when I first heard about them, as had Tina. Alice had seen it as perfectly natural, though, and looking at them now I could see why.

**********

Kallie had a lot of fun in high school, that much was obvious. She wasn’t exactly a party girl, but she had plenty of friends and went to quite a few parties. Al and I had been positive she was probably drinking at these parties, which was highly inadvisable for her illness, but to our surprise she admitted that she hated the taste of alcohol when she was 16. “It tastes like ass,” she said in no uncertain terms. “What’s the point in drinking it when I have to mix it with something to make it taste better? If anything I’d just have a non-diet soda or something like that. Crazy, not stupid.”