I awoke the next morning to the scent of coffee. I loved waking up to that smell, even more so I loved waking up to it, knowing who had brought it to my soundly sleeping body. Bruce had called hours earlier, to gripe that the main actor was still sick, so we’d cancelled shooting for the day. Bruce was going to be in charge of editing, that I’d already decided. I also decided that he was doing it alone, because I couldn’t handle sitting in a room with him for that long, and not have a head mounted on my wall.
“Coffee” I grumbled in my morning voice as I sat up to Lara sitting at the foot of the bed, extending a mug to me.
She smiled letting her hand brush mine as she handed me the warm mug. I smiled in return, taking the long first sip of that marvelous black liquid. I thanked the coffee gods for inventing such a wonderful beverage.
“I love your morning voice.” She said with a smirk.
“My brother used to tell me I was turning into a man, and it scared the daylights out of me.” I said with a half smile.
My brother Lucas always enjoyed doing that to me. He was able to scare me with one tale or another for the longest time. Until I discovered the wonders of research. I’d started debunking him after a while and it lost its appeal to him.
“I meant what I said last night Jake.” Lara said, her tone slightly more serious.
“Waitwhat did you say? I heard something but I was half asleep.” I said jokingly.
Lara’s mouth dropped. She stared at me for a few moments before it clicked. She shook her head and pointed a finger at me with a scolding look on her face. I started to laugh, I couldn’t help it. Every once in a while I liked being a bit of a smart *****.
“I know. I meant it to. Scary as that is for me” I said, trailing off as I took another sip of my coffee.
Lara smiled widely. I admired her then, every part of her. The way her red hair glinted in the morning sun. Its slightly tussled look made her even more *****. I adored the way her eyes seemed to brighten with every smile, how they could remain transfixed on me as though they were staring into my soul. I sat there, engrossed in admiring this woman who, just hours before, I had said the most powerful words in the English language to, for moments before I realized that my phone was ringing. I leaned over and picked it up, glancing at the name that flashed. Nessa. Great. I let out a heavy sigh as I flipped it open.
“Hello Nessa.”
“Jake, so nice to actually hear you and not your voicemail.” She hissed.
I grimaced and looked at Lara with an apologetic frown before rolling my eyes. Nessa and I had never gotten along. She was my eldest sister, and never took kindly to the fact that I liked women. She’d even tried to pit my mother against me, and when that didn’t work out, she’d stopped communicating with us altogether.
“What do you want? Obviously its important, so please just tell me so I can get on with my day.”
Lara gave me a quick kiss on the forehead before moving to the
bathroom to give me some privacy. I was definitely going to eed to keep her. I sighed and stared at the window as Nessa started talking again.
“I just thought you’d like to know that our father died this morning.”
Her voice was cold, so cold that it took a few moments for me to register what she had just said.
“What?!” I didn’t try to contain the shock in my voice.
“He was out visiting from New York and was on his way to see you, which I told him wasn’t a good idea, he shouldn’t be driving on the California freeways. I tried to call you two days ago to tell youbut you didn’t pick up. Anyway, his car slammed into a guardrail. We’re shipping his body back to New York tomorrow. The funeral’s in three days. Think you can make it?” Her voice was still as cold as ice.
Nessa was a cold person. She always had been. She’d never liked our family for whatever reason, and the second she’d met some billionaire, she went off and got married, never bothering to invite us to her wedding. It had always been a sore spot in our family. I felt my blood run cold.
I starting screaming incoherently into the phone. Why hadn’t she left me a voicemail telling me my father was out here? Who the ***** did she think she was? Amongst other things. I must have been yelling louder than I thought, because Lara came running out of the bathroom, wrestling the phone from my hands. She hung it up and tossed it away, shaking my shoulders fiercely.
“Jake, baby, what’s wrong?” she asked me over and over until finally I snapped back to reality.
“My father.” I said in a forced whisper before looking at her.
I felt my eyes well up but I quickly shoved the tears away, shaking my head as I brought my knees to my chest. I lost myself then, I spiraled into a world that was darkness. I felt Lara pull me close to her, but my body didn’t want to move. I sat there, dumbfounded. Had I picked up the phone two days earlier would this have happened? I finally let go and sank limply into her arms, staring at the walls, my mind a haze.

***2 Days Later***

Lara had insisted on coming with me, despite my urges that she should stay due to her job. She refused, saying that it was okay, that Kit had given her the time off when she told her a relative had died. I didn’t like Lara lying like that. I was touched that she wanted to be with me in my hour of need, but I still felt a slight pang of guilt.
Siobhan had dropped everything to come as well, saying that my father had been like a second Dad to her. We ended up at my parents’ house, no one was there save for the three of us. Funny enough, Nessa had concocted a reason not to come. Enough reason for me to vow that if I ever saw her on the street I was going to say my peace and then proceed to beat the living daylights out of her.
We had gotten back from the wake, and were convened in the living room, looking through old photo albums. Siobhan was busy showing Lara pictures of me as a kid while I was trying to sort out pictures for a project I had planned to do later on.
“here! This is Jake in high school. She was the school mascot, this was our senior homecoming game.” Siobhan pointed out. Lara leaned over to look at the picture then looked at me.
“Why do you have a cast on?” she asked, pointing at the picture.
“because the week before she got into a fight with one of the girls on the cheerleading squad and ended up getting the ***** kicked out of her by the quaterback.” Siobhan said with a smirk.
I winced before shaking my head, and coming to my own defense.
“Hey, I did some damage to him too.”
Lara smirked and scooted over to me, pulling me close to her in a one armed hug. Siobhan sighed and set her pictures down. She smiled at the two of us before yanking a movie off the shelf.
“I think we should watch this.” Siobhan said with a grin.
I didn’t need to look at it to know what it was. My eyes widened and I shook my head violently in protest. It was the first movie I’d ever made. We were ten and I decided to do a murder mystery with my mother, Siobhan and my brother Antony as the lead characters. It was quite possibly the most awful thing in the history of mankind.
“No Siobhan. No.”
“Awww C’mon Jake. I’m sure Lara would love to see the first film you ever made.”
I turned to Lara who simply nodded. Great, even my girlfriend had turned against me in this matter. I covered my face before moving into the kitchen, if Siobhan wanted to embarrass me she could do it without me present.
I heard laughter erupting from the living room as I ran my fingers along the pictures on the fridge. My father still had pictures from close to twenty years ago. A heavy sigh passed over my lips as Siobhan came trotting into the kitchen, frowning at me.
“Hey.”
I turned with a faint smile, sniffling slightly. Siobhan walked over and pulled me into a hug. I could tell she was hurting too, she and my dad had been as close as we had been. Growing up, Siobhan spent more time at our house than her own.
“She liked the movieon a side note.” Siobhan said playfully.
I let out a half laugh, half cry before hugging Siobhan tighter. Lara stood at the door to the kitchen smiling a bit. I motioned her over, pulling her into the hug as well. At this point in time I needed all the comfort I could get. I hadn’t gotten much of it when my mother died, my siblings all had their own families, and I was busy consoling my father. This was two part, I needed comfort not only for my father’s death, but the comfort I had been denied so long ago.
“It was an awful movie.” I muttered.


The funeral was long, Lara held my hand nearly the entire time, Siobhan sat behind me, one hand on my shoulder. It was difficult giving the eulogy, I had to stop through it numerous times to regain my composure. When it was finally all over, everyone came back to my parents’ house, where I had stayed up most of the night doing a massive pictorial collage that took up the entire living room wall. When Lara and Siobhan had gone to bed I crept into the living room to do it. I couldn’t imagine sleeping. I needed something to keep my mind going.
“I almost want to start sobbing” Antony said as he came up behind me giving me a slight hug.
I smiled and kissed his arm. Siobhan and Lara came up beside us, staring wide eyed at the collage. Lara looked over my brother and I and smiled a bit.
When did you do this? she asked quietly.
Last night when you and Siobhan had gone to bed. I murmured.
Antony let me go as Lara walked over to give me a tight squeeze. I sighed into her neck before breaking the embrace, motioning to my brother Antony.
Antony, this is Lara. Lara this is my eldest brother Antony.
Antony smiled as Lara extended her hand. He completely bypassed the hand, pulling the redhead into a warm hug. My brother was good for that, he was just a warm and loving person. He gave her a big kiss on the forehead before pulling away, looking at her then me.
So youre the wonderful girl whos made my baby sister so happy. He said with a smile.
She blushed, the first time I had ever seen her blush. I cleared my throat and gave Antony a slight look.
What? I cant welcome her into the family? Would you rather me act like nessa? he said giving me his typical big brother look.
I shook my head, grabbing Laras hand, tugging her gently back to my side. Antony gave a bit of a smile before motioning to the kitchen.
Im going to get some coffee. He said.
Lara turned to look at me with a bit of a smirk. Siobhan stood there with her arms folded before motioning to the collage.
So, is this sleeplessness going to be a trend? Do I need to be wary of collages in our apartment? she said in a teasing tone.
I shook my head, shoving her shoulder slightly before nodding my head towards the kitchen.
Cmon I want to introduce Lara to the rest of the family. I said in a quiet voice.
Do you think we have the time? Siobhan said with a chuckle.
her family cant be that big. Lara said giving a puzzled look.
I shook my head, she had no idea. I smirked as Siobhan let out a hearty laugh before wrapping her arm around Laras shoulder. Nice to see they were getting along.
7 brothers and sisters, which means roughly 7 Inlaws. Not to mention her other two half sisters. So 9 and 9 inlaws. Roughly 25 nieces and nephews, how many aunts and uncles Jake?
20 I said quietly.
Lara turned to me wide eyed, as though shed never heard of a family so large. I smirked. For the longest time I thought everyone had families that big, I was shocked when Siobhan told me she only had two aunts. I sighed heavily, it was time to start introducing my girlfriend to the family.