I Walk The Line

I was nervous. Who could blame me? It’s not everyday that I got invited to Josh’s parents house for lunch, with the entire family! That’s right, everyone was going to be here, all Josh’s brothers and sisters and their families. Just the sheer number of people that is overwhelms me. Even with my brothers and their family plus my friends, it doesn’t even add up to half Josh’s family.

“How do I look?” I stood in front of Josh and Jesse who have been sitting on the couch waiting for me for the last 20 minutes.

“Booful!” Jesse exclaimed.

Josh grinned, “That’s what I was going to say,” he stood up and came to me. “Anna you look amazing,” he gave me a kiss on the lips.

“I normally don’t take that long to get ready,” I told him. “But,” I sighed. “I’m nervous Josh, what if they don’t like me?”

“Of course they’ll like you,” he pulled me into his arms. “Honey you already know most of my family and they all like you.” I looked away, “Don’t worry Anna, you’ll be great.”

I thanked him with a kiss, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The nervous feeling I had seemed to grow the closer I got to his parents house. Come on, you can do this! You’ve met lots of people before and you haven’t done anything too stupid. Besides, Josh is right, you do know most of his family already.

We didn’t waste any time sitting in his car when we got to the house, Jesse was anxious to see everyone again. “You’ll be great,” Josh whispered in my ear as he turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.

“I play daddy,” Jesse wiggled to get down before we even stepped into the house.

“Hold on, let’s remove your boots first.” Josh placed Jess on the bench by the door and began to remove his boots.

“Hello Uncle Josh,” a high pitched male voice said from behind us but when we turned to look all we saw was a giggling baby girl being held over the partition by some very male hands.

Jesse giggled, “Look at baby daddy!”

“I see her Jesse,” Josh shook his head, smiling.

“Are you ignoring me Uncle Josh?” The voice asked, I smiled as I watched whoever was holding the baby, bounce her gently. She was having a ball giggling.

Josh lifted Jess down from the bench and he took off down the hall. “Papa? I here Papa!” He called as he went.

“Un-cle Jos-sh! I have a present for you!” Came the voice again.

Josh laughed, “Oh yeah?” He made his way over to the baby. “Come here sweetheart,” he picked her up and kissed her cheek. “Sorry your daddy is a goof!”

“Hey!” The guy who was holding the baby leaned out over the partition and made a move to swat Josh but he had already stepped out of the way.

Josh turned towards me, still talking to the baby. “Erin, I’d like to introduce you to someone special.” When he held out his hand to me, I took it. “This is Anna,” he told Erin. “Anna, this is my niece,” he then nodded to the guy who was staring at me with this goofy grin on his face. “Rob’s daughter.”

“Hey sweetie,” I stepped closer to Erin and held out my hand, which she took in hers. Well she actually gripped my pinky. “Aren’t you cute?”

“Yeah,” Robbie agreed. “She takes after me.”

Josh laughed out loud and I just smiled at him. When I knew Robbie before, he had features similar to Josh, obviously. But now, I couldn’t get over how much they looked alike. I tried not to look at Robbie too long though; I didn’t know if Josh would understand why I was looking at him.

“Aren’t you going to say hello Anna?” Robbie asked, then he chuckled, “Or are you ashamed to admit that you know me?”

“Of course she is,” a female voice cut in before I can say anything. It wasn’t until she slid in next to Robbie that I realized I knew her. Oh my god! The punk wanna be! I guess I didn’t hide my surprise that well because Robbie told me to stop trying to catch flies – in other words, close my mouth.

“It’s good to see you two again,” I smiled at them.

While we were having this little exchange Josh was talking to Erin, I wasn’t really paying much attention to what he was saying until, “Rob!”

“I told you she had a present for you!” Robbie started to laugh as he held out his hands for his daughter. “Here, let me go change her.”

Josh wrapped his arms around Erin, “No. You gave her to me, where’s her bag?” Josh walked off into the living room. “Where’s Erin’s diaper bag?”

“Hey Josh get back here!” Robbie took off after him. “Don’t give him the bag!”

I stared after them, “Okay.”

Beside me Sandy laughed, “It’s always the same with them. Rob always tells Josh Erin has a present for him, thinking Josh will just hand her back to him. He never does.”

“Hey Anna?” Sandy turned to me. “Can I ask you something?”

I nodded, “Sure. What’s up?”

She hesitated for a moment. “How far did your relationship with Rob go?”

“What?”

“I know he told me that I shouldn’t worry about it but you are the only one he doesn’t talk about. It sounds crazy, I know but I like to know if you ever slept with my husband.”

I was taken back by this, I never in my life thought anyone would ask me point blank about any guy I knew. But in this case, I didn’t mind at all, I had nothing to hide. “Sandy I can tell you in all certainty that I’ve never even shared a bed with Rob.” I grinned as I remembered that the night I said 'what the hell' and went to join Rob in bed, I ended up with Josh.

“What?” Sandy asked me, “Why are you smiling like that?”

I looked at her, I wasn’t sure if I should revealed my past with Josh because I didn’t know how he felt about people knowing that he showed feelings for me while he was still married. So I said as much as I could without revealing that fact, “The summer that I hung out with Rob was the first time I met Josh. I was just remembering how I felt when I first saw him.”

Sandy nodded, “When Rob told me that you were dating Josh, I was a little shocked; he’s just so much older than we are. And not only in age, he acts older too.”

“I love him,” I told her.

“Oh Anna!” Rob came back out where we were and threw his arm around both his wife’s shoulders and mine. “I’m glad you can finally admit it but it’s too late, I’m taken.” He gave Sandy a kiss, “Very happily taken.”

Sandy rolled her eyes and laughed but in the depths of her eyes, you could see that just hearing him say that made her happy.

Just like hearing Josh tell Jesse that he loved me with all his heart made me really happy, I thought as we all joined the rest of Josh’s family.

I went directly to Josh, who was now sitting with both Erin and Megan (Tim’s granddaughter – Matt’s daughter) on his lap. “Is there room for me?” I asked him, nodding towards the chair he was sitting in.

“Of course!” Josh moved Megan to the same side Erin was on and pulled me into his lap.

“Josh!” I giggled. “I meant the chair!”

“I know,” he kissed the tip of my nose. “Would you hold onto Erin? I don’t want to drop her.”

I nodded, “Come here sweetie,” I said as I cuddled her.

“Otay Ama!” Jesse jumped off the couch where he was sitting with his grandparents and ran over to me. He held up his hands to get up. “What doing baby Ama?” He looked hurt.

“Oh Jesse I…”My voice trailed off as I realized that he heard me call Erin ‘sweetie’ which I normally called him.

“I’ll take her,” Rob piped up as he came over to get his daughter. “Come on Peanut, before uncle Josh thinks he can take you home!”

Erin wasn’t out of my hands before Jesse started to climb up with me. Once he was settled on my lap he wrapped his arms around me, “My Ama,” he said, giving Erin a dirty look.