#spring 6

Spring 6 brought us some closure, but not without adding more to The Mess too. But that's probably what you expect by now, hey?

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Never thought I’d be breathing Whibley air like this again…

…and definitely not here.

Some party they’re throwin’. Can’t be doing too badly without me.

The doorbell was barely audible against all the birthday party commotion inside the Ward lake house.

“I’ll get it!” the happy birthday boy shouted. At the same time, Bonnie giggled to her sister, “Is he still dancing?”

Amy answered both of them: “Ben, honey, don’t run — you’ll smack into someone! And, yes, Brandon’s still givin’ his all on the living room dancefloor alright.”

“He’s so cute!” his mother teased.

Harold Ward was mid-sentence when his son Richard interrupted him to call after Ben: “Little big man! Havin’ a good party?”

Ben spun around with a beaming smile and two thumbs up. “Oh yeah!”

“It’s probably the pizza. Need a hand?”

“I have two! No worries, Dad.”

The happy teenager started dancing backwards towards the door feeling quite confident that pizza was the only thing missing from this perfect day.

Until Ben opened the front door:

“D-Dad?”

“Happy birthday?”

Ben tackled Max Green in tight embrace. He could feel his father’s back was sweaty. He sniffed a faint mixture of smoke and spearmint deodorant off his shirt. He was real.

“I can’t believe you’re really here!”

And Max squeezed his son back tighter than either of them thought possible or comfortable. “Neither can I, pal.”

“Um, Amy? You should probably come to the front door.”

“Why? Pizza money is on the—"

“—table.”

Ben announced, “Everybody! Look who’s here!”

“Hi.”

Max entertained Ben and his teenage friends with stories from his time on the road — all the shows he played, the cool people he met, the parties he attended — while the adults quietly panicked about what to do about their surprise guest.

It was decided that Amy would try to talk to him alone first, they’d save Richard as back up. Bonnie leaped in as party host and ushered the children outside to meet up with the other half of the party already playing by the water on this beautiful, summer-like spring day.

The vulnerable nature of the day inspired a family meeting at the Ward lake house. Richard leaned forward and started things off with: “Heavy day. I feel heavy. What about you guys?”

Ben, Amy and Annie all nodded in quiet agreement.

Max answered, “I feel grateful.”

Everyone turned to him, so he went on: “I mean, yeah. I’m real grateful to be here right now.”

“Ben?”

The family started laughing together as they happily and eagerly piled on Max.

“Okay, okay, sheesh!”

“I love you too.”

Once the service for Beth had concluded almost everyone scurried inside the funeral home to avoid the rain that just wouldn’t quit. But for Max, Amy, and Richard, it was a lot harder to ignore the gravestones of their other deceased relatives.

“Hi Dad. Laddie. You guys lookin’ out for each other? That’s good.”

“Hey, Mom. I don’t know if you were right about everything being ‘okay’ like you said, but I can still dream about you.”

“…”

“We’ll leave only when you’re ready,” Max told her.

“We’re with you,” Richard assured.

On Lilibet Clarke’s birthday, she wasn’t worried.

She had her family, which seemed to only get bigger these days; the Rousseau boys grew like weeds, they were nearly as tall as her now! To think that she raised a daughter that would raise these two good boys practically all on her own just as Lilibet had done for Sophie — it made her heart sing seeing her life come full circle like this. What joy! What a gift!

So, no, she wasn’t worried about growing old on her birthday in the same way she wasn’t worried about lost time or lost loves. She did have one wish, though: to whisper into the past and tell the frightened seventeen-year old girl she once was that everything would be okay. Despite what everyone told her — even Rhonda, the wise older sister who berated her worse than the Barbers did when she found out — Lilibet didn’t ruin anything. Everything she sacrificed would be worth it for the peace she had now.

Long after Sophie and the boys had gone home and she was crawling into bed alone, Lilibet thought about him briefly.

She pictured a lavish birthday party that his perfect Barber family would no doubt throw in his honour. A fine collection of accomplished people all praising his good name.

And he’d go along with it…

…for exactly as long as he had to.

Then he’d step out, tell himself he was just getting some air. Can’t wander too far with a house full of important people, but a short distance away from them was all he ever needed to feel free from all the Barber-attachments holding him back. Lilibet knew this. There was a time when she begged him to leave it all behind so he could really find himself, but he never found the courage.

As Lilibet drifted into sleep, she wondered if he would ever find the peace she did. They had many breakups over the years but their last one had shielded her from even a Happy Birthday voicemail. That was a first, he always wished her a happy birthday in some way, shape or form. Maybe this was proof that he had found whatever he needed to be contented with his family, his life.

Later into the night, Amy whispered, “Benny Bear, can you take your sister up to bed for us?”

He whispered back, “Yup.”

The teenaged boy sang sweetly, “Come on Annie, time for bed.”

She pouted loudly.

“Shh, it’s okay, just bed time.”

Once the kids were upstairs, Max turned to Amy with a grin. “Sooo, since both our parents are dead now, you must be pretty jazzed that we’re not step siblings anymore.”

“Ugh!”

“Come on, after all these years you still can’t see how funny this is?”

“Was, maybe.”

“It’s still pretty damn funny now.”

“Rich,” Max laughed, “come on, help me out here.”

“I’m staying far away from that jazz.”

Amy shuddered. “This town is too small. I’m going to bed.”

She stood, but then realized: “Um, I don’t know if I want to be alone tonight.”

“Don’t worry. Between the two of us, we wouldn’t let you,” Max replied.

Richard nodded along seriously.

She asked them, “Are we okay enough to sleep in the same bed? Just sleep, I mean.”

“I think so,” Richard answered optimistically.

But Max answered, “I don’t know.” He paused to sit up right and swallow. “I’m sorry, I’m just bein’ honest.”

Richard looked up at Amy.

“Okay. It’s—okay,” she said. “Today was a lot already, just forget it.”

When Amy was upstairs and out of ear shot, Richard also stood. He said in a low voice, “I’ll sleep in the guest room tonight, you two go be together.”

“What?”

“Max, you heard her, right?”

“Yeah, but—”

Max didn’t come here with bad intentions. He didn’t mean to record-scratch their party. Well, maybe a little.

For Max, this happy family crap was getting out of hand. He figured Rich provided Amy and Ben a life he could never afford, but finally seeing it in real time hurt Max more than he had mentally prepared for. It was more than he thought possible. Didn’t they miss or love him at all? They really were living their best lives without him!

Fragments of their messy past pricked his mind as he watched the kids play below him: “Can you see yourself moving in with Rich and me?” “The beard suits you.” “En-core! En-core!” “Ben – remember your son? – he actually asked me if you died.” “I just hope you make her happy because so help me I will come back here and destroy all of this if it was all for nothing.”

Amy found him leaning over the rails dangling an empty beer bottle. Against her better judgement she decided to just ask him point-blank, “Why’re you here?”

“Someone’s not too happy to see me.”

“It’s not that — it’s Ben. You’ll break his heart if you leave again.”

“Who says I’m leaving?”

Heading back into the house he reminded her, “Isn’t this what you wanted?”

“Max, wait!”

“Jeez, where’s the bathroom in this place?”

“What I want, Max, is for Ben to have his father back.”

“And it’d be nice to be able to talk like adults for once, but—”

Max spun around once her pestering had pushed him up the stairs. “You wanna talk? Okay. Why’d you do it to me, Amy? Huh?”

His abruptness momentarily stunned her…

…so he moved in closer. She tried to get a read on him: his eyes were sad, but his tone was aggressive, and his body language — was he coming onto her?

He asked again, but lower this time: “Why’d you do it, Amy?”

“I—I—”

“Didn’t I do good by you? Didn’t I do you good?”

She was quickly and completely overcome by this new, darker Max in front of her.

Then he tilted his head back and smirked to himself, satisfied. He gestured to the double doors behind them and asked, “That the bedroom?”

She nodded.

Max whistled at the size of their three-person bed. “You’ve come a long way from your dorm room.”

Her cheeks turned bright red at the memory, but then she was still a bit flushed from the hallway.

He turned around just to laugh at her. “Aww! A bashful Amy? I’m starting to think you want me here for another reason.”

She glared at him. “What the hell happened to you?”

“You should know. You were there.”

“No, wait, you were here! I’ll bet he knocked you up right here. I’d also bet I can beat his high score any day. Just put me in, coach.”

Richard found them then. “Hey, we’re about to do the—presents. What’s goin’ on?”

Max pushed past his so-called friend and spat, “I was looking for a toilet.”

It would seem that RBU was mostly about balancing fun and study.

“You’re not going to cheat again, are you?”

“Mon frère! I would never!”

For some, that balance was a little harder to achieve than others.

“What?” Deryck’s cheeky smirk said it all. “I can’t help it if the ladies like me.”

Pretty soon the freshman year would close out with Deryck Rousseau being the most popular guy on campus. Wherever he went the party was sure to follow, even if he was far away from it.

Meanwhile…

Deryck hopped over the couch and grinned. “Well, well! That certainly didn’t take us too long, hey? What was it this time, did he hit you over the head?”

“Dere,” Jon sighed, annoyed. “Where did you even come from?”

Naomi laughed, “You’re surprised? Your brother is everywhere on campus.”

“Yeah!” he beamed. “You ‘eard her. I’m everywhere.”

“In that case, mind finding some other place to be?”

“Oh sure, plenty of people out there to see and to do. You were right Jonny Boy, college is fun!”

Then Deryck left the dorm lounge room giggling to himself, so Jon turned to Naomi. “Moment’s long gone, huh?”

“Yeah, for now,” she mused. “You and your brother are pretty close, huh? I think I’m finally starting to see you two more like a package deal.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

“Sure, why not, Deryck’s harmless. But you might consider investing in a door lock.”