At Luke and Laura's house the table is set and Thanksgiving dinner is almost ready. Now we just need family and friends to gather...
Shaun and Amari are the first guests to arrive while they wait for two more guests. Luke and Laura decided to have a very, small intimate gathering this year considering all that they have gone through these past months.
Over in the living room Phineas and Leila quietly play allowing the adults to take a break, chat and catch up. The soft sounds of motorcycle engines roaring and horses neighing.
In the kitchen, Laura finishes prepping the turkey while she chats with her cousin Amari. Her and Shaun are a perfect example of how two people can co-parent, and learn to get along for the sake of their child. Laura can only hope that this can be a possibility with Luke and Rufus. "So?..." Amari sighs with hesitation knowing Laura has been through a lot of drama this last year. Amari of course is no stranger to drama, having a child with a rock star has definitely taught her that. "How are things going with you and Luke?"
Laura looks up from her work and smiles. "Good...I'd say. Things are going much better than they were. Of course we're both very anxious for this baby." She gestures at her big round belly, after everything that befell them last spring, the one thing Luke and Laura could not avoid was the fact that Ruby would now be a permanent part of their now growing family and lives, which means Rufus will too. "I just hope we can all get along like you and Shaun have managed." Laura admits while she gets back to work on carving the turkey.
"For your sake, I hope Luke does find a way to make it work with Rufus. You know all this change has stressed Shaun out too?", Amari tells Laura. "He is worried about Rufus. I can see he definitely cares about her and how well she will hold up given their history." Amari pauses and lowers her voice. "Shaun told me some of their fights were insane."
Laura continues to carve the turkey and talk. "Luke will not go into much detail about him and Rufus, but I know it's a part of his life he would like to put behind him."
"Are y'all still doing the marriage counseling?" Laura nods with a hummed yes. "How's that going?" Amari asks.
"I think it's helping." Laura says with confidence. "Of course he still complains I'm not wanting to be intimate as much as he'd like." Laura rolls her eyes. "But I'm fat and bursting here, ya know?"
Amari gestures with her hand, "Girl...say no more. I totally get it. That last month with Leila was rough."
Laura nods and says. "I'm so ready to have this baby already...I think I'm definitely done after this one."
"Well, you definitely better figure that out before you let Luke have his way or you gonna end up with another bun in the oven." Amari jokes.
"Oh I have! I told him that he's getting a vasectomy after this baby is born.", Laura says as she moves the carved turkey slices to a serving dish. "I brought it up at our last appointment, and thankfully he agreed with me on that." Laura divulges. "Help me get these bowls to the table it's almost time to eat."
Right before Shaun and Amari showed up, Luke took Phoenix upstairs to break up the little tiff he was having with his brother Phineas. While the two decompress upstairs, Luke guides Phoenix through practicing a few chords on his little guitar. "Good. Just like that." Luke instructs as he helps Phoenix hold the chords with his small fingers. "Now strum the guitar with your other hand."
Phoenix follows his father's instruction and rakes his hand over the strings as it gently sends a tune out into the void between them. "I did it!" Phoenix squeaks in delight.
Luke smiles the pure joy on Phoenix's face makes him so happy to be a father. "Good job little man! Now see if you can do it without my help." Luke adds. "Just remember to hold your left hand like this." Luke says showing him one last time.
"Okay, okay! Lemme try!", Phoenix says with excitement as he pushes Luke's hand away. He loves to sit up here in this space and learn to play guitar. Laura has suggested to let Phoenix take lessons, but Luke and Phoenix enjoy these moments together. Before Phoenix can get his fingers placed his attention is diverted to the door. "Uncle Shaun!" he shouts beaming with excitement.
"Hey little man!", Shaun says with a smile as he steps into the room. "Looks like all the fun stuff is happening up here, huh?"
Luke spins in his chair, "I didn't even hear you come up." surprised to see Shaun.
"Going deaf already old man?", Shaun teases. "I made a pit stop at the bathroom that's probably why."
"Oh, well I'm glad you could make it.", Luke says to him.
"And miss this shit show?", Shaun jokes. "But seriously, I do hope we all survive this meal."
"Fuck. I'm not looking forward to this, but we need to get along somehow.", Luke admits. "Enabling her delusion is what I'm worried about."
Shaun nods, "I know we all are, but I think you're doing the right thing man. Ruby needs you in her life and hopefully Rufus can manage herself through all of this." Shaun says with sincerity. He knows how much pain and drama Luke went through with Rufus he was there for it all.
"Uncle Shaun! Look!, Phoenix shouts as he places his fingers on the chords and strums the tune Luke just showed him.
"Hey! You did that? Wow!", Shaun replies. "You know what? We could start a band with Leila on vocals and you on guitar. That'd something! Wouldn't it Luke?"
Luke smiles, "Yeah that'd be something alright. Show Shaun the other chord I taught you."
Phoenix gets his fingers into place struggling to get them to go just where they need to as Luke and Shaun watch. "Okay...You almost got it.". Shaun shows him. "Like this..." as he holds up his fingers in the same pattern.
Then in an instant Phoenix strums the guitar again and the room celebrates the achievement. "Good job!" Luke says with a smile. "Just keep practicing those till your fingers are sore."
While the men upstairs are bonding over their love of the guitar. Downstairs on the front steps of Luke and Laura's house Rufus and Ruby have arrived for Thanksgiving dinner. This is the first time the entire new family has gathered together since Luke signed the paternity papers. Recently most meet ups have been in public, since that was what Rufus wanted for her fans to see. This of course put more strain on Luke and Laura's tender relationship, but today they're gonna try and make it work without the outside world looking in.
As Rufus walks in a hurry to the door not wanting to be seen by anyone, Ruby stops her. "Momma?"
Rufus turns to look at her, "What is it?"
"Are you and Daddy getting married like they said online?", Ruby asks.
"Where did you see that?", Rufus asks taken off guard by Ruby's question. Rufus knows that her and Luke will never be together again, but the pain of realizing it never ceases to hit her hard every time she thinks about it.
"Someone at school showed me a picture of you and Daddy and how happy you looked. They said when people are happy like that, they get married.", Ruby explained to her.
"Ruby you cannot believe everything you read online...Now let's get inside.", she snaps.
Amari answers the door and Ruby dashes inside to greet her new little brother Phineas. "Fin!", she shouts as she wraps her arms around him. She is excited about having siblings in her life.
After finishing up in the kitchen Laura walks into the living room area to greet Rufus and Ruby."Welcome!", she says with a smile. "I'm glad you two could make it." Laura knows the best thing to do right now is work her southern charm today and hope that helps keep the peace between her and Rufus.
Meanwhile back upstairs the men continue to bond, "See? My fingers have callouses on them now from all the years of playing guitar." Shaun explains to him holding his hand up.
"Yuck!", Phoenix cringes and crinkles his nose in disgust not liking the thought of having to endure pain to learn how to play guitar.
Luke smiles and laughs, "Hard work comes at a cost, but believe me it's worth it"
"Your dad is right." Shaun says with a smile as he looks at Phoenix.
Then in an instant Shaun and Luke hear a familiar voice travel up the stairway "OH MY FUCKING GAWD! You look like you're about to pop!"
"Shit! Rufus is here..." as Luke's head whips around to look towards the door. "We better get down there."
"Right behind you..." Shaun replies knowing this may very well be a long evening or short evening depending how long Rufus can keep it together.
To Be Continued...
