Page 15 of The Holidays with Dr. Mitchell
Collin grinned, “Well, I’ll repeat the exact words my wife used when I gave her the same line of shit to get out of the school room parent shit.”
“And they are?” I answered.
“That Elena didn’t go to school to be a teacher either, and it’s not her favorite thing in the world to be room parent; however, our kids go to this school, and these teachers bust their asses for them. The least we can do is show up and support the teacher, students, and school where our children attend.”
“Good God,” I answered. “I get that, yes, but seriously? These ladies need to slow down. I’m not trying to be president of the PTA. I’m a surgeon and chief of my ward, and I do my best to show up for my family on my days off. These lessons they’re pushing us through are about to get some pushback from me.”
Collin chuckled before getting into his car. “Good luck with that, buddy. Whatever you do, don’t piss off their aggravated asses even more, or the next thing you know, we’ll be cooking Christmas dinner.”
With that, Collin and I parted ways, and I felt more irritated than excited to show up at the band recital for my son. I didn’t want to have this reaction, but the insinuation that we were a bunch of lazy fucks who were checked out was bothering me.
Regardless of what our wives seemed to think, we were all doing our best, and this pressure to be the perfect father left me with the hollow feeling that I wasn’t doing enough.
CHAPTER 8
Ash
Everyone gave a standing ovation, cheering on the students who performed in tonight’s band recital. The kids did a fantastic job, and even though a few students missed a few beats, their hearts were in it, and that’s all that mattered.
“Mommy, let’s go,” Kaley urged, pulling my hand while Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne greeted me and complimented John’s trumpet solo.
John’s performance was flawless, and this momma couldn’t be prouder of his hard work. He’d practiced diligently for weeks, and it paid off, which made me especially happy since my ears had been ringing for two hours a day while he practiced.
“Hey,” I rubbed John’s back, reaching down to hold his case after he carefully put away his trumpet. “You were awesome,” I said, refraining from embarrassing him by kissing him on the cheek in front of all his peers.
“Thanks, Mom,” he said gleefully. This boy was thrilled with himself and his bandmates.
“You were great, John,” Ruby Mackey said with a bashful smile.
I grinned at the adorable, dark-haired, green-eyed girl who seemed to have the same crush on John as he had on her.
“Thanks, Ruby,” John said.
“Ash,Mija,” I heard Carmen’s voice over the crowd. My sassy and sexy stepmom was one of my favorite people in the world. She was hired as a live-in nurse to care for my dad after his heart attack, and we all fell in love with her, my dad especially.
“Hey, Carmen,” I said, smiling at her and Dad as they approached where all the families in attendance stood greeting their kids. “Hi, Dad,” I said, welcoming his hug after Carmen had beat him to me and our kids.
“Hey, baby girl. And look at you, Johnny boy,” my dad said, the only one who got away with nicknames for our son. John wasn’t a fan of being called anycutesy names.He liked being referred to by his proper name and nothing else, but for some reason, he didn’t bother arguing with Grandpa about it.
“You were amazing,Mijo,” Carmen said, leaning down and planting a big fat kiss on John’s cheeks, leaving behind her ruby red lip marks on his face as he giggled. “Look at you, andyou,” she widened her eyes at Ruby Mackey. “This looks like young love, eh?”
I watched John’s face turn ten shades of beet red while my dad laughed. Dad looked back at me, naturally amused by his gregarious wife, and then leaned down to pick up Kaley to make up for the two days he hadn’t seen his granddaughter.
“It’s not love,” John immediately corrected Carmen, staring darkly at me as if I were the one who’d mortified him in front of the girl.
“Bye, John,” Ruby said, taking her embarrassment over to the other side of the theater stage.
“Oh,Mijo. She is quite taken with your handsome looks,” Carmen pressed on. “And I must say I don’t blame her,” she chuckled and winked back at me.
“Thanks, Grandma Carmen,” John said, forcing himself to smile at her.
There was something about Carmen that allowed us all to be extremely forgiving and amused by her when she did this type of shit to embarrass us in public. John was a perfect example of that now. Instead of getting pissed at her, his fiery gaze was on my ass as if I’d planned the whole thing. This was all very typical, though. It’s how things were when my dad and Carmen were around the kids. Carmen danced around like a Mexican Fairy Godmother, entertaining all of us with her charm and boisterous personality, and we just rolled with it.
“So, are we ready to get dinner?” my dad asked. “My treat.”
“Sure,” I smiled. “John, grab your things, and we’ll go.”
“Where’s Dad?” John asked, finally taking notice that Jake had missed another event.
