199 - Crazy Beautiful Life

Labor Day came and went, forcing them to say goodbye to lazy summer days and the kids, who went back to the city and their mother. It was bittersweet, as Ari enjoyed their time spent with the kids, but she also enjoyed having their rambunctious brood temporarily downsized to her, Jon, Lily, and Meatball. It allowed her to focus and get her head on straight before returning to work. 

 

Sadly, not the kind of work that had her rigging stages and sound equipment, but the kind that took her home.

 

Interesting word, home. Some would say it was where you hung your hat, or even where your heart lived. Others identified it as one’s birthplace. For Ari, it didn’t matter which city was listed on her birth certificate or the newly gained New Jersey driver’s license. Montreal was her home.

 

She supposed it was like her brothers-in-law were always saying. You could take the boys out of Jersey but not the Jersey out of the boys. Only her Jersey was Montreal.  

 

Being out on the road with Jon and giving birth to Lily had kept her from it and Petit Soho for too long. It was time to go back and give Max his well-deserved vacation, and when she walked through the front doors of Petite Soho, it was like walking into a dream. A very surreal dream.  

 

Stepping inside with sweet, darling Lily cradled in her arms, Jon at her side and Meatball trotting alongside them was a moment Ari had never expected to happen. She was a mom. She had her own little family to add to the bigger Petite Soho family that greeted them, and the melding of the two brought Ari a river of tears at the appreciation of the circle of life moment. 

 

In the midst of the river was a smaller stream of salty sadness for those who weren’t there anymore. For Lili and Sal, who couldn’t physically wrap their arms around her and welcome her. But she’d swear later, watching the video Cara took, there were two flickering lights that followed Lily everywhere.  

 

Ari chose to believe Lili and Sal were with them as they reunited with her hand-chosen family members, who regaled them with stories of what had happened in her absence. Every one of them fawned over her daughter like royalty, and none more so than Cara.   

 

Ari didn’t realize how much she truly missed her best friend. The two hadn’t seen each other since Cara jetted in to be by her side right after Lily was born. She made a break from her jet-setting with Jonas on his tour for a meet and greet with her goddaughter before jetting back out again with hugs and tears. It was her turn to travel the world, and Ari wouldn’t have dreamed of holding her back from it.  

 

She was just glad they’d both landed in Montreal together again, even if she had to pry Lily away from her with the excuse that it was time to nurse. While the greasy burger smells coming from the kitchen and watching the neighborhood old timers in a heated discussion on the upcoming Habs season were a welcome dose of nostalgia, she had a more important bit of reminiscing to do. 

 

Stealing a few moments away from the party, she slipped out to the backyard, where it waited like the oldest of friends. The garden and tree were just showing hints of the autumn hues she loved, and the lounger she always sat in was in the same spot from her last trip to the yard — their impromptu wedding.  

 

She kissed the top of Lily’s head with a smile, remembering that cold winter night. She could still hear Richie in her mind, making smartass comments about it being colder than a witch’s tit and for them to hurry it up. 

 

Letting out a long, bated breath, she followed the cracked pathway. Bypassing the chair, she dusted off a spot on the ground and took a seat in front of the engraved stone at the base of the tree. Seeing as this was Lily’s first time here, Ariana had wanted it to be special, even though she understood Lily wouldn’t remember it. She needed it to be special for herself, she guessed.

 

My dearest grand-mère, there is someone I want you to meet. Dis bonjour à ton arrière petite fille… Lily. Yes, you heard that correctly. I named her after you. How could I do anything but? You are my heart, my soul, my light. I wouldn’t be me without you. You knew losing you would all but destroy me, so you sent me the only person you knew who would carry my pain, no matter how long it took. Jon. And when I was being my stubborn self and doubted yet again, you sent us Lily. Our beautiful gift. Not a day goes by that I don’t wish you and Daddy could be here physically to watch her grow-up, but I feel your presence around us every day and in the stars at night. And as I sit here, I promise to give her every ounce of love you gave to me. Now I better head back inside before Jon sends the search party after us. Love and miss you always.

 

Bringing three fingers to her lips, Ari softly kissed the tips before bringing them to the tiny smile of a sleeping Lily, then pressed them over her grandmother’s name. 

 

After the welcome home party, it didn’t take long for Ari’s old routine to fall into place. She spent her mornings in the office handling the day’s deliveries and invoicing, and afternoons found her behind the bar while Lily napped. Evenings were spent in the dusty old basement, giving orders to Cara on what boxes she wanted pulled from under the stairs. 

 

She was looking through some of her parents’ old treasures. That big, empty loft Luc had been dying to show her was perfect, but it needed some accessorizing. While digging through treasures for the perfect pieces, they even stumbled upon a couple of boxes full of Ari’s belongings. 

 

There were things in there she hadn’t thought about in years or even remembered packing up. Things like all the old journals she kept while on the road with her dad. 

 

No matter how much Ari pleaded with her friend to just tape up the boxes and shove them back from where they came, she wouldn’t. Instead, Cara was all too happy to call for one of the busboys to carry them up to the apartment. They spent a few nights curled up on her grandmother’s old couch, drinking and flipping through the pages and reminiscing.

 

What time she didn’t spend with her friend or at the bar had her shopping to fill the loft. Her goal was to have it fully furnished and livable for the kids to come and visit before Jon went on the road to Latin America. Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, that goal went unmet.  

 

Instead, they all camped out in the tiny little apartment above the bar — against Jon’s wishes, of course.  

 

He wanted to book a suite at the St. James, but she held her ground on that one. They all crowded into the cozy three-bed, one bath confines and suffered the type of misery that would eventually become fond memories. Two adults, one infant, four grown children, and one very large, very active dog were on top of one another day and night, and even though he wouldn't admit it, Jon loved every minute of it. 

 

The homemade adventure also gave Jon’s kids a chance to see where Ari spent most of her childhood—when she wasn’t on the road with Sal. Max and Gabriel kept them entertained as well with their colorful stories. Well, only the ones that were shareable to little ears. At night, they took them for long walks throughout the city, where they stopped every now and then for Ari to share some of its history. 

 

Before too long, their time together was over, and it was time to say so long once again. Goodbyes were no longer part of her life now. 

 

Jon desperately wanted Ari and Lily to make the trip to South America, but he knew it wasn’t possible with Lily being so little. He was still reluctant to leave them, however. That’s why, instead of traveling back to the States with his big kids, he instructed his pilot to deliver them to New York and come back to pick him up the next day.  

 

An extra twenty-four hours wasn’t much, but he sentimentally said he wasn’t ready to leave his girls yet. Ari reminded him that he wasn’t going to Siberia or some remote African jungle. He would see and speak with them, thanks to Uncle Tony, who had set up private streaming to keep Jon from missing Lily’s important firsts.  

 

Because Tony was very good at what he did, Ari got the bonus of being able to watch some of the show and helping out whenever they needed her to.  

 

About ten days later, Ari was sitting at her desk and going over the day’s orders when she heard a commotion coming from the kitchen. She couldn’t quite make out the other voices over Gabriel’s, but whatever was happening had Gabriel's apron strings in a twist. Her curiosity piqued, Ari grabbed her empty coffee mug, and she went to find out what was going on.  

 

She was stunned to see her in-laws standing in the middle of the kitchen, and once she got Gabriel to calm down, she learned that Jon had sent them. They were apparently there as part of some kind of secret mission he’d engineered. When she pressed for details, they claimed they weren’t privy to all the information. The only things they could tell her was that they were there to watch Lily, and that she had an hour to pack an overnight bag before a car picked her up. 

 

Figuring that she’d go directly to the source, Ari tried texting Jon to find out what he was up to. When he didn’t respond, she figured he was in the middle of something or ignoring her, so she tried Matt and Tony. When neither of them answered, she knew the three musketeers were in on it together. They were shutting her out, and when the car arrived an hour later, she still wasn’t any closer to knowing what was going on. 

 

All she could do was trust Jon and go have an adventure. Well, that and kiss Lily goodbye while repeating the baby’s schedule to Carol and John for the third time.

 

When she arrived at the airfield to find Cliff waiting for her at the plane door, Ari was pleased. She thought he’d surely give her the answers she’d been trying to get all day, but that wasn’t going to happen either. He had turned against her, too, saying his lips were sealed.  

 

She jokingly called him a traitor as she took her seat and waited while the crew ran through their pre-flight checklist. It wasn’t until Vicky announced the all-clear and the plane started rolling along the runway that her phone rang a familiar tune. Tapping the accept button, she brought it to her ear, smiling at the whiskey coated voice coming from the other end….

 

I never knew how much I loved ya

I never knew how much I cared

Till I wrapped my lovin arms around ya

I give ya fever that's so hard to bear