When Duke and Kenny showed up, their jaws dropped. “Mrs. B, looking foxy!” Duke said. “And Patti the foxette!”
Duke never has had much of a filter, even sober. Drunk, he could be even worse. This could be an interesting evening. I could only say, “Dude, that’s my Mom and my girlfriend!”
“Lucky times two, man,” he answered. Kenny’s smile told me he agreed, although he was keeping his mouth shut.
Mom and Patti decided to drink wine, while us guys decided to drink beer. There was close to a case of Sam Adams and Heinekens already in our spare refrigerator in the garage, so we would be set. Mom collected everyone’s keys, but said, “I know I’m giving you all a place to crash tonight, but take it easy, anyway. I don’t feel like starting the New Year cleaning up any vomit. We understand each other?”
She got a chorus of yeses, as I opened three beers, handing the guys theirs. I proposed a toast, “To Tom Barnes. The best Dad, husband and friend anyone could ask for. We miss you.” We all took a sip, thought about Dad for a minute, then got into the business of having fun.
“That was nice,” Patti told me, a few minutes later. “I could tell your Mom didn’t want to bring the party down, but I think she really appreciated the way you acknowledged your Dad.”
We turned on the stereo, while Mom heated up a couple of the pizzas, and we started in on a game of Pictionary, Patti and I against Duke, Kenny and Mom, and we won handily. Of course, Duke kept throwing out these wild sex-related guesses, to almost any clue. Mom was laughing at him, rather than being offended, so I didn’t say anything to him about it.
After refreshing drinks and having more pizza, Patti and I fast-danced to some of the songs on the stereo, and Kenny and Duke took turns dancing with my Mom. When a slow song came on, we all sat down again for another round of Pictionary, with Patti and Mom switching teams. Mom and I won, again because Duke was throwing out these crazy guesses, keeping the night’s mood light in his unique style.
We turned on the ABC New Year’s show at 10, and watched the ball drop in NYC at 11, then switched over the the Big D NYE show after that, and counted down again at 12.
I gave Patti a long kiss at the stroke of midnight, then almost had a heart attack when I saw Mom kissing Duke in almost the same way, then Kenny, too. I quietly asked Patti, “Any idea how much my Mom’s had to drink tonight?”
She walked me over to where the wine was, and the bottle was about half-empty. “This is the third bottle tonight, and I’ve only had three glasses myself, so she’s maybe had twice that much, maybe a little more? Over the course of four hours, it’s not a huge amount, but she certainly seems to be loose right now.”
“Yeah, I just hope Duke and Kenny aren’t getting the wrong idea from those kisses.”
Duke came to talk with me soon after that. “Man, I hope you’re not upset with me over that midnight kiss. I had no idea that she was going to do that. I’ve been trying all night to keep the mood light, to keep everyone laughing, because I know how hard it is to get through this season when you’ve lost someone. I’m sorry if I took the sex jokes too far.” Duke had lost his Dad when he was 15, so I knew he was talking from experience.