The Friend I Needed

Five.

Five.

Sunday morning had come and Oddie was sitting in the sofa with her legs tucked under her, drinking coffee watching old cartoons, Luca laid down beside her with his head and front paws on her lap enjoying the morning with her.

It was such a sight to see, cute and loving at the same time, Gabriel came down the stairs in his pajamas rubbing his left eye trying to get the sleep off holding a Dalmatian print blanket on his hand.

“Good morning, sleepy head.” She smiled warmly at him.

“Morning,” he dragged his feet towards her and cuddle right beside her hiding his face on her side and covering hid body with the blanket, she couldn’t help but smile at this gesture. “What are we watching?” He mumbled from under the blanket, you could only see his eyes peeking out looking at the TV.

“Old toons, Scooby-Doo just started.”

“Great,” he cuddled more to her laughing at the funny dog and Luca barking whenever Scooby did pretending he was having a conversation with said dog.

“Do you want hot chocolate?” Gabriel just nodded and cuddled to Luca when she stood up to prepare the drink, she had finished her coffee and some chocolate did sound good; when she was about to get back to the living room her phone ringed, rolling her eyes she put the mugs on the kitchen island and answering with a bored tone.

“Hello?”

“Well good morning to you too, babe.” A man exclaimed with mock evident on his voice, Oddie’s eye twitched a little.

“Jack, it’s Sunday morning and I’m in the middle of my old toons marathon with my boys,” she felt sharp eyes on her back, turning to the living room she found two boys glancing her way from under the blanket, when did Luca got under there with Gabriel was beyond her, betrayal evident in both faces. “You better have a good reason to be calling me, you know I do nothing work related on Sundays.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know it’s your quality time with your boys and all, but I really need to talk to you about something important.”

“And that is?” She rested her lower back on the kitchen counter.

“It’s already October, woman.”

“Wow, that’s deep.” Oddie’s sarcasm usually amused Jack a lot but this time it didn’t. “I know the month we’re living in, Jack.”

“Shut up and let me talk, will you?” He said exasperated, “Gabriel’s birthday is in a few weeks and I wanted to know if you already had something planned for that day, it’ll be a Friday, right?”

“Yeah, it’s Friday.” She peeked a little to see if Gabriel and Luca where still looking at her and for her luck, they still were, so she tried to speak lower. “Last year he didn’t want a party, so I just took him to the movies and to his favorite restaurant and got him a new videogame; this year he does want to do something so, I think I’ll have a house party.”

“What do you need?” She smiled gently at that, Jack only called her to ask about Gabriel’s birthday party and to ask how he could help with it, she was beyond happy. “I can help with whatever you need.”

“I’ll tell you tomorrow at work as for now I need to get back to my marathon before Gabriel and Luca drag me there.”

They both chuckled saying their goodbyes, she hung up the phone grabbing the still hot chocolate mugs getting back to the living room, where as soon as she sat down Gabriel cuddled her side again and Luca laid down his head on her lap.

“Missed me, uh?”

“Shhh.” Gabriel shushed her while drinking some of his chocolate ending up with a very cute mustache on his upper lip.

Oddie smiled softly at him, with pure adoration in her eyes she pulled her arm around him kissing his head.

“Do you want some breakfast?”

“Yes, please.”

“Come on then, we can keep watching toons in the kitchen,” she turned off the TV and headed to the kitchen, he sat in his usual stool with his blanket around him and Luca lay next to him on the floor chewing his big bone that Nick had gotten him a week back. “Do you want eggs?”

“Can you make me the scrambled eggs I like so much?” She smiled at him taking out all the stuff she was going to need.

“Sure, remember today will be my first day as an official companion for Mr. Cloutier so it’s up to you if you want to come with me or I can drop you off at grandpa’s.” She started cooking the simple dish, indeed simple but the boy loved it; scrambled eggs with fresh chopped tomatoes and onions, potatoes and white cheese, nothing special at all. “So, what you do you want?”

“Can I take Luca with me to wherever I chose to go?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll go with grandpa; it’s been weeks since I visited.”

“Alright, I’ll drop you off at 2:00pm most likely.” She kept chopping the veggies fast as the pan was ready on the stove to cook. “Can you call him please?”

“Yes,” he walked with his blanket still all over him, grabbing the phone in the kitchen wall dialing the well-known number.

“Hello, Liam speaking.” A rough deep voice spoke making Gabriel smile.

“Hey, papa!”

“Gabriel, ma boy! What a pleasant surprise. How ya doing, son?”

“Good, I’ve been a good kid and I went to the fire station, it was awesome!” Hearing that brought a smile to Liam’s face, he loved that kid way too much.

“That’s amazing, Gabe.” He could hear the smile in his grandfather’s voice, Liam was his best friend when he did not have Oddie, his dad or Luca around. “You have to tell me all about it.”

“Can I do it today?”

“Sure boy, Oddie starts the companionship thing today, right?”

“Yeah, she said I can either spend the day with you or with her, but it’s been a while since I last saw you and I miss you.”

“I miss you too, pumpkin.” He smiled at the want of his only grandson. “Want me to pick you up? We can go take a walk near the lake in the park.”

“She said I can take Luca with me.”

“Of course, we’ll take that boy too. What time should I pick you up?”

“Hold on,” Gabriel put the phone against his shoulder and looked over at Oddie who was finishing making breakfast for them both. “Psst, psst… papa said he’ll pick me up, he’s asking what time.” She looked at him with a smile on her face now her full attention on him.

“Ask him if he already had breakfast, if he says ‘no’ then tell him to come over and eat with us.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He put the phone to his ear again, “papa, did you eat breakfast already?”

“No, I was about to go to the Maple Mug to catch some there.”

“She said for you to come over right now to eat with us,” that made Liam laugh hard, he knew that was not even a question, he knew he better listen to his daughter or else she would savagely go pick him up and sit him on her table to eat, in his eyes she was so much like her mother.

“Oh well, I’m on my way then.” He grabbed his coat and truck keys, “I’ll see you in ten.”

“Ok, papa! Be safe.” Gabriel gave Oddie thumbs up smiling widely making her chuckle at that, she began cooking for her father too, so the plate was warm and ready for when he arrived.

“Will be, pumpkin.” They hung up and Liam closed the door of his house walking towards his truck; Oddie’s house was not that far from where he lived.

“Yay! Papa is coming over,” Gabriel hung the phone on the wall again and walked back to his stool grabbing his chocolate mug to keep watching toons.

“I’m glad he is; I miss him too.” She looked at him over her shoulder.

“Of course, you miss him he’s your dad.” At that last word he seemed down for a moment, frowning at his mug. Oddie stopped what she was doing and gulped closing her eyes with a sigh. “I miss my dad.”

“I know baby, I miss him too.” She turned to the stove again silently cleaning a tear that dared to scape, she missed Oliver more than anything and she had been doing so for the past 3 and a half years that he had been deployed.

Minutes went by and as promised, in ten minutes Liam was parking his truck outside with Luca being the first to receive him when he opened the door with a smile, the dog could not stop barking and jumping all excited to see the old man.

“Hello to you too, Luca.” He smiled at the dog petting his head and closing the door behind him “Oddie? Gabe?”

“Kitchen!” They both answered, Liam took off his coat hanging it in the closet next to the door. He walked to the kitchen and was almost tackled by a Dalmatian blanket.

“Papa!” Gabriel hugged him around his belly with a smile. “Good morning!”

“Good morning, rascal.”

He kissed the boy’s head and allowed him to sit back on his stool, Luca followed him to take his place back in the floor with his bone. Liam walked around the kitchen island to his daughter who was just finishing the last plate of food placing it in the island.

“Good morning, doll.” He kissed her temple hugging her shoulders with one arm.

“Good morning, dad.” She smiled warmly at him handing him a cup of coffee. She fixed herself another coffee and procced to sit down in front of Gabriel, when Liam was done washing his hands he sat down next to Gabe smiling at the smell coming from his plate. “Wash your hands and sit down, breakfast is ready.”

“This smells delicious, darling.”

“Hope the taste is the same as the smell.” She smiled at him and they chitchatted calmly when suddenly the cartoons changed to a news broadcast catching their full attention.

“We interrupt this program due a fire in the local flower shop that started not long ago, the fire alarm rang immediately when the owner managed to pull the emergency alarm lever before the fire got too dense. The firefighters have just arrived ready to put it all down and it appears there are people trapped inside, the battalion chief and captain of the unit have already put hands to work and are sending a small group of firefighters to retrieve the trapped people while the rest of the crew prepares to shut down the ragging fire before it spreads to the rest of the building. We’ll keep you informed of the results of this heroic moment, this is Stella Jensen, from Channel 8 News.”

“Well damn, hope no one gets hurt.” Liam commented looking at the live broadcast of the situation at hand, he sighed worriedly. “What a way to start a Sunday for Mrs. Clark.”

“Hopefully she’ll be alright.” Oddie said holding her warm mug in between her hands sighing as the broadcast ended bringing back the cartoons.

“They really are heroes, aren’t they?” Gabriel asked holding his blanket close to him staring at Liam with wide sparkling eyes.

“Yes, they are indeed.” He smiled at the kid’s fascination.

“One day I’ll be a big and strong firefighter and will protect everyone in Vancouver.”

He jumped off the stool grabbing his empty plate and mug putting them in the sink to rinse. Oddie and Liam looked at him with warm smiles as the little one jumped around with Luca following around jumping excited.

“And Luca will be my faithful companion! We’ll make you proud, mommy!” He exclaimed overjoyed looking at Oddie, when he saw the surprise in both adults, he covered his mouth embarrassed lowering his head a little. “I… I’ll go shower and brush my teeth. Thanks for the delicious breakfast,” he kissed Oddie’s cheek before running upstairs with the dog behind him.

“Oddie,” Liam started as he saw tears in her eyes, but he cleaned them before they fell.

“I’m fine,” she stood up pretending to smile and picked up the dishes to rinse them and put them inside the washing machine. “It’s just been a while since I heard that word.”

“Well, you’ve been there for him all this time since he was born,” he looked at her smiling. “You’re the only mother figure he has, after Oliver went to war three years ago you couldn’t expect less than him coming to hide in your lap, you’re everything to that kid and he loves you more than anything.”

“I’m well aware of it, dad.” She didn’t even try to hide her tears this time as she rested her lower back in the sink crossing her arms over her chest. “I just…”

“Oddie, baby. What’s wrong?”

“Am I really worth that name? I mean… what if I don’t deserve it? Even though he and all of us know I’m only his aunt, he keeps calling me that… name.” She looked down embarrassed biting her lips.

“Odette,” Liam stood up standing before her holding her shoulders. “Look at me, baby.”

“Dad… I’m not good enough to be his mother figure, less be worth being called such beautiful name.” Tears kept running down her rosy cheeks breaking her father’s heart, he took a deep breath trying to find the right words to tell her.

“My love… you were the first woman to hold that baby with pure love and adoration when he wasn’t wanted by his mother, you took him and placed him directly into your heart. You thought him how to walk, talk and read. You’ve been with him since the very beginning and he knows it, so what if he wants to call you his mother? Who says you aren’t?”

“One day, Oliver will find a good woman to marry, someone more qualified to be his mother and I’ll go back to being just… just his aunt. And I’ll be left alone again, I know it’s selfish but… I don’t want to lose them to anyone nor anything, especially not Gabe.”

 “Odette, you’ll lose no one, my love. Oliver leaved his newborn son under your care when you were a child and believe me you’ve done a wonderful job with him and Oliver loves and respects you for it as well as I do.” He kissed her head smiling, she looked terrified, just thinking of losing her boys killed her insides. “We all love you, baby. You’ve amazing friends, a good job and a way more than marvelous family who are never leaving you. And we all know that the last person to leave you, will be that child.”

“Thank you, daddy.” She hugged him laying her head on his chest feeling protected as she did when she was a child. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too, kid. Remember, you’re not alone.”

“Hey! That’s my place to be, you already enjoyed her longer than I have, so now it’s my turn.” Gabriel exclaimed standing by the kitchen door with ruffled wet hair, he ran to the side of Oddie to hug her smiling wide at her, both adults laughed hugging him in the middle on them. “That’s better.”

“Dork,” Oddie kissed his forehead smiling. “Look at that crazy hair, why didn’t you brush it?”

“My sixth sense told me that you needed me, so I came running to your aid as soon as I finished changing.”

“What are you? Spiderman?”

“No, because you don’t like spiders. So I’m Wolverine because he’s Canadian as me.”

“Sure thing wild cat, go get ready.” He hugged her one more time before running off to finish what he had started. “I’ll go shower and dress myself, you can do whatever you want in the meantime, daddy.”

She smiled at her father who just nodded turning off the kitchen’s TV and going to the living room to watch it over there with Luca who had come down the stairs to sit in the sofa.

The morning went by with the family hanging out in the living room playing cards and other board games. Liam had felt so lonely since his wife died that Oddie, Gabriel, Luca and Oliver were everything he had left, so he loved having them over at his house or him coming to Oddie’s.

When the clock hit two in the afternoon and they got ready to go their own separate ways.

“Alright buddy, wear your coat the weather is nice but it’s starting to get chillier,” Oddie held Gabe’s coat helping him putting it on. “You too, old man.”

“I’m only 50, give me a break,” he mused as he put on his coat as well, Gabriel grabbed Luca’s leash attaching it to his collar. “You ready, pumpkin?”

“You know, I’m used to have Oddie calling me that,” he calmly answers looking at him. “It feels weird when someone else does it, like less sweet.”

“Shut up and get out already, we’ll walk all the way to the lake.” He felt his eye twitch, Oddie raised an eyebrow.

‘So she got that tick from her father.’

“Awesome, you’ll have a good day today bud.” He tells Luca who barks excited as Oddie closes the front door and walks to them to kiss their cheeks.

“Alright, guys.” She beams petting Luca’s head, “I’ll be on my way to the grumpy man, call me if you need anything.”

“Can I spend the night, darling?” Liam asks nicely only to receive a slap in the head as an immediate answer. “I should’ve known better than to ask the obvious.”

“You are my dad; you can stay in my house whenever you want to. You even have your own room, old man.” She scowls at him irritated. “By the way, I’m taking your truck.”

“Sure darling, here you go.” Liam tossed his keys her way, catching them in the air she walked to the vehicle. She was about to take a hold of the door, but Gabriel had been faster opening it for her.

 “Oh boy, such a gentleman.”

“A queen raised me,” he could see her eyes getting a little watery, grinning in victory.

Oddie gulped trying to compose herself, that was the sweetest thing he had told her so far and he loved getting reactions like that from her.

“Ok, enough before you make me crush you in a hug.” She smiled getting inside the truck allowing him to close the door for her. “Be safe, boys.”

“You too, Oddie.” They both smiled, and Luca barked as she took off down the street.

“Well, let’s go kids.” Liam walked beside Gabriel putting one arm around his small shoulders smiling widely at him.

…

“Hi, how late am I?” Oddie greeted the receptionist of Little Cottage, the woman giggled amused.

“Actually, you’re ten minutes early.” She checked the schedule of Mr. Cloutier before looking back at her, “he’s in the library, he enjoys reading old books in a corner in the very back of the room, there you’ll find him seating besides a big window.”

“Thank you,” making her way to the library, Oddie greeted the seniors she saw on her way; when she arrived she greeted the librarian who appeared to have a very bad day as she was only giving nasty looks to everyone who got close.

Oddie avoided crossing ways with the woman, quickening her pace to the corner where indeed, she found her grumpy companion reading a book by the window with his glasses on his nose. She sat down next to him in silence enjoying the view the window provided. 

“Is it already time for you to be here and annoy my already annoying life?” He exclaimed changing the page.

“Today we start the companionship so yeah, I’ll be giving you a hell of a time for the next couple of months.” She looked at the cover of the book and smiled at herself. “You have nice taste in literature, nowadays everyone only cares to read for trend not for the passion towards books.”

 “Now you’re gonna tell me that you know about good literature?” He scowled at her removing his glasses, smiling to the outside she answered him closing her eyes.

“For rarely are sons similar to their fathers: most are worse, and a few are better than their fathers.” Henry looked at her with softer eyes shifting them back to the page he was currently reading, that was a quote from what he was reading; she looked at him at last with a smile on her face. “The Odyssey by Homer, grandma gave me that book on my 11th birthday; that was my 20th book.”

“At such a young age you already knew about good books.” He mumbled trying not to sound too interested, but she lived with an almost 9-year-old, so she was hard to fool.

“Most would think that a kid that age would be playing with dolls and stuff like that, but I was more entertained by old stories and myths and when I wasn’t engulfed in a story, I was outside skating in the lake.”

“Rather an odd girl you were.”

“Who said I’m not odd anymore? Look at me, I’m not even thirty and I’m already spending time with an old man who is the human representation of grumpiness,” the annoyed look returned to his face.

“Representation of grumpiness?”

“My friend’s words, not mine.”

“I’m not even gonna say a thing about it,” he put on his glasses and kept reading in silence.

They stayed the same for at least one hour, Henry reading his book and Oddie staring outside with a small smile on her face, she was remembering many things and thinking about how the last 9 years have changed her life.

She knew that Henry was not going to open with her any time soon, but she was willing to wait for him, she was not going to push him to do something he didn’t felt like doing.

Oddie’s grandmother continually told her that she was to always respect other people’s hearts and minds, that some of them would be worth waiting for and she’d be surprised by the stories and learnings they might have to share.

…

Weeks passed, and it was almost Gabriel’s birthday; Henry was getting a little more open with her, at least he addressed her and wished her to have a ‘not so crappy day at work’ which was the closest thing to ‘have a nice day at work’ she was going to get from him.

Oddie sat on the grass the courtyard of the nursery with a sketchbook on top of her crossed legs while Henry ate an apple, Gabriel had wanted to stay home to play with Elliot and Luca having both Nikko as a babysitter. Both kids had become the best friends in a mere couple of weeks, which brought a smile to Sally and Oddie, considering Elliot had such a hard life back at home.

“I didn’t know you could sketch,” Henry mentioned casually biting on his juicy fruit not even looking at her, she smiled at her sketchbook one last time before closing it and resting her back on the edge of the bench right next to the grumpy man, he inquisitively glanced her way. “Guess that’s why you are a designer.”

“Dad thought me how to draw, he’s better at it than I am, though.” They both were silent after that for a few minutes, but then Henry did the unthinkable.

“I have a son who studied arts in Germany,” he mumbled staring directly at his hands, Oddie grinned closing her eyes listening to every word he said. “He loved drawing birds, he said they were fascinating creatures and their flight was just perfect in many ways. ‘The colors, dad. Such beauty can only be found in nature.’ he said; he was so passionate about them and he projected that in his drawings, the colors and the texture he gave them made the bird look so real that it could fool the eye of a genius.” Henry took a deep breath before continuing. “His name’s Eli, he must be 29-years-old by now.”

His blue eyes looked watery holding back tears that had wanted to be free many years ago, but kept them in closing his eyes taking a deep breath.

“He has a beautiful 5-year-old girl named Vanessa and a 2-year-old boy who’s name I don’t know yet; I don’t know them at all, not even by picture. I have 4 children, 3 boys and 1 girl and they all have children of their own.” It had been years since he talked about them, he couldn’t even remember their voices.

“I was going to get married 5 years ago,” she started catching his attention, he thought she was married already as she was indeed a beautiful woman and those dorky looking glasses made her look so innocent yet unique. “My wedding dress was so beautiful and I was so happy that my family and friends were there, even Gabriel looked more handsome than half the man in that church in his cute tuxedo.”

She could feel the tears starting to roll down her face shamelessly and Henry was quick to see them before she wiped them away, but he kept quiet listening sensibly.

“Before getting ready to walk down the aisle with my father, I went back to the small room where my grandmother was getting me ready for the event, I had forgotten my bouquet there; I heard some voices coming from the bathroom next door and heard a conversation I wasn’t supposed to hear.”

“You don’t have to keep going.”

“Some people come in your life as blessings.” She spoke again looking at her left hand’s ring finger naked with no ring to bear.

“Some come in your life as lessons.” He finished the quote feeling a small smile draw itself over his lips. “Mother Teresa said that.”

“She was right about that, he gave me a lesson that I had to learn the hard way,” she stood up cleaning her pants before looking at him with a bright smile. “Never believe in someone who exclaims eternal love to you, when they don’t even know who their hearts belong to, anyone can say the word but not everyone can truly feel it.”

She ripped off a page from her sketchbook and folded it before leaving it in the bench next to Henry.

“That’s something not everyone understands.”

“True that,” she lay a hand on his shoulder softly letting him know she was leaving.

“Gabriel’s birthday is this weekend, if you wish to join us you’re more than welcome.” She let go grabbing her backpack bag and walking to the inside of the building.

“I don’t know where you live, woman.” He spoke a little loud to be heard, she turned around with a playful grin.

“Are you sure?”

And just like that she left to go home to her family, he looked back at the folded page beside him before grabbing it with his fruitless hand and opened it feeling warm in his chest.

It was a portrait of himself sitting in the bench with a tree slightly behind him and his apple on his lips, it was so perfect it looked almost like a printed photo, he saw a small letter at the bottom along with directions to a house, he scoffed amused.

Human representation of grumpiness, oak trees are old and strong enough to know how to endure a kid’s birthday party.

Don’t be late.

Odette Beaulieu.