Surviving the McLane Boys ('On Hold Still...')

Chapter 23 - The Cheese and Jam

Chapter 23

“So what’s the plan?” I whisper to Seth as we sit at the top of the stairs, spying on Claire and John as they rush around the foyer, looking for last minute things before they leave.

“Ok, so we’ve told mum and dad we made reservations for them at Le fromage et la confiture, about an hour from here.” He whispers back.

I look at him sceptically, “The Cheese and Jam? There’s actually a restaurant called that?”

He shakes his, laughing to himself a little, “No it’s fake. Mom and Dad’s French is shocking so they probably won’t realise something’s up … I guess their language skills are genetic though because that was the best Tristan and Wes could come up with.” He pauses for a minute as Wes walks into the momentarily empty foyer and starts making hand signs at us. Seth waves him off, mouthing “Get them out of here!” Wes turns back just in time to hold up John’s car keys as his parents walk back in. Seth looks back to me, “We’ve given them phony directions which should leave us around 2 hours or so before they come back.”

I tuck my hair behind my ear thoughtfully, “Won’t they think something’s dodgy if they go on this random windy 2 hour drive to the middle of nowhere.”

Seth snorts, “At the moment Dad’s as dense as grandma’s homemade cheese while mom’s too excited to even think about it, so no. I’ve told them if they get lost or something to call me. If we manage to finish everything up before they call though, I’ve got some handy excuses which should get them racing back. Mainly involving Dylan and the sandwich press.”

I shake my head laughing, “Nice. What about the food then? Where’d you end up putting it?”

We duck down as John starts to mount the stairs, only to be called back by Claire who says they’re leaving right now even if John doesn’t have his watch. “All the food’s at Jake’s friend house. It’s just down the road in his fridge so one of us will need to go grab it when they leave…”

I nod my head as we watch Wes practically shove them out the door, “Have a good time!” he say to them loud and clear before the door’s shut. As soon as it is, I dash to my room, grabbing all the drycleaner bags from the closet filled with out costumes, “OK people!” I say, following Seth downstairs, “We have an epic dinner to make so let’s get started!”

Tristan and Seth start moving the furniture in the dining room to make room for tonight’s festivities, Wes drags a protesting Sam to the bathroom to make sure he takes his shower properly, bringing the table cloths that we’ll be using so he can iron them at the same time [who knew they could be so domestic?], Dylan starts to set up his camera’s and decorations, the twins disappear to find candles and sort out their special surprise which they’ve organised, Finn sits down on the kitchen counter and reads his book and Jake grabs my hand, dragging me out the door.

“I’m guessing we’re getting the food?” I ask him as we hurry down the lamp lit street, shivering against the cold.

Jake nods, quickening his pace, his hand still around mine, “Yeah, you remember Jeremy? From the supermarket? I dumped the stuff in his fridge. I texted him 10 minutes ago so he should have everything out in bags by now.”

We turn into the driveway of a nice picket fence house which eerily reminds me of the house in the psycho killer movie…

Jake raps on the door loudly and we hear someone jog over from inside. Jeremy, dressed in what I’m assuming is his normal day and night wear (sweatpants, a singlet despite the cold and thongs – I mean rubber sandals) opens the door, “Hey guys!” he says with a grin. He steps back from the door, letting us in, “The food’s thataway.”