Luis set the dirty plates in the sink and wiped his hands. He crossed to the back door and hugged them all. He kissed Hood on the lips when no one was looking and massaged the back of his neck a few times. “I'm so glad you all came. I was afraid you wouldn't.” The world was turning into an even better place to be. Luis was worried what had happened back at the Glatenfrissle compound with Matthias would make his new friends want to forget them completely. There were, indeed, moments when Luis thought about forgetting Beth Anne, Blaze, and Hood. It would have been easier to just move on and never see them again. But Luis loved people, all kinds of people. He loved his life and all the wonderful human beings that were part of it. He believed in people, even those he didn't know, and when he met people he genuinely liked he wanted to hold on to them for the rest of his life as tightly as he could. It was even better if they were like Beth Anne and they made him laugh.
Hood smiled and said, “I like you guys. You're nice people. And I figured if I didn't come tonight, I never would. You know how that goes.”
Luis released Hood. He hugged Jase and said, “Isn't this wonderful? I'm so glad they came.”
“I am, too,” Jase said.
“Take them into the dining room and introduce them to everyone,” Luis said. “I'll be right in with a few more chairs so everyone has a place to sit.” He poked Jase and lowered his voice so Hood wouldn't hear him. “Make sure you put Hood near Hillary. You never know. They might hit it off.”
Before Luis turned, Jase held him tighter and said, “You've made this the best Thanksgiving of my life. I love you so much. I'm the luckiest man in the world. I just wish my father could have been here with us this year. I've been thinking about him all day.”
Luis kissed Jase on the lips. Luis had been thinking about Barry, too. “And I love you. I couldn't have done anything without you. I like to think your father is with us, and we just can't see him.”
This made Jase smile. “I can't help feeling that way myself.” Then he closed his eyes, inhaled, and hugged Luis one more time.
After they had coffee and sampled six different pies, including wet bottom shoo-fly pie, Luis started clearing the table and Jase started telling everyone about his latest invention. Luis took his time with the dessert plates. He lingered because this was the first time he'd heard about Jase's newest invention.
“I've been working on a feature for cars,” Jase said.
“Cars?” Cory asked. He always perked up when cars were mentioned.
Jase nodded. “I've been going crazy with it, trying to get it just right so I could test it out. And last night, in bed, I had a revelation. I won't go into details about the technical aspects. But now I can finally talk about it.”
“What is it, honey?” Jase's mother asked. She'd been so quiet through dinner.
Luis stopped at the dining room doorway and waited. Jase had never seemed interested in inventing features for cars. Luis was dying to know what this new invention was. He was hoping Jase had invented some kind of device that would block cell phone use from the inside of cars. It would have warmed Luis's heart to know that all the wing nuts on the road would never be able to send a text or make a phone call again while they were driving.
“It's a feature for senior citizens,” Jase said.
Jase was at the head of the table and Isabelle was on his right. Isabelle turned and said, “This had better be good.” He tongue was pressed to her cheek, which wasn't a good sign. Jase had been suggesting it might be time for Isabelle to stop driving, for her own safety. And Isabelle hadn't been thrilled with this idea.
Jase sat back and squared his shoulders. “I've designed a feature that will put an end to senior citizens driving through windows.”
Isabelle blinked.
Luis almost dropped the dessert dishes.
“What on Earth are you talking about?” Isabelle asked. “Senior citizens don't drive through windows.” She glanced around the table. “I know I never drove through a window and I've been driving for more years than you've been on Earth.”
Cory and Gage were laughing by then, and The Reverend von Klingensmith, who was well into his seventies—but would never admit it aloud—and drove a huge Cadillac, just sat there gaping at Jase with his mouth wide open.
“Now don't get all excited,” Jase said. “Just listen first. I was watching the news one night early last September and I saw a segment where an older guy thought he hit the brake but hit the gas pedal instead. He wound up plowing right through the plate glass window of a fast food restaurant and almost killed six nuns and a priest who were eating lunch. Thankfully, there were no casualties.”
Isabelle put her hands on her hips. “Well, that could happen to anyone, sonny. It's not just senior citizens.” She didn't seem too pleased with Jase's new invention, especially the part about senior citizens.
Jase sighed. “And two nights later, I saw almost the same thing on the news when an older man mistook the gas for the brake and went right through a drugstore window. Then, at the end of that same week, I watched another news segment where and older woman hit the gas, thinking it was the brake, and wound up plowing through the back of her garage, into the neighbor's back yard, and wound up in the neighbor's kitchen—in reverse!” He reached for Isabelle's hand. “I know it could happen to anyone. I once hit the gas thinking it was the brake and knocked off someone's side mirror on Fifth Avenue. I'll admit I'm not the best driver. So I've come up with a feature for cars where if someone does mistake the gas pedal for the brake and hits it too hard, there's a sensor that will stop the car from crashing into a window or a house, or even a person. I still haven't worked out all the bugs yet. I still have a long way to go. But I'd feel comfortable knowing that the next time I'm sitting in a fast food place having lunch I don't have to worry about someone in a big silver Buick crashing into my table.”
Luis smiled and walked into the kitchen. He wasn't sure about this new invention. He preferred another invention Jase had mentioned to him: a set of standard-size dinner plates that were cut in half on purpose—split right down the middle with finished edges—so people who were watching their diets would be able to eat half portions of food instead of whole portions. Luis thought this was a wonderful idea, emotionally and psychologically. He'd buy a service for twenty-four just to be sure he had extras. And with everyone so conscious of their weight these days, Luis didn't see how an idea like this could fail. How simple it would be to stack half plates in the dishwasher instead of full-sized plates. Think of all the room people would save.