“Very. I’m glad I’ve landed here. I feel like now I can be ready to see you and Grandpa properly. Maybe this weekend?” I decided to preempt her, try to take her by surprise, and it seemed to work.
“Oh, well… of course, if you’re able to peel away from your work long enough. I have an event tomorrow afternoon, and of course I’ll be at church Sunday morning, but you’re welcome to come by anytime outside of that. Do you want to tell me when you’ll be here so I can be ready to see my daughter for the first time in a year and a half, or are you just going to appear in my window and scare a few years off me?”
“Will Kevin and Sam be there for Sunday dinner?”
“Who is Sam?” she said, bewildered, and I froze. I’d assumed Kevin had already told her. But he had been coy about her, so… how new was this development, anyway?
“Pam,” I said, as much as it pained me. Pamela Bone was possibly the most annoying of the family friends, and the last one I wanted to insinuate I was invested in, but her name was convenient. “Will Pam be there? I, ah… I guess I don’t know if she still visits for dinners.”
“Pamela? I didn’t think you were invested in her presence.”
“She’s related to someone I used to work with…”
“Ah. I should have figured it was about work. Shall I invite her?”
I winced. “Probably it’s better to just have the family there. I’m too tired for much more than that. Will Kevin be there?”
“Yes, he will. Especially if you’re there. Is Bridget coming?”
I stopped altogether, staring at the road below the complex. That was a deeply strange question. Mother had never cared about my friends. Did she have a change of heart? Wanted to know all the people in my life?
Of course, she was probably just making fun of me for how much I’d been focusing on Bridget this past week instead of the family.
“Bridget won’t be coming,” I laughed. “Unless you want me to invite her.”
“May as well,” she said. “I understand she’s been hospitable to you, so it’s fair.”
Had… had Mother had a stroke? Or had I? Was I having a stroke right now? “Er… well, I suppose I could invite her.”
“Well, don’t make it sound like a chore.”
“Okay. I’ll… ask if she wants to come. I just don’t want to impose with too many people, is all.”
She sighed. “Do what you like, Victoria. I’ll see you on Sunday for dinner. It’ll be good to see you again. Whether Miss Bridget is there or not.”
I was still deeply confused when I hung up, and I was definitely not ready to face Bridget and decide whether to askher if she wanted to see my family, so I pulled on my coat and scarf, and I went outside, taking my car and autopiloting to the store, grabbing everything for a hearty ramen soup, and autopilot was still running strong, because I checked the mail for our unit when I got back, even though I hadn’t really cleared mail policy for the household with Bridget.
Nothing for me. But there was a package addressed simply forpeachykeen,nothing on the box marking what it might have been. I felt nervous holding it, like I was seeing something I wasn’t supposed to see, so I slid it back, locked the mailbox back, and I took the elevator up to our floor, finding Bridget fresh from a shower, her hair damp and a big smile my way.
“You went and got ingredients for dinner?” she said, her hands on her hips. “I swear, if you’re not buying me dinner, you’re buying me deconstructed dinner. What do I have to do to get you to stop giving me gifts?”
“You’ll have to restrain me,” I said, taking my shoes off at the door. “Have you considered tying me to a chair?”
She blinked, staring at me, her lips parted, before she huffed, looking away. “I feel like you’d get out of it somehow anyway.”
“I have been told I’m very persistent.” I set the groceries on the counter, and I busied myself with emptying it, uncharacteristically embarrassed as I asked, “This is random, but I don’t suppose you want to come to my family’s Sunday dinner? I’ve apparently mentioned you enough that Mother told me I could invite you.”
“Of course I’ll come,” she said, and I stopped, giving her an odd look. She frowned. “I mean, if that’s okay.”
“You don’t need to…” I set down the noodles I was holding. “Is this because you want to help keep my family from hurting me, or something?”
She folded her arms. “If you want to get me to stop doing things like that, you’ll have to tie me to a chair.”
I laughed. I’d been laughing a lot since moving in here… I don’t think I really realized how lonely I’d been, living in that one-bed apartment in Fremont where the only thing I did was commute to work. “Well, maybe later, because it would probably help for you to come along. Thank you… I really appreciate it. My family can be overbearing around the holidays.”
“Uh-huh, yeah… tying me to a chair can wait for later,” she said, busying herself with a pot of water on the stove. “I’ll be on my best behavior. And I won’t attack your family this time.”
I laughed again, and I squeezed her arm. I wasn’t sure what had compelled me to do it, but I’d moved without thinking, and the soft, surprised look she gave me that turned into a small, flushed smile felt like it said I’d done the right thing. “Unless they deserve it.”
