My mother is one of a kind. Some things that she rationalizes make little sense, but that’s one thing that makes her different from her twin, Aunt Lorraine. They may look identical and finish each other’s sentences, but in many ways they are very different.
After we put in our orders with the server–who gives us the side eye for wiping down a table she’s already cleaned–the inquisition begins. I haven’t had a chance to talk to my mom in person since the news bite broke about me and Jason, and naturally she has questions.
“I’ve been waiting to see you in person to talk about what’s going on in your personal life. Both sides of the family are talking about it and have called me for information. They wanted to know what it’s like to meet a superstar such as this Jett person, and of course I had to tell them I knew nothing about him. It was embarrassing to say the least, sweetie.”
“Imagine my embarrassment,” I mutter under my breath.
“I suppose I shouldn’t be too shocked that I haven’t met him yet. My daughter likes to keep her men far away from her family.”
“That’s not true,” I protest.
“It took you three months to introduce me to Troy.”
“It took me three months to introduce you two because it was like pulling teeth to get him to agree to it. He was supposedly so busy with this or that, but the truth is he never felt that meeting my family was a priority. He just didn’t care.”
“But we met him several times. He was so nice.”
“Yes, but it took a lot of strong arming for us to get to that point. He was polite because he knows how to work a room, not necessarily because he genuinely liked you all.”
“Oh.” My mother looks visibly disappointed.
“I’m sorry, Mom, but Troy deceived me in the worst way. He was not who he claimed to be. Without getting into the gory details, he cheated and lied and I would never want to resume a relationship with him in this life or the next.”
“Well agreed. It’s over. I didn’t realize how strongly you felt about the breakup. I thought it was just a lover’s spat.”
“I realize that and I should have explained earlier, but it was just still so raw.”
The server brings our food in record time. Mom ordered her usual western omelet and coffee, and I ordered a short stack with sausage links.
“You ordered sausage?”
“I missed the little stinkers,” I say comically.
“I see,” she responds as she watches me take a bite with great enthusiasm. “Welcome back to the dark side.”
We both chuckle out loud and it feels good to laugh again.
“So when am I going to meet this hot shot quarterback you’re dating now?”
The laughs abruptly end.
“You’re not.”
“And why not?”
“He came in my life unexpectedly. In fact, I met him the night I broke up with Troy. It probably wasn’t the greatest time to meet someone, and my guard was down. I didn’t know who he was when we met, and he conveniently decided not to tell me.”
My mother pensively chews a bite of her eggs and then speaks again.
“I imagine that his life is quite difficult.”
“Really, Mom? He’s rich, he’s famous, and he’s good looking. I think his life is a cakewalk.”
“Many people think your life has been easy too, but no one really understands the hours of hard work you have put into graduating high school early, finishing college in four years with all those hard science classes you had, and don’t even get me started on medical school. People do not know the sacrifice it takes to achieve a goal like that. They think, oh that Adrienne girl is super smart. Things are easy for her.”
She may have a point, but so what.
“And before you go judging him harshly, your aunt told me he hasn’t been having an easy time of it here in New York.”
