My body jolted at these words because I knew that voice.
It was my mom.
What was happening, and why?
Why was it happening?
Was I a vicious, brutal murderer in a past life or something?
Was this my penance for leaving a trail of despair in my wake in feudal England?
“Holy shit,” Shanti whispered.
“Oh my God,” Luna whispered.
“Yikes,” Jessie whispered.
“My goodness,” Harlow whispered.
“Hells bells,” Raye whispered.
“Mom,” I said as she and Robbie rounded Luke, Mike and Shelby and stopped, Mom beaming at me.
Robbie didn’t beam at me.
His eyes narrowed on my love bite.
Lord!
I didn’t know whether to run, vomit or cry, though I was leaning toward all three.
Mom was curvy and strawberry blonde like me. She had some white coming in, and she didn’t bother to hide it. Though, she had brown eyes, not my gray.
Robbie was like Gabe’s dad, built solid, with silver glinting in his dark-brown hair. Though, Mike was wearing an ambush-the-new-girlfriend button down and jeans, and Robbie was wearing a faded tee that shared his appreciation for the music of Iron Maiden, but I suspected there were tees in wherever Mike’s suitcase was sitting.
Mom was busy hugging, bussing all my girls and chattering, “We were missing my baby, so I said to Robbie, ‘Honey, let’s just go down and surprise her.’ He grunted. I took that as a yes. And here we are!”
Daughter’s translation: She heard I was with Gabe, so did Robbie, and they were down here, for Mom’s part, to insert the proverbial happiness thermometer to see if I was testing the limits of the mercury (I was), and for Robbie’s part, to make absolutely certain Gabe was treating me right (another translation: he was down here to threaten him about being certain to treat me right).
When Mom stopped talking, I said, “Mom, Robbie, I’d like you to meet Gabe’s family. Mike and Shelby, his parents, and Luke, his cousin.”
Mom’s eyes got big and happy, and she whirled.
“Oh my God! This is amazing!” She rushed them to shake hands with Luke and Mike and give Shelby a hug. She bopped back from Shelby. “What a coincidence!”
Yeah.
A coincidence formed in hell by the devil’s own hand.
“Can you…uh, excuse me?” I asked, then didn’t wait for answers.
I raced to the staff room, pulling out my phone.
Gabe answered on the second ring.
“Hey, baby.”
“Your mom and dad are here. And then my mom and dad showed. Here. At SC. Right now. Right now, they’re here. Right now, they’re all here. All of them, at the same time.”
