“I just don’t want to be set up with a complete stranger right now, I haven’t had the best of luck with men lately.”
“Maybe I could even invite some other people from work over too. A few people so it doesn’t look like a set-up or anything.”
“Okay, fine.” It’s a week from now. Hopefully in that time people will forget all about the Dex horror show and I could get over Nate totally.
“Great!” Julia yips into the phone, excitedly. “We’ll see you then! Nate and I can’t wait!” The call ends abruptly.
We’llsee you then?Nate and I can’t wait?She’s acting like they’re already married. Maybe I’ll rub against someone who has the flu so I’ll have an excuse to cancel at the last minute. That is actually the perfect plan.
Mom grabs my arm and gestures down to her watch. “Let’s get dinner now. There’s a new Italian restaurant I’ve been dying for your father to take me to, let’s go there.” She rushes me out of the door and literally shoves me toward the car. We must be late for her reservation because before I can fasten my seatbelt, she’s in drive.
“Are you trying to skip out on the bill or something? I have money if you need it. I can pay for this all myself—”
“Don’t be silly.” That’s her favorite saying, ever since I was a kid. “I’m just starving and I drank that wine on an empty stomach.”
I’m not going to mention the platters of finger food I watched her scarf down while I was getting pampered all day, because my stomach is currently howling right now. “What about Dad? Did you text him?”
She pulls out of the salon parking lot and waves a hand at me. “Oh, he has a fridge full of food he can eat. He doesn’t need to come with us. It’s a girls’ night.” She looks down at her watch again and sighs.
She then proceeds to drives ten miles an hour with a line of cars and trucks beeping for mercy behind her.
“Okay, why are you driving like this?”
“Like what?” She stares straight ahead through the window, pretending she doesn’t understand what I’m asking. She’s up to something and I don’t know what it is. The rushing out of the salon then the slow driving,oh she is up to something.
“You pushed me out of the salon and into the car. Drove out of there like you were on fire, then you look at your watch again and now you’re driving—” I leaned over the seat as far as the seatbelt will allow to read the speedometer. “Ten miles an hour! Do you hear all those people beeping at you?”
Her eyes flick up to the rearview mirror and roll. “Don’t be silly, Jane. This is a school zone. We should all slow down.”
Liar. There are no schools here. Not for miles. What is she up to? I sit back and watch carefully; quietly…waiting to see how this all plays out. She obviously got me up and dolled up for a reason.
When we reach the restaurant, she circles the block feigning she can’t find a parking spot. “You can’t find a spot because you haven’t pulled into their lot yet.” I narrow my eyes on her dramatically. “Are you up to something? Mom? What’s going on?”
“Nothing, nothing. It’s just 5:50.” She scrunches up her nose and picks at her steering wheel. “I feel twenty years older if I eat dinner before six.”
“Oh, just drive into the lot and find a space. I’m starving.” My stomach rumbles loudly, proving my point.
Thankfully she parks the car, but then she dawdles looking at herself in the visor’s mirror and reapplies a layer of lipstick then acts as if there’s an eyelash in her eye. I am made to blow on it until precisely six o’clock, when she abruptly shoos me out of the car and escorts me by the arm into the restaurant. Her hold is like a vice grip. “There’s going to be a bruise there tomorrow,” I say to her,
She repeats the whole ‘don’t be silly’ thing.
We walk into the dining room and immediately I understand everything. Sitting at the farthest table from the door, in a small private booth, is Adam Meyers, myex.
She drags me to the booth and throws me at him. Literally. I stumble onto his lap and he jumps to try and save me and there’s this awkward grabbing of a breast and spilling of water.
Adam and I laugh awkwardly when both of us are steady. My mother is long gone and Adam already hit second base.
“So, I’m guessing this was planned?” I ask. My face burns hot.
His smile ends with a chuckle and he shakes his head. He’s blushing too. “Our mothers seem to want to meddle in our lives.”
“I’m so sorry, Adam, really I am.”
He smiles wider. “It’s really not a bad thing, though, it is? I mean it’s good to see you and we both need to eat dinner so—” He gestures to the booth. “Come, sit down and join me.”
I slide into the booth. “You’re right, it’s not a bad thing. It’ll be good to catch up, right?”
We order wine and appetizers.
