“Fine, point taken,” Mel said. “I just thought you should know that he’s looking out for you, so you can relax.”
“I’mtotallyrelaxed,” I snapped back at her.
Ben, Neil, and Hailey glanced at me in unison. I ignored them.
I was the last person to join them at the table, because I’d purposely ordered a green smoothie that took longer than the rest of the menu items. When I got there, Ben was talking to someone on the phone. He and Mel gave me tight-mouthed smiles that telegraphed their stress.
“What?” I asked Mel in a quiet voice as I sat down beside her.
“He’s talking to your mom. About the home visit.”
Hailey was fully dialed in to what was happening, unlike Neil, who was downing a surprisingly green salad like it was his last meal. I wasn’t sure if she was paying close attention because Ben had hinted that there was drama with my mom, or because he was being weird during the call.
Which, talking to my mom, wasn’t that hard to do.
“Right.” He glanced at me with an apologetic look. “Of course, I totally understand that you also have a very busy schedule. But I thought we had a date nailed—”
He broke off to listen and I could just make out the contours of her voice bleeding through the phone. It was enough to make me lose my appetite.
The four of us stared at Ben as he tried to get a word in.
“No, Kimdidn’tmention your upcoming vacation. What an itinerary! First the Maldives then Italy for the Games. Take me with you!”
My mom’s laughter was loud enough to be heard over the neo-soul soundtrack in the restaurant.
“Okay,” Ben nodded. “Yup, we’re sticking to the schedule we agreed to, so I’m glad it still works for you. We’re all very excited for this part of the show.”
I moved my fork through my salad like it was an oar in the water. It was one of my old tricks, to make people think that I was actually eating.
“You want to talk to Quinn?” Ben’s face clouded over. “She’s uh...”
I gave him an imperceptible shake of the head then stood up. “I need to grab more napkins.”
“Shejustleft,” Ben said. “Should I have her call you back?”
I took my time at the utensil station, waiting until Ben’s phone was facedown on the table again.
“What did she want?” I asked when I rejoined them. “And how did she get your number?”
I couldn’t tell if the haze of tension around the table was real or just my overactive imagination. After all, my mom did a great job of performative caring, so most people had no idea why I’d left her in the dust for my comeback.
But of course, Ben knew everything. And Mel knew plenty about her, so 50 percent of the table understood that a call from Tricia was a Trojan horse.
“Kim gave her my number so we could finalize the details of the home visit. She wanted to check in to make sure we knew about their upcoming vacation, in case there was a conflict.” Ben raised an eyebrow at me.
“Okay,” I replied. “Did the schedule change?”
“Nope,” Ben replied. “Everything is set in stone, so you have nothing to worry about. Zero deviations from what we all agreed to.”
I gave him a grateful smile, because I could tell that he was trying to keep me steady. He knew firsthand how critical it was to stay sane and scheduled in the lead-up to the Games. Of course, the trip home was going to cancel out the first half of the equation, but at least I felt like I had an ally in Ben.
“That’s when again?” Hailey pulled out her phone. “We need to watch flights since the weather is getting dicey.”
“In two weeks,” Ben replied. “We’ll be flying in from Manhattan and Quinn will meet us in Hartford.”
“Aw, it’ll be a mini reunion before Italy.” She tapped out the details on her phone.
“Something like that,” I muttered.
