Mama waves at me wildly. “Mace! Over here, baby!”
Riley’s sitting at Mama’s feet, giving her a pedicure, and Freedom has her face buried in a magazine while Riley’s colleague, Trudy, paints Free’s fingernails.
I kiss Riley on the head as I pass her. “What’s up?”
“Nothin’ new. Wink’s still an asshole.”
Mama holds up the book she’s reading.
“Sense and Sensibility?” I nod. “Good choice.”
“This one took us forever to get through, Mace. Do you remember?”
Oh, I think so.
I was thirteen, and Daddy was gone. My reading sessions with Mama went off course when I said I preferred Eleanor, and Mama said she just loved Marianne. I kept thinking Marianne reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t quite place who. I knew it was someone irrational and romantic in a nonsensical way.
Mama was so excited to help me solve the mystery that she kept guessing different girls in my class. I said no to all of them. All I knew is it was someone that gets under my skin in the worst way and who has no thought for anyone else. With a gasp, I realized she reminded me of Mama.
Mama was so mad she stormed off and refused to let us finish the book.
We couldn’t touch it for three whole months. Of course, she wouldn’t return the book to the library either, so by the time she forgave me and begrudgingly let me convince her that Marianne’s good traits of spunkiness and passion outweighed her negative ones, we owed the Darcy Public Library over forty dollars in late fees.
But that’s what Mama got for holding a grudge against her own daughter.
I nod at Mama now. “Yes, but we finally finished it, didn’t we?”
Free grabs her hand away from Trudy impatiently. “I’m done.”
“Not yet you’re not.” Trudy takes her hand back. “Five more minutes.”
Mama twists to face me, and I admire her lipstick and mascara.
“Mama, your makeup looks great. Riles, you did a nice job.”
A hell of a lot better than Mama’s makeup usually looks.
“Didn’t she?” Mama beams.
Riley looks like she’s wondering why she invited us here in the first place. She stands up and wipes her hands. “All set, Mama! You look gorgeous.”
Mama exhales. “Mace, you take my seat, honey. I’m going to grab a coffee and be right back.”
I sit down and take off my sandals. “Will the nail polish last until Gin’s wedding?”
“Of course,” Riley says. “If it happens not to, come in again day before or something.”
Mama pauses on her way out the door. “Oh, Mace, what are you doing for your birthday this year? Anything special?”
“Just trying to get my best girlfriend down the aisle. A happy Ginny is really all I want this year.”
“You sure about that?” Riley says to me.
“Absolutely.”
Free turns to Riley once Mama’s gone. “So are you going to keep calling Wink or what? I think you need to move on from that cheating asshole. He dumped you, remember?”
Riley glares at her. “You don’t understand.”
