Dinner is a quiet affair. Audrey’s tired. Mom’s got glassy eyes, which means she’s got her mind wrapped around her manuscript. And I’m deep-down miserable now that all the ways I miss my brother have been dredged up and splayed out.
I’m picking apart an egg roll when Mom pipes up. “Iris stopped by today,” she says in a singsong tone that implores,Ask me why.
“Why?” I oblige, swallowing a sigh.
“To bring more hydrangeas. And… Her grandson was with her.”
Audrey’s face lights up. “She came by Camembert with him last night. They had dinner together. He’s right around your age, Elise, and he’s cute.”
“Very cute,” my mom says discerningly.
I raise a reproachful eyebrow. “Mom. Don’t be creepy. I met him this morning. His name’s Ryan, he’s a year older than me, and he lives in Texas, so a relationship, unfortunately, isn’t in the cards.”
“Who needs a relationship?” Audrey says. “You guys can have”—she clears her throat theatrically—“fun.All-summer-long, no-strings-attached fun. But be safe. Nobody wants you to have this guy’s baby.”
My mom blanches, though I’m not sure why; when Audrey and Nick were my age, they had a lot of—ahem—fun, mostly behind his locked bedroom door, and they weren’t very quiet about it, either. Maybe this is one of those instances that’sdifferent with daughters, an expression I’ve heard an annoying number of times in my seventeen years.
Mom reaches over to squeeze my hand, shooting a glower in Audrey’s direction. “I think it’d be wonderful for you to get to know him, Lissy. Iris and her garden probably aren’t his idea of a dream summer vacation.”
The sigh I tried to suppress earlier works its way out. “I already told him I’d show him around,” I say, meaning to end the conversation. But Mom and Audrey jump on this tidbit like Bambi on a Milk Bone.
“A new friend!” Mom says.
“A match made in heaven!” Aud says.
“Oh my God,” I say.
“Dessert?” Janie says.
“Dessert’s a good idea.” I grab for the bag of fortune cookies in the middle of the table and pass them around, glad to be done with talk of Ryan. Poor guy—he’d probably be mortified to know he’s the topic of conversation around the Parker dinner table.
Audrey cracks open her cookie and reads from its skinny slip of white paper. “‘You will conquer obstacles to find success.’” She snorts, throwing her hair over her shoulder. “Obstacles… That’s an understatement. Jocelyn, what’s yours say?”
Mom pulls her reading glasses from the nest of her hair, perching them on her nose. “‘You have a deep interest in all that is artistic.’”
“Nana is a writer,” Janie says. “Isn’t that like being artistic?”
“Yep,” I say. “It’s the perfect fortune for her.”
“Read mine, Auntie,” Janie says, pushing her slip of paper into my hand.
I clear my throat. “‘Everyone agrees. You are the best.’ Aww, that’s a fact, girlie.”
“A statement of truth,” Audrey says, smiling. “Okay, Lissy, you’re up.”
I pluck my fortune from the crumbles of my cookie and read: “‘A very attractive stranger has a message for you.’”
I should’ve read it to myself first—I should haveonlyread it to myself because, God…
Really?
“A very attractive stranger,” Audrey says gleefully. “Iris’s grandson! I wonder what his message could be?”
Conversation continues, mostly about Ryan and howvery attractivehe is, which is so silly. None of us knows anything about him. And truthfully, he couldn’t be further from my thoughts.
The moment I read my fortune—attractive, stranger, message—I thought of Mati.
elise
