“Sure. Sounds good,” I reply, lingering near the doorway to hear what Dad is saying to Sully. I can barely see Dad’s back, but I can’t see Sully.
Mom clicks her tongue. “Sweetie, it’s rude to eavesdrop.”
“Sorry…” I rip myself away and lean against the island with my elbows, resting my chin on my folded hands. “What do you want me to help with?”
She frowns and replaces the saucepan back on its hook. “Don’t worry about it. On second thought, I think it’s better if we order out. Your dad almost burned his eyebrows off with the BBQ and you walked in on what happened on the stove.” She laughs half-heartedly. “I should washthis frying pan before all this crap is caked on forever.” She turns on the hot water and scrapes the burnt pieces into the trash can.
“Let me do that,” I say, taking the pan from her. “Just sit down.”
She pats my arm and actually listens for once, taking a seat on a bar stool at the island. “Thanks, baby.”
As I scrub the pan, Mom clears her throat and asks, “Where did you meet Sully? He seems like a sweet boy.”
My muscles lock up in my back and I scrub the pan harder. “He is. We met at a concert.”
“That’s nice. You have the same taste in music?”
Something like that.I cough to hide my laugh.
“What does he do?”
Here we go. The grilling I always avoided by never bringing boys home. I bet Dad is laying down the law and threatening harm if something happens to me as if I’m sixteen and going on my first date.
The pan is clean, but I keep the sponge going in circles like it’s filthy. “He plays the bass guitar in a band.”
“Oh,” she sighs. One little word and the disappointment weighs heavy on my shoulders.
“He was a great help today. My friend Arthur couldn’t come to my photoshoot and Sully volunteered.”
“That’s nice, dear.” Mom stands and gathers her phone from the counter. “I should order dinner or we’ll never eat.”
Mom loves me in her own way, but how I live my life depresses her. She had big plans for me after I graduated. Honestly, I wish I skipped college and jump-started my mermaid career instead of doing gigs here and there. But that would’ve gone against Mom’s grand plan for me. She wanted me to graduate, get an office job, or something like it that’sa steady forty-hour job, then settle down, marry and maybe have a kid or two. Instead, I became a licensed scuba and free diver and grew my mermaid career from a few birthday parties to a gig at a restaurant, to more freelance gigs, and into a blossoming modeling career.
I wait until Mom is finished ordering to say anything else. I wash the pan and leave it in the dish strainer upside-down to dry.
When she sets her phone on the table and grabs a dishcloth to wipe the already clean counter, I ask, “Aren’t you going to ask me how work is?”
“Veronica…” She drops her sentence and the dishcloth in the same breath.
Dad walks in, his eyes bouncing between Mom and me. If he notices the tension, he ignores it. “Hey, Sully wants to see the Mustang I’ve been restoring so we’ll be in the garage.”
Mom doesn’t blink, just returns to making the counter shine. “Dinner will be ready in thirty minutes. Can you pick it up from Tony’s?”
“Yeah…I’ll tell him we’ll check out the Mustang later.” Dad slips out and leaves us in a quiet kitchen.
Mom turns to face me, her lips a slash across her face. “Let’s drop this, okay? I want today to be nice for all of us.”
Yes. Let’s ignore my life choices. It’s not like they matter.
I follow Mom into the living room. Dad is already gone, leaving Sully to study the family pictures on the mantel. He grabs a framed photo of the three of us at a ski lodge in Colorado about ten years ago. “I didn’t know you liked to ski.”
“She doesn’t,” Mom answers for me. “She nearly broke her leg right after that picture was taken. She spent the rest of the vacation in the lodge reading next to the fireplace.”
Sully returns the picture. “Guess you’ve always been more of a beach person, huh?” A smile tugs on the corner of his mouth.
“You have an interesting accent. Where are you from?” Mom pushes forward to move the picture Sully touched a half an inch to the left.
“Born and raised in Berlin, Germany.”
