“Can we have French toast for lunch?” he asks.
“Oui, I can make you French toast.” My mother puts her hands together.
“No! I want the kind Abby makes,” Theo declares, and right away my eyes turn from Theo to my mother who looks like she just struck gold.
My son is a little revealer today, that’s for sure.
“I will see if Abby can send me the recipe,” I mention as Theo runs back to the living room.
My mother looks at me with a winning grin and waves a finger at me. “This is wonderful news, Lucas. I always knew. I told you that you should have tried when you were younger.”
I nearly spit out my coffee that I was trying to enjoy. “Mother, I was like what, 17 then? Slightly different now.”
“True. Very different. So, she has met Theo?”
My head wobbles side to side as I set my coffee down. “Yes, but not as my girlfriend. We’re taking it slow.”
“Good. Good approach. Is it serious between you two?” My mother is now starting her line of questioning.
I shrug my shoulders. “It’s new. I mean, we kind of need to see where this goes, right?”
Her hands clasp together. “My plan worked.”
Of course, my mother wants the credit for this. But I need to be arrogant today, because I think it was my charm and skill that got me the girl.
I correct her. “Actually, we may have already seen each other a few times before your ice play.”
My mother laughs.
After a moment, she speaks again. “She is okay with Theo? I always wondered why she and her ex-husband never had children.”
Not my place to say, but I trust her, and if I don’t say something then we will never hear the end of it if we do get serious. “They didn’t want kids. Or least she doesn’t.”
My mother’s face turns to a frown and she thinks for a few moments. “Ah… Does that bother you?”
I give her a questioning look. “Why would it?”
My mother walks around the kitchen island to be a few steps from me and takes my hand and touches my arm gently. “I really like Abby. Think it istrès magnifique. But don’t you maybe one day want more kids? Or does she really want to be part of a life with Theo?”
I understand her concern, but I don’t think of it as a big problem. I’m okay with one child, and so far, Abby has shown me that she is all in as far as Theo is concerned.
“No on both counts,” I inform her.
Her eyes squint in surprise. “You say that now. But maybe it changes.”
“I don’t know.”
“Just be careful,mon amour.”
There is now an odd pause between us.
She claps her hands together. “Oui, let me get some lunch for Theo.” She goes to scurry in the pantry to gather ingredients.
Leaving her earlier words to float in my brain, but maybe she didn’t drop the topic soon enough.
17
ABBY
