Pulling the carton of eggs and a package of bacon out of the fridge, I turn the stove on to start cooking.
The bacon sizzles causing a rumble from my stomach. It’s already been a morning and I need sustenance.
“Tell me how he proposed,” I hear Mom ask.
I drop the egg that I’m flipping midair. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. This was not something the two of us discussed. Of course my mother would ask that.
Maybe if I focus on the pan in front of me, they won’t notice that I’m there.
“Well, Mrs. Paddack?—”
“Oh no, call me Kathleen. You’re my daughter now. Please.”
“Okay, Kathleen. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, really. We didn’t plan it, but Declan looked at me and told me how much he loved me, and has since the first day we met.”
“What a romantic,” Mom croons.
“Declan is a hard man to say no to, so when he said he wanted to get married, I said yes. I didn’t even have to think about it. Even though he did say he wished you were there.”
I peek over my shoulder to see Alice sipping her coffee. She looks my way and winks at me. What a fucking angel my best friend is.
“Oh, I should have known. My sweet boy.”
“You know I wanted you there, but it was so fast,” I tell them, turning around with the messiest plate of eggs ever in hand.
Mom waves me off like it’s no big deal now. “Well, I’m happy I finally have a daughter with all these men around. We’ll have to go out and celebrate tonight.”
“Where are you staying?” I ask them.
Whatever goodwill Alice earned me is gone. The striking glare from my mom tells me I already know the answer.
“We are staying here. Why wouldn’t we?”
“Because you always get a hotel when you come. You say it’s a treat to not have to make the bed every day.”
“And miss this time with you two? Never.”
Dad sits quietly as he always does.
They are about as opposite as it gets. Mom, whose parents came here from Ireland to work, is the most outgoing, friendly person there is. When she went to school in Kansas, she met my dad. An engineering student, he is a bookworm and never talks.Why add nonsense to a conversation if it’s not needed,he always says.
In looking at Alice, we’re the same way. Where I’m outgoing and love hanging around people, Alice keeps her circle tight. I love being in the spotlight, and Alice is the definition of a wallflower.
If she hadn’t puked all down the front of me that night in college, I don’t know if we ever would have met.
“I’ll get the guest room made up for you this afternoon.Maybe you can take a nap if you want, and I’ll get us dinner reservations for tonight. How does that sound?”
“That sounds great.”
“Declan, can I talk to you for a second?” Alice asks, nodding toward the living room. Mom and Dad are helping themselves to breakfast, so I follow her.
“What’s wrong?”
“The guest room? Is someone else staying in there?”
“Shit.” I scrub a hand over the back of my neck. “I completely forgot. No one is ever in there.”
“What are we going to do?”
