they could come for dinner. I wonder if
Mike remembers that. Maybe I’ll e-mail him a little later and ask
him.”
“But he did take two hours to clean his
plate,” I reminded Jenny. “And there was a lot of eye-rolling and
coughing, too. I always wondered how much he actually ate, and how
much he snuck under the table to feed Tuppence. She was such a
great dog.”
By now I was in a much better mood. I guess
living in the past makes me feel better.
I briefly wondered if I could use the same
technique on My Beloved. What if I phoned some of our friends and
took a poll about the merits of moving into an active adult
community? Nah. This time, I was afraid to take the chance, unless
I knew I could stack the deck and win.
“Need any help cleaning up?” Jim asked.
“Not tonight, Dad. I can do it. Mom and I
need to catch up. I could tell she wasn’t listening to me at
supper. And you know how she hates to miss anything,” said our
daughter.
“Guilty as charged,” I admitted. “On both
counts. I promise I’ll hang on your every word, sweetie. I’ll
scrape and rinse and you load the dishwasher.”
Jim grabbed the evening paper and shambled
off toward the family room, Lucy and Ethel at his heels.
This is nice, I thought to myself, as Jenny
and I worked companionably for a few minutes.
But Jenny wasn’t saying anything.
I was immediately apprehensive. Call it
mother’s intuition, but I had a feeling that what she wanted to
talk to me about was more important than just catching me up on
school stuff.
“Um, Mom,” she finally said. “I wanted to
tell you this first, before I told Dad. I found a condo to rent
today. It’s in the same complex as Mark’s. I’m moving out of the
house at the end of the month.”
Chapter 3
If we can put a man on the moon,
why can’t we teach him to pick up his
socks?
Whoa. Talk about surprises. I wondered if
there was going to be a full moon tonight. What was it with my
family and moving all of a sudden?
Fortunately, I was facing the sink when
Jenny made her big announcement, so I had a chance to compose
myself before I responded. I was never any good at hiding my
feelings when I was a child, and since I’ve gotten older, that’s
one of the few things about me that hasn’t changed. I knew she was
hoping for a positive response from me. I channeled the fantasy
that what Jenny had really said was, “Mom, Mark and I are getting
married,” and reacted accordingly by putting a big grin on my face
and hugging her. I hoped she didn’t see that my eyes were brimming
with tears.
“Oh, honey, that’s wonderful,” I lied. “I
can’t wait to see it. Is it a studio, or a one-bedroom? You know,
when Dad and I were first married, we had a studio apartment in New
York that was so small that Dad could literally stand in the middle
of the room and reach out with his arms and touch both walls. No
kidding.”
Jenny eyed me critically. She knew me too
well and didn’t believe my enthusiasm for a single minute.
“I know this is a shock for you, Mom. And it
will take you some time to get used to the idea. That’s why I
wanted to tell you first, before I told Dad.”
“Don’t be silly, honey. You know how much we
like Mark. And I’ve tried very hard not to interfere in your
relationship.” Well, I had. If I hadn’t succeeded, I’d done my
best.
Honest.
“But having you home for a while has been
great. I confess I got used to having you here. I don’t mean to be
selfish, but I am. I can’t help it. At heart, I’m just a selfish
only child.”
Jenny laughed. “No need to be so hard on
yourself, Mom.” She gave me a kiss on the cheek. “I know you and
Dad like Mark, despite the rocky way our relationship began. But
this doesn’t mean we’re moving in together. I made that mistake
with Jeff, and look how badly that turned out.
“Mark and I don’t want to rush into
anything. He’s been burned, too, remember? Worse than I’ve been,
actually. His
Jeremy Robinson, David McAfee