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Burly blond men and pretty blonde women pushed us along until both Wiz and I landed in the neat looking kitchen with cheerful blue cabinets. The room was filled with a group of middle aged women all standing around the kitchen island, glasses of wine in hand as they argued loudly with each other.
“Myrna, you know that Love is Blind doesn’t actually ever work,” a blonde woman whose hair was more silver than gold said, pointing a finger at the similarly blonde woman standing across the counter from her. “Married At First Sight just works better and you know it because the therapists match them up instead.”
“Oh, come off of it, Lily, Love is Blind is infinitely more interesting to watch,” the woman—Myrna I deduced—snorted.
“Mom,” Wiz cut into the conversation and bedlam ensued again, this time as the flock of women all came in for a hug, and this time I was included.
“My gosh is she pretty, Lily, I always knew your Jason would bring home the prettiest girl. I just wish my Lennie could do the same,” Myrna crowed as she enveloped me into a tight, bosom-full hug, swinging us back and forth.
“Oh, Ma, you never like the girls I bring home!” someone, Lennie I presumed, called from the back of the group crowding in the doorway behind us.
“That’s because the last girl you brought home stole our TV, Leonard,” the woman currently suffocating me shot back.
“Aunt Myrna, you’re going to choke her to death if you keep that up,” Wiz said cheerfully, clearly enjoying my wide-eyed expression.
“Also why are you hugging her first?” Wiz’s mom asked dryly from where she was still in her son’s arms.
Myrna abruptly released me, holding up her hands in apology as she shot her sister a sheepish look. “Sorry, I just get so overwhelmed. You know me.”
“All right, everyone, if you want food tonight you all need to vacate my kitchen and leave us alone,” Wiz’s mom said, raising her voice over the chaos.
There was a pause, and then the thunderous sound of footsteps as they all left the kitchen in a hurry.
Wiz scooted in next to me again. “I told you my family was crazy,” he whispered into my ear.
I shot him a look that I hope translated to ‘I know crazy, this is beyond crazy.’
His laugh was soft before he straightened again and faced his mother. “Mom, this is Ciara Callaghan, Ciara this is my mom Lily Park-McDonald.”
Lily opened her arms, silently giving me the choice of whether or not I wanted to hug her.
Grateful for the small gesture, I leaned down to give the smaller woman a quick squeeze.
“I’m so glad to meet you, Jae-Sun has never brought someone home before, so I’ll admit that his dad and I were very curious.”
She glanced over at Wiz. “Jae-Sun, why don’t you go get your dad and leave us girls here to chat?”
Wiz looked reluctant to leave me alone, but nodded and turned to go and look for his father.
“Come, take a seat,” Lily gestured to one of the bar stools that had just been full of rowdy aunts. “Jae tells me you’re a figure skater, I’ve got to admit that I’m not very well versed on all of that even though the rest of my family screams at the television every hockey season—I did see your last Olympics performance though and may I say that it was absolutely lovely?”
Lily turned to the stove where a large pot of what smelled like spaghetti sauce was boiling. She stirred it for a moment before glancing over her shoulder at me.
“Thank you…” I began slowly, unsure of how to talk to the mother of my boyfriend. I’d spent the entirety of the morning stressing about it and it wasn’t like there was a manual for it. I’d nearly canceled on Wiz entirely, but then he’d shown up and coaxed me out of my room with promises of reward sex and after what he’d done on Friday night I was very keen on reward sex. “I’m a little bit nervous, if you can’t tell already.”
Lily grinned. “I think I’d feel the same way walking into this crazy house when the entire family is here. I thought Min-Jun’s head was going to pop right off the day I brought him home to my parents.”
She handed me a knife and a few loaves of french bread. “Cut this thin for me?”
“How did he handle it?” I asked, getting to work, just glad to have something to do with my hands while we spoke.
Lily’s laugh was bright, filling the kitchen as she rolled her eyes. “He hid. My dad is old school and threatened to shoot him with a gun that he doesn’t and has never owned. I thought poor Min-Jun was going to faint straight away.”
“I did not hide, my love,” a man’s lightly accented voice filled the kitchen and we both turned to find what looked like an older version of Wiz standing in the doorway, his son hovering just behind him with a wide grin.
“And what would you call ducking behind my mother’s gardening shed and breathing into a brown paper bag?” Lily asked, wagging her sauce covered spoon at her husband.
“I call it gathering my wits.” The man crossed the kitchen to give his wife a kiss. “Your father did ask if I intended to marry you or just ‘knock you up and leave you high and dry.’”
