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"Mom? Do you want to go first?"
The server nearly drops her notepad, but she manages to keep it together long enough to write down all our orders and collect our menus. More drinks all around, especially for Mom.
Alyssa turns to me, squeezing my hand tighter. "You think she'll freak if I offer to leave tickets and a signed playbill at will call?"
"She might faint."
Alyssa smiles. "I'm going to say she's barely eighteen. God damn, I would have been just as excited to see... whoever the me equivalent is."
Barbara clears her throat. "I hope that young lady is in school."
Alyssa doesn't reply. I guess she knows better.
"She has a long time to figure out what she wants," I say. I run my fingers over Alyssa's hand to feel for her engagement ring. It's there. More of that weight lifts off my chest. Everything will be okay, even if this reunion turns into a nightmare.
"Well, I hope she's using contraception."
"Mom!"
"She's not going to figure out what she wants if she gets knocked up."
Alyssa turns her attention to her napkin.
"You should warn her," I say. "In case she doesn't realize the dangers of unprotected sex."
Alyssa stifles a laugh and squeezes my hand tighter.
The silence lasts until our server returns with drinks. Thank God. They could not be here soon enough.
I raise my drink to offer a toast. "To reunions."
They repeat it weakly, and we take long sips of our respective drinks. I wink at Alyssa as I slip my lips around the straw.
She shakes her head. Apparently my charms are not working.
I lean towards her, much closer than is socially acceptable in a nice place like this. And I press my lip
s against hers, soaking in the taste of her lips, her chapstick, her tequila.
"I missed you," I whisper so softly that only she can hear it.
She nods, a look in her eyes that says she missed me too. "I'm going to kill you for this." It's a whisper, even softer than mine.
"I'll let you two catch up."
The bathroom is around a nearby corner and down a long hallway. Damn wine went straight through me. I check my phone. Sometimes, in these kinds of circumstance, Alyssa will send a stealth text. "Get me the hell out of here" or "I'm faking an emergency in twenty minutes."
Today, there's nothing. I roll my shoulders back. This is a good thing.
I'm in the hallway, about to round the corner, when I hear Alyssa.
"Mom, you're being ridiculous."
"What did you think that boy was after? He was so sweet to you--always driving you home, taking you to dances. Didn't he buy your dresses?"
"Because his family has money and ours doesn't."
"You knew he was in love with you," Barbara says.
