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He gets up to help them to the table.
Slowly, his mom looks over the table. "Violet, nice to see you." She looks to Kit. "And you too, Christopher." Her gaze goes to me. "You must be Malcolm's girlfriend, Lacey." She offers her hand. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Shirley."
"You too." I shake.
No one corrects her about how I'm not Mal's girlfriend.
Slowly, she goes around the table, hugging each of her kids. Despite the pained expression on her usually bubbly face, Piper hugs back. Ethan too.
Mal hugs his mom then takes his seat.
Then his dad takes his turn welcoming us with handshakes. His name is Cameron.
Cameron pulls out Shirley's chair for her. It's kind of sweet, how the two of them are clearly in love. But then I can't say I'm inclined to like these people. They've obviously caused Mal a lot of pain.
She turns to Mal. "Sweetie, you look tired. You're too young to be so tired."
His eyes turn down, but he says nothing.
"Yes, almost like he spent the last nine years doing all the things parents do." Piper folds her arms. "How was your flight?"
"Long." Shirley's voice is low. Drawn out.
Her eyes are weary the way Mal's are. Slowly, she turns to her daughter. "You look beautiful, Piper. How is school?"
"It's August," she says. "We're not back in session for another month."
"Your transcripts were good," Shirley says.
Piper bites her tongue. "It's fine, I guess. I have to study a lot and practice a lot, but I get by."
"Mal tells me you were in a show," she says.
Piper frowns.
Violet jumps in. "She was great. She always is. You really raised a family of entertainers."
Shirley nods.
Cameron just sits there, staring at her like he's worried she's about to break.
Thankfully, the waiter saves us from the awkward silence. He drops off a round of waters and takes everyone's orders. It goes surprisingly quickly what with none of us having looked at our menus.
I can't even bring myself to tease Mal about ordering the entree of grilled fish and sautéed vegetables. That joy in his expression is gone.
And I think I know why.
I hope I'm wrong.
Mom leans back in her chair with a soft smile. She looks to Violet and Ethan. "Do you have plans for the wedding?"
Ethan's expression screams why, it's not like you're going to show up.
Violet squeezes his hand back. "We found a place, this castle in San Bernardino. We haven't set a date yet. Maybe this fall. Maybe next. Or… I guess it doesn't have to be fall as long as it's sunset and it's cooler. It gets hot in the hills in the summer."
Ethan smiles at her. "And you'll melt under twenty pounds of black satin."
She blushes. "It has nothing to do with that."
