Her eyes glisten, tears poised, waiting for her command to fall.
If there’s one thing I hate more than the aforementioned things, it’s a crying woman.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
With a deep inhale, I swallow my protest and say, “I’ll be there.”
Her face brightens, like she wasn’t just on the verge of tears a split second ago. This woman really missed her calling as an actress. “You will?”
“Sure.” Maybe it won’t be so bad to hang out with my aunts and uncles and many cousins, assuming they don’t ask any probing questions. My grandparents are getting up there in age as well. By up there, I mean they’re in their late sixties. The joys of being part of a family where everyone is married with children well before they hit twenty.
Almost everyone.
Maybe I could convince my girlfriend to come along.
That still feels so weird to say after all this time.Girlfriend. To be honest, the term sounds childish when Loren is so much more. But calling her “my obsession” makes me sound like I need to be institutionalized, “my lover” makes it sound like we’re in the midst of an illicit affair, and “my everything” would make her turn tail and run right back to Maryland.
So she’s my girlfriend, and as such, she should be by my side when I face the firing squad. Who knows, maybe my family will be so focused on her that they won’t even notice me.
When I get back home, I find mygirlfriendon the couch, surrounded by blankets and with that box of too-sweet cereal she loves so much and a bowl of milk that has turned green from the dehydrated marshmallows sitting on the coffee table.
She smiles up at me, pausing the TV and tossing the remote next to her discarded spoon. “How’s your mom?”
“Same as every other time I see her.” I drop my keys into the bowl and remove my shoes, setting them beside the pair of heels Loren wore the other night. The heels and nothing else.
The memory makes my dick swell. But there will be plenty of time for that later. First: “We need to talk.”
Loren throws her hands up to her face, hiding behind her palms. “It’s the new shower curtain, isn’t it? I knew you’d hate it. I’m sorry. I’ll take it down right now.”
The neon yellow curtain she bought two days ago makes me feel like I’m showering inside a lemon, but it’s sunny and bright like Loren, so how can I complain? “It’s not the shower curtain.”
She peers at me between her fingers the same way she does at the stressful parts in movies. “Is it the coasters? I can never find one when I need it.”
That’s because she keeps putting them “away” when she cleans up, only she never puts them in the same place twice.
It’s fine, though. That coffee table is as old as the hills, so I don’t care if her bowls of milk leave stains. I’ve been meaning to get a new one anyway.
I gather her pile of blankets and slide beneath them. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have started the conversation like that. This isn’t bad news.” Unless she has no desire to meet my family. Then we need to have a whole different conversation. “At least I don’t think it is.”
“Tell me before I die.”
Always so dramatic. My mom is going to love her. “My family reunion is next weekend, and I was wondering if you’d be my date.”
She gasps softly. “You want me to meet your family?”
Oh shit. Are those tears in her eyes? Did I move too fast?
Dammit. I moved too fast. I catch her hands so she doesn’t go back to hiding again, holding them between mine. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I know we’ve only been dating for a few weeks.”
Her curls tumble over her shoulders when she shakes her head. “I want to. I really, really want to.”
“Really?” When she nods, some of the tightness in my chest eases. “I have to warn you, they’re…a lot. If my mom corners you, she’ll probably grill you about our relationship and may or may not cry when she finds out we’re living together.” On second thought… “Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”
“I’ll be fine.”
She doesn’t know what she’s in for. But I do. Just in case, I’ll ask August to stick close. He’ll be more than happy for a reason to avoid his own mother.
I haven’t been to a reunion in four years, so I already know I won’t be as lucky.
