I wish I’d swallowed sooner. Instead, I cough on my mouthful of wine, snatching up my napkin to cover my mouth as I try to recover.
“Are you okay, Isabelle?” Sadie touches my shoulder, concerned.
“I’m fine,” I manage to choke out, then force a watery smile. “Just went down the wrong way. No big deal.”
But Willow and Lark are looking at me as if they can tell it wasn’t just my inability to swallow. I’ve gotta think fast to cover up.
“Kai and I went to college in Florida together.” I toy with the base of my wine glass, trying to choose how much more to share. In the end, I don’t want word getting back to Tony that my history with Kai is anything more than friendly. “His mom would always send ketchup chips in a care package. Naturally, I had to befriend him.” My smile comes easily as I remember the time he gave me a bag of chips from his stash, all wrapped up in ribbon. He said it was a friend-a-versary present. Except it was some random date, like seven and a half weeks after we first met.
“Maybe I’m a bad Canadian, but I can’t stand ketchup chips.” Lark shudders. “So gross. But that’s sweet you had each other.”
The conversation veers off track as Sadie tries to argue that ketchup is the superior chip flavour. I’m just happy to have the attention no longer on me and Kai’s history.
Except, as we’re all walking out of the restaurant, Willow slows down to walk beside me. “So, what was it like seeing Kai again after all those years?”
Once again, I weigh my answer carefully. I hate lying, but I respect the fact that it could complicate things if the full truth about me and Kai got out.
“It was a surprise, that’s for sure.” There. That’s not a lie.
“He’s a good guy. A little cocky, kinda flashy, but a good guy.”
I turn my head slightly to look at her and find her studying me. Dang, this woman sees everything. “He is. He always was. A good guy, I mean.”
She gives me one final nod but doesn’t say anything more as we rejoin the others and wait for our rides home. Willow and Lark are sharing an Uber, and Sadie’s fiancé is coming to get her.
Sadie leaves first, and then the two Ubers arrive at the same time. With a last round of hugs for Willow and Lark, I climb into the waiting car and settle back for the drive to Mom and Tony’s place.
When I get there and Mom is still awake, I’m not all that surprised. She’d do the same thing when I was a teenager, out with my friends.
“Hey,” I say, kicking off my shoes and putting them in the front closet.
“Hi honey, want some tea?” she asks from the couch. “I just boiled the water.”
“Sure.” I go to the kitchen and make a quick mug of chamomile tea before joining her in the living room.
“Did you have a nice time?”
I blow on the steaming surface of my mug with a small smile on my face. “I did.”
We sip our tea in the quiet for a moment or two before Mom stretches out a foot and nudges me with her toe. “I missed this. You. Me. Just hanging out.”
“Me too,” I reply quietly.
I hear her take in a deep breath and pause. She wants to ask me something, and I’m pretty sure I know what it is. Still, I wait.
“Do you think you’ll ever move back to Canada?”
I keep my gaze trained on my tea. Apparently, tonight’s the night for me to be asked all the tough questions.
“I don’t know. Honestly, I haven’t thought about it in a long time. I’m happy over there. But” — I pause, considering how to say this without giving her too much hope — “being here with you has been wonderful. Vancouver is a great city. A lot better than Edmonton, that’s for sure.”
We both smile at that. The cold northern Alberta city where I was born and where we lived for the first nine years of my life is not somewhere either one of us ever wanted to be long-term. But staying with my grandparents was necessary until Mom was able to get her life together enough for us to live on our own.
“You’re happy here. With Tony.” I don’t phrase it as a question because there’s no doubt in my mind that she is. And her answering smile is so wide, it only solidifies that fact.
“I am. Happier than I ever thought possible, to be honest. He’s so amazing, and for once, I feel like this is exactly where I’m meant to be.” She sets her tea down and shifts on the couch, taking my hand in hers. “The only other time I’ve ever felt something was so right was the day you were born. They handed you to me, I looked down at your little scrunched-up newborn face, and I knew I was meant to be your mom. When I met Tony, I felt that again. I knew I was meant to be with him.”
Her eyes are glistening with unshed tears, and I can feel my own dampening as well. Mom waited forty-four years to find love. She deserves all of this happiness, and so much more.
