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“Yes, ma’am.”
Once we’re all sitting at the table, Nana doesn’t hesitate. “In this house, we pray.”
“We do much of the same at the ranch back home.”
“Good.”
After two bowls of soup and countless stories about me, Lance and I are hard-pressed to get a word in edgewise. This doesn’t seem to bother Lance, but when Nana gets to a fun anecdote about my first period, which I suffered while in New York on my fourteenth summer, I draw the line.
“Nana!” I protest for the umpteenth time.
“Nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Still not great dining conversation.”
“Do you have any children, Lance?”
“Nana, what in the world?”
“What?” she shrugs. “Just asking.”
“He’s not married.”
“That apparently hasn’t mattered in decades. Ask him if his parents were married,” she challenges me.
“Actually,” Lance chimes in, “they were. But I can’t say there aren’t any bastards in the family.” Lance and Nana share a grin. “And no, ma’am. I’m waiting on kids.”
“For how long?”
“Till it feels right. I’m not ready to give them the attention they’ll need.”
“That’s a good reason. Most kids say age. You know what I tell them? Don’t wait until you’re in your late thirties. You might have more money then, but nothing matches the energy of your twenties. Not all of us got it wrong.” She clamps a hand on Lance’s muscular shoulder. “But if you take good care of this heavenly body you have, you’ll be fine at any age.”
I want to disappear inside the wall.
“Nana!”
“What?”
“Please eat your soup.”
Lance is full-on belly laughing.
“You are a bit of a primitive man, are you not?” Nana asks Lance.
“I am.”
She turns to me. “You’re in for a treat, Dove. Your grandfather was the same. There’s a big difference between a passive man and a primitive man, passive men are horrible in the sack.”
I’m choking now as she turns to me and rolls her eyes while pounding on my back. “I swear, you kids think you got here by immaculate conception.”
Lance sips his kosher beer, all too enthralled as I try and catch my breath. I sip water, glaring at Nana as Lance gives me a slow wink.
“I’ll keep all of this in mind, Mrs. Ancel.”
“You do that. Nothing beats a satisfied woman. It would do you good to remember that. There’s something to be said for happy wife, happy life.”
“Nana, Lance is just in town for Christmas.”
