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Okay, other than his mother still cooking for him and doing his laundry, the rest sounded very… responsible. I tried to stay positive. “You two must be very close.”
“I hope that isn’t a problem. I’m an only child of a single parent, and anyone I enter into a relationship with must support the important role she plays in my life.” He gave me an apologetic look when his phone began beeping. “Sorry for the interruption. I have to text Mother to remind her to take her medicine.”
Fred typed away furiously on his phone. “Do you mind if I take a photo of you?”
“Sure. I guess.”
He snapped a photo and typed on the phone again. “Mother says she approves. You’re very pretty.”
My eyebrows flew up again. “Thanks.”
Holy moly. If this guy turned out to be a serial killer, I was going to come back as a ghost and haunt Joy forever.
Molly walked by, and Fred looked up. “We’d like some more bread and several napkins, please.”
“Of course,” she said.
When she walked away, he put down his phone and folded his hands together. “The bread here is delicious. I’ll take any uneaten buns home.”
Molly returned with another basket of bread and a handful of napkins, which Fred tore into long strips to wrap each bun. One by one, he placed the tiny, mummified figures in a neat row beside his plate.
Molly’s mouth fell open, and she and I shared a look.
This is your date?her eyes seemed to say.
First and last,I attempted to communicate with my eyebrows.
Molly shook her head as she left.
I giggled as Fred meticulously wrapped yet another bun. “You might as well order a third basket,” I teased. “You could save money by eating bread and taking your salmon home.”
Fred’s face stretched into a grin as if I’d just informed him they were giving away free plants at the end of our meal. “What a fantastic idea! Two meals for the price of one. Let me call our server over again.”
Noooo. I was kidding. Please don’t.
My protests died in my throat as he flagged Molly down and asked for two more baskets of bread and a takeout container. Without saying a word, she brought over the baskets and then our plates of food.
He carefully transferred his meal to the plastic container. “I’m so glad Joy set us up. You seem like such an understanding person. Much more so than Lisa.”
By now, an entire field of red flags danced in front of me, like cheerleaders waving their pom-poms.
“Who’s Lisa?”
“My ex-girlfriend. We broke up last week.”
Give me an R. Give me an E. Give me a B.O.U.N.D. What’s that spell?
“Lisa never accepted my relationship with my mom. I thought she did. But she didn’t.” Fred sighed as he scooped up his mashed potatoes.
Too late to jump off this moving train before it gloriously crashed and burned, I had to ask, “What happened with Lisa?”
Please don’t say that you murdered her.
“She wanted us to get married, but I didn’t know how Mother would feel about that. So I told Lisa that I’d need to talk to Mother first. That’s when she broke up with me.”
“And Lisa’s still alive and well?”
Fred gave me an odd look. “Of course she is.”
