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“Does that mean you don’t have a curfew?” I joke.
“Seems so.”
“Interesting.”
“Isn’t it?”
I mix the cheese and pasta together, scoop healthy portions into bowls, and place the hot dogs, buns, ketchup, and mustard on the counter along with plates, napkins, and silverware.
“Looks amazing.”
“Trust me. It is. It’s one of the few things Mom admits I make better than her.”
“So humble.”
My grin is shameless. “Sometimes I am.”
We dig in and her moan with the first bite has me thinking a little too much about the fact that she doesn’t need to be home tonight.
“This is incredible.”
“I know.”
She laughs, covering her mouth. “You’re something else, you know that?”
“I do. I’m a lot, I know that. I have my moments where I might come across as cocky but I don’t try to be. I’m confident and for the most part, I always have been. If it bothers you, I can tone it down.”
“Don’t change who you are for me. It doesn’t bother me and you don’t come across as full of yourself. I wish I had your self-confidence, though. Too often I second-guess who I am and need to work on that.”
“From what you’ve told me, you didn’t necessarily have people in your life to help build that up.”
She thinks for a moment, continuing to eat and dressing her hot dog the way she likes. “Growing up, my confidence was always superficial. Like in how I dressed or how my makeup looked that day. I went to a private school, you know, and it was full of rich kids. Everyone was pretty full of themselves but I look back and wonder if it was all fake confidence.”
I shrug. “It’s possible. I’m sure some of the kids had it but if they were challenged in a way that is more real, like the rest of us live, they might have crumbled.”
“Maybe. It’s weird, looking back now, though. We thought we had it all figured out and had the world at our fingertips.”
“That’s not so different from when I was a teenager, though. I was pretty sure I knew everything and life was easy. I had no idea my parents were actually smart and knew shit about life.” I chuckle.
“Gah. That’s so true. Sometimes Brooklyn looks at me like I’m the biggest idiot on the planet when I give her advice.”
“Haha, yup, sounds about right. She’ll learn. We all did. It just took a few of life’s lessons to kick us in the teeth before we realized it.”
“Yeah,” she says quietly.
I reach over and place a hand on her thigh. “I think you’re doing great with her.”
“Moving from Chicago was hard. It was all she knew.”
“But she’s happy here, right?”
She nods. “Very. Trotter and I tried very hard not to spoil her, even though we had the means to, and still don’t. We didn’t want her growing up with the rich kid mentality we were surrounded with. That we both had at one time. It took longer for Trotter than me, as you know, but it still burns that we used to think we were better than others just because our parents had money. That rules didn’t apply to us and we could get by with stuff just because our parents had deep pockets.”
I give her thigh a squeeze. “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t see it in any of you.”
She places her hand on mine and her fingers flex against mine. “That means a lot. Thank you.”
We finish eating and she helps clean up, even though I tell her I’ve got it covered.
