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Really nervous.
But she’s also extremely happy.
I don’t know which is cause for more concern.
“Is that it? All this for only a meet and greet? I was sure you were going to tell us that he popped the question or something.” Daisy squints her eyes, unimpressed with the anticlimactic conversation.
“Actually, I think he might.” Mom beams, her shy smile growing ever wider.
“Holy shit,” my sister blurts out.
“Daisy!” Mom reprimands my sister on her outburst. “Please try to be on your best behavior tomorrow and refrain from cursing like a sailor. I know it’s a big ask, but please try and behave.”
“Tomorrow?!” I croak, finally adding my two cents to the conversation.
“Yes,” my mother answers, her features going soft. “Is that okay?”
Is that okay?
Do I have a choice in the matter?
But instead of saying what I’m really thinking, I fake a smile for her and nod.
“Good. I’m glad. We’ll have to leave early, though, to catch the ferry. Curt still hasn’t talked to Noah yet about this lunch, but we both feel it would be better if we met for the first time in Thatcher’s Bay instead of here on the mainland.”
“Noah?” I repeat, wanting to know who this mysterious person is.
“Curt’s son. He’s only a few months older than you, Skylar. I’m positive you two will hit it off with a bang and become the best of friends.”
But even as she says those optimistic, hopeful words with a broad grin, it never reaches her eyes.
As I connect the dots, it becomes blatantly obvious to me now that it’s Curt’s son, Noah, who they have spent endless hours talking about over the phone.
He’s not even a part of my life yet, and already my mother is more concerned how he’ll react to her relationship with his father than she is about how I feel about it. It stings, how even to my own mother, I’m always an afterthought. That I’m expected to smile and accept whatever hurdle she throws at me like the good girl she perceives me to be. I guess it all comes down to the fact that, unlike Daisy, I never cause any waves regarding anything. Not that at times I haven’t wanted to tear the whole roof off. It’s just easier to suck it up and pretend nothing affects me. I know it’s definitely easier on my mother.
“How do you girls feel about all this?” she asks, trying to gauge where we’re at, but inwardly praying that we won’t object.
Again, I stretch out my smile and grab her hand in mine.
“We’re fine with it. Aren’t we, Daisy?”
My sister takes longer to reply, because she knows it will drive our mother up the wall. It wouldn’t be Daisy if she didn’t make things more difficult than they need to be.
“Daisy?”
It’s only when her phone starts blowing up that Daisy finally reacts, jumping out of the bed with her phone already to her ear.
“Daisy! Aren’t you going to say something?” my mom calls out before my sister is able to leave the room.
“Hold on,” Daisy says to whoever is on the other line. “Yeah, Mom. We’re good. Set up the lunch or whatever. Can’t wait to meet the new guy,” she says with a wave before she struts out of the room.
My mother’s shoulders slump in defeat.
“That girl never takes anything seriously, does she?”
“It’s just Daisy being Daisy, Mom. But she’s happy for you, even if she didn’t say it,” I try to console.
“Do you really think so?” she asks, insecurity hugging her every word.
