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“I felt the need to have Elsa here to protect me from you.”
Her head moved like she’d been slapped.
“I like Greek food, Mom, and I like this restaurant. But it’s not my favorite and I love birthday cake, so it wasn’t a treat and didn’t make me feel special that you had them bring out a slice of baklava with a candle in it. We went somewhere you wanted to go, and I ate what you liked on my birthday.”
“Oh, for God’s sakes,” she groused. “Do I now have to sit here and listen to all the ways I was a shit mother?”
“We actually don’t have enough time to do that. We need to be in Arizona by this evening.”
She stared at him, her face slack.
And yeah, that was over the line.
Hale reeled it in.
“I think maybe we need to come to terms with the fact we don’t get along,” Hale decided. “If you need anything, I want you to know, all you have to do is reach out to me, I’ll be there. But I think we’d both be happier if we weren’t trying to navigate who we’re supposed to be to each other.”
With that, he pulled out his wallet to get some cash to pay for the drinks they wouldn’t drink, and his mother’s lunch, if she stayed to order.
Sam reached a hand toward him on the table and said, “Don’t do that.”
“I don’t think you’re enjoying this, and I’m not enjoying this, so I think we should cut our losses here.”
“Is this meant to be enjoyed?” she asked as the server showed and set down their drinks.
“Are you ready to order?” the server inquired.
“We’ll start with the saganaki and fried calamari,” Hale ordered his mother’s favorites to make a point.
The server read the vibe and replied, “I’ll get those started and come back for the entrees.”
He took off.
“You have to understand, Hale,” Sam began, “my husband told me he slept with his best friend so I’d divorce him only for me to find out years later that he actually didn’t. He told me that, which was just how badly he wanted me to divorce him. But she was my friend too, so I went those years thinking she ate at my table and pretended to like me when she slept with my husband. And she was never gone from my life, because she was deeply involved in yours.”
“That was thirty years ago, Mom.”
“I found out he lied only three years ago, Hale.”
“You certainly went for the gusto to make him pay for what he did to you, committing to it for decades, and using me to do it too,” Hale retorted.
She lifted both hands up in a don’t shoot gesture, pressing them his way. “Okay, okay. I leaned too far into that.”
Hale didn’t know how to respond.
Elsa waded in.
“Perhaps you two should share what you want from your relationship.” She didn’t hesitate to turn it right to his mother. “Samantha, you start.”
Sam looked apprehensive before she noted to Hale, “You’re my son.”
Hale didn’t know how to respond to that either.
“I think he needs more,” Elsa remarked drily.
“I love you,” she whispered. “Of course I love you. Do you doubt that?”
When Hale shifted uneasily in his chair, Elsa spoke again.
