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“Mom?” I called when I arrived, knocking lightly on the door. A beat later, she called out for me to come in, so I pushed open the door and went inside.
“Parker, you know you don’t have to knock every time you come over.” Mom was stirring something on the stove as she chided me.
“It’s just polite, Mom.” I went to her and peered into the pot she was working on. “What’s for dinner?”
Mom shooed me away, swatting at me as I tried to dip a spoon in the pot. “Go away if you’re going to be doing that. We’re having spaghetti. Actually, you can help. Why don’t you put the garlic bread in the oven and set the table? No plates, leave them here for me to fill up.”
I happily obliged and we hung out together in the kitchen while she finished cooking. Dinner was supposed to start at six thirty, and just before we were supposed to eat, Shelby and Karl showed up.
“Where are the kids and James?” Mom asked the second Shelby walked through the door.
Shelby sighed, putting her entirely too-large purse down and running her fingers through her long, dark brown waves. “The kids were acting like little terrors, so James agreed to keep them home for me tonight.” Shelby was thirty-five, the oldest of us, and had three kids and a husband. Shehad her life together,as Mom liked to point out.
“I made too much spaghetti then,” Mom said, looking into the massive stock pot where she’d mixed the noodles and sauce.
“Sorry, Mom.” Shelby kissed her on the cheek. “I can take some home. Or you can send it with Parker. He always needs someone to cook for him.”
I rolled my eyes.Here we go.Hoping to dodge the usual turn of conversation, I tried to decline. “I don’t need an extra four pounds of spaghetti in my apartment. It’s hard enough to work off the carbs as it is.”
“You don’t need to work out,” Mom said, handing me a plate loaded with spaghetti.
Karl was the youngest, twenty-seven, and despite his status as the baby of the family, he had a long-term girlfriend and it looked like he’d be “settling down” soon, as my mom liked to remind me. He came in just as I was taking the plate out of Mom’s hands, all smiles, wrapping Mom in a bear hug. Marissa, his girlfriend, was a few steps behind.
Once Karl released her, Mom handed a plate to Shelby and called out for Dad. “Len, the kids are here and dinner’s ready.”
“Is it six thirty already?” Dad asked as he walked into the kitchen. He kissed Mom on the forehead. “Thanks for dinner, honey. I’m sorry I didn’t help tonight.”
Mom shrugged. “I’d rather you take a shower and be presentable than help me cook with all that construction site grime all over you.”
Once we all had plates full of spaghetti and were seated around the table, Mom turned on me. “So, Parker, how’s work?”
“Not bad. I got assigned to a new project that I’m looking forward to.”
“That’s great,” Shelby said. “What’s the project?”
I realized my error at once. “Amante Bay.”
Mom cleared her throat. “Oh? I’ve never heard of it.”
“It’s a resort.”
“In Italy, right?” Marissa asked. “I’ve heard of it. It’s supposed to be a great honeymoon destination.”
Mom’s eyes lit up. “Honeymoon?”
I shoved a forkful of noodles into my mouth and nodded. “Mmm-hmm.”
“Speaking of honeymoons, when are you going to find someone and settle down, huh?” Mom asked. She was like a dog with a bone and I knew my night was shot.
I sighed and put my fork down before wiping my mouth. “I’m in no hurry.”
Dad spoke up then. “Yeah, he’ll find the right person eventually. Won’t you, Park?”
“Sure I will.”I’ll also win the lottery, get struck by lightning, and get bitten by a shark all in the same day.
The rest of the meal was more of the same and by the time I got home and kicked off my shoes, I was exhausted. I crawled into bed and stared mindlessly at my phone. Instead of turning to social media, I turned to Fyre, a dating app I’d used before to find hookups.
I hadn’t logged into the app in months, and the first thing I did was update my profile, including a few new selfies and one of me at the beach, showing off my cut abs. I didn’t work out at the gym four days a week for nothing. Once that was taken care of, I started swiping to find a match.
