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She snuggled in close.
And everything was perfect, so—of course—he ruined it.
Hiljd’s mother was complaining about how no one had come by to clear out their used plates. It was a buffet, but there were people working here who would come by to take away the dirty dishes and to refill the water pitchers in the middle of the table and fetch things like sugar for the coffee and extra salt and pepper shakers. “No one wants to work anymore, that’s the thing,” said Hiljd’s mother. “Whole entire generation, just lazy.”
“Mom, people aren’t lazy, they just don’t want to do crappy jobs,” said Hiljd with a sigh. “I mean, we have this whole pandemic, and no one has to come in and work for assholes and they all find better things to do, things where people don’t take advantage of them, and then, when everyone’s all, ‘Come back and be abused again,’ they’re like, ‘No, thank you,’ and—”
“I don’t know, I see your mom’s point,” said Gunnar.
Hiljd chuckled dryly. “Oh, ofcourseyou do.”
Gunnar winced. “You know what? Never mind. I didn’t mean to jump in there—”
“Yeah, you interrupted me,” said Hiljd.
He winced again. “Did I? I’m sorry.”
“I want to hear what Gunnar thinks,” said her mother.
“Yeah, you and Gunnar can just date,” said Hiljd. “My mom’s single, too, Gunnar.”
He sighed.
Hiljd looked him over. “Well? What were you going to say?”
Mariana’s husband spoke up. “Say nothing, man. That is a trap.”
Hiljd pointed at him. “Oh, you didnot.”
Mariana drank some beer, laughing. “Baby, baby, baby, you have so much to learn.”
Hiljd folded her arms over her chest. “I want to know, though.”
“Well, so do I,” said her mother.
“Look, I have a construction company,” he said. “I hire kids who are around eighteen or nineteen all the time, and they’re all…”Pussies, was the word that came to mind, but he wouldn’t have said that in polite company, so the next word waswusses, but he had a feeling how that would go over, so he simply didn’t finish the sentence.
“What are they?” said Hiljd.
“They’re lazy,” said her mother.
“It’s more than that,” he said. “There used to be this idea—we were all taught this idea? That, uh, adversity makes you stronger? That you might try something, and it might be really hard, and it might push you to your limits, it might even break you, but that… that it was worth it to do it, anyway. And I feel like this younger generation doesn’t see any advantage in suffering.”
Hiljd scoffed.
“Exactly,” said Hiljd’s mother. “You push yourself, that’s what we all believed, that’s what we were all taught, from a young age.”
“You don’t need to be taught that,” said Hiljd. “And how hard? For how long? And when do you get to stop?”
“When you get where you’re going,” said Hiljd’s mother.
“Which is where?” said Hiljd. “Where are we supposed to get?” She looked at Gunnar. “Are you there?”
He looked away. Actually, maybe pushing himself like that had kind of fucked up his whole life. Because Venna had left, and he hadn’t even really tried to stop her, not if it meant working less. He liked working, that was the thing. But spending time with Venna while she complained constantly about every aspect of her life? He didn’t even want to do that. If that was what she required from him, he’d rather just have work, and not have her at all. He rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know. I mean, I have my business. I worked really hard to get my business up and running, and it’s amazing, and I’m proud of it, but, uh… there’s no one to really share it with.”
Hiljd softened, eyeing him.
“Well, in my day, that’s what couples did,” said Hiljd’s mother. “The wife helped a man get his career going, because it was forbothof you.”
