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“Hi, sweetheart,” my dad says. I love the peppery smell of his cologne. It reminds me of being in his beautiful Capitol Hill office, watching him sign letters.
“Hi, baby. I missed you.” My mom kisses me on the cheek and wraps me in a hug.
“I missed you, too, Mama.”
My mother looks past my shoulders as if she’s waiting for someone to pop out of the bushes.
“Just you?” she asks.
Well, that took considerably less time than an hour.“Oh, what? You don’t see him, Mom?”
“See who? You brought a man?” My mom starts looking around, and my siblings are looking at each other, shrugging.
“Yeah, right here.” I pretend to put my arm around someone. “The ghost of relationships future, Mama.”
Her glare could melt ice.
“You know, it’s funny, Mama.” I’m so angry I’m on autopilot. “You always wanted me to study so hard that I’d never had time for boys. When did I hit the line where I became an old maid?”
“Right… about… now!” It’s my sister Bobbi, who’s fifteen years older than me. Her kids are in high school now.
My father joins my mother in glaring. Even if he finds the joke funny, if my mom’s upset, he’s twice as mad.
“Vivienne Gloria Carter. You apologize to your mama right now. Don’t talk to her like that.”
“I’m sorry, Mama.”
She nods. “I’m very serious though, Vivienne Gloria.” Her tone falls somewhere between annoyance and concern. “You’re a beautiful, brilliant girl. You deserve a man who works hard to make you happy and takes care of you. A man like Daddy.”
I know deep down she means well. But I also know deep down her ‘solutions’ won’t solve my relationship problems. Specifically, the problem of not having one.
I hear her out, though. Whatever she has to say can’t be worse than the proposition I got this week.
“I’m sorry, Mama. You’re right.”
“It’s okay, darling.” She pauses to look at her phone, types something quickly, and then looks back up, satisfied with herself. “I have an idea that I think will be good for you.”
“I’m listening. What’s your idea?” I’m listening but very skeptical, I might add.
“My friend, Whitney Castell? Do you remember her son Edgar?”
Unfortunately, I do. I had to listen to him drone on about Pokemon cards for two hours at his bar mitzvah.
“Um, maybe? Refresh me.”
“Well, he’s a doctor…”Of course.“Well, a resident.”Even better.
At least if he works one hundred hours a week, I’d never see him.
“He lives in New York, too. I don’t know if he’s near you…”Probably not.
“Okay. What does he need?” I play dumb.
“He has some time off to study for his boards. Whitney told me she’d love for you two to get dinner. We always thought you’d be good together.”
“No, Mom, not a blind date…”
“It’s not blind! You know each other.”
