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“Correct,” Tony answered, waiting for the recriminations.
“How’s the van working out for her?”
“She loves it,” Big Mike said, faltering. “I forgot that she brought cookies for us the next day. I should have told you.”
“But you ate them all.”
“Yes, I knew you wouldn’t want anything like that around here.”
“I’ll write her a thank-you note.”
“Ma, I need you to help me make a picnic lunch for tomorrow.”
“What is with my boys inviting girls out for picnic lunches and then getting me to do the work? You should learn this for yourself.”
“I’ll watch, but the food won’t be as good as yours. Besides, I told Bridget, that’s her name, that you were going to help me.”
“Oh Lord, another Irish girl,” Roberta moaned.
“I told you,” Big Mike said, smirking.
“What’s with my boys and Irish girls?”
“What? Who else is Irish?” Tony asked.
“Ah, Candy, who else!”
“They must be from different parts of Ireland, then, because Bridget has jet-black hair, and Candy’s hair is as orange as a pumpkin.”
“Tony, that’s not the way it works,” Roberta said, laughing at her son. “Go back to bed. You gave us your news, and the world didn’t come to an end.”
“I haven’t talked to George yet, so it still might,” Big Mike said, whining.
“Sorry, Pop,” Tony replied. “Have a nice day at work, but please don’t say anything to Bridget about our little chat.”
“I might and I might not,” he said. “Come to think of it, why didn’t Mike ask her out?”
“Mike’s getting serious about Aisling,” Roberta said. “Another Irish girl, I might add, another picnic lunch.”
“Oh,marone! Spare me,” Big Mike cried, holding his hands prayerfully to the ceiling. He pushed away from the table, jarring it so it rocked. Roberta grabbed a vase of flowers from tipping over in the nick of time. “This man, like a bull in a china shop.”
After Big Mike left, his diesel truck vibrating the windows in the kitchen, Tony remembered the stroller. “Ma, can you help me pick out a stroller for Bridget’s son? She doesn’t have one, and I’d like to surprise her with one.”
“Yes. Go to sleep and let me regroup from Big Mike. That man can knock the wind out of the sky.”
Tony quickly made his exit, cackling under his breath. His parents were like a comedy act.
Unable to keep the news of their acceptance of his breakup to himself, he reached for his phone and called the station office. “Hi, can you talk for a minute?”
“Connie is still here, so only a minute.”
“I told my parents about the breakup and that we have a date,” Tony said, and Bridget could sense his relief.
“Well, good for you. Should I hide from Big Mike today?”
They giggled over the phone. “You might, but I think he’ll be okay. He told my mom about the cookies, and she said she’d write you a thank-you note.”
“Aw, that’s not necessary. Here comes Connie. I’d better go.”
