Page 87 of Sweeter Than Fiction
“Oh, gosh!”I cry. “No, not like that. He showed up with some wine, and we ate Chinese food and watched Gilmore Girls. He was a perfect gentleman.”
“Well, that’s good to know. I always wanted to raise him to be a good man.”
Under the table, I put my hand on his thigh. “He’s the best.”
She asks a couple more questions about what I do for work and what I like to do for fun. I don’t mind answering, but it also feels strange to me to be talking so much about myself.
Before we can go any further, Don’s phone starts ringing in his pocket. When he pulls it out, he says, “Excuse me, ladies. It’s the foreman at work. I better take this.”
He walks out of the room, leaving just Denise and I.
She looks over at me. “I hope you don’t think I was giving you the third degree or anything. I just want to get to know you a little better.”
“Oh, no, it’s okay,” I say, a little more nervous without Don here.
“Look, Abby, I’m under no delusion that my son has had his fun while living in New York, so when his sister told me he was seeing someone, I had my doubts.”
I brace myself for impact. I have no idea what she’s going to say, but I’m fairly positive it’s not going to be good.
She goes on. “But I have to tell you that I have never seen Donovan look at anyone the way he looks at you. You truly have that boy smitten. And if he loves you that much, I figure that you have to be something special. So, I may ask you questions to get to know you, but I promise that’s all it is. I’m not trying to sus out whether I think you’re good enough for him. I trust him enough to make his own decisions.”
“I’m happy to hear you say that,” I tell her. “I was really nervous about meeting you.”
“Oh, honey, no need to be nervous. Even if I didn’t like you, I have learned to let my kids make their own decisions. Once you meet Jill, you’ll understand my decision there. I raised one of the most headstrong teenagers ever. If I said the sky was blue, she’d argue that it was green just to be difficult. Because of her, I know better than to tell them not to do something.”
I laugh. “Fair enough. I meant it when I said you raised a great man. You did a wonderful job.”
“I wish I could take all the credit, but sometimes, I think he just came out that way. I think God felt bad for giving me someone as headstrong as Jill and felt the need to give me an easy son.”
At this moment, Don walks back in. “Did you just call me easy? Should I be offended?”
Denise answers, “No, but Jill might be if she heard this conversation.”
He waves his hand. “Oh, Jill is always offended. Speaking of my high-maintenance sister, when is she coming and bringing my favorite niece?”
“Jill said early afternoon.”
“Ah. Knowing Jill and her punctuality, we will be lucky if she makes it here by the time we eat.”
Denise laughs. “I don’t know. Usually, I’d agree with you, but I know that she’s pretty antsy to meet Abby, so she may grace us with her presence a little sooner.”
Don asks, “Any chance she’d just drop Kaylee off? She’s the real reason I’m here.”
“You better be careful. Paul’s mom bought her a makeup set when she hurt her leg, and now, it’s her mission to make everybody look pretty. I doubt you’ll be excused from having her give you a makeover.”
He looks confused. “Uh, I don’t want to be excused. I’m sure that my niece could make me look fabulous.”
“Are you two going to go out and do anything today?” Denise asks. “Dinner won’t be done for a while.”
“Mom, you know, we came here to spend time with you. I don’t want to go running off.”
She shakes his comment off. “While I appreciate that, I know you probably want to go show Abby the town. Being from New York, though, she probably finds this whole thing pretty boring.”
I step in. “Oh, not at all. I’ve never really been outside of the city, so I like getting to actually see some wide open spaces.”
“Oh, honey, you will find a ton of that around here. Luckily, the weather hasn’t started turning bad yet. You guys should have a pretty good trip.”
With the way it’s going so far, I wholeheartedly believe her.
