The truth hurt at times, but he wasn’t wrong.
She was stubborn like her mother.
She’d rather be compared to her mother than her father any day.
“Do I look okay?” her mother asked.
Kendra smiled. “You look fine. Ivan said it’s casual.”
“I know,” her mother said. “But I can’t see if you have me matching or not.”
“You know you are matching. Stop it,” she said, laughing.
Her mother had dark blue jeans and a purple sweater on. Kendra didn’t look much different with dark jeans and a sweater too. Hers was a light peach color. It wasn’t bold, kind of washed out and she hoped it didn’t make her look that way, but it had white around the cuffs and neck and she’d thought it was pretty when she found it on sale last year.
“What are Ivan’s parents like?” her mother asked.
“I’ll fill you inagainwhen we get in the car.”
Her mother had never seemed this anxious before and she was stunned over it. “Sorry if I’m a pain. I’m nervous.”
“Don’t be nervous. Be yourself. They are great people. You’ll like them a lot. You met Jolene last year at the Pub. Shay is much quieter than Jolene, but she’s still outgoing.”
“I don’t want to embarrass you.”
Kendra stopped when she was getting ready to leave her apartment. She was meeting Ivan at his parents’ house and then would bring her mother back after since it was on the way to Jolene’s anyway. Then she’d ride with Ivan to Jolene’s this afternoon.
“You will never embarrass me.”
Her mother had felt that years ago. When she’d first started to lose her sight and worried that it was costing Kendra friends and boyfriends.
It did those things but not because of her mother. Not like she thought.
It had more to do with the fact that Kendra had more responsibilities than anything her mother did. Earlier on it was a learning experience for them both.
Now it was their life, but back then they were both working hard to get to this point. She had to remember how much they’d grown.
“I’m glad you’ve gone back to Ivan’s the past few weekends,” her mother said. “You could have stayed there last night too.”
“It’s fine. I stayed on Friday but had things to do today. I also wanted to bake with you. I know Shay said we didn’t have to bring anything, but I didn’t feel right going empty handed.”
“That’s my girl. And I do love baking with you. I miss it.”
“Not enough to do it yourself, right?” she asked.
“Relax,” her mother said. “I wouldn’t because I’d mess it up anyway and it’d taste like crap.”
They got in her car and drove to Shay and Ethan’s house. She was the last to arrive, but the door opened before she could get to it and Ivan was standing there.
“Am I late?”
“Nope. I got here a few minutes ago.”
“My mother was spending too long trying to do her hair,” she said, giggling and bumping into her mother lightly.
Her mother had kept her hair down and it looked fine. Not much would look bad since it was straight and just past her shoulders.
“It looks great,” Ivan said, winking at her.
