“That would be wonderful. I grew up in Kentucky, and I miss seeing the leaves change,” my mother said excitedly.
Whoa, wait a minute. Why are they talking about my mom going to West Virginia?
It was clear across the country.
“Why would you ever fly all the way over there to look at leaves? Google a few pictures, and call it a day,” I grumbled.
“Don’t be rude, Jesse.”
“What? I’m just saying that it’s stupid to go that far away for a weekend. How are you planning on paying for the plane ticket? You have a secret hooker fund that I don’t know about?”
“Jesse, enough!” my mother said as she shot daggers at me.
I stayed quiet through the rest of dinner, listening as my mom and Mark told stories about people they worked with. I was bored out of my mind, and I was anxious to meet up with Emma. I’d texted her earlier this morning to tell her to be ready when I texted her tonight. I planned on suddenly remembering that we had a date as an excuse to make a quick escape from Mark.
My mind started to wander back to the beach and Emma, but I snapped back to the real world when Mark mentioned the word date. It seemed he was planning on taking my mother someplace fancy the following night.
“Don’t you have to work?” I asked my mom.
“I can have Lynette cover for me.”
“And lose the money? You know we can’t afford to take days off,” I replied.
I watched as my mother’s face turned pink. I felt bad for embarrassing her, but this guy couldn’t walk in here and screw everything up for us. We needed money too bad for my mom to start taking days off.
“I’ll figure something out,” my mom said.
No, she won’t. She’d go out on her date, and our electricity would get shut off or some shit like that.
I turned to look at Mark. “Listen, I’m not trying to be an ass here, but you can’t just walk in here and throw everything into chaos. Unlike you, my mom and I can’t afford the finer things in life. We have to work constantly to keep this craphole we live in. I don’t know what game you’re playing with her, but try to remember that as you sweep her off her feet.” “That’s enough!” my mother yelled.
She was mad, madder than I’d ever seen her.
“I know that you don’t like me, Jesse, but it’s not my intention to come in here and then just disappear. I really like your mom, and if you two need money, all you need to do is ask,” Mark said calmly.
“No one just hands out money. Try again,” I replied.
“If I get to spend more time with your mother, then I’ll give you both every dime I have.”
I snorted. “Whatever. I’m out of here.”
My mother called my name as I grabbed my keys, but I ignored her. I needed to get out of here. I texted Emma and told her to meet me, and then I pulled out of my driveway.
I had to wait a few minutes in Joe’s parking lot for her to show up since she had to driver farther than I did. As soon as she pulled in, I hopped out of my Jeep and walked to her door. I opened it and pulled her out. I hugged her as soon as her feet hit the ground.
“Um, hi?” she questioned.
“Don’t ask. Let’s eat.” I’d barely touched my food at home, and I was starving.
“Okay...” she said.
I took her hand and led her into the diner. We sat in the same booth as before. We both stayed silent until after the waitress had come to take our orders.
“I take it the dinner went bad?” she asked.
“Yeah, you could say that. They were talking about leaves and dates and all kinds of bullshit stuff.”
“Leaves?”
“Yeah, he wants her to fly to his place in West Virginia, so they can look at the fall leaves or some crap like that. It’s complete bullshit. This guy lives thousands of miles away, and he acts like they can have a real relationship. As soon as she falls for him, he’s going to pack up and go back home. All he’s going to do is hurt her.”
“If he wants her to go to West Virginia, maybe he’s serious about her.
Maybe he wants her to go with him. Did you ever think about that?”
Actually, I hadn’t. The thought of her moving all the way across the country for some guy was ridiculous. My mom was smarter than that. I stopped and thought about the way she’d looked at him at dinner. Maybe she really is that stupid.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. How was your party last night?”
She groaned and dropped her head to the table. “It was awful. I could barely fit in the room with all the overly inflated egos in there. At least Todd and Lucy were there with their parents, so I had someone to talk to.” “Todd was there?” I asked.
“Yeah, and it would have been nice if my mom and his mom hadn’t tried to play matchmaker all night. And Todd went right along with it. I could have smacked him.”
“Do you like him?”
“Todd? Yeah, he’s a nice guy. I just wish he’d tell his mom to back off.”
“I meant like him as in like him. I could have sworn you had a crush on him that first day.”
Her face flushed. “I did have a crush on him then.”
“Did? What changed your mind?”
She picked up her napkin and started shredding it. “You.”