Page 39 of Resorting to Romance

“I knew it!” Joan adds. “The two of you always have had such a fondness for one another. You’re well-suited. Is that still what they say these days?” She looks to Phyllis to clarify.

“I think she knows what you mean. Don’t you, Mila?”

I start to speak … but Connie beats me to it.

“Of course she knows. She’s so bright, our Mila. And good, and kind, and beautiful. Of course Kai would want to date her.”

“Of course, he would,” Joan agrees. “What man wouldn’t?”

Phyllis just nods, studying me.

“We’re so excited for you two!” Connie starts bouncing again.

“Very excited,” Joan adds.

Phyllis still studies me.

“We’re … um. We can’t let Noah know,” I say, my deepest concern finally finding its way into words.

“Oh, of course not, dear,” Connie says.

“Mum’s the word,” Joan agrees.

Phyllis finally speaks. “We know you’ll want to keep your relationship private until you are more serious. I just wish you had told us. We didn’t like finding out from everyone else.”

“It’s … complicated.” I finally say something fully true.

“Oh, romance always is!” Connie nearly busts at the seams with that statement. “And to think, you were always so dead set against romance. Well, I had a hunch that Kai would be the one to snap you out of that dry spell. He’s a looker. And if any young man could do it, my money was on him.”

I’m surprised she doesn’t whip out a measuring tape and start sizing me up for a wedding gown on the spot. She’s the epitome of the heart-eye emoji, only a bouncing one who’s slightly hard of hearing and takes arthritis meds.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

And I am. Sorry that I’m not telling them everything. Sorry they think everyone knows something and they’re the last to find out. Sorry I’m evenin this situation.

“Nothing to be sorry about. We thought it might be a silly rumor at first,” Phyllis says. “But the more we kept hearing, the more we knew some parts of it must be true. That’s why we came over.”

“On your walk?” I tease. “Spontaneously?”

“No matter,” Phyllis smiles at me. “We came and now we know.”

“There’s more,” I pull my lasagna pan out, spray the bottom with oil, and start layering noodles.

“What more?” Phyllis asks, taking one of the seats around the island while Joan walks over to the fridge and pulls out the jug of tea.

“Brad wants to meet Noah. He wants to be a part of his life.” I collapse onto a stool.

“Oh, dear!” Connie says, taking a glass of tea from Joan.

“Yeah. He said he knows he messed up and he wants to be a part of Noah’s life now.”

A silence falls over the four of us, my three aunts exchange glances in a way I’ve grown accustomed to over the years. There’s a whole discussion being shared wordlessly between them.

Phyllis finally speaks. “You probably need to consider Noah’s right to know his dad.”

“Not that you have to rush into this,” Connie adds, attempting to soften the harsh reality of my situation.

“Inch into it,” Joan adds. “Maybe you bring Brad in as a stranger. I think I saw a Hallmark movie about this. Or, maybe it was Lifetime. Anyway, the man wanted to come back into his son’s life. Of course, in that one, the woman let him come around as a stranger, and they fell back in love and got remarried.” She sniffs. “It was beautiful, really. I love a redemption story, don’t you?”

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