Page 31 of Years in the Making

I’ll be supportive of whatever you decide to do

Library Girl

I’d love to meet your parents. Although, maybe you don’t really want me to?

No, I do, I definitely do. I’m just nervous

Don’t be. Parents love me. I can bring a reference letter from my own if you’d like

Goddammit, did I just fall in love with her? Is this the moment I get to tell people it happened? It doesn’t seem all that romantic. Also, I can’t fall in love with her, not yet anyway.

A letter won’t be necessary, you seem trustworthy

I’m hauling a giant branch to the chipper and trying to control yet another yawn the next afternoon due to a lack of sleep brought on by the anxiety of how tonight is going to go. I want Nellie to like my parents and for them to like her. On one hand, if this is a disaster, at least we figured it out early before either of us was that invested. But on the other, if it is a disaster I may never sleep again. What I need to do above all else is tell Nellie about my mom. I hadn’t planned on doing it yet, but if they are going to meet in a matter of hours, I really should let her know.

“Fletcher. Get your head out of the clouds, kid,” my team lead calls to me, and I shake myself out of the spiral.

“Sorry, Keith,” I mumble, which of course he can’t hear due to the ear protectors and the sound of the chipper. I toss the branch into the feeder and watch as it’s instantly turned into shavings. I hope tonight isn’t going to do the same thing to my new relationship.

After work, I decide to call Nellie instead of texting her.

“Are you going to try and convince me not to come tonight?” she answers after the third ring.

“No, I was going to tell you that my mom, who will be at the game, is partially paralyzed and can’t speak.”

I could hear a pin drop on the other end as I’m greeted by silence. And then I hear a sigh. “Wait, are you serious?”

“Yeah, I’m serious,” I say, and then prepare myself for the “I can’t handle this” speech I’ve gotten used to. But just as she’s been doing since the day I met her, she surprises me.

“Teddy, why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to decide I wasn’t worth getting to know.”

“Why would your mother have anything to do with me wanting to get to know you?”

“There’s a history of… sudden disinterest, shall we say.”

She’s silent for a minute, and I feel the weight of it crushing the hope within me. “I’m going to be honest with you,” she says slowly. “I want to meet your mom. But only if you are really okay with it. If it’s too soon I understand, but I’m not going to run away. She’s your mom, Teddy.” She sounds exasperated, sad, and somewhat excited all at once.

“No, no, I do want you to meet her,” I rush to say, feeling a bit lighter. “And my dad. I want you to meet him too.”

“Good,” she says, a smile in her voice. “Anything else Ishould know before tonight? Does your family have a flying dog? Or perhaps a talking cat?”

I laugh, looking up at the cloudless sky, suddenly grateful for this woman. “No, unfortunately just a gravity-enabled dog, but both of those things would be pretty great.”

“I’m not sure,” she mutters skeptically. “A talking cat would probably have an insufferable amount of attitude. Imagine all the nonverbal judgment being vocalized.”

“True, but a flying dog would be cool. Like Falkor.”

“Agreed,” she concedes. “Although, I think Falkor was a Luck Dragon, not a flying dog.”

“Oh, well having a Luck Dragon would also be pretty cool.”

We sit on the phone just listening to each other breathe for a minute. “I can’t wait to meet your family, Teddy.”

“I can’t wait for you to meet my family, Nellie.”

“See you tonight.”

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