Page 76 of Breathe Again

Our waitress delivered our food to our table and skittered off again to the kitchen. The food was good Irish fare and we scarfed it down. I chatted with the waitress when she returned to check on us, kept my thoughts under control when she turned to Zale, and most importantly, I didn’t pop the bubble of happy intimacy that surrounded us.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t invisible.

Zale settled the cheque and as she was leaving she pointed at both of us. “Goals. You guys are a beautiful couple.”

I must have looked surprised which in turn surprised her. “Am I wrong?”

Zale answered in his deep, mellow voice, looking at me. “You’re not wrong.”

I smiled, deeply pleased. She laughed and gave me a thumbs up as she turned away.

We walked hand-in-hand back to the car. Looking up at his gorgeous, impassive face, I remembered feeling intimidated by him at first. Taciturn and reticent, he covered up his natural shyness, but he revealed a steadiness, a steadiness that was my greatest source of grounding.

He looked down at me, squeezed my hand while he crinkled his eyes and gave me his signature half smirk. “You enjoy yourself, gorgeous?”

I nodded happily, hugged his arm to my front, raised my face for his quick, hard kiss, and got into the car for the scenic drive home. The scenery inside the car was better, but in the short intervals when conversation paused, the outside was pretty good too.

What a Load of Hooey

Mara

Tuesday morning, I was still riding the high from the weekend. Olivia and I were overdue for a visit to my mom. I didn’t want to go yesterday in case she burst my happy bubble, but it would be unwise to delay it any longer.

I took care with my outfit, wearing new jeans and a cranberry V-neck sweater Willa had picked out for me. I picked up half a dozen vanilla dip donuts, and a Tim Horton’s coffee formy mom, hoping to minimize myself as a target for her criticism. I didn’t bring my baking to my mom, she always sent me home with the leftovers.

“Hi, mom!” I called out as Olivia and I opened the front door.

“Hello, my loves!” She called out as she came barreling down the hall toward us.

“Give Gran-Gran a hug, Olivia!” She stood with her arms open, waiting for Olivia to respond. I blinked, then hid my reaction to the change, it was a positive change, but I was careful not to react. Reacting might make her defiant, and I didn’t want that.

Olivia walked into her hug and wrapped her arms around her grandmother. I wondered if maybe my mom could change, adapt to be what Olivia needs. It wouldn’t be bad to have another person in her corner.

She released Olivia and turned to me, tilting her head to offer her cheek for a kiss. “You look good, Mara. I like your outfit.”

“Thanks, mom.” I smiled, feeling warmed by her compliment.

“Come sit down and I’ll make us coffee. You work too hard, you and Zale, both. How was your weekend away?”

“It was great, actually.”

“Good, that makes me happy.” She smiled at me, and I followed her to the kitchen.

“Here, mom, we brought donuts.”

A shadow passed over her face while she opened the box and peeked inside, her face splitting wide open with a smile. “Oh, my favorite! Thank you!”

“You’re welcome,” I felt like a trained dog.

Do the right thing and you’ll be praised, step out of line, receive a sharp rap on your tender nose. The resentment bubbled up quickly, but she’d done nothing to earn it this time. She’d only said, ‘thank you,’ and that they were her favorite. I mean, I bought them to please her, she was pleased, mission accomplished, now I was pissed? What was my problem?

I gave myself a mental shake and opened the cupboard to take out the plates.

“You sit down. You’re always coming over here and looking after me. Let me look after you for a change.”

She put her arm around me in a side hug, then turned me, directing me to sit at the table.

“Okay, thanks, Mom.”

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