Page 47 of Spring Awakening

“Perfect!” Miriam says. “Are you local?”

“We live three roads over. We were ecstatic when this house went up for sale. We’d been waiting for one close by.”

Miriam nods her head in agreement. “I love having my boys close. I need to move soon, but I don’t think I’ll get somewhere close to here. My illness wiped out most of my savings.”

“I’m sorry,” her mum says, reaching her hand across the table. Miriam squeezes her fingers.

“Don’t be! I’m lucky I don’t have to be long distance with Zach and Devon where I am.”

“I don’t know what I’d do if Mali wanted to go far,” her mum says.

Mali smiles, scrunching up her nose. Zach looks at her with an expression she can’t place, which is most of his expressions. She rests her foot against his.

“Me either,” Mali says. “I would be awful with long distance, family and otherwise. I’d probably do it because I loved them, but I’d be miserable. It would be hell.”

“Well, you’re not allowed to move anyway,” her mum semi-jokes.

“What do you like to do for fun, Miriam?” her dad asks. “Do you go to the games?”

Miriam hums, thinking about it. Mali watches Zach watch her, like he’s unsure if she’s thinking or if it’s something deeper.

“I do love the games, but I used to love bingo. There’s something thrilling about never winning more than a fiver. I haven’t been in a while. I find it hard to make friends at this age, especially now I’m not working.”

“Erm, I’m your best friend,” Zach replies, and she tuts at him.

“Let’s go to bingo then.”

“Ma,” Zach whines, but Mali knows he’d go with her. “Everyone grabs my cheeks. I’m twenty-seven!”

“I love bingo,” Mali’s mum responds. “I go to the Crown every Thursday—oh, you should join me! Mosi usually entertains me there, but he doesn’t have the bingo gene. Do come, we can get Shirley Temples!”

“Please,” her dad says, his hands clasped in front of him. “Please go.”

“Oh, shush.”

Miriam laughs. “We can discuss at the weekend? Saturday?”

“Yes,” her mum replies. “Morning?”

Mali nods. “Miriam, I’ll steal your number from Zach’s phone, but he’ll use the details as an excuse to come and see you anyway.”

“I will,” Zach replies. Miriam smiles, her eyes noticeably heavier than they were earlier. It hasn’t been a long dinner, but her parents have the same look on their faces.

“This evening has been lovely, but I think I’m ready for bed. So many exciting plans! I need my beauty sleep,” Miriam says, with a small smile. “I’ll just pop to the loo.”

Mali smiles as Miriam goes upstairs, and her parents start clearing the table with military-style precision. She tells Zach to leave it when he tries to tell them he’ll do it later. As if. There’s an ache to her back, and a tiredness behind her eyes that comes from hosting, but overall, she’s happy.

“I’ll drop you home, Mum,” Zach says, when Miriam comes back downstairs. Mali can tell he doesn’t want her to go home, and she almost offers for her to stay, but she thinks that should be something he asks her in private. Miriam is nice, really nice, and Mali can tell where Zach gets his eyes and his humour. Mali doesn’t know her well enough to say she should live here, but shewishes she and Zach were friendly enough to suggest his mum living in the outbuilding. They could call it something cuter.

“Zachariah, I can get a taxi,” she grumbles, but Mali knows she knows Zach’s going to take her home.

“Uh-huh.”

“We’re off as well, Mali-Ali.”

“Thanks for coming,” she says, standing up.

“Thanks for the lovely dinner that we so rudely interrupted,” her dad says, and she kisses him on the cheek.

---