Page 53 of Sticking Around

Tania makes a little aww sound as she watches me keep a comforting hand on Melanie. Melanie pulls some antacids from her purse and pops one in her mouth. “This should help.”

The server comes back with our drinks and assures us our food will be out shortly. Trevor pours three glasses of beer and we all clink glasses to another semester done. I take only a tiny sip as I’m driving, but Melanie takes a long drink of her soda and moans in delight.

“Maybe I was just dehydrated. I’m already starting to feel better.”

“So, why do they call you Coddy?” Tania asks.

With my arm still around Melanie’s shoulder, I lightly play with her hair, and she groans and covers her face with her hands. “Oh God, don’t ask.”

“Oh, come on,” I scoff playfully. “It’s not so bad.”

“Oh, this sounds juicy.” Tania leans in, her eyes big and curious. “Now I really need to hear the details.”

“Not juicy. More like slimy,” Melanie says as she drops her hand, and I notice color returning to her cheeks.

My head rears back as I pretend to be offended. “I told you, they’re not slimy, they’re dry.”

“Uh, what are we talking about?” Trevor asks, his stupefied gaze going back and forth between the two of us.

“Before he begins…” Melanie grins at me, and everything in her smile fucks me over in the best possible way. “Newfoundlanders are?—”

“The friendliest people on the face of the earth.” I nudge her. “Is that what you were going to say?”

She laughs. “Right, something along those lines.” She holds one finger out. “Friendly.” A second finger joins the first. “Eccentric.”

“Eccentric?” I burst out. “How can you say that?”

“You have mummers, Coddy,” she shoots back and turns her attention to her friends—not friends. “At Christmas time, they dress up and go house to house and sing and dance. The host has to guess their identity before offering food and drink.”

“That sounds like fun.” Tania flattens her hands on the table, excitement in her eyes. “I want to do that.”

“I kind of do too,” Melanie says, chuckling.

“How did you know about mummering?” I ask.

“I looked it up.”

“Ah, doing a little research on me, were you, ducky?” I actually kind of like that she’s interested in my heritage and culture.

“Just curious, ducky.”

“Ducky is used for girls,” I explain. “A boy is b’y.”

Her shoulders relax. “Like I said, eccentric.” I laugh as she grows animated, clearly having fun now as the stress of the day leaves her body. She holds out a third finger. “They call their kettle a slut.”

“What?” Tania bursts out laughing. “That’s it, from now on my kettle is a slut,” she announces.

Melanie grins at me. “Go on, tell them how you got your nickname, Coddy.”

The nachos come and I proceed to tell them about getting screeched in and kissing a cod, and Tania seems as disgusted by the whole tradition as Melanie. Trevor, however, thinks it’s hilarious. We eat and chat and Melanie even has a few nachos. She eventually excuses herself from the table, and once she’s out of earshot, I lean in and chat quietly with her friends, hoping to have a moment alone with them.

When Melanie comes back, she has a distrustful look on her face. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” I say quickly and sit back in my seat. She eyes me before turning her attention to her friends. “What’s going on?”

They both shake their heads, and Tania checks her phone. “I have to get going. I…uh…have plans tonight.”

“I thought you said you were going home to sleep for a week.”

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