Page 35 of Fire and Icing

My mother’s voice booms through. “Dustin!”

“Mom? I’m here. Why are you shouting?”

“Your brother and sister are here. Your dad’s on his way home. I want everyone to hear me.”

“We can hear you, Mom,” my brother, Stevens, says calmly.

“Yes. I know that, dear. You’re right here on the island. Dustin is all the way across the country.”

“I don’t think that’s how phones work, Mom,” my sister Mitzi says. “I’m pretty sure Dustin can hear you as well as we can. That is, unless you just ruptured his eardrum with that greeting.”

“Ha. Ha,” Mom says, in a less overpowering volume. “Everyone’s a comedian. Clownin’ with the best of them.”

I miss her. Those ill-fitting slang terms feel like home to me.

“What did you need?” I ask my family.

“Do we have to need something to call you?” Mom asks.

“No. I’m just checking because I’m having dinner and I …”shouldn’t tell my mother I’m at dinner with a female.

“You’re what?” Mom asks. “Dinner? This late? Isn’t it eight or something where you are?”

“It’s seven forty-five. And yes. Dinner. I was at the station, but I took a dinner break, so I’m just now sitting to eat.”

“Well, you can eat and talk. Nothing ever stopped you from multitasking at mealtime before,” Mom says.

“Maybe he’s with someone,” Mitzi unhelpfully suggests.

“Are you?” Mom demands.

“I … actually am.”

I look over at Emberleigh. She’s sitting back in her chair, studying me while she takes a bite of her half of our sandwich.

“Is it a girl?” Mom’s voice is filled with hope and more than a dash of pressure.

“It is.” I smile at Emberleigh.

“Oooh! A date! The rizzler’s gonna rizz,” Mom gushes.

I don’t know what half the terms she uses mean, but I do know that one. It means someone who attracts a lot of female attention.

“What even is that, Mom?” Mitzi asks.

“Okay,” I cut my family off. “I’ve gotta go. Nice talking to you. I’ll call back later.”

It’s okay, Emberleigh mouths from across the table.

No. It’s not, I mouth back.

“Dustin, I want to meet this girl,” Mom says.

“No.” I shake my head and widen my eyes in Emberleigh’s direction. She grins.

My mom, I barely whisper.She’s ridiculous.

Emberleigh smiles a little more fully. For a brief moment I think I see a wistfulness cross her face, but then she’s smiling softly at me again.

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