Page 10 of Bingeworthy
“Mom. What is going on?”
She bats her lashes. “What do you mean?”
“You're fawning over Rocco. I think Dad even noticed.”
“Oh,” she says, and my heart feels like it might drop fifty feet because she’s not denying something is going on.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I say, “Mom, I’m not getting back together with Matthew, so you can forget that.”
She looks offended. “Of course I don’t think you’re getting back with Matthew! He’s engaged! My goodness, whatever gave you that idea?”
“Well, something is going on!” I hiss, careful not to let anyone else overhear. I tick off all my observations on my fingers. “You send him to pick me up. You hug him. A lot. You’ve been texting him all kinds of information about me, like where I work? It wasn't a coincidence that he knew where my office was, Mom. And on the car ride, he told me you gave him all the dirt on how I found nudes on Carl’s phone!”
“Not all the dirt…I left out the graphic details.”
“And then last night you gave him my popcorn bowl. My. Popcorn. Bowl.”
“Lighten up, child. It’s a bowl. We have many.”
I stare her down, and she gives in first, breaking away from this exchange and focusing on more food prep.
Wait.
No.
There’s no way I would ever believe it, but all the pieces finally make sense.
My mother has feelings for Rocco.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“I cannot believe I am asking this, but is something going on with you two?”
She sighs but doesn’t answer, her back still toward me as she works.
I might cry. “This is not the day to sort all this out, but before things get weird, you need to talk to Dad.”
She clucks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I look over my shoulder to make sure no one is listening, then hiss, “If you don’t tell Dad something is going on, I will.”
Lucille turns to me and scoffs. “Your father already knows. He’s in on it!”
I gasp. “Ew! Mom!”
“What do you mean, ew?”
Am I on another planet?
“Dad knows you and Rocco are…are…”
Mom nods and then speaks slowly as if I’m dumb. “Dad was the one who brought it up!”
I slump into a kitchen chair and rest my head in my hands. “I’m gonna puke.”
“Tiffany! What has gotten into you…oh.”
