One night when Evan wasn’t over, Mom confessed that she talked to him about their ‘relationship’. She used air quotes that time. Much to her surprise, but not to mine, he felt the same way. She figured that since he had never been married, that he wouldn’t be interested in a serious relationship. He stunned her into silence when his only answer was that he hadn’t met the right woman yet.
About ten minutes into the drive, Evan turns down the radio and makes eye contact with me through the rear-view mirror. “So, Melanie, what’s your major? Your mom never mentioned it.”
I lean forward and rest my chin on Mom’s shoulder. Poking her in the arm, I take the opportunity to joke around with her. “Why’s that, Mom? Don’t want to talk to your boyfriend about your boring daughter?” I draw out the word boyfriend to emphasize their newly and officially defined relationship.
She calmly places her hand over mine which rests atop her shoulder and pats it gently. “No, my dear.” She quips with more than a little bit of sarcasm. “I didn’t tell him because you never told me.” She sticks her tongue out at me and smirks.
Her words sober me. I really have been out of touch. Having only recently decided on my major, it’s something of which I’m very proud.
Beaming from ear to ear, I share my plan. “I actually just declared my major at the beginning of the semester. I’m going to study early childhood education with a focus on children with special needs. I start doing some field work next semester.”
Mom twists in her seat and her face is beautifully lit up with pride. “That is a wonderful choice, Melanie.”
“That’s great,” Evan chimes in. “What made you decide that?”
Neither one of them knows about Emmie, but she is the reason I made the decision. “I just figured helping kids who might not have all of the advantages as everyone else is a pretty good way to spend the next thirty years of my life.”
“Oh, that’s perfect for you, sweetie. You’re so great with kids.” Mom folds her hands across her lap, seemingly unable to contain her joy.
Evan places his hand atop Mom’s and he laces their fingers together. It’s a sweet gesture that makes my heart spill over with happiness. Meeting my eyes in the rearview mirror once again, Evan’s face is decorated with a proud look not unlike Mom’s.
“A buddy of mine from the fire department has a kid with Autism. She goes to a summer camp right near Ithaca every year. If you’d like, I can call him and get some information for you. Maybe they need a counselor or something like that.” Anyone else might mistake his offer as one meant to try and win me over, but I can see the honestly in his eyes reflected to me in the mirror. He’s being genuinely kind.
“Wow, yeah, that would be great, Evan.” I’ve really come to like Evan this past week based solely upon how he treats my mom, but seeing that he wants to do something nice for me as well, that he wants to develop a relationship with me too, makes me soften to him even more.
The rest of the drive is filled with laughter and fun conversation. And when we pull into the parking lot at my building, I’m happy to see Cammie, Lia and Peyton’s cars are already in the lot. Evan carries my bags for me, and Mom and I walk up to the suite before him. I lean into her side and whisper into her ear, “I like him.”
She smiles coyly in return and replies, “So do I.”
Hearing our girlish giggles, Evan clears his throat. “What are you two laughing at up there?”
We say, “Oh, nothing,” at the same time which only adds to our little giggling fit.
When we walk into the suite, the girls are busy doing a whole lot of nothing. Actually they’re lounging on the couch sipping cosmos, watching my Sex and the City DVDs. When they realize that Mom and Evan are with me, they get a little nervous. That nervousness evaporates immediately when Mom claps her hands excitedly and runs to the couch. “Oooo, is this the one when Mr. Big and Aiden have that pissing match and wrestle in the mud?”
Lia and Cammie move to the sides of the couch and make room for Mom to slide in between them. It doesn’t take long for the three of them to start arguing over who Carrie should be with. It’s a pointless conversation, really. Because after all of the hardships and trials, Carrie ends up right where she belongs – in the arms of her true love.
Cammie, Lia and Peyton are all over twenty-one, but even if they weren’t, Mom would never turn down a girl’s night like this. I’m not going to say that my mom condones underage drinking, but she’s not naive. I won’t lay out all of the times I’ve been drunk, but she knows this is not my first drink and she seems fine with it.
I call out from the kitchen, “Mom, can I make you a drink?”
She peers over the back of the couch and looks at Evan. “Is it okay if we stay for a while, Ev?”
Evan’s lips quirk up into a goofy smile. I doubt he likes the idea of spending a night with some cosmo-drinking, Sex and the City-watching twenty-somethings, but, I see it in his eyes – he’d do anything to make Mom happy.
“Of course we can stay. I’ll run out to Wegman’s and grab something to make for dinner while you girls enjoy your sex show, or whatever the hell it is.”
As I walk him to the door, I say, “Thank you” and plant a quick kiss to his cheek. I think the display of affection catches him off guard, but he smiles at me nonetheless.
After I hand Mom her drink, I make my way over to the large armchair where Peyton is sitting and she moves to the side, making room for me to wiggle in. She squeezes my knee and we share a knowing smile. I feel like this week has done me good and I think she sees that change in me.
When the episode wraps up, Lia situates herself so that she can make eye contact with all of us. “So, I’ve got good news.” We all eye her cautiously. “Good news” with Lia can mean that she picked up a cute pair of shoes on sale.
When she doesn’t say anything right away, Cammie holds her hands out in front of her. “Care to share it with us?” she prompts.
“I found us all an apartment for the summer and for next year! Off-campus housing, here we come!” Lia pumps her fists into the air, but my eyes immediately go to my mom. Can I really spend the whole summer away from her?
Mom looks directly at me and mouths the words, “It’s okay,” before saying aloud to the group, “That’s fantastic, Lia. You girls will have so much fun! Where is it?”
“It’s right behind the school on Coddington Road, right across the street from that cute little Italian place,” Lia answers Mom’s question and I know exactly what house she’s talking about because the Italian place that she’s talking about is Bella’s.
All of us chat excitedly about the possibilities that this new beginning will bring. While we’re making our second round of drinks, Evan comes in with some groceries and immediately begins cooking a quick meal of chicken fajitas and rice.
Before I even realize it, it’s time to say goodnight to Mom and Evan. I really loved having them here and I silently vow to make a much more concerted effort to both visit home and have them here more often.
I giggle as I watch Evan help a slightly stumbling Mom into his SUV. Thinking back over this week and how much it has healed my heart, I’m sad to see her go, but so happy to know that she’s got Evan now. Burying the last few weeks behind me, I’m suddenly looking forward to next few weeks and the hope that dangles out on the horizon.
13
By some miracle, and with a lot of Peyton’s help, I manage to pull my grades out of the gutter and I finish my first year of college with a 3.4 average. Not my best work, but all things considered, I’m more than pleased with the results. I’ve actually surprised myself in recent weeks with the whole “you don’t have to be perfect all the time” routine. A lot has changed since spring break, in fact. The most important change has been that I’ve actually grown to like myself much more than I used to. I’ve learned to forgive myself over what happened with Bryan. I still haven’t worked up the nerve to talk to him, though. I walked past the lab the other day. I didn’t expect him to be there so as I peered into the large window-lined wall of the lab as I walked past, I nearly tripped over my own two feet when his sad brown eyes met mine.