“Singapore? On a Sunday?”
“Markets never sleep, kiddo.”
“Cool,” my daughter said. “Neither do plumbers, apparently.”
I nearly choked on my water. Two weeks earlier, Richard had rushed out, claiming a plumber was coming to his house at 9 p.m. Even Mom had blinked at that one.
Richard laughed it off, but there was a stiffness around his eyes that hadn’t been there when he’d first started coming over.
I nearly choked on my water.
The following Sunday, by 7:25 p.m., his leather briefcase was already in his hand. This time, it was the neighbor.
“Mr. Mendez can’t get his blood pressure pills open. Arthritis. I told him I’d swing by.”
“That’s so sweet of you,” Mom said, glowing.
“So sweet,” I echoed, and Chloe kicked me under the table hard enough to bruise.
“I told him I’d swing by.”
By 7:30 p.m., the porch light was clicking on behind Richard, and the leather tote was tucked under his arm as if it were full of state secrets. Every single Sunday. Like clockwork. Like a man on a leash, we couldn’t see.
***
After the dishes, I trapped Mom by the sink.
“Mom, can I ask you something without you getting mad?”
“That’s usually a great start, Avery.”
I trapped Mom by the sink.
“Six months you’ve been dating this man. Have you been inside his house? Even once? Have you seen his kitchen? His couch? His mailbox?”
She turned the faucet on harder than the dishes required.
“He’s private.”
“He’s evasive.”
“There’s a difference.”
“Is there? Because Chloe says twice now she’s watched him turn south after dinner, and he supposedly lives 20 minutes north.”
Mom’s shoulders went tight. She set the plate down with a small, sharp clink.
“He’s evasive.”
“I trust him, Avery.”
“Mom, I want to trust him too. I want that for you. But a grown man with no wife, no kids, no roommate, and no reason to be anywhere at 7:30 p.m. on a Sunday…”
“Maybe he has reasons I don’t need to know yet.”
“That’s exactly the problem.”
She looked at me then, and I saw something under the defensiveness. Mom knew it too. She just wasn’t ready.
“That’s exactly the problem.”
“Please,” she said quietly. “Let me have this. Even if it turns out badly, let me have the part where I still get to hope.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. So I dried a plate.
