Page 97

Fuck. Me. I didn’t wanna have a My Big Fat Greek Wedding moment before dinner. What? Yeah. We watched the shit last night. It was playing at the drive-in which is on the outskirts of the city. I’ll admit. Movie was pretty fucking chick flicky but getting head in the middle of it made me forget all about that.

“I’m sorry for the way I treated him,” Maggie begins, stare shifting over to me, “you.”

Silence seems to be the wisest move for me to make for the moment.

“You didn’t deserve the shit I said. I was…upset and angry and sad and scared-” her voice abruptly stops on a headshake. “Nonetheless, you didn’t deserve the behavior you received. I would like another opportunity to truly get to know you.”

“Why the sudden change of her heart?” Jaye inquires without hesitation.

“A pair of old friends reminded me how short life is. And how you never know when it could beyourlast moment with someone you love. They reminded me totreasurethose that are still with us.”

Chris’s parents.

“And mypartnerwho has…alwaystold me the ugly things I need to hear yet don’t necessarily want to, also highlighted my poor behavior. He forced to me face the truth.”

“Which is?” my girlfriend cautiously continues to investigate.

“Chris is gone. He hasbeengone. And me trying to replace himfor you, tofill his Birkenstockswith another man that was just like him was wrong. That’s not whatyouneeded. That’s whatIneeded. It was my way of coping with losing someone so close to us.”

Her confession catches Jaye by surprise but not me.

Everything she said and did that night clued me in on that.

It was almost a Hardy Boys mystery level of easy.

What? Oh. One of the elementary school kids in the afterschool program has been reading them as part of his custom literary program, which means Jaye’s reading them too, and in turn me. Don’t worry. I’ll keep up the reading habits even with a job. Isn’t that what lunch breaks are for?

“I’m sorry for my mistake, sugar.” Tears do their best to stay out of her voice. “I really do just wanna see you happy, and you honestly seem the happiest I’ve ever seen you with Cox.”

“I am.”

She energetically nods at her daughter. “And I wanna see more of that person. And this person you’re becoming. And get to know you as well as the man in your life the same way your dad has.”

“This is all just a ploy to get me to share my cookies again,” Charles playfully scolds on a finger wag.

“Not everything is about cookies, Dad,” Jaye giggles.

“I reject your preliminary assessment.”

More laughter circles around the group only stopping when Maggie asks, “Is it alright if I tag along to dinner?”

“I’m okay with it as long as Archer is.”

Great.

No fucking pressure on my shoulders.

“And if he isn’t, Mom,” Jaye’s shoulders push back lengthening of her spine, “then no. You can’t come. His feelings – whatever they may be – are valid, and I will support them just like he has always supported me.”

All eyes land on me leaving me in my least favorite position.

The spotlight.

“You’re welcomed to join us for dinner, Maggie. I think a second chance and a littlecompassioncan go quite a long way if we let it.”

My girlfriend happily hums while her father releases an impressed grunt.

“Wanna ride or drive yourself, Mags?”

“Why don’t I ride with all of you?” She sashays over to her husband. “Hear more about today’s events and tomorrow’s big day.”

The four of us begin the process of piling into Charles’s SUV instilling in me a foreign feeling of peace I’m thankful for.

My gut tells me that that emotion won’t always be so unfamiliar. And you know what? I honestly think with a little more time and a little more effort from everyone that it’ll be one elephant we’ll all finish eating together.