We enter the restaurant, and I cannot help but be once again enchanted by all the carbs. Yes, fill me up with breadsticks until I fall into a food coma! I almost forget to reel in my food reveries if not for Mama, who politely elbows me in the gut. Of course-act normal; be nice. I can do this easily.
Mama goes to the front counter and I follow her behind. A waitress talks with my mother for a couple of seconds before grabbing two menus and taking us to a table of four. Two people are already seated.
I make it to my seat with just enough decency to fold a napkin in my lap-the appropriate fancy-restaurant procedure-before I get to see the man (and son) that I have only heard about. Arthur (Stepdad) is tall and thickly built muscle-wise. He has light brown hair that translates into a bristle chin and a jaw of stubble. It's no wonder, Mama liked this man. He's a total hunk!
I try to reel myself in more before I look to Ryan, who is sitting next to me. He has the same kind of build, if slightly smaller due to his younger age. But his hair is dark-jet black-and he has these icy blue eyes that remind me of melting icicles. So this is what the man from heaven looks like. I look at Mama and see a reflection of myself staring right back at me. I think I'm in love.
Arthur breaks this suspension of animation with a simple grunt that could be excused as a cough. Picking up a menu slightly, he starts a chain reaction as the rest of us do the same.
"I'm glad traffic wasn't bad on your end." He says, taking Mama's hand. My eyes zero in on this in a millisecond.
Mama does a small squeeze of the hand akin to the one I did in the car. "It was not bad. I'm just glad we made it on time."
"Dad."
I look up from my laser beam focusing on my Mama's hand to see that Ryan broke up the hand holding. I carry my menu higher in my face. Arthur grunts again, refocusing on the food.
Soon a waitress comes to collect our orders-I got chicken alfredo-and our menu/face shields are taken away from us. Nothing happens for the first couple of minutes, at it makes me want to subconsciously check my phone. Even if Jason didn't send a message back, I promised him to write a log of the dinner.
"You know, Jayce was talking about auditioning for Washington's musical. Damon, do you do any extracurriculars?"
I jerk my head up from my phone screen, my half-sentence blinking back in waiting. I secretly hide my phone (Mama would not like to know I had my phone out during dinner) and tune into the conversation, plucking an oh-so-savory break stick before anyone can grab one first.
Ryan shrugs in response. "I do cross-country and soccer, but Dad's always pushing me to try new things." He rolls his eyes slightly as if trying new things was utterly overrated and just another thing boring parents said. I'm about to open my mouth about something, but then his eyes are on me. I can feel him eyeing me like a sweet piece of candy before speaking. "You like those breadsticks a lot, don't you?"
"Ryan." Arthur butts in assertively. But I feel my divinity sway.
And he dares to chuckle at his comment. My mouth is left dry and rough like sandpaper as I swallow the last bite of my current breadstick. I don't even have anything to say back to him for making sure a rude joke on my behalf. That puts some points down for him in my department.
"Ryan, let's go to the men's room," Arthur says, and both men disappear around a corner.
I take the chance to pull out my phone, my thumbs flying, but Mama interjects with a curt. "Jayce."
I look up; "Yes Mama?"
She looks to the side like she is going to say she does not want to say straight to my face. "What do you think about Arthur? About Ryan?"
My shoulder shrug automatically. "Arthur seems nice," although I think his son needs some lessons in being polite. "I think Ryan is..." pretty handsome, despite the rude comment. I could give him a second chance. "Nice enough."
Mama sighs in relief, but stills do not look at me. "Mija, Arthur, and I... Have decided to get married. For real."
Jaw drop. What! I look at Mama seriously to see if she is lying, but I know her tells. This is real. Isn't this all too fast? Shouldn't I at least have something to say about what happens here? Just a couple of words? No? OK then. Uhh...
"I should have told you earlier. I should have told you when I first met him, and we started dating. I'm sorry Mija."
***
I cannot think, so instead, my hand reaches for a break stick until my pasta arrives, and then by that time I'm more concerned about my actual future step-family members' whereabouts than the fact that my Mama's getting married again. I just never seemed my a real reality in my mind... Oh wow. If I wasn't already sitting I'd say that I need to sit down.
Some sort of normal comes back to me when I see that handsome noiret turn the corner with Arthur. Their food has been sitting while they were out and they dig in like they never left in the first place.
Near the end of the meal, I try and catch Ryan's eye, but when I do he averts his gaze. I wonder what happened when they were out.
Once everyone is done, Arthur and Mama get us kids' attention. "Ryan, Jayce..." Arthur starts, his eyes turning to Mama. I can feel the love in his voice and the shine of cupid in his eyes for my mother. "We have decided-we are getting married."
