For Every Missing Shade

Entry 34

We pulled into the parking lot and saw her birth mom waiting on a bench outside the restaurant. Her mom was dressed up, with her hair done and a nice sundress on. When she saw Emma's face through the windshield, she stood up to meet us.

"Oh baby it's so nice to see you again," she cooed as she pulled Emma into an embrace. "And you must be the boyfriend Emma talked about all of yesterday," she said as she did the same with me.

I spoke up, "It's really an honor to meet you, Ms., uh -"

"Kinsley my dear, but please, call me Angela,"

"Sorry," I apologized, "you were quite the topic of conversation, but we always referred to you as 'mom' and nothing else."

"Well you call me whatever you feel is right," she said back as she pinched my cheeks.

Emma laughed and said, semi-sarcastically, "mom you're embarrassing me."

"I have a lot of years to make up for," she said endearingly as her hand fell on Emma's arm.

They shared a micro-moment before we suggested going inside.

We got seated and the waitress came around to ask for drinks. I was about to say water before Angela spoke up. "We'll take three of the bottomless mimosas, please."

The waitress looked quizzically at each of us before making peace with it. "Anything else?" she asked politely as she wrote in her notepad.

"That'll be all, thanks," Angela responded.

After the waitress left Emma let the shock show on her face. "Mom," she said, "we could have gotten ID'd and kicked out or something."

"Oh honey there's something you learn about nicer places like this. It's almost considered rude to ID people, especially when it's a fifty-year-old woman ordering for everyone."

"Wow... badass," Emma said.

"Oh well I guess I've had my practice," she said with a smirk on her face. "By the way, Israel, I'm sure you have about a thousand questions swimming through your mind about everything. Let's get them out in the open."

It felt awkward being put on the spot like that, so instinctively I turned to Emma.

"Well come on, mom, this isn't an interview!" she said. "Let's just get some food and talk to each other."

"Alright, alright, that's fair," her mom said in response. "So Israel, what are you planning on doing in the future?"

"Well, I got into college," I responded. "I'm going to major in art."

"Oh, art! Well isn't that cute," she said.

Wait, I thought, cute? What is she trying to say? I tried to shrug it off. "Uh, yeah. I'm super excited about it."

"Well, that's nice. So what do you think you're going to do for a job?"

Be an artist.

"Well, I mean, hopefully it pans out and I can do art for a job."

"Israel got a huge fellowship with the dean of the school and is in consideration for a full-ride," Emma said. "You should see his work, it's breathtaking."

Her sunken cheeks formed a smile, "I'm sure it is, I would love to see it."

The waitress walked back through with our mimosas and took our orders. There was a small void after she left, which I took to look at Emma in confusion. Is your mom grilling me right now? It seems like she doesn't like me.

Emma seemed to get the message and changed subjects. "Israel and I have had quite a time these past nine days."

"Tell me all about it," Ms. Kinsley said.

Emma started rattling off all the high points, starting with the bed and breakfast in Kansas and moved her way through our trip to Colorado.

"And then we had our beautiful drive down here," Emma finished.

I decided to speak up, "and the entire time I had no idea what we were doing. She would keep it from me religiously until we arrived at whatever she planned next."

"And you were okay with that?" her mom asked.

"Well, how could I argue with a girl like Emma," I said. That was good, kind of funny. Wait, was it inappropriate? Is there some weird way she could twist that?

"She gets it from her mom," Angela said with a wink in Emma's direction.

Wait, no, she liked what I said. Keep complimenting her. "Well you gave birth to an amazing daughter, seriously. She's breathtaking, and I'm so glad I met her."

"Well," her mom continued, "if there's anything that's been filling my mind since yesterday, it's that life works its way into some crazy situations."

"Yeah," Emma and I said almost in unison.

I wondered how it felt.

To have a broken story about your past be reconciled by a broken story about the present.