"you should stop denying your feelings for liam"
“Mom.”
The pile of shiny porcelain plates Wren had been doling out clattered as she set them down roughly, ringing still as if the all ghosts at the long table were each calling out their own toast at the same time. Her mother gave her a look, tossed hair, brow raised.
Well am I wrong?
“I thought this was supposed to be dinner, not a high school level interrogation.” Though nowadays whenever a family dinner was called and her step-father decided to tote along a coworker or two or five, it often felt that way; uncomfortable, in some places boring, and nearly always embarrassing.
“It’s not dinner quite yet. We have time for a chat. You and me still do that right? Besides, I’m really not wrong, am I. I see the way you two talk with each other. You bounce off the walls. I don’t really understand any of what you say, but it’s surprising how you two don’t get your tongues in a knot at the speed you go.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
Wren blinked, stopped and blew out a breath at the look on her mother’s face. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just...we talk. Everybody talks. It’s not some revolutionary concept. Why should it be anything special?”
Her mother set down a wine glass before pulling out a chair to take a seat, ankles crossed and every bit the image she was expected to be, even when her new husband wasn’t around. “All I’m saying is you shouldn’t hold off just because of me and Gideon. I know you do. I just want you to be happy, baby. Not many things make you light up anymore-”
“They do,” she frowned, arms folding and entirely forgetting the stack of fine china that was still waiting to be touched.
“Maybe. But not in the same way. I mean the kind of ‘light up’ like when your father took you to that air field for Christmas when you were ten. Or that time that old theater let you tinker with one of their projectors? See, you’re even smiling right now even though you’re mad at me for being right. I just mean the kind of ‘light up’ that’s like...wow, fireworks!, Abby. You understand? And that boy is like an entire Disneyland show. I like Liam. He’s good for you. And you aren’t very hard to figure out when you’re happy.”
Her mother smiled, a toothy victorious grin as she watched Wren’s entire body shift. Once tall and defiant, now gentle and soft. Her daughter’s face was starting to burn almost as red as her hair, even as she tilted it downward and away from her. She placed a hand on the table, hooking an ankle around a chair leg to bring it closer to her before sitting down.
“Fine...I’ll admit he does make me laugh...”
@flvebyfive
