@rcinbcws
Margot couldn’t quite believe that Dot, her Dottie, was getting married. She knew the woman didn’t lead the best life — and not all of it was a result of that Gilbert and his behavior. But at the end of the day, she wasn’t Dot’s mother, nor did she have any control over Dot’s actions. She could only hope that by leading a good example she would, one day, convince Dot to leave that life.
What she was curious about, however, was the man Dot had agreed to marry. She hoped in her heart that he wasn’t just Gilbert-two-point-oh. That he was someone decent, someone worthy of both her time and affection. So she’d invited Wade out to lunch. Nothing fancy, nothing with too much pressure. Just a simple lunch to learn more about the man that had agreed to spend the rest of his life with one of the people she cared most about. There wouldn’t be any need for the pocket knife she always carried in her purse, the much larger knife she kept on the inside of her pant leg, or the one hidden on her right ankle. In fact, so long as all things went smoothly, Wade would never even know Margot had brought any of them with her.
As they sat at the small table together, Margot smiled innocently, like a woman who didn’t regularly carry at least three blades on her person at nearly any given time. “Wade, thanks for agreeing to come to lunch with me,” She mused instead. “I’m just so excited about weddings. And I figured we should take the opportunity to learn a little more about one another. Dot’s incredibly important to me, as you may know,” Her shortly-trimmed nails traced the brim of her glass of water. “Tell me, are you going to take care of her when she’s sick? What about when she’s upset — you won’t decide to just run away, will you? And what about her mushroom tears — she’s had more of those than any one person ever should. I swear, if she tells me that you’ve done something that makes her cry—“
Margot stopped herself before continuing. This lunch was supposed to be spent getting to know Wade, not berating him for behaviors that Margot didn’t even know he’d done. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to go on a tangent there. Why don’t you tell me about yourself instead — really, I’d just like to get to know you more,” She insisted. “Let’s start with something simple. Do you like to cook?”