Chapter 3: What He Already Knew
I drove my mom home first.
She didn't say much.
She sat in the passenger seat with her handbag on her lap, looking out the window at the dark street.
I kept my eyes on the road and my hands steady on the wheel, but inside I was shaking just as hard as she was.
When I pulled into her driveway, she finally spoke.
"You don't have to make this into something bigger than it is," she said quietly.
"I don't want you fighting with his family before the wedding."
"Mom." I turned to look at her.
"She planned it.
Her sister came back to watch you sit there alone with that bill.
That's not a misunderstanding."
She looked at her hands.
"I just don't want you to lose him over this."
I kissed her on the cheek and waited until she was inside.
Then I sat in the car for a long moment before I pulled out my phone and called Daniel.
He picked up on the second ring.
"Hey, I was just about to call you —"
"Did you know?" I said.
A pause.
Not long.
But long enough.
"Know what?"
"Don't do that.
Did you know what your mother was planning tonight?"
"Okay, look — I heard she and her sisters were having dinner with your mom, and I thought —"
"Daniel." My voice came out flat.
"Did you know she was going to leave my mom with the bill?"
Another pause.
Longer this time.
"She mentioned something about wanting to test whether your mom was —" He stopped.
"Test her," I repeated.
"Test her for what?"
"She wanted to see how your mom handled herself.
Whether she'd make a scene or —"
"She left her alone with a twenty-three hundred dollar bill.
My mom ordered a salad.
She sat there for thirty minutes not knowing what to do." I could hear my own voice getting quieter.
That was always the sign I was most serious.
"And you knew something was being planned and you said nothing to me."
"I didn't think it would go that far —"
"But you knew something.
And you let my mom walk in there alone."
He didn't answer.
I stared through the windshield at the empty street.
"I need you to tell me right now," I said.
"Did your mother do this because she doesn't want me marrying you, or did she do it because she thought she could get away with it?"
"She just — she has strong opinions about —"
"Which is it, Daniel?"
The silence stretched out between us.
And in that silence I heard everything he wasn't saying.
"Both," he finally said.
"I think it's both."
I closed my eyes.
"I'll call you tomorrow," I said.
And I hung up.
I sat in the car outside my mom's house for a long time.
The lights were on inside.
I could see the faint shadow of her moving past the kitchen window, probably making herself a cup of tea the way she always did when she was upset.
She had walked into that restaurant trusting Karen's word.
She had ordered one small salad so she wouldn't be a burden.
She had sat there alone for thirty minutes, too polite to leave, too proud to call me until she had no other choice.
And Daniel had known something was coming and said nothing.
I got home just after eleven.
There was a voicemail from Karen waiting on my phone.
I didn't listen to it.
May you like
I set the phone face-down on the kitchen counter and stood there in the dark for a moment.
Then I picked it up again and started making a list.
