Marriage of Unconvenience

“I know. I’m trying to be responsible. My worst fear is that I’m going to wake up one day and that money is going to be gone and I’ll be totally fucked.” He glared at me for the language, but I ignored him.

“That’s really smart. I feel like your mother and I have done something right. You’re very sensible, Lo. I’m proud of you.” He hugged me into his side and gave me a kiss on the top of my head.

Mom and Cara came back, both laughing at something.

“We’re almost ready here,” Dad said, turning off the electric grill he had going with sandwiches and zucchini on it.

“We’ll set the table,” Mom said, reaching for plates and then handing them to Cara.

“Uh, where?” I said, pointing to the dining table that had been taken over by mutant zucchini.

“We’re eating outside,” Mom said. I always forgot that my hometown was much cooler and less humid than being in the city.

Dad and I carried dinner out, and Mom even broke out a bottle of wine.

“You know you’ve been married for almost a month, so I thought we should celebrate,” she said, handing me a glass full of a crisp white wine from a local vineyard.

I opened my mouth to argue with her, but it was useless.

Cara also accepted her glass without protest.

“To our brave and beautiful girls. We love you both,” she said, raising her glass. We all clinked and drank and I gave Cara a look. She shrugged one shoulder as if to say “why not let them have their fun?”

I stuffed myself until I couldn’t have another bite of grilled cheese and tomato sandwich, or another spoonful of the gnocchi vegetable soup.

“There’s dessert, save room,” Mom said as I set my spoon down.

“Too late.” I put my hand on my stomach and groaned.

“Same,” Cara said. “If you wanted us to save room, you wouldn’t make such delicious food.” Dad tried to hide a pleased smile. He was always a total dork whenever someone complimented his cooking abilities.

“Well, we can finish our wine and have dessert later, if that’s what you want,” Mom said, leaning back in her chair.

“Sounds like a good idea.”

We sat and sipped and talked and I had to admit, it was nice to be here. I’d gotten used to the chaos of the city, and out here you could hear the sounds of the bullfrogs and the peepers and the birds. I’d been in the city too long. I needed to recharge.

Cara and I cleared the table and then brought out dessert, along with more wine. I figured if my parents were providing it, I was going to take advantage.

The cake was angel food with fresh strawberry compote and coconut whipped cream on top. I said I didn’t have room, but I told my stomach that it was going to make room because I wasn’t passing this up.

After dessert, we stumbled back to the house and Cara asked me if I wanted to go out to the barn.

“For old time’s sake.” I smiled and grabbed a blanket. The hayloft had never had any hay in it, but the wood was old and I didn’t fancy either of us getting splinters in our asses. We climbed up the ladder and I spread the old blanket out before we sat down. Cara had pushed the doors open so we could have light and a fresh breeze.

“Wow, it’s giving me major nostalgia being up here,” Cara said, lying on her back. I joined her and looked at the bits of sunlight that had squeezed themselves through the cracks between the beams and holes in the roof.

“I know this place is falling apart and my parents need to repair it, but I don’t know what it would be like if the roof didn’t let in any light. It wouldn’t be the same.”

“I know,” Cara murmured. “I always thought this place was so magical. Like it transported me to another place.” We used to have a tire swing in here that hung from the ceiling, and we would take turns pushing each other and spinning until we almost threw up. The swing had broken years ago, but I was wishing that it was still working. I hadn’t been on any kind of swing in years.

“Remember that night after the dance in junior high?” she said with a laugh.

“Oh, god, please let me forget.” I wanted to bury my face under the blanket. “Why do you always bring up my embarrassing moments?”