I sighed.
When my pizza was gone and my belly was not so empty, I looked around the apartment.
There was a hamper full of clean laundry to put away, and a few dishes to do. I'd gotten in bad habits, living by myself. With roommates, I was usually more on top of things.
I stood up and applied myself to the housework. It was satisfying, although I didn't like to admit it to most people. I enjoyed putting an apron on and getting the work done.
More than that, though, I enjoyed looking around a clean and tidy apartment, as I did when I was finished. It was nicer to sit around in a space that was fresh and clean, even if it was tedious to keep up with everything.
I looked at the dining room table, bare and sad, and walked to the fridge.
Underneath 'bread, peanut butter, cheerios,' I added 'flowers' to the grocery list. I didn't usually spend the money on flowers, but they could make my little apartment feel so much more like a home.
Finally, I couldn't put it off any longer.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called my mother.
"Finally, darling," she said. "I thought you'd never remember that it was a Saturday."
"I had cleaning to do," I said.
"Oh, yes. Very urgent," she said, with a tinkling little laugh. I rolled my eyes.
"How are you today, Mother?" I asked. "Did you have a good week?"
"Well, you know," she said. "Tolerable. And you?"
"It was actually really great," I said. "Yesterday, I had to go out to a pretty big ranch for a routine inspection, and they were very prepared. They had someone ready to show me around, and they didn't ask if they'd sent the right person, or ask if a man could come back next week and check my work."
"Well, I'm glad you were pleased, but really, darling, you can't expect everyone to like you all the time. I don't know where you got that," she said. "I never worry about silly things like that."
"It's not about whether or not they like me," I said, patiently. "It's about whether or not they'll listen to a woman."
"Dear, you know I told you that people would be like that," she said. "What did you think would happen? You're a pretty girl, and I'm sure it's hard for men to look at you and not want to pinch your cheeks. Or your ass," she added, and laughed at her own joke.
"Oh, they don't just think about pinching my ass," I muttered.
"Really? How rude," she said.
"Exactly," I said. "They're rude. They're all rude."
She sighed. "Well, people are. Are you seeing anyone?"
I hesitated. I told her that I went on a date a few months ago, and on a second date, but I never mentioned that I'd continued to see the man.
She was always so pleased when I had a man in my life, it drove me crazy. If she were only a tenth as interested in my work as she was in my love life.
Besides, Justin never really mentioned his parents or talked about mine. It didn't seem like we were ready to play meet-the-family, and I wasn't sure I would want him to meet my mother, anyways.
"I've been busy with work," I said, which wasn't a lie.
"If you don't get your priorities in order, you'll die alone, you know," she said.
I had had enough.
"That's nice," I said. "There are worse things. I've got to run."
Before she could protest, I hung up.