Chapter Seventeen
Charlie
Tobin was planning to come home to see me before I left, even though I told him it wasn’t necessary, so it wasn’t a surprise when I heard the garage door roll up at 8:45. But when the kitchen door opened and his mother walked through, I was momentarily stunned.
I wasn’t ready to face her. I wasn’t ready to talk about what happened yesterday. And I’d never be ready to hear about any “discussions” she and Tobin’s father had after I left.
My face must have clearly reflected my shock and uncertainty because Allison held up her hands, as if to settle me down, and didn’t come any closer to where I stood in the dining room.
“I’m not here to make you uncomfortable, Charlie, but I needed to apologize right away, so you didn’t think I was upset with you.”
I nodded, unable to speak.
“I’m sorry for pressuring you yesterday. You told me you didn’t want to spend that much money, multiple times in multiple ways, but I was so caught up in shopping-fun mode that I didn’t listen to your words. I heard them, but totally ignored what you were telling me. I put you in an incredibly uncomfortable position in public; in front of people who were strangers to you. And that was entirely my fault.”
I swallowed, unsure of what to say. I’d never had a parent apologize before. Even my mother never really apologized for my father’s behavior. She just made excuses and tried to convince me that he knew best.
“Um. Thanks, Allison. I appreciate you coming here and saying that. But I could have used my words better, too.”
She shook her head and took a few steps toward me. “No, don’t take on any fault here. You used your words. I should have paid more attention to what you were saying. It was the first time we’d spent time together outside of working on business stuff for the cheese shop, and you’re my son’s girlfriend. Of course, you wouldn’t want to get into an argument with me when I was overbearing and pushy. I didn’t think beyond my own perspective. It’s a bit of a personal failing for me.”
Her admission made me feel weird, and I desperately wanted this conversation to be over.
“Apology accepted.” I grabbed my coat off the back of the dining room chair and started to put it on, but her next question froze me in place.
“I hope Toby wasn’t too hard on you for breaking a rule.”
I looked up and found her still standing there, as casual as could be, while inside I was freaking out.
“Uhh… I’m not really comfortable talking about that with you, Allison,” I said, but when her face fell, I decided to relieve her worry. “But he said he was familiar with how persuasive you can be when you want something and wasn’t too upset with me for going over budget.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful. Sometimes Toby can be a little hot-headed, but you seem to really be mellowing him out.”
I didn’t respond, refusing to get into the details of mine and Tobin’s relationship with his mother.
“And you get a new outfit!”
“No, I don’t. We’re going to return it tonight.” She scrunched her nose at me and was about to speak, but I cut her off before she could say anything else. “That money was earmarked for an overnight trip I’m taking with my girlfriends to a spa, and I’d rather have that than an outfit I don’t really need. It was my decision.”
I could tell she wanted to comment, but to her credit, she didn’t.
“Thank you for graciously accepting my apology, Charlie, and I hope I didn’t ruin our future relationship,” she said, thankfully bringing this uncomfortable conversation to an end.
“You didn’t,” I assured her, and finished putting on my coat. I picked up my shopping bags and headed into the kitchen, trying to usher her out the door.
“Good. And I’ll try to stop making you uncomfortable with my questions. Toby’s never had a girlfriend as serious as you, and I need to remind myself that you’re not used to Walker’s Grove’s ways. But you’ll get there.” We exited through the garage, and she walked over to her truck parked next to my car. “I’ll shut the garage door. See you soon, Charlie.”
She waved and backed out as I loaded my stuff into the backseat, processing all that she’d said. To be fair, this was also my most serious relationship, but while I wasn’t experienced meeting the parents, I was sure discussing discipline, rules, and punishments with your boyfriend’s mother was not the norm!
“And then she said,‘but you’ll get there’! What the hell does that mean?”
It was Monday and we were at Layla’s house for book club. She lived in an old farmhouse that she’d taken over from her parents, along with the acreage and corn fields surrounding the house.
“Did you ever hear your parents talk about discipline with other people?” asked Grace, ever the nosy busybody.
Her question was aimed at any of the three Walker’s Grove natives, but it surprised me when it was Kenny who answered.
“Yeah, but not on purpose.” She took a swig of beer, and then another, while Mellie, Grace, and I waited anxiously for her to continue. “They never said anything around me on purpose, but I overheard things.”
Raquel and Layla both nodded, but didn’t chime in, so Grace waved her hands at Kenny, encouraging her to give us more.
Kenny rolled her eyes and shook her head like we were annoying pests, but we needed details! Especially me.
“One time, I was in the barn and my father and Layla’s father came in but didn’t know I was there. At first they talked about the pigs and the price of corn, but then my father said he needed to know if he’d been too harsh on my mother.”
My eyes rounded and I immediately imagined the worse.
“Oh, no,” I whispered.
Kenny caught my look and shook her head. “It wasn’t like that. He didn’t hurt her. I guess she’d forgotten to order something my father needed by a certain date—I don’t remember what all these years later—and because she didn’t order it, he had to postpone work on the farm, and we had to pay a fee. We weren’t exactly drowning in money back then, and he’d been pretty pissed. So, he’d spanked her and then grounded her to the farm for a week.”
“That’s not that terrible,” Mellie said, as I was thinking being grounded sounded awful. I’d much rather just be punished and have it be over with. And then my rational side caught up to my thoughts, and I stowed my reaction away to consider later.
“No,” Kenny continued, bringing me back to the conversation. “It wasn’t, except that she’d been planning a night out with her ladies’ group for months and it fell on the Saturday of the week she was grounded. My mother didn’t get to go out much, what with her duties at home and on the farm and raising my brother and me, plus the whole not having a lot of money, so she was pretty upset and felt my father was being unfair. There was a lot of meatloaf that week.”
Layla nodded as Kenny spoke. “I remember that. My father and mother talked about it after I went to bed one night. They didn’t know I’d come downstairs to get a drink and sat on the steps and listened. They both thought your dad was being unreasonable.”
“That’s what your father told him in the barn that day,” Kenny said. “He must have spent the night thinking about it and agreed because the next morning my mother was in a much better mood, and we had a whole turkey dinner that night.”
“I take it your mother expressed her displeasure through food,” I said, grinning at the rebellion.
“Yep,” Kenny nodded. “And my father couldn’t say anything because part of their agreement was that she had complete control over the kitchen. She’d provide food, but he couldn’t complain. And he hated meatloaf because his mother’s was terrible and it ruined it for him forever.”
I took a drink and ate some pizza, pondering everything I’d learned.
“It wasn’t weird that your fathers disciplined your mothers?” Grace asked.
Layla answered this time. “No. It was just the way life worked here in Walker’s Grove. When I was thirteen, before I went to summer camp for the first time, my mother sat me down and explained that it was something she’d agreed to, but it wasn’t something a lot of people did or would understand so I shouldn’t talk about it with anyone outside of Walker’s Grove. That it was personal and private, but it wasn’t bad, and it was up to the people in the relationship to decide how they lived their lives.”
“My mom gave me a similar speech at around the same age, but it was because I’d heard them and asked what was going on and if she was okay,” Raquel said with a smirk.
Mellie cringed. “That must have been awkward.”
“It was, but it wasn’t. I’d gotten hints that Dad was in charge my whole life, so when she explained their relationship, it all fell into place. Since they’ve been married for thirty years and are still happy and in love, it must work.” Raquel abruptly stood up from the couch, empty beer bottle in hand. “Anyone need another drink?”
Everyone but Grace said yes since she was tonight’s driver. Raquel nodded and left the room.
“Is she mad?” I asked in a whisper.
Layla shook her head. “No. I think she just wants what her parents have and now that you and Mellie have found it, she’s worried she might never. There aren’t a lot of eligible bachelors in town.”
“I’m not sure I have it, whatever it is,” I protested, making Layla give me an annoyed look.
“Didn’t you just tell us how you and Toby said ‘I love you’ the other day?” I nodded. “So, don’t play dumb, Charlie. You know you like what you two have, so stop talking yourself out of it. Nobody thinks it’s weird if he spanks you as long as you agree to it. You’ve done a good job of expressing your limits, from what you’ve told us. Just be happy.”
The slight bite to her tone made me reconsider all my griping and back-and-forth over my relationship with Tobin. I needed to separate how I really felt from how I thought I should feel. When he and I were alone, everything was perfect and made sense. It was only when other people were around that I worried that I shouldn’t like it.