Comfort Zone (Awkward Love 4)

“Becca?”

I force myself to smile when Mom pokes her head into the room.

“What are you doing?” she asks, looking from me to Liam.

Two more faces appear behind her. Aunt Sylvie and Aunt Nancy. All I wanted was a quick shower, not a room full of people to watch me dress. Liam rubs his jaw, looking like he’s trying not to laugh.

“What’s happening?” Aunt Nancy asks, looking overwhelmed.

Well, this isn’t awkward at all.

“So, are we interrupting something, or not?”

Mom sounds like she wants to be interrupting something, and Sylvie and Nancy giggle like a couple of schoolgirls.

“No. Liam was just here to let me know his phone was dead.”

“Okay…and why would you need to know that?”

Good point.

“Liam was just leaving,” I say instead.

Another round of giggles follows. I shake my head, because I’m not sure they even know what they’re laughing at this time.

“I’m sure he was.” Mom winks at me. “Are you coming to the ceremony?” she asks him.

“Liam’s got to look after his grandmother,” I explain.

Mom shrugs. “She can come too.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to impose—”

“Not at all. We’d love to have you both.”

“Okay, then we’d love to come.”

Liam winks at me, enjoying my less than happy reaction. I shake my head, sure this is payback for working him up.

“I guess I’ll be seeing you sooner than I thought.” He smirks at me, then leans close enough to whisper in my ear. “I can’t wait to see what you wear.” He walks out and shuts the door.

“Wow, you’re lucky to have snagged him,” Aunt Sylvie gushes. “He’s really handsome.”

“I haven’t snagged anyone,” I retort.

Is she saying he’s out of my league? Fucking wonderful.

“I’ll be right back.”

I disappear into the bathroom to finish getting ready. With my hair done and some makeup on, the dress doesn’t look too bad. Okay, it’s still hideous, but acceptable for a family gathering.

Mom is already dressed when I emerge, and the aunts have left. She paces the room, looking nervous. Her light blue dress drapes beautifully to the floor. She looks stunning.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she says, brushing it off like it’s nothing.

I take her hand and smile. “It’s okay to be nervous. You’re recommitting yourself to each other. That’s a big deal.”

“I know, I’m just…” She shakes her head.

“How are things with you and Dad now?” I ask her gently.

“Better.” She smiles at me. “You don’t want to know what we got up to on the plane, do you?”

“No. I don’t. Ever.” I close my eyes, pleading with my mind to not go there. “Oh, I have something for you.”

“What?” she says.

I walk over to my bag and dig down to the bottom to retrieve the little box. It’s wrapped with a little ribbon, about the size of a jewelry box.

“It’s not much,” I say as I hand it to her.

“Becca. I can’t believe you got me something at all,” she says, her eyes glassy. She carefully undoes the ribbon, as if not wanting to damage it, then she reaches into the box and pulls out…a tiny little Pac-Man penis.

“Oh, you didn’t.” She bursts into laughter.

“I’m giving you this for a reason,” I begin. “I know sometimes I act like all you do is get on my nerves, and that you embarrass me, or make my life difficult—”

“I was excepting something a little bit more uplifting.” Mom frowns.

“Just listen,” I promise her. “I’m trying to say that I love you. I love all those things about you, because if you weren’t overbearing, embarrassing, hard to get along with and impossible to shut up, then you wouldn’t be who you are. And I wouldn’t be who I am.” I look her in the eye and smile. “I love you, Mom.”

She smiles at me. “You have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that,” she whispers. I smile and wrap my arms around her.

“Ready?”

“Yes.” She smiles at me.

“Then let’s go.”I go downstairs to where the ceremony is going to be held and mingle with my relatives and friends of my parents. I feel like I should wear a sign, because I’m answering the same questions over and over again. No kids? Back in college? Not married? Way to make me feel hopeless.

Liam walks into the hall. My heart jumps as he strolls over to me. He looks good in a pair of nice pants and a fitted charcoal shirt.

“No Grammy?” I say.

He shakes his head. “She won’t leave Andrew and I didn’t think he’d be welcome at this event. Even if he was, you’d struggle to drag her away from her daytime soaps.”

I look up, sure I’m imagining things when I see Laura standing over by the side door. I wave her over, throwing my arms around her when she reaches us.

“What are you doing here?”

She shrugs and glances at Liam, then raises her eyebrows at me.