“Do you have other plans?”
“I don’t know. I’ve got the day off, so I’ll probably just take it easy and then maybe figure out where to go see fireworks or something.”
“You’re not going to go to a cookout or anything?”
“I don’t know, Mom, maybe. Though the last time I tried having a cookout, it ended up getting crashed.”
“Oh, stop it, Allie, we didn’t crash your party, for heaven’s sake. Why don’t you ask Cole what he’s doing?”
“Maybe,” I said. “He might have plans with his family; I don’t know. I might see what Amy is doing, one of the girls that I work with.”
“Well, you’re always welcome to come with us to P-town. It’ll be a lot of fun, you know. We all went there once on the Fourth, when you were in middle school I think. Do you remember?”
“Sort of,” I said, vaguely recalling a long drive to the Cape, and then crowds of people packing the narrow streets of Provincetown. They had shot the fireworks off from a boat in the harbor, and I always thought that was neat.
“Well, if you don’t come down for the Fourth, what about just a visit to the city? Taking Declan to LEGOLAND? That sounds nice, doesn’t it? I think it’d be really great if you guys did that. How is everything with Cole?”
“He’s good,” I said.
“You’re really very fortunate to have him as a neighbor. It’s not every day that you’re going to move somewhere new and hit it off with your neighbor as well as the two of you seem to. I just... I can tell there’s something there, between the two of you.”
“He’s a nice guy, and we’re enjoying each other’s company.”
“And by enjoying, do you mean...?”
“Mom!” I said. “Stop it. I’m not going to talk to you about my sex life.”
“So you have!” she exclaimed. “I knew it! Allie, honey, congratulations! Why didn’t you tell me? This is very exciting!” I could practically hear her clapping. I winced.
“Mom, I didn’t say anything.”
“You did, actually—you said sex life. Which means you must have one. Which means you had sex. I’m happy for you, Allie! Mothers and daughters can talk about this sort of thing, can’t they?”
“I guess, if they want to, but I don’t particularly want to.”
“You don’t need to give me all the details or anything, but Allie—you’re 24 years old. I was starting to wonder if you were just going to be celibate for the rest of your life. I am thrilled to hear that you’ve finally done it. I really am.”
“This is really not the conversation I need to be having right now. And you’re at home, right? You’re not sitting at Starbucks or anything, are you?”
“Yes, I’m at home. I’m out on the terrace.”
“Great,” I said, knowing how voices could carry out there, if the wind was right. “Thrilled that you’re broadcasting my sex life to all of your neighbors.”
“Geez, Allie, stop being so dramatic. No one is listening.”
I felt relieved when I finally managed to get off the phone, assuring her that I would call if it turned out that I didn’t have any plans for the Fourth after all. That’s the thing she didn’t realize, though; even if I didn’t have someone to go do something with, I would go out anyway.
I didn’t need to worry about not having anyone to hang out with on the Fourth, though, because the next time I saw Cole, he asked if I was doing anything for the Fourth.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “I would like to go see some fireworks.”
“There’s a couple good places to watch them. Declan and I were wondering if you wanted to do something during the day. I think he was hoping we could go to Gardner, hang out, then watch the fireworks there. It probably wouldn’t make sense to take the bike trail there since we’d be staying pretty late, but we could put the bikes on my rack and bring them and ride around. They do a parade earlier in the day; that’s kind of fun to see. There’s some good restaurants and stuff, too.”
“Yeah, I went to one of them once,” I said. “That’s where Ben took me out.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Cole said. “I forgot you guys went on that date. Well, I’d invite him along also, but he’s working until 2. I think he’s got other plans afterward, anyway,” he added with a smile.
“Well, my mother was just harassing me about whether or not I had plans, so now I guess I can tell her that I do.”